If you would turn with me again
to Romans chapter 1 as we continue our study in this marvelous Holy
Spirit inspired epistle. Today we'll be looking at verses
18 and 19. And verse 18 says, For the wrath
of God is revealed from heaven. against all ungodliness and unrighteousness
of men who hold the truth in unrighteousness. There are two
revelations that come from God in heaven. One is the revelation
of the righteousness of God in Christ. The other is the wrath
of God. And both are revealed to believers. God's wrath is revealed to chosen
sinners for in seeing His wrath, we see His hatred of sin. That
is the reason for the wrath of God, sin and God's hatred of
it. We know Psalm 7 says, God judges
the righteous and God is angry with the wicked every day. Why is He angry with the wicked?
Sin. Sin. Then there are those who
are righteous in their own eyes and in their own minds, but they
are those who know nothing about Christ's righteousness. For if they did, they wouldn't
look to their own. There's no man or woman naturally
righteous. That's what you just read in
Psalm 14. They've all gone aside. Every
one of them. They're all together become filthy.
There's none that doeth good. No, not a one. I wonder if people who think
they're righteous in their own minds have ever read that scripture. Obviously, if they have, they
didn't believe it because it's specific, isn't it? Not a one
is righteous. Not outside of Christ. The law,
as we know, demands perfect holiness, spotless righteousness, and no
man or woman in themselves has either. Just don't have it, do
we? So we must conclude that man
cannot in no way, shape, form, fashion appease God by the works
of the law. It can't be done. The law wasn't
even given for that reason, as we've said many times. The law
was given to be our schoolmaster. What? To teach. What does a schoolmaster
do? He teaches. He teaches us and
brings us to Christ. We look at that law and we see
all that it contains and because God reveals to us, we look at
it and we say, oh, I can't keep this. too high, too holy, too
righteous for this sinner to keep. And it shuts us up to the
grace and mercy of God and Christ. But Christ was obedient to the
law. He kept every, every part of
it perfectly. Perfectly. He's chosen of God. God governs and God protects. I'm so glad. He heals our injuries. He defends our souls. Not because of us, but because
of what Christ has done for us. Because of who Christ is. And to those whom He is merciful,
They've been made every single thing that He requires. I don't
have to worry about one thing that God will require of me that's
not accomplished and completed in my Lord and Savior. That's
why we have peace. That's why we have hope. It doesn't
have anything to do with me any longer and has everything to
do with my beloved Savior. I was meditating on this verse
this week and it made me think of all the religious folks in
this world that see God only as love. I was raised in such
a church and growing up in that church, I never heard any preacher
that I can remember say anything about the wrath of God. And in
our text here, it says, for the wrath of God is revealed from
heaven. I think it was Gary that told
me that Brother Mayhem once said that the wrath of God is mentioned
more than the love of God is in the scriptures. The wrath
of God. I never heard any preacher say
anything about God's wrath. God is love, they say. He loves
everybody. He died for everybody because
he loved everybody. He doesn't force anything upon
you. He's too loving to force anything upon you. You see, it's
your decision. Christ has made salvation possible,
but the rest is up to you. They say God loves you so much. that He will not interfere with
your will. Friends, if that is true, then
there's no one that will ever be saved. That's right. No one will ever be saved. The
theme of their message is God is love. They say it, they print
it, they advertise it, and they most definitely preach it. It
seems that religion ignores the scriptures when it comes to the
wrath of God. You know why they ignore it?
It hasn't been revealed to them. When we consider the wrath of
God, it makes the love of God in Christ even seem more wondrous,
miraculous, and causes us to love Him more. Now the Greek
word for wrath is Orge. And it doesn't just mean that
God's unhappy. That's not what it means. And that's what most reduce it
to. God's unhappy. God's unhappy. He's unhappy with sin, but I'm
going to tell you it means much, much, much more than just that.
It means the wrath of God. It's a fierce anger. Fierce anger. A horrible indignation
of vengeance. Vengeance is mine, saith the
Lord. It means God has a violent passion. Now this is one of the words
that the concordant used, a violent passion to punish sin on sinners
that do not bow to the Lordship of His Son. The wrath of God
is an agitation, the concordant said, an agitation of his heart
to those who reject and say, I don't want any part in this
thing of the substitution and the Lordship of His Son. The
wrath of God is revealed. That's the word that is used,
revealed. And it's not just revealed, it's revealed from heaven. And
if it's revealed from heaven, who reveals it? God does. That's
what it says. For the wrath of God is revealed
from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men. That's who hold it. Who hold
the truth in unrighteousness. You see, God reveals this to
his people. God is the only one who reveals
it. God's people are made to see
the awful offense of their sin, their desperate condition before
God, their desperate need of a perfect substitute, a mediator,
a surety before God. Oh, I remember very well when
God revealed my depravity to me. And by His grace, I took
sides with Him against me. That's grace. That's the wrath
of God being revealed to a man. You see, I said without reservation
when God showed that to me, I do deserve to die. I deserve. It's right that I should be punished. even unto death. That's right, God is just in
doing that. Oh, that takes the work of God
for a man to take sides with God against himself. You see,
I thought in my heart, you know what, it's right that I should
spend eternity in the fire of hell. Where there's weeping and
unceasing and constant gnashing of teeth. You know, I've read
that scripture so much, I just looked up that word gnashing
in the scriptures. And it means extreme anguish
and utter despair. It means snarling, growling,
and the sense of biting. To be eternally separated from
God Almighty. Can you imagine? Oh, our pain and suffering in
this life, I'll tell you, it's nothing compared to what it'll
be for men in hell. But God showed my heart that's
exactly what I deserved. When God reveals from heaven
His wrath, it becomes more than the sinner can bear. And I'll
tell you what happens next. He begins to cry for mercy. I deserve it. Now, if a man is
sent and denied that he deserves it, then he still won't ever
have a need for what God requires, will he? But if God reveals his
wrath to a man, I'm going to tell you something. He says,
that's right. That's exactly what I deserve.
And I need mercy. Well, why is that? Because we
know that's what we deserve. We know that it's true. We know
that it's deserved. We know that it's right that
God do so to us. Isaiah 54, 8. In a little wrath,
I hid my face from thee for a moment. That's God speaking, but with
everlasting kindness. Will I have mercy on thee, saith
the Lord, my Redeemer. Oh, I know it seems the time
God hides his face for a while and it seems like wrath, but
it's just a little wrath. He hides his face but for a moment
and then with everlasting kindness he has mercy upon us. Psalm 116,
the sorrows of death come past me and the pains of hell got
a hold upon me and I found trouble and sorrow. When God revealed
His wrath unto me, I found pain and sorrow, trouble. And the psalmist says, And I
called upon the name of the Lord. O Lord, I beseech Thee, I beg
Thee, I pray Thee, deliver my soul. You know what the psalmist's
words right after that were? Gracious is the Lord. and righteous. Yea, our God is merciful. I believe he got his prayer and
I believe he got his request. Oh, I beseech thee, deliver my
soul. Gracious is the Lord. Gracious is the Lord. But the
revelation of the wrath of God brings sinners to the end of
themselves. And they see what they deserve.
And they take sides with God against themselves and they say,
Lord, deliver my soul. Deliver my soul. The next word
I want us to consider is that word revealed. There again in
the concordance it means to uncover. Uncover to reveal. To lay open
that which has been covered up. I thought about that. God has
covered up his wrath to many. That's probably why I didn't
hear him preached on much when I was growing up. You know, there's
many that will not be saved. I don't rejoice in that. I find
great sorrow in that. But their names are not written
in the book of life. We talk often about the hidden
mysteries of God and Christ. The wrath of God has to be revealed. It has to be laid open. It has
to be uncovered. Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 2
verse 7, he said, we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery. Even
the hidden wisdom, it's hidden. Which God ordained before the
world, unto our glory. It had to be revealed and it
had to be uncovered. He hath blinded their eyes and
hardened their heart, John 12 40, that they should not see
with their eyes nor understand with their heart and be converted
and I should heal them. What then, Romans 11, 7 says,
that Israel hath not obtained that which it seeketh for, but
the election hath obtained it, and the rest were blinded. Blinded. Got to be revealed. By nature I'm blind. By nature
I'm deaf. By nature I can't understand
anything. I'm ignorant. But their minds were blinded,
for until this day remaineth the same veil untaken away in
the reading of the Old Testament, which veil is gone away in Christ."
That veil's been taken. My eyes have been made to see. It's the wrath of God, dear friends,
revealed Because it's been hidden. It's hidden from the lost and
yet for the lost. All those who do not come to
Christ will one day experience the wrath of God. But by His
grace we see it now. It causes us to see our sin.
It causes us to be disturbed because of our sin, and it causes
us to cry out for mercy. The wrath of God is revealed
from heaven. God's wrath is revealed to His
people. Look over quickly at John chapter
10. Just so plain to me, I just don't
understand why people, I guess they just skip over these verses.
In verse 24, John 10, 24 says, Then came the
Jews round about him, and said unto him, How long dost thou
make us to doubt? Doubt about what? They said,
If thou be the Christ, tell us plainly, are you Him or are you
not Him? And he simply said these words,
Ray, he said, I told you, and you believed not. The works that
I do in my Father's name, they bear witness of me. The works
that I do show you who I am. But ye believe not. Why don't
people believe? Oh, this is not a popular answer. They don't believe what Christ
said because you're not of my sheep as I said unto you. My sheep hear my voice. They
see my works. They know who sent me. They know
by whose power it is that these mighty works are done. They hear my voice and I know
them and they follow me. And I give unto them eternal
life, and they shall never perish, and neither shall any man pluck
them out of My hand." You see, men do not see the wrath of God,
which leads them to grace, unless, except, but God Himself reveals
it to them. The wrath of God is revealed
from heaven, and it's revealed by the God of heaven. And it's revealed, notice the
words again back in Romans 1, against. The wrath of God is
just not because God chose to have wrath. It's against. It's against all ungodliness
and unrighteousness of men. Of men who hold the truth in
unrighteousness. Wrath is against ungodliness.
Ungodliness means sinfully wicked. The wrath of God is against sin. The wrath of God is revealed
from heaven against unrighteousness. Unrighteousness, you know what
that means? Wrong. Unright. That's what it means. Not right. Unright. That's what
I am by nature. I'm unright. Unrighteousness. That's what we are, isn't it?
Outside of Christ, we're unright. We've violated God's holy law
and justice. We've spit in the face of God
when it comes to His perfect and holy law. We've said in our
hearts, I don't want, I won't have Him I want to be my own
boss. I want to do my own thing. But
God reveals to us differently, doesn't he? He didn't have to.
He wasn't bound by anything, too. He's God. He could have
left us where we were and still been holy, perfect, righteous,
and just. In verse 19 it says, because
that which may be known of God is manifest, where? In them. It's revealed in them. It's made
known to them. This verse reiterates what we've
already said. There are some things which cannot
be known of God by the light of nature, isn't there? Could
we know anything honestly about the blessed persons of the Trinity
by just the light of nature? No, God has to reveal that. And
then we know very little, but we know God in three persons.
Could we know anything about the knowledge of God and Christ
as our mediator if it wasn't revealed to us? No way. Could we know anything about
the God-man? That he was all God and all man and that he was
made flesh and dwelt among us so that he might become of our
kind yet without sin and redeem us from the curse of the law?
Could we know anything about that without the revelation of
God? Nope. None of it. Could we know anything
about His incarnation, His sufferings, His death, His resurrection,
if it hadn't been revealed to us from above? No. Can anything that is known of
God be made manifest in us? The last part of verse 19 says,
not unless God shows it unto us. That's what it says, doesn't
it? Because that which may be known
of God is manifest in them, for God hath showed it unto them. That's pretty plain, isn't it?
Nothing hard about that. If you and I are to see anything
profitable to our souls, it's because God showed it to us. And because of that, He gets
all the honor, He gets all the glory, And we're putting the dust where
we belong. We're nothing but mercy beggars. We're nothing
but those dry bones that Ezekiel said, God said, can them live? What did Ezekiel say? Thou knowest.
I don't. Thou knowest. And yet men persist that they
can see, that they can come, and they can be saved by their
own free will. That's not what my Bible teaches. That's not what your Bible teaches,
and that's not what the Bible teaches. That's not what bears witness
to my heart by the Holy Spirit, is it yours? No. No man can come
except the Father which sent me drawn. That's pretty plain,
isn't it? That's not hard. That's all the
simplicity that's in Christ. No man can come except Apostle Paul wrote in Ephesians,
he said, now listen, he said, all of us, we all had our conversation
in times past in the lust of the flesh, and we fulfilled the
desires of the flesh and of the mind, and we were, like every
other man and woman, by nature the children of wrath, even as
others. And then he gives the gospel.
But God, Who revealed it to you? God did.
But God who is rich in mercy. For His great love wherewith
He loved us. Now let me close by looking at
Matthew 16. Look over there with me. You
know this passage, but I just love it. I love it and it is
so clear and plain about the fact that God reveals this to
us. It's revealed to us from heaven.
Look at verse 13, and I'll read through this and we'll be done.
When Jesus came into the coast of Caesarea Philippi, he asked
his disciples, saying, Whom do men say that I am the Son of
Man am? What's the talk out among the
folks, the multitudes that follow? Who do they say that I am? And
they said, some say thou art John the Baptist. And some say
that you're Elijah. And others say that you're Jeremiah.
Or one of the prophets, one of those men that stood in the Old
Testament and proclaimed the Word of God. Then he brings it home in a little
more personal. And he said unto him, but whom
say ye that I am? Who do you say I am? And I don't know, I hope I'm
not over exaggerating, but I can just kind of see them all looking
at each other, thinking who's going to answer that one first.
They're looking at each other, and old Simon, gosh, I relate
so much to that old boy. Whether it was pulling out a
sword to cut somebody's head off or answering a question,
the Lord asked him. He seemed to always be the first
one, didn't he? And he said to the Lord Jesus
Christ, he answered in verse 16 and said, Thou art the Christ,
the Son of the living God. He didn't say, I don't think.
He didn't say, I think you're the Christ. I'm pretty sure that
you're God's Son. No, sir. He said thou art the
Christ, the son of the living God. And our Lord looked at him
and answered and said unto him, verse 17, you're a blessed man,
Simon. Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-Jonah. How was that revealed to you?
the same way that we read in Romans 1, revealed from heaven
by God the Father. My Father, flesh and blood didn't
reveal it to you, but my Father, which is in heaven. And I say
unto thee, thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my
church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
Now, the gates of hell cannot prevail against us as church. Don't end that comforting. If
salvation was in any way dependent on me, I'd be constantly afraid
and in fear that I'd lose it. Because I'm nothing but fickle,
sinful. Up one minute, down the next.
No confidence. But because Our church, we as
a church are built upon the fact that He's the Christ. Our salvation's
in Him. The gates of hell can't prevail
against Him. It's not of Him that willeth.
It's not of Him that runneth. And there's those words again,
but God. But God. Who does what? Shows
mercy. Shows mercy. 19 verse 19 Romans 1 says, we'll
read it again, because that which may be known of God is manifest
in them. In them. For God hath showed
it unto them. It's in them because God showed
it unto them. And that's the only reason. And
that's our only hope of salvation, isn't it? That Christ does a
work in our hearts. I hope that's been an encouragement
to you. Sure was me. I need encouragement. And the
only place to truly find it is from God's Word and the preaching
of His Gospel.