WEBVTT 00:00:18.480 --> 00:00:23.280 Our reading this morning is from Romans chapter one, verse eighteen to thirty-two. 00:00:23.440 --> 00:00:25.280 So do take a minute to open that up there. 00:00:25.359 --> 00:00:29.679 Romans chapter one, verses eighteen to thirty-two. 00:00:30.079 --> 00:00:40.159 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. 00:00:40.479 --> 00:00:46.000 For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. 00:00:46.320 --> 00:00:57.119 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. 00:00:57.439 --> 00:00:59.600 So they are without excuse. 00:01:00.159 --> 00:01:09.840 For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God, or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. 00:01:10.079 --> 00:01:20.640 Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things. 00:01:21.439 --> 00:01:38.000 Therefore, God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie, and worshipped and served the creature rather than the creator, who is blessed for ever. 00:01:38.480 --> 00:01:38.799 Amen. 00:01:40.079 --> 00:02:02.480 For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions, for their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature, and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women, and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men, and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error. 00:02:03.519 --> 00:02:11.759 And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done. 00:02:12.000 --> 00:02:16.960 They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, and malice. 00:02:17.280 --> 00:02:21.360 They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. 00:02:21.599 --> 00:02:34.000 They are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless. 00:02:34.560 --> 00:02:45.360 Though they know God's righteousness decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them, but give approval to those who practice them. 00:02:45.840 --> 00:02:47.280 And so reads God's word. 00:02:47.840 --> 00:02:48.479 Good morning to you. 00:02:48.560 --> 00:02:50.400 Let me add my welcome to Peter's. 00:02:50.560 --> 00:02:51.280 My name is Mark. 00:02:51.360 --> 00:02:53.840 I'm one of the pastors here at City Church. 00:02:53.919 --> 00:02:56.000 Welcome to you if you're new or visiting. 00:02:56.159 --> 00:02:58.800 Thank you for being with us this morning. 00:02:58.960 --> 00:03:03.680 If you if you can, it'd be really helpful to have uh to have Romans 1 uh open in front of you. 00:03:03.759 --> 00:03:08.960 You can pull it up on your phone, uh, or if you've got one of these old school things, uh, you can look that up as well. 00:03:09.199 --> 00:03:17.520 If you're using your phone, you're wondering what version we're reading from, or reading from the English Standard Version, you can Google that and follow along uh with us. 00:03:18.080 --> 00:03:25.520 Uh you might have listened to the reading and thought, oh goodness me, what a Sunday to pick to visit City Church. 00:03:25.759 --> 00:03:29.360 The wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness. 00:03:29.599 --> 00:03:32.879 I wonder if you've ever uh been to a jeweler's. 00:03:32.960 --> 00:03:45.919 If you go to a jeweler's and uh you asked to look at some jewelry, uh if you ask to look at uh at a diamond, maybe you're getting it set in uh a ring or something like that for a loved one uh or somebody you hope will love you. 00:03:46.000 --> 00:04:01.520 Uh one of the things that the jeweler does is uh before he gets out the diamonds and the jewelry is he he lays down uh this very black velvet cloth uh on the countertop, and then he sets each of the diamonds on this black cloth. 00:04:01.680 --> 00:04:03.039 Have you ever wondered why he does that? 00:04:03.199 --> 00:04:09.759 Well, he does that because against the black cloth, the brilliance of the diamonds shines more brightly. 00:04:09.919 --> 00:04:18.639 You get to see the beauty of the jewels because they are set against the blackness of the cloth. 00:04:18.800 --> 00:04:27.040 And that's essentially what Paul is doing now uh from chapter 1, verse 18 through really to uh to three, verse 20. 00:04:27.199 --> 00:04:31.519 So, next few weeks, heads up, gonna be a lot of black cloth, okay? 00:04:31.680 --> 00:04:38.000 And then we're gonna see some diamonds uh once he gets to the close of chapter three. 00:04:38.319 --> 00:04:51.199 We saw last week uh in verse 15, Paul saying to the to the Roman Christians, I'm eager, I'm eager to come and preach the gospel, I'm eager to get the gospel out to both Jew and Gentile. 00:04:51.360 --> 00:04:56.480 Uh and we see we saw some of uh his reasons for his eagerness. 00:04:56.639 --> 00:05:02.879 He's eager to get the gospel out because, verse 16, because it's the power of God for salvation. 00:05:03.120 --> 00:05:14.000 He's eager to get the gospel out because in it the righteousness of God, the moral purity and goodness of God is put on display for the world. 00:05:14.160 --> 00:05:19.519 But not only that, but that in the gospel, the righteousness of God is gifted to sinful human beings. 00:05:19.680 --> 00:05:22.079 And so he cannot wait to get the gospel out. 00:05:22.319 --> 00:05:27.439 He's eager to preach, but then in verse verse 18, we get another four. 00:05:27.600 --> 00:05:29.199 So we're kind of running through the argument. 00:05:29.279 --> 00:05:29.920 Why is he eager? 00:05:30.160 --> 00:05:31.920 Why is he eager to get the gospel out? 00:05:32.079 --> 00:05:40.480 Well, because it's the power of God for salvation for everyone who believes, because in it the righteousness of God is revealed, gifted to sinful human beings. 00:05:40.639 --> 00:05:50.240 And now he says, and you need to know that another reason why I'm eager to get the gospel out is because the wrath of God is being revealed. 00:05:50.720 --> 00:05:57.360 The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men. 00:05:59.519 --> 00:06:04.079 The gospel is necessary because wrath is real. 00:06:04.480 --> 00:06:06.399 You sit here maybe and you think, really? 00:06:06.959 --> 00:06:08.319 In 2024? 00:06:08.879 --> 00:06:10.639 You're talking about the wrath of God? 00:06:10.800 --> 00:06:12.959 Haven't we moved on from beyond that? 00:06:13.120 --> 00:06:16.959 Can't we get past this idea of, isn't this a very Old Testament idea? 00:06:17.040 --> 00:06:18.160 People often think that, don't they? 00:06:18.240 --> 00:06:21.360 They, Old Testament God, boo, New Testament God, he's great. 00:06:21.600 --> 00:06:24.639 He cuddles lambs and welcomes babies and uh and things like that. 00:06:24.800 --> 00:06:28.480 Whereas Old Testament, he's uh he's a bit more grumpy. 00:06:28.720 --> 00:06:31.360 And can we be a bit more New Testament-y? 00:06:31.839 --> 00:06:34.480 Why do we still talk about the wrath of God? 00:06:34.879 --> 00:06:38.560 Well, I think we talk about it because it's quite important. 00:06:39.040 --> 00:06:41.439 Let me build that case just for a moment. 00:06:41.680 --> 00:06:43.360 First of all, what is the wrath of God? 00:06:43.439 --> 00:06:54.800 The wrath of God is not some uh some temper tantrum, uh, like God is some divine toddler who just uh starts stamping his feet and goes off in a blind rage. 00:06:54.959 --> 00:07:05.040 No, no, God's wrath is his settled opposition to unrighteousness and injustice and sin. 00:07:06.639 --> 00:07:13.040 He is opposed to the harm that we do to ourselves and to one another. 00:07:13.199 --> 00:07:18.800 He is opposed uh to uh to our ungodliness, our rejection of him. 00:07:19.600 --> 00:07:24.000 And actually, if you think about it, we we want a God like that. 00:07:24.800 --> 00:07:32.000 We want a God who who isn't indifferent to the harm that has befallen you. 00:07:32.319 --> 00:07:44.480 We want a God who doesn't look at the suffering and sin that has been committed against you in your life and says to the perpetrator, to the person who has hurt you, yeah, it doesn't matter, it's fine, don't worry about it. 00:07:44.639 --> 00:07:50.079 Just come come on in to my heaven, come on in to eternal life and grace and peace. 00:07:50.319 --> 00:07:52.959 You think, well, where's the justice in that? 00:07:54.480 --> 00:08:01.920 You see, we actually want a God whose whose wrath is aroused as a consequence of his love. 00:08:02.160 --> 00:08:20.079 So, for example, if somebody came along and uh and did physical violence against my family, and uh my response to that was so, would you then conclude that I loved my family? 00:08:20.399 --> 00:08:20.720 No. 00:08:21.040 --> 00:08:27.279 It's as a consequence of my love that my anger would be provoked. 00:08:27.600 --> 00:08:37.519 It's because I love my family that when I see them harmed, one of the responses that I have is wrath, is anger. 00:08:38.080 --> 00:08:47.679 It is as a consequence of God's love that He stands in settled opposition to the harm that we do to one another. 00:08:48.000 --> 00:08:54.320 The problem that we have, I mean, we all like the idea of, yeah, if I've been harmed, I don't want that guy to get off. 00:08:54.559 --> 00:08:59.039 The problem that we have is when we point the finger, we've got several ones pointing back at us, don't we? 00:08:59.200 --> 00:09:03.519 The problem that we each have is that we're not just victim, we're also perpetrator. 00:09:03.919 --> 00:09:14.399 That actually in each of us we find that we are opposed to God, that we do things that harm other people, and it is against that that the wrath of God is revealed. 00:09:14.559 --> 00:09:17.600 That God stands in settled opposition to us. 00:09:18.080 --> 00:09:36.000 And so Paul, from here to chapter 3, verse 20, wants to show us one thing: that all of humanity needs the message of Jesus, because all of humanity stands condemned, stands in opposition to God, and his wrath is being revealed. 00:09:37.759 --> 00:09:53.679 Perhaps when you hear about wrath being revealed, you think of apocalyptic movies, Dante's Peak, and you know, uh, all of those sorts of visions of sulfur and brimstone raining down from heaven, thunderbolts smiting people. 00:09:54.480 --> 00:10:00.639 That it's some sort of end of days, Arnold Schwarzenegger-esque thing that we're that we're looking for. 00:10:00.720 --> 00:10:02.559 But that's not what Paul says here. 00:10:02.960 --> 00:10:11.600 Paul says in uh in the very first verse that the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness. 00:10:11.759 --> 00:10:18.960 It's not the wrath of God will one day, it's one day coming, and so you need to uh respond now you say, No, it is. 00:10:19.120 --> 00:10:20.399 It is being revealed. 00:10:20.559 --> 00:10:22.639 You can see it, it's happening. 00:10:22.960 --> 00:10:25.279 It's not just a future event. 00:10:25.519 --> 00:10:28.559 There are senses of it here. 00:10:29.279 --> 00:10:30.879 Let me illustrate that for you. 00:10:31.039 --> 00:10:51.919 Imagine uh, imagine a huge uh tarpaulin, a tarp, a big plastic sheet was strung over all of humanity, suspended over all of the human race, and into it God was pouring his wrath, like rain that pours into a tarpaulin. 00:10:52.159 --> 00:11:01.440 You see that beginning to bulge down and way down with the weight of the water, with the weight of the wrath being poured into it. 00:11:02.000 --> 00:11:04.720 You know that one day there is going to be a deluge. 00:11:04.879 --> 00:11:11.440 Well, what God has done is, in a sense, He is He's poked some holes in the underside of the tarp. 00:11:11.519 --> 00:11:17.600 And so it's dripping through now, and you can see it, and it's supposed to be a warning to us. 00:11:17.759 --> 00:11:26.159 Oh gosh, right, there is something going on here that means I need to respond before the dam breaks, as it were. 00:11:26.320 --> 00:11:28.240 The wrath of God is being revealed. 00:11:28.399 --> 00:11:30.320 We can see it now. 00:11:31.759 --> 00:11:32.960 But why? 00:11:34.000 --> 00:11:39.919 Why is wrath, is God's wrath standing in active opposition? 00:11:40.799 --> 00:11:42.480 What has happened? 00:11:42.960 --> 00:11:44.320 And that's gonna be our first question. 00:11:44.399 --> 00:11:49.120 Our first question is why is God's wrath being revealed? 00:11:49.759 --> 00:11:52.000 And then our second question is, what does it look like? 00:11:52.159 --> 00:11:54.240 So two questions uh this morning. 00:11:54.480 --> 00:11:56.399 Why is wrath being revealed? 00:11:56.639 --> 00:11:58.879 And what does God's wrath look like? 00:11:59.679 --> 00:12:02.720 First, why is God's wrath being revealed? 00:12:03.200 --> 00:12:06.159 Well, he tells us, uh, we're still in verse 18. 00:12:06.240 --> 00:12:07.440 Uh there's lots to go through. 00:12:07.519 --> 00:12:10.559 I'm not going to go verse by verse, don't worry, we'll be here until lunchtime. 00:12:10.639 --> 00:12:12.080 Uh, but we're still in verse 18. 00:12:12.159 --> 00:12:15.360 The wrath of God is revealed from heaven against what? 00:12:15.679 --> 00:12:24.480 Against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who, by their unrighteousness, do what? 00:12:25.039 --> 00:12:27.200 They suppress the truth. 00:12:27.840 --> 00:12:33.840 Now, these dual terms of ungodliness and unrighteousness have kind of two dimensions. 00:12:34.000 --> 00:12:43.679 Ungodliness is maybe kind of a vertical dimension, our relationship with God, and unrighteousness is more horizontal, perhaps our relationship with one another. 00:12:43.919 --> 00:12:59.840 And what Paul is saying here is we have destroyed and distorted our relationship with God, ungodliness, and we have harmed and distorted and destroyed our relationships with one another, unrighteousness. 00:13:00.960 --> 00:13:05.840 Now you say, well, how have I destroyed my vertical relationship with God? 00:13:06.080 --> 00:13:11.600 I didn't even know that I was in a relationship with God to begin with. 00:13:12.559 --> 00:13:15.840 But then Paul says that that's not quite the case. 00:13:16.639 --> 00:13:24.240 It's not quite the case that there are people who are in a relationship with God and some people who aren't in a relationship with God. 00:13:24.399 --> 00:13:27.759 It's much more that all of humanity is relating to God. 00:13:27.919 --> 00:13:33.120 Just some of us are relating to God positively, and some of us are relating to God negatively. 00:13:33.600 --> 00:13:42.879 Because Paul says that actually what we do as human beings is we suppress the truth about God. 00:13:44.480 --> 00:13:56.879 It's not that we have no idea, it's much more that actually we refuse to acknowledge what can be seen and experienced. 00:13:58.720 --> 00:14:00.720 Let's unpack that further. 00:14:01.840 --> 00:14:16.799 It may well be that Paul is saying that it's possible to look at a sunrise, it's possible to look at the cosmos, and to logically deduce that there must be a creator that is standing behind it all. 00:14:17.120 --> 00:14:20.159 That indeed is true, and that indeed is possible. 00:14:20.399 --> 00:14:24.720 And yet that's not normally what happens. 00:14:24.799 --> 00:14:35.519 That's not normally how uh how people think, that's not normally how people experience a kind of uh a sense of the transcendent. 00:14:35.759 --> 00:14:38.879 So there must be something more going on. 00:14:39.039 --> 00:14:41.440 And I think it's helpful to think about it this way. 00:14:41.919 --> 00:14:49.679 Imagine you're in the swimming pool, and uh in the swimming pool with you is a it's a beach ball. 00:14:50.159 --> 00:14:56.639 And what you're doing in the water is you're trying to get that beach ball fully submerged. 00:14:56.799 --> 00:15:03.840 You're you're pushing it down, you're trying to get it under the water so that it cannot be seen from the surface. 00:15:04.480 --> 00:15:09.279 But if you've spent any time playing with a beach ball in the swimming pool, it's a slippery old thing, isn't it? 00:15:09.440 --> 00:15:14.240 And so one of the things that you realize is that rather unexpectedly, it pops up again. 00:15:14.399 --> 00:15:18.399 You get splashed in the face, and then you go and you try and shove it back down again. 00:15:18.559 --> 00:15:20.960 And then it gets away and it pops up. 00:15:22.240 --> 00:15:25.200 Our suppression of the truth is kind of like that. 00:15:26.240 --> 00:15:50.080 Many of us spend our lives trying to submerge the truth about God, that He must be there, that there must be more to life, or the fear of death, the longing for something more satisfying, the longing for something more permanent, and we we push it down and we ignore it and we go on with our lives until suddenly suffering comes. 00:15:51.120 --> 00:16:17.200 We lose a loved one, or we just catch ourselves sitting one evening after we have exhausted ourselves pursuing success and pleasure and wealth and comfort, and just in a flash of a thought that was uninvited, you think, is this really what my life is about? 00:16:17.360 --> 00:16:19.200 Is this is this kind of it? 00:16:20.240 --> 00:16:24.480 At that moment, the beach ball has popped to the surface. 00:16:24.799 --> 00:16:31.919 That thing that you have been pushing down, that truth that you have been supp suppressing has popped up. 00:16:36.080 --> 00:16:40.720 You might not have invited it, but you know that it's there. 00:16:42.399 --> 00:16:46.399 And so the question really that Paul kind of has is well, are you gonna continue to do that? 00:16:46.559 --> 00:16:51.679 Are you gonna continue to, when you get those moments of, is this really what my life is? 00:16:51.919 --> 00:16:52.799 Is for? 00:16:53.440 --> 00:16:54.320 Is this really it? 00:16:54.480 --> 00:16:55.600 Where am I going? 00:16:55.919 --> 00:17:07.279 Just gonna, uh, never mind, I've got to concentrate on this exam, I've got to concentrate on this, never mind, I'm gonna dull my senses with even more sacks and escape and money and everything else. 00:17:08.400 --> 00:17:11.599 So many people do, we shove it down again, but that's Paul's point. 00:17:11.839 --> 00:17:13.519 We know that it's there. 00:17:13.920 --> 00:17:19.759 We know that the beach ball is under the surface, and we know that there is a truth that we are suppressing. 00:17:19.839 --> 00:17:26.079 And so, what Paul is saying is on the last day, you cannot stand there before God and go, Ah, I had no idea. 00:17:28.720 --> 00:17:39.039 Because these senses, these glimpses of God's fingerprints across our lives, his power, his majesty, they're there. 00:17:39.759 --> 00:17:44.720 Now, what Paul is saying here is that they cannot save you, but they can condemn you. 00:17:45.279 --> 00:17:49.759 They can remove your excuse, so you cannot stand before God and say, ah, I don't know. 00:17:51.599 --> 00:17:53.440 Not true. 00:17:55.839 --> 00:17:59.440 The proper response is to go, hold on, there's something in me, this is C.S. 00:17:59.519 --> 00:18:09.839 Lewis saying, if I feel in myself a desire that nothing on this world can satisfy, I must therefore conclude that I was made for another world. 00:18:10.240 --> 00:18:13.839 And we then go and we think, well, okay, well, what is that other world? 00:18:13.920 --> 00:18:16.720 What is that other that I am made for? 00:18:18.400 --> 00:18:21.200 And so we search then for him in the scriptures. 00:18:21.359 --> 00:18:25.759 But the wrath of God is revealed because we are people who suppress the truth. 00:18:26.079 --> 00:18:38.000 Not only that, secondly, in this point, is we don't just suppress the truth, but we substitute the truth about God for a lie, for false gods. 00:18:38.240 --> 00:18:41.920 So we do two things: we suppress and we substitute. 00:18:42.720 --> 00:18:53.200 See, again, it's not the case that there are some people in humanity who are religious, some people in humanity who are worshippers, and then there are some who are not. 00:18:54.319 --> 00:18:59.839 Some people who worship God, and some people who worship Allah, and then there are those who worship nothing. 00:19:00.000 --> 00:19:02.559 That's not a biblical understanding of human beings. 00:19:02.799 --> 00:19:06.960 No, a biblical view of humanity is that we're all worshipers. 00:19:07.200 --> 00:19:19.440 We're all made for that vertical relationship with God, and we reject it, but then we replace it with something else to meet those needs, to give us value. 00:19:19.599 --> 00:19:31.920 And so Paul says in verse 22, claiming to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of a mortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things. 00:19:33.039 --> 00:19:48.000 See, because we because we feel the beach ball popping up to the surface, those those yearnings for significance, those desires for transcendence that God has built into us, we can't we can't shake them. 00:19:48.240 --> 00:19:51.119 And that void must be filled with something. 00:19:51.440 --> 00:19:54.960 But instead of embracing the truth, we embrace the lie. 00:19:55.680 --> 00:20:08.720 We worship our intellect, we worship our reason, we derive value from our successes, we pursue comfort, we crave the transcendent otherness that sex brings us, or the control that money gives us. 00:20:08.799 --> 00:20:18.319 We're all filling the worship void with something created, with a false God, with an idol. 00:20:20.079 --> 00:20:27.359 We look at the world around us and try to make sense of it, but we refuse to allow ourselves to conclude that there is a God. 00:20:28.640 --> 00:20:39.920 In our pride, we refuse to think that he is the one who made the world and who has a claim over us, and so we become fools, as Paul says. 00:20:40.079 --> 00:20:41.440 Our minds become darkened. 00:20:41.599 --> 00:20:48.160 That's the thing about uh atheists who claim uh who build their lives on their rationality. 00:20:48.319 --> 00:20:51.839 Paul's saying here is actually your rationality doesn't work right. 00:20:52.319 --> 00:21:02.880 Your rationality is supposed to cut against or cut along a uh a measure, a yardstick that keeps it, uh that keeps it in line. 00:21:02.960 --> 00:21:12.240 But if you take the guide away, you know, like if you're if you're planning a piece of wood, it goes along something that is perfectly straight in order to kind of cut the line. 00:21:12.319 --> 00:21:16.640 But if you take the guide away, then you're gonna be cutting all over the place. 00:21:17.200 --> 00:21:26.559 What's happened to the uh to the person who is rational, who worships their rationality, is that they're trying to cut a straight line but with no guide, do you see? 00:21:27.839 --> 00:21:37.279 Or we look at the suffering in the world and we conclude that there mustn't be a God, because we cannot fathom a reason why God could allow suffering and evil. 00:21:38.319 --> 00:21:42.319 Because we cannot think of a reason we conclude that there mustn't be one. 00:21:42.559 --> 00:21:54.559 And yet, how many people who uh who wouldn't call themselves Christians and who do not believe in the existence of God still find themselves outraged at the suffering in the world? 00:21:54.799 --> 00:21:57.519 My question there is where do you get your outrage from? 00:21:57.759 --> 00:22:00.480 Because you don't get it from the blind indifference of the Universe. 00:22:00.640 --> 00:22:04.400 You're stealing it from me and from my worldview. 00:22:06.960 --> 00:22:08.480 Or people look at the cosmos. 00:22:08.640 --> 00:22:14.640 There was a great article just this last week or so on the BBC News website. 00:22:14.720 --> 00:22:26.160 I don't know if you saw this, but uh NASA scientists have discovered a uh a ring of galaxies uh that is like one and a half billion light years wide. 00:22:26.400 --> 00:22:31.519 This ring, this perfectly circular ring of galaxies somewhere in the cosmos. 00:22:31.759 --> 00:22:51.039 And the reason why that's kind of flummoxing them is because that's not the way the galaxy should, the universe should be, if if the Big Bang is correct, because if you're all exploding out from a center, it should actually be the same thickness, if you can think of the thickness of the universe, but it should all be the same thickness all the way along. 00:22:51.200 --> 00:22:55.440 But the problem is they discovered this big old bulge in the middle. 00:22:55.680 --> 00:23:06.079 And the NASA scientists said, and I quote, what this shows us is that there must be another factor at work that we have not yet discovered. 00:23:07.839 --> 00:23:10.000 Yes, I think that's rather true. 00:23:12.720 --> 00:23:15.119 It's as though we are in a dream. 00:23:15.680 --> 00:23:23.920 You ever have that experience of your dreaming and you're kind of you're kind of just in those those kind of upper layers of sleep, if you can think about it that way. 00:23:24.079 --> 00:23:42.400 And you know, you can hear the rain on the window outside, but in the dream it's a waterfall, or you can hear the distant sirens of an ambulance, but in the dream it's a quartet playing Vivaldi's Four Seasons or something like that. 00:23:43.119 --> 00:23:52.559 We substitute the truth about God for anything, anything else to keep us asleep, refusing to see the world for how it truly is. 00:23:53.119 --> 00:24:05.359 And so God pokes holes in the tarpaulin of his wrath, that is straining under the weight of his opposition to sin in order to rouse us, in order to bring us to our senses and say, Will you not awaken? 00:24:05.519 --> 00:24:07.599 Will you not see the world as it truly is? 00:24:07.759 --> 00:24:15.920 And realize that it's not a quartet that's playing, but an ambulance, that it is not it is not a waterfall, but the rain is beating down. 00:24:16.319 --> 00:24:17.839 Will you not awaken? 00:24:18.160 --> 00:24:25.680 The wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who in their unrighteousness suppress the truth. 00:24:26.720 --> 00:24:30.720 How then, secondly, is this wrath revealed? 00:24:31.759 --> 00:24:36.079 So, what is revealed against our substituting and our suppression of the truth. 00:24:36.400 --> 00:24:38.160 How is it revealed? 00:24:38.960 --> 00:24:43.279 Three times Paul repeats a phrase in this passage. 00:24:43.440 --> 00:24:48.400 It comes first in verse 24, and then again in 26, and then again in 28. 00:24:48.559 --> 00:24:51.359 Have a look at it with me if you've got the Bible open in front of you. 00:24:51.599 --> 00:24:57.680 It says, Therefore, God gave them up in the lust of their hearts. 00:24:58.000 --> 00:25:04.240 Verse 26, for this reason, God gave them up to dishonorable passions. 00:25:04.480 --> 00:25:05.359 Verse 26. 00:25:05.599 --> 00:25:06.720 Or sorry, 28. 00:25:07.359 --> 00:25:14.480 And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind. 00:25:18.000 --> 00:25:24.799 Oscar Wilde said that when the gods wish to punish us, they answer our prayers. 00:25:26.640 --> 00:25:34.960 The wrath of God does not come to us in fire and brimstone, in avenging angels and thunderbolts from heaven. 00:25:35.680 --> 00:25:40.319 No, the wrath of God comes when he lets us have exactly what we want. 00:25:42.000 --> 00:25:43.200 We don't want him. 00:25:44.400 --> 00:25:47.200 We stand in opposition to him. 00:25:48.319 --> 00:25:49.920 We don't worship him. 00:25:50.799 --> 00:25:53.680 Even though worshiping him would mean freedom and life. 00:25:53.839 --> 00:25:55.680 Rather, we want other things. 00:25:55.839 --> 00:25:57.599 Not just that we want other things. 00:25:57.839 --> 00:25:59.359 We have to have them. 00:26:01.279 --> 00:26:06.400 At that point, we find that we're actually no longer free, but captive to these idols. 00:26:06.480 --> 00:26:09.119 They grab hold of our heart. 00:26:10.799 --> 00:26:14.799 And God in his judgment says, okay, you want that? 00:26:15.279 --> 00:26:23.039 You want to experience the captivity that that idol will give you rather than the freedom that I am offering you? 00:26:23.519 --> 00:26:28.640 If that's what it will take to bring you to your senses, then okay. 00:26:30.079 --> 00:26:46.880 Some of you, I'm sure, who have, some of you, I'm sure, have parented a child where you're thinking uh of them kind of you get to a place where you think actually they need, they won't be told, they actually need to go and make their own mistakes in order to find out. 00:26:47.759 --> 00:26:49.279 It's kind of like that. 00:26:49.839 --> 00:26:51.279 God gives them over. 00:26:51.920 --> 00:26:53.920 God gives them what they want. 00:26:54.960 --> 00:27:02.880 And hey, when God gives you what you want, the deepest desire of your heart, in those initial ways, it feels great. 00:27:03.119 --> 00:27:10.480 It feels so freeing to walk away from all of this religious stuff. 00:27:11.200 --> 00:27:18.160 Imagine how wonderful it would feel to finally have your heart's desire. 00:27:19.359 --> 00:27:22.720 But then after a time you realize that you don't have it. 00:27:23.440 --> 00:27:24.400 It has you. 00:27:26.319 --> 00:27:32.400 Like the person who is driven always to succeed, always working, always striving. 00:27:32.559 --> 00:27:36.960 The stress gnaws at them, but they they have no choice, do you see? 00:27:37.279 --> 00:27:40.319 The competition's too great, the stakes are too high. 00:27:40.559 --> 00:27:43.519 They have to have what they have set their hearts on. 00:27:43.839 --> 00:27:46.240 Yes, it might affect their spiritual health. 00:27:46.400 --> 00:27:53.599 Yes, it might affect their marriage, their connection to community, but all will go in service to this God. 00:27:55.759 --> 00:28:01.680 Dear friend, beware when God gives you the idol of your heart. 00:28:05.359 --> 00:28:12.240 For Paul, this giving up is seen most clearly in the world through how we choose to use our bodies. 00:28:13.680 --> 00:28:28.880 It's like this that if our vertical relationship is distorted, our relationship with God is disordered, then we'll uh we'll live into disordered relationships with one another. 00:28:29.359 --> 00:28:32.799 We see this connection clearly in verses 24 and 25. 00:28:33.039 --> 00:28:39.039 Therefore, God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies amongst themselves. 00:28:39.200 --> 00:28:39.759 Why? 00:28:40.079 --> 00:28:48.079 Because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshipped and served the creature rather than the creator who is blessed forever. 00:28:48.319 --> 00:28:48.960 Amen. 00:28:51.519 --> 00:29:00.640 People were captivated by an overdesire for, uh sorry, people are captivated by an overdesire for sex outside of the bonds of marriage. 00:29:00.799 --> 00:29:03.359 This is what he's talking about in verse 24. 00:29:04.079 --> 00:29:06.240 All sex outside of the bonds of marriage. 00:29:06.480 --> 00:29:07.039 Why? 00:29:07.359 --> 00:29:09.839 Because they worshiped the creature. 00:29:09.920 --> 00:29:11.440 They worshiped the moment. 00:29:12.480 --> 00:29:17.440 They worshiped experience and physical connection rather than the creator. 00:29:17.519 --> 00:29:23.440 They worship the material more than the immaterial, they worship transient pleasure more than eternal joy. 00:29:25.839 --> 00:29:31.519 From here it is unavoidable to see that Paul focuses in on homosexuality. 00:29:33.359 --> 00:29:38.480 This is arguably one of the most controversial passages in the New Testament. 00:29:38.640 --> 00:29:46.319 And I'm actually not going to dwell too much on uh on kind of a full explanation of uh of sexuality. 00:29:46.400 --> 00:29:53.200 It's actually something that we dealt with in our him and her sermon series, so you can go back and you can listen to that there. 00:29:53.759 --> 00:29:57.519 But let me ask the question: why does Paul focus on homosexuality here? 00:29:58.160 --> 00:30:00.000 Does he think that it is the worst sin? 00:30:00.160 --> 00:30:01.440 No, I don't think so. 00:30:02.160 --> 00:30:14.240 It's because for Paul, homosexual sex is an example common in the ancient world of people using their bodies in a way that God did not intend. 00:30:14.799 --> 00:30:20.319 It's an example of how disordered worship leads to disordered actions. 00:30:22.319 --> 00:30:31.839 And it's not the case that Paul wasn't aware of more settled, monogamous uh homosexual relationships. 00:30:31.920 --> 00:30:34.640 It's not just that as a Jew he finds it all a little bit icky. 00:30:34.960 --> 00:30:44.640 Actually, in the in the Greek world, sexual intimacy between two men was seen as the most virtuous way that two men could relate. 00:30:44.720 --> 00:30:48.160 It was more noble sex than sex with a woman. 00:30:48.400 --> 00:30:48.799 Why? 00:30:48.960 --> 00:30:52.400 And I'm going to say something sexist, which I don't believe, I'm only describing it. 00:30:52.720 --> 00:30:55.920 Because it was sex between two equals. 00:30:58.400 --> 00:31:03.839 Well, okay, but actually, to have sex between two men, that's more virtuous. 00:31:03.920 --> 00:31:05.440 That's what the Greeks thought. 00:31:05.680 --> 00:31:11.200 That there was a better way to express yourself sexually than having sex with a woman. 00:31:11.599 --> 00:31:17.680 And that thinking over time had begun to uh to infect Roman culture. 00:31:18.720 --> 00:31:21.839 And Paul writing to Rome is saying, no. 00:31:23.359 --> 00:31:29.680 He's saying this is a disorder desire and a sign of God's judgment because of our distorted worship. 00:31:30.000 --> 00:31:31.359 But there's something else going on. 00:31:31.519 --> 00:31:32.079 Stay with me. 00:31:32.160 --> 00:31:33.119 Please don't shut down. 00:31:33.279 --> 00:31:35.680 There's something else going on which I think is very important. 00:31:36.799 --> 00:31:44.480 Homosexuality doesn't just illustrate Paul's point, but it also is an especially Gentile sin. 00:31:44.880 --> 00:31:49.359 The Jews in the Old Testament they had the law which already prohibited it. 00:31:49.839 --> 00:31:54.640 And so it's it's something that non-Jews tended to indulge in. 00:31:54.720 --> 00:31:57.279 It tended to be a particular Gentile sin. 00:31:57.519 --> 00:31:59.920 The Jews long frowned upon it. 00:32:01.039 --> 00:32:03.839 So what's Paul doing here? 00:32:04.079 --> 00:32:06.559 Is Paul playing to the Jewish gallery? 00:32:06.799 --> 00:32:10.640 Is he kind of saying to the to the Jews in the church, just wait, see, what do you see, guys? 00:32:10.720 --> 00:32:12.400 I'm gonna give it, gonna give the Gentiles a whack. 00:32:12.480 --> 00:32:13.599 Just you just you wait. 00:32:13.759 --> 00:32:14.079 Okay. 00:32:15.200 --> 00:32:20.720 Men exchange relationships, and the Jews are like, Yes, Paul, give it to them. 00:32:21.119 --> 00:32:22.720 Is that what's going on? 00:32:24.000 --> 00:32:25.920 No, I don't think so. 00:32:26.240 --> 00:32:44.079 I think what Paul is doing here is he is using this example precisely to arouse to arouse, excuse the pun, Jewish self-righteousness, so that in the very next chapter he can bring the hammer down on their own moral superiority. 00:32:44.240 --> 00:32:44.880 Do you see? 00:32:45.119 --> 00:32:53.440 That he's writing talking about homosexuality, and you can imagine the Jewish Christians over here going, yeah, yeah, look at you, I can't believe that you did that. 00:32:53.680 --> 00:32:55.039 How awful of you. 00:32:55.200 --> 00:32:56.799 And then he turns it. 00:32:57.119 --> 00:33:02.640 At the very start of chapter two, he says, Well, you do the very things that you disapprove of. 00:33:03.599 --> 00:33:06.640 You judge these guys, but you you have the oracles of God. 00:33:06.720 --> 00:33:10.319 The laws told you what you shouldn't do, and yet you do do it. 00:33:10.960 --> 00:33:17.599 He's arousing their moral superiority so that he can correct their thinking as well. 00:33:19.519 --> 00:33:25.200 And so he talks about homosexuality, but then he goes on to speak about other things like envy, greed, anger, malice. 00:33:25.359 --> 00:33:29.599 So homosexuality in this passage is not the sin, it's our sin. 00:33:30.720 --> 00:33:38.240 He's mentioning it so that the religious types are sneering and revulsion, and then he says, Well, sins in your sex life too. 00:33:39.039 --> 00:33:41.119 Or what about your gossiping? 00:33:41.359 --> 00:33:42.640 What about your pride? 00:33:42.880 --> 00:33:48.400 You know those things that religious, I don't know if you've realized this, but religious people are given to a little bit of gossip and pride. 00:33:49.599 --> 00:33:58.880 And so he begins, or he concludes that chapter, by saying, Oh, hold on, before you get on your high horse morally, have a look at yourself. 00:34:00.240 --> 00:34:04.480 You see, for Paul, the ground before the cross is completely flat. 00:34:05.200 --> 00:34:07.119 We all stand on the same level. 00:34:07.440 --> 00:34:15.199 My lust and your lust might express itself in different ways, but it condemns us both. 00:34:16.960 --> 00:34:21.760 So, how should we respond to all of this as we as we close out? 00:34:22.880 --> 00:34:24.719 Three ways to respond. 00:34:25.840 --> 00:34:32.239 First, we ought to respond to God with thanksgiving. 00:34:32.559 --> 00:34:42.000 You see, if idols take our hearts captive, then freedom is found in worship and thanksgiving. 00:34:42.159 --> 00:34:44.079 Paul says this on out. 00:34:45.360 --> 00:34:49.440 Verse 21 for although they knew God, they did not honor him or give thanks to him. 00:34:50.000 --> 00:34:53.840 But they became futile in their thinking and their foolish hearts were darkened. 00:34:54.079 --> 00:34:56.320 Claiming to be wise, they became fools. 00:34:56.480 --> 00:34:58.480 They claimed to be wise, they became proud. 00:34:58.639 --> 00:35:00.559 Do you know what proud people don't do? 00:35:01.360 --> 00:35:02.639 Say thank you. 00:35:03.760 --> 00:35:10.559 One of the responses to this passage is an increased gratitude for what God has done. 00:35:11.440 --> 00:35:16.960 Turning aside from our pride and rendering him the thanks that is his due. 00:35:18.239 --> 00:35:27.599 The lie that we all believe is that if we were ever to turn to God, ever to acknowledge him or to depend on him, that that would enslave us. 00:35:28.639 --> 00:35:34.559 No, Paul says that the idols enslave, they offer peace, but they always demand a sacrifice. 00:35:36.559 --> 00:35:41.760 Freedom is found in praise and thanksgiving to the God who is there. 00:35:42.480 --> 00:35:51.199 The second way to respond, we cannot, we must not shake our heads in moral superiority at anyone. 00:35:51.679 --> 00:35:56.159 Romans 1, Romans 1 is a mirror to us all. 00:35:57.039 --> 00:35:58.960 It shows us all our sin. 00:35:59.280 --> 00:36:10.079 It is not that we get to go and look at the homosexual person, the same gender attracted person, and look down sneering at them, because then we fall into the trap the Paul has laid for us. 00:36:10.320 --> 00:36:14.639 That in our moral superiority we condemn ourselves because of our pride. 00:36:15.280 --> 00:36:23.360 Disordered worship leads always to disordered thinking in each of us, disordered affections, disordered desires in all of us. 00:36:23.599 --> 00:36:29.760 We don't think the way we ought, we don't feel the way we ought, we don't do the things that we ought to do, we don't say the things that we should do. 00:36:32.239 --> 00:36:43.119 We must beware religious superiority, which is just as much a distortion of what God intended as overt sinfulness. 00:36:43.760 --> 00:36:50.559 And thirdly, and finally, it's the reason why we need verses 16 and 17. 00:36:50.800 --> 00:36:54.000 It's the reason why Paul's eager to get the gospel out. 00:36:54.960 --> 00:37:00.639 And so the third response is if you have not received the righteousness that God offers. 00:37:00.960 --> 00:37:03.199 This is why the gospel is necessary. 00:37:03.360 --> 00:37:08.079 Paul, in a sense, has laid out the black cloth of humanity's sinfulness. 00:37:08.400 --> 00:37:10.079 Now, how should you respond? 00:37:10.719 --> 00:37:14.639 Embrace the diamond of the gospel that he offers you. 00:37:14.880 --> 00:37:17.920 Through his son, through his death and resurrection. 00:37:18.400 --> 00:37:28.239 Have your sin forgiven and walk in unison of life, set free from the idols of your heart to the worship and praise of his glorious name. 00:37:28.960 --> 00:37:29.599 Amen.