We have come in our study of Romans to one of the grimmest pictures of humankind in the entire Bible. It’s a dark picture and many try to dismiss it or would like to replace it with something happier, more positive, and more cheerful. But it is an essential part of telling the good news, or the gospel.
(MULTILINE)
In 1:18 Paul announced that God’s wrath is being revealed. Last week we took time to think about God’s wrath and that a loving, holy God had to have anger at what was destroying his children and filling the good world he created with suffering and evil. We didn’t see how God’s wrath was being revealed. We’ll begin to see it as we conclude chapter one today.
The revelation of God’s wrath
I. consequences of God’s wrath, 1:21b-31
What is it? Wrong , acting, and , 1:21a-23
This confused thinking and decision making leads to : worshipping what is not God.
Paul speaks of mental confusion as characterizing unsaved people in Ephesians:
Ephesians 4:17–18 (ESV)
He goes on to point out how important our mind is for living as God intends:
Ephesians 4:22–24 (ESV)
The renewing of our mind through reading, studying, and memorizing the word of God counteract the mental confusion caused by sin.
II. consequences of God’s wrath, 1:24-31
Note the repeated phrase: God gave them up to…. (Underline it) It occurs three times and each time introduces another way God’s wrath has been revealed.
The word translated “gave them up to” is word often used in NT of giving someone over to the custody of another person or thing. The implication in this term is that God’s wrath is seen in turning people over to the custody of lust, inverted sexuality, and a corrupt mind. That is, they don’t have freedom but have come under the custody of something else.
Paul will later remind the Roman Christians that they were once slaves to sin but found freedom from it in Christ:
Romans 6:17–18 (ESV)
Romans 6:20–21 (ESV)
Many thing that having liberty – including the freedom to do whatever they want is the way to real freedom. Paul reminds us that demanding freedom from God’s requirements only enslaves us.
There are three things that God gave these people up to the custody of:
A. (lust of their hearts), 24-25
This leads to and dishonoring of their bodies with one another.
1 Corinthians 6:13 (ESV)
Our bodies are not meant to be used for sexual sin. They are to be used to serve the Lord. God’s wrath condemns people to using their bodies for all the wrong things.
Remember that the lusts (desires) of our heart lead to sin.
James 1:13–15 (ESV)
To be turned over to the desires of our heart means we are turned over to sin again and again.
Paul restates the reason for God’s wrath, 25
Worshiping the rather than the .
Not all idolatry requires that we make a literal idol. Anything that takes the devotion, sacrifice, and love that we should give to God is an idol.
Colossians 3:5 (ESV)
is idolatry, too.
God’s wrath is revealed in placing people into the custody of .
B. Inverted (dishonorable passions), 26-27
Paul is obviously talking about and activity
They discard what is natural and do what is .
Note that the word ‘natural’ always means according to God’s created order, not according to what someone feels is natural to him or her.
People involved in these activities are (burn with desire, be inflamed in lust) with passion.
They are involved in (disgraceful, indecent) acts.
They receive the
The second way Gods wrath is revealed is by placing people into the custody of dishonorable passions.
C. thinking, 28-31
The word debased can mean worthless, useless, corrupted, undiscerning, or void of judgement. Exactly what this debased or corrupted thinking leads to is clearly spelled out.
In brief: they do what ought to be done
The third way God’s wrath is revealed is by allowing people to be delivered into the custody of minds that see nothing wrong with living self-centered lives marked by envy, malice, deceitfulness and other sins. Their minds do not think as God designed them and wants them to think. They see no wrong with different sorts of sin. The result is, of course, that they do sin, again and again in many ways.
Concluding condemnation, 32
They know what they and what they yet they continue in it and who are doing what they are.
CONCLUSION
Rejection of God is no joke. God sees all and his wrath comes upon those who turn from the truth and set themselves up as the god of their life. We don’t wait until death to experience God’s wrath. We can experience it mentally and morally right now.
Sadly, many people believe the way to real freedom is to get out from under God. Whether they know him fully or just witness his hand in creation, many would rather live as if he didn’t exist than submit to him. They want freedom. But trying to find freedom this way is a mistake. God gives them what they want but it doesn’t lead where they want. They find they can’t stop what they are doing even if they want to. As Paul says, they are given over to (placed in custody of) their lusts and desires. Freedom only comes through Jesus Christ and the good news of the gospel not from rejecting God or suppressing what you know about him.
There are two applications. Which one depends on our relationship to Jesus:
for ourselves
for others