In verses 16 and 17 Paul states the theme of Romans. That is that the Gospel “is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile.” (16) That is because “in the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed.” (17) Salvation is by a faith of believing in Christ, not by human strength or works.
In todays passage the reason why we humans need God’s righteousness is given. That is because all men have committed sin and God’s wrath is coming. Please look at verse 18.
God gives us salvation because we are all under the judgment of God. In other words we are in need of salvation. God desires only righteousness. “The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people,” (18) who are not righteous.
A while back there was a trend towards “positive thinking” and “possibility thinking “without meditating on the Word of God. According to this thinking to believe in Jesus Christ brings an abundant life, and you will be blessed by things going the way you want to. To some extent this is true, but blessings in the Bible aren’t such superficial things. They come up from much deeper places. What is necessary for humans deep in sin is not positive thinking which stimulates your heart, but realizing that you are a sinful being and repenting; to have your sins pointed out, to realize how fearful you are to be so covered with sin, and to call out for salvation. Without speaking frankly about sin, we won’t know how necessary salvation is.
We have deep thankfulness when we are victorious over adversity. We have real thankfulness when we meet difficulties, and it is born from the experience of passing through the difficulty. We unconsciously think that when everything goes the way we want it, we have no troubles, a common life is the most happy life, but in reality that is not so. To fall to the most dangerous place in our life, and then the experience of rising out of it is when we are really the most thankful and joyful. In the same way to really feel the joy and be moved by salvation it is necessary to realize what we were like before we believe in Jesus Christ. Today let’s look at 3 characteristics of man before he believes in Jesus Christ.
I. Don’t worship God as God (vs. 18-23)
First let’s look at the source of God’s wrath, sin. In verses 18-23 Paul is stating on what type of persons God’s wrath will be revealed. That is “people who suppress the truth by their wickedness.” (18) If we look at verse 19 we can see that this “truth” is truth about God. Here it says, “What may be known about God is plain to them.” (19) According to Genesis 1:27 God made man in the image of God. The image of God refers to a heart that reverends God, which worships God, in other words, our spirit. We were made to be a spiritual being. Even so, because of our sins, we “suppress the truth”. (18) An outstanding example is “godlessness and wickedness” (18) “Godlessness” is the sin of not worshipping God as God. “Wickedness” is the result of this: bad thoughts, the corruption of morality, and acts of sin. These are the 2 big sides of sin. You can’t separate these two. In other words, man was made in the image of God, to seek God. Even though he was made to worship God, as the result of not worshipping God as God, he began doing all sorts of bad things in this world.
There is the big hit song of Kyu Sakamoto, “Let’s walk with our eyes up”. Man in Greek is “anatropous”. It means “the thing that looks up”. Man was originally a being that lived looking up. However, our daily concerns of life steal the eyes of our hearts, and we lose our hearts of looking up. Then we begin to say that there is no God.
However, there is a God. “For since the creation of the world His invisible nature and attributes, that is, His eternal power and divinity, have been made intelligible and clearly discernible in and through the things that have been made (His handiworks). (20, Amplified Bible) Man can’t see God, but “His eternal power and divinity” can be seen through His creation, nature. Therefore, if men seek God, then they can find Him. God is not far from each of us. Man lives in, moves in and exists in God, but men don’t worship God as God, aren’t thankful, and “their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened.” (22) Not only that but they “exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images,” idols and worshipped them.
Man was made in the image of God so when they are separated from the living true God, they have to have some kind of god. Therefore, instead of the real God, they make other objects of worship, created gods. Also the worship of idols is not only a religious object of worship that is worshipped. In Phil. 3:19 Paul said about those who opposed him, “their god is their stomach (their appetites, their sensuality)” (Amplified Bible) Such desires are also idolatry.
However, that is really foolish. A lot of people that oppose God think that they are wise, but in reality that is foolish. Such idols can not save people. The only way that we can be saved is through God who created the heavens, the earth, the seas, and everything that lives there. Even so they don’t believe in the real living God. “The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of” such people.” (18)
“Being revealed” is in the present progressive tense. In other words, now and from now on where there is sin, God’s wrath will stay upon it. God by His nature can not endure sin as it is.
Habakkuk 1:13
God can never stand sin.
If we were to say in one word what we were like before we became Christians it would be “a sinner that should be destroyed”. “The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against” (18) this sin. We were a miserable being with not one glimpse of hope. “The wages of sin is death.” Romans 6:23 We couldn’t escape God’s wrath because of our sins and our fate was determined as hell.
II. God gave them over to impurity (vs. 24-27)
The second point is the result of not worshipping God as God, and making and worshipping idols instead. Please look at verse 24.
Towards those who do not recognize God as God, God’s wrath is not just at the end of the world, but has already started. God’s wrath is by God giving “them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another.” (24) The words “gave them over” are repeated in verse 26 and 28. These words mean “give up on“or “forsake”. The peak of God’s wrath is to give men who sin over to “the sinful desires of their hearts”. God allows the sin to run its course as an act of judgment.
When we don’t do the will of God, always trials and difficulties come our way. When we lag in our prayer life, our hearts are tightened by a heated trial. However, in reality that is God’s blessing and grace.
Proverbs 3:12
Hebrews 12:7, 8
This is proof that God loves us. That God gives “them over in the sinful desires of their hearts” shows God’s wrath.
God gives men “over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another.” (24) In our relationship with God spiritual aberration causes sexual confusion in our human relationships. In the age that Paul wrote this letter in, for example in Corinth there was a temple dedicated to Aphrodite, the goddess of love, whose worshipers practiced religious prostitution because by doing it it was said they would become one with Aphrodite.
Also if we look at verses 26 and 27 we can see that homosexuality was prevalent. This was because “they exchanged the truth about God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator” (25) Paul criticized them saying, they “received in themselves the due penalty for their error.” (27) That is they neglected God’s well-ordered creation, abused it, ill used it, and as the result of self-indulgence, degeneration occurred.
III. Given over to a depraved mind (vs. 28-32)
Not only that but the third point is that because they didn’t try to know God, “God gave them over to a depraved mind, so that they do what ought not to be done.” (28)
Next there is a long list of sins. This list does not include all the sins of society, but by looking at this list we can see how great the power of sin is. First is “every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity.” (29) These words are an average description of sin. Next is “envy, murder, strife, deceit, and malice.” (29) These are internal malices. Next are many concrete examples of gossip. However, what I would like you to notice is that people that do not try to know God fall into these bad thoughts. Since they did not try to know God, “God gave them over to a depraved mind.” (28) The insides of those who don’t try to know God are full of sin and evil. That is how all of mankind appears. It is how our insides are too.
From there comes all kind sins. “slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; they have no understanding, no fidelity, no love, no mercy” These are many of the things we do. If you look at the newspapers or watch the news it is clear. There is never a day without an incident. Everyday there are many different incidents taking place. We live in sin and do evil.
This is all because they didn’t try to know God. They didn’t worship God as God. Therefore, “God gave them over to shameful lusts.” (26) “God gave them over to a depraved mind, so that they do what ought not to be done.” (28) Not only that but, “they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them.” (32) It is easy to imagine how great God’s wrath is. “The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people, who suppress the truth by their wickedness.” (28)
No reeducation program or moral education program will be able to save us from such human sin and evil. The only way that we can be purified of our sin, and avoid God’s wrath, is by the blood God’s righteousness, Jesus Christ.
Romans 5:9
The only way we can avoid the wrath of God towards our sins is by the blood of Jesus Christ. Only the righteousness of God that is revealed the in Gospel has the power to bring us back from the road of sin and destruction. Therefore, we must believe in Jesus Christ.
It hurts and it is painful to look at the reality of our sins. However, by facing such a reality, the joy of our salvation increases. “The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people, who suppress the truth by their wickedness.” (18), but through the blood of Jesus Christ, there is a road to deliver us from that wrath. That is the Gospel. Therefore, we need to believe in this Gospel. We need to repent, turn to God, and believe in the blood of Jesus on the cross. Then we need to be like the original man and look up as we live, worshipping God as God, and live a life with God as its center. Then we will be saved from the wrath of God that “is being revealed from heaven” (18) and can walk the rest of our life filled with thankfulness and praises.