#6 10-22-06 AM - HCBC
Paul and the gospel. 1:1-7
Paul and the Romans. 1:8-13
The heart of God’s servant. 1:8-13
The paid and the unpaid debts. 1:14-15
8 reasons not to be ashamed of the gospel. 1:16-17
1. The Gospel is Good News. Vs 16
2. The Gospel is the Power of God. Vs 16
3. The Gospel is the Way of Salvation. Vs 16
4. The Gospel is God’s Way of Salvation. Vs 16
5. The Gospel is for Everyone. Vs 16
6. The Gospel is Righteousness from God. Vs 17
7. The Gospel is Revealed. Vs 17
8. The Gospel is by Faith. Vs 17
The wrath of God against all mankind. 1:18 – 3:20
Depraved Gentile society Hedonist 1:18-32
What is the wrath of God?
Against what is God’s wrath revealed?
How is God’s wrath revealed?
Critical moralizers Moralist 2:1-16
God’s judgment is inescapable v. 1-4
God’s judgment is righteous v. 5-11
God’s judgment is impartial v. 12-16
Self-confident Jews Legalist 2:17 – 3:8
The law v. 17-24
Circumcision v. 25-29
Some Jewish objections v. 1-8
The whole human race Everyone 3:9-20
The Wrath of God – Part I Suppression of the Truth Demands the Wrath of God
Romans 1:18-20
Introduction
The truth is, God exists! Man blocks out the truth!
It is this resistance to the truth that draws out the wrath of God.
The Bible teaches that this is every man’s problem until they come to God through the person of
Jesus Christ.
Apart from the work of Jesus on our behalf, we are in such trouble with God!
The Wrath of God:
When we think of wrath, we probably most often think of a wild,
out of control outburst of anger.
This is not a proper picture of the wrath of God.
The Greek word here is orge, which describes indignation.
This word focuses on an inward, considered, thoughtful, settled, righteous anger.
Mt 3:7 But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to where he was
baptizing, he said to them: "You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the
coming wrath?
Jn 3:36 Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not
see life, for God's wrath remains on him."
Eph 2:3 All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful
nature and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects
of wrath.
The Greek word “thumos” refers to the outward expression of anger.
Thumos is more of an action word.
2 Cor 12:20 For I am afraid that when I come I may not find you as I want you to be, and
you may not find me as you want me to be. I fear that there may be quarreling,
jealousy, outbursts of anger, factions, slander, gossip, arrogance and disorder.
Gal 5:20 idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition,
dissensions, factions
Eph 4:31 Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every
form of malice.
Our anger, and the expression of it, is almost never right!
God’s wrath is His perfectly righteous indignation toward anything short of His perfect
righteousness!
The Bible, through and through, reveals God as a perfectly holy being.
He is completely free from any imperfection!
As a pure and holy being, He must, by His very nature, be indignant toward sin!
This holy and right response toward sin is described in the Bible as God’s wrath.
J. I. Packer:
One of the most striking things about the Bible is the vigor with which both
Testaments emphasize the reality and terror of God’s wrath.
A. W. Pink:
A study of the concordance will show that there are more references in Scripture to
the anger, fury, and wrath of God than there are to His love and tenderness.
Furthermore, God’s wrath…
Is being Revealed from Heaven
God’s wrath has been revealed!
Genesis 6 – 8 In the story of the flood, God’s wrath was revealed!
In Sodom and Gomorrah, God’s wrath was revealed!
In the drowning of Pharaoh’s army, God’s wrath was revealed!
In the Exile, God’s wrath was revealed!
God’s wrath will be revealed!
Rom 2:1-6 You, therefore, have no excuse, you who pass judgment on someone else,
for at whatever point you judge the other, you are condemning yourself,
because you who pass judgment do the same things. 2 Now we know that
God's judgment against those who do such things is based on truth. 3 So when
you, a mere man, pass judgment on them and yet do the same things, do you
think you will escape God's judgment? 4 Or do you show contempt for the
riches of his kindness, tolerance and patience, not realizing that God's kindness
leads you toward repentance? 5 But because of your stubbornness and your
unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath against yourself for the day of
God's wrath, when his righteous judgment will be revealed. 6 God "will give
to each person according to what he has done."
Not only has God’s wrath been revealed in ages past, but also, it will be revealed in
the future.
But, here in verse 18 of Romans 1, Paul brings out another aspect of the revealing of God’s
wrath.
Paul says:
God’s wrath is being revealed!
It is not only a matter of God’s wrath being stored up for a final great outpouring at
the last day.
There is also a present manifesting of this wrath,
When he says, using the present tense of the verb,
The wrath of God is being revealed…
In what way is this so?
How is the wrath of God currently being made manifest?
Bible scholars have suggested several ways in which it may be true that the wrath of
God is presently being revealed:
1 – the actual punishment of sin
2 – the voice of conscience
3 – the state of creation
4 – the universality of death
5 – the cross
The context of the remainder of this chapter suggests that Paul had in mind something
much more specific here and that is:
“the inherent tendency of moral evil to produce evil.”
Boice:
“Human depravity and the misery involved are the revelation of God’s anger.”
“A number of years ago, Ralph L. Keiper was speaking to a loose-living
California hippie about the claims of God on his life. The man was denying the
existence of God and the truths of Christianity, but he was neither dull nor
unperceptive. So Keiper directed him to Romans 1, which he described as an
analysis of the hippie,s condition. The man read it carefully and then replied, “I think
I see what you are driving at. You are saying that I am the verifying data of the
revelation.”
That is exactly it! The present revelation of God’s wrath, though limited in its scope,
should be proof to us that we are indeed children of wrath and that we need to turn
from our present evil path to the Savior.
And this wrath of God is being revealed…
Against all the godlessness and wickedness of men
This may come as a surprise to some, but this includes all of us.
MacArthur:
God’s wrath is universal, being discharged against all who deserve it.
No amount of goodwill, giving to the poor, helpfulness to others, or even service to God can
exclude a person from the all Paul mentions here.
…for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.
Obviously, some people are morally better than others, but even the most moral and upright
person falls far short of God’s standard of perfect righteousness. No one escapes.
Godlessness = asebia = ungodliness
Lack of reverence for God
Lack of devotion to God
Lack of worship of God
Eph 2:1-3 As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, 2 in which
you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of
the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are
disobedient. 3 All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the
cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts. Like the
rest, we were by nature objects of wrath.
Eph 2:12 remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from
citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without
hope and without God in the world.
Jude 1:3-4 Dear friends, although I was very eager to write to you about the salvation
we share, I felt I had to write and urge you to contend for the faith that was
once for all entrusted to the saints. 4 For certain men whose condemnation
was written about long ago have secretly slipped in among you. They are
godless men, who change the grace of our God into a license for immorality
and deny Jesus Christ our only Sovereign and Lord.
Jude 1:14-15 Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied about these men: "See, the
Lord is coming with thousands upon thousands of his holy ones 15 to judge
everyone, and to convict all the ungodly of all the ungodly acts they have done
in the ungodly way, and of all the harsh words ungodly sinners have spoken
against him."
Godlessness means being without God!
God’s wrath is being revealed against those who are without God because,
as we shall see they suppress the truth,
they reject the truth,
and they do not consider the truth to be worthwhile!
The wrath of God is also being revealed against the wickedness of men.
Wickedness = adikia = unrighteousness
This word focuses on the result of men being godless or ungodly.
Wickedness is the result of godlessness!
MacArthur: “Men treat other men the way they do because they treat God the way
they do.”
2 Thess 2:5-12 Don't you remember that when I was with you I used to tell you these
things? 6 And now you know what is holding him back, so that he may be
revealed at the proper time. 7 For the secret power of lawlessness is already at
work; but the one who now holds it back will continue to do so till he is taken
out of the way. 8 And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord
Jesus will overthrow with the breath of his mouth and destroy by the splendor
of his coming. 9 The coming of the lawless one will be in accordance with the
work of Satan displayed in all kinds of counterfeit miracles, signs and wonders,
10 and in every sort of evil that deceives those who are perishing. They perish
because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. 11 For this reason God
sends them a powerful delusion so that they will believe the lie 12 and so that
all will be condemned who have not believed the truth but have delighted in
wickedness.
In mankind’s godlessness and wickedness, men:
Suppress the Truth
Paul says that the problem is that man is constantly attempting to suppress the truth by
steadfastly holding to their sin.
Unrighteousness is so much a part of man’s nature that every person has a built-in, natural,
compelling desire to suppress and oppose God’s truth.
Ps 14:1 The fool says in his heart, "There is no God." They are corrupt, their deeds
are vile; there is no one who does good.
Sinful men oppose the idea of a holy God because they innately realize that such a
God would hold then accountable for the sins they love and do not want to relinquish.
Unless and until God intervenes in a life, man suppresses the truth!
Jn 3:16-20 "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that
whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did
not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world
through him. 18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does
not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name
of God's one and only Son. 19 This is the verdict: Light has come into the
world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil.
20 Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for
fear that his deeds will be exposed.
Men love darkness and suppress the truth!
What truth?
General Revelation
Rom 1:19 since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it
plain to them.
Ps 19:1-6 The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands.
2 Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they display knowledge.
3 There is no speech or language where their voice is not heard.
4 Their voice goes out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world. In the
heavens he has pitched a tent for the sun,
5 which is like a bridegroom coming forth from his pavilion, like a champion
rejoicing to run his course.
6 It rises at one end of the heavens and makes its circuit to the other; nothing is
hidden from its heat.
Because the heavens declare the glory of God and the skies proclaim the work of His hands,
Every man is aware of His existence –
Everyone knows that God is, yet everyone suppresses this truth!
From general revelation, everyone knows about God!
Specifically, what is it that is know about God?
Rom 1:20 For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities--his eternal power
and divine nature--have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been
made, so that men are without excuse.
God’s eternal power
Mt 22:29 Jesus replied, "You are in error because you do not know the Scriptures or
the power of God.
Rom 1:16 I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God…
1 Cor 1:18 For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are
perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.
Job 38
God’s divine nature
When we see the power of God in creation, we realize that He is God and we are not!
Later, in Romans 2, we will see that God has also created us with a conscience, that
bears witness to us the difference between right and wrong.
But by creation we see that God is the Creator and Sustainer of all that exists!
Yet man suppresses this truth because he loves darkness!
And because of this the wrath of God is being revealed!
And this wrath is against everyone! All have sinned…
How shall we escape?
In the gospel, a righteousness from God is revealed!
The gospel is that God loved us when His wrath was upon us!
He loved us and sent His Son to die for us, to take our sin upon Himself!
So that the wrath of God might be satisfied and removed from us.
But each person must humbly come to Him in faith to receive forgiveness!
Have you done this?