THE GOSPEL REVEALS GOD’S WRATH

Romans 1:18-32 / Keywords 1:18

The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness,

 

God’s Wrath Against Sinful Humanity

1:18 The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people, who suppress the truth by their wickedness, 19 since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. 20 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.

21 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. 22 Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools 23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like a mortal human being and birds and animals and reptiles.

24 Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. 25 They exchanged the truth about God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen.

26 Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural sexual relations for unnatural ones. 27 In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed shameful acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their error.

28 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. 29 They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, 30 slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; 31 they have no understanding, no fidelity, no love, no mercy. 32 Although they know God’s righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them.

1. God reveals his wrath against all the sin of mankind. What is the sin of mankind? It is the godlessness and wickedness of people who suppress the truth by their wickedness. What truth do they suppress? They suppress the truth of God. Despite God making his eternal power and divine nature known through his creation, despite revealing the power of God to bring salvation to all who believe the gospel, people refuse to believe. They refuse to glorify God, and they refuse to thank him. People wrongly transfer the wisdom and greatness of God to themselves. Then, they foolishly create idols that they worship rather than worshipping the true God.

2. God’s wrath is a terrible thing. It isn’t like when a parent is angry because a child misbehaves but still indulges them. God’s wrath is the giving over of the objects of his wrath to their sin. It’s as though God says, “OK, you want to sin instead of worshipping me? Fine! I abandon you to your sin.” People have nowhere to go but their sinful depravity: their sexual immorality, idol worship, arrogance, and boastfulness. And they not only do these things, but they approve of others who do them!

Prayer Father, because of our godlessness and wickedness, you reveal your wrath. Father, we need Jesus, our Savior, in order to be restored to you.

One Word Glorify God and give thanks to him