“God’s Wrath and Humanity’s Guilt”

(Romans 1:18-32)

Series: Romans – United in the Gospel [on screen]

Rev. Matthew C. McCraw, EdD

First Baptist Church, Bartow, Florida

January 16, 2022

Introductory Comments:

Do you remember the good old days? Have you ever noticed the good old days aren’t the same days for everyone? You see, sometimes we remember the good old days from when we were younger and we think that things are really bad now but they used to be good. We think, “I can remember when we didn’t have people storming the capital of the United States, we didn’t have to discuss the birth gender of an athlete, and we weren’t in the middle of a global pandemic.” Well, most of you can probably remember that because that was just about two years ago. However, sometimes we look back on history and we think that bad things didn’t always happen in our “good old days.” We forget about a president that was impeached because of the Watergate scandal. We forget that two other presidents were assassinated. We forget about the Great Depression. We forget about rampant racism in our country. We forget about the atrocity of slavery in our country. We forget about the immorality of the Wild West. We forget about how young girls who were found to be pregnant out of wedlock were shipped off to live somewhere else. We can go back further and recall even more atrocities. 

You see, church, since sin came into the world, we have always been plagued by evil and wickedness. 

In today’s passage, Paul is going to speak about the reality of sin in the world and the reality of God’s wrath towards sin. 

Before we go any further, let’s pray together.

(prayer)

Remember, last week, Paul introduced himself and the power of the Gospel. Remember, the Gospel has dynamite power! Now, Paul is going to spend some time discussing the state that we were in as sinners before we experienced the Gospel. Paul is going to give us a picture of what life is like without Jesus. 

So, let’s see what God is teaching us through His Word. 

First, from this passage, let’s see . . .

I. God revealed (18-20) [on screen]

Look with me if you will at verses 18-20:

18 For God’s wrath is revealed from heaven against all godlessness and unrighteousness of people who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth, 19 since what can be known about God is evident among them, because God has shown it to them. 20 For his invisible attributes, that is, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen since the creation of the world, being understood through what he has made.

What Paul is saying here is that the reality of God and the reality of God’s wrath against sin has been revealed to humanity through God’s creation. 

Now, before we get too far, we need to talk about what God’s wrath is. 

I would define God’s wrath simply this way:

God’s wrath = God’s extreme and just judgment of sin. [on screen]

The ESV Study Bible simply defines God’s wrath as, “His personal anger against sin.”

It is extreme in that it is terrible to experience. It is just in that it is what sinners deserve for their sin. 

Obviously, wrath towards sin is not very well received by most people. Some people think that this is unnecessary and unfair. However, when it comes down to it, most people probably don’t actually feel this way. 

Popular Bible teacher, Jen Wilkin, pointed out that if someone hurt someone we love, we probably wouldn’t mind that person receiving a little wrath. So, when we determine someone has done something wrong, we’re ok with them receiving God’s wrath. Jen Wilkin explains: we don’t mind God judging sin, we just don’t want Him judging our sin. 

We must also understand this, church: God is not just showing wrath towards people; He is showing wrath towards sinful people. In other words, God is not just being mean, He’s giving us what we deserve because of our sin.

So, Paul says that God pours out his wrath on, “ . .