Now, we'll read just the one
verse because we have read it twice before, but then I'll point
out the train of thought of the apostle, which we also have looked
at. In verse 18, our text today,
for the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness
and unrighteousness of men who hold the truth unrighteousness
now glancing down in verse 19 because in verse 24 in verse
21 because in verse 23 and in in verse 24, wherefore, and in
verse 26, for this cause. So, we're looking today at manifestations
of the wrath of God recorded in scripture and in history. Now, we're on the second revelation,
as I have mentioned. Paul mentions in succession here
two revelations in Romans chapter 1. The first one that he mentioned,
in verse 17, is a righteousness that justifies. For therein is
revealed thee, or a righteousness of God that justifies. And the second one is the wrath
of God against the impiety and the unrighteousness of men, and
that we read in verse 18. And now I think we need to regain
our contextual bearing, for no sooner had Paul declared the
revealing of a justifying and a saving righteousness than he
speaks of a revelation of the wrath of God in our text in verse
18. And this explains Why? The revelation of the righteousness
of God is blessed and is also necessary because of human depravity. All unrighteousness and ungodliness
of men. All are under sin. There is none
that are righteous. The Bible teaches none are seeking
God. All are gone astray. and especially
have all sinned against not only the law of God, but also the
light of nature that God has given them. And they have trampled
under feet the knowledge that God has made of himself in natural
revelation. They have perverted and twisted
and trampled upon the revelation that God has made known of himself
in creation And in conscience, John 1 verse 9, he likes every
man that comes into the world. Now, if we might, repeat a comparison
which we made earlier in this series and in the study. And that is that these two revelations
are made, but they are not restricted only to human apprehension or
belief, not are they restricted to the fact that we know and
believe and acknowledge the fact that there is the wrath of God
that is revealed. But they are both of them, the
revelation of righteousness and the revelation of the wrath of
God, revealed as being operative and active among the human family. Not only are they known and acknowledged,
but they are operative and they can be seen in their effect. Even so, the revelation of the
wrath of God goes beyond knowledge of our apprehension that God's
wrath is and will be visited upon sinners. John Brown, one
of my favorite writers, put it in verse 18. It refers to manifestations
by example. The wrath of God is revealed
from heaven. It is manifested by examples
upon the ungodliness of men. There are actual instances of
the wrath of God being revealed from heaven. And then we notice
that Paul here in Romans 1 breaks out examples of God's wrath having
been revealed. And you have that in verse 19
and following. We won't read it again. But by
these examples and the manifestation of God's wrath is clearly seen
among the human family. It is visible by observation
and clearly appears to any that have eyes to see the work and
the providence of God. It is clearly observable to those
that have an understanding of the work of God. As the Father
spoke to the ancient in many different ways, in many different
times, and in many different places, even so, in many different
instances, in many different ways, in many different times,
God manifested his wrath against sin over the course of human
history. And that is on record for us
in the sacred scripture. And they are on record, says
Paul, as our example, upon whom the end of the world is come. I Corinthians chapter 10 and
verse 11. Literally, it is the end of the
ages have come. They are our types. They are
our shadow. They're our example. They're
our teacher. They are our lesson. They are beacons to those that
should come afterward, that God destroyed the world of the ungodly,
when he brought the flood into the world. 2 Peter chapter 2
and verse 6 mentions that. The visitation of judgment and
wrath upon former generation and former sinners being passed
Yet they are speaking unto us even today by and through the
scripture who might commit the same sin or worse in our age
or in our generation. The same sins that God judged
harshly in other generation were committed and are committed by
the generation that follow after. Now, this point to ponder as
we move along. There seem to be many today who
believe that the wrathful, avenging, and judging and awful God of
the Old Testament has somehow morphed into the loving, wants-to-bless-all
God of the New Testament that we hear so much about today. And yet, these New Testament
scriptures are simply quotation of the Old Testament examples
that actually did occur. And it's time now for the point
that the wrath which Paul speaks of in Romans 1 and verse 18 is
not restricted to coming and eternal wrath. That is, the damnation
of those who perish in their sin and fall down into the place
of everlasting torment. But what Owen described or declared
as, quote, innumerable examples of punishment inflicted on mankind
for their sin in his providential government of the world, unquote. This wrath in Romans 1 and verse
18 is revealed. not shall be revealed, it is
revealed against unrighteousness. It is revealed over the course
of time. It has been and is being and
shall continue to be manifest and to be revealed. So soon as
sin entered into the creation and the world, so soon did God's
anger against sin began to be manifested against sinners. Both angels and men felt the
anger and the wrath of God when sin entered. As to the angel,
he cast them down, that sin. He cast them down to hell He
cast them down to the pit, I think the word is Tartarus, down on
the hill. Only time that the word appears
in the New Testament, unto the day of judgment, and Peter uses
it there. God did not spare the angels
that sinned. Those that sinned, in his very
presence. Even their high estate did not
bring them immunity and could not save them from the judgment
of God against their sin. They were cast down into the
pit and they were sealed under judgment and that without any
remedy. No remedy for these angels that
sin. What did they do? They kept not
their first estate, Jude and verse 6. Now they are cast down,
says the Apostle Peter, in chains of darkness, with none to rescue
them. They have no Savior. They have
none who took upon Him their nature. They have no forgiveness
for their sin ever. But they are forever under the
wrath, under the judgment, under the anger of the Almighty God
against whom they have sinned. Their apostasy is irreversible,
the angels that fell. For Christ, in his incarnation,
did not take hold of angel, as it is in Hebrews chapter 2 and
verse 16. For Christ laid hold on the seed
of Abraham. He took not hold of the angel,
but he took hold of the seed of Abraham. Now three things
are said about and against the angels of whom we are mentioning
now. Number one, they sinned. They sinned against the just
and holy God and the commandment of God. Number two, they kept
not their first estate. They did not remain as they were
as God created them. And number three, they left their
own habitation. That is, they became apostates
from God and from heaven, and they fell out of their original
state as God had created them. But Paul's focus here in our
text is not on the angels, but it is on the human family, the
unrighteousness and the ungodliness of men. The wrath of God is revealed
against the people of the world. against the depraved race of
mankind, and especially that part that ran off into heathenism
and into paganism. But first, I think that we ought
to speak of the case of the first man or the first pair, Adam and
his wife Eve, and their sin. Now Adam also sinned, and in
doing so, he likewise fell from his first estate and was driven
out of his habitation, that is, out of the garden. And when Adam
sinned, we read in Genesis chapter 3 that God did two things as
judgment against Adam and then inevitably against the whole
race. He drove Adam out of the garden. Genesis 3 and verse 23 and verse
24 says this. The Lord God sent him forth from
the garden, so he drove out the man, unquote. Gill said that
the words that are used here, that he drove out the man, or
the words that later were used in the Mosaic law, Divorce in
the Old Testament that is he put him away He drove him out
from his present now be the second thing that God did God cursed
the earth for the sake of Adam and his sin we read that in Genesis
chapter 3 verse 17 quote cursed is the ground for by sake of
Unquote. Once a paradise but then thorns
and thistle and briars and the earth grudgingly giving forth
her fruit unto man for his living and for his sustenance at the
cost of hard labor and the sweat of his brow. And I would let
you compare with that what Paul writes about the earth in Romans
chapter 8 and verse 20 through 22. But now let us look at some
of those instances when God was willing to show his wrath and
to make his power known on what Paul calls the vessels of wrath
fitted to destruction in Romans chapter 9 and verse 22. Now,
I think there's no greater example in the scripture that the wrath
of God is revealed against the ungodliness of men than the Genesis
flood recorded in Genesis 6 and 7 and 8. We read in 2 Peter 2
and verse 5 of God bringing the flood upon the world of the ungodly. Now listen to Genesis chapter
six and verse five. 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. Oh, and then
there's that great passage in Genesis chapter eight and verse
21. The flood was as a result of
the depraved behavior of the human family. that the whole
earth was corrupt before God and the earth was filled with
violence. Genesis chapter 6 and verse 17,
I believe it is. The earth, of course, means mankind. The earth full of mankind and
of violence. Now, we need to understand this.
The flood was not the result of global warming or of climate
change or of the environment being polluted by those rascalous
men. It was not Mother Nature that
brought this upon the earth, and it was not any fluke of the
natural order that caused the flood to come upon the world. in that day and time. Rather,
it was a direct and a purposeful work of God intended as an expression
of God's righteous anger against the sin and sinners of that antediluvian
age and time, whereby God, in his mind and in his heart, determined
to destroy all in whom is the bread of life. I will destroy
all from the earth in whom or in which is the bread of life. And we read in Genesis chapter
7 verse 11 and 12, all the fountains of the great deep were broken
up and the windows of heaven were opened and the rain was
upon the earth 40 days and 49 until all the mountains and the
hills were covered Genesis chapter 6 and verse 17 and behold I Even
I do bring a flood of waters upon the earth to destroy all
flesh wherein is the breath of life from under heaven and everything
that in the earth shall die." Genesis 6 and 13. God said to Noah, the end of
all flesh is come up before me. For the earth is filled with
violence through them, and I will destroy them with the earth."
And the margin says, from the earth, one is correct. Now, the
flood was God's judgment, and the flood was God's most severe
judgment on man's sin. It was the most extensive display
of the wrath of God, perhaps with the exception of the death
of the Holy Son of God upon a cross. For by the flood, the earth's
population was reduced to eight and only eight souls. Only eight were spared, for Noah
found grace in the eyes of the Lord. And a remnant was preserved
for the propagation of mankind and the worship of God to be
kept alive in the world, as was kept a remnant of the animal
population of the world as well. But in Noah's day, the apostasy
of the infidel world reached its fullness in its cup of iniquity
overflowing. And as Ara Candlis wrote on his
commentary on the book of Genesis, quote, the season of God's forbearance
exhausted, end quote. Again, Genesis 6 and verse 12
all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth and God destroyed
all flesh with the exception of a soul he killed all families
all ones with it with the exception of Noah and his family his wife
their sons and wife who were with them in the ark and in If
I might repeat for emphasis, it is the greatest manifestation
of God's anger and of God's wrath upon man's sin to date, to our
present time. His chosen method, not a consuming
fire, not pestilence where an oil became sick, and deteriorated,
became emaciated, and died, not by plagues of death rolling across
the earth, but a flood of universal proportion was the appointed
manner of God for the revelation of His wrath against the sin
of man. And though it was against the
sin of man, let us be quick, let us hasten to make the point,
Even this did not cure human depravity. Even this did not
check the human family from running into sin. But there's something
wonderful here to be noted in this instance or example, and
it's in Genesis chapter 8 verse 20 and verse 21 or through 22.
And in verse 21 we read, And the Lord said in his heart,
I will not again curse the ground anymore for man's sake. That's
the first thing he said. And the second thing he said,
neither will I again smite every living thing as I have done. And there are two things here
to take notice of. First of all, the pleasure that
God took in the sacrifice of Noah upon that altar. It's in
verse 20 and 21 of Genesis chapter 8. Noah made an altar. He offered
because he had clean animals, you know, in the ark. And he
offered clean beasts. as a sacrifice upon the altar
before God. And the scripture said, and God
smelled a sweet odor, or a sweet smell, or a sweet sacrifice. Compare Ephesians chapter 5 and
verse 2, where the same thing is said of the death and the
sacrifice of Christ, that he gave himself a sweet offering
unto God. a propituary sacrifice made by
Christ unto God, whereby God withholds for a time the doom
that the world is deserving of. Now, the second thing that we
notice in Genesis 8, 21, the incorrigible depravity of human
nature. Listen. For the imagination of
man's heart is evil from his youth. I will not anymore destroy
the earth. And the reason given for destroying
it in the first place is now given for never destroying it
in that manner again. And that is the incorrigible
depravity of human nature. The reason God sent the flood
is the reason he will not destroy the earth anymore. But he did
so once as an example of his justice and of his wrath, though
every generation is deserving of the same. But it would have
to be repeated in every generation if God took that course of action. One commentator put it this way,
there would be no more such violent shock of nature again, or such
universal destruction of life, unquote. God would not do that
again. And the earth is to stand secure,
it is said in verse 22, during the remainder of its appointed
days and of its season, and so that its seasons and its days
are not to cease forever. for God has set that order in
the earth. Again, the author Robert S. Candelis
wrote, however, this does not mean that God has ceased to manifest
his wrath against the ungodliness and the unrighteousness of men
upon the face of the earth. He has not left himself without
manifold manifestation and witnesses of his wrath against human behavior,
and human depravity, though they be lesser in degree and in magnitude
than the great Genesis flood. For Paul speaks in the present
tense in Romans 1 and verse 18. The wrath of God is revealed
from heaven, and we shall look at some scriptural and historical
examples of the revelation of that wrath. But first of all,
let's raise a question. Should we include the universal
reign of death as part of the wrath of God against the unrighteousness
of man? Is the universal reign of physical
death a part of God's anger and wrath and attitude towards sin? For death came in with sin, Genesis
2, 17. In the day you eat, you will
die. Romans 5, 12 through 14, by one
man, sin entered into the world. The wages of sin is death, Romans
6 and verse 23. In Adam all die, 1 Corinthians
15 and verse 22. And the sting of death is sin.
1 Corinthians 15 and verse 56. So death is definitely presented
in scripture as a penal consequence of sin, not just the result of
natural law, as the Pelagians and the Sassanians used to teach. Even they said Adam himself,
Adam himself was created mortal And they said, in the course
of time, Adam would have died of natural causes. I think they
hold this view as a shield against original sin and innate depravity,
and it lets them, they think, escape that. Now, some others
were of the opinion that Adam was created mortal, which set
him in two possible scenarios. Number one, though mortal, Adam
only died because he sinned, and that the sin, it was, that
set his mortality in motion so that he died. And then secondly,
there is the view, and this view is held by some grace people
that I have read, that had Adam passed a period of set probation
without sinning, he would have been confirmed in immortality
or in eternal life. With guilt I can say I cannot
be of that mind. But there is the truth in scripture
that death is a penal consequence of sin and yet By the good pleasure
of God, he exempted some from the penalty of death, and that
would be Enoch and Elijah, who leaped over the grave and went
to heaven alive without tasting of death. But now, let's move
along. Let's consider other examples
written up in the scripture of the wrath of God visited upon
the unrighteousness and the ungodliness of man. Next to the flood, I
think the most famous example of God's wrath would be his raining
of fire and brimstone upon the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah
and the cities of the plain. You have that in Genesis chapter
19 but first of all we read Genesis 13 and 13 the men of Sodom were
wicked and sinners before the Lord exceedingly Genesis 18 and
verse 20 the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great because their
sin is very grievous and In Genesis 19 and 13, the angel said, we
will destroy this place because the cry of them is waxen great
before the face of the Lord and the Lord has sent us to destroy
it. Jude verse 7 mentions it, giving
themselves over to fornication and going after strange flesh. Deuteronomy chapter 29 The whole
land thereof is brimstone, and salt, and burning, that is not
sown, nor bears, nor any grass grows therein, like the overthrow
of Sodom and Gomorrah, which the Lord overthrew in His anger
and in His wrath." I can't remember ever reading
that verse of scripture before, but there it was in the cross-reference. Here is the truth. The Lord overthrew
Sodom in his anger and his wrath for their great sin. And while this occurred, there
is another event that happened in conjunction or subsequent
unto this. that has, as it were, significant
and it involved one person, and that is Lot's wife was turned
into a pillar of Saul. For her sin, what was her sin? Looking backward toward Sodom. A violation of the command of
God. God said, or rather the angel
said, flee, go, and look not back from behind thee. Genesis 19 and 17 and verse 26. Look not behind thee. But verse 17, his wife looked
back from behind, She became a pillar of salt Genesis 19 26
you know the Lord himself uses this example of Lots wife to
exhort the Jews in his day He said simply in Luke 17 and verse
32 Remember lots wife as he exhorted them to hold to the truth What
did she do? She lingered behind them. Then
she looked back, and then she was turned into a pillow of salt. I read that Josephus said that
he actually saw that. Whether true or not, who can
say? But let's fast forward and consider
what scripture called the provocation of God in the wilderness. It's found in Exodus chapter
14. And in verse 22, tempted me now these three times."
And verse 23, them that provoked me. I'm turning to the New Testament
book of Hebrews. and the third chapter, and verse
8 through 11, because the author recalls this incident there.
Hebrews 3 and verse 8. Hard not your hearts, as in the
provocation in the day of temptation in the wilderness, when your
fathers tempted me, proved me, and saw my works forty years.
Wherefore, I was grieved with that generation, and said, They
do always err in their heart, and they have not known my way.
So I swear in my wrath they shall not enter into my rest. Now this, again, is an exhortation
and a warning to the Jew in the apostolic era. They had been
exposed to the gospel. They had heard of the Lord Jesus
Christ. They'd seen the mighty works of the apostle done in
the name of Jesus of Nazareth. Some of them, yea, many of them,
had espoused the gospel. Then they were tempted by persecution
or whatever to give it up and to return again unto full Judaism. And the apostle reminds them
That incident in the wilderness when they provoked God to whom
he swear in his wrath They would not enter into his rest that
is Into the land of Canaan what happened to them their carcasses
fell in the wilderness Hebrews 3 and 17 he destroyed them that
believed not and Jude verse 7, they never entered into Canaan. But we must hasten our pace in
the final minutes. In 1 Corinthians chapter 10,
Paul mentions certain judgment sent against and upon Israel
after they had seen the hand of God's power and deliverance. It had been delivered from Egypt,
such as verse 7 of that chapter. They're idolatry. They're idolatry
when in Exodus chapter 32, They built a golden calf, they danced
about it naked, and they praised it as having delivered them out
of the land of Egypt. And 3,000 men were slain with
a sword on that occasion, an evidence of the wrath of God. Verse 8 of 1 Corinthians chapter
10, that brazen fornication mentioned from Numbers chapter 25 when
they committed whoredoms with the women of Moab and made affinity
with the gods of Baal Peor whereby in verse 3 the anger of the Lord
was kindled against Israel that's Numbers 25 and verse 4 the fierce
anger of the Lord and here 4,000 of them were slain. Then verse
9, 1 Corinthians chapter 10, the incident referred to is that
one in Numbers chapter 21, when the people spoke against Moses. They murmured
against Moses, against Aaron, and against the manna that God
fed them with every day, and the hardship of the way in the
wilderness. And what did God do? He sent
fiery serpents among them, and they bit much people, and much
of the people of Israel died. But in that, there was a picture
of the cross. Moses set up a serpent on a pole
and they that looked upon it lived. John chapter 3. And then
finally, In verse 10, 1 Corinthians 10, a time recorded, and the
reference is to Numbers chapter 16. When certain of the Israelites
followed Korah in his insurrection, they murmured against Moses and
against Aaron for claiming too much authority. what Jude 11
calls the gainsaying of Cory. And as Paul reminds them, they
were destroyed of the destroyer. And how did God manifest his
wrath on this occasion? The earth, the scripture said,
opened up and swallowed them alive in a very uncommon and
a horrible death. A new thing, by the way, which
the Lord did upon the earth. Now, such judgments as that are
too numerous for us to look at every one and consider every
one of them in a single study. But one final judgment of the
wrath of God, if I might, And that is the destruction of Jerusalem
and of the temple, the slaughter of the priest and many of the
Jew, and the scattering of the Jew in the destruction of Jerusalem. And I think this is what John
the Baptist is referring to in Matthew 3 and verse 7, when he
says to those Sadducees and Pharisees, who has warned you to flee from
the wrath that was to come? I agree with Gil on that, that
John speaks of the calamity and the destruction and the wrath
to come upon their nation. Because and after they killed
the prince of life I believe I mentioned this passage last
Sunday But first Thessalonians chapter 2 verse 14 through verse
16 Paul speaks there of the behavior of the carnal Jew toward all
things Christ-centered and Christian especially the last part of verse
16 to fill up their sins always, for the wrath is come upon them
to the uttermost, that is, upon the Jew, to the end, to the point
of judgment their house is left Unto them desolate as the Lord
once said unto them before his death are dying So the wrath
of God is poured out and it occurred in 70 AD it had its full manifestation
when in visitation of wrath God actually destroyed and scattered
everything connected with Judaism and brought it unto an end Now,
in spite of all this, most professing Christians today, those who would
say, yes, I am a Christian, do not acknowledge and they do not
recognize the expressions of God's wrath in current events. They cannot see the hand of God
in those things that come upon the world even in our day. They're prone to blame storms
and hurricanes and things like that upon global warming, man's
use of the, bad use of the gases and that kind of thing. And that
takes the emphasis off of God's providence that his hand is guiding
the world and has a part in the affairs of the world. I don't
know about you. This is just an opinion. I offer
it for your acceptance or rejection. But I do feel very strongly that
today America is under a judgment of God, that America has incurred
the judgment of God. Oh, you say, what far? Well,
for killing millions and millions of unborn babies. for making
things anti-christian and making things that are biblical to be
criminal acts against the government and against other people and
I fear that the hand of judgment is laying or is being laid upon
our once great wonderful nation and it's sad It's sad that the
people don't recognize when God has brought to bear his judgment
and his providential anger upon a people that they might turn
from their wicked ways and be warned and understand we have
sinned and call upon the name of the Lord. Whether it will
happen or not, only God knows. But God's wrath is manifested
against the unrighteousness and the ungodliness of men.