We are studying together the book of Romans so
that we might come to an understanding of this
book for our Christian growth. This is a book
which tells us about the righteousness of God
in all of his relationships. Righteousness might
be defined as God's holiness revealed in his
actions toward anything and everything and everyone
outside of himself. The last time we talked about
righteousness we said that essentially righteousness
means conformity to a standard. All of God's
actions are conformed to the standard of who
He is, His holiness. Thus God cannot ever be
unrighteous. or unfair, God is always absolutely
just in everything that he does because all of
his actions conform to who he is. He is righteous.
The clearest statement of the righteousness of
God is perhaps in the Gospel and it is demonstrated
at the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. I invite
your attention to the key verses of Romans 1,
verses 16 and 17, where Paul says, 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. The righteousness of God
is revealed in its content. God was absolutely
just. in the death of His Son. Because for our
sake, His holy and innocent, His wonderful Son
became sin. Therefore, God put Him to death.
Because as He became sin, our Savior no longer
conformed in that sense to God. Therefore, God
poured upon Jesus, His beloved Son. wrath. He
was just in the treatment of his beloved son.
The content of the gospel reveals the righteousness
of God. God loved his son, but when his son became
sin for us, God poured wrath upon his son because
of the sin. God was righteous. We also see the
righteousness of God revealed in the results
of the gospel. He goes on to say, the righteousness
of God is revealed from faith to faith as it
is written, the righteous man, the just shall
live by faith. The one who believes this gospel
of the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus
Christ receives the righteousness of God because
of that faith. The faith itself is not meritorious,
it's not works. It doesn't do anything to commend
the soul to God except that the faith receives
God's gift of righteousness. And so in the gospel
we see the righteousness of God revealed and
demonstrated and exposed and made available to
all who will believe. We have said that the theme
of Romans, at least as we're approaching it,
is that God is at work in the world of humanity
and history. demonstrating his righteousness
through those who believe the gospel. God is
at work in our world today. He is at work demonstrating
his righteousness through those of us who have
believed this gospel we just talked about. The
world in which we live, and by the term world
we're not talking about the globe, we're talking
about the system that is has organized humanity
in opposition to God. The world in which we are
pilgrims, in which we are asked to live out our
lives, is a world that is not righteous. It is
a world that is evil and wicked and opposed to
God in every respect. But because of the response
of faith in believers, God forgives the sin of
believers. and counts them as righteous in Christ.
And so though we live in a world that is unrighteous,
we are counted by God as being right with Him,
righteous in His eyes. But what about the rest
of humanity? What about those who have not believed?
What is God's relationship to the world? I think
it can be summarized in one word. If you have
your outlines, I think that this will correspond
to one of the blanks there. God's relationship
to the world can be summarized in one word, and
that is the word condemnation. The world is under
the condemnation of God because of its sin. God's
righteousness on the one hand is revealed in
the salvation of those who believe, but on the
other hand, God's righteousness is revealed in
the condemnation of those who reject the light
that is given to them. That's why he begins the
section we're studying tonight, chapter 1 verse
18, with a statement regarding the wrath of God.
He says, the wrath of God is revealed from heaven
against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of
men. The wrath of God. The wrath of God is itself,
the righteousness of God, expressed toward sin.
It is the expression of God's perfect justice
toward that which is out of conformity with who
He is. The section we're looking at this evening,
beginning with this verse and going through chapter
3 and verse 20, is a section that is actually
an indictment of the whole world of humanity,
without any exception. In chapter 1 verse 18
through verse 32, we have the condemnation of
the pagan. The condemnation of the pagan. The
one who has no knowledge of the written revelation
of God, either the gospel of Jesus Christ or
the law of God. The apostle begins by giving
us the reasons for their condemnation. And there
are two reasons for the condemnation of those
who are pagan. In the first place, they suppress
the truth of God. And secondly, they reject the
knowledge of God. Now notice this. They suppress
the truth of God. He says God's wrath is revealed
against men who suppress the truth. in unrighteousness.
What is the truth here? The truth in this instance
refers to the universal natural revelation of
God that is available to all men. It is that
truth that there is a supreme being who is worthy
of worship and obedience. He says, that which
is known about God is evident within them. God
has made it evident to them. For since the creation
of the world, his invisible attributes have been
clearly seen. That is the truth. The truth here,
that is the truth that God has revealed in his
creation. Invisible attributes are made visible
and He names two of them, the eternal power of
God and His divine nature. All men have that
truth available to them because of the creation.
It is not sufficient in itself to save a person,
but it is sufficient to make a person responsible
to God. for the light that he has. Reasoning
from the law of cause and effect, all men are
able to come to the knowledge of this kind of
truth, that there is a God who is worthy of devotion.
But rather than accept and follow and seek after
this kind of truth that is clearly demonstrated
in creation, what do men do? They suppress this
truth. They hold it down, that is. They repress
it. Why do they do that? Why do men, though something
of God's person can be seen in the universe around
them, turn from that and reject it and suppress
it? Well, he says that they do this in unrighteousness,
which means out of their own unrighteousness
they do it. The point is they're trying to escape
accountability for their moral actions. If there
is indeed a supreme being, then man is held accountable
for what he does in this world. Man would rather
suppress the knowledge of God and not have to
face the issue of accountability. The pagan is
lost. He is under the condemnation of God because
he suppresses the truth of God. But not only
that, he rejects the knowledge of God. In verse
19 it says that he can know God. That which is
known about God is evident within him and without
him, outside of him. Within him and his conscience
outside of him in the creation around him. But
man rejects that knowledge. He goes on through
verse 23 to demonstrate this in what is seemingly
an historical example. And the question is, what
is Paul thinking of when he writes about these
who though they knew God, they did not honor
him as God. Who are these people? I think the
best answer, at least to my satisfaction, is
that he's talking about the civilization prior
to the flood of Noah. Yet it is true of every
pagan civilization. It is true of the Roman civilization.
It is true of our civilization. But I think the
apostle has in mind that particular civilization
that lived prior to the flood. They knew God.
He says. Not in a saving way, mind you, but in
an intellectual sense. They had to acknowledge
that there was undeniable evidence of God. But
did they then honor God? No. Man began to take
steps away from God. He lists six of them here.
He says they did not honor God, step number one.
Step number two, they did not give thanks to
God. Step number three, they became feudal. The
word there means non -productive, speculative.
I think here we have an insinuation regarding
the mythology that pagan people come up with.
The damnable theory of evolution when applied
to religion says that man somehow developed this
idea of polytheism and mythologies and gods and
systems of religion like that and eventually
evolved monotheism, the belief in one God, which
is found in Israel and now in Christianity and
in Islam and so on. But the Bible teaches just
the opposite, that man began with the knowledge
of one God. and then stepped away from that knowledge
to speculations and feudal thoughts and religious
systems which man created these mythologies of
the various kinds of Greek and Roman gods as
well as the Hindu pantheon of millions of gods
and so on. It is the result of man's speculation
turning from the god that may be known. The result
of that, he says, step number four, they became
foolish and their foolish hearts were darkened.
The word foolish here means stupid, undiscerning,
not seeing. Step number five is that they then
became fools. The word means moron, literally,
dull. So that despite their claim of intellect
and mental superiority, Professing to be wise,
he says, nonetheless they became fools. Learnedness
does not mean that one is wise. And the final
step is that the exchange God's glory for idols
in the forms of corruptible man and birds and
four -footed animals and crawling creatures.
So the steps away from God, they knew God, they
rejected the knowledge of God, they stepped away
from Him, and ended up worshipping the creation
rather than the Creator. And the result of this
is that they are without excuse. Having given
us the reasons for their condemnation, they knew
God, but suppressed the knowledge of God and
rejected it. He now tells us the result of their
condemnation. Three times in the rest of chapter
1, he says, God gave them over. That doesn't
mean the same thing as saying God gave up on
them. God doesn't give up. God doesn't grow weary.
What is said here is an act of judgment on God's
part. The pagans Turned from the knowledge that
they could have of God Therefore says God gave
them over He turned them over to something To
someone what was it? Well it was to themselves
and to their sin In other words God allowed the
sin of their hearts to produce its natural consequences
Some sinners pray, oh God, just leave me alone.
Dear friend, that is the worst thing God can
do to them. But when God gives one over, it is
an expression of God's wrath. He says God gave
them over in the first place to what seems to
be a cultic kind of immorality. The lusts of
their hearts, impurity. the dishonoring of their
bodies, connected with their worship. You read
about any system of idol worship and you will
find exactly what Paul talks about here. It involves
immorality of a gross sort. And then he says
in verse 26, God gave them over to degrading
passions, here to perversion and a general sort
of immorality. The result of which is that they
receive in their persons the due penalty of their
error. God is just giving them over to allow
their passions and their sins to lead them on
downward away from Him. That's the way they want
to go. God says, go. And He gives them over to
it. And the result of it is that out of their
very sin, out of their very perversion, comes
a consequence. E .H. Gifford says, the sin against
God's nature, that is, refusing to accept who
God is, entails, as its penalty, sin against
one's own nature. Now why is that? Because we're
created in the image of God. And therefore when
we reject God, we reject ourselves. To sin against
God's nature is to sin against our own nature.
And he says, finally, verses 28 to 32, God gave
them over to a depraved mind with all that that
means. These people can no longer distinguish
between right and wrong. It's a fearful text
that we look at here in the condemnation of the
pagan. Again, I say I believe that the apostle
is really referring to that generation, that
civilization that existed in the world before
the Flood. But the same pattern is followed in
every civilization that turns from the knowledge
of God, including the Western civilization in
our contemporary world. We are marching down
the same path that Paul describes in this text.
and it is evidence of the wrath of God. Men reject
the knowledge of God, therefore God gives them
over to the consequences of their own sin. Well,
someone says, I'm sure glad I'm not a pagan.
Takes care of me. I'm out of that scene. You
know, that's not me at all. Well, the Apostle
has some words to say to those who might respond
that way. Chapter 2. For here we have the condemnation
of the moralist. Those who would say, I'm not
like those immoral pagans. I'm religious. And
I do good. I'm a pretty fine guy. I'm moral.
And yet they excuse themselves from the guilt
of their actions and, in fact, are self -righteous.
Not truly righteous, but self -righteous. He
begins the whole chapter by saying these too
are without excuse. God's judgment is upon the
moralist who is self -righteous as much as it
is upon the pagan in his gross immorality. God's
judgment, he says in the first place, is according
to works of man. God judges according to works.
There can be no argument about this. The record
is clear. Did you do this? Did you not do that?
Notice it says in verse 6, who will render to
every man according to his deeds? Paul's point
here is that the moral man though he feels self
-righteous, actually does the very same things
as the pagan. Oh, his sin may be more discreet.
He may seem to be more civilized. He may hide
his sin better. He may couch it with religion.
He may be refined or educated. What he does may
be acceptable to the majority of the people.
In other words, while everybody else is doing
it, therefore it must not be sin. Paul says sin
it is and God will judge according to works It
is still sin to God and God will condemn the
moralist based upon his life The truth of it
Therefore God's judgment is also impartial verses
11 through 15 Whether one is a moral Gentile
or a moral Jew, it really doesn't make much difference.
God is impartial about that. The Jew is moral
because of the knowledge of the law, but he's
going to be judged by that law. The Gentile may
be moral because of his conscience convicting
him, but he will still be judged. Both the Jew
and the Gentile who are moral, sin against the
light that God has given them and will be judged
accordingly. Let's try to pick up some verses
that talk about this. Verse 11, there is no partiality
with God. All who have sinned without the law,
who is that? The Gentile will also perish without
the law. Why? They've sinned. And all who sinned
under the law, who's that? The Jew, will be judged
by the law. So God is impartial in His judgment.
He doesn't look at the exterior. He doesn't look
at the pedigree. He doesn't look at the race
or the nationality. God looks at the works. And
He judges impartially. And in verse 16, He tells
us that God's judgment is right. God's judgment
is right according to truth. He says there is
a day when, according to my gospel, God will
judge the secrets of men through Christ Jesus.
God knows the moral man's secrets. The moral
man says, nobody knows. I'm not like those people
who are gross and open in their display of sin.
I'm better than they are. Paul tells us here
God knows the secrets. God knows what the moral
man will not admit even to himself. And his judgment
will be according to truth. It will be a right
judgment. The moral man is under the condemnation
of God. Well, maybe the Jew sat back in his easy
chair at this point and said, well, that's all
great, but I've got the law and I am a Jew. I'm
not a Gentile dog, and I'm certainly not a pagan.
And so now the apostle wishes to address this
group. He says, if you bear the name Jew and
rely upon the law and boast in God, and he goes
on to lay out for us the privileges of the Jews.
There are at least ten advantages that Jews have
over Gentiles here in verses 17 through 20. The
privileges of the Jew. But after telling the
privileges of the Jew, he goes on to lay out
the problem of the Jew, verses 21 through 27.
He says despite the advantages which the Jew
has had, he has failed to attain the righteousness
of God. Why is that? Because instead of heeding
the message of the law, the Jew sought to use
it to establish his own self -righteousness.
Instead of heeding the message of the law, which
was intended to point out sin and to bring one
to the mercy of God, the Jew used the law to
establish a certain code of self -righteousness
and lived in hypocrisy. For example, the Jew
said, Thou shalt not commit adultery, but committed
adultery. The Jew said, you shall not worship
idols that robbed idols' temples, he says. You
boast in the law, but you break the law and you
dishonor God. And he says in verse 24, the name
of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because
of you. He's talking to the Jew. And he lays
the Jew out flat. The Jew has nowhere to stand.
Advantages and privileges mean nothing if they
aren't taken advantage of. Instead of using them
the right way, the Jew used them the wrong way.
I think there's a point of application here for
us who call ourselves Christians. The advantages
that we have, the privileges and the advantages
that belong to us as believers, if they're not
used properly, only increase our condemnation.
The true Jew, he says in verses 28 and 29, is
not one anyway who is circumcised in his body,
who has that outward mark of a covenant. He says
the real Jew is one who is inwardly circumcised
in his heart. That's the real Jew. As we come
then to chapter 3, verses 1 through 8, the apostle
seems to be here entering into a debate with
some Jewish rabbi. And he begins to debate with
this imaginary rabbi with some responses that
the rabbi might give to what Paul has said about
the condemnation of the Jew. We don't have time
to go into that except to point out in verse
8, their condemnation is just, he says. That's
the bottom line. He says, whatever the debate
may be, the bottom line is this, the condemnation
of God upon the Jew is a just condemnation. And
so the apostle in writing to these Roman Christians
has just addressed the whole world in these verses.
A world that Romans were well familiar with,
for there were pagans in that day as today. who
were open and licentious in their immorality,
and there were those who were rather self -righteous
in their gentile morality. And, of course, there
were the Jews who likewise were very righteous
outwardly. And Paul says regarding them, all
they are condemned and without excuse before
God. That brings us to verses 9 through 20, which
is really his summation of all of this. The summation
can be found in three words in verse 9. All under
sin. That's it. That's the conclusion. Whether
moral or immoral, Gentile or Jew, all are under
sin. Now he begins to gather some data from the
Old Testament to back up this conclusion. He
quotes from Psalms 14. 53, 5, 10, 36, as well
as Isaiah 53. And he piles phrase upon phrase
and verse upon verse to illustrate the fact that
all are under sin, that all humanity is corrupt
before God and worthy of His wrath. The humanity
sin against God is monstrous and it is premeditated.
and that God's righteousness demands a just response.
One commentator said, evil can no more survive
in the presence of God than a microbe can survive
in the light of the sun. God's righteousness
demands response, and that is summarized in the
word wrath. Sometimes we think of wrath as being
a temper tantrum. It's not that at all. God's
wrath refers to a settled disposition of judgment
and anger. It is not some flare -up like a volcano.
It is a settled disposition that flows right
out of the righteousness of God. And in His righteousness,
God has no choice but to condemn the whole world
because all of sin. And he says that all the
world is accountable to God. Verse 19, now we
know that whatever the law says, it speaks to
those who are under the law, that every mouth
may be closed and all the world may become accountable
to God. Indeed, the law was never given, was
it? for man's salvation. He says, by the works
of the law, no flesh will be justified in his
sight. The law was not given for man's justification,
but for his enlightenment, that man might understand
his sinfulness. Man cannot be made righteous
by the law. J. Verna McGee, in his own unusual
way, said, to attempt salvation by the law, is
like jumping out of an airplane and instead of
grabbing a parachute, grabbing a bag of cement.
Well said. For those who grab on to the law saying,
by this I will be saved, are only dragging themselves
to a greater condemnation. And so we come to
the question, which is a key question in this
book. If we are sinful and under the condemnation
of God, And God who is righteous condemns us.
How can we ever be made right with God? How can
we ever escape the condemnation of God? For we
look at ourselves, we are in fact sinners, and
God's wrath is upon us. It's not just that it's
going to come someday. The picture that Paul
paints here is that the wrath of God is like
a constant stream of pressure against the ungodly.
And it is sweeping them away to an eternity in
hell. If that's where we are in our sin, how
can we be rescued? How can this God who is righteous
reach down and save anybody? For we're all under
sin. Well, that's the blessed story that we come
to in the next section of Romans as we continue
our study in it. Let's pray together. Father,
we give thanks to you for the Lord Jesus. Because
we know, most of us know who are here tonight
that were it not for him, we would still be under
your wrath, and justly so. and we would be without
hope for eternity. Father, right upon our hearts,
I pray, now that we've been redeemed, the predicament
of those who are outside of Christ, may we understand
the lostness of all men because all have sinned.
When we understand that, give our hearts great
compassion so that we might be motivated by the
love of Christ to go to those who are lost still
and share the news with them how they might be
saved. I pray that you will write that upon our
hearts individually and as a congregation, as
a church. And may we increasingly understand
that that is the focus of our reason for being
here, our mission, that you've sent us here to
be a witness of your saving gospel, which is
the power of God for salvation. Lord, as we go
out from here to our week of responsibility,
Go before us and give us courage to use the opportunities
you would give to share this gospel, this good
news of rescue. In Jesus' name, Amen.