Post by arete on Feb 1, 2014 0:49:06 GMT
Introduction:
As a pastor, I enjoy a good preacher joke. One goes something like this: A pastor looked out and saw a look of general disinterest and boredom on the faces of his congregation. Some were even asleep. So he shouted, “Who here wants to go to hell,” and he loudly hit the pulpit. One of the sleeping men was shocked awake and lurched to his feet. He drowsily looked around and said, “Preacher, I don’t know what we’re votin’ for, but you and me’s the only ones in favor of it.” Who would vote in favor of hell? Some think hell will be fun and full of friends and parties. Others think no one or almost no one could ever go to hell. Yet, Paul the apostle, writing as an apostle of God believes in the rightful wrath of God on sinful man. It is a serious subject to consider as we turn again to Paul’s letter to the Romans…
Context:
In the last section, Paul began his letter to the saints at Rome by introducing himself. He made himself known as a slave to Christ and an apostle. Paul also introduced Jesus in terms of being the promised Messiah of God as the descendant of David and the unique son of God. Paul further indicated his audience – to the called out holy ones – the saints of God – which includes all here who have trusted in Christ alone for salvation. Paul gave thanks to God for the faith of the Romans – faith that did not originate in these saints, but originated from God. Paul then explained his desire to come among them as a fellow believer to minister and be ministered to. Paul then declared the meat of his message to every people group of every level of intelligence – the Good News of Jesus Christ – the truth that salvation is 100% of faith, grace and mercy of God and cannot be tainted by any attempted work of man. We now come to Romans 1:18…
Body – Romans 1:18-25 – ESV
God’s Wrath on Unrighteousness
18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. 19 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. 22 Claiming to be wise, they became fools, 23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.
24 Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, 25 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.
Indictment/Condemnation vv. 18-21
At first glance, it may seem abrupt for Paul to switch from not being ashamed of the Gospel and justification by faith to WRATH. This is not a strange or unnecessary switch. Rather, to appreciate to grace and mercy of salvation, we need to understand what we are being saved from – the right, just, and holy wrath of God
The term for wrath here declares the intensity of the wrath – it is holy anger. Any mention of the holy anger of God should cause man to tremble and desire to know what God is angry with so that it can be avoided
God’s wrath is revealed – declared openly – against ungodliness & unrighteousness.
1. Ungodliness speaks to our attitude toward God. It is a stance against all things godly – those things in accord with the nature and person of God
2. Unrighteousness speaks to our attitudes toward one another
3. These are general and vague terms that reflect a whole array of sinfulness
This is not to say that God’s holy anger is directed toward 2 things. Rather it is directed toward one thing that is expressed in 2 different ways. The wrath is directed at the suppression of the truth. It is a singular truth – the self-revelation of God to man. That one truth directly affects both our attitudes toward God and toward one another. The suppression is not merely accidental – but the wording here explicitly means to willfully hold down to stifle
The self-revelation of God is the next point. There are some who say God cannot be known in any sense because he is other than us. That would be true if it was merely us trying to know him. Instead – God has made things known about himself and they are clear – because he is the one who declares them.
The creation around us is enough to know that there is a God & come to terms with his invisible attributes, his power and his eternal nature. This is why biblical creationism is under attack by both the godless & even certain misled people in the church. Creation itself is so plain that there must be a creator that every person who lives, has ever lived and will ever live on earth has no excuse before God
Illustration:
Since this section is about suppression of the truth of God revealed to man – let’s consider “revelation.” This means the disclosure of something that was unknown. There are two types of revelation: natural and special. Natural revelation is that which is revealed about God through what we can see in creation. Through creation we may learn that there is a God, that He is in control, that He has an order, and that He is concerned for our welfare. However, through natural revelation, we are not able to discover the plan of salvation. That comes from special revelation. Special revelation is that which is given to us through Prophets, the Bible, and even visions and dreams. The ultimate in revelation is the incarnation of Jesus because He came to reveal the Father to us and to communicate to us the gospel by which comes salvation.
Application:
No human being has an excuse before God. General revelation is enough to justly condemn every human being before God. This should cause a reaction from us. The reaction should be horror. The horrible reality is that all people everywhere are rightfully condemned by God to eternal death – separation from him – and hellfire. That is HORRIBLE! That too should cause a reaction – a pressing desire to share the Good News – that God’s mercy and grace provide salvation and provides it abundantly. God’s salvation saves us twice, in a sense. We are saved from hell – but God’s gift is more than fire insurance. God also saves us to himself – to have eternal life and have it now. Life as God intended in all its fullness and life with him forever. Yes, man’s natural state is horrible. So we should be horrified and we should be busy telling our family, friends, and neighbors about the great Good News of Jesus
Evidence/Confirmation vv. 21-23
The lack of excuse refers to how man has responded to God’s self-revelation. The sins are
1. Men do not naturally honor God. They treat him as common or non-existent
2. Men do not naturally give thanks to God. They are ungrateful
3. Because men rejected God’s truth, they became futile in their thinking. Their intelligence no matter how great was empty of the full truth of God. No matter how brilliant any man may be, we cannot think and reason and feel our way to God, because our minds and hearts are fallen. God revealed himself to us, because we cannot know God by our own powers, skills, or philosophies
4. Their hearts likewise were darkened. Their thoughts, emotion and will lacked God’s light. Man sets his heart steadfastly against God.
Even as pitiful a creature in the natural state, men claim wisdom apart from God. Mankind’s foolishness is seen in creating God in our image. Man is pitiful, yet he acts arrogant…
1. First, man trades in the glory of the true God –treating God like empty pop cans
2. Second, men turn to idolatry. This is a heart statement that God as he is isn’t good enough and so men make their own gods – rejecting God in favor of men, animals, & bugs
Also, when the Scriptures speak of a fool, it is not about intellectual ability. This makes sense because we all have probably met someone who is really intelligent and yet lacks all sense. The Scriptures identify a fool as someone who lacks moral and spiritual judgment.
Illustration:
The natural inclination of man, according to the Scriptures, is to flee from the presence of God. Our innate disposition or bias is to run from God not to God. – RC Sproul
Application:
The holiness of God is a trauma to sinful man. That is why men are so adept at making idols. One man once said that the heart of man is an idol making factory. Make no mistake – this is not just for Them whoever they may be. This is for us. We are professionals at making idols. Another man said that idolatry is worshiping anything that ought to be used and using anything that ought to be worshiped. What do we put in place of God in our lives. The answers would be widely varied. One way to find out is to look at how we spend our time and our money. This will show us what the real priorities are in our lives and help us repent of any sin and bring ourselves back to God. TV can be an idol. Popular writers or pastors or ministries can be idols if we revere them or give them the honor due only to God. Do not be deceived, we all have idols or idolatrous attitudes. Let us scrutinize our lives to bring our pet idols into subjection to the God who bought us with blood.
Verdict/Conclusion vv. 24-25
Because of everything in this passage, God gave men up. In other words, God gave mankind what mankind thought it wanted. Men in their natural state live lives devoid of God
This has resulted in:
1. Lust & impurity – man has a craving for the filth of sin
2. Dishonoring of the body – where men refused to honor God, now they will dishonor themselves with one another. This is tied to man bearing God’s image. Anywhere the image of God is denigrated and corrupted, mankind has no reason to treat their fellow image-bearers any better. The more man denies God his honor, the more man treats other people as valueless – seen today in the US is how people view abortion & suicide
Paul finalizes with a little healthy repetition – the reason this verdict must be handed down is due to mankind preferring to trade God and truth in like junk and to replace it with idols.
Yet, we see that man need not end this way in how Paul represents the life of a servant of Christ. While man in the natural state rejects God like garbage & prefers gods made in his own image, Paul is God’s child. Paul must praise God. Paul not only praises God, but insists on the praise being eternal and calls upon God to make it so. While the fate of sinful man is bleak, God shows us hope in how he has saved Paul. We who are saved by God continue in this hope.
Illustration:
There are no hopeless situations; there are only people who have grown hopeless about them. - Clare Boothe Luce
Application:
I disagree with that sentiment. I believe that man has every reason to be hopeless if he does not hope in Christ. Just as eternal life begins now in the quality of life we have in Christ, eternal death is a current reality too. The lost do not receive eternal death in the hereafter; they are dead in sin now. Sin and man’s state is a terrible thing. Sin leads to more sin. Man plumbs the depths of filth and depravity. Mankind is so depraved that he looks at what is an abomination to the Lord and declares it a human right. We look around at our nation and see the terrible sinfulness. Sin is no longer called evil but called alternative lifestyle and other such foolishness. People not only wallow in it but want others to participate and embrace sinful desires. Truly man has been given up to the lust of his heart. Yet, we are not without hope. The light of God can dispel all darkness. We who know Christ have a living hope. And all who are hopeless around us, enslaved in sin, we know the name of Hope. We must share Hope’s name with everyone – Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ alone saves.
So What? What do we do now?
Often, the first chapter of Romans brings up the question about salvation for those who have never heard of Christ. Often, such a question is worded, “What about the poor innocent person from faraway place?” The idea being that God should not judge someone for rejecting a Christ he has never heard of before. The problem is with the word “innocent.” There are no innocent people because nature alone, general revelation alone, is enough to condemn and without any excuse. All men are dead in sin and stand condemned already. God’s wrath is poured out on all men not because they have rejected a Christ they never heard of, but because they rejected God even though he made himself known. That too is part of the Gospel. We need to appreciate just how lost all men are before we can appreciate the salvation found in Christ alone
Another misconception about the worship of God dispelled here is that as long as a person worships or is religious, then God honors it. From Romans we see that just because someone is religious does not minimize guilt before God, but rather intensifies guilt. This is because God does not command people to be simply religious or spiritual. Rather God commands that mankind worship him properly.
All this means that people can never hear the name of Christ and they can be sincerely devout & spiritual and yet stand guilty and condemned before God. Again, this is horrible and that horror is meant to be a goad, a whip, to drive us on to share the Good News of salvation
However, if we are saved, we are not off any hook. To refuse to share the Gospel is a sin. To allow our neighbors & friends to live their lives without hearing the good news of Jesus is the same as telling them we want them to go to hell.
Further, we who have been saved have no excuse to place an idol on the throne of our heart. Only God belongs there. My challenge – spend this week taking a close look at how you spend your money and your time. Identify your idols and then sacrifice them on God’s altar. After all this is the season for resolutions, so resolve to worship God and none other. Amen!
Benediction
Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost. Romans 15:13
As a pastor, I enjoy a good preacher joke. One goes something like this: A pastor looked out and saw a look of general disinterest and boredom on the faces of his congregation. Some were even asleep. So he shouted, “Who here wants to go to hell,” and he loudly hit the pulpit. One of the sleeping men was shocked awake and lurched to his feet. He drowsily looked around and said, “Preacher, I don’t know what we’re votin’ for, but you and me’s the only ones in favor of it.” Who would vote in favor of hell? Some think hell will be fun and full of friends and parties. Others think no one or almost no one could ever go to hell. Yet, Paul the apostle, writing as an apostle of God believes in the rightful wrath of God on sinful man. It is a serious subject to consider as we turn again to Paul’s letter to the Romans…
Context:
In the last section, Paul began his letter to the saints at Rome by introducing himself. He made himself known as a slave to Christ and an apostle. Paul also introduced Jesus in terms of being the promised Messiah of God as the descendant of David and the unique son of God. Paul further indicated his audience – to the called out holy ones – the saints of God – which includes all here who have trusted in Christ alone for salvation. Paul gave thanks to God for the faith of the Romans – faith that did not originate in these saints, but originated from God. Paul then explained his desire to come among them as a fellow believer to minister and be ministered to. Paul then declared the meat of his message to every people group of every level of intelligence – the Good News of Jesus Christ – the truth that salvation is 100% of faith, grace and mercy of God and cannot be tainted by any attempted work of man. We now come to Romans 1:18…
Body – Romans 1:18-25 – ESV
God’s Wrath on Unrighteousness
18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. 19 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. 22 Claiming to be wise, they became fools, 23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.
24 Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, 25 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.
Indictment/Condemnation vv. 18-21
At first glance, it may seem abrupt for Paul to switch from not being ashamed of the Gospel and justification by faith to WRATH. This is not a strange or unnecessary switch. Rather, to appreciate to grace and mercy of salvation, we need to understand what we are being saved from – the right, just, and holy wrath of God
The term for wrath here declares the intensity of the wrath – it is holy anger. Any mention of the holy anger of God should cause man to tremble and desire to know what God is angry with so that it can be avoided
God’s wrath is revealed – declared openly – against ungodliness & unrighteousness.
1. Ungodliness speaks to our attitude toward God. It is a stance against all things godly – those things in accord with the nature and person of God
2. Unrighteousness speaks to our attitudes toward one another
3. These are general and vague terms that reflect a whole array of sinfulness
This is not to say that God’s holy anger is directed toward 2 things. Rather it is directed toward one thing that is expressed in 2 different ways. The wrath is directed at the suppression of the truth. It is a singular truth – the self-revelation of God to man. That one truth directly affects both our attitudes toward God and toward one another. The suppression is not merely accidental – but the wording here explicitly means to willfully hold down to stifle
The self-revelation of God is the next point. There are some who say God cannot be known in any sense because he is other than us. That would be true if it was merely us trying to know him. Instead – God has made things known about himself and they are clear – because he is the one who declares them.
The creation around us is enough to know that there is a God & come to terms with his invisible attributes, his power and his eternal nature. This is why biblical creationism is under attack by both the godless & even certain misled people in the church. Creation itself is so plain that there must be a creator that every person who lives, has ever lived and will ever live on earth has no excuse before God
Illustration:
Since this section is about suppression of the truth of God revealed to man – let’s consider “revelation.” This means the disclosure of something that was unknown. There are two types of revelation: natural and special. Natural revelation is that which is revealed about God through what we can see in creation. Through creation we may learn that there is a God, that He is in control, that He has an order, and that He is concerned for our welfare. However, through natural revelation, we are not able to discover the plan of salvation. That comes from special revelation. Special revelation is that which is given to us through Prophets, the Bible, and even visions and dreams. The ultimate in revelation is the incarnation of Jesus because He came to reveal the Father to us and to communicate to us the gospel by which comes salvation.
Application:
No human being has an excuse before God. General revelation is enough to justly condemn every human being before God. This should cause a reaction from us. The reaction should be horror. The horrible reality is that all people everywhere are rightfully condemned by God to eternal death – separation from him – and hellfire. That is HORRIBLE! That too should cause a reaction – a pressing desire to share the Good News – that God’s mercy and grace provide salvation and provides it abundantly. God’s salvation saves us twice, in a sense. We are saved from hell – but God’s gift is more than fire insurance. God also saves us to himself – to have eternal life and have it now. Life as God intended in all its fullness and life with him forever. Yes, man’s natural state is horrible. So we should be horrified and we should be busy telling our family, friends, and neighbors about the great Good News of Jesus
Evidence/Confirmation vv. 21-23
The lack of excuse refers to how man has responded to God’s self-revelation. The sins are
1. Men do not naturally honor God. They treat him as common or non-existent
2. Men do not naturally give thanks to God. They are ungrateful
3. Because men rejected God’s truth, they became futile in their thinking. Their intelligence no matter how great was empty of the full truth of God. No matter how brilliant any man may be, we cannot think and reason and feel our way to God, because our minds and hearts are fallen. God revealed himself to us, because we cannot know God by our own powers, skills, or philosophies
4. Their hearts likewise were darkened. Their thoughts, emotion and will lacked God’s light. Man sets his heart steadfastly against God.
Even as pitiful a creature in the natural state, men claim wisdom apart from God. Mankind’s foolishness is seen in creating God in our image. Man is pitiful, yet he acts arrogant…
1. First, man trades in the glory of the true God –treating God like empty pop cans
2. Second, men turn to idolatry. This is a heart statement that God as he is isn’t good enough and so men make their own gods – rejecting God in favor of men, animals, & bugs
Also, when the Scriptures speak of a fool, it is not about intellectual ability. This makes sense because we all have probably met someone who is really intelligent and yet lacks all sense. The Scriptures identify a fool as someone who lacks moral and spiritual judgment.
Illustration:
The natural inclination of man, according to the Scriptures, is to flee from the presence of God. Our innate disposition or bias is to run from God not to God. – RC Sproul
Application:
The holiness of God is a trauma to sinful man. That is why men are so adept at making idols. One man once said that the heart of man is an idol making factory. Make no mistake – this is not just for Them whoever they may be. This is for us. We are professionals at making idols. Another man said that idolatry is worshiping anything that ought to be used and using anything that ought to be worshiped. What do we put in place of God in our lives. The answers would be widely varied. One way to find out is to look at how we spend our time and our money. This will show us what the real priorities are in our lives and help us repent of any sin and bring ourselves back to God. TV can be an idol. Popular writers or pastors or ministries can be idols if we revere them or give them the honor due only to God. Do not be deceived, we all have idols or idolatrous attitudes. Let us scrutinize our lives to bring our pet idols into subjection to the God who bought us with blood.
Verdict/Conclusion vv. 24-25
Because of everything in this passage, God gave men up. In other words, God gave mankind what mankind thought it wanted. Men in their natural state live lives devoid of God
This has resulted in:
1. Lust & impurity – man has a craving for the filth of sin
2. Dishonoring of the body – where men refused to honor God, now they will dishonor themselves with one another. This is tied to man bearing God’s image. Anywhere the image of God is denigrated and corrupted, mankind has no reason to treat their fellow image-bearers any better. The more man denies God his honor, the more man treats other people as valueless – seen today in the US is how people view abortion & suicide
Paul finalizes with a little healthy repetition – the reason this verdict must be handed down is due to mankind preferring to trade God and truth in like junk and to replace it with idols.
Yet, we see that man need not end this way in how Paul represents the life of a servant of Christ. While man in the natural state rejects God like garbage & prefers gods made in his own image, Paul is God’s child. Paul must praise God. Paul not only praises God, but insists on the praise being eternal and calls upon God to make it so. While the fate of sinful man is bleak, God shows us hope in how he has saved Paul. We who are saved by God continue in this hope.
Illustration:
There are no hopeless situations; there are only people who have grown hopeless about them. - Clare Boothe Luce
Application:
I disagree with that sentiment. I believe that man has every reason to be hopeless if he does not hope in Christ. Just as eternal life begins now in the quality of life we have in Christ, eternal death is a current reality too. The lost do not receive eternal death in the hereafter; they are dead in sin now. Sin and man’s state is a terrible thing. Sin leads to more sin. Man plumbs the depths of filth and depravity. Mankind is so depraved that he looks at what is an abomination to the Lord and declares it a human right. We look around at our nation and see the terrible sinfulness. Sin is no longer called evil but called alternative lifestyle and other such foolishness. People not only wallow in it but want others to participate and embrace sinful desires. Truly man has been given up to the lust of his heart. Yet, we are not without hope. The light of God can dispel all darkness. We who know Christ have a living hope. And all who are hopeless around us, enslaved in sin, we know the name of Hope. We must share Hope’s name with everyone – Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ alone saves.
So What? What do we do now?
Often, the first chapter of Romans brings up the question about salvation for those who have never heard of Christ. Often, such a question is worded, “What about the poor innocent person from faraway place?” The idea being that God should not judge someone for rejecting a Christ he has never heard of before. The problem is with the word “innocent.” There are no innocent people because nature alone, general revelation alone, is enough to condemn and without any excuse. All men are dead in sin and stand condemned already. God’s wrath is poured out on all men not because they have rejected a Christ they never heard of, but because they rejected God even though he made himself known. That too is part of the Gospel. We need to appreciate just how lost all men are before we can appreciate the salvation found in Christ alone
Another misconception about the worship of God dispelled here is that as long as a person worships or is religious, then God honors it. From Romans we see that just because someone is religious does not minimize guilt before God, but rather intensifies guilt. This is because God does not command people to be simply religious or spiritual. Rather God commands that mankind worship him properly.
All this means that people can never hear the name of Christ and they can be sincerely devout & spiritual and yet stand guilty and condemned before God. Again, this is horrible and that horror is meant to be a goad, a whip, to drive us on to share the Good News of salvation
However, if we are saved, we are not off any hook. To refuse to share the Gospel is a sin. To allow our neighbors & friends to live their lives without hearing the good news of Jesus is the same as telling them we want them to go to hell.
Further, we who have been saved have no excuse to place an idol on the throne of our heart. Only God belongs there. My challenge – spend this week taking a close look at how you spend your money and your time. Identify your idols and then sacrifice them on God’s altar. After all this is the season for resolutions, so resolve to worship God and none other. Amen!
Benediction
Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost. Romans 15:13
