If you would, turn in your Bibles
to Romans chapter 1. I'm going to read two verses, try to expound
upon them, and then mention a few more because it carries on. Romans
chapter 1, I want to read verses 18 and 19. For the wrath of God is revealed
from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who
hold the truth in unrighteousness. Because that which may be known
of God is manifest in them, for God hath showed it unto them. I'm going to stop right there
for the reading part. What I want to talk about this
morning is possibly considered unpleasant things. Two unpleasant things, in this
case. In particular, ungodliness and unrighteousness. A lot of
places don't even like to admit that these two things exist,
much less talk about them. But they're here. The Apostle
Paul wrote this to these Roman saints, these Roman believers,
and they are here for our edification. They may be here for our rebuke,
but they're here for us to read and to learn and to believe.
They are scripture just as much as, for I'm not ashamed of the
gospel of Christ. It's the power of God unto salvation
to everyone that believe it, to the Jew first and to the Greek,
for therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to
faith, as it is written, the just shall live by faith. And a fellow mentioned one time
that you should look at that in the Greek, and it says, the
just by faith shall live. I like that. I do. I like the
just shall live by faith. But he goes directly from that
to the wrath of God is revealed. This is a division, and we've
got it separated into chapters. And from here to the end of the
chapter is a lot of unpleasant things. But they are just as
true as the pleasant things. And it's written to the same
people. That's written about some different
people. But it is written to those same
believers, saints. Therefore since Paul wrote them
they are necessary for us There are a lot of unpleasant things
in the Bible You want to know why? Because the Bible is true
There's a lot of unpleasant things in this world There's nothing but unpleasantness
outside of God This earth is cursed We are fallen creatures
and we act like it. And the Bible correctly shows
that to us. It correctly relates our behavior. It doesn't condone our behavior,
it doesn't approve our behavior, but it does correctly and perfectly
let us know what we are and what we do. The world doesn't want to know,
and some places they vehemently deny, that this world is basically
unpleasant. Sure, there have been some bad
spots, but there's been good works too, haven't there? No. Outside of Christ, outside of
God, all our righteousnesses are filthy rags. That's our good
works. All our righteousnesses are filthy
rags in the sight of God, whose is the only sight that matters.
Paul shows a split here in who he is writing about in this chapter
and what the difference is, because there is a difference. Because now he is writing about
those who are not saints, those who are not believers, those
who do not know God, the Son, the Father, or the Spirit. And what he first starts with
is, the wrath of God is revealed. That word wrath means justifiable
abhorrence. God is right. God's wrath is
right. God's wrath is holy as God is. It is a justifiable abhorrence,
a justifiable anger, a justifiable vengeance, or justifiable wrath. All justifiable by God, because
He is the one who is the judge of all men. God's wrath is just,
it's holy and perfect, and blameless as God himself. But this wrath,
this justifiable abhorrence has been revealed. It's always been
there. God's wrath has not been incurred. God's wrath has not been created. God's wrath is just being manifested. It's being shown. It's always
been there. God has always hated sin. God has always been angry with
the wicked every day. His wrath is shown. It's made
known. And it says it's His wrath against
ungodliness and unrighteousness. It's revealed in His Gospel.
Just like His righteousness is revealed, so is His wrath. And it comes down from heaven. God's wrath comes from God against ungodliness and unrighteousness. And it comes down from heaven.
God's wrath is revealed in the death of His Son, Our Lord Jesus
Christ. Why? Because God is just and
justifier of them which believe in Jesus. The Father sent the
Son. The Son came willingly, but He
sent Him to be the perfect substitutionary sacrifice for sin. That many had to die. Why? So his people that he had chosen
from before the foundation of the world would not die. God's wrath has to be appeased
like his justice. God's justice results in his
wrath. The soul that sinneth, it shall
die. God's wrath has to fall. And
it's either going to fall on you or it fell on him 2,000 years
ago. God's wrath is revealed to us
in what He did to His Son. His Son was on the cross, well-beloved,
well-pleasing. That's what God said about Him.
The Spirit descended upon Him like a dove. This is My beloved
Son. Hear Him! Hear His words! And yet, when that Son was on
the cross, and God made Him to be sin, who knew no sin? Christ had to cry out, my God,
my God, why hast thou forsaken me? That's it. In God's wrath, God had to forsake
the Son. Otherwise, He was going to have
to forsake all of you and me. God's wrath is revealed. God's
wrath is perfect. God's wrath is holy. And God's
wrath is eternal, just like God Against all sin the father forsook
the son on the cross when Christ was made to be sin Romans 8 32
further on says He that spared not his own son, but delivered
him up for us all how shall he not with him? Also freely give
us all things He was an acceptable substitute He was an acceptable
sacrifice for sin Why did he do it? Romans 5 and 6 says for when
we were yet without strength We could do nothing No strength
the word is strength less Christ in due time Christ died for the
undaunted God's wrath has been revealed.
He spared not his own son. And we speak of that in his gospel.
God's wrath has been revealed. And it comes down from heaven
upon all ungodliness and all unrighteousness. Even when he
saw it in his son. So how do you think anybody else
is going to be spared? There's only one way. Any son. Therein is the righteousness
of God revealed. Therein is the righteousness
of God revealed. It's any son. Who of God is made
unto us wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption. Our salvation is in Him because
the wrath of God fell on Him for our sin. It pleased the Lord
to bruise Him. Why? Because He laid upon Him
the iniquity of us all. He paid the price that we couldn't
pay. And He satisfied God's justice,
God's wrath, and God's holiness. But it says here specifically
For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness
and unrighteousness of men. Now, I want to say this. These
two things, ungodliness and unrighteousness, are inseparable. That's why Paul
wrote them together. You cannot separate ungodliness
and unrighteousness. They always are together. And they are exactly in the correct
order here. Ungodliness leads to unrighteousness. Now the world wants it the other
way around, right? They want to say your unrighteousness
leads to ungodliness. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no,
no. We are fallen, depraved, dead,
alien sinners. We are ungodly. That leads to our unrighteousness. That's the order. Just as you
cannot separate godliness and righteousness, you can't separate
ungodliness and unrighteousness. We sin because we're sinners. We're not sinners because we
sin. We have and are filled with unrighteousness. Why? Because we are filled with
ungodliness. That is the state of the natural
man. That is the state of every man. These two are inseparable, and
it shows you actually from the beginning. Looking back at Moses,
when he was given the law, it was put on two tablets. The first tablet told of our
dealing with God. I am the Lord, thou shalt have
no other gods before me. Thou shalt not make any graven
image to bow down before. Thou shalt not take the name
of the Lord thy God in vain, and remember the Sabbath day
to keep it holy. Now, the second tablet, honor thy father and
mother. Thou shalt not kill. Thou shalt
not commit adultery. Thou shalt not steal. Thou shalt
not bear false witness. Thou shalt not covet. And I'm
going to tell you, there's two separation there, that ungodliness
and unrighteousness. That's the separation. What you think about God, what
you know about God matters. That's where it all starts. That's
where it all starts. And that's where it all flows
from. Because of our ungodliness, we are filled with unrighteousness. Jesus himself said, he was asked,
which is the first commandment of all? He divided it into two. The same division of those two
tablets. And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy
heart and with all thy soul and with all thy mind and with all
thy strength. This is the first commandment. And I remember Henry Mahan saying
years ago on that tape, Walter, we listened to and I listened
to that tape so many times, he said, you get past that, then you can
worry about the second one. And you can't get past that.
There's no way you can love God with all your heart, mind, soul,
or strength. Jesus Christ knew that, but he could. And He did. And that's why the Father said
He was well-beloved. He was well-pleasing. He was
my only begotten Son. And the second is like, namely
this, thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. There is none other
commandment greater than these. Our Lord Jesus Christ boiled
down the Ten Commandments to these two And guess what? We
still can't do that. We cannot. Why? Because of ungodliness
and unrighteousness. That's where we are. That's where
every man is. Disobeying these commandments
shows what? Ungodliness and unrighteousness.
It manifests it. Now I want to specifically talk
about against all ungodliness. Like I said, this is how you
feel, think, and how you behave toward God. Toward Christ. Toward the Spirit. This is the
fact that you don't love God with all your heart, your mind,
your soul, or your strength. You don't. Even now. I don't. Even now. He'll go on in Romans 7 to talk
about that battle. That battle between the mind,
the heart, and the flesh. With my mind I serve the law
of God, but with my flesh the law of sin. And those two things
can't be separated. Not yet. Not yet. They will be. But not yet. But
right now, this is where we are. I said it wasn't going to be pleasant.
The Greek word here for ungodliness says a want of reverence. And that word want, it means
a lack. A lack of reverence. It is ungodliness. It is no godliness. That's where we are. That's where
man is. It's not that we don't reverence
God enough. So we got none. We got none in
and of ourselves. Paul goes on here in this I remember,
Walter, I remember when you first talked about this. In verse 30,
he says, back biters, haters of God. That's the definition
of ungodliness. You hate God. You hate God. With your flesh, in the flesh,
you can do nothing but sin. And the natural man is all flesh. He is all flesh. It's a total
lack of reverence, fear, and awe for the One who created everything,
including you. And that's the condemnation that
Paul's going to lay down in a couple of more chapters. There is no
fear of God before their eyes. Why? ungodliness and unrighteousness. There's no fear of God before
their eyes. Why? Because, hey, we were ungodly
when Christ died for us. That's us! As well as them. The condemnation Paul lays down
is no fear of God before their eyes. And I can tell you this,
the exact reason why people don't fear God. And there's only one
thing, they don't know God. They don't know Him. They don't
know Him. I said it this morning on the
radio, when Isaiah saw the Lord, he saw Him on a throne, he saw
Him high and lifted up, and he saw those angels crying out,
holy, holy, holy. And he said, Woe is me. Woe is me. Woe is me. If you don't know that feeling,
you don't know God. Because that's where God is going
to reveal Him. He's going to be Lord. He's going to reveal
Himself as Lord. Not as poor little Jesus, meek
Savior. Not as baby Jesus in a manger.
He is Lord, seated on a throne, high and lifted up. And guess
what? We are none of the above. But we are too dead to know that. And we are too ungodly to know
that naturally. And he says, against all unrighteousness, This is actions. Not only your
thoughts and your feelings and your interest about God, but
because of those, that lack of reverence, it results in your
actions, your unrighteousnesses. I said all our righteousnesses
are as filthy rags in the sight of God. It's because all our
righteousnesses are unrighteousness in the sight of God. This is how you treat your neighbor.
You don't treat him as yourself. I don't. I don't. I had one set move out and I
was kind of happy about it. That's just somebody living across
the street from me. That's the way it is. That's the way it
is. It's the way I am. I shouldn't be, but I am. Sometimes
I don't want to be, sometimes I do. There's a battle between the
flesh and the spirit. And sometimes I win. More's the pity. But sometimes I win. And not God. And God's wrath
is revealed against what we do. Whether it looks foul or whether
it looks fair, doesn't matter. If God says it's
sin, it's sin. You can feed the poor and be
ungodly and full of unrighteousness. That's the way it is. There's
a lot of secular groups. There's a lot of religious groups
that run food pantries. And to be honest, I've got nothing
against them. I'm glad they're doing it because maybe, possibly,
someday I might get a meal from them if I need one. But in God's sight, it's unrighteousness. They're preaching another Christ.
They're preaching another gospel, which is not another. It's nothing
but a perversion. And you can hand out all the
food you want. You can feed all the poor you want. And I will
be happy for that. But don't expect me to be happy
about what you preach, what you teach, what you say. Because
it's going to go on. It's going to tell us right here
what happens. Because God is angry. with the wicked every day. And His wrath is revealed against
all ungodliness and unrighteousness and those last two words of men.
It's men. It's men. It's men. It's us. It's our actions. It's our heart. It's our mind. And it's our deeds. This is a man problem. Unrighteousness,
ungodliness, and unrighteousness is a problem with man. It's not
a God problem. It's a man problem. The physical
world itself is not ungodly and unrighteous. It is cursed. It
is dying. It is decaying. And we're not
helping. But the physical world is not
ungodly and unrighteous. Men are. We are. And women, I'm not leaving you
out. That's a generic term. I had five sisters growing up.
I know all about that sort of stuff. I'm not going to say a
word about my wife. I love her. She's wonderful.
She stuck with me. Don't ask her about ungodliness
or unrighteousness. that this is cursed world. But
Paul is writing this about men. The world thinks that God looks
down from heaven and loves and pities everyone. And it ain't
so. Men are the problem. What did
he say in the days of Noah? It's repented me that I've made
man upon the earth. That's what he said. I'm going
to kill him. And guess what? That's what he
did. Paul saved eight souls. Eight souls were saved by water.
The rest were killed by water. Man's the problem, man's not
the cure. Man's thoughts are wrong, man's
thoughts are evil, man's thoughts Man's thoughts lead to man's
deeds. Guess what? They're wrong and they're evil.
Why? Because man is full of ungodliness
and unrighteousness. Man's heart is wrong. It's deceitful above all things
and desperately wicked. And guess what? Out of the abundance
of the heart, the mouth speaks. And God is against all ungodliness
and all unrighteousness of men. Now, how do we know those who are
ungodly and unrighteous? Paul tells us. Paul gives us
the test right here. In this same verse, they hold the truth in unrighteousness. That's it. They hold the truth
of God in unrighteousness. Literally, this translates to
retaining or holding down the truth in unrighteousness. They want to suppress the truth. That's what they want to do.
You can broadcast all the error you want. They might disagree
with you, but they'll let it slide. You can broadcast all the heresy
you want. And they'll try and be ecumenical
with you. But you speak the truth of God
and lie not. And they will try to suppress
it. They will try to retain it. And they will try to hold it
down. And they will never, ever proclaim it themselves. This
is how we know all ungodliness and unrighteousness. They'll distort it. They'll pervert
it. And they'll deny it. And in so doing, They deny Him,
Jesus Christ, our Lord. They deny His work. They deny
the result of His work. They deny His application of
His work. They deny it all. And they just
change it, maybe just a little bit, maybe just a lot. It depends
upon where you're at. But this is the direct primary
result of ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, they distort, suppress,
and try to hold down the truth of God as it's revealed in the
face of Jesus Christ. Now this leads to a lot of other
things, but this is where it starts. This is where it always
begins, with a lie. That's where it started with
Satan in the garden, the serpent in the garden, and that's where
it is right now today. They hold the truth in unrighteousness. The rest of this chapter goes
into detail. That's why this chapter is split
here. The rest of this chapter goes into some detail to the
end of the chapter. But this is what Paul lists first. And the reason that is, because
holding the truth in unrighteousness is where everything else starts. These evil deeds flow, for lack
of a better word, naturally from how these men feel about the
truth of God. It just all naturally goes. till you get to the logical end
of some of them. I've heard them, I've heard it
on tape, on a video. These guys who preach, and I've
heard them, well I've heard Kenneth Copeland's wife preach it. Jesus
was just a man filled with the Holy Spirit. You think that devil
had a bad time at Calvary? What do you think happened at
Pentecost when there was 5,000 filled with the Holy Ghost? Oh
my, the devil had a bad day then. No, no. Jesus Christ is Lord
of Lords, King of Kings, Lord Creator of this universe. We don't even come close to comparing. But I'll tell you what that theology
leads to. the natural end of that theology,
where it goes. Her husband's on TV later saying
that, I'll say it, I'll admit to it, I'm a little god. That's
what he said. I heard him with my own ears.
I saw him with my own eyes. That's ungodliness and unrighteousness. And that is holding the truth. in unrighteousness. We in no
way compare to the Lord of glory. Except badly. We're less than the small dust
of the balance. We're the red maggot, David.
We're the red maggot. Thankfully, Jacob, thou maggots,
got a redeemer. He's got a Redeemer. There's
a Redeemer to lift the beggar off of the dunghill, to sit him
with princes and kings. But that's what this leads to.
Holding the truth in unrighteousness. Holding the truth in unrighteousness
never has a good end. Paul does tell us what it means
to hold the truth in unrighteousness. Here it says, when they knew
God, to whatever degree, they didn't glorify Him as God. What does that mean? We will
not have this man to reign over us. Oh, you can be a teacher. Jesus was a great teacher, don't
you know? But that doesn't mean we have
to get taught. We won't learn, but he can be
the greatest teacher in the world and you can talk all about him
if you want. He can be an example. We won't copy him, but he can
be the greatest example in the world. He can be a creator, I
guess, but not the supreme sovereign and ruler of what he created
and who he created. He can have power. but they won't
want him to have power over them. That's holding the truth in unrighteousness.
What does it mean? Professing themselves to be wise? They're fools. Verse 22. The
ungodly are fools. I was there. I was there. You don't know God, you're ungodly.
You don't know God, you're a fool. The fool has said in his heart,
it says, there is no God. But you can leave that out. The
fool has said in his heart, no God. Which one is it? It's both. It doesn't matter. You can say there is no God.
You're a fool. You say no to God. You're a fool. I was a fool. I was a fool. I qualified at that, Paul. I
was overqualified. I'm not happy about it. And I
can laugh a little bit about it because thank God and thank
Christ I am a fool no longer. I may still be ungodly and I
still have unrighteousness but I'm not a fool. He has revealed
himself to me as Lord and by His grace I will not hold the
truth in unrighteousness. They changed the glory of the
uncorruptible God into an image of corruption. Man! What did that fella say? Jesus
was just a man. Filled with the Holy Spirit.
No he wasn't. He was the eternal Son of God. Sent to this world made of a
woman, made under the law to redeem them that were under the
law. They changed the truth of God
into a lie. That's what it says. They worshipped
and served the creature more than the Creator. Now the result
of holding down the truth in an unjust manner, in unrighteousness,
God gave them up. Verse 24, to uncleanness. God gave them up. Verse 26, unto
vile affections. Verse 28, God gave them up to
a reprobate mind. This is not where you want to
be. But it all starts with ungodliness
and unrighteousness of men who hold the truth in unrighteousness. This is the end if God lets you
go. This is the end if you don't
know the power of God unto salvation. If He doesn't give it to you
to hear the gospel. Because it is the power of God
unto salvation, but it is still only to everyone that believeth.
That's been given faith. That believes God. My conclusion. I want to say
this. I understand about being understanding. I understand about having pity
on poor sinners. I understand about being nice
and meek. I'm not real good at it, but
I understand it. I do. However, and this is a
very, very big however, that does not apply to those that
Paul's writing of here. You understand? I'm serious about
this. Like I said, it's a couple of
unpleasant things because this is an unpleasant world and it's
filled with unpleasant people. There are those who hold the
truth in unrighteousness right now. And there are those who
would change the glory of God if they could. And they talk
like they have. Walter, they practice hermeneutical
eisegesis. They add to the scriptures. That's
all that means. In vain, trying to include man
in the work of my Lord and my Savior and my God, Jesus Christ. That's not allowed. There are those who lie about
God. They speak contrary to sound
doctrine, and Paul tells us someplace else, from such, turn away. That's what he means. Turn away.
Repent from talking to him. Stay away. Stay away. You don't need to be bothering
yourself with that, because that's all it is, is a bother. He tells
another quote. A man that's a heretic after
the first and second admonition, reject. Reject. Turn away. Don't waste any time on him.
Because your time is all you've got. And you need to spend your
time praising God and glorifying Christ who saved you, if you
know Him. And finding out about Him and
learning about Him and staying away from those who hold the
truth in unrighteousness. I will not be nice to false apostles,
ministers of unrighteousness, or deceitful workers. I refuse. I will not be nice to those who
love them and support them and darn near worship them. That's
what they want. They're where they are because
they're happy there. Trust me, if they're unhappy,
they'd leave. And then they'll go to someplace
else that says something quite, almost exactly the same. They don't want to hear the truth.
They'll settle for a different error. It might not be the same
error, it might be a different error. Or maybe it's just a guy
who says that different error better. Or the same error better.
Who knows? It doesn't matter. They hold
the truth in unrighteousness. I'm not going to be nice to them.
I'm not going to deal with them. I'm not going to talk to them.
Not once I find out. Once I find out. They preach a perverted gospel.
And they are ungodly and unrighteous. And I agree with Paul, because
it doesn't pay to disagree with the Apostle Paul. I don't care
what anybody says. Paul said, let them be accursed.
They already are. Let them be. That's almost the
same thing as turn away. Let them be accursed. The same
man wrote that, that wrote this. All things work together for
good to them that love God but to them who are the called according
to His purpose. Those that hold the truth in
unrighteousness, from such, turn away. But those who preach the
Gospel, those who believe the Gospel, those who love the Gospel
of the true and living Lord Jesus Christ, hang out with them. Join yourselves together with
us. Assemble together. If you have an interest in this,
or in this God, I will try and be nice to you. Some days are
better than others. But as long as we're talking
about Christ, I can be nice. Because I love Him. And I like hearing
other people talk about Him. And I like hanging around people
talking about Him. And I like being one of the people
talking about it. I'm a Gentile. Paul's my apostle. He wrote this. I believe it. I believe Christ. Our Heavenly Father, we are thankful
again for this time and this place. But most of all, for You, our
Lord Jesus Christ, Your Son, You sent for us, to us, and for
yourself to redeem us to yourself and to convert us as we are in
this world in time, your time, due time. Thank you, Father. In Christ's name we pray. Amen.