New Sermon series starts today, “The Wrath of God.” Why such a subject? When I look at the world and I see atrocities. People cheering when they pass a law in NY allowing abortions up to the day of birth. A state Governor advocating for post birth abortion (think about that). Biological men claiming they are female, allowed to use any bathroom or locker room they choose, and there are laws penalizing anyone who objects. In just about every state in the union you can change your sex on your birth certificate and drivers license. Many states allow for an “X” for “non-binary” gender on both the official birth certificates and driver’s license. The State NY recognizes 31 different genders. This is just the tip of the iceberg. Our government is functional atheistic. Without any God, who is to say what is right and wrong. Who is to say up is down and down is up? I wonder if Isaiah understood how close to the mark he was when by the Spirit of God he prophesied:
Isaiah 5:20 (NKJV) Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; Who put darkness for light, and light for darkness; Who put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!
Woe to them indeed. Those who do so are under threat of the judgment of God. But herein lies the problem. The world does not fear the judgement of God. They do not fear His wrath.
You have heard it said, God is love, and a loving God would never punish anyone to hell. That is not true. God is holy. Anyone who is opposition to the holiness of God, faces His wrath. Otherwise God would be tolerant of sin, any and all sin, and forgiveness would be a cheap gesture. As we will see, God’s wrath is eschatological (meaning it will be displayed in the condemnation to hell of the wicked at the end of time), but it is also a present reality.
Today’s sermon we are exploring “The Revelation of God’s Wrath”
Romans 1:16–18 (NKJV)
In writing this letter to Rome, Paul looked forward to the day when he could preach the gospel in Rome.
Romans 1:15 (NKJV) So, as much as is in me, I am ready to preach the gospel to you who are in Rome also.
Warren Wiersbe commented: Rome was a proud city, and the Gospel came from Jerusalem, the capital city of one of the little nations that Rome had conquered. The Christians in that day were not among the elite of society; they were common people and even slaves. Rome had known many great philosophers and philosophies; why pay any attention to a fable about a Jew who arose from the dead? [1]
Romans 1:16 (NKJV) For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek.
Paul was not ashamed of the Gospel. The Gospel is the theme of the book of Romans. The very word “Gospel” in mentioned no less than 4 or 5 times (depending on your translation) in the first 16 verses. The Gospel of Christ is the answer in one form or sense or another, to all of mankind’s problems. Paul was not ashamed, even though through the eyes of world it is foolishness:
1 Corinthians 1:23 (NKJV) but we preach Christ crucified, to the Jews a stumbling block and to the Greeks foolishness,
Why was Paul not ashamed? “for it is the power of God to salvation” The gospel, the good news about Jesus, is the very power of God. Rome understood power. To really hear the Gospel is to experience the very presence of God. And Paul knew the power of the message of the Gospel.
1 Corinthians 2:4 (NKJV) And my speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power,
God’s power was not in Paul’s ability to preach, but God’s power was in the message of the Gospel. But that power is not just a display of power, but the effective working of that power , leading a sinner, a person separated from God, to believe. The power of the gospel gives the power to believe, the power to have faith.
“for everyone who believes” No unbeliever can possess this power. But this power is “for who soever.” In the Greek, the word believe is tied very closely to the our word trust. For one to believe, not just know out the Gospel, but to trust the gospel to salvation, and this is available to all.
“for the Jew first and also for the Greek” Salvation came through the Jews. Jesus said in John 4:22, that “salvation is of the Jews.” The Jews had first chance to accept the gospel, and having rejected the gospel, it is now available to all.
Romans 1:17 (NKJV) For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, “The just shall live by faith.”
It is in and through the message of the gospel of Jesus Christ that the very righteousness of God is revealed. True Righteousness is God and only from God. We need to understand the righteousness of God.
First, it is used to describe that characteristic of God by which He always does what is right, just, proper, and consistent with all His other attributes. When we say that God is righteous, we mean that there is no wrong, dishonesty, or unfairness in Him.
Secondly, the righteousness of God can refer to His method of justifying ungodly sinners. He can do this and still be righteous because Jesus as the sinless Substitute has satisfied all the claims of divine justice.
Finally, the righteousness of God refers to the perfect standing which God provides for those who believe on His Son. Those who are not in themselves righteous are treated as if they were righteous because God sees them in all the perfection of Christ. Righteousness is imputed to their account. [2]
2 Corinthians 5:21 (NKJV) For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.
And that righteousness is revealed “from faith to faith” a Greek idiom or expression meaning from the first to the last (NIV) or from start to finish. Belief, trust and faith are interlinked. Then Paul quotes from Habakkuk 2:4. “as it is written, “The just shall live by faith.” Or to say another way, those that are justified (made righteous) by faith shall live.
In the OT, righteousness came by keeping the law, which was clearly shown to be impossible. In the NT, righteousness came by way of faith, faith in Jesus and what he did on the cross, righteousness was graciously given.
Ephesians 2:8–9 (NKJV) For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, 9 not of works, lest anyone should boast.
That is how God’s righteousness is revealed, through the gospel by faith. Next we will see how God’s wrath is revealed.
Romans 1:18 (NKJV) For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness,
We just noted that in the Gospel, God’s righteousness is revealed, and it is revealed through those who have been made righteous by faith. In like manner, God wrath is revealed in man’s unrighteousness. Paul started talking about Gospel. From this verse and for the next several chapters, Paul goes into detail about the wrath of God and His judgement of sin. Why is that?
Douglas Moo, a Bible commentator and author of many of my seminary textbooks makes the comment: “He knows that we cannot appreciate the good news until we thoroughly understand the bad news. Only when we have really come to grips with the extent of the human dilemma will we be able to respond as we should to the answer to that dilemma found in the good news about Jesus . . . getting people to take the gospel seriously will often require us first to get people to take their own dilemma seriously. This is Paul’s strategy in Romans.” [3]
The wrath of God is an expression of His righteousness. God never condemns without cause. His wrath is revealed in the ungodliness and unrighteousness of men. What is the definition of unrighteousness? It is wickedness (as used by the NIV). God is high and holy. Ungodliness is a lack of proper respect and reverence for God. Along with unrighteousness or wickedness, it is an attack on the holiness and righteousness of God.
Colossians 3:5–6 (NKJV) Therefore put to death your members which are on the earth: fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. 6 Because of these things the wrath of God is coming upon the sons of disobedience,
You see the wrath of God is coming on those sons of disobedience. Those that are without Jesus.
John 3:36 (NKJV) He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.”
And the wrath that is coming, described in the Bible as the “Day of Judgement” or the “Day of Wrath” will be terrible for those who God directs His wrath.
Revelation 6:15–17 (NKJV) And the kings of the earth, the great men, the rich men, the commanders, the mighty men, every slave and every free man, hid themselves in the caves and in the rocks of the mountains, 16 and said to the mountains and rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of Him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb! 17 For the great day of His wrath has come, and who is able to stand?”
But there is also a present reality of His wrath. This reality is expressed throughout the Bible. God cast Adam and Eve from the Garden. God cursed Cain after he killed Able. Because of Man’s wickedness on the earth, God destroyed the earth with a flood in the days of Noah. God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah for their wickedness. God’s wrath was seen in the 10 plagues He cast on the Egyptians. And God ‘s displeasure was evident when the people of Israel was sent into captivity to Babylon. And list goes on.
And how does God reveal His wrath today? We can make a case for the earthquakes, tsunamis, hurricanes, and other natural disaster we have experienced. We can even make the argument about His allowing various terrorist attacks around the globe. But what we will be looking at is something much more terrible than these, as we will see in the sermon messages in a few weeks:
Romans 1:24a (NKJV) Therefore God also gave them up to uncleanness . . .
Romans 1:26a (NKJV) For this reason God gave them up to vile passions . . .
Romans 1:28b (NKJV) God gave them over to a debased mind . . .
In man’s unrighteous and wickedness, verse 18 also tells us that the truth is suppressed: “who suppress the truth in unrighteousness” The truth is the truth and it cannot be changed, but it can be suppressed, held down, or hidden. We will look a the truth next week, but the truth has been made known to all. In fact the meaning of wickedness and unrighteousness is to suppress the truth.
Romans 1:25a (NKJV) who exchanged the truth of God for the lie,
To turn from God is to move from the light into the dark. In the dark where were the truth is hidden, and blindness is self-imposed.
John 3:19 (NKJV) And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.
Men suppress the truth about God by their wickedness and ungodliness.
This answers the question “Why do people need the gospel?” And the fact is, all men apart from the gospel of Jesus Christ stand condemned and under the wrath of God. And God’s wrath is a response to the opposition to His holiness. We will begin to appreciate the power of God to salvation as we more fully understand our fallen condition and being subject to God’s wrath.
Romans 5:9 (NKJV) Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him.
As we look toward Easter and Passion Week, we begin to grasp God’s great love for us. God is Holy and Just. And God’s wrath was satisfied by Jesus costly payment on the cross in our place.
[1] Warren W. Wiersbe, The Bible Exposition Commentary, vol. 1 (Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1996), 516.
[2] William MacDonald, Believer’s Bible Commentary: Old and New Testaments, ed. Arthur Farstad (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1995), 1677.
[3] Douglas J. Moo, Encountering the Book of Romans: A Theological Survey (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2002), 56.
