The Book of Romans: The Wrath of God Revealed (1:18-32)

Welcome to Living Faith.

We are a church trusting God to win souls, make disciples, equip leaders, and multiply ministry all throughout the world.

From St.

Louis, Missouri to the uttermost parts of the earth.

Thank you for listening in.

And this is where we kind of left our message off last week.

And it'll be a setup for the weeks to come as we move through Romans chapter 1, 2, and 3.

Romans 1 · chapter mention

A main portion where we learn about man's guiltiness before God.

And we see a few sections within that.

And then ultimately a declaration of the salvation or the solution regarding our problem with sin.

And then ultimately sanctification and glorification.

If you look here, the first part that we're going to consider in Romans chapter 1 is this idea of wrath consciousness, or a man or woman being made aware of God's wrath and justice against them.

Romans 1 · chapter mention

Upon them acknowledging or being aware of the wrath and justice that is against them, there is in the gospel presentation we must give people a need to show that they have to also accept that they are worthy of that judgment.

So it's not just that the wrath of God is against them.

An individual has to get saved or get lost before they can get saved.

They have to actually accept that they're worthy of God's judgment.

Because even though if somebody knows that the wrath of God is against them, it doesn't necessarily mean that they believe they're worthy of it.

Maybe they think God's unjust in his judgment or that it's evil of God to send people to hell.

An individual, before they can accept the goodness of the gospel, the grace of God freely given to all men, they have to humble themselves before the God who created them and accept that they are worthy of the judgment of God.

And lastly, finally, in kind of the series in Romans 1 through 3, they have to be agreeable that Jesus is the only way to be justified.

And that there is no other solution for this very deep sin problem that we all have.

Aware of God's wrath, accepting that they are worthy of the judgment of God because of that, because of their sin, that they're guilty, and ultimately agreeable that Jesus Christ is the only way apart from self-righteousness.

Look at it with me again, Romans chapter 1 and verses 18 and 19.

Romans 1 · chapter mention

The first part of the gospel is the revelation that men by nature are deserving of God's wrath.

We saw the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith, but now in Romans chapter 1 and verse 18, we look at this, for the wrath of God is also revealed from heaven.

Romans 1 · chapter mention

Against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who hold the truth in unrighteousness, because that which may be known of God is manifest in them, for God hath showed it unto them.

Okay, so before men and women understand the good news of salvation, they must understand the bad news that they are condemned and guilty before the living God.

The first thing that God wants men and women to see and to know is that they need to be saved from his wrath.

Now, a lot of times in evangelistic conversations or even Christianese, we we talk a lot about hell, and understandably so we should.

Jesus Christ spoke of hell more than all of the other writers collectively.

Okay, so if you want to deny the doctrine of hell, you're gonna have to deny the words of the Lord Jesus Christ, which Paul told Timothy are wholesome and not to reject in 1 Timothy.

Okay, so it's interesting though.

And so that's intriguing altogether.

Christian churches everywhere talking about hell, you're gonna go to hell, you're gonna burn in hell.

And the Apostle Paul never once uses that word.

Rather, he's making an argument about the wrath of God.

And so he positions the judgment of God not in relationship to punishment, but in relationship to righteousness.

And I want you to hold that idea because we're not trying to scare people into hell, we're trying to get people to see the character of God.

And that is first that he is righteous, and that's how he's revealed himself through truth, and that he is gracious.

God is a God of perfect justice and grace.

And so I think it is wise for us in our communication not to avoid hell, but to just use our words to help people understand that God's judgment is pure and it is good because he is just.

Okay, so the wrath of God revealed, but reserved.

But reserved.

So in Romans chapter 1 and verse 18, we find the wrath of God revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who hold the truth of God and unrighteousness, and yet, while it's revealed, it's not on men yet.

Romans 1 · chapter mention

The Bible says that God has a day appointed where he will judge the world.

Acts chapter 17, if you remember Paul's words.

Acts 17 · chapter mention

In verse 31, he says, Because he hath appointed a day in the which he, God, will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained, whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead.

This is Jesus Christ, bringing justice and judgment to the earth.

And yet that day, that second coming, that day of the Lord, that Armageddon campaign, that however you want to frame it, that is being withheld right now because God is trying to plead with men and use his body, his bride, his church, to reconcile men back to himself.

And so God is actually suffering right now, desiring that his justice be served in this earth.

And he is withholding that, suffering a while, waiting, patient, hoping that some might repent.

His wrath is presently being restrained so that he can show his mercy and grace and truth.

And so not only display his righteousness and reveal his righteousness, but also the fullness of his nature.

2 Peter chapter 3 and verse 9, it says, The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, but as some summing count slackness, but is long-suffering to usward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.

2 Peter 3 · chapter mention

This is God's heart for this age.

And this is why God is partnering with us and has invited us into the ministry of reconciliation, that we might go out into the world as ambassadors of Christ, saying, be reconciled to God.

God's long suffering.

And I don't think we often think that way.

We know God's gracious, but we don't think that God is actually hurting over the state of the world today.

God's long suffering should never be mistaken for his approval of sin, but rather his aspiration to magnify more qualities about himself.

And it is not only his aspiration to magnify those qualities, but an invitation to us to be a part of what he's doing.

And so judgment is postponed, but promised to come.

Okay, so now in Romans chapter 1, Paul gives us a short summary or an abstract of mankind's history leading up to this age.

Romans 1 · chapter mention

That's what we're reading in Romans chapter 1, verses 18 through 32, that long list and that series of men and men becoming progressively worse.

Romans 1:18–32

That is a description of mankind.

And we're going to see that here as we kind of move forward in our message.

Paul shows mankind to be ungodly and unrighteous from the beginning, following the course that produces progressively greater rebellion against God.

The course of this world, the course that has been set out by the enemy.

Ephesians chapter 2 summarizes the conditions described in Romans 1 with two important phrases, and we'll read the text here in just a second.

Ephesians 2 · chapter mention

And it is these two phrases that men walked according to the course of this world, and men were by nature the children of wrath, and are without the goodness and the gift of the gospel.

So Ephesians chapter 2 and verses 1 through 3.

Ephesians 2 · chapter mention

I want you to think about these phrases, you know, in times past, but now and in ages to come.

God has some things to talk to us about in his word, about things that were, things that are, and things that will be.

That's always the discussion.

Here in Ephesians 2, we're learning about things that were true of us prior to knowing Christ.

It says this, and you hath he quickened, that's already happened, who were past tense, dead in trespasses and sins, wherein in times past you walked according to the course of this world.

The course of life, the way of life, the race that is set before you.

Well, there's a course of this world that you were walking before you were turned away on that journey, headed to hell.

According to the Prince of the power and air, the spirit that now worketh, and the children of disobedience, among whom also we all had our conversation or our lifestyle in times past, in the lust of the flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others.

The course of this world was set in motion by Satan after the fall of Adam in the garden, and then it exploded and was cultivated and became really complex after the scattering of the nations at the Tower of Babel.

Okay, so initially, Satan, at the fall, right, Adam is given dominion and then loses it because of his sin, his decision to rebel against God and disobey the commandment to not eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil.

And at that moment, he is getting he hands over his responsibility and dominion to the enemy in that regard.

And here it is in the scriptures we see a course then set out, a way of Cain in Genesis chapter 4, and away of the enemy, as we see the flood account happen.

Genesis 4 · chapter mention

And we begin to ask, why is God flooding the world?

Well, it's for a particular reason.

Men were becoming more and more and more ungodly, and there's some spiritual things happening behind the scenes.

And then the Tower of Babel.

The altar is set up after they get off the ark, and they are told, be fruitful and multiply and replenish.

Go throughout the world, multiply yourselves.

And in Genesis chapter 11, right, it says that they actually didn't want to be scattered, and so they rebel against God's desire, and they want to make a name for themselves and a kingdom for themselves.

Genesis 11 · chapter mention

And they begin to walk the course that Nimrod ultimately has envisioned the people for, and God says, I'm against this.

And from that time forward, God actually hands the nations of the world over to what they want and to their desires.

It is a course that we also have to be considered of in this life, that people are always tempted to walk.

It is, you know, as Paul says, a desire of his that he might finish his course well.

It is a course that the enemy has designed for mankind, ultimately to live in rebellion against God.

A course that is carved out by culture and philosophy and art and ideas and music and business and media and the many other things that come against our life.

There are things that have been interjected into the way people live all throughout the world and all the different cultures we're in, so that men ultimately reject the truth of God.

Sometimes it manifests in Hinduism, sometimes it manifests in scientific materialism, sometimes it manifests in the good life.

Just have a family.

Build your home.

Just be happy.

The course of this world sometimes looks like the pursuit of happiness rather than the pursuit of holiness.

You know, fame or fortune.

Some people get trapped in the course of trying to find a life where they can just become famous or have money, as if that's going to satisfy why they were created.

It will not.

This course is the broad way, which leads to destruction that Jesus warned about.

It is the way of comfort and convenience.

It turns when it wants.

It's like a tide that comes back and forth.

You thought the temptation was gone, now it's there again.

It's a course designed to get you off track and to not be the human that God intended you to be as a son or daughter of God.

God created all things good.

He did not intend for men and women to walk away from him.

In fact, hell was never created for man.

It actually says that it was created for the devil and his angels.

But mankind gave up, Adam gave up his dominion of this earth when he disobeyed God.

Sin and death entered the world and mankind became bound to sin and subject to death.

Okay, so the first kind of section this morning I want you to think about is the wrath of God revealed but reserved or withheld.

Because God is long-suffering, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.

But the second thing I want us to consider is that sin, while God's wrath and his judgment is withheld, sin increases.

And God doesn't impute men's sin unto them, sins to them, especially those that are ignorant.

Okay, so again, Romans 1 is a short history, a summary of human history, and sin progressing as men are left to their own devices.

And I want to show you this in the scriptures.

In Acts chapter 14, if you remember, Paul and Barnabas heal a man, and the people conclude that they were gods.

Acts 14 · chapter mention

Do you remember that?

They're like, we need to start making some sacrifices and worshiping these guys.

They must have come down from heaven.

It says, These guys must be gods who came down in the likeness of men.

And in Acts chapter 14, and verses 14 through 16, I just want to read it to you.

Acts 14 · chapter mention

It says, When uh which, when the apostles, Paul and Barnabas, heard of, they rent their clothes and ran among the people, crying out, saying, Sirs, why do you do these things?

We also are men of like passions with you, and preach unto you that ye should not turn from these that ye should turn from these vanities, or repent from these vanities unto the living God, which made heaven and earth and the sea and all things that are therein.

Now that these vanities, for those that have been a part of Bible study, we we've seen, are in connection with demigods and idols.

These are those gods that the nations gave themselves over to, as you see through the scriptures, and as you see through human history, and as you can see right now, all throughout the world.

Okay, now but but look with me.

The very next verse of Acts chapter 14, verse 16 says this, who in times past suffered, this is God, God in times past suffered, or in that is this old language to say allowed.

Acts 14:16

In times past, God allowed all nations to walk in their own ways.

Okay, so the nations at one time were given over to vanities, and Paul's coming to them and saying, We are not those gods that you are worshiping, those false demigods.

We are not of Jupiter and Mars.

We're not those, we're just men like you, we're men of like passions.

And then he goes on to say, yet in times past, God did allow all nations to walk after their own ways.

I want you to turn from those things now.

God's revealed himself.

Okay, so while God's focus centers on the nation of Israel in the Old Testament, we must understand that he still ultimately was in charge of all of the Gentile nations he wasn't in direct relationship with under the law.

God didn't just deal with Israel and then forget the nations.

He knew exactly what was happening.

He didn't like what was happening, but he did allow it.

He did allow it.

And you think, why?

Why did God allow the nations, all nations, to walk in their own ways?

It's a strange thing.

It's not that he wanted them to, but it was because he was allowing them to have what they wanted.

God actually gave them exactly what they said they wanted.

And in Acts chapter 17, in verses 29 through 30, it says, For as much then as we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Godhead is like unto gold or silver or stone or graven by art and man's device.

Acts 17 · chapter mention

And the times of this ignorance God winked at.

That is to say, in times past.

But now commanded all men everywhere to repent.

So the reference here, right, is in times past, men were making idols unto false gods out of gold, silver, stone, graven images, by art and man's device.

And God, because he handed the nations over to whatever they wanted, as we just read in Acts 14, God winks at this.

He's like, I know it's happening.

I'm not in agreement with it, but I'm allowing it.

He allows it to happen.

But now, but now something's happened because of the revelation of the righteousness of God through Christ, that God's saying, All men need to repent everywhere, because my wrath is upon them, and I'm long-suffering, hoping that they might turn.

And God, apart from Israel now in the New Testament, begins to make an offer to all of those nations who at one time had no idea what or who the God of Israel was, except they had it revealed through the nation of Israel.

So God winked at this ignorance.

In Romans chapter 5, Romans chapter 5, and verses 12 through 14.

Romans 5 · chapter mention Romans 5 · chapter mention

We'll dive deeper into this text once we get there.

But it says, Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, that is Adam, and by death, and death by sin.

And so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned.

For, listen to the parenthetical here.

For until the law, sin was in the world, but sin is not imputed where there is no law.

Nevertheless, 14 is important, nevertheless, death reigned.

Just because God was not imputing sins unto men, that doesn't mean that sin wasn't in the world.

It's just that God was not giving men the consequences of their sin because of that.

Verse 14, nevertheless, death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam's transgression, who is the figure of him that was to come.

And right, Romans 5 then gives us the solution in the person of Christ.

But I just want to show you ultimately two things out of this text.

First, that we are all under the wrath of God and guilty because of Adam's sin.

And that transgression has, by Adam's sin, made us children of wrath, Ephesians chapter 2.

Ephesians 2 · chapter mention

But secondly, 13 and 14, regarding mankind before the giving of the law, God was winking at sin because the law was not revealing to men that they were sinners.

They were ignorant.

And so because of their ignorance, God was not imputing to them their sin.

Does this make sense?

A little bit?

I want you to consider that, but then consider our third section this morning out of Romans chapter 1, and that is that truth is available but not accepted.

Romans 1 · chapter mention

So here are some questions for you.

Okay, regarding this text.

Does this mean that the Lord approved of the Gentiles' sinful behavior in the Old Testament?

I speak as a man, God forbid.

God certainly did not approve of Baal worship and child sacrifice.

It's awful.

But rather he allowed it.

He allowed it for a particular purpose, to give Israel an honest opportunity to receive his grace and become the light of the nations to redeem the earth.

There's an honest opportunity to Israel.

Now they rejected that opportunity.

And so God turns back to the Gentiles and gives them also a fair opportunity to respond to his righteousness and his grace.

Rather, he allowed this all for the nations.

And he allowed them to follow the course that they wanted so that they could experience the subsequent consequences of the decisions that they wanted.

And I believe that's actually what preps us for receiving, as Gentiles, preps us for receiving the grace of Christ.

You may think to yourself, how can God judge all of these nations in the world if he's left them ignorant?

Isn't that a fair question?

How can God judge all of these Gentile nations?

Like when you read your Old Testament, all of those apart from Israel, all of those who were not given the law.

How could God judge these people?

How are they guilty if they don't even know what righteousness is?

Do you see the point?

How could God do that?

Well, Romans chapter 5 and verse 13, sin is not imputed where there is no law.

Romans 5 · chapter mention

Nevertheless, death reigned.

And this, again, is our third key point, our third section this morning out of Romans 1, and that is that truth is available, but not accepted.

So specifically, what were men and women ignorant of in the Old Testament?

It wasn't God and it wasn't truth, it wasn't righteousness, it was particularly the law, the commandments.

But that doesn't mean that they didn't have truth at all, and that's what Paul's trying to get the Romans to see.

Even though the Gentiles did not have the law, they still are without excuse.

Because they know the law, they know the truth of God.

Okay, so truth is available to all men, but not accepted.

Okay, so here is the central point that Paul is driving in Romans 1.

Everyone's guilty and without excuse.

Men are not innocent because they lack all knowledge of God.

Creation clearly reveals his eternal power and Godhead.

Mankind is guilty because with the truth that they have been given, they've rejected it.

We don't have to have all truth of God to be guilty before God, because even if he gives us a little bit, if we don't respond to that little bit of truth, we are still yet guilty.

The only point Paul is making in Romans 1 is we're all guilty, every one of us.

Israel's guilty because of the righteousness of the law.

Remember, last week we learned about this phrase, from faith to faith.

The faith of the law to the faith of Jesus Christ.

Well, the Gentiles never had the law, so how could God judge them according to the law?

He won't.

He'll judge them according to the truth that's revealed in everything else.

And they didn't like that.

And so that they began to follow the course of the world and do whatever they wanted.

And God allowed that.

And they became guilty.

Romans chapter 1 and verse 20.

Romans 1 · chapter mention

For the invisible things of him from creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse.

The problem, once again, is not that men had no knowledge of God, the problem is that what they did, what the problem was what they did with the knowledge they did possess.

Okay, look at now Romans chapter 1 and verses 21 through 23.

Romans 1 · chapter mention

It says, Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful, but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened, professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, and changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man and to birds and to four footed beasts and to creeping things.

Look at this next slide with me.

I want you to see a progression in Romans chapter 1.

Romans 1 · chapter mention

Regarding truth that men and women have, even if they don't have the law of God.

Okay.

Verse 18, the text tells us they hold the truth.

Verse 19, it's manifest.

The things of God can be known because God has manifested it in them.

Verse 19, for God has shown it unto them or showed it unto them.

20.

These things regarding his power and his Godhead are clear to be seen.

They're understood by the things that God has made.

I'm atheist.

Sure about that?

I think it's actually, biblically speaking, an impossible position to hold.

Atheism does not exist in the biblical narrative.

It is men suppressing the truth.

They just don't want to believe in God.

They know there's one.

And the Bible has a name for them.

And we'll talk about that here in a moment.

They knew God.

They know the truth.

God has manifested that in them.

They changed the glory of God into these corruptible images.

Meaning, to change something, you had to have it to begin with.

They also changed the truth of God into a lie as they changed the natural use of their bodies, both men and women, behaving how they wanted to.

God gave them a natural order that could be clearly seen in creation.

They knew the truth and yet they denied the truth.

They just don't like the truth.

They know he exists.

They just don't want to be guilty before him.

And so how are they going to get out of the guiltiness of God?

Well, they're just going to change the righteous standard to their own.

And they're going to live how they want.

Maybe I won't be guilty before God if I can just take the truth that has been manifested in me and pretend like it's not true.

Or, better yet, I'll take the truth and take all the ideas of the truth and change them, twist them, make them, turn them into a lie.

Verse 25.

Verse 27.

Leaving the natural use.

Meaning they once had it.

They once were in the natural use of their bodies.

Verse 28, they did not like, this is the main issue.

This is it.

The crux of the matter, 28.

They did not like to retain God and their knowledge.

Why?

Well, because God is righteous and we are not.

And so it's easier for me to do away with God so that I don't have to reconcile why I'm so broken and he is so good and righteous, and why ultimately I am without excuse worthy of his judgment.

The reality is in the gospel message, there is a way better solution than pretending like the truth doesn't exist or pretending like God doesn't exist.

And the solution is God Himself.

Because God is not just trying to manifest his righteousness and his wrath, he is also trying to reveal his grace and the solution of Jesus Christ.

And he revealed that through literally showing up on earth and dying for us.

That's how he revealed it.

It's pretty beautiful and amazing in this way.

And so notice the progression that we find out of this series in Romans 1.

They knew God.

They refused to glorify Him as God.

It says they are not thankful.

That's where a lot of this begins.

People not actually thankful for all that God has given.

Even when life becomes difficult.

Thankful for family, thankful for breath, thankful for existence, thankful for a mind that works, thankful for a body that can move.

Thankful for the beauty of creation.

Thankful for the stars.

Thankful for a nice cool day.

Thankful that we aren't some blob of mud.

Thankful for relationships and all of those beautiful characters that he allows us, characteristics of himself that he allows us to be engaging with one another.

I mean, life is beautiful.

The miracle that Christians are looking for in this age has already been revealed.

It's in front of us.

It's life.

It's one another.

It's an invitation to be with God, to know him, to be brought into his divine image, to be conformed, to see Jesus Christ formed in us.

That's the miracle that we get to participate in every day of our life.

But we become unthankful.

Maybe it's because we're forgetful or we just don't like the fact that the only way that's going to get done is if we humble ourselves and abandon self-righteousness.

They become vain in their imaginations.

The things they begin to create, the worldviews that they think of, the ideas that they run to, they're empty.

But it's anything to get away from the truth that has been manifested in them.

And so their foolish heart becomes darkened.

And over time, as mankind says, we don't want God, God says, Well, I'm not going to force myself upon you.

You want what you want?

I'll give you what you want.

Does God want that?

Is he pleased with that?

Is he agreeable upon that?

No.

But he allows it.

So that his judgment can actually come in the form of giving men what they want.

They exchange the glory of God.

They exchange the glory of God for images.

I think this is one of the saddest things we do.

I mean, we I don't know how you think about God, but oftentimes we have ideas or vain imaginations or images of who we think God is, and we exchange that for the glory of God.

That He actually wants to show us and reveal to us.

Don't suppress the truth.

And here is Paul's point ultimately.

Men know more than enough to be responsible to their creator, yet they suppress the truth so that they can pursue ungodliness.

Therefore, that allows God to give his justice or judgment against their life and be right in doing so.

God's response to man's persistent rebellion was to give them the course that they chose to walk down.

The way that they wanted to go.

To allow them to get what they had proven to God they already wanted.

And so three statements in Romans chapter 1 come up.

Romans 1 · chapter mention

The first is that God gives them up to uncleanness.

This is verses 24 and 25.

It says, Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lust of their hearts to dishonor their own bodies between themselves, who changed the truth of God into a lie and worshiped and served the creature more than the creator, who is blessed forever.

Amen.

Men and women exchanged the truth of God for a lie.

They worshiped and served, ultimately the physical creation and everything, all the creatures that God had created, rather than God Himself.

And so God gave them over to the lust of their hearts.

But not only that, God didn't just give them up to uncleanness.

In verses 26 through 27, as sin increases and progresses and unfolds, it says that God gives them up to vile affections.

For this cause, verse 26, God gave them up to vile affections, for even their women to change the natural use into that which is against nature, and likewise the men, leaving the natural use of the women, burned in their lust one towards another men, with men working that which is unseemly and receiving in themselves that recompense of their reward which is meat.

Okay.

It gets bad enough that the not only the evidence of creation, but the evidence of our natural use of the body to reproduce and procreate is also turned away from.

Like every one of us experience that in our biological nature every single day of our lives.

And it gets bad enough that men and women say, I know that this is true of my biology, but I don't want it.

And so this is what this is what hold this thought if you can in evangelism.

Mankind is always trying to do two things.

Either escape God, change God, so that they aren't going to be judged by him.

Like if God just doesn't exist or I can change his nature or change his righteous standard, well then God can't judge me according to that thing.

And so if I just twist the truth up and make my own worldview work for me, then I can live however I want, and I can escape the judgment of God.

Paul's point is you're without excuse.

You can do that, but you're still at risk.

The other thing men and women will do is they know they can't change God, and so they'll change themselves.

They'll unbecome human.

I know that sounds weird, but ultimately they'll say, Well, I don't have a soul.

We're only material creatures.

And so God can't judge my soul eternally because when I die, I'm just going to end up in a box.

And so, what did I just do?

I created a worldview that allowed me to escape the truth that I know is real.

There are things beyond the physical world.

And we'll see this in Romans chapter 1 through 3.

Romans 1 · chapter mention

Other worldviews where men and women are doing one of two things: changing the nature of God to try to escape, or changing the nature of themselves to try to escape.

Right now, the conversation is AI.

What will humankind be beyond, like if we don't integrate with technology in a real way, maybe the human race will actually just be destroyed.

And if we don't upload some conscious human experience to some technology, then we're just all gonna fail to exist.

That is mankind escaping in some peculiar vain imagination, some worldview they've formed, trying to escape the judgment of God, trying to undo themselves.

And here's the reality: you and I, individually before God, the Bible says we will give an account, that every man will give an account of himself before God.

There's no collective thing happening here.

You have an individual soul before God.

God loves you, he's trying to commune with you.

You are valuable in his sight.

God's not dealing with us as groups, and he is calling upon us to read repent and turn to him.

Men and women exchange the truth of God for a lie.

They are given up to uncleanness, they are given up to vile affections.

Thirdly, God gives them over to a reprobate mind.

It gets so bad that God says, Truly, I'm done dealing with you.

You've convinced me that you will always rebel against me.

Live how you want.

You can have exactly what you want.

Look at again Romans chapter 1 and verse 28.

Romans 1 · chapter mention

And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind to do those things which are not convenient.

I believe this breaks the heart of God.

But God's not going to waste his time pursuing people who have determined never to be in relationship with him.

That'd be evil.

I mean, it'd be the boyfriend or the guy who never relents, even though he's, you know, told no a thousand times.

Like, at some point you gotta hear the answer and stop.

All right, here's the main thought that I want to give you.

And that is that God's righteous judgment sometimes comes in the form of giving you exactly what you want.

The judgment of God.

And that's what God is actually allowing to take place with the nations.

He's not judging them by coming and like pouring his wrath against them.

He's actually judging them by saying, Oh, you want that?

You really do?

Don't turn.

Change your mind about this matter.

Oh, you you really do want that.

You don't want my ways?

Fine, have them.

And that's a form of God's judgment.

And just devotionally here to us all.

If you constantly tell God no in your Christian life in any given area, and you just keep saying no to God, no to God, no to God, no to God, no to God, eventually, the form of chastisement that comes upon the Christian is God saying, You really want that?

You don't you don't want to listen to my word?

I'll show you the consequences of you just getting what you want.

And that should terrify us.

To ever get to a place in our life where God's like, you know what, if you're not going to listen to me, maybe you'll listen to the subsequent consequences of your own ways.

I've been actually in my mercy withholding those things, but I'll let you have actually what falls out from those decisions.

And uh I just want to give you that sober warning because um we're always at risk in the Christian life to uh uh keep thumbing our nose at God.

And I believe God wants us just to be humble before Him and uh choose His way.

And so here, the judgment, fourthly, in our study here in Romans 1, I want to talk to you about the judgment which is knowingly deserved, yet dodged.

Knowingly deserved, yet dodged.

Okay, and we've seen that already.

But Paul concludes Romans 1 with a graphic description of what mankind became.

And I believe this is just a long list because Paul is trying to encompass all things that were unfolding.

It was initially just God letting men walk in their own ways, but then he's showing the evidence of men given to their own ways.

And you see the list, and there's no way you think that's a better life than what God wants for me.

Being filled, verse 29, with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness full of envy, murder, debates, deceit, malignity, witness- I mean, the list is pretty awful.

And God's saying, this is what mankind became when I let them have what they wanted.

And everyone became guilty.

And I believe this is not a comprehensive list.

I think it's just Paul trying to give us a list to serve two purposes.

First, demonstrate why God's wrath is justly directed towards mankind, why he's work, like why God is not unrighteous for judging men.

And secondly, it reveals that every person is personally guilty of unrighteousness.

I guarantee you that if we were all to be honest and we looked at that list, though we might not fail at most points, we would fail at at least one.

Without understanding?

You see that list?

I mean, that list is rough, right?

I mean, murder is in that list.

But then you see, what, disobedient to parents?

Maybe you guys were all perfect, but I was definitely disobedient to my parents.

But without understanding, if that doesn't describe every human person on the earth, I don't know what does.

I mean, unmerciful, there have certainly been times in my life I have failed to show mercy and I've erred on the side of judgment and justice rather than the mercy of God.

Every member of the human race can look at that list and find him and herself in it and realize I'm guilty of the judgment of God.

And so Paul ends the chapter by returning man's knowledge to their accountability before the living God.

Romans chapter 1 and verse 32, the very last verse, it says, Who knowing the judgment of God, that when they which commit such things are worthy of death, they know the judgment of God, and then they know they're worthy of death.

Romans 1 · chapter mention

Not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them.

And then the top of Romans chapter 2, which we'll get into next week in the first part of verse 1, says, That therefore thou art inexcusable, O man.

Romans 2 · chapter mention

Okay, so the judgment of God is known, and men know that they're worthy of death.

This is the conclusion of Romans 1.

The judgment of God is known, men know they're worthy of death.

What do I do now?

Well, Paul is going to bring us on a journey of all of the excuses men will make to dodge the fact that they know that they're under the judgment of God.

To judge the worthy death that they deserve.

And so we find these escape tactics that men and women make, worldviews that they create that try to get them to be freed from the judgment of God.

And so that's what we'll look at here in the next few weeks.

But men and women who aren't saved know God is real and know they deserve judgment worthy of death.

They just don't want to receive and keep that truth, and so they suppress it.

And so, in conclusion here, I just want to express to you again kind of this outline of Romans chapter 1.

Romans 1 · chapter mention

It begins this way: all, Paul says, all men are without excuse, they're worthy of the wrath of God.

Mankind then follows the course of this world laid out by the adversary, and they're led into an ungodly state.

In times past, God allowed the nations to walk in their ways, and that those nations actually end up walking in their ways, and in ignorance, God doesn't impute sin to them, but they're not so ignorant that they don't have any truth.

And so Paul goes on to describe all the truth that they they do have.

He begins with creation, and then he works his way to describe how God not only has revealed things outside of men that they can see and clearly see.

Not only understanding his power and his Godhead, but he goes on to say, God has also manifests the truth in them.

So that ultimately, no matter where we look, we find God.

You look out outside yourself at the natural world, you find there's a creator.

You look in yourself, you find a conscience that bears a record of what is right and what is wrong.

And that moral record inside your heart reveals to you that there is a moral lawgiver.

And you conclude, therefore, I've got to do something about this judgment that I'm under.

Verse, I'm sorry, uh, fifthly here in conclusion.

Although men know that their deeds are wrong, they continue in ungodliness, and we see all of that ramping up and culminating in ultimately this long list of why the world is guilty before God.

Okay, so don't let anyone overcomplicate it.

Don't let anyone try to convince you there is not a God.

The Bible says the fool hath said in his heart, There is no God.

And I skipped this text, you maybe saw it pop up on the screen.

But Psalm 53 in verses one through three says this the fool hath said in his heart, There is no God.

Corrupt are they, and have done abominable iniquity.

There is none that doeth good.

God looketh down from heaven upon the children of men to see if there were any that did understand, that did seek God, every one of them is gone back.

They are altogether become filthy.

There is none that doeth good, no not one.

Now that is the text that Paul ends up referencing in Romans chapter three.

For all have sinned and fallen short of glory of the glory of God, there's none good, no not one.

There's none that seek out after God.

There's none righteous.

And uh it's all being referenced to describe that individual who says there's no God.

And the description or the moniker, the title that God gives an individual who suppresses the truth and turns the truth into a lie, is a fool.

Because that's the only way you can describe someone who has a full revelatory knowledge that God exists and decides, I'm just going to pretend like it doesn't.

There's no other descriptor to describe that.

You're foolish, the Lord says, if you simply want to deny all the truth that you do know exist.

So don't let anyone ever overcomplicate it.

You should presuppose that all men everywhere, every family member, every co-worker, everybody in this community knows there's a God, but they're making and creating worldviews that will help them to escape the judgment of God.

And so the evangelist, in love and in a tender care for a soul, is trying to listen close enough and patient enough and honest enough to say, why does somebody hold the worldview that they do?

And do they have a true understanding of God?

Are there ideas that are actually usurping the goodness of the gospel?

Or is it truly that this person just has rejected God and his goodness?

A lot of people have built worldviews because they have false views of God.

And so as evangelists, we're just trying to get in and listen.

Why does somebody believe the things they believe?

Why have they built this worldview about themselves?

Are they afraid that God's going to judge them?

Can we give them a better solution than that worldview?

The Christian message is the better solution.

We don't have to be righteous.

God has become righteous for us and given us that free gift in his son.

Okay.

The only reason someone says they don't believe is because they don't like to remain.

They don't like to maintain the knowledge of God in themselves.

They become fearful of his judgment.

So, in conclusion, the wrath of God is revealed against man's ungodliness because men know the truth, reject the truth, and continue in unrighteousness.

Yet, God in his long suffering often offers pardon and justification through Jesus Christ to everyone that believes.

And so you and I ought not to be afraid to confront people regarding the fact that the judgment of God is coming, is going to come upon them, and that there's a day appointed, Acts 14, where God will judge the world in righteousness.

That's not a scary message if you have the solution in your other hand.

We're trying to get people to see that they're guilty before God so that they also are excited to say, to hear, God's also made a solution.

He knows that I have nothing in myself that I can offer to be right with him.

But there's also a way.

If we don't do the good work of helping people see not only that God's wrath is against them, but that they're worthy of it, and get them to the place where they are willing to accept their worthiness and their guiltiness before God, then I just think that the offer of salvation looks pretty pathetic.

It looks cheap.

But if men are finally honest with themselves, if women are finally honest with themselves, they just see how sweet the grace is.

And I know it's a simple thought here, but it but as we we close and pray with one another, I want you to think God has extended grace for a reason.

You don't need grace if you're not wretched and broken.

If you could be self-righteous on your own and be right with God, God would never have to say, here's my mercy and grace.

And by nature, that is who God is, and he can't help it.

And he has now extended grace because we are in need of it.

And I think the more we understand that we need it, the more we understand that we truly are guilty before him.

Or before, you know, as Christians, we're not.

We're saved.

We ought to be thankful for the grace.

But for someone who's not saved, right, the more you can help them understand that they are wretched.

Or even as a believer, the more you can understand I was guilty.

I was so undeserving of God's that I so was deserving of God's wrath.

And what it means is I was so undeserving of his grace.

Lord, thank you.

And that should be the thing that motivates us to praise him, to worship him, to meditate on him, to think about the wonders of his love that are nearly incomprehensible, but somehow we can know by faith.

Once again, thank you so much for listening in.

We pray that these words were a challenge to you, but also a great encouragement in your walk with God.

May the Lord bless you and lead you further into his will as you're conformed into the image of Jesus Christ.

God bless.