Romans 1:18–20Scripture
If you'll turn with me to Romans 1:18–20 this morning. Those of you that have been involved in our study groups have been studying this Scripture this week, and so the title of my message this morning is God's Wrath on Unrighteousness.
And when Shawn asked me to cover for him this morning, I looked at this text and I went, wow, the wrath of God.
But I think we'll be okay. So I want to read this first, Romans 1:18–20, as soon as I find it.
For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven 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. For the invisible things of him from the 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. I want to start this morning a little bit of an intro that I've entitled Man's Perspective of God's Wrath by sharing a little story with you. A few weeks ago I was having breakfast with a friend of mine, and something came up about something that was being talked about on a news channel. The other person stated that they didn't watch the same news channel, they had another news channel that they watched. So you have two men each watching different news channels, and through our discussion
Introduction
Figured out that our opinion about the other news channel came from the news channel he's watching.
So I have a question for you this morning: how much of our opinions, or your opinions, are shaped by the views of other people?
Think about this as well: what about the wrath of God? What's your opinion on it, if you have one, and from where does that opinion come? Somebody else's opinion?
I thought about asking Pastor JR this question this morning, but I already know what his answer would be. He'd say, my opinion comes from the Word of God. He's kind of that way, he goes right to the source. But what about us? How much of our opinions are shaped by the views of other people? For instance, now I'm not quite sure what kind of a response I'm going to get on the next couple of statements I'm about to make, but we'll see. For instance, I grew up a Chevy man. That wasn't too bad because that's all my dad owned, but years ago my wife converted me to Ford. Okay, why? Well, because she liked Ford.
I don't know if that had anything to do with her investing money in the company, but perhaps. But see, this made little sense to me because when I met her she owned an Oldsmobile, and today I drive a Honda minivan.
My wife still drives a Ford pickup. My oldest grandson thinks that's hilarious, that I'm the one driving the minivan and she gets to drive the pickup. That is pretty funny. Yeah, but I just showed you how much I love my wife. But there has been such a light view of sin in recent years that we don't give it much thought, do we?
The result of that light sin has been the elimination of God's wrath taught from many 20th, 21st century pulpits, and I'm going to tell you how outdated I am, because when I first typed this out I put 20th century, and I went back and read that and I went, I got to get caught up with the times, this is the 21st century. I don't know if you've ever heard of Dale Carnegie, but his positive message of winning friends and influencing people has replaced the warnings against hell that Jonathan Edwards, an 18th century American revivalist, preached. The doctrine of wrath, or of the wrath of God, has fallen on hard times, because in today's world any concept of God's wrath upsets our modern sentiments. I'll get it out there, and the reason for this is that it's too troubling, too intolerant. Do you agree with that? There's this preaching of tolerance in our generation now that anything that we disagree with, we're evil in some way. It's common to think of the Old Testament God as being harsh and wrathful, and the God of the New Testament is kind, patient, and loving. The problem is that neither of these portraits represents Scripture's teaching on the wrath of God. We find very fearful descriptions of the wrath of God in both the Old and the New Testaments, and here are two examples from the Old Testament. Jeremiah chapter 30, verse 23: Behold, the storm of the Lord! Wrath has gone forth, a whirling tempest; it will burst upon the head of the wicked. Kind of a picture of, like, a tornado or maybe a hurricane coming forth to destroy, kill, and maim.
Here's another one out of the small prophet in the Old Testament, Nahum, chapter 1, verses 2 and 3: The Lord is a jealous and avenging God, the Lord is avenging, I guess he's made his point here, and wrathful. The Lord takes vengeance on his adversaries and keeps wrath for his enemies. The Lord is slow to anger and great in power, and the Lord will by no means clear the guilty. His way is in whirlwind and storm, and the clouds are the dust of his feet.
Nahum is considered one of the Minor Prophets in the Old Testament, but what he was writing here was a prophecy of God's wrath about to be released on a city called Nineveh. I'm going to give you a little bit of a timeline here in just a second, but I want you to imagine, well, even if you can imagine, sitting in church listening to these fire-and-brimstone preachers, the wrath of God is going to come upon you in a tempest and a whirlwind and just going to wreak havoc because of your unrighteousness. That would be quite an experience, wouldn't it? Perhaps some of you have already done that. But you've probably heard the story of Jonah and the whale. Bruce Mack, I think I saw him, or back there, sorry, I believe I saw him earlier. Was you here for VBS when he had the honor of being spewed out of a whale's mouth? I do understand there were some injuries involved, minor. But the story of Jonah and the whale is interesting because at one point in time God had, I'm just going to recite the story just first a little bit. God had told Jonah to go to Nineveh and preach basically a salvation message, that the judgment of God is about to fall on them and they need to repent, and Jonah ran. He hid it for Tarshish, and God brought forth a storm, the tempest and the wind, and the guys on the boat, they finally figured out, because Jonah told them, that he was running from God. So they asked Jonah, well, what can we do to stop this storm? And he said, well, throw me overboard. I wonder what his final thought was before he hit the water. I can't believe they did it. Of course, God has prepared a great fish and ends up back on the coast of nineveh and spews him out. And Nineveh is a very large city, the Scripture talks about in the Old Testament, it describes it that the infants alone, they figured it was around 120,000 in the city, plus the parents and everybody else, and so this is a large city. It took three days to walk from one edge to the other. I remember how many miles of circumference it was, I looked it up, but I don't remember. It was a good-sized city. It was actually the capital of Assyria at the time, and Jonah did end up in Nineveh around 760 BC. Now I'm just going to give you a quick timeline here because various scholars have different timelines on how this happened, but around 760, we'll say, Jonah ends up in Nineveh, preaches, they all repent, and then approximately a hundred years later, Nahum writes his prophecy about the destruction, or God's judgment, upon that same city. It's Jonah first, then the prophecy, and approximately 50 years later nineveh did fall, was judged by the Babylonians and their allies who came in and captured and destroyed the city, which I find interesting because that means that the repentance only lasted a few generations. So what's my point?
Each generation is responsible for its spiritual condition. God has no grandchildren,
Pastor Bruce Boydston · 10:47
and yet we have this tendency to think that we can grandfather in to our parents' or grandparents' religion, religious standing, but God has no grandchildren.
Remember Romans 1:18, I'm going to read these words again: For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress
Point 1We put God's character on trial
The truth. Remember that in the Scripture, we live in a day when we have literally set ourselves as the judge, and God's character is on trial. You'll hear things like, or we'll ask questions like, how can hell be just? Or why does God always seem so angry? You're reading through the Old Testament, it seems that way, doesn't it? God's always so angry, killing people left and right, fire falling down from heaven, or the ground opening up and swallowing up a bunch of people. Why is God always so angry? That's probably why we don't like the Old Testament. Why does God let good people suffer bad things? I've heard that one a lot. Why doesn't God fix this world? Why doesn't God do something? This world's a mass of evil, wicked, and people killing each other and all kinds of crime. Why does God not do something? You know that so many people struggle with these questions and many more like them means that we need right thinking about the doctrine of God's wrath more than ever. We require it for more motivation for Christian living and fuel for proper worship.
You see, beloved, God is doing something, we just don't see it, or we don't understand it, or we reject it because his solution doesn't fit in with our thoughts.
Pastor Bruce Boydston · 12:53
Our lack of understanding means we believe God should cater to what we think needs to happen.
Have you ever thought that Isaiah 55:8–9 says these words, for my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. My interpretation of the Scripture is that God is more intelligent than all of us, but we wonder why God doesn't work everything out for our good according to our thoughts. We like that Scripture, don't we? Well, we believe God will work everything out for our good for those that love God, but it's something I've noticed, including me and myself, is that we believe we've got the solution, we just need God to do it the way we think it should be done. I also see this approach in our prayer to God. In prayer we have the solution to any situation and expect God to respond to our thoughts. Now in my notes beside that I put, give examples. Let's say we're struggling financially. What do we pray? God, I need a raise. So now we're going to tell God how to fix our problem. It could be in any other area, issues with the family not getting along. God, we just need you to fix our family, make us all get along together. So we, the tendencies that we come to God already with the solution in mind, and we expect God to respond the way we think it needs to be fixed. You know, just before Jesus was arrested and sentenced to the cross, he prayed that in the Garden of Gethsemane. Perhaps you know the story, if you read your Bible you do. That this cup would pass from him. Jesus was facing the death of a thief on a cross, but it was more than that. He was about to receive upon himself the sentence of the sin of all of mankind, and in doing so God was going to turn his face from him, which is something he had never experienced before. He didn't want to face that, but what were his final words?
Not my will, but yours be done. Thank you.
It's the way we think and the way we live our lives that get us into trouble.
Pastor Bruce Boydston · 16:14
Does anybody agree with that? Two. My wife was one of them, because she knows the way I think, the way I live my life, always gets me in trouble. That's why she prays for me so much. Let's take a look at the purpose of God's wrath. Let's start with the Greek definition of the word wrath, which is orge, which I have no understanding why it's pronounced that way because there's no T in it, but that's the way they pronounce it in the Greek, which is what it means: it's a reaching forth of the mind with a justifiable violent passion of anger and indignation and punishment. Now, if you're prone to having temper tantrums like I used to be, you'll understand this. Here, I'm going to reread this definition again. It's that which is a reaching forth of the mind with a justifiable violent passion of anger and indignation and punishment. Now focus on that word, justifiable. Don't we usually think that when we have our temper tantrums, that our temper tantrums were justified, that our little fits of rage are justifiable, at least in our mind, right? I had every right to be angry at that person because they looked at me cross-eyed, so now I'm going to do something violent to them.
We usually think our temper tantrums are justifiable until we have to apologize.
Pastor Bruce Boydston · 18:01
Now I'm going to share another little story with you that involves my wife. I asked her about this the other day and she says she doesn't remember this, which I find hard to believe because she remembers everything I did that was wrong.
It's true, years ago she had this tendency, she did it on more than one occasion, I don't know how many times she did it, probably I don't think there's very many, but I would have one of my little temper tantrums, and I was a pastor, and I'd get mad at her about nothing, and I'd be mean or rude or some other names I won't repeat. And then the next morning, this would be like on a Saturday night, and the next morning we could be driving to church, and she has a way with words, she would look at me and say, honey, don't you think you should apologize to me so God will anoint your message this morning? And what preacher doesn't want God to anoint his message? So yes, I apologized, but in my mind my anger was justifiable.
Ephesians 4:26 says, Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger.
My version: apologize so you don't wake up dead.
Pastor Bruce Boydston · 19:42
Drastic, right? Actually, I do think in extremes, I really do, that's my everyday life, I think in extremes. But Hebrews 10:31 says, It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.
Why? Because the wrath and vengeance of God are eternal, forever, and without apology.
Pastor Bruce Boydston · 20:12
God doesn't need to apologize. Here's a fact for you. Looking up at the clock, make sure I'm okay. Jesus rescued us from falling into the hands of someone larger than our minds can comprehend. Just remember he said, my thoughts are higher than your thoughts, my ways. We can't even comprehend his ways or his thoughts. Isaiah 40:12 says, Who has measured the waters of the sea in the hollow of his hand and marked off the heavens with the breadth of his hand? Isaiah saw God as being really large. Jesus rescued us from someone stronger. Now remember, I think in extremes here, I warned you. Jesus rescued us from someone stronger than the combined strength of a trillion nuclear explosions.
You know, I did some research on how many nuclear explosions it would take to wipe out humanity: as little as five, depending on the size of the warheads.
Jesus rescued us from a holy God destined to unload his wrath's full, unrestrained force on us for offending his divine nature.
Here's another fact for you: hell isn't our biggest problem, God is. Hell is simply the result of God's justified wrath.
Pastor Bruce Boydston · 22:02
Perhaps you thought that only serial killers, sex traffickers, genocidal maniacs, perpetrators of the systemic enslavement and oppression, and rejecters of God deserve his wrath. I'm surprised I got through that without messing that one up.
After all, it's those people that deserve God's wrath for how they have shaken their defiant fist at God and hurt other people along the way, right?
But then that depends on what the wrath of God is and toward what end it is moving. Here's one more fact for you, I'm just loaded with the main eye:
Point 2His wrath is restorative, not retaliatory
His wrath isn't like a trillion nuclear explosions with him unloading his fury and rage on the unrepentant. Why? Because the end toward which his wrath is moving is not retaliatory but restorative.
I'm going to repeat that: his wrath is not retaliatory but restorative.
Pastor Bruce Boydston · 23:20
I believe so many people don't understand that. Let me put it another way. If God was simply angry over what Adam and Eve did in the Garden of Eden, the great flood would have been the perfect opportunity to remedy that.
Something I found interesting in my study was that the story between Adam and Eve and Noah and the great flood was about 1, 656 years. Consider this: when God finished creating everything, he said it was good.
He created something good, but sin ruined that for everyone and everything.
The wrath of God repairs what sin caused, which was death.
Pastor Bruce Boydston · 24:27
Romans 6:23, for the wages of sin is death. His wrath prevents sin from entering heaven and ruining its perfection. That's where I was headed with that.
Remember, Jesus went to prepare a place to receive his people, a good place free from death, pain, and suffering, things that sin causes. In reality, his stored-up wrath is a measured response to our rebellion against him and his Word. We see that in all those 1,600 years between Adam and Noah.
It was a measured judgment. He cleared his wrath, and so he could, at any moment he can wipe us all out. It's not explosive rage, hostile or vindictive. Instead it is an internal disposition that steadfastly opposes someone or something based on extended personal exposure.
Imagine, God's been watching us rebel against him and his Word for a long time. Yes, sin angers God, but it's a settled, controlled anger, not explosive. And in case your thoughts reach back into what we were talking about in the Old Testament, where we read about the time that he flooded the earth, leaving only eight people to start all over again, or when God sent serpents into Israel to destroy thousands of people because of their idolatry, or when he opened up the ground and swallowed up a lot of people there, he controlled his anger. He could have wiped out everyone and everything at those times with a few words. Remember, he created everything with just a few words: let there be, let there be light. We know in just a few words he can reverse all that, and I tried to think this through, what would those words be? Let there be, let there not be, I'm done. His wrath has a purpose, a destiny, and a future for the children of God that is not an extension of this life locked in eternity. Now I want you to grab hold of this idea.
Perhaps you've heard the statement that life on this earth is hell. Ever heard that? I have. I may have even said it at some point in life.
But can you imagine this life as it is right now, with all the death, the pain and suffering, becoming locked in for all eternity?
Heaven is a place unstained by sin. That's the place Jesus prepared for us. I'm going to read you a few verses here out of Revelation 21. We'll read the first five verses, you'll get an idea here: Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away. And he who was seated on the throne said, Behold, I am making all things new. There is a time in our future, beloved, that God will hit the reset button and the old will pass away. His wrath is not because he hates us,
Point 3The gospel prepares us for God's kingdom
But it is to keep heaven a desirable and perfect place. The purpose of the gospel, maybe this might give you something to think about, but
The purpose of the gospel is not to save us from hell, although that is a beautiful side benefit. The purpose of the gospel is to prepare us for God's eternal kingdom. Salvation is not a ticket out of hell.
Pastor Bruce Boydston · 29:08
Salvation is a ticket into his kingdom.
Pastor Bruce Boydston · 29:31
It is through his truth that we discover God's purpose for us, yes, that same truth that opens the door to the kingdom. Remember in our text, Romans 1:18, for the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. So what is truth? It's that which Jesus spoke of himself, John 14:6. Jesus said to him, I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. Jesus, who is the truth and the door into heaven. Now what does that word truth mean? It literally means, in the Greek, not concealing, not hiding. It's not something that is kept hidden but exists in the light, and that truth, or the truth that is out in the open, is what he's talking about, but he says wicked men put it in a box, so to speak, and sit on the lid, holding it down in unrighteousness. Their evil deeds conceal the open truth of God from men. Matthew 23:13, this will give you a little better idea: But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you shut the kingdom of heaven in people's faces. For you neither enter yourselves nor allow those who would enter to go in.
That's what he's talking about, closing the door, or the access, or even the possibility for others to go in, and they themselves aren't going in themselves. But how is truth manifested?
Remember, Jesus spoke creation into existence. John 1:3, through men, oh, I'm sorry, through him, boy, was that all Scripture, through him all things were made, and
Point 4Creation and conscience leave us without excuse
Apart from him nothing was made that has been made. Romans 1:20, and part of our text this morning, verse 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. Creation proclaims his attributes, his eternal power and his divine nature. Now I want to ask you a question. When you think about creation, what do you think of? The trees, the earth, the moon, the stars. She answered the question there. I didn't know it, I saw it's us. We're included in that creation. God manifests himself in two ways: outwardly in nature and inwardly in conscience. Romans 2:15 says these words: They show that the work of the law is written on their hearts, while their conscience also bears witness. I actually put this next in red lettering so I wouldn't miss it: and their conflicting thoughts accuse or even excuse them.
Conflicting thoughts of our conscience. You ever had those battles, the battle between right and wrong, yes and no, what would Jesus do or wouldn't do, that was a thing for a while. Those conflicting thoughts. Every person born into this world has the opportunity to know right and wrong. It's called a conscience. It is the inner witness of our conscience and of learning something of God from his works in creation. And remember, we are a part of that, and remember creation is his good works and we are a part of those works.
When he created us, it was good. We're the ones that messed it up. So it matters how we live.
On the day of Pentecost, Jesus created the church and it was good, but when people look at us as the body of Christ, do they see something good? I had to really seriously consider that question before I typed it into my notes, because I had to take a look at my own life. When the people outside the church, or even inside the church, when they look at the church, do they see something good, or do they just see a bunch of hypocrites? We've been accused of that. I've had people tell me over the years, I can't go to church, it's just full of hypocrites. You know what I wanted to tell them then? Then don't show up yourself, because you won't change nothing, I want to do anyway.
I understand that we want to think only about the love of God, but his wrath comes because of his love for humanity and his kingdom.
Pastor Bruce Boydston · 35:04
Remember what happened to the devil. He got himself thrown out of heaven, and just like the Pharisees, he's not entering back in, and he's attempting to keep us out. He is the opposite of the truth, because he is the father of lies.
God is love, and as a loving and wise God, he reveals his wrath against the ungodliness and unrighteousness of men.
If I don't slow down, I'm going to be well within the time limit, because here's my conclusion.
I got nine minutes left. I'm going to read another portion of Revelation chapter 22, verses 13 through 17: I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end. Blessed are those who wash their robes, so that they may have the right to the tree of life and that they may enter the city by the gates. Outside are the dogs and sorcerers and the sexually immoral and murderers and idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices falsehood. I, Jesus, have sent my angel to testify to you about these things for the churches. I am the root and the descendant of David, the bright morning star. The Spirit and the Bride say, Come. And let the one who hears say, Come. And let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who desires take the water of life without price. Now that's what I call the good news of the gospel message, because the devil and the consequences of his desires will not be there. I actually took this one I'm about to say, I actually took out of my notes, but I'm going to put them back in there.
The description of those that are left outside were not described as being the unsaved, they're being described by their lifestyles.
Think on that for a minute. But there is a stern warning in this last portion I read for those who have not answered the call to come. Salvation involves a new heart and a renewed mind, a different way of thinking, a different way of living life, a different perspective on truth and God and his kingdom.
We are not simply sinners saved by grace. I have heard that way too many times: born a sinner, always a sinner.
Pastor Bruce Boydston · 38:25
That's not scriptural. We're born a sinner, we are supposed to be born again into the likeness for which we were created, his image. Beloved, the fruit of our lives as a
Point 5Humility, not pride, brings us to the Lord
Christian is crucial. God gives grace to the humble but resists the proud. Why do I say that?
Because the reason the devil got kicked out of heaven to begin with was his pride, and all the description that I just read about those being kept out of the kingdom is because of their pride.
Humility is admitting that the universe doesn't revolve around us.
Pastor Bruce Boydston · 39:26
I know we think about children and they think everything's about them, and then we begin to blame the teenagers, you know, they think that the world revolves around them, but I've known many older adults I think the same thing: the universe revolves around me.
Pride. Many have allowed pride to stop them from coming to the Lord, believing that only through him we enter into his promises and his kingdom. Isaiah 1:18 says these words, and I am really getting close to being done here: Come now, let us reason together, says the Lord: though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool. Hebrews 9:14: How much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God. So how do we come to the Lord?
How do we come to his throne of grace to reason with him? Through prayer. We come to his Word, because it is a manifestation of the mind and will of God. That's why we're always harping on prayer and the Word, because we come to God in prayer so we can reason with him, and that reason doesn't mean trying to change his mind. We begin to reason with God in prayer, in humility, saying, Lord, this is how I am, what I am, I come to you as I am, but you are God, you are my Lord, change my heart, renew my mind through your Word. I'm going to close with a quote D.L. Moody kind of reworded a quote out of 1 Corinthians 2:9, and Paul took it out of Isaiah 64. So this is one, two, three, went through three people: The world has yet to see what God will do with and for and through and in and by the man, I'm going to say, let me put my own wording in there, by the person who is fully and wholly consecrated to him. That is a stinging reproach.
The world has yet to see what God will do with the person that is wholly consecrated to him.
Pastor Bruce Boydston · 42:37
The answer is that we come to him in prayer to reason with him concerning us and our desires to become more like him. We come through his Word that we may understand the manifestation of who he is through that Word.
That's part of that renewing of the mind.
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