The Revelation of God's Wrath (Romans 1:24-31)
Today we come to a section of Scripture that is, at the same time, both one of the most useful and most hard-hitting passages in all of Scripture. You know our stance on Scripture. Every word is inspired. Every word is inerrant. Every word is sufficient for life and godliness. Every word carries the authority of God, and we must approach every word of Scripture with this same conviction. Paul says in 2 Timothy 3:16-17 that all Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work. All Scripture is profitable for our spiritual growth. It’s not always readily apparent how all Scripture is profitable. It takes some study/work before the genealogies really become profitable. It takes some time/work to dig out gold in some of the census passages in Numbers. But then there are passages like this one, where even a cursory reading provides a lot of spiritual insight.
The passage before us today reveals to us the method by which God’s wrath has been constantly being revealed in this world against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of those who foolishly exchange the true God of all creation for false idols.
Let’s read the passage: Romans 1:24-31
Therefore God gave them over in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, so that their bodies would be dishonored among them. For they exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen. For this reason God gave them over to degrading passions; for their women exchanged the natural function for that which is unnatural, and in the same way also the men abandoned the natural function of the woman and burned in their desire toward one another, men with men committing indecent acts and receiving in their own persons the due penalty of their error.
The thought of this passage goes back all the way to verse 15: So, for my part, I am eager to preach the gospel to you also who are in Rome. Paul is explaining to us his overwhelming desire to get to Rome, and the reason he was so desirous of going to Rome was to preach the gospel to them. He explains in verse 16 that he is so on fire to get to Rome and preach the gospel, because he’s not ashamed of the gospel. He’s honored to preach the good news about Jesus Christ, because it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes it, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. Paul is convinced that God has imbued the gospel message with the power to save everyone who believes it. How does the gospel message save so effectively all those who believe? He says in verse 17, For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith. That is, the gospel tells about God righteousness accounted to the one who believes and lives by that faith.
In verse 18, Paul launches into a discussion of the bad news that precedes the good news. As amazing as the good news of salvation is, the bad news is just as terrible. And Paul is going to take quite a bit of space in this letter to discuss the bad news about sin and judgment (up to 3:20).
He starts this section with a bold declaration (v. 18): For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness. We covered this in detail last time I was with you. You see right away that this passage is not speaking about God’s wrath on the day of judgment. He’s going to talk about that in chapters 2 and 3. But, at the moment, he’s looking out over the nations of the earth in this present age, and he’s cluing us in to what exactly we are seeing. What we are seeing is the wrath of God constantly being revealed (present tense) from heaven. And that wrath is being revealed against all the ungodliness and unrighteousness of people who stamp down on the truth about God’s existence and nature. And they suppress the truth about God by their unrighteous deeds.
In verses 19-23 Paul explains how people suppress the truth about God. In verse 19, he makes the point that the truth about God’s existence and nature is evident within them. God made it evident to them. It’s inescapable. No matter how much they try to deny it. In verse 20, he explains how the knowledge about God is evident to all people. Namely, God’s invisibility is made visible by what has been created. Creation testifies that there must be a Creator who is eternally powerful and divine. It is clear as day. It is undeniable. What foolishness it is to attempt to explain this universe without a Creator.
In verse 21, Paul says that they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Verse 22 says that they profess themselves to be wise. But in reality they are fools.
Almost every culture, knowing this knowledge about the Creator, refused to worship Him. They looked up in the sky and saw the sun, and instead of giving glory and honor to the God who made the sun and provides them daily with heat and light, they worshiped the sun itself. They became idolators, churning out idols of every kind imaginable, whether of man or birds or beasts or reptiles.
That’s how people suppress the knowledge about God in unrighteousness. Idolatry. And don’t for a moment scoff and think, “Thank God the USA doesn’t bow down to idols. That might have happened in past civilizations. That may happen in certain parts of the world even now. But it doesn’t happen here.” Don’t for a moment think that! Our society, for the most part, doesn’t bow to idols carved out of wood or stone. But I pose to you that our culture is one of the most idolatrous cultures that has ever existed. Our culture worships the idol of self above all else. Self-determination. I can be whatever I want to be. I can do whatever I want. Self-image. I want to look a certain way, be perceived a certain way by others. Self-ambition. I want notoriety, fame, riches, and power. I want titles that convey my importance. Maybe little letters behind my name to exalt my superiority. I want to flaunt my success. I want more wealth. More stuff. Self-exaltation. I want you to know how good I am. How morally superior. How educated. How affluent. Our society worships those who have attained to those things. Celebrities, models, sports stars, musicians, movie stars, influencers. Our society lives for self: to please self, to obey self, to determine self. God says the opposite. Live for me. Please Me. Obey Me. Submit to My determination about who you are. Anything else is idolatry.
And, back to verse 18, God’s wrath is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of those who suppress the truth by unrighteous idolatry. In the rest of chapter 1, Paul explains to us what he means by God’s wrath being revealed from heaven.
Main Point - God’s wrath is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of those who suppress the truth in unrighteousness and foolishly worship idols of their own making. God’s wrath is revealed in 3 stages of ‘giving them over.’
You probably caught this as we read the passage earlier. Paul says three times, God gave them over. Verses 24, 26, 28. If you mark your Bibles, I would encourage you to mark this. This is gold. The passage nicely outlines into three sections that start with “God gave them over.” What exactly does it mean that God gave them over? It means that because of their idolatry, He gave them over. To what? To the evil lusts of their hearts. As nations and societies came into existence, it’s as if God were holding each one of them back on a leash. But as each one rejected God and worshiped idols, He would let the leash out and allow them to explore terrible sin. Then He would let the leash out more and allow them to enjoy even worse sins. Then He would let the leash out all the way, and they would run headlong into worse and worse sins. Eventually, those sins would destroy the nation and it would be no more. The revelation of the wrath of God happens by God judicially declaring, “I give you up to the lusts of your hearts. I will hold you back no more. But be warned, My Spirit will not strive with you forever.”
What does God give the ungodly and unrighteous truth-suppressors up to?
I. GOD GAVE THEM OVER TO IMPURE RELATIONS (vv. 24-25)
24 Therefore [because of their idolatry] God gave them over [He let the leash out a little] in the lusts of their hearts to [sexual] impurity. Idolatry always had a sexual overtone that encouraged an immoral sexual ethic.
Sex is a gift from God to married couples for them to thoroughly enjoy freely and without shame. It is the deepest expression of love between a man and a woman. It is the God-given method by which children come into the world and families are established. When it is rightly used, sex glorifies God. Sex exalts Christ. I would go so far as to say that sex reveals something about God’s image in man and woman and reflects the divine intimacy between the three persons of the Trinity. Not in a gross or physical way. I would say sex even reflects the intimacy and love between us an God. Again, not in a crass way. Why am I talking about this? Because too many people think Christians hate sex. The world certainly thinks that. But I think far too many Christians think like that! And they feel shame for enjoying it. And I’m taking this moment to say, “Enjoy it to the glory of God and in the way that God intends.” It is a gift of God.
But God has given the unbelieving, idolatrous world over to all kinds of sexual impurity. We see this in our own society, don’t we? There is a push that everyone has sex with whomever they want. Don’t get married. Just have fun. Experiment.
What’s the result? So that their bodies would be dishonored among them. Sexual impurity is dishonorable. It is dishonorable to God who created it and gave it to be enjoyed in a prescribed way. It is dishonorable to their own bodies. They should treat their own bodies in a more honable way. But sin is destructive. The lusts of the heart are destructive.
How did they get to this point? 25 For they exchanged the truth of God for a [the] lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen. I think Paul needed to come up for air. That’s why that benediction is there. Since they worshiped and served the creature instead of the eternally blessed God, God gave them over to impure relations.
Then He gave them over to…
II. GOD GAVE THEM OVER TO HOMOSEXUAL RELATIONS
26 For this reason [their continued idolatry and impure relations] God gave them over to degrading passions. God allows the leash to go out further. We go from dishonorable relations to degrading ones. It’s not enough for sex to be perverted and the marriage covenant to be trampled. Now, people want to go against their own natures. For their women exchanged the natural function for that which is unnatural. They became lesbian lovers in our terminology today. 27 And in the same way also the men abandoned [a better word might be ‘jettisoned’] the natural function of the woman and burned in their desire toward one another, men with men committing indecent acts and receiving in their own persons the due [necessary] penalty of their error [STD’s, AID’s, etc.].
This is not a popular teaching in the world today. But the Bible is clear. Homosexuality is unnatural. It is clearly against God’s intention for sexuality. It is even called an abomination.
Now, I should address this. There is a video going around on Facebook and Instagram and Tik Tok making the claim that the term ‘homosexual’ didn’t appear in any Bible translation until about the 1950’s. That’s because that word wasn’t used before that time. Before the 1950’s, the normal term was ‘sodomites’ because that’s what was practiced in Sodom before it was destroyed in Genesis 19. Jude 7 says that Sodom indulged in gross immorality and went after strange flesh, and are an example in undergoing the punishment of eternal fire.
There is one more thing I should address before we move on. Homosexuality is not the unforgivable sin. It is indeed a sin. But don’t forget, heterosexuals are going to Hell for their unrepentant sin. If a hetersexual or a homosexual repents of their sins and believes in Jesus Christ, they will be forgiven. And they will be born again. You hear so many homosexuals make that claim, “I was born this way.” Ok. But God commands that you be born again. And you will have a redeemed nature that abhors homosexuality and follows Christ. You may still struggle with it, just like a heterosexual person still struggles with heterosexual lust. But there is power to overcome both heterosexual lust and homosexual lust in Christ.
Because of their suppression of the truth in unrighteousness, God gives a nation over to impure relations, then to homosexual relations, then finally to…
III. GOD GAVE THEM OVER TO DEPRAVED MINDS [vv. 28-31]
28 And just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God any longer, God gave them over to a depraved mind. It’s not clear in translation, but there is an irony in this statement. You could say it, they rejected God so God gave them over to a rejected mind. They saw Him as unfit, so God gave them over to an unfit mind. You get the idea. It is a depraved mind. God lets the leash out all the way, and they run to do those things which are not proper. 29 They are filled with all unrighteousness. Not some. All. They lap it up like it’s water. All unrighteousness is then defined by this long list. Just listen to it again: wickedness, greed, evil; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, malice; they are gossips, 30 slanderers, haters of God, insolent, arrogant, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, 31 without understanding, untrustworthy, unloving, unmerciful. I don’t really feel the need to define all of those terms. The translation brings out the meaning of the words.
Just sit and look at that list for a moment. I hate to say it, but I can’t look at this list without seeing the USA. I watch the news, and all I see is this list. In fact, as you think about it, you realize that this has played out in our society. The sexual revolution of the 1960’s-70’s. The homosexual revolution that started in that same time and has progressed to where we are today. And I really think that every since the Supreme Court’s ruling about gay marriage in 2015, we have seen the depraved mind just let loose. They can’t even see the absurdity in the things that they say. Right now, it seems like a large portion of the country has lost its mind. They can’t discern anything. They can’t distinguish rightly between good and evil. It’s all flipped upside down in their thinking. Boys can be girls. Girls can be boys. There are surgeries to attempt to make that more of a reality. Babies are diced to pieces in the womb. And that’s called healthcare and a right. All unrighteousness.
God has given this country (and not only this one) over. We are seeing the wrath of God revealed against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of those who suppress the truth in unrighteousness. Does this not make us eager to preach the gospel? Or are we too ashamed of telling the truth in a nation that has embraced wholeheartedly the lie? We’re going to look at the verse next time, but we feel all too well what Paul says in verse 32: although they know the ordinance of God, that those who practice such things are worthy of death, they not only do the same, but also give hearty approval to those who practice them. And we feel the demand for their approval. But we can’t approve. We can be nice. We can be kind. We can be gentle. But we can’t give approval. And we must be unashamed to tell them that Christ will save them from their sins.
In Conclusion, you and I have a lot of work to do. We look out upon a world that is even now experiencing the wrath of God. And unless we preach the gospel to them, they will perish in their sins. God has given this culture up to impure relations, to homosexual relations, and to a depraved mind. Our circles like to talk about the culture war. The only way we can fight the culture war and win any kind of lasting victory is to preach the gospel.
I’m sure you can find yourself here in this passage. You know what sins Jesus saved you from. I know what He saved me from. I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the people whom Jesus healed while He was on earth. You couldn’t get them to stop talking about what Jesus had done for them. Hasn’t He done more for us? How can we ever stop talking about what He did for us? I was an idolator through and through. I was addicted to all kinds of impure things. I was wicked. I was greedy. I was envious. I was malicious. I was a slanderer. I was untrustworthy, unloving, and unmerciful. But then I understood the gospel. And God forgave my sin because of what Jesus did. And He will forgive yours as well. And He will account to you His righteousness, the righteousness of God through faith.
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