well I invite you to turn to the book of Romans chapter 1 tonight Romans chapter 1 as we now move into Paul's treatment on sin and the wrath of God and we're looking now at verses 18 we'll read to the end of the chapter so we have the full context but our text tonight will be 18 verse 20 through 23 let's give our attention tonight to the word of the lord found on page 1116 in your bibles 1116 beginning at verse 18 actually i'd like to back up at verse 16 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 notice this word revealed from faith for faith as it is written the just shall live by faith now we're looking at the revelation of something else verse 18 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 that 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 lust of their hearts to impurity to dishonoring of their bodies among themselves because they exchanged the truth about god for a lie and worshiped and serve the creature rather than the creator who is blessed forever amen for this reason god gave them up to dishonorable passions for their women exchange 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 heir 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 slanders 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 may the lord bless the hearing of his word well what a section of scripture to to preach and to consider tonight obviously a very heavy and weighty section of scripture and you could have many and numerous sermons on this i think it's probably helpful to sort of stand back and look at the bigger picture in a few sermons on this first chapter of romans so that we don't lose the big picture of what the apostle is doing in the book i remember when i uh first went through romans years ago as a young pastor in my first charge i said to the congregation i said listen on the the first section of romans will be challenging it'll be rough to go through but i want you to notice here as paul's addressing sin and the judgment of god and the wrath of god on sin its goal is to lead us somewhere he moves from sin to grace and grace will be special we will understand grace we will treasure grace once we have appreciated what's said in these first chapters of romans so i said be patient just be patient and sure enough it wasn't a few into a few sermons that a man came up and said you know i'm i'm really struggling i just this is a lot about sin i need some positive encouragement and i said be patient be patient right you know there is chapters 12 through 16 be patient and sure enough um he wasn't patient and then soon enough he moved on to another church he didn't even make it out of Romans 1 you see that's that says something about him that says something about his inability to deal with the true problem of his heart that says something about the church today's inability to listen to God's diagnosis of the problem that we never talk about judgment or hell anymore we have we have wished it out of existence so we have nice messages and therapeutic messages we're so into the therapeutic as i talked about when paul last time said i'm not ashamed of the gospel that's where we've moved that we've lost the effect of the gospel we've lost the power of the gospel we've lost why it has meaning for us so we get weak shallow stuff that does nothing to affect people well this is why it's important tonight to understand what paul's doing in romans chapter one and to give great consideration to it and to listen to it on its own terms as it was inspired by the spirit paul had just said in verse 16 that the gospel is god's power to save it's the thesis of the book if you will it's the heart of the pastoral concern of the book it is a pastoral letter because he says it is revealed because what is revealed is the righteousness that comes from God that is made available to the sinner so that he can be justified by faith alone in Christ alone that was the aim of the book the goal here is to show how great God's act is in justifying a sinner by faith alone and that's why we preach the gospel that's why we make our aim to preach the gospel to woe is me if i don't preach christ and him crucified that's the the heart of what we're trying to accomplish doesn't mean that's the only thing we ever talk about it's the heart and goal and aim of the christian ministry but what good is it to talk about justification by faith if no one understands why that's needed you see tonight you'll notice why this righteousness revealed in the gospel is the best news it's because something else has been simultaneously revealed and that revelation is a revelation of the wrath of god which is something we have to give attention to and until we have some understanding of this some concept of this until we've accepted this as what our heidelberg said god is angry with the sins we're born with as well as the sins we personally commit until we accept that truth until we understand that truth we'll never truly appreciate why christ came and had to die for us and i don't think we nearly can grasp with full measure the wrath of god in terms of understanding how holy god is does anyone truly know how holy god is now what a question to think about but we have to have some conception of it especially as it is exercised as paul's about to describe here in romans chapter one and herein lies the heart i would say of why modern preaching has not had the effect on people as it should i think some of our preaching and we can look at our own world has been more academic so that we discuss the principles and we discuss the doctrine and and we we make sure that the formulas are correct it's almost like we're so afraid to make sure the systematic theology is right in the way that we say it but like the pharisees in that way we can keep it all on the surface so that we are kept from internalizing it to deep conviction as long as the formula is right we did our duty and that is not what paul does here it's true it strikes straight into the human heart the doctrine the formula and that has the aim of producing faith that's why it is so important tonight to consider and give attention to and not remain on the surface of what paul is saying here about the wrath of god who will appreciate grace until some kind of foundation has been laid that makes a sinner desire grace or want grace or recognize his state and his position that he is in outside of christ so that he might ask the question that they asked in acts sirs what must we do then to be saved we need to hear that question from people and the only way you get to that question is when there is deep conviction so for the gospel to have meaning for grace to be comprehended you have to understand what the problem is um you know this in life if you go to a doctor and you have cancer and the doctor's afraid to tell you i've got bad news for you but hands you a kleenex he's done nothing for you so too we have to diagnose the human heart and the situation as god has given it so the breakdown tonight briefly is here we're looking at the revelation of wrath the reasons that paul provides for wrath and the result of wrath in these first verses of romans chapter 1 18 through 23 we begin at verse 18 tonight paul breaks into one of the most definitive statements of man's problem in the bible of our problem as human beings in the bible again god created man good in his own image we robbed ourselves of that at the instigation of the devil and willful disobedience we threw it all away and that has not now left us in a good predicament and that's verse 18 for after that introduction the wrath of god is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness paul has just said that in the gospel the righteousness of god is revealed so this is an important point that the gospel has to be revealed to you for you to understand that and that revelation comes in the scriptures that is so needed it is because the wrath of god is also a reality and not just a reality it has been revealed from heaven so this is an important thing to think about because there are many people who can't see that what is happening and the sins that they're living in and that the things that they're pursuing and the state of society or the things that are happening is a revelation of god's just wrath that has to be revealed to be comprehended just like the gospel there are a few different words for wrath in the bible there's one that speaks of the heat of violence. There's another that's used to speak of God's unleashed fury. The majority of the words speak of the, use a particular word that speaks of God's hottest wrath. It simply means a wrath that grows ripe over a period of time. And here Paul uses that word where he speaks of the wrath of God or the orge of God as revealed. We tend to think of wrath as an emotion that arises sort of quickly and uncontrollably, and we shouldn't do that with God. This is not some emotion that arises in God, even though the Bible does take language of which we understand in describing the passions of men and sometimes applies that to God in the way that it speaks. But it's understanding what we mean by wrath and understanding what paul's describing here that is important we think of wrath we tend to think of it only on a catastrophic level the gomorrah like sodom and gomorrah or the noaic like flood natural disaster romans 1 helps us with sort of a full view of the wrath of god as it is generally exercised and as we see it in society he says the wrath of god is revealed from heaven paul's looking at the gentile world here in this first section he will move in chapter 2 to the to the jewish world and those who had the oracles of god those who were near god those who believed in god so he's looking and he'll draw the conclusion all alike are under sin For he'll say those who had the law of God did not do the things written in the law either. But for a while here, they would have been very comfortable looking at Romans 1 and seeing what is done in the Gentile world. And Paul does explain that. One of the great confusions for us in our time has been the state of our society, I think. We haven't always thought about the larger thing of what is said here, that when we complain about why things have gone the way they have gone we have this uncomfortable reality that we're sort of hesitant to talk about but that actually what we are experiencing at times is Romans chapter one and that's hard for us to process when you have a society and people corrupting themselves into wickedness or pursuing the path of evil and living in that and championing that and celebrating that paul is saying something here that we have to appreciate it's not just so easy to see for people just like i said the gospel is good news that has to be revealed we won't believe the gospel until it's been revealed to us notice here the wrath of god is also revealed what is roman's intention is in this for i say this up front before we look at some of the particulars here the intention is that it should lead people the intention of Paul is that it should lead people to the kind of conviction as he explains how the wrath of God is revealed to say the effect should be really oh that's what's going on I never thought about that I never realized that these things are actually happening is a result of the wrath of God being exercised well if that's the case then reveal the gospel to me see that this is the intention here but what do we mean by this tonight well i gave some reflection on this i thought even though i haven't always liked the the term i i think it's confusing at times but it's important to understand the concept of the common grace of god or the common goodness which is probably a better the old theologian just spoke of providence the doctrine is important because essentially what it said is that god has put his hand of restraint on society that god has withheld evil from arising up in society so that things are not as bad as they possibly could be i mean could you imagine if things were and and james boyce when he preached romans 1 said that what we have experienced here is god taking his hand off the lid and when the lid is lifted it's like lifting hell's lid and you see what the human heart is capable of and what wickedness comes out god has his hand on the lid god has had his hand on the lid when something bad happens we always say where is god god's always been holding down the lid all he had to do was this and then you see what's what we're capable of the possibilities of evil the wickedness that could come god has in his common grace restrained a lot so that society is even possible romans 2 will say what people should do with that is that his goodness ought to lead people to repentance his goodness in other words we should look at certain things in the world we should look at as paul preached to the pagans when he said to the pagans he's filled your hearts with food and gladness and he sent rain on the just and the unjust he's done all these good things and we can look in society and we might say remember the times when and i know we always golden age everything looking back but but there might there is true there are times when there was more morality or there was better truth honored or integrity or honesty in society none of these things are only exclusive to christians common grace has made this so he's commonly shown his goodness in this world the common work of the holy spirit we say so that we have order preservation that should lead people to repentance his goodness this is what paul said to the athenians god has given you life he he has given you a place under the sun he's given you times to dwell in cities to dwell in all that should lead you to he's been good the problem is is this instead of being thankful instead of recognizing all this instead of walking outside and looking at all this saying wow people corrupt themselves in their hatred of god i'll come back to that in a minute so the great truth that's being said here is that god exercises and in response to this reveals his wrath in the present because of sin how so well not getting ahead of myself but next week we'll look at in verse verses 24 to the end of the chapter he speaks of three ways he gives people over to their sins he gave them over notice this to uncleanness to vile passions and to a debased mind romans 1 is describing the full development of sin in people and in society and it is at some point known to god only to god that's why it's never an excuse to say oh it's the wrath of god there's no hope that's not ours there always is why we're living hope turn to the lord jesus christ today and be saved but at some point to god known to god he exercises his righteous judgment and he gives people over in their sins that's how the wrath of god one of the ways the wrath of god is revealed he turns them over now listen carefully to what they want he is not turning people over to something they don't want that is really important in this it's not like somebody saying oh i just want to go to heaven i so want christ and god says no now that's not what this is there are many verses in the bible that describe the cycle of sin in somebody's life james 1 provides the whole cycle of sin from those first desires that give birth those evil desires but no one say when he's tempted i'm tempted by god for god cannot be tempted by evil nor does he himself tempt anyone but each one is tempted when he's drawn away by his own desires it's those desires and enticed when desire has this evil desire conceives it gives birth to sin and then sin of course fully grown like like an animal brings forth death in somebody's life it destroys them that's a path people choose willfully that's essentially what we chose in adam uh first john says there's a destructive path that leads to a rebellious path in someone's life from walking in darkness to saying that they're presently not sinning and then to finally saying i've never been a sinner stop saying that that's a path john says that leads to death ephesians 4 describes people who are past feeling or first timothy 5 says their consciences are seared with a hot iron past feeling ephesians 4 they have listen to this given themselves over to work all uncleanness with greediness so they don't even feel it they sear like with an iron they sear their consciences conscience is in the heart conscience is an amazing thing conscience is a restraint that God put in people and the process of sin the cycle of sin gets to a point where it's seared by its own willful volition here's what Paul's saying in Romans 1 God's not entirely absent from that whole thing he may deliver somebody out of it but he is also exercising righteous judgments in this life his wrath is revealed when he lifts that restraint and he removes that restraint and he turns people over to what they want you can study that with pharaoh he hardened his own heart and god hardened his heart so notice the development here people continue to harden their hearts against the lord again and again and again and all this patience all this long suffering all this this uh yeah patience and then known to god he exercises a righteous judgment jesus spoke this way and this is what makes us a little uncomfortable but even of societies you capernum will not be exalted to heaven will you you'll be brought down to hades for if the miracles that had occurred in you had occurred in Sodom the city of Sodom you would it would have remained to this day woe to you Corazon and woe to you Bethsaida for if the miracles having been taken place had been taken place in Tyre and in Sidon they would have repented a long time ago and sat clothed in ashes is gentiles by nature do things written on the conscience according to god's law but in societies and in people's lives in the process of sin they can sear those consciences and hate god and hate morality and hate honesty and hate integrity and they push the line of morality further and further and further back. Even now to the point of denying marriage between a man and a woman. And Paul says, God most certainly exercises His wrath in the midst of this. That's what's happening. He is giving people over. We are seeing morally people's lives and society commit crimes that are not just escalating but some of the most perverse things we have seen and can't believe that this is now championed. Sure, gossip is bad. Paul is saying there's a progression in things that are against nature that shows how far a society can go in its hatred of God. So the wrath of God is revealed. and we see the worst forms of perversion come out. It's important. We need to appreciate that what we are experiencing is the wrath and curse of God, as our Heidelberg says, not just in the future, but now. God is exercising judgments right now. That's why things are the way they are at times. You ever think that with the escalation of evil and how much unrighteousness is happening, God is not very happy because what he actually hears are the cries of people because of injustice all the time coming up to heaven? You ever think about that? If the blood of Abel cries out from the ground, how much injustice, how much murder, how much violence do we celebrate that cries out constantly to heaven? You think he's going to do nothing? He's just. And we take that justice seriously. and the fact of it should be already i need mercy i need mercy right now paul wants us to understand the reason for this in verse 18 here's he helps flesh this out a little bit more for us tonight we'll stop he says in verse 18 they suppress the truth in unrighteousness truth here means all of creation what he's talking about truth is it's the truth of creation and it's the truth of conscience they suppress the creation and the conscience that is all around them where God has written his law even on the conscience he'll deal with people who have the oracles of God in the next chapter those who have it and don't believe it he's talking about those written in conscience and creation and on the heart literally means they suppress it they push down the truth in unrighteousness they they blatantly disregard god and and what they know to be true and they suppress general revelation and conscience because verse 19 what may be made known of god is manifest or evident among them for god has shown it to them so there are certain things clearly seen, he says. Verse 20, for since the creation of the world, his invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead so that they are without excuse. So in other words, all of creation tells us something it tells us there is a god number one i mean who could form all this come on the fool in his heart denies that so it's god's answer to people who deny it if you want to look around at all this and say there's no god you're a fool that's god's answer god didn't come along in genesis 1 and say i'm really concerned to make a case for my existence to you go outside and look up and it doesn't just tell us empty things it tells us that god is omnipotent there's an all powerful god upholding all this come on there's there's eternal power that's evident his eternity is evident but they're taking that and they're suppressing the heavens declare the glory of god and the earth his handiwork day into day utter speech night into night reveals knowledge there's no speech nor language where their voice is not heard their line has gone out throughout all the earth and their words to the ends of the world darcy and i would um go to half dome and beautiful places in sequoia and remember i don't i don't know about general sherman now but we'd stand and look at general sherman and all these tourists would come and they'd look at general sherman and all the the cameras would be out and two of us would be standing there admiring the tree and you have two different responses we're looking at a tree wow look at that tree look at the glory of that tree and everyone stands and he takes pictures by the tree and they look like little peanuts compared to that tree and very few stand and say look at the glory of god and his power revealed in that creative act of god tomorrow begins a solar eclipse across north america 15 states will be in the path of the totality of it it's amazing how many people have no thought about this at all, but they're all going to go out and watch this thing. Some were even complaining it's going to be too cloudy. Does anyone ever stop and ask? Who put that light up there? Who put that bright light up there that's being eclipsed? How did that look who made that it's a suppression paul says and the issue beloved is lo and behold of all things worship worship the heart is so perverse everyone's worshiping something were made to worship everyone's in an act of worship they're either gathering to give god the glory or they're worshiping that son it says they dishonor him they refuse to give thanks they became futile in their thinking and their foolish hearts are notice the process darkened claiming to be wise they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal god for images second commandment for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles to worship their god don't forget this by the time the righteous and the jewish people heard this they said yep those gentiles stuck in homosexuality those wicked people and yet their very history was on mount sinai doing this very thing taking and exchanging the glory of god and making him into an image of a bull calf and worshiping him all of Israel if we were let go we would suppress the plain truth that's in front of us and all of creation and we would worship and serve something else in our lives the creature rather than the creator who is forever blessed Paul's saying the suppression of that truth the denial of that glory through what was made just through what was made is a reason for the exercising of god's just wrath right now our canons say this this decision even of reprobation which doesn't at all make god the author of sin a blasphemous thought but rather it's fearful irreproachable just judge and avenger creation alone provides enough to know that there is an eternal invisible all-powerful god who created these things but without the revelation of the gospel it's not enough to save you you see you need the gospel and the revelation produced a knowledge that has some kind of bearing on the conscience paul says that renders everyone inexcusable in this life just by what is made at this point the reason for god's wrath is that by nature we indeed refuse to see that we refuse to give God's glory, God glory. And he says in verse 21, because they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but their hearts were darkened. We chose that path. Now if things are that bad, and God's wrath is that just, do you see tonight how wonderful verses 16 and 17 are? for i want to come and i want to preach the gospel to you because god has revealed in the gospel a righteousness apart from the law apart from your works the righteousness that comes by faith that just shall live by faith in contrast to the revelation of wrath paul's goal is to give the revelation of god's son therefore we who have fled to him for refuge can have great confidence as we hold to the hope that lies before us this is what Romans 1 is aiming to accomplish praise God for the revelation of his love that delivers us from the wrath to come but understand very carefully God is just to exercise this wrath this is what we deserve and we praise him tonight for his gospel and care to take that gospel the revelation of that gospel because of the revelation of wrath to the peoples that they might be set free and forgiven of their sins let's pray heavenly father thank you for your truth tonight and your help to understand why we need the gospel of jesus christ thank you for revealing the gospel but we also recognize oh lord that you are just god and that in you indeed are merciful but you are also just and that you have declared cursed is everyone who has not continued to do all things written in the book of the law it is a just judgment both now and in eternity we have not wanted to preach that message we have avoided that message because we've been embarrassed, O Lord. But tonight, O Lord, would You give us the strength and endurance to speak the truth and love to people about these things and to remember the great aim and purpose that the revelation of the Gospel, the revelation of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is Your answer and that You have published that to all the world as the answer to sin. For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. Thank You for that gift. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.