WWUTT 1161 For the Wrath of God is Revealed from Heaven? (Romans 1:18-20)

It is imperative we understand that the gospel is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes. Because as Paul will go on to say, the wrath of God is coming against all the unrighteousness of men when we understand the text.

Many of the Bible stories and verses we think we know, we don't. When We Understand the Text is an online ministry dedicated to teaching the Word of God in context, promoting sound doctrine while exposing the faulty.

Here's your teacher, Pastor Gabe.

Romans 1:16-20 and the Wrath of God Revealed

Thank you, Becky. Well, in our study of the book of Romans, we're picking up where we left off last week. I'm actually going to read verses 16 and 17 again, and we'll go on from there to the end of the chapter.

The Apostle Paul wrote, For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it, the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, The righteous shall live by faith.

For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them.

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.

For although they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks to Him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.

Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever.

Amen. For this reason, God gave them up to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature, and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error.

And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done. They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness.

They are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless. Though they know God's righteous decree, that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them, but give approval to those who practice them.

I felt like it was necessary for us to include verses 16 and 17 again so that we keep all of this in context. Remember I mentioned this to you last week, even though indeed we find the thesis statement to the rest of this letter in verses 16 and 17.

It's not like those verses stand on their own. They're connected to the verses that we had just read prior to that, and they go right into this next section that we're jumping into. Paul says in verse 18, for the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men.

The wrath of God is coming against unrighteous men. That's why we need to understand that it is the gospel that has the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes. How is a person going to be saved from the righteousness of God that is burning against the unrighteousness of men?

The only way that they can be saved is by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. In it, the righteousness in the gospel, the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith. As it is written, the righteous shall live by faith.

We are saved by faith. We continue to walk by faith in the message of the gospel that we have heard. It is so very important that we preach the gospel because the wrath of God is coming. Paul will make this point again later with even greater emphasis when we get to Romans chapter 10.

Basically, everything that we read there in verses 16 and 17 get fleshed out in the rest of the letter, sometimes expounded upon in greater detail. That's where we're going as we move on. But again, verse 18 says, for the wrath of God is revealed from heaven.

General Revelation, Presuppositionalism, and the Need for the Law

Now, when we get to verse 20, it says, for God's 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 that they are without excuse.

Now, that verse in particular, that's like the theme verse to an area of theology that we refer to as presuppositionalism. It's the idea that we hold certain presuppositions before any argument, namely concerning the existence of God.

So there is not a reason for us to have to make a case for the existence of God to a person who says that they don't believe in God, because the reality is they do believe in God. Everyone inherently believes in God because God has shown it to them.

Verse 19, what can be known about God is plain to them because God has shown it to them. Therefore, there's no need for us to have to raise an argument or give some kind of a proof for God's existence.

I'm kind of yes and no on that. I mean, to some degree, that's true. We don't have to prove God's existence. His existence is self-evident. But I would argue that we may have to provide certain proofs for God's existence simply because of what was said in the verse prior to that.

Verse 18, don't miss what's said there. By their unrighteousness, they suppress the truth. Yes, it's true that every person should inherently be able to know that God does exist because he has shown it to them.

And we will be without excuse. Verse 20, his invisible attributes, namely his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived since the creation of the world and the things that have been made.

So we are without excuse. No one will be able to say on the Day of Judgment that they didn't know it was evident in all that has been made. Everything that exists has to have come from somewhere. And what we inherently know is design like no one has ever had any experience at any point in human history of anything coming into existence by accident.

That is no one's experience. Every single person's experience is creation. We all know that things have been made the way that they are. You don't sit at a desk. No one in their right mind sits at a desk and thinks that that just came into existence by accident and poof out of nothing.

No one believes that way. Common sense dictates that things are made. They came from somewhere. They have an origin. Nothing came into existence by itself. And certainly nothing cannot develop into something that is an impossibility.

It is completely illogical. And every person knows that. So therefore, it's it's argued that we don't have to make that case. We don't have to argue with a person, the existence of God or those certain presuppositions that everybody should just inherently know.

But I would say to you that there are going to be occasions in which we will have to argue that because these persons have been caught in a snare of the devil to do his will. Paul talks about this with Timothy in Second Timothy, chapter two, around verse twenty five, that we need to patiently endure evil and correct opponents with gentleness.

For God may perhaps grant them repentance, leading to a knowledge of the truth, and they may escape from the snare of the devil after being captured by him to do his will. So those who are ensnared by Satan suppress the truth with their unrighteousness.

They love their sin. So because of their wicked and depraved hearts, which, by the way, all of us once had Ephesians two, we were all just like the sons of disobedience, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind and were by nature children of wrath like the rest of mankind.

That was all of us at one point before we came to Christ. So when we're walking around in that depravity, we're blinded to the truth because we love our sin. We hate God. And so in love with our sin, we are going to rationalize why we are allowed to do that sin, why that sin is good for us, why I can have this thing that my flesh desires.

And that means having to suppress the truth about God and what he has said. So because we've suppressed the truth ensnared by Satan, blinded by lies, we're not going to see the truth until our eyes are opened by the Holy Spirit, which, of course, comes from the gospel, the Holy Spirit of God working through the gospel to soften the heart, open the eyes, the ears to hear the truth of God proclaimed in Christ.

Preaching the Gospel and Using the Law to Expose Sin

Now, a person may respond to that by saying, well, then all we have to do is preach the gospel. Yes, but sometimes there's a little more labor to it than that. Remember that Jesus described the gospel as the message of the kingdom and in his parable of the sower, which we read in Matthew chapter 13, the message of the kingdom is is graphically depicted as seed and a farmer goes out to his field to sow seed.

He's casting the seed, broadcasting the seed. Some of the seed falls on the path, some in the rocks, some in the thorns and some of the seed. The message of the kingdom falls in good soil and produces a harvest.

Think of the seed that fell on the path. The seed falls on the path. The birds come and eat the seed. And Jesus said, this is like a person who hears the word, but the enemy immediately snatches it away from him.

So they've heard the gospel proclaimed, but that's it. Nothing ever happens to the person after that. So what will sometimes be necessary, and I would say often is necessary when it comes to preaching the gospel, is that we till the soil.

We prepare the heart to be able to receive the seed of the message of the kingdom. And one of the ways that Paul says that we do that, according to Romans three verses 19 and 20, is by preaching the law.

Verse 19, now we know that whatever the law says, it speaks to those who are under the law so that every mouth may be stopped and the whole world may be held accountable to God. For by works of the law, no human being will be justified in his sight since through the law comes knowledge of sin.

What happens with me very often when I go out and preach the gospel, if I just share the gospel first, and sometimes I do that, if I share the gospel first, what I'm often met with is a person who tells me, well, I'm good.

I'm a good person. God loves me. So that's great. And I agree with everything that you said. And then they go on and they live their lives exactly the same way they were living them before I came in and shared the gospel with them now with their hearts even more hardened against the true message of the gospel because they've heard it and they believe that they're good.

I'm a good person. I don't need that. That's great. That's wonderful. Jesus died for me. Okay. And then they walk away and continue to live in depravity. So what's necessary for them to have to understand their need for the gospel is to use the law to show them their sin.

And this is that whole exercise you've probably seen Ray Comfort do the evangelism method that he refers to as the way of the master, because this was exactly the way that Jesus did it. And we see him do this with the rich young ruler in Mark chapter 10.

You give a person the law when a person says they're a good person, they don't need the gospel. They're probably not saying I don't need the gospel. They probably think they already have it or that the, you know, the gospel is whatever it is that makes them feel good.

Whatever it is that makes them saved at the present. They don't have to do anything. They don't need to change anything. The gospel is just that I'm going to heaven, right? So you have to show them that they are wicked and they need to in humble repentance, come before God and recognize that they are sinners under the wrath of God, sinners who need a savior so that they turn to Christ and believe in him, believe in the work that he did on the cross, rising again from the dead.

And by following Jesus, they're turning from sin and they don't walk in it anymore. Instead, they walk in the way of Christ, lest they show themselves to be a person who heard the message of the kingdom.

But the enemy snatched it away. It never took root in their heart, never actually produced anything. So you give this person the law, you reveal to them you're a liar. Have you ever told a lie before?

And they say, yeah. Well, what do you call a person who tells lies? You call them a liar. All right. Have you ever stolen anything before? Yeah, I've stolen something before. Well, what do you call a person who steals things?

You call him a thief. All right. Have you ever committed adultery? They may say yes, they may say no. If they say no, you say, well, if you've ever even lusted for somebody in your heart, Jesus said in Matthew chapter five that you've committed adultery with them in your heart.

So have you ever lusted for anyone before? Yeah, I've done that. Okay. Have you taken the Lord's name in vain? Yes. That's a very serious sin. That's the sin of blasphemy. And the Lord said in commandment number three, that you will not misuse my name.

Have you ever murdered anyone before? No, no, no, no. I've never murdered anybody before. Well, Jesus said in Matthew chapter five, that if you've even hated somebody in your heart or you have called them names, it's the same as if you've murdered them in your heart.

Have you ever hated anybody like that? Yes. Okay. So right here, as we've been talking, we've gone through five of the 10 commandments and you've admitted that you are a lying, thieving, adulterous, murderous blasphemer.

So what do you think is going to happen to you if you were to die today and stand before God in judgment? Would he let you into heaven or hell based on this standard? And they would have to say, well, based on the standard that you just presented to me, I would, I'd have to say, God's going to send me to hell.

And now they are aware that they're not a good person and God will judge all those who are wicked. He is a good judge and he's not going to allow wickedness to go unpunished, but he did not leave us dead in our sins and our transgressions, but he sent his son to die on the cross for our sins.

See, where you need to go from there is you need to present Christ as our savior, the one who died, the one who rose again, the one who gave his life for us. So that what happens in sharing the gospel is that they fall in love with Jesus.

Right after you give that presentation of God's judgment is coming upon you. Don't say, now, would you like to know that you will go to heaven and not go to hell? Wouldn't you like to know that you're going to heaven and not perishing under the judgment of God?

Because what the person wants to know then is how do I just avoid going to hell? But have you really turned their heart away from their sin and their wickedness to God? Have you helped this person understand what it means to fall in love with God and worship God?

Or are you just helping them to believe that they need to get out of hell free card, right? So we use the law to till the soil of the heart, kind of break up the rock a little bit and sow that seed of the kingdom in the heart so that a person will mourn over their sin.

They'll see their wickedness in light of a holy God and they will mourn over it and they will want to ask God for forgiveness. How can I be right with God? Do you want God? Jesus is our fellowship with God and you introduce that person to Jesus Christ.

So like I said, yes, there are presuppositions, but because a person's heart is hard, because they've been ensnared by Satan, because they've suppressed the truth with unrighteousness, you may actually have to raise an argument or give some kind of defense or, or, or make some sort of proof for the existence of God.

Just don't sit on that. Like don't be arguing with this person and thinking that somehow you have to get them to believe first that God exists before you can get to anything else. Get to the gospel. It's good to make those kinds of arguments, but you need to get to the gospel.

I think evidence arguments are good. Presuppositional arguments are good. And we can put those two things together in a gospel presentation. However the method happens to be that you use to show a person Christ, get to the gospel, or it may even be revealed to you in the span of that conversation that the person's heart is so wicked and so hard that they're just not going to hear anything that you have to say pertaining to the gospel.

In which case, don't give it to them because they're just going to blaspheme God. Their heart is going to be hardened against it even more. You've done your work. Let the Holy Spirit do his on that person as they go away from you.

And maybe someone down the road, the Holy Spirit will use to continue to penetrate that person's heart. Maybe they'll still come around, but don't continue to press on that person to a place that their heart becomes even more resistant and hardened to the truth.

Be practiced in it enough that you know where to stop. This is a good place for us to end. And we'll come back to this another time when cooler heads prevail and a person could be a little bit more rational, not as under the influence of Satan hardening the heart against the truth of God proclaimed in the gospel.

Now of course, I believe that the gospel has the power to penetrate even the most hardened heart. Absolutely. By the will of God, that can be done. But we must be responsible with what the Lord has called us to as evangelists.

When we go out with the gospel, be responsible. Don't be the kind of a person that is just trying to get blood on your theological sword so you can stand over them victorious and go, haha, I beat you in an argument.

We're not trying to beat the person in an argument. We're trying to give them the gospel. And so we need to do that work and know that the Holy Spirit will do his be faithful in what the Lord has called us to.

It is not your job to seal the deal. That's what the Holy Spirit does quite spiritually sealing the deal. We are sealed for the day of redemption as described in Ephesians chapter one. Now there's one other point that I want to touch here as I wrap this up today and we're going to come back again to this tomorrow.

And this has to do with what we've read here in verse 20 for God's 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. We'll use that verse to say everyone just knows that God exists because God has revealed himself to them. Well, this verse is actually telling us that we know a little bit more than just God exists.

It's actually telling us that we can observe even in the things that have been made. We can observe God's eternal power and divine nature. There are multiple things that are being said to us here in Romans 1 verses 18 through 32 that a person just knows because God has revealed it to them.

They can just know it through general revelation and those things are these. We know the wrath of God against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men because that's what it says there in verse 18. The wrath of God is revealed.

We know God's eternal power and divine nature. That's in verse 20. We know what is natural and what is unnatural. That's in verses 24 through 27. We know that God's word is true. That's in verse 32, though they know God's righteous decree.

We know that God has spoken and that what he has said is true. And finally, we know that whoever goes against the word of God will face the judgment of God. Those who practice such things deserve to die.

And though they know this, they not only do such things, but they give approval to those who practice them. We're going to expound on that a little bit more tomorrow as we come back to our study here in Romans chapter 1 verses 18 through 32.

Let's conclude with prayer. Our heavenly father, we thank you for the truth that you have revealed to us in Christ our savior in the gospel that was proclaimed to us. And I pray that we would take the gospel to others that they too may come to hear the truth and believe and so be saved from the wrath of God that is coming against all unrighteousness.

We were once under that wrath, but now we walk in the light of the truth in the gospel of Christ, in whose name we pray, amen.

This is When We Understand the Text with Pastor Gabe Hughes. There are lots of great Bible teaching programs on the web, and we thank you for selecting ours. But this is no replacement for regular fellowship with a church family.

Find a good, gospel -teaching, Christ-centered church to worship with this weekend, and join us again tomorrow as we continue our Bible study When We Understand the Text.