I Am Not Ashamed: The Wrath of God

David Krueger

I Am Not Ashamed • Sermon • Submitted 7 years ago

Sin

Wrath of God

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It’s not that people cannot know the truth about God. The problem is that they actually stifle the truth they do know.

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I Am Not Ashamed: The Wrath of God

Text: Romans 1:18-23

Theme: It’s not that people cannot know the truth about God. The problem is that they actually stifle the truth they do know.

Date: 02/07/16 File name: Romans_2016_03.wpd ID Number: 176

This morning we turn our attention to the Book of Romans. Our topic is the wrath of God.

God’s wrath is against those who suppress the truth, whether Jew or Gentile. God’s gospel (1:1) is for those who stand under his wrath, whether Jew or Gentile (3:23). At the exact same time that his wrath is being revealed his righteousness is being revealed in the gospel. It is his wrath, in fact, that makes his righteousness so sweet. But without the preaching and teaching of the doctrine of his wrath, it is impossible to see the need of his righteousness.

I. THE REVELATION OF GOD’S RIGHTEOUSNESS

1. the Gospel is about the righteousness of God and this righteousness has been revealed in the person of Jesus who is the Christ

• “For in the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed—a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: “The righteous will live by faith.” (Romans 1:17, NIV)

• “He has saved us and called us to a holy life—not because of anything we have done but because of his own purpose and grace. This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time, 10 but it has now been revealed through the appearing of our Savior, Christ Jesus, who has destroyed death and has brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.” (2 Timothy 1:9–10, NIV)

a. in other words, if God had not revealed this great truth, we simply wouldn’t know about it—we’d be like blind men stumbling in the dark

b. the Gospel teaches how unrighteous men—and that’s all of us—how unrighteous men can be made righteous

2. this righteousness of God is a righteousness not only revealed but reckoned to those who put their faith in Christ and his redemptive work on the cross

“However, to the one who does not work but trusts God who justifies the ungodly, their faith is credited as righteousness.” (Romans 4:5, NIV)

a. do you see how simple is God’s plan of salvation?

1) we trust in God—that’s what faith is—it complete, absolute trust in God

a) we trust Him to do what He says He will do—to justify the ungodly

2) how does God justify us?—that’s the Gospel story

a) the Second Person of the Godhead—his name is Immanuel, that is God with us—was incarnated into human flesh and given the name Jesus

b) he lived a perfectly sinless life, and revealed the loving, merciful redemptive plan of the Father—

3) what is that plan?

a) that Jesus is the Prophet Isaiah’s Suffering Servant who would be Smitten of God, and afflicted and that he would be pierced through for our transgressions, and crushed for our iniquities so that by His scourging we are healed (Isa. 53)

4) this, of course, is the story of Jesus

a) Jesus would be crucified for the sins of the people of God, and he would raise from the dead, victorious over sin, and death, and the Evil One

b) and all who call upon his name in faith shall be saved (Rom. 10:13)

3) and by that faith in the risen Christ, God credits to us the righteousness of His son and reckons us as righteous!

" ... But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God." (1 Corinthians 6:11, NIV)

A. GOD SUBSTITUTES CHRIST’S RIGHTEOUSNESS FOR OUR UNRIGHTEOUSNESS

1. this good news is what the Apostle Paul says has been revealed in the Gospel

2. everywhere we turn in the Scriptures we are reminded of the failure of human righteousness—it is no better than a pile of filthy, putrid rags good for nothing and worthy only to be burned

a. try as he might no man shall ever earn his way into heaven

1) the Jew who attempts to obey the Jewish moral and religious law cannot earn his way into heaven

2) the Hindu who baths in the sacred waters of the Ganges River cannot earn his way into heaven

3) the Muslim who obeys the Fiver Pillars of Islam and faces Mecca five times a day to pray cannot earn his way into heaven

4) the Buddhist who practices The Four Noble Truths cannot earn his way into heaven

5) the professing Christian who depends on penance and weekly recites the Apostle’s Creed cannot earn his way into heaven

3. the Apostle Paul was a man who had spent his early life zealously observing every jot and tittle of the Jewish law believing that was how one became righteous before God

a. in Philippians 3:4 the Apostle wrote of his life before coming to Christ: “If someone else thinks they have reasons to put confidence in the flesh, I have more ... as for righteousness based on the law, [I was] ... faultless.”

1) now think of what this man just said: Before he came to Christ, Paul testifies that his trust was in his religious accomplishments, and if anyone could boast in how well they’d obeyed the Jewish civil, moral, and religious codes, he could

a) Paul did not make that seemingly prideful statement to brag

b) he understood the foolishness of boasting in anything but Jesus, and writes these things only for the sake of argument

2) but when he met the risen Christ, he immediately knew that his religious rectitude, and his moral certitude counted for nothing

3) he writes: “ ... we who serve God by his Spirit ... put no confidence in the flesh—” (Philippians 3:3, NIV)

b. a few verses later, Paul confessed to the Philippians,

“I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish in order that I may gain Christ, and may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith” (Phil. 3:8–9)

ILLUS. Like the Apostle Paul, Martin Luther zealously worked to be acceptable to God. After his conversion, he confessed "If ever a monk were to get to heaven by this monkery it would be I ... I should have killed myself with vigils, prayers, recitings, and other work." Yet, in spite of doing all those things, the peace with God Luther sought still eluded him—until the day, like the Apostle, he simply put his complete, absolute trust in God.

4. the good news of the Gospel is that unrighteous sinners can become righteous sons of God when they come to Christ by a simple act of faith

a. as the Apostle writes in Rom. 1:16 “ ... the gospel ... is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile.” (Romans 1:16, NIV)

1) God’s righteousness is a right standing He freely gives to those who trust in him

b. this righteousness is freely imputed to the sinner by God’s sovereign grace because Christ died on the cross as a substitute for sinners, and in doing so God imputed the guilt of our sins to Christ, and he, in our place, bore the punishment that we deserve

“God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” (2 Corinthians 5:21, NIV)

ILLUS. The hymnists Keith Getty and Stuart Townend express the doctrine clearly in what has become one of the favorite hymns of Evangelicals. The second stanza of In Christ Alone reads ... In Christ alone, Who took on flesh, Fullness of God in helpless babe! This gift of love and righteousness, Scorned by the ones He came to save. Till on that cross as Jesus died, The wrath of God was satisfied; For ev'ry sin on Him was laid—Here in the death of Christ I live.

4. This Gospel Was Revealed in the Life, Death and Resurrection of Jesus

II. THE REVELATION OF GOD’S WRATH

ILLUS. In his sermon on this text, Martyn Lloyd-Jones says that we will never understand the need from Romans 1:17 if we do not grasp the reality of Romans 1:18.

1. the word for in Romans 1:18 is used as a strong conjunction and connects for us the revelation of God’s righteousness and the revelation of God’s wrath

a. God needs to reveal the possibility of a real, and saving righteousness in His Son because of the real, and stinging wrath of God that is, even now, being revealed, and poured out in part

1) that wrath will be poured out fully at the end of days

“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.” (Romans 2:5, NIV)

b. Romans 1:18 reveals for us the urgency of communicating the Gospel

1) the message of the Gospel is “Believe and be saved”

2) saved from what?

3) from sin and death and judgement and wrath and hell!

2. before you came to Christ, you were under the wrath of God, and if, this morning, you’ve never committed your life to Christ, you’re under the wrath of God as I speak

• “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 flesh and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath.” (Ephesians 2:1–3, NIV)

• “Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on them.” (John 3:36, NIV)

ILLUS. Jonathan Edwards, in his sermon Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God, wrote, “The Wicked must not think, simply because they are not physically in Hell, that God (in Whose hand the Wicked now reside) is not—at this very moment—as angry with them as He is with those miserable creatures He is now tormenting in hell.”

a. regardless of how good you thought you were as the world counts goodness, you were dead in your transgressions and sins

b. regardless of how good you thought you were as the world counts goodness, you gratified the cravings of your flesh following its desires and thoughts

c. regardless of how good you thought you were as the world counts goodness, you were by nature deserving of wrath

ILLUS. If you are a Christ Follower, never for a moment think that God chose you in Christ, because you were in some way better, or nicer, or more moral, or more religious than the meth-dealing, malevolent, licentious pagan. You weren’t.

3. like the righteousness of God the wrath of God is also being revealed

a. in Rom. 1:18 we discover three truths about God’s wrath

A. GOD’S WRATH IS ON DISPLAY

“The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven ... “ (Romans 1:18, NIV)\

1. the first thing we discover about God’s wrath is that we don’t have to wait until the end of the world to experience God’s wrath

a. it is even now being revealed from Heaven

1) how?

b. we will spend much more time with this next Sunday, but in Rom. 1:23-28 God’s judgment is revealed when He gives sinner over to revel in, and wallow in, and glory in the sin they love

1) in vvs. 24, 26, and 28 Paul writes, “Therefore God gave them over ... “ as a judgment upon their sin

ILLUS. Sinners are like dogs who find something dead to roll in. And of course they do it just after you’ve brought them home from being groomed. You open the car door and they bound out into the yard where even a dead worm is worth a wallow. Sin stinks and sinners love rolling in it, wallowing in it, glorying in it.

2. the wrath of God is eternal, terrible, deserved and it is now

a. Idolatry is why God’s wrath on display—“and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like a mortal human being and birds and animals and reptiles.” (Romans 1:23, NIV)

1) the consequence is that God, in His wrath, gives men over to the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies

b. Rejection of God’s Truth in Christ is why God’s wrath is on display—“They exchanged the truth about God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen.” (Romans 1:25, NIV)

1) the consequence is that God, in His wrath, allows confusion and disorder in the natural order, especially in all things sexual

c. Willful Ignorance of God is why God’s wrath is on display—“Furthermore, just as they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, so God gave them over to a depraved mind, so that they do what ought not to be done.” (Romans 1:28, NIV)

1) the consequence is that God, in His wrath, allows men’s minds to become morally corrupt, and increasingly debased, and profane

3. not only is God’s wrath on display, but ...

B. GOD’S WRATH IS DIRECTED

“For the wrath of God is ... against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, ... .” (Romans 1:18, ESV)

1. God’s wrath is directed against the wickedness and godlessness of people

a. the apostle tells us that the lost sinner first, has no reverence for the person of God—that’s godlessness

b. the apostle also tells us that the lost sinner secondly, has no reverence for the ordinances of God—that unrighteousness

2.God’s wrath is not capricious or “willy-nilly”—it is pointed and directed against ungodliness and unrighteousness

C. GOD’S WRATH IS DESERVED

“The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all ... who suppress the truth by their wickedness,” (Romans 1:18, NIV)

1. godlessness, and the wickedness that results, is not because of ignorance

a. the great conspiracy of the human race is that before you were a Christian you chose to suppress the truth by your wickedness

b. the great conspiracy of the human race is that if you’re here this morning and you’re not a Christian its because you chose to suppress the truth by your wickedness

2. because we suppress the truth in unrighteousness we are good at convincing ourselves that any kind of behavior—not matter how aberrant—is normal

a. and what’s more, you’ll find experts who will tell you it’s normal

1) they’ll give you an academic, therapeutic rationalization for why men do the bodaciously bad things they do

2) the scary thing is that so many people have so rationalized evil, and evil behavior that they honestly don't know that they are suppressing the truth in unrighteousness

3) and then, when the righteous point out the sinfulness of sin, the unrighteous accuse the righteous of being the real problem in society!

3. because we suppress the truth by unrighteousness God’s judgment upon sin is just

a. God’s wrath is never the capricious, or self-indulgent, or irritable, or mis-directed, while ours often is

1) it is, instead, a right and necessary reaction to rebellious, evil men

b. this leads me to the last point ...

III. THE REVELATION OF MAN’S REBELLION

1. the apostle bring four specific charges against men and their wickedness

a. they are under the wrath of God because of inexcusable ignorance, vs. 20

b. they are under the wrath of God because of inexcusable ingratitude, vs. 21

c. they are under the wrath of God because of inexcusable insolence, vs. 22

d. they are under the wrath of God because of inexcusable idolatry, vs. 23

2. we discover in vv. 20-23 that there is a universal conspiracy in the hearts of men to suppress the truth of God

A. INEXCUSABLE IGNORANCE

“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 people are without excuse.” (Romans 1:20, NIV)

1. creation is God's "radio station," sending the message that God exists to all

a. Paul implies more—human beings are created with an internal radio receiver

b. people see this truth and understand it—but suppress rather than respond to God’s self-revelation

2. there is in every human heart the knowledge of God—which is why man’s sin and rebellion against God is so inexcusable

a. the Apostle writes that in nature we witness God’s invisible qualities which are His eternal power and His divine nature

ILLUS. Back in the early part of his career it was Billy Graham who popularized the “watchmaker” illustration. It didn’t originate with him, put he popularized it. It’s the idea the we intuitively know when we see something that has complexity to it that an intelligent source is behind it. Graham illustrates this with the person who finds a pocket watch as he walks through the forest. What does he conclude? “My, look what nature did! I wonder how long this watch had to lay here before all the pieces must have come together?” No. That’s silly. The man finds the watch and instinctively understands that some intelligence had to have fashioned this. Common sense tells us that this mechanism, composed of a myriad of gears and cogs, and springs and crystals, all intricately connected, and working seamlessly together, is not a random product of natural cause and effect. And yet, the same person who finds a watch on the forest floor and rightly assumes that it has a creator, will walk into a science lab and tell a class of students that the world in which they live—indeed the universe—is a result of absolute random chance.

b. the Apostle Paul tells us that is the suppression of truth in unrighteousness

1) the Apostle Paul tells us that to look at the natural world, and conclude that it is merely the result of random evolutionary processes is akin to looking at a watch found on the forest floor and proclaiming “Look what nature did!”

3. The Lost Are Deserving of Wrath Because of Inexcusable Ignorance

B. INEXCUSABLE INGRATITUDE

“For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened.” (Romans 1:21, NIV)

1. man's sinfulness is not seen just in wicked acts but in the way people respond to God

a. a couple on a date hold hands because they feel close and want to become closer

b. but when men "knew God," rather than worship Him they quickly jerked their hands away— refusing to glorify Him or to give Him thanks for His common grace

2. the heart of sin is to rob God of His glory and attribute the blessings and benefits of life to our own efforts

a. cosmic ingratitude is living in the illusion that we are self-sufficient, that we call the shots, that we decided what is right and what is wrong

3. The Lost Are Deserving of Wrath Because of Inexcusable Ingratitude

C. INEXCUSABLE INSOLENCE

“Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools” (Romans 1:22, NIV)

1. the unregenerate human heart will always push back and hate anything that threatens its self-sovereignty, the mastery of its own life

a. the human heart wants more than anything else is to be its own master and its own lord

b. the worldly-wiseman says, “Nobody tells me what to do. I am the master of my fate. I am the captain of my soul”

2. the Apostle Paul here refers to all those who are thoroughly convinced that they know best what is good for them, and how best to live their lives

C.S. Lewis wrote, “The lost enjoy the horrible freedom they have demanded and are forever enslaved.”

a. all those who are thoroughly convinced that they know best what is good for them, and how best to live their lives are, in all actuality, the unwisest of the unwise

3. by rejecting the knowledge of the true God, religion is born—F. J. Leenhardt calls it "The triumph of gods over God.”—Human religious systems are monuments to spiritual rebellion and impertinence.

“Where is the wise person? Where is the teacher of the law? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? 21 For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe. 22 Jews demand signs and Greeks look for wisdom, 23 but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, 24 but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. 25 For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength.” (1 Corinthians 1:20–25, NIV)

2. The Lost Are Deserving of Wrath Because of Inexcusable Insolence

D. INEXCUSABLE IDOLATRY

“and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like a mortal human being and birds and animals and reptiles.” (Romans 1:23, NIV)

1. creation screams “There is a supreme Creator—worship Him alone!”

a. instead, men would rather worship created things rather than the Creator of all things

2. if you love anything more than God, if you rest your security in anything more than the providence and wisdom and sovereignty of God, if your imagination is captured by anything more than the greatness of God, if your value is rooted in anything more than the grace and love of God, if you love anything more than God, you’ve set up an idol in your heart

3. The Lost Are Deserving of Wrath Because of Inexcusable Idolatry

Con.

The wrath of God is His eternal detestation of all unrighteousness. It is the displeasure and indignation at evil. It is the holiness of God stirred into activity against sin. The wrath of God is eternal, terrible, deserved. It is also escapable because of the death and resurrection of Christ. Jesus is the great divide between God's wrath and God's grace. The message of the Gospel is "Believe and be saved!" Saved from what? From sin and death and judgement and hell!

"Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God's wrath through him!" (Romans 5:9, NIV)

And can it be that I should gain

An int’rest in the Savior’s blood?

Died He for me, who caused His pain?

For me, who Him to death pursued?

Amazing love! how can it be

That Thou, my God, shouldst die for me?

Amazing love! how can it be

That Thou, my God, shouldst die for me?

— Charles Wesley

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