The Sin of Suppressing the Truth (Romans 1:18-23)
We embark today on a subject that many Christians in our day avoid at all costs. Yet this subject is the basis of the gospel. It is the foundation for all the good news that is to come. Gospel means ‘good news.’ And the Gospel of Jesus Christ is the best of news. But it starts with bad news: God is angry with everyone who has done evil. He is full of wrath that is poured out on those who commit sin.
So many people balk at this thought. “God is love,” they say. “He is not wrathful.” But then, my friend, by denying God’s wrath, you make Him unjust, unrighteous, and unloving. You say, “How so?” Take the Holocaust for example. What if I told you that I didn’t think the Holocaust was so bad? In fact, what if I told you I feel no horror or anger when I read about it. I am not moved by the injustice that was done there. You would think I was a monster. You would call me unfeeling, unloving. You would say that there’s something wrong with me. If I can’t look at the atrocities that happened at Aushwitz and Dachau and all the rest of the concentration camps and killing centers and I am not moved to anger over the injustices committed there, then I am wicked. How much more the perfectly just and perfectly righteous and perfectly loving God? Would it not be WRONG for God NOT to be moved to wrath for sin?
And because He is perfect, He is moved to wrath for all sin. Every infraction of His perfection. Every transgression of His commandments. He is right to be angry with sin. It is right for Him to be moved to wrath. That, brethren, is the beginning of the gospel. The best of news starts with the worst of news: everyone is under God’s wrath because of their sins.
Remember that Paul is explaining why he is eager to preach the gospel in Rome (1:15). He is not ashamed of the gospel, because it is God’s power for salvation to everyone who believes. The power of God in the gospel to save everyone who believes should make us eager and unashamed to preach the gospel. The contents of the gospel also make us eager and unashamed to preach the gospel. 1:17 - In it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith, as it is written, “But the righteous man shall live by faith.” God’s righteousness is given as a gift by faith. It makes all who believe imputed with God’s righteousness.
How is this accomplished, you may ask? That’s what the rest of Romans is about. He begins to answer this question in 1:18-3:20 where lays the groundwork for WHY we need to be imputed with God’s righteousness. 3:21-4:25 answers WHAT this imputation with God’s righteousness is. Chapters 5-8 detail the holiness of life that follows being imputed with God’s righteousness. Chapters 9-11 help us to understand the guarantee of our salvation. Chapters 12-15 shows us practically what being imputed with God’s righteousness looks like in everyday life.
This long and detailed answer about how God’s righteousness is given to men is a systematic presentation of the Gospel. By the time that we finish, we will have a detailed and nuanced understanding of gospel truth and gospel living.
So let’s dive into verses 18-23. Here, Paul begins to lay the groundwork for WHY we need to be grace-gifted God’s righteousness through faith.
18 For the wrath of God is [being (Present Continuous)] revealed [αποκαλυπτω story] from heaven [coming down] against all [without exception] ungodliness [these two terms are synonyms that reinforce one another. If we had to pull them apart and give them meaning, ungodliness would refer to irreverence toward God] and unrighteousness [injustice toward their fellow man] of men, who by [means of] their unrighteousness suppress [hold down] the truth.
Here is the picture that this verse creates. All unredeemed people know the truth about the true God. But they refuse to acknowledge it. Instead, they, in an ungodly and irreverent way, stamp down the innate knowledge about God and suppress it. They accomplish this by committing unrighteous deeds. This ungodliness and unrighteousness thus provokes the wrath of God. The wrath of God is not JUST something stored up for the judgment. Paul says it is even now continuously being poured out upon all ungodlinss and unrighteousness of all unredeemed people who are constantly suppressing the truth with their unrighteousness.
Brethren, have we imbibed the unconcerned attitude of the universalists? Do we think, “I don’t need to tell others about Jesus, because it’s all going to work out for them in the end?” Or have we become too hyper-Calvinistic? Do we think, “I don’t need to evangelize; God will save everyone He plans to?” Or do we let fear silence us? Do we think, “What if they make fun of me or yell at me or physically assault me?”
I believe the cure for all of this is to practice being mindful of the wrath of God being poured out on every unbeliever. May God grant us a vision of His fiery wrath falling down from heaven on the head of everyone we talk to. May He also grant us a vision everyday of millions of souls falling down into the Lake of Fire, never to be released from it. Brethren, let us meditate on this everyday! Resolve yourself to spend just five minutes every morning and evening picturing the wrath of God currently falling onto this community and, in the future, soul after soul after soul of those who do not believe being thrown into the pit of Hell. And then hear God speak these words to you, “Go and make disciples. Preach the gospel without fear or shame. Lives depend on it!”
If you or I were in an apartment building, and we smelled smoke then saw the fire, wouldn’t we immediately rush to pull the fire alarm? We would do it without fear or shame. It’s not time to worry if people will be mad that we woke them up. Or interrupted their fun evening. We wouldn’t just walk out of the building, saying “God’s going to save whoever He wants to from this fire.” We’d be pounding on doors and yelling to get people’s attention. “This isn’t a drill. This is real. Get out of the building!”
Now, that is a big statement. The wrath of God is constantly being revealed from heaven. We may expect Paul to explain that right away. How is the wrath of God being revealed upon the world of the unredeemed? But he doesn’t explain that right away. First, he demonstrates what he means that all unredeemed people suppress the truth about God by their unrighteous deeds. That’s what we see in verses 19-23.
MAIN POINT - 2 ways that people suppress the truth about God in unrighteousness.
PEOPLE IGNORE THE PLAIN TESTIMONY OF GOD IN CREATION
19 For what can be known about God is plain [obvious] to them, because God has shown it to them. God has made His existence and nature so obvious that people have to suppress it. They have to tamp it down with more and more unrighteous thoughts and deeds. Notice that Paul doesn’t say that it’s obvious to people that there’s A god. Or there are gods. No. He says the true God has made His existence perfectly clear among men. But they reject Him, because they hate Him.
When we evangelize, there is a very real sense in which we can say, “I’m proclaiming to you the true God of all creation that you know exists but refuse to worship and obey.” Even the most convinced atheist has to acknowledge this in part, because they will say as forcefully as they can, “God does NOT EXIST!” And in the next breath, “I HATE Him.” You hate the God who does not exist? You don’t hate Allah. Or the Buddhist and Hindu gods. Or the Greek gods. You hate the God of the Bible, whom you say doesn’t even exist. And I say it’s because in your heart of hearts you KNOW Him to be true. But you’re honest enough at least to say you hate Him.
God has made His existence obvious.
How is the knowledge about God’s existence and nature obvious to all people? 20 For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. This is a very difficult sentence to translate and keep the word order of the Greek. Because of this, we may miss the oxymoron. God’s invisibility is seen. You say, “How?” Not directly. But through the creation of the world. The things that have been made show us God’s existence. The creation is screaming to us the existence of the Creator. And God has made His creation to reflect His glory, even after the corruption of the Fall and the Curse.
You look out at the vastness of the universe. Today, we are able to see further into the universe than any human civilization has probably been able to see. And we realize we probably can’t see but a fraction of the whole thing. But what we CAN see is astounding. In the 1990’s, the data from the Hubble telescope led astronomers to the conclusion that there were an estimated 200 billion galaxies in the observable universe (what we can see). But now, according to NASA, astronomers are estimating that there are at least ten times that amount. We just couldn’t see them until the new and more powerful telescopes were made. And each galaxy contains hundreds of billions of stars.
You look at the human body, and you see irreducible complexity. I know that evolution has tried to explain this, but it simply can’t! There are hundreds of parts necessary to make up a human eye. And without just one of those parts, the eye no longer functions. Millions of years doesn’t explain an eye! Or an ear! Or reproduction! The body is so complicated and so fearfully and wonderfully constructed, that it is insanity for anyone to think it just happened.
Creation reveals God exists. And not just any god. The God of the Bible. The God who has amazing knowledge and wisdom and vastness to put all these things together. It reveals His eternal power. He not only created everything, but it can be deduced that He is everywhere and at all times upholding everything. The creation reveals the love and goodness of God. The earth orbits the sun, just far enough away that we don’t burn to a crisp but close enough we don’t freeze. The earth is angled for seasons. The moon creates tides. The rotation of the earth creates winds. These all go together for weather. And the rain comes upon the earth to grow food for people and animals.
More than that, inside of all people is a conscience that knows right from wrong, justice from injustice, good from evil. We know that all people are made in the image and likeness of God. Even though that is also distorted by the Fall into sin, we still see mankind able to reason. Able to love. Able to be kind and honest and just. Able to create societies and laws and culture. Art and music. All of that reflects the mind and nature of the Creator.
The sun rises everyday to run its course through the sky. It’s so consistent that you can tell time by it. We get light from it. We get heat from it. We get vitamins from its light. Yet peoples since the beginning of the world have rejected the witness of the sun to a powerful and divine Creator God who is holy and righteous and true. And instead, many have looked at the sun and called it their god. In Egypt, Amun and Ra and Aten. The Aztecs, Huitzilopochtili and Nanahuatzin. The Incans, Apu Inti. The Inuit, Akycha. The Mayans, Ah Kin. The Armenians, Ar. The Buddhists, Surya and Marici. The Canaanites, Shapash and Ba’al. The Chinese, Doumu. The Japanese, Amaterasu. You get the point. All peoples everywhere have stamped down the innate knowledge about the true God who created heaven and earth and worshiped created things instead.
And that’s where Paul goes next.
PEOPLE WORSHIP THE FOOLISH IMAGINATIONS OF MEN IN IDOLATRY
So they [all] are without excuse. No one can claim ignorance. Every person has suppressed the knowledge of God clearly shown in Creation by the things that have been made. That is foolish. It is unrighteous. It is evil. They rejected God. Then they put up all kinds of idols to try to fill that hole inside them. To try to suppress the knowledge of the true God even more. 21 For although they knew about God, they did not honor [glorify] him as God or give thanks to him. If God created all things and gave life to everyone, then each individual person and society has a duty to this Creator God to glorify Him and give thanks to Him. But all people refuse to do this. (21) But they became futile in their thinking. They traded truth for lies. They started to develop the lies, so that over time, there are all these complicated myths and legends about how things work. Today, you have the myth of evolution. And scientists have spent and are spending hundreds of thousands of hours refining it and testing it and trying to make it work. But any honest person will tell you that it doesn’t work. It doesn’t make sense in the least. It is based upon so many unproven and untestable assertions. But they can’t get rid of it. Why? Because the only other viable option is Biblical 6-day Creationism. And they WILL NOT go to that. Why? Because then they would have to honor and praise God. And they will not. They hate Him. So they have chosen the path of futile thinking. The result of this? (21) and their foolish hearts were darkened. Heart in the Bible refers to the place of intellect, emotion, and volition. Their entire being is darkened and further enslaved to sin and falsehood. But they don’t see it. They think they are enlightened and wise. 22 Claiming to be wise, they became fools. You can’t escape it. We see this on full display, don’t we? Our society has killed tens of millions of babies in the womb. They are encouraging men to say that they are women and women to say that they are men; and have surgeries to try to make their delusion seem like reality. They are encouraging people to sleep with anyone and everyone they want to. They are calling everything that is evil good, and they are mocking everything that is truly good as being evil. They even go to college and get degrees in all of this filth. They hold themselves up as the epitome of wisdom and understanding. But they are fools.
23 Most foolish of all, they have exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things. In our day, our own society, for the most part, does not make idols of wood and stone. Instead, they are more honest. They worship self. Self-comfort (money and stuff). Self-image. Self-ambition (fame and notoriety).
They are idolaters. Everyone of them. And wrath is being poured out from heaven upon their heads because of their suppression of the truth about God by unrighteousness.
How is God’s wrath being revealed from heaven? Paul discusses that in the rest of chapter 1. Verses 24-32. We’ll look at that next time. I included that in your outline if you want to work ahead.
IN CONCLUSION, we are eager to preach the gospel to everyone, because every person on this planet has suppressed the truth of God in unrighteousness. We are unashamed to preach the gospel, because every unredeemed person is heading for wrath and even now has wrath being revealed from heaven upon them. We urge them to turn from their ungodliness and unrighteousness and give honor to the God the innately know about. We urge them to turn from their futile way of life and turn to God. We plead with them to see their sin as God sees it, and to come to God and agree that they have done evil against Him. Then we tell them about Jesus. About how God promised a Savior from sin long ago. And now, He has kept His promises by sending His own Beloved Son into the world. We tell them about Jesus’ perfect life. How He taught about the Kingdom of Heaven. How He was rejected by His people, the Jews, His kinsmen according to the flesh. How He was executed unjustly on a cross for crimes He didn’t commit. How, He, being a perfect man, was then accounted our sins and transgressions. And how He, the sinless one, was crushed by God for our sins. He paid the punishment for sin. He endured the full wrath of Almighty God for our sins. He offered Himself as a sacrifice in our place to pay the price of our sins so that we don’t ever have to. He died the death that we should have died. He was buried, and remained in the tomb three days. But on the third day, God raised Him to life again, because Jesus Himself was sinless. He didn’t deserve death. And in this way, Jesus defeated death. He offers eternal life to all who call upon Him. He offers the forgiveness of sins to all who confess that He is Lord of all. He offers freedom from slavery to sin. He offers a new nature, one that no longer stamps down on the knowledge of God but embraces it. One that no longer denies God glory and honor and praise, but pours it out freely before the throne. Jesus also offers adoption into the household of God. He beckons you, dear friend, to come to Him and be made a child of God. An inheritor of the Kingdom of God. Come to Him, dear friend, and receive all of these benefits. But you must realize that all these things–the forgiveness of sins, eternal life, entrance into the Kingdom of God, adoption into God’s household–they’re only available through faith in Jesus Christ. You must trust Him that these things are yours because of Him alone. You don’t earn this like you would earn a wage. You are gifted it by simply holding out your hand and believing that God will give it to you. Will you not receive it now? Will you not believe in Him now? Friend, wrath is abiding upon you. And soon, the judgment day is going to come. I love you. I care for you. I don’t want that judgment to come upon and justly take you to eternal condemnation. I want you to be free of Hell. I want you to be free of sin. I want you to be free of guilt. Come to Jesus now! Don’t purpose to do it later. Set your mind to do it now. Seek Him. Go to Jesus. Cling to Him. Don’t let Him go until you have sensed that you truly have this life abiding in you. Then abide in Him. Don’t let Him go. Worship Him day by day. Love Him more and more. Grow in knowledge and grace every day. Obey Him every day. Confess your sins against Him everyday. Watch for His return in glory every day. Attach yourself to the church so that you can be challenged and shaped and served by the church. Friend. Please. Run from your sin. And flee into the open arms of Christ, who died that all who believe may have life.
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