Romans Week 5 August 14, 2022
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Introduction (Romans 1:18-32)
Introduction (Romans 1:18-32)
Alright let's rock'n'roll as we get started here. We move down from the purpose statement of the book. But for the sake of reminder let's take a look backwards just a little bit.
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.
Paul writes this book because of the power of the gospel. It is God's power to bring salvation to everyone who believes. This power and this salvation is something that God has revealed through Jesus and through the gospel. It's something that equips us to live by faith. And it's also something that calls out the judgment of God to the world around us. And this judgment is going to be what our passage today will talk about.
I’d like to start this section with a quote by a famous theologian
Romans Romans 1:18–32: Everyone Needs the Gospel
“What happened was this … They traded the glory of God who holds the whole world in his hands for cheap figurines you can buy at any roadside stand.”
Eugene Peterson
Hellen Keller, the woman who lead a well known speaking career despite being born blind and deaf once said.
The only thing worse than being born blind is having sight but no vision. —Hellen Keller
The only thing worse than being born blind is having sight but no vision. —Hellen Keller
We live in a world of people who believe they can see and yet they live lives of blindness. Paul demonstrates that even with perfectly good vision you can suffer from blindness to see what is evident all around you.
1 The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.
This last week I took a prayer retreat hiking morning at Turkey Run. It’s profound how beautiful nature is. It’s amazing how deeply refreshing hiking through the woods can be. There is something deeply powerful that nature does in us.
This nature points to God.
You can see the power of God in nature but it doesn’t take eyes to see what God has to reveal.
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.
God reveals his invisible qualities through the visible world He has created.
But God doesn’t just reveal His invisible qualities through nature, He reveals His righteousness through the Gospel.
17 For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, “The righteous shall live by faith.”
Why does the righteousness of God need to be revealed?
Why does the righteousness of God need to be revealed?
God’s righteousness is revealed because His wrath has been revealed.
God’s righteousness is revealed because His wrath has been revealed.
The paradox of the Roman Empire
The paradox of the Roman Empire
Unbelievable sophistication.....devastating depravity.
The height of hellenism lead to the lowest of human actions.
The church had to live in this world. For God.
In the same way we live in a world of extraordinary sophistication and advances and yet deep surrender to sin.
Paul writes this letter in part to impress on his readers the destruction brought by wickedness and sin. The believers who see God are not able to see God because they are better, but because they believed the Gospel.
Everyone needs the Gospel
Everyone needs the Gospel
In this section Paul is going to make the case for how everyone needs the gospel. The Jews need the gospel because they have rejected the law of God. And the gentiles or rather every other human being on earth needs the gospel because they've rejected God's general revelation in creation.
Or as he says later
23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
More to the point of Paul's letter what he really wants to impress on the church in Rome is that truly everyone deserves God's wrath. If this isn't true then we don't need to do missions. But if it is true that everyone deserves the wrath of God because of their sins then we must be all the more committed to getting the gospel to every human on earth.
It's been said that the bad news is what makes the good news good. And so reading this section that starts in verse 18 of chapter one is crucial to understanding the rest of the gospel. We've got to get the reality of the wrath of God before we can grasp the necessity of the gospel.
I guess to put it more clearly unless you and I understand that God's wrath means judgment for your friends and family for the sins that they have committed you won't be motivated to share the gospel. Unless you see the devastating impact of sin you won't share the gospel. Unless you understand this passage and how it points out the reality that those who reject God are worthy of his wrath you won't spread the gospel. Unless you grasp the wrath of God you will not have the motivation to share the salvation of God. So read this passage, re read this passage, let these warnings sink in.
God’s Wrath is Revealed
God’s Wrath is Revealed
18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth.
Ok who can tell me the rule in the Bible whenever you you see “For” at the beginning or end of a passage.
“You ask what it’s there for.”
This connects to the passage above. God reveals his righteousness because He has has also revealed HIs wrath.
God tells Paul and the church to preach the Gospel because mankind has suppressed the truth.
What we are called to as messengers of the Gospel is simply truth telling.
But telling the truth isn’t always easy. Mankind left to theirselves would suppress the truth.
But why is God’s wrath revealed?
Romans A. Revelation of the Wrath of God (1:18–20)
There is actually one fundamental, underlying reason for the wrath of God being revealed against man: man suppresses (again, present tense) the truth about God
Romans A. Revelation of the Wrath of God (1:18–20)
Nothing is more evident about the heart of God than his desire for fellowship with those created in his image. God wants humankind to know him!
I love this!
God wants us to know Him!
I love that one of the most powerful rebukes Jesus delivers against the Pharisees is that they take away the knowledge of God; they fail to lead others to God.
52 Woe to you lawyers! For you have taken away the key of knowledge. You did not enter yourselves, and you hindered those who were entering.”
14 Let them alone; they are blind guides. And if the blind lead the blind, both will fall into a pit.”
They had the opportunity to lead people to a relationship with God and instead piled on the rules.
God wants us to know the truth.
God wants us to know the truth about our world and about a relationship with Him.
The first thing in this passage we need to talk about though is the wrath of God.
The Wrath of God.
The Wrath of God.
Humanly speaking we think of overbearing anger.
We think of violence and overreactions.
We think of mistakes.
We are tempted to judge God’s wrath in the same way we look at human violence.
Two categories of God’s wrath
Two categories of God’s wrath
The Final “Day of God’s Wrath”
The Final “Day of God’s Wrath”
The Bible talks about a time at the end of history when God will judge all all of men’s sins
5 But because of your hard and impenitent heart you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath when God’s righteous judgment will be revealed.
At this point every person who has not realized the righteousness that Jesus gives through the cross will experience the wrath of God.
God’s Current Revulsion Against What Contradicts His Holiness
God’s Current Revulsion Against What Contradicts His Holiness
That’s what is written about here.
Some will always not like the idea of God being angry. It will call to mind the damage done in human anger.
Romans A. Revelation of the Wrath of God (1:18–20)
The difference (and it makes all the difference) between God’s anger and ours is that ours will always be compromised by sin whereas his flows from a sinless nature
God’s wrath is an expression of who He is....it’s fundamental to His nature and not warped by sin.
Really it’s just as much a part of His nature as the other part we love so much
8 Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love.
We accept that love is part of God’s nature…we must also accept that God’s wrath is part as well.
With my daughter Isabelle
I love her as a fundamental part of my being, I would sacrifice my life for her.
Because of this love I would react with great anger if I saw someone abusing or hurting her.
I would also act with anger if I saw her doing things that were hurting herself.
My love would drive me to act with wrath to protect that which I love.
Romans A. Revelation of the Wrath of God (1:18–20)
“His wrath is not something which is inconsistent with his love: on the contrary, it is an expression of his love. It is precisely because he loves us truly and seriously and faithfully that he is wroth with us in our sinfulness”
God continually gives His love to humanity much like a good parent does His or Her child.
Whether it’s
2 He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters.
Giving quiet, calm refreshing love.
Or it’s
6 Therefore let everyone who is godly offer prayer to you at a time when you may be found; surely in the rush of great waters, they shall not reach him.
The mighty waters of God’s wrath against sin.
Sometimes it's hard for us to grapple with the wrath of God today. But if we are going to understand the concept of the wrath of God we must understand that it flows necessarily out of the love of God. And the love of God is always easier for us to wrap our minds around. If God loves us as a perfect father would love his child then he also is God who fundamentally acts were the wrath against soon. If we're going to wade into a discussion about the sins of the world that we will find later on in this passage we need to come to grips with the wrath of God. We must resolve in our hearts how it is OK for God to act with wrath. We must resolve in our hearts why it's necessary for God to act with wrath. He is wrathful because he's also loving and they go together.
What that means is he is wrathful against your friends and family and coworkers. Not because he is some dark brooding God in the sky. But because he loves them so very much that it makes him angry the devastation that's in is wrecking in their lives.’’
Conclusion
Conclusion
Two things I want us to consider as we wrap up today.
The Gospel reveals the truth about our world, God, right and wrong.
God reveals his wrath against those who suppress the truth.
God’s wrath is as much part of His nature as His love is.
How does this idea of God’s wrath fit with your view of the world? How does it fit with some of your closest friends?
How might considering the reality that God is a rightly wrathful God motivate you in supporting missions or speaking up about your faith?
Questions needing answers
v18—How is God’s wrath being revealed?
v18—How does is look when ungodliness and unrighteousness suppresses the truth?
v18
God’s Wrath is revealed!
v19
What CAN be known about God.....
is PLAIN to them....
Because
God has SHOWN IT TO THEM
v20
God’s invisible attributes (not the visible ones)
Eternal power
Divine nature
clearly seen since the creation of the world from the things that have been made
SO MEN ARE WITHOUT EXCUSE
v21
Although they knew God, they did not honor Him as God
or give thanks to Him.
but became futile in their thinking.
their foolish hearts were darkened.
v22
Claiming to be wise, they became fools.
AND
v23
Exchanged the glory of the immortal God
for image resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things
Conclusion
Conclusion