Blessings of the Gospel, v18 Condemnation
Romans 1:16-18 · Jim Pool · Nov 13, 2005
Romans (2005-07), No. 07
Holly Hills Bible Church
https://hollyhillsbiblechurch.org/teaching/messages/48262336372224

Transcribed from the recording by SermonAudio, so expect the occasional misheard word.

Okay, we have a big section to get through today. It's only three verses, but it's a big section. So, let's see how we can do with this. I'm out of town next week. We're going to Maryland. So, I said to Hannah, this is a big section to get through. She said, well, you can just move it on to next week. I said, well, I'm out next week. She said, well, okay. We're going to be in Maryland for ten days. We're going to go there next Saturday to be there for Thanksgiving. So, we're in this section as we I've looked at it for several weeks here. This has become a familiar slide to you, I'm sure.

The righteousness of God revealed brings blessings. So we're going to be in this last section starting off the blessings of the gospel and God's righteousness in verses 16 and 17 is where we're going to start out. And then we're also going to go down into verse 18, the righteousness of God required and then that brings some condemnation. So we're going to look at verses 16, 17, and 18 this morning, hopefully. Just a little thought down there at the bottom. The righteousness of God revealed, if it's accepted, it brings blessing, but if it is rejected, it brings condemnation. Because we've seen that it is accepted in these earlier verses, but we see that it is rejected once we get into verse 18, and therefore it brings condemnation.

You've got this buddy you're going to start studying with, and he's going to be right here. The gospel is going to be presented to him. The righteousness of God is going to be laid out before him. Is it going to be accepted or is it going to be rejected? Hopefully it will be accepted. So that's kind of where we're at with things here. So we're going to do 16, 17, and 18. Hal left off with verse 15, so let's start in verse 15 and let's read down through verse 18.

Thus, for my part, I am eager to preach the gospel to you also who are in Rome. 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 to faith. as it is written, but the righteous man shall live by faith. For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness." So, some big pillar verses when it comes to the book of Romans here, introducing the theme of the book of Romans. So, last week Hal ended with verse 15, and he ended up with this question, he says, stay tuned because next week we're going to cover it, we're going to give you the answer.

You know, without looking at your notes, you probably already have looked at your notes, but Paul says, I'm eager to preach the gospel to you also who are in Rome. So why is it that Paul is eager to get to Rome and to preach the gospel? What do you think? He says, I'm eager to come to you in Rome, for I'm not ashamed of the gospel. It's the power of God to salvation everyone who believes, Jew first and all. So why is it that Paul is eager to get to Rome and to preach the gospel?

Okay? Hoping they'll hear and accept it? Yeah. Know the truth? Sure. Righteousness? Yeah, there's souls there that need to hear, that need to receive, that need to enjoy the blessings of receiving the Gospel. Sure, yeah. Not ashamed of it? Not ashamed of it. That's right. Okay, so if we look on down here, let's see. I got this different clicker for me today. It's happening. Nothing's happening. You know, that one worked better. This is this little thing. Here's kind of kind of a fidgety anyways.

I think that the reason that he's eager, and what you mentioned, Carol, is clearly right on the money, but in addition to that, why he's eager to get to Rome to preach the gospel is because he wants them to hear the power of God. Because the gospel simply is the power of God. In the gospel is the righteousness of God is going to be revealed. So he wants to get there. He wants to share the gospel with these people so the righteousness can be revealed to the folks there. And in the gospel, the wrath of God is also going to be revealed.

So I think when you talk about why is he eager to get there, I think that's why. You also see that the word for, gar, is mentioned three different times. The opening word of verse 16, the opening word of verse 17, and the opening word of verse 18. The word for is used here.

I'm not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the righteousness of God revealed, and for the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all of God. So just the continuation of that thought there. Do you think today that many bodies of Christ are eager to share the righteousness of God, but not the wrath of God? They're not quite willing to preach that or want to? I think so, yeah. Yeah, yeah, I think so. Yeah. What do you guys think? Did you hear her question? Yeah.

You know, it's interesting that you mention that because I looked at the wrath of God, because we cover it in this passage, and it's not much about that. The Bible doesn't even talk much about the wrath of God. And then as I looked into some other supplemental sources to try to get some help with this, they didn't even talk much about the wrath of God either. So it's interesting that you that you would bring that up. That's right, that's right.

It's there, that's right. There is certainly a place for it, because it's mentioned. When you think back about churches a hundred or more years ago, and what you hear that Ollie talked about. Right. Kind of fire and brimstone type preaching. Sure. Yeah.

So there was maybe an overemphasis then. But Carol, you're saying maybe there's been a big swing the other way to where maybe it's not mentioned enough nowadays. Yeah. Well, I know unbelievers who think when they die they'll just be gone. Yeah. So it's hard to convince her because she's not interested in going to heaven where all those goody two-shoes people are.

I think that when you talk about, as Lavin talked about this friend of his, he's going to go through this material, that's put together by a new tribe's mission. It's called A Stranger on the Road to Mason. What it does is it lays the foundation of creation all the way to the death, burial, resurrection, and ascension of Christ. So this fellow is going to see the picture of God from the beginning, all the way to ascending Christ, all the way to the ascension of Christ.

So that person is going to see the wrath of God. He's going to see the character and the attribute of God in that God is very displeased with the sinfulness of man and the sin of man. And so that guy is going to get, I think, a good, healthy, biblical perspective of the wrath of God coming down on someone who does not believe God, and thus, because of their disbelief, doesn't do what it is that God wants them to do. So I think that's a healthy way to approach it, to give a good systematic biblical theology of the wrath of God, as opposed to just, what does one think of the wrath of God? Because it can be skewed and then it can come across legalistic and things like that. Does that make sense? We'll talk about it more in a minute when we get to it. We might not get to it now though. No, it's fine.

Okay, so Paul says here in verse 16, he says, and it's actually a compound word. Eschkuno is a feeling of shame arising from something that has been done, and the epi, which would go on the front of that, it intensifies eschkuno. So, basically what we're saying here is that Paul is not having shame upon him because of the Gospel. There's no feeling of shame, there's no feeling of anything being upon him, of this embarrassment or this burden because of the Gospel. He's unashamed about it, as was mentioned earlier. He's not ashamed of the Gospel.

And it's interesting, the Gospel is repeated several times in these first 17 verses. I think I read the Gospel is mentioned 12 times in the whole book of Romans, and six of the times are within the first 17 verses. So he's laying down the theme of the book of Romans here. It's talking about the gospel.

And right here Paul says, I'm not ashamed. There's no shame upon me in regards to this gospel whatsoever. The gospel is euangelion, simply meaning the good message, the good news, or the glad tidings. So Paul is not ashamed of it. And so then what I did with this slide here, I simply made this slide so we kind of see the flow of how things are working here. Paul says, I'm not ashamed of the gospel.

Then he says, for it is, it is the power of God. So when we see it is the power of God, the word it there is talking about the gospel. For the gospel is the power of God. Now what is it the power of God for? It's the power of God for salvation. And who is that salvation to?

It's to everyone who believes. and it's to the Jew first, and it's also to the Greek. So kind of just a flow of how this verse will work in the power of God. It's for salvation, to everybody who believes, to the Jew first, and then also to the Greek. Thoughts or questions? Yeah. Do you have any ideas about why it says to the Jew first? I do. We're going to get there. Some ideas, yeah. Okay, so the gospel. It's the good news. So we say, what is the gospel? If someone were to ask you guys, what is the gospel? What would you say the gospel is?

The best place to go is 1 Corinthians chapter 15 and verse 1 through 4. Let's go there. I think it's very helpful. to know this passage and to look at this passage, because if we're going to say that the gospel is the power of God for salvation, we need to be very clear as to what the gospel is. We don't need to be fuzzy. We need to know where in the scriptures that we can go in order to find precisely what the gospel is, if the gospel is the power of God, which we're seeing that it is. So 1 Corinthians 15, and let's just read verses 1-4. Carol, would you read that for us? 1-4 there.

Now I make known to you, brethren, the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received, and which also you stand, by which also you are saved, if you hold fast the word which I preached to you, unless you believe in that. For I deliver to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day Okay, great.

If there's any question in one's mind as to what the gospel is, this is it. Circle it in your Bible, make a mental note. It's in 1 Corinthians 15, 1-4. If you're ever sharing the gospel with somebody and want to know how can I be very clear and succinct on what the gospel is, this is it. There's no clearer place in Scripture that communicates the gospel to us.

This past Friday I was talking to a guy, and I've talked to this guy several times about the Lord in the past, and he's kind of batting around going to a Catholic church or coming here and visiting this church, visiting a Catholic church and visiting this church. So I'm kind of, it's two very different churches to consider going to. So I said, well you need to consider what is each church going to say, teach, How do you know that you have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ? That's a question you need to ask and need to answer, and what is it that they communicate in relation to the gospel, the good news about Jesus Christ. And I said, some basic questions you need to ask yourself, and I just rolled through this.

I said, do you believe that everybody that was born into the world was born in the world of the sinner? And he answered affirmatively. And then I said, do you believe that everybody that is a sinner, that sin separates them from God? And he answered, yeah, I do. And I said, do you believe that the only way to bridge that gap and to come into a relationship with God is through believing in what Jesus did on the cross, dying on the cross to pay your sin penalty? And he said, yeah, I believe in that. And so we walked through these basic core essentials of the gospel. And so then I asked him the question after that, all those were done. I said, do you believe that once you're saved, that you're always saved? And he said, no, I don't believe in that. So I said, well, then I'll challenge you on that a little bit.

So then that's kind of where our conversation went. But if you're wondering where to go for the gospel, how to be super clear with somebody that you're sharing, this is it. So, yeah. I know you don't have that much time, but I have a question for you. Mm-hmm. I'd have to look that up. Yeah, I don't know without without further looking at that. If that if would be implying that being that you are holding fast, that kind of inference there. If I can get up and get back with you.

Yeah. We know that there's no there's no. Other scriptures make clear that that scripture is not saying as long as you hold fast to a certain lifestyle of good works, then you're going to maintain your salvation. We know the other scriptures make that clear, that's not what it's saying. But it's a very good question. Check that out for you. Alright. Back to Romans 1, 16.

For I'm not ashamed of the gospel, For this gospel, this good news of the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ, of the facts about the Son of God, what God did to and with His Son, the third part of the Trinity, God incarnate, that's the gospel. The gospel of the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ.

So it is the power of God. And it is referring to the gospel. So it is esteem, it's a present active indicative. So what that means is that right now, It's happening, and it's also happening with ongoing results into the future. It's continuing to be the power of God. God is performing the action. It's a reality.

So, the Gospel is the power of God. The death, burial, and resurrection of Christ is the power of God. Now, was it only the power of God in the past? No. Is it only the power of God today? And once this Sunday is over, then it's no longer going to be the power of God. No, it's going to be the power of God in the past, now, and also into the future.

So four months from now, you're finishing The Stranger with your buddy, you're sharing the Gospel, he's seeing it, it is the power of God to save that guy. Anybody else that we're interacting with, we're engaging with, the Gospel is the power of God, because of the facts that it contains, and the facts that it proves, and the facts that it holds, of the death, burial, resurrection of Christ.

The power simply there is Dunamis, It's where we get our word dynamite from. It's also mentioned 1 Corinthians 1, 18-24, which I think is really worth looking at. Let's look at that. 1 Corinthians 1, 18-24. So we're talking about the gospel being the power of God.

Verse 18 says, For the word of the cross is to those who are perishing foolishness, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. So there you have it. The preaching of the cross is what? It's the power of God. The gospel is the power of God for salvation.

Let's look down verse 22, for indeed Jews seek for signs and Greeks search for wisdom. But we preach Christ crucified to the Jews a stumbling block and to the Gentiles foolishness. But to those who are the called, both Jews and Gentiles, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. There is again talking about the power of God.

Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men and the weakness of God is stronger than men. For consider your calling, brethren, that not that there were not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, but God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong." So the point is, the gospel is the power of God for salvation, not some clever way of presenting it.

See, that's what I'm driving at here with looking at these verses. The Jews are looking for signs and the Greeks are looking for wisdom. They're looking for these kind of external type things. But what it boils down to is the gospel is simply the power of God. That's where our dependence can be.

Simply presenting the gospel. It's not about me. making sure Friday afternoon I was kind of doing a cool, good job while I was talking to this guy presenting it. No, it's just simply presenting the facts about the death, burial, resurrection of Jesus Christ, and then that is it right there. Our dependency doesn't need to be anywhere else. The gospel is the power of God, not anything coming from man, as that slide is indicating.

Salvation has a past, present, and a future tense to it. So what this right there is talking about, we're being saved from the power of sin, presently. We're past, saved from the penalty, and we are presently being saved from the power of sin. And what that means is as we daily rest in our position in Christ, where we're identified with Him, we've been separated from the sin nature, as we appropriate that and walk by faith in that, now we're daily being delivered from the power of sin in our life. You have thoughts about that? That's a good question. Okay, back to Romans 1. For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God, for what?

For salvation. So it comes with this little word, eis, for, or, I think the KJV uses the word unto, salvation, and so it carries with it the idea that one event happened so that the next event will be able to happen. The power of God has come so that this will be able to happen. This is the power of God in action for the salvation of mankind. Here I thought was a pretty good definition that came out of Vine's expository dictionary here.

Salvation of the spiritual and eternal deliverance granted immediately by God to those who accept his conditions of repentance and faith in the Lord Jesus in whom alone it is to be obtained. We're talking about salvation. So when we hear this word salvation here, it's kind of this big broad type of an umbrella term. It covers many areas of salvation truths, such as justification, redemption, reconciliation, sanctification, glorification, all terms that are describing different aspects of salvation. So, the gospel is the power of God for salvation, to bring about salvation, to bring about the redemption of mankind. Salvation is this broad umbrella term. Underneath it are all these more specific terms talking about salvation. Does that make sense? Now, who is this salvation available to?

To everyone who believes, to the Jew first, and also to the Greek. I like this other clicker better, because we're going to waste five minutes of our class trying to get our slide moved. So to everyone who believes. This word everyone is panty, and it simply means the idea of all, any, every, the whole, and no one is excluded.

So everybody who believes this gospel, the power of God for salvation is available to everyone who believes. KJV uses the word that believeth, and it's present, active, and it's a participle. The gospel, the power of God, can only be entered into and personally enjoyed through belief in the gospel.

There's no other way that anybody's going to be able to enter into it and to enjoy it unless they specifically believe those core essentials of the gospel, which 1 Corinthians 15 laid out for us. There's a little bit of movement nowadays in some circles towards easy believism. If you just believe in God, then everything is going to be fine, and when you die you're going to go to heaven.

Well, that's not really true. You need to believe in the core essentials of the Gospel, which Paul is laying forth here. I don't remember the specific passage, but it says that even the demons believe in God. We know hands down for sure, the demons haven't entered into a personal relationship with God. So it's specific beliefs. The Gospel is only effective to those who believe the specifics of the Gospel. And the individual is responsible to believe. To the Jew first and also to the Greek. So why is it to the Jew first? What are your thoughts there, Dave? What do you think? Or did you have any? Not quite sure. Okay. Alright.

What I have found is that simply that they were God's chosen people. It's not saying that the Gospel has to go to the Jew first and then it's going to go to the Gentiles. It's not saying that at all. It's not trying to lay down some sort of an order. It has to be this first and this second and this third.

It's just simply that the Jews, they were God's chosen people, so it's the Jew first and then also to the Greek. No real huge significance for us today, why that happened. But I think what is driving that here is that the Gospel had overcome the distinction between the Jews and the Gentiles. It went to the Jew first and also to the Greek. Yeah? Isn't it saying to the Jew first because you wrote to both of them, like the Jews and the Romans, and as you said they had I think it could mean like, to you Jews also, but to them as well, like kind of like reconciliation between them. I see, I see. Could be, could be. That's right, I see what you're saying, sure, sure. Kind of, trying to kind of maybe bridge a little bit of the gap between them kind of thing, is that what you're driving at? Yeah, yeah.

Also in the book of Acts, they really went to the temple first. They didn't come out of the temple for quite some time. Right, that's right. Christ says his gospel and his message is to the Jews. The Samaritan lady is just a temperer in the short term. That's right. So when Christ came, he did go to the Jews and they did go to the temples when they came, when they preached.

And it's like she says, I'm sure that many of the Jews felt like this was wrong because they were the chosen people. How could this possibly be wrong? You need to find out. Jesus was born as a Jew. You were the chosen people. You were the ones given this great gift. And it was there for you first, but now it's moved on.

That's right. But thankfully in Genesis it says to all nations. Yeah, yeah. Even way back in Genesis, sure. Does that help out some, Dave? A little bit? I know you're a real studier, so you'll get more into it later. So, it's come to everybody who believes, and then also to the Jew first, and also to the Greek. And then clearly the Gospel is overcoming any distinction between the Jews and Gentiles. Go over to chapter 3. We're going to get to this probably in a couple more months. But chapter 3 in verse 22 here.

Even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ to all those who believe, for there is no distinction. There's no distinction here between people, groups, between anybody. There's no distinction. And then over in chapter 10 of Romans. Verse 12. For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek. For the same Lord is Lord of all, abounding in riches for all who call upon Him. Again, there's no distinction between the Jew and the Greek. The Lord is the Lord of all. No distinction.

I'll let you look up Galatians 3.28 and Colossians 3.11 there on your own, but just kind of driving home. the same point. So, no one is excluded from the opportunity of being saved from what he gives. Okay, back to chapter 1 and verse 17 now.

For in it, the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith. For in it, the righteousness of God It or therein, I think as the KJV refers, is referring to the Gospel again. For in it, for in the Gospel, the righteousness of God is revealed. This righteousness of God is not the righteousness of a person or of a thing, but just, I think it's important that we point out that it's the righteousness of God that is being revealed here. So, let's just simply ask the question, what is the righteousness of God? And that's a huge question that we could just camp on for a long time. But in the gospel, the righteousness of God is being revealed. So just a couple of thoughts here.

God making right in a world, what had gone wrong? God's righteousness is legal, it's not moral. The moral is going to follow after the legal. Paul is not referring to God turning sinners into people who live right. but it's talking about God declaring sinners right before him, as in a court of law, an act of God in changing the status of mankind. This righteousness of God is being revealed. How is it possible for God to do this? How is it possible for God to declare sinners right in a court of law? How does that happen? How is it possible for God to do that? That's right. Exactly right.

The gospel. The core center of the gospel are the death, burial, resurrection of Jesus Christ, and it's possible for the righteousness of God to be revealed through that. Because people are brought in... it's possible for someone to be brought into a right relationship with God through what Christ did, through the gospel. That's how it kind of all wraps up. These are pillar truths here. As I say, it's so... such a key passage for us to look at.

Yes? In my Bible it says, or in the Gospel, a righteousness of God. Okay. I think that, I didn't make note of that, but there's no definite article there in front of the, or in front of righteousness, there's no the. And so I show in mine that I have the and it's added in. And does yours indicate the same thing? You have your Greek there? What do you have?

You have a definite article or nothing? Nothing. So what they've done is they've just put in a word to smooth out the flow of the verse. But it is important to indicate that there is no definite article there. Which is interesting. And I gave that some thought but not a lot as I was going through.

That's right, you're right. Not necessarily the specificity of it, but the quality of it. Is that what you're saying? Yeah, that's right. So the quality of the righteousness is what's being emphasized here. Does that make sense to everybody? Good question.

Okay, so the righteousness in the gospel, the righteousness of God is being revealed. So this word here is revealed, it's a present passive indicative and it means this, it's happening right now with ongoing results and it's being acted upon and it is a reality. God is the one who is causing the revealing to take place. I found that to be pretty interesting.

What this means is here, when you see this idea here of something being passive, it means that the action is being done to whatever it is that we're talking about. So say I were the subject, and if something were active, and we're talking about the Greek here, if something were active, it means that I was the one who was doing the action. Make sense?

I'm doing the action. Now, if something is passive, the action is being done unto me. It's a big difference. One is I'm doing the action, and one is the action is being done unto me. So, this one here, we see is revealed, this verb, it's passive. So, it's not revealing itself, it's being revealed. Somebody is revealing it, somebody is God. It's a continuous process.

So, I found it to be very Encouraging and very exciting that the righteousness of God is being revealed by God and it's continually happening. Again, the same question as earlier, was it only revealed back when this was originally written? No. Only revealed today? No. It's going to continually be revealed.

So, all of us have people that we want to see trust the Word of their Savior. And we can know for sure that the Gospel is right now being revealed by God. We can have confidence now. We can believe in that and have confidence in that. That's why I think that's significant to point that out. And the reveal simply means to uncover or to unveil righteousness of God declared as true. So that's happening right now. Is that revealing, is it coming through the Word or through believers? Yeah. What do you guys think?

It's in the Gospel. The righteousness is being revealed through the Gospel. Through the Gospel, which would be through the Son of God, through His Word, sure. And also, I think it could be through believers, because believers are reflecting the person of Christ.

So I think in that sense it could also be coming through believers. It's the living and the written word, isn't it? Yeah, I think so. It's the living and the written word, Carol points out. For the righteousness of God is revealed, and it's revealed through the gospel, sure, as Ruth pointed out. Yeah, good.

Did that help you out any? Not really. If it's through the Word, then obviously that God can continually reveal His righteousness. But if it seems like it's coming through us, I mean, if I'm not walking in the Spirit, then there's no life coming out of me, no... Right. You know, God's life isn't living through me, and therefore it would kind of shut that gate. Right, right, right.

Yeah, I think the emphasis of this passage here is that it's being revealed through the written word and through the living word. I think this passage here is driving that point home. I don't think we see any indication here of the believer being used by God to reveal the Gospel. I don't think we see that here. We do in other passages of Scripture.

Cher would be an example for all those types of passages. I think we're driving home that it's being revealed through the gospel, through the person of Jesus Christ, which is the living word and also through the written word. Also, you said passive. I mean, don't you just love passive? If it's active, I'm probably going to mess it up. Passive. God is revealing it through his written word and through his living word. That's right. And so another facet of that then, Laban, would be the believer's living example of the Gospel, which is another aspect of that.

I don't think this is necessarily driving that home. Okay, now, it's being revealed from faith to faith. And this is a cool little thing that we've got going on here. What do you think that this from faith to faith is talking about? I think that's communicating to us that it's on the basis of faith that one enters into the righteousness of God, faith in the facts of the gospel, and then that person is declared righteous. The initial faith of salvation and then the continual faith. of the Christian life. From faith to faith.

Yeah. I want to ask because my Bible translated it as it is accepted by faith and it leads to faith. Okay. Yeah. Okay. The gospel is accepted by faith and it leads to faith. Okay. I think, without giving it a lot of thought, what I would interpret that as saying is that it's begun by faith, and then it leads to a walk of faith in the life of the believer. It leads to a growing faith, it leads to a maturing faith, it leads to a strengthening of the faith in the believer's life. So it's an initial faith, and then it's a continual faith. From faith to faith, from faith to faith. Start to finish, mom, by faith from first to last. A good verse is Colossians 2, 6. Let's look at that. Colossians 2 and verse 6. Colossians 2, 6 tells us that, As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him. How was it that we received Christ? As our personal Savior? By faith. How is it that we are to continue to walk in Him? By faith.

I think that's what this is really emphasizing here. And then, okay, for in it, the gospel, the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith, as it is written, but the righteous man shall live by faith. That's a quote coming to us out of Habakkuk chapter 2 and verse 4. Okay, let's move to verse 18. The wrath of God. What is the wrath of God?

Here we go with this. We should just stop and have somebody else pick this up. I don't even know who's up next. But let's look at this. We've got a couple more minutes left. Let's do this. Somebody said to me one time, the Bible is the best commentary on the Bible. You guys ever heard that? So let's let that happen first. Let's look at Ephesians 5. The Bible is the best commentary on the Bible. Ephesians 5, 6. What is this wrath of God talking about? Ephesians 5, verse 6. Let no one deceive you with empty words.

For because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. So, talking about the wrath of God there in the context of disobedience. Let's look at Colossians, a couple more pages over. Colossians 3, 6. For it is on account of these things that the wrath of God will come. What are these things talking about? Let's go to verse 5.

Therefore, consider the members of your earthly body as dead to immorality, impurity, passion, evil desires, and greed, which amounts to idolatry. For it is on account of these things that the wrath of God will come. Vern just hit that passage a couple weeks ago, I think. I think I went back to his notes and he didn't really delve too deep into this wrath of God idea here.

And then Revelation 15, 7. Okay, let's see, this says, and one of the four living creatures gave to the seven angels seven golden bowls full of the wrath of God, who lives forever and ever. And from his mouth comes a sharp sword, so that with it he may smite the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron, and he treads the winepress of the fierce wrath of God the Almighty. So four places in addition to the one that we're looking at here in Romans, go back to Romans chapter 1, are mentioning to us the wrath of God. So we're seeing that the wrath of God is being revealed. Here's a few thoughts that I just jotted down. Some of these I got from some of the supplemental sources, the ideas I got from supplemental sources, that God's hatred towards sin and his judgment of sin is what's this idea of wrath of God.

God is perfect, as are His attributes and also His nature. He's perfect in all of His attributes and His nature. He's sovereign, He's omniscient, He's just, omnipresent, righteous, omnipotent, He's love, truth, eternal, unchanging, holy, etc. He's perfect in all those things and He is set apart from all other beings.

And His wrath is His nature and attributes being shown toward an unbelieving, sinful and disobedient people. So there's that idea of God's hatred towards sin, and His judgment of sin, because God's perfect, He's righteous, He's holy, He's love, and then there's this despicable sinfulness of man. And because of that, His wrath is shown towards sin.

Now, His wrath isn't shown in a human way. I think makes it a little bit muddy. Like, if I'm going to show my wrath towards Henry, if he's going to do something to me, and he saw the wrath of his dad today, you know, that's sin on my part. But that's oftentimes what the picture we conjure up in our mind of wrath. But God, the wrath of God is void of sin, because God cannot sin. So there's that idea of kind of a perfect wrath.

That almost doesn't make sense. talking about here. And remember too that God destroyed the earth with a flood and that he destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah with fire. I think there are demonstrations of God's anger, of God's wrath, but was God sending in any of that? Absolutely not. He's incapable of that, but yet his wrath was demonstrated.

Yeah? It seems to me that you can sort of, not really imagine, but you can get a hint If you imagine if you are a father and somebody would rape your daughter, you would probably have wrath against him, but there was no reason it would be unjust or something. Can you boil it down today, though, that God has dealt with the sin issue, and therefore His wrath is against unbelief?

Exactly. Sure. Exactly right. Otherwise we'd be walking around afraid of our sin that the Lord might come down on us. That's right. That drives right into the next point. That's great to point that out. Anyways, forget the clicker, just go to your next page.

What does it mean that the wrath of God is revealed? Is revealed the same word used in 17? The final judgment of sin will take place in the end times, but God is revealing His wrath now, but to a lesser degree. So who is the wrath of God revealed upon? Those who suppress or hold the truth in unrighteousness. Because God's wrath is not coming down on believers. God's wrath is being shown to, is being revealed to, or is coming down on those unbelievers who are suppressing or holding the truth of God in unrighteousness.

Yeah, exactly. We're not going to be walking around afraid that we're going to experience the wrath of God. It doesn't give us license to go out and live any way we want to. That's not what we're saying either. But we no longer have to live in fear of the wrath of God because two groups are described.

Those who believe and experience the blessings of God of God through being declared righteous and those who suppress the truth in unrighteousness and experience wrath of God. See, one has experienced blessings, one is going to experience condemnation and wrath. I think it's worth pointing out, go up a couple points on that page there, slide number 10.

What does it mean that this wrath is being revealed? Okay, now I'm only talking about unbelievers. What does it mean that this wrath is being revealed towards unbelievers? I think that what it's driving at in this context is that God gave them over to their own desires. I think that's really what he's trying to do.

Look at verse 24. Now talking about those who have suppressed the truth of God in unrighteousness, therefore God gave them over in their own lust of their hearts to impurity, that their bodies might be dishonored among them. Verse 26, for this reason, God gave them over to the degrading passions, for their woman exchanged natural functions for that which is unnatural. In verse 28, and just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God any longer, they're not acknowledging God anymore, God gave them over to a depraved mind. So God gave them over, and God gave them over, and then God gave them over.

I think that's experiencing the wrath of God. So in a sense, He is pulling back from them the restraining influence of the Holy Spirit. We need to think that through a little bit. But what does the restraining work of the Holy Spirit look like in this world? Is the restraining work of the Holy Spirit involved in everybody's lives? Let me ask this question. Is the restraining work of the Holy Spirit involved in the lives of unbelievers?

I'm not going to answer that. I don't even know if I fully know myself. But we see evidence here that God gave them over. God gave them over, and God gave them over. So that has to tell us that before that point, there was some kind of a restraint. And then they're going to stiff-arm God? They're going to suppress the truth? Okay, go your own way, do your own thing. So, the wrath of God has been revealed to unbelievers in that regard.

Just some food. Go out there. Alright, we'll end. You can read through slide 11 on your own. Okay? I hate to end so short and abrupt, but... I think you did a good job. And especially talking about the wrath of God being revealed in the Old Testament. Yeah, yeah. And I think that unbelievers tend to focus on that and they don't know. Yeah, yeah. So they don't know. the freedom from that wrath.

In the Old Testament, Israel always wanted a king. They always wanted a king. And God said, no, follow after me. Israel was like, no, I want a king. Follow after me. No, I want a king. And so, that's right. He gave him over. So, in a sense, we see the same principle here coming out in Romans. If you want to keep stiff-arming me and saying, fool you on God and suppress, that's fine. I'm going to give you over to the desires of your flesh.

Q. But it doesn't necessarily have anything to do with our natural world, hurricanes, tsunamis?

A. No. churches, particularly in the old fire and brimstone days, would use those as examples of the wrath of God, and they're not even close to it. They're just the natural world doing its natural thing. The wrath of God, when it comes in the Revelation times, is going to be much worse than that. It's a totally different scale. So, I mean, you can confuse the issue when you look at those things. It's as simple as you say, just giving them over.

That's right. Yeah. To pray his mind. That's right. That's right. Yeah. Yeah, you got it. Even giving them over as a people thing. Okay, fine. Here's the king. That didn't mean that there weren't people within that. That's right. That were not faithful and believed. Right. Right. That's right. As a nation, as a whole. Yeah. Sure.

Okay, let's pray. Lord, thanks for our time, and thanks for your word, which is alive and sharper than any two-edged sword. Lord, just thank you so much. We're so appreciative to have it, and to be with the rest of this morning, the rest of this service, and our day and our week that's upcoming. Let us just walk by faith and be occupied with you through it. In your name we pray. Amen.