God's Wrath on Unrighteousness and Sin

Scripture Reading: Romans 1:18-32

Today we're going to the next verses. We're going to Romans 1 and we're going to begin in verse 18 there in Romans chapter 1. We're going to begin in verse 18 and we're going to read through verse 32. This passage really goes all the way. It really connects Romans 1:18. It really connects all the way through chapter 3 of Romans verse 20. But we're honing in on Romans 1 18-32. Our title is God's wrath on unrighteousness and sin.

I do invite anybody that would like and is able to stand with me in honor of the reading of the word of God.

Romans chapter 1, beginning in verse 18, the word of God says, "For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, because what may be known of God is manifest in them. For God has shown it to them. 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. Because although they knew God, they did not glorify him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools, and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man, and birds and four-footed animals, and creeping things. Therefore God also gave them up to uncleanness in the lusts of their hearts to dishonor their bodies among themselves who exchanged the truth of God for the lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the creator who is blessed forever. Amen. For this reason God gave them up to vile passions. For even their women exchanged the natural use for what is against nature. Likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust for one another, men with men, committing what is shameful, and receiving in themselves the penalty of their error which was due. And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a debased mind to do those things which are not fitting, being filled with all unrighteousness, sexual immorality, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness, full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, evil-mindedness. They are whisperers, backbiters, haters of God, violent, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, undiscerning, untrustworthy, unloving, unforgiving, unmerciful, who, knowing the righteous judgment of God, that those who practice such things are deserving of death, not only do the same, but also approve those who practice them."

God, we want to come to you right now. And God, I just one thing I just thank you and I praise you for this time of worship. I thank you that we're able to be here to worship you, Jesus. And God, I thank you for your word, all of your word. Parts of your word are so hard and prick at us. And God, I thank you for your word which teaches us and which molds us and which helps to shape us more and more in your image when we're willing. And God, today as we dig into the word of God, I do pray that you convict our hearts where it's needed. That you use your word to help shape us, to help carve us and mold us more and more into your image. And Lord, I just pray you have your way today and work inside of each heart here today. And that every bit of praise, every bit of honor, and every bit of glory would go to you. It's in Jesus name we pray. All God's people said.

You can go ahead and be seated.

God Hates Sin and Ungodliness

Here in the passage, one thing that I was reminded of, I think we can be reminded of is God does not like ungodliness. God does not like sin. God is a holy God. And in the Bible, there's a lot of places in the Bible where God speaks to sin. And this is one of those places. I mean, God's word here really speaks to specific sins and what God considers sin. And one thing I think we should be reminded of is God is not pleased with sin. God is not pleased with ungodliness. We serve a holy God without sin. Amen. We serve a holy God.

And by the way, sometimes someone might say, "Well, why is God like that? That people should be able to live the way they want to live or this or that." God reserves the right. He's God. God created all things. And God does reserve the right to tell us what sin is in his word. Hey, by the way, who believes the Bible is the word of God. I believe the Bible is the word of God. By the way, if we don't have the word of God as our guide for truth, the Bible speaks to this, we'll be blown around with every wind of doctrine. We'll believe anything. I thank God that he gives us his word. So, we know one thing we know is what is sin. But God does not like sin and ungodliness. And he's allowed to do that because he's God. But also, God knows what's best for his creation. God knows that you and I, we are not going to be happy living in sin. Sin and ungodliness, despite what the flesh might tell you, despite what people might tell you, despite what the enemy might try to trick you to believe, it's not going to bring you joy. It's not going to bring you peace. It's going to bring sadness. It's going to bring depression. It's going to bring addiction. It's going to bring struggles. It's going to affect relationships. Sin is not good for us. Amen.

God doesn't like it and God knows what's best for us. But also what we see here in this passage is we have proof in the world around us that God is real. So when we stay in sin and we don't go to God, God is just in judging us for our sin. He's just in it because we have evidence all around us that God is real. We'll get to that in a minute. We'll speak to that in a minute. But one thing that I also as I was reading through this and in verse 18 I think it is that we're reminded of this is don't suppress the truth about God.

Don't suppress the truth about the one true God. Many times men, women, people, mankind, they'll know God is real, but they'll suppress the truth and justify and say they don't believe God is real. We see that in this passage. Watch what it says in verse 18. For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness. Now, that part about suppress the truth in unrighteousness, part of me thinks when I read that is sometimes a person will want to suppress the truth and say they don't believe in God because they want to keep living in sin, living in unrighteousness, living in ungodliness.

Sometimes a person, I mean, I remember when God was working on me for salvation, to give my life to Christ. And I remember saying, "I don't know. I'm not quite ready." Hey, sometimes a person will say, "I don't want to give this up, so I'm not going to give my life to Jesus." We're reminded here, don't suppress the truth about the one true God. He goes on to say in verse 19, because what may be known of God is manifest in them. For God has shown it to them. In other words, it's saying these people that we're reading about in Romans 1, God had already shown them he was real, but they still suppressed the truth about God. They still acted like God was not real.

How did they know God was real? 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. In other words, God, his word is saying people can tell that God is real by looking at creation around them. And when they don't believe God is real, they are without excuse. And God reserves the right to judge.

Hey, think about this. And we're talking about general revelation. We've also got to preach the word and preach the gospel for somebody to be saved. But think about this. Have you ever gone outside on a beautiful clear night and seen all the stars and just thought to yourself, I know God is real. Just by looking above, what does the scripture say? The heavens declare the glory of God. Right? We can go out in creation and we can know there is God. Amen.

There's all kinds of examples of what God has made that shows men and women and boys and girls and mankind that God is real. You can go out to the ocean just 10, 15 minutes down the road and you can sit on the sands of Carolina Beach. That's where I gave my life to the Lord. And you can look out at the ocean. You can look at the sand. You can look at the waves. And you can look in the distance, the horizon. You can see the sunset or the sunrise. You're just like, "God is real." Amen. You can go out. Have anybody ever been to the Grand Canyon? I remember going to the Grand Canyon when I was in high school. Our dad took us out west. And you just look in the vastness of the Grand Canyon and you're like, "God is real." Amen.

You can look at creation. And that doesn't even get into life of man like people coming into this world. I'll never forget when our kids were born and God it Crystal gave birth to Isabella. I remember that Isabelle was our first and when she came into my arms, I was overwhelmed feeling the presence of God in that moment. Overwhelmed knowing this child was a child that God gave us. And Greenley and Cable when a child is born the way God designs it for a child to be in the mother's womb and the mother's womb to nurture that child to grow and then the child comes out of the womb and is breathing. You got to know God's real. Amen.

There are in looking at the human body, the eye, the mind, all these things show God is real. What God's word is saying here is they didn't glorify God. They suppressed the truth even though they had proof by what was created that God is real. And it's a reminder to us. Don't suppress the truth about God. And by the way, we've also got God's word. Don't suppress the truth about God.

You know who love to make you try to suppress the truth about God? The devil. The devil loves to make you doubt. The devil will love to try to make someone that is a Christian doubt that God is real. What did the devil do to Eve? The devil made her doubt God's word was true. It's a great reminder to us. Don't suppress the truth about God. And if you're a Christian, don't suppress the truth about God to justify sin. Sometimes somebody might say, "Well, it's okay to do this. It's not that big of a deal." Sin is sin. God does not like sin.

But you know what? In this passage, people, they were suppressing the truth about God. And what did it lead to? It led to them turning from God. It led to idolatry. When we suppress the truth about God, it leads to us drifting from God and eventually turning from God. When somebody suppresses the truth and it starts it starts with not being not glorifying him as God, not putting God first. That's how it starts. Watch what it says there around verse 21. Although they knew God, they God showed them he was real through creation. They did not glorify him as God nor were thankful. They weren't putting God first. They weren't believing fully in God. And watch what happens. But became futile in their thoughts. Sin starts in the inner being, right? Sin starts from the heart and in the mind and then it comes out of the outer being. They became futile in their thoughts and their foolish hearts were darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools.

Have you ever talked to somebody who doesn't believe in God and sometimes they're really smart, like intellectually smart, and they might even start to explain, "Well, here's what I believe." And sometimes might think they're very smart to be able to disprove God. You can't disprove God. God's God. But you know what the Bible speaks to is the fact that when we reject God, no matter how intellectual we are, we're fools.

You can be. And by the way, who do you think gave the mind to us? God. When somebody is that intellectually smart or a genius or whatever, God gave them that giftedness. And when we reject God and when we suppress the truth about God, we're not smart. We're fools. You know, I love what it says in Proverbs. It's the theme of Proverbs. Proverbs 1:7. It says it in other places of Proverbs. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge or the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. True wisdom starts with fearing God. True wisdom starts with trusting God. I believe it's in Psalms that says a fool says that there is no God. It's foolish to not believe in God.

And by the way, when we don't believe in God, we don't have any hope. When we don't believe in God, when we die, there's nothing else. But God made a way that there is something else. There's heaven. And that way is through faith in Jesus. But when people suppress the truth about God, it leads to them turning from God. And I think that relates to someone that's lost, that's never given their life to Jesus. If you're here today and you've never done that, I pray I pray you give your life to Jesus today.

But I think as Christians, we also have to be on guard to not suppress the truth about God because the enemy would love to just get us a little bit more and a little bit more separated from God. We how do we know what the truth is? We know what the truth about God is. Is through the word of God. Second Timothy 3:16 says, "All scripture is given by inspiration of God. Is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work." The Bible is the word of God. So, as Christians, too, I think something we can take away is not to suppress the truth about God. Don't believe the lies of the world. Don't believe the lies of the enemy.

But when people turn from God, when people suppress the truth, it leads them turning from God. When people turn from God, what does it lead to? When people turn from God, it leads to sin and it leads to ungodliness. If we don't have God first in our life, watch out because we are sinners. If we don't have God guiding us and God first, boy, are we going to easily fall into sin. And that's what we read about in this passage. They suppressed the truth about God. They turned from God. And then it led to awful sin, awful wickedness, awful ungodliness.

Watch what it says here in the scripture there in verse 24 beginning there. Therefore, God also gave them up to uncleanness in the lust of their hearts to dishonor their bodies among themselves who exchanged the truth of God for the lie. I think Paul when he's talking about the lie is anything that goes contrary to the one true God. Any false teaching. And worshiped and served the creature rather than the creator who is blessed forever. Amen.

And by the way, going back to verse 23, it says, "And they changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image." What we see is when they turned from God, they started to worship false gods. When we turned from God, they turned from God, they started to practice idolatry. And when they did that, it started to lead to awful sin. Idolatry and worshiping false gods and turning from God is going to lead to sin. It's going to lead to ungodliness.

It says there in verse 24, God gave them up. God gave them up to uncleanness. He uses that phrase three times in this passage. That God gave them up. What does that mean? Here's what I think it means. I think it means this is if we go and we don't believe in God and we turn from God and we won't choose to believe in God, rather we're believing in false gods, God's not going to force us. We've got to choose to believe in God. We've got to make that decision that I love you, God, and I believe in you. And I think what it could mean is God allowed them. We have free will. We can make the decisions we want to make. Now, God could make us, but isn't it so true that so many times what God desires in us is that we want to worship and choose him. Amen.

That we want to choose God. But how many times have you started falling into some kind of sin? God will allow you. Now He'll convict you of sin. But if we allow ourselves to drift from God, if we allow ourselves to turn from God, if we allow ourselves to live ungodly and live in sin, God will allow it. And hopefully if we're there, we turn from it because we know that God loves us. Now, I know this, too. God will rebuke us. The Holy Spirit will convict us if we're a believer. If we're a believer, the Holy Spirit will convict you. It says God gave them up. God is full of grace and mercy and he will forgive us of our sins. But we have to choose to believe in him. Amen.

But here it says God gave them up to uncleanness and the lust of their hearts. He allowed them to live in sin because they were choosing sin. They were choosing ungodliness and choosing to suppress the truth and not believe in God. And again it led them to idolatry. It led them to false worship.

As we go on to the passage of verse 26, it goes on to say this that phrase again, for this reason, God gave them up to vile passions. What does that word vile mean? That word vile means wicked, despicable, contemptible in God's sight. And after it says that, it says, "For even their women exchanged the natural use for what is against nature. Likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust for one another, men with men, committing what is shameful, and receiving in themselves the penalty of their error which was due."

So, we see as a result of them turning from God, it led to idolatry. And then in this passage it talks about other sin after this passage but Paul first hones in on homosexuality. And what it says there is that he describes as vile passions. In other words, wicked. And it's described as going against what is not natural. You know, God has an order and God created man and God created woman. And that's naturally God's plan. And what it's saying there is that this goes against God's natural plan. And this is shameful. Leviticus calls it an abomination in Leviticus. But what we see here is that God starts off in his word calling that sin, calling it sinful, calling it wicked.

And then as we go on in verse 28, we continue to read about ungodliness and sin. And in verse 28 it says, "And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a debased mind to do those things which are not fitting." And then in this passage it reminds me of second Timothy 3. The way ungodliness is talked about in the last days. It says being filled with all unrighteousness, sexual immorality, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness, full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, evil-mindedness. They are whisperers, backbiters, haters of God, violent, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, undiscerning, untrustworthy, unloving, unforgiving, unmerciful.

So what we read in that passage is we read that people suppress the truth about God and then as they suppress the truth, they turn from God. And then as they turned from God and turned to idolatry, it led to sin. It led to wickedness. It led to all kinds of sin. Paul, he starts there with homosexuality. And by the way, in Paul's days, the Roman Empire, I read somewhere that 14 out of the first 15 emperors practiced homosexuality. It was rampant in the day and age that they lived in. He starts with homosexuality and talking about the sin of homosexuality. And then he goes on to list all these other examples of sin. Wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness, full of envy, murder. But where does it all begin? Where's that sin begin? It begins when people suppress the truth about God. It begins when people don't believe in God. And then it continues when people turn from God.

Guys, we are sinners. All of us. Amen. Who knows they're a sinner? Every single one of us are sinners. And if we turn from God, watch out because we will fall into sin. We need God. Something I thought about when I read this passage and I think about people turning from God is when society turns from God, it leads to moral decay. And I tell you, I don't know. I think others would agree. If you've been around some years, have you seen society decay and morality? Have you seen over your lifetime less people putting God first? Less people believing in God, less people having a fear of God, less people being in church, more people being okay with sin, more people maybe not just sinning but also like even applauding sin.

Hey, it shouldn't surprise us the Bible speaks about the last days in second Timothy 3. And a lot of the things that are mentioned in this passage, all those many sinful words that Paul shares this, they're also shared in 2 Timothy 3 in the last days. And we're in the last days. We just don't know how long they'll last. We don't know when Jesus is coming back. We need to be ready. He could come back at any moment. But this is what the Bible describes will happen. And it starts because people turn from God. When people turn from God, it leads to moral decay. And I do believe we've seen it in our society. I know since I've been a child, boy, have I noticed it. And I know many of y'all have noticed it. But you've got a society today that's somewhat of a different world in the sense of what people put first. It all starts with do we put God first or do we not put him first? And do we believe in God or do we not believe in God?

Takeaways from the Passage

So, you know, when we think about all this passage and we think about what it's saying here, what do we take away? Well, I tell you something I take away is we are all sinners and we live in a sinful world. But praise God, he made a way all of us, every one of us can be forgiven of sins. And something I believe we need to take away is believers that if we're born again, if we're saved, if we're a believer, believers should look different than the world.

The Bible says, "Don't be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God." Hey, listen. Do you see sin going on in this world? Yes. It's all around. And if we want to get into sin, it's not hard. There's sin. There's evil. There's wickedness all around. But as believers, we should look different. Jesus said, "Be the light of the world." Right? Jesus said, "Be the salt." Salt is useful. We ought to be useful in this world. And we ought to be the light of the world. Hey, the darker it gets, the brighter the light shines. The more sinful and dark this world gets, the more the light of Jesus will shine when you shine the light of Jesus.

You know, and I just think for us, one thing that we ought to be reminded of, one takeaway is God does hate sin. God judges sin. Praise God. He makes a way all sinners can be forgiven. But if we're a believer, if we've been saved and we've been forgiven, we ought to shine the light of Jesus. We ought to be we ought to look different than the world. And something else I'll say this is when we think about this passage, I hope it's a wakeup call for us to also be on mission for the Lord. You know what I mean? Because people need Jesus.

Everybody, all those sins that we just read, God can forgive anybody. God will forgive anybody when they call on him. Amen. God will forgive them. You know, this is something I in 1 Corinthians chapter 6. Do you not verse 9, do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? And he goes on to say, do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you. Okay, that in other words, he's saying that's what some of you used to be. That's what some of you were, but you were washed. But you were sanctified. But you were justified in the name of our Lord Jesus and by the spirit of our God.

We got good news. No matter what sin, no matter how awful the sin somebody is in, God will forgive them when they turn to him. Amen. So, what do we take away? We should shine the light of Jesus. And we need to be on mission for Jesus. We need to be proclaiming the gospel message of Jesus. Hey, who's going to watch the Super Bowl tonight? Anybody? I might watch parts where I might fall asleep. But, you know, I love I don't love the college. Did Drake May go to UNCC? I think Drake May the quarterback for the Patriots. I think he went to Unity. I mean, more of a Wolfpack fan, but I love what I heard Drake May say. Drake May, who is the starting quarterback for the Patriots, he said more important to him than football is Jesus Christ. And I even read where he said something about he considers football being a platform for him to share about Jesus.

You know that we ought to be like that where we're on mission for the Lord. Here's a young guy that's got all the fame in the world. He's in the Super Bowl and he's talking about Jesus. We ought to be on mission for the Lord telling this world about Jesus because you know what? This world needs Jesus. This world needs Jesus. And when someone's in sin and some sin that we think is so awful and so wicked, we don't need to be judging them. We don't need to be shunning them. We need to be sharing the love of Jesus and sharing Jesus with them and letting them know God loves them and letting them know how they could be forgiven of sins when they turn and trust in Jesus. We've got to be on mission for glory.

You know what Jesus did? Jesus went to the sinners. Ain't it? Jesus went to the sinners and Jesus made Jesus said how somebody could be saved. We've got to be on mission for the Lord. And something we should remember is this. We have good news. We in we're in a sinful world, but we have good news, but we don't know how long we got to be here. You know, I was at a funeral for Terren's father. Terrence is Rachel's best friend. Two hours away yesterday in Lisa, South Carolina. We don't know how much longer we'll be here. We don't know. And by the way, they were worshiping. Jerry knows they were singing and they were praising God. But we don't know when it's our last day. We're not promised tomorrow. And by the way, people that aren't saved aren't promised tomorrow either. So when you got somebody that you love and that you care about and that you know they need a relationship with Jesus, you don't know how much longer you got. Share Jesus with share the gospel with them.

And also, we don't know when God's going to rapture his church. God could rapture his church right now. God could rapture his church tomorrow. I love Brother Jack over here. He's studied prophecy in end times a lot of years, but he was talking about how a long time back he led a Bible study and said, "What would you do if God if you knew, which none of us know clearly, but that God was rapturing his church in 24 hours from right now?" Now, we know that we don't know the hour, but we ought to live that way like God could rapture his church at any moment. We ought to be on mission for the Lord because this world needs Jesus. And by the way, how are people going to believe if they don't hear somebody share? You don't get the gospel and salvation through general revelation. You can tell there's God. You can tell God's real through creation, but the way you get saved and the way you can understand how to be saved is through the gospel. We've got to share the gospel message of Jesus Christ.

And just thinking back to what we talked about two Sundays ago, I love that verse that comes that verse in Romans 1:16 comes right before this passage that talks about sin. See, Paul understood he had to share the gospel. He understood he had to be unashamed. He had to be bold. He says, "For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes." And just like Paul had an urgency, we ought to have an urgency. There's work to do, church. Amen. There's work to do.

So, I hope as we wrap up today that all of us are encouraged, you know, be the light of the world. In a world where there's people turning from God, in a world where there's people that don't believe in God, shine the light of Jesus to those people, and make sure we're being on mission for the Lord and sharing the gospel.

Closing Prayer and Invitation

God, we love you and I just thank you and praise you for this day. And now as we just have a time to reflect, a time to pray, a time of invitation. I just pray whatever way you might be moving in hearts, whatever way the Holy Spirit might be moving that you work. We love you. It's in Jesus name we pray. Amen.