Romans

Romans

Lesson 6

TEXT: Rom 1:18-25

I. INTRODUCTION

A. Last week’s lesson was about the wrath of God being revealed from Heaven – vs. 18

1. Ps 7:11 “…God is angry with the wicked every day.”

2. God’s wrath abides on the lost

a. This idea that we are all God’s children and He loves us all comes from sissy preaching – see John 3:36, 1:12, 8:44

B. This week we ask a series of questions regarding God’s wrath

II. QUESTION 1 – WHY IS GOD’S WRATH REVEALED FROM HEAVEN? – Vs. 19-20

A. Vs. 19 “Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewn it unto them.”

1. Who is “them?”

a. The people on whom God’s wrath is revealed from heaven

2. God has shown Himself to all men

a. The verse says that God has put in people the knowledge of Him

b. A person has to be taught; has to convince himself that there is no God

(1) Ps 14:1 The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God.

(2) God does not keep Himself hidden for people to seek Him out; He shows Himself and then lets people decide

(3) God has put inside of every man the knowledge that He exists

(a) People try to reason why man has a “need for religion” or a need to “believe in some higher power”

(b) The answer is because God has placed that in man

B. Vs. 20 – Besides this knowledge God has revealed Himself in His creation

1. We can see the invisible things of God through visible things in the world

a. What does this mean?

b. God has given us the ability to see Him and His attributes through His own creation

(1) The Trinity is visible everywhere (each of these examples were created by God)

(a) The Sun has three parts

i. Visible light – can see (Jesus)

ii. Heat rays – can feel but cannot see (Holy Spirit)

iii. Actinic rays – cannot see or feel (God the Father)

(b) Time has three parts: past, present, future

i. There’s something to be said here about homosexual marriage

(2) The elements teach about God

(a) Fire

i. Fire is a cleansing mechanism and it always points upwards

(b) Air

i. The motion of the air is unstoppable and man cannot tell from whence it cometh

i. Sustains life; essential for existence

ii. The vastness of oceans and lakes

(d) Earth

i. Mud, dirt and dust compared to the heaven

2. Throughout all time man has had knowledge of God even when a Bible was not available

a. So this begs the question, “why do missionaries then have to go spread the Gospel?”

(1) Note the difference in wording from vs. 19 and vs. 17

(2) God reveals Himself to man and then man decides to seek after God then God sends a messenger to provide the completion of the knowledge (as in the case of Philip and the Ethiopian Eunuch in Acts 8; and Peter and Cornelius in Acts 10)

C. So what’s the point?

1. Vs. 20 - Man is without excuse

a. Ignorance is not an excuse

b. Man cannot claim that he did not know of God

c. God provides every man with the knowledge of Himself; man is then to seek after the fullness of the knowledge of God

III. QUESTION 2 – AGAIN I ASK, WHY IS GOD’S WRATH REVEALED FROM HEAVEN? – Vs. 21-23

A. Vs. 21 Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened.

1. This is simply a picture of man’s devolution

a. The Bible does not teach evolution it teaches the exact opposite

b. Evolution says man started out low and is getting better all the time

c. The Bible says man started out perfect and gets worse all the time

(1) This verse shows this

2. The rest of this chapter describes some very wicked deeds of men that started off with two things:

a. Man not glorifying God

b. Man being unthankful

3. What does it mean to glorify God?

a. Brag about Him; elevate Him; lift Him up; show Him off; demonstrate His greatness; praise Him

b. People will paint their whole bodies and sit nearly naked in 20 degree weather to glorify their favorite sports team; and this is normal!

c. People who stand on a curb outside the stadium and proclaim that Jesus Christ is Lord are fanatics!

d. Five times in the NT we are told to glorify God; once to praise the Lord and once to praise God

4. Being unthankful is not prosperous

a. Who likes to give gifts to an unthankful person?

b. An unthankful people will cease receiving blessings from God

(1) How many times did this happen to Israel in the OT?

5. These two things led men to devolve deeper and soon their imaginations and thoughts became vain

Webster’s 1828 definition of vain: Empty; worthless; having no substance, fruitless; ineffectual; elated with a high opinion of one's own accomplishments; empty; unreal; showy; worthless; unsatisfying; false; deceitful

Think of what God said in Gen 6:5:

And GOD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.

This sounds very similar; men were constantly thinking of evil but they hadn’t started this way

6. Then their hearts became darkened

a. This is the point of no return for many people

b. Think if Pharaoh in Exodus and his hardened heart

c. Think of relatives or friends you may know

d. They get this way by not glorifying God and being unthankful, allowing themselves to have vain imaginations and feeding this instead of feeding their spirits

7. Vs. 22 Next they become wise in their own eyes

a. These vain imaginations and their darkened hearts makes them puffed up

b. This is where humanism, evolutionism, atheism, and all sorts of evils come into play

c. Thus we see in vs. 23 that another result is idolatry

8. Inside of them is still that knowledge of God; that desire or need to know Him

a. It never goes away man just tries to calm it

(1) Much like taking Tylenol for a headache does not cure the cause of the headache but just masks the symptoms of the underlying problem

(2) Idolatry does not fulfill the need man has is just treats the symptoms of man’s need

9. The point of idolatry is to bring God down to our level

a. Changing God from an uncorruptible Being into a corruptible being like man means that we can do what we want

b. If God is one of us, then there is nothing to worry about

c. If He is nothing but a little statue or painting then it helps mask that void inside but we know deep down within that this statue will not hold us accountable for our sins

10. Instead of glorifying God for what He made they make His creation into a god

a. Those involved in this did not start out this way

b. God put in them the knowledge of Him yet they chose to ignore it

c. It led them down a path that they could never have foreseen without God’s warning here in Romans