Romans 1:18-32: The Goodness and Wrath of God

Romans 1:18-32: The Goodness and Wrath of God

Please turn with me in your Bibles to Romans 1. If you’re using one of the Story Bibles we provide, that’s on page 778. We’ve been going through Paul’s letter to the Roman Christians passage by passage, and this morning, the next passage we come to is Romans 1:18-32. And I have to admit that this passage isn’t exactly cheerful, but it forms a very important foundation for the gospel truths Paul’s going to talk about later on in the letter. So Romans 1:18-32:

18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. 19 For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. 20 For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. 21 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. 22 Claiming to be wise, they became fools, 23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things. 24 Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, 25 because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen. 26 For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature; 27 and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error. 28 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. 29 They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips, 30 slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, 31 foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless. 32 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. 

One of the most eye-opening things I remember reading in the course of my high school education was a piece of literature that was assigned in my eleventh-grade English class. We read number of important pieces of literature in that class but none more memorable or more provocative than the famous sermon by Jonathan Edwards entitled “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God.” If you want to read something intense, just read that sermon. I mean…wow. Edwards really doesn’t sugarcoat anything. He lays it out here. Let me just read a couple of excerpts from the sermon. Edwards writes, “The bow of God's wrath is bent, and the arrow made ready on the string, and justice bends the arrow at your heart, and strains the bow, and it is nothing but the mere pleasure of God, and that of an angry God, without any promise or obligation at all, that keeps the arrow one moment from being made drunk with your blood.” Then Edwards also writes, “The God that holds you over the pit of hell, much as one holds a spider or some loathsome insect over the fire, abhors you, and is dreadfully provoked; his wrath towards you burns like fire; he looks upon you as worthy of nothing else, but to be cast into the fire ... you are ten thousand times so abominable in his eyes, as the most hateful and venomous serpent is in ours.”

So not exactly the kind of thing you’re gonna find in the “Inspirational Living” section of the local bookstore, right? I don’t think any edition of Chicken Soup for the Soul has included any selections from this sermon by Edwards. In fact, the ideas Edwards puts forth about God’s wrath are scandalous to modern mind. This kind of material would never be allowed in public schools if it weren’t regarded as such an important piece of literature in American history, nor are most people today typically inclined to give serious consideration even for a moment to this idea of God’s wrath. It’s scandalous. In fact, I can’t think of any idea more scandalous to the modern mind. And yet, I’d like to suggest this morning that God’s wrath is a righteous and necessary response toward those who sin against him. That, I believe, is the main idea of this passage from Romans and will serve as the main idea of our message today. God’s wrath is a righteous and necessary response toward those who sin against him. So after hearing that, I’m sure you’re all really stoked about being here this morning, right? You know, a few weeks ago, when I was preaching a sermon about money, I joked that it’s easier for me to preach about hell than it is for me to preach about money. And I think that’s mostly true, but it’s still a pretty close competition. However, if you’ll stick with me through this subject, I truly believe you’ll be blessed. Because it’s only when we understand the biblical teaching on God’s wrath that we’re able to see how breathtaking God’s grace in the gospel really is. So that’s where we’ll end up.  

But first, we have to understand what the Bible says about wrath. And in order to really understand the wrath of God and how anyone might believe in it, you have to understand some backstory. Kind of like if you were to walk into a movie halfway through, the movie probably wouldn’t make very much sense to you. In order for a movie to make sense, you usually have to see it from the beginning. You have to get to know the characters and the plot and the setting. You have to understand the backstory. So in order for us to have a proper understanding of God’s wrath as it’s presented here in Romans 1, we have to take into account the backstory of the heinousness of our sin against God. Romans 1 also talks quite a bit about that, and so will we eventually. But in order to even understand that properly and why that sin is so heinous, we actually have to dig even farther into the backstory and think about who exactly it is that we’ve sinned against. 

Ultimately, all sin is against God—and not just against any kind of god but against a God who’s been indescribably good to us. Take a moment and think about all the ways God’s blessed us and demonstrated his goodness toward us. First of all, he’s the one who brought about our very existence. We wouldn’t exist if it weren’t for him. That in itself makes him worthy of our highest worship and our utmost devotion. We owe him everything. Yet God’s goodness doesn’t stop there. Think about the world God’s created for us to live in. Hasn’t God created a beautiful world? I mean, think of all the sights we get to see—oceans and sunsets, mountains and rivers, meadows and wildlife. Aren’t those things wonderful? And then think of all the ways God’s provided for our sustenance. For starters, he’s given us the oxygen we’re breathing right now, and he also gives us food to eat, water to drink, and other resources to use. Then don’t forget about things like the eyesight God’s given us so we can actually get around in this world as well as our other senses like hearing and smell and touch and taste. Each one of those things is a gift from God. In fact, some of those things like our taste buds apparently exist for no other purpose than to provide enjoyment for us. So creation is filled with examples of God’s goodness all over the place. And in fact, as one famous theologian named John Calvin has observed, God is “the fountain of all goodness,” and there’s not one particle of goodness “of which he is not the cause.” Calvin then explains that this should lead people to worship God for his abundant goodness and cherish him for his fatherly care and praise him as the author of all their blessings. In other words, God’s love toward us should lead us to reciprocate with love and devotion toward him. That would be the appropriate way to respond. 

And yet, as we see here in Romans 1, that’s not the way people have responded. Instead, we’ve done the unthinkable. We’ve rejected God. Romans 1 describes how there are two ways in which we’ve rejected God, and I’d like to spend some time unpacking each of these. Number one, we’ve rejected God’s revelation. And number two, we’ve rejected God’s rule. 

We’ve Rejected God’s Revelation

So first, we’ve rejected God’s revelation. Look again at verses 18-23: 18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. 19 For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. 20 For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. 21 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. 22 Claiming to be wise, they became fools, 23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.

So this passage teaches us that there’s really no such thing as a true atheist. True atheists don’t exist. Some people may call themselves atheists and may have trained themselves into thinking in a generally atheistic way, but in their heart of hearts, they know all too well that God exists. Verse 19 states “what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them.” And God’s done that through the created order. Creation itself—because of both its breathtaking beauty and because of the intricate wisdom with which it was designed—serves as undeniable evidence that God exists. Therefore, as verse 20 states, all who reject that revelation are “without excuse.” And by the way, that includes those who have never heard the gospel. People often wonder, “What happens to those in distant countries who die without ever hearing the gospel?” And the answer is that God holds them accountable for the revelation they’ve received. They’ve received enough revelation about God in the created order to render them culpable for their actions. And as we’ll see in a few weeks in Romans 2, they’ve also received revelation through their own conscience. Yet, even though they’ve all this revelation, they’ve invariably rejected it. That’s why God judges them. Both creation and conscience render them, in the words of verse 20, “without excuse” for rejecting God’s revelation. 

And when you think about it, that’s something we’re all guilty of. Even if we don’t call ourselves atheists and even if we don’t create the kinds of physical idols described down in verse 23, who among us hasn’t pushed out of our minds a consciousness of God in order to live the way we want to live? Everybody’s done that. We pretend God doesn’t exist sometimes. So in one sense, you might say that, while nobody’s a true atheist, everybody’s a functional atheist. In various ways and at various times, we’ve all decided to live as if God doesn’t exist. It’s like we put our fingers in our ears and go, “Lalalalalala…I can’t hear you God, I can’t see your revelation….” And then we do our own thing. 

We’ve Rejected God’s Rule

So we’ve rejected God’s revelation. Then point number two, we’ve also rejected God’s rule. And if we look at Romans 1, we see that it gives particular emphasis to the ways we’ve rejected God’s rule in the area of sexuality. Verse 24 describes how “God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves.” Then verse 26 states that “God gave them up to dishonorable passions” and that “women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature” and also, moving on to verse 27, that “men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another.” So if you wanted a gauge for how far a society has drifted away from God, just look at what they permit in the area of sexuality. The kinds of sexual behaviors a society permits is in many ways a litmus test of how far it’s drifted away from God and the ways of God. 

But don’t think sexual sin is the only problem. No, far from it. Verses 29-32: 29 They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips, 30 slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, 31 foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless. 32 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. So I don’t think I need to walk through each of these sins in order for you to get the idea that we’re pretty bad. Even if you’re not personally guilty of every sin on this list—since the list is written about humanity in general—you’re still probably guilty of more than a few of these things. And I am as well. There’s no shortage of sins in our lives. In fact, one theologian named John Owen writes, “The reason that the natural man [the unsaved person] does not always pursue a single lust night and day is because he has so many different lusts to serve. Each one is crying out to be satisfied.” In other words, the only reason we’re not chasing after one sin is because we’re too busy chasing after another. Yes, it’s that bad. In telling you this, I feel kind of like a doctor trying to convince his patient that the patient’s health is so poor that he’s going to die if he doesn’t make some radical changes to his lifestyle. Maybe his blood pressure is too high or whatever. And the patient might ask the doctor, “Doctor So-and-so, is it really that bad?” And the doctor has to be like, “Yeah, it’s that bad.” That’s what I’m telling you this morning. It’s not just that you’ve made few mistakes in your life. It’s not just that “nobody’s perfect.” You and I have rebelled against the God of the universe. As Romans 1 describes, we’ve rejected God’s revelation, and we’ve rejected God’s rule. Don’t insulate yourself from the seriousness of that. It’s that bad. 

Conclusion

And remember, all of these sins have been committed against a God of indescribable goodness—so that kind of makes it even worse. It’s kind of like a college student who moves away from home and rebels against his parents in just about every way possible. Let’s say his parents made unbelievable sacrifices for this student throughout his life. They worked extra hard to provide him with the nicest lifestyle they could provide for him. They’ve done nothing but bless him. They’ve shown him unconditional love, tremendous patience, and constant availability. They’ve given him meal after meal, brought him to activity after activity, and now he goes to college with the tuition fully covered by the money they’ve saved up. And yet the student seemingly goes out of his way to disrespect everything they stand for and squander everything they’ve worked for. I mean, it would be one thing for him to disrespect and rebel against parents who basically abandoned him so that he was basically left to fend for himself in life. But to treat his parents that way even after they’ve loved him and done so much good for him? That’s exponentially worse. Yet that’s the nature of our rebellion against God. We’re basically sticking up our middle finger, as it were, against a God who’s been unbelievably good to us and given us blessing on top of blessing. So you might wonder, “Why is the punishment for sin so severe? How could eternal torment in hell possibly be an appropriate an appropriate response to our sin?” Well, the answer is that the severity of the punishment corresponds to the worth of the one we’ve sinned against. When we sin against an infinitely good and worthy God, such sin demands infinite punishment. And I realize that’s not easy to think about, but it’s true and right. 

So that’s the backstory behind God’s wrath. But thankfully, it is the backstory and not the end of the story. Paul never tells the end of the story here in Romans 1, but he does explain it in subsequent chapters in his letter. He explains that even though each one of us stands condemned before God because of our sin, God doesn’t leave us to face the consequences our sins deserve. Now God couldn’t just sweep those sins under the rug. That would be a perversion of his justice. His righteous wrath had to be poured out in some way. So here’s what God did. He actually sent his own Son Jesus to be born into this world as a real human being and then die on the cross to pay for our sin. On the cross, the full measure of God’s wrath was poured out on Jesus so it wouldn’t have to be poured out on us. Romans 5:6-8 says it this way: 6 For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. 7 For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die— 8 but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. He died for us! Then three days after Jesus died, he rose from the dead and is now able to save everybody who look to him for rescue. That involves renouncing our sinful rebellion against God and directing our confidence toward Jesus alone as our only hope of being forgiven and eternally changed and fit for heaven. Not Jesus plus our morality or our good works but Jesus alone. So let me appeal to you to do that this morning: turn away from your sins and look to Jesus. 

And here’s thing—here’s why this is so urgent: you may not have another chance. Look for a moment back at our main passage in Romans 1. Notice how God responds to people when they willfully and brazenly continue on in their sin. He gives them over to it. After Paul describes humanity’s sin in verses 18-23, look what he says in verse 24: “Therefore [in other words, because of their persistence in sin] God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts.” Then after Paul describes more sin, he says again in verse 26: “For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions.” Then the downward spiral continues when Paul describes more sin and then states in verse 28, “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.” So here’s what we glean from that. God’s wrath isn’t just exhibited in the future in hell. According to a close reading of Romans 1, it’s actually also exhibited presently as God gives people over to their sinful desires. After he gives them chance after chance to turn back to him only to be met with stubborn refusal each time, God eventually just takes his hand off of them and lets them go their own way. As C. S. Lewis describes it, if people refuse to say to God, “Your will be done” and they persist in that refusal long enough, God eventually says to them, “Fine, your will be done.” And there’s no set formula for us to determine at what point God’s going to do that in a person’s life. So don’t let that happen to you. If you feel God tugging at your heart now and prompting you to turn to him, then turn to him while you still can! 

And if you’re a Christian here this morning, let me encourage you not to shy away from the doctrine of God’s wrath. Yes, the thought of God’s wrath is disturbing. It’s profoundly disturbing—like, there’s something wrong with you if you enjoy thinking about it. But we can’t just pick out the doctrines of the Bible that make us feel good and then discard the rest. Now that’s a great way to approach an all-you-can-eat buffet. Like when I go to a Chinese buffet, I select certain food items that look appealing to me and put them on my plate but have no problem leaving other things right where they are. That’s a great approach to a buffet. But…that can’t be how we form our doctrinal convictions. If you’re a Christian, that buffet-style approach isn’t a viable option for you. As the famous church father Augustine once said, “If you believe what you like in the Gospel, and reject what you don't like, it is not the Gospel you believe, but yourself.” Did you get that? “If you believe what you like in the Gospel, and reject what you don't like, it is not the Gospel you believe, but yourself.”

And in fact, if you reject this idea of God’s wrath, you end up undermining the gospel in its entirety. The entire edifice of the gospel crumbles if you don’t have a God who’s righteous and just. I mean, why would Jesus have died on the cross? What would he be saving us from? Low self esteem? Really? No, Jesus died to rescue us from God’s wrath. And we have to believe in the wrath of God lest we impugn the righteousness of God and ultimately undermine the gospel of God. 

So my recommendation when you think about God’s wrath and about hell is neither to rejoice in it nor to deny it but rather to simply be in awe of God’s greatness and majesty. As one pastor writes, “Hell should make our mouths stand agape at the righteous and just holiness of God. It should make us tremble before His majesty and grandeur.” In other words, stop talking and simply tremble before the greatness and majesty of God. 

And also, another thing we dare not forget is the sense of urgency this should add to our evangelism. The task we’ve been given of sharing the gospel with people is truly a matter of life and death. It reminds me of The Hunger Games movies where this evil emperor, every year, forces a couple dozen of his subjects to fight against each other in an epic competition in which only one will survive. Now, putting ethics aside for a second, if you’re in a competition like that, it’s going to change the way you compete. You’re not going to approach that competition the same way you’d approach a checkers game, right? You’re going to treat it as the life-and-death struggle that it is. And that’s similar to the sense of urgency we should feel when it comes to sharing the gospel. The stakes could not be higher. People’s eternal destinies hang in the balance. Now of course we always want to keep in mind that God’s ultimately sovereign over who responds appropriately to the gospel and who doesn’t, so we don’t have to get manipulative or use pressure tactics or anything like that. But we should still feel a strong sense of urgency to share the gospel with people around us who desperately need to hear it. Let’s pray together.