Roaming Through Romans Lesson 4: Romans 1:18-24

We're going to continue our study of, I guess it's our third lesson, we're going to continue picking up on page 16. So if you have your booklets on page 16, we'll start sort of towards the top of the page as we continue to unpack verses 17 and 18. So we're on page 16. If you look at the top of the page, you see the number 2.

We're at that number 2 there towards the top of the page, just underneath C and D. So we have this question, what tense is the verb revealed in verse 17 and 18 what is the tense of that word revealed and don't just assume it's past tense because you see revealed ed there but you look at the exactly the presence because it is revealed so that's the context it says in verse 17 it says that the righteousness of God is present tense revealed and then in verse 18 it says for the wrath of God is that is present tense revealed And what does this teach us about every single person alive today?

Well, every single person, since it's present tense, every single person is either under God's righteousness, verse 17, for in it the righteousness of God is presently revealed, or they're under God's wrath. verse 18 says for the wrath of God is present and revealed so right now every single person is under God's righteousness in Christ or under God's wrath and actually John chapter 3 verse 36 captures this when it says Whoever believes in the Son has, that's present tense, eternal life. Whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains, that's present tense, on him. So John chapter 3 verse 36 teaches this same reality, that either everyone is under God's wrath at this time, or they are the recipients of eternal life at this time, or under his righteousness. So why is the order of unrighteousness and ungodliness and unrighteousness of men significant and I'll explain why so it teaches us this order because you look at verse 18 it says for the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all and the ordering here is So important.

All ungodliness and unrighteousness of men. So the question I'm trying to get at is why is it ordered ungodliness and then unrighteousness? What would be the point if you reversed that? What would mean if it said unrighteousness and ungodliness? There's a reason it's ordered the way it is.

And it teaches us that wrong blank leads to wrong blank. It teaches us that wrong religion ungodliness, that is our religion, our relationship with God, wrong religion leads to wrong blank, wrong living. So our wrong, our ungodliness, our rebellion against God himself leads to unrighteousness in the way we live. So it shows us that there is there is, at first, there's a breach in our relationship with God, and as a result of that ungodliness, that wickedness towards God, there becomes unrighteousness toward one another. So wrong religion leads to wrong living.

And this sort of goes back to one of the points I was trying to make in the sermon on Sunday evening, that The elder, for example, is called to be Christ-centered, and it's out of his being Christ-centered that he becomes others-oriented. It's being godly, if we want to use our language here, that leads to his righteousness towards others, his godliness and to his righteousness. Again, just to drill home this point, the ungodliness word there gets at the first four commandments. We need to obey those first four commands. We need to be godly, not ungodly. And when we are godly, we will then begin to live righteously as opposed to unrighteously, the second five commandments in our relationship towards one another.

So it could also be said that false blank leads to false blank. False worship leads to false living. False worship leads to false living. So what does verse 18 teach us about the unbeliever? Well, it teaches us a few things. It says, their unbelief is not blank, but blank. Their unbelief, according to verse 18, is not rational, but moral. Their unbelief is not rational, but moral. Okay, so we're gonna unpack that a little bit, but verse 18 shows us that the unbelief of people, people who don't trust in Jesus Christ, people who don't listen to the word of God, it's not a result of them being so intellectual. Sometimes we get that impression in the university, that is that these people are so smart that they know better than us dumb country bumpkins, and so that's why they reject God's word, because they're so smart, they're so rational.

Well, the reality is it's not rational, it's a moral issue. And let's see how we see this in the text. Well, it says their unbelief is called suppression, which means that they fight against that which they know to be blank, know to be true. So they're fighting actively against what they know in their hearts to be true.

The illustration I always give here is of the child in the swimming pool. So here we see the unbeliever suppressing the truth. You can imagine the unbeliever is like a child in a swimming pool with a beach ball. If you've ever seen a child in a swimming pool with a beach ball, they usually want to try to submerge, suppress that beach ball underneath the water. But as they try to suppress that beach ball, what happens? The beach ball keeps popping back up. that is the atheist with God. God just keeps popping right back up, and they just keep trying to push him back down.

And the truth is, they cannot, in all of their efforts, successfully submerge God, because they know that they're created in His image. And the truth is, it's not that they don't know enough about God, it's that they don't like the God that they know. It's that they don't like God. It's an issue of the heart.

And so this is very important when we're getting to, you know, share the gospel with people and get to know them and try to love them and tell them of Christ because they'll oftentimes try to tell us, you know, I would believe in God, but I, you know, I just, you know, I just, I don't think there's enough proof or this really hard thing happened in my life that's terrible and you can be very sympathetic and loving but ultimately their issue is that they don't love who God is It's an issue of the heart, and so that's good to remember. Romans 119 continues to tell us some more things about the unbeliever. Paul goes on to explain how it is that we know unbelievers suppress the truth. So how do we know that they suppress it?

Well, he tells us in verse 19, for what can be known about God is plain to them, so because it is blank to them, because it's plain to them. So he doesn't say it's vague. He says it's very plain. What can we know about God? And how do we know this? Well, because God has blank it to them. What does verse 19 say?

For what can we know about God is plain to them because God has shown it to them. Well, it's plain to them. How do we know it's plain to them? Because God has shown it to them. So that blank there after plain is shown. God has shown it to them. So the problem is not a lack of clarity, but a denial of the clarity.

Another helpful example to illustrate this is the unbeliever, you know, if you've ever, well, back in the day, we'll remember this. Yeah, I'm learning that when I teach even the middle schoolers here at the after school program that sometimes I can't connect anymore because I don't know enough about what's going on anymore. But thankfully here, I can say back in the day, and I know y'all are going to know what I'm talking about.

So we used to have these things called antenna, and you'd have them on your car, and they would help pick up radio signals. Now, they wouldn't even know what a radio is, so it gets difficult to communicate. But anyway, so the antenna obviously picks up the radio signals. And if your antenna is broken, the message can be coming through clearly, but you're not going to be able to receive it.

Not because there's anything wrong with the message, The radio is being sent perfectly clearly, but your antenna is broken on this vehicle that you're driving around. Well, that's the atheist. That's the human apart from Christ, right? It's not that God isn't sending clear messages to the individual that he is God and that they are to repent and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and be saved. It's that there's something fundamentally wrong with them since the fall, And until that thing is fixed, which takes the power of the Holy Spirit, regeneration, but they can't receive the message. But the point is the message is coming through clear, the antenna is broken, the human heart.

So Romans 1.20 continues to explain a bit more about the unbeliever here.

It says, for his invisible attributes, talking about God, namely his eternal power and divine nature have been clearly perceived ever since the creation of the world and the things that have been made. So, what has God made known? Well, it tells us that it's His blank power and blank nature. His eternal power and divine nature. That's what the text says. His eternal power and divine nature have been clearly perceived ever since the creation of the world.

So, these words eternal power and divine nature teach us at least three, the following three things. And I've reworded this in a recent version. I just updated it when I was working through it because I didn't like the way I worded some of this, but it's what we have. So he has existed, this teaches us that he has existed blank all things before all things, right?

Because it says his eternal power in divine nature have been clearly perceived. So that's indicating that he obviously existed before all things because his power is called eternal. And then it teaches us all things have come about by his blank, by his power, right? It says his eternal power and divine nature have been clearly perceived ever since creation of the world and the things that have been made.

And then this is the third one that I know what I was getting at, but I've reworded it because I don't love the way it's worded here, but I have written here. He is divine or supernatural, transcendent, not dependent upon the world. Now, how do we see these things here? How does creation itself actually preach this? Think about it. It preaches it in a couple ways. Okay, so how does creation preach to us? even to the unbeliever, that God is eternal. Well, the unbeliever, just like you and I, understand that everything has to come from somewhere.

So they're thinking to themselves, well, where did, you know, this, where did the rocks come from? Where did the trees come from? And as they think about it, they realize there had to be a being that created these things that was before these things. And what would that being be?

Well, he would be called eternal because he existed from before all these things, and yet he clearly could not have been created by anyone because he had to exist before all these things and then create all these things. So even creation testifies that there's an eternal God. There's something that is outside of everything that created the things that exist. Creation actually is telling us that. And even like Aristotle and you know unbelievers like that came to these conclusions who were not Christians. So This being existed eternally.

He had to, because he had to exist outside of everything to create everything. And then, it also indicates that he's powerful, according to Paul, because, well, nothing but a powerful being could create. If there was nothing, which everybody should come to that conclusion, if they're thinking logically, that there had to be a time when there was nothing, and then from the nothing came the something. And if that had happened, then this being had to be powerful.

And if he's eternal and powerful, well, he's divine. He's not in need of his creation. And so these ideas can be deduced even from the created world. But how has he made himself known? Well, he's made himself known according to verse 20, through creation. Because it says here, "...have been clearly perceived ever since the creation of the world. So God has made himself known through blank, through creation.

According to our verse, does anyone have a good excuse for not believing and obeying God? No. No one has a good excuse. Romans 121, while you continue here, this verse further explains why the unbeliever has no good reason for their unbelief. Well, what does verse 21 of chapter 1 teach us the unbeliever knows? For although they knew, yeah, God, they knew God. The unbeliever knows God. That's what the text says, verse 21. It doesn't mean they know him savingly. It just means that they know him truly. They know he exists. They know that he is God. So the unbeliever does have a knowledge of God. What does this verse teach us the unbeliever doesn't do? So what don't unbelievers do?

Exactly, yep. Honor him and give thanks to him. Yeah, verse 21. For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him. And then, the verse goes on. What does this verse teach us? The unbeliever becomes, as a result of this unbelief, this dishonoring and refusing to give thanks to him. Exactly, they become futile and their thinking and their foolish hearts are darkened. Exactly. So you can see here, I think of the way that these unbelievers are described is it's not a rational, it's not a rational issue, right? It's an issue of the heart. I'll give a personal example. So I have this friend who's an atheist, still is to my knowledge.

And when I was probably, I don't know, 18, 19, maybe 20 at the oldest, I don't know, I was pretty young, but he came over and he basically came over to talk to me about God. That was sort of the point of our visiting. And so he came over and we started talking around like midnight or 11, Which I would be asleep by that time now, things have changed. But we proceeded to talk until, I don't know, it was 4 or 5 in the morning, and I actually had work the next day, so it was a great day of work. But we stayed up until like 4 in the morning, I think we talked for 6 hours, so whatever that would be, but I must have started at 10, but anyways.

And by the end of the conversation, I didn't start with this, I'm not encouraging us to lead with this way when you're talking to people about God who don't believe in God, but by the end of six hours, I asked him, I said, have you been able to answer any of my questions? And he had to concede, confess he had not been able to answer any of my questions.

Have I been able to answer all of your questions? And he said, yes. And then he proceeded to say, if we kind of spent time together for another six months, he told me, if we spent time together for another six months, he would become a Christian. That's actually when I asked him the question. I said, have I been able to answer all your questions? He said, yes, I have been able to answer his questions. And then I asked him, have you been able to answer mine?

He said, no. And I said, you see, if we remain friends and hang out for another six months, you're not going to become a Christian. Because you hate God. Unless God regenerates you. Because the reality is, you've already on your own admission, you've told me, I have answered all of your questions sufficiently. And you've admitted that you have been able to answer none of my questions sufficiently. So somehow you think if we just keep going around and around in this circle for another six months, you're going to become a Christian. You don't understand that the issue is that you just don't like God.

And you need to come to love God. And of course, I know that's going to take the Holy Spirit, but that's what this looks like in practice. Now again, you don't bleed off the first time you meet somebody and make sure you know you hate God. But you know, It is helpful when you can think through these things and it's kind of what we're building up to here in a moment. So just kind of tuck that away.

So do unbelievers typically think that they are foolish and darkened in their thinking? No, right? They're actually sure they're way wiser than we are, generally, generally speaking. So who else claimed that disbelief in God would make you wise? Who does that sound like? The devil, the serpent, right?

So the unbeliever, again, I'm not saying they're actively saying, you know, I actually think, you know what I'm doing right now is I'm actually following in the line of the seat of the serpent, right? I'm not, I don't think the unbeliever is cognitively processing, there might be some people out there actually, but generally speaking, I don't think that's true. But that's exactly what they're doing. They're following in the footsteps of the God of this world, the serpent, Satan.

They think they're wiser than God. Now, how do you see this in the world around you? You could probably name a million ways, right? I think we can all say it, right? I think we can say we see this in the world around us. People thinking they're wiser than God. I mean, people not going to church because they don't need church because they know that they can just do whatever they want. I mean, that's just one example of a million.

The one I have written here, is evolution, right? So it says as a quote here, not blank here, but blank. When you look at these verses, what you see in Romans 1, 18 and following, is not man evolving and getting better without God. You see the opposite, not evolution here, but devolution. Devolution is devolving. There's a devolving of man when they reject God. It's the opposite of what the world tells us. So the theory of evolution would just be one of many ways we can say we see the world telling us that they're wise in rejecting God because they know better than God. But you could think of a million.

Do unbelievers cease to worship when they refuse to worship the one living and true God? No, right, they don't cease to worship. As we see that the text kind of goes on to explain that they're worshiping. So they don't cease to worship, they just worship wrongly, right? So they don't stop worshiping, they just worship incorrectly.

Because of all of this, David McWilliams has said, there are no real atheists, only extremely foolish truth suppressors, right? So there aren't really any atheists in the sense of they all know God, they just don't like him. So the atheist really actually doesn't exist in a true sense because they are...

I mean, why is it, right? And this is a classic thing, but it's just true. Why don't you see people out there just vehemently hating Santa Claus? Because they know that he doesn't exist. They don't care. But why are the atheists so angry about this God that doesn't exist? He's just a fairy tale. He's not even real. Well, if he's not even real, then why do you spend so much time hating him?

Because you know that he is real, and you don't want to have to deal with him. That's the issue. So there's not really any such thing as an atheist. People call themselves atheists, and we can call them atheists, but in reality, they're just suppressing what they actually know to be true, which is that there is a God, and They don't wanna have to deal with him.

So who knows the unbeliever? And this is what we're getting up to here, and this would be an example of my conversation with my atheist friend. Who knows the unbeliever better, them or God? So who knows you better, you or God? God knows us better, right? So if God tells me that my unbelieving friend knows God, but hates him, which is what we've just been learning, then that's how my unbelieving friend is operating even if they don't think they're operating that way.

So I can carry that into my conversation with my unbelieving friends. I can get to know them and care for them and love them. But also when we start to have these dialogues and they start to say, here are all the reasons that God isn't real, you can get to a place perhaps with some friends where you're able to say, well actually, the reason you don't believe in God isn't really because you don't know anything about him or he hasn't proven himself to be true.

God told me in his Bible, and he knows you better than you know you, and he knows me better than I know me, he told me that this is what's going on in your heart, this is the problem, and it's that you don't like him. So this is why this matters. And again, we can carry this over into so many other issues, just not to harp on this, I know this is, you know, but you can think of how this applies in areas like the issues that our young people are facing with gender, right? A young person says to you, I am, I am a man when it's a young girl, or a young man says, I am a woman. You can say that, but God's Word knows you better than you know you, and God's Word tells me that you are a man, or this person over here, you are a woman, and it's just simply not up for you to decide.

God is the authority. So this does apply in a lot of other areas, not just this one example of the unbeliever and the atheist. God is our authority, he tells us. Then again, it's true for me, too. He knows me better than I know me, so I need to listen to him.

Romans 1, 24 and 25, moving on here, we see in these verses, therefore God gave them up in the lust of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, verse 24. Remember what we have said earlier. These verses again, Romans 1, 24 and 25, teach us something we've already seen. It teaches us that wrong blank leads to wrong blank. Wrong religion leads to wrong living. Wrong religion leads to wrong living. So we see the same theme again. And how do we see this in our text?

Well, according to verse 24, God gives him up in verse 24 Blank, they will not worship him in verse 25. God gives them over in verse 24 because they will not worship him in verse 25. So the reason they're given over to all of this impurity is ultimately because they will not worship him. So look again at the connection here at verse 24 and 25. Verse 24, therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves. So why does he give them up to all this wickedness? Verse 25 tells us, because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the creator who is blessed forever, amen. So their false living flows out of their false worship.

And again, I think this is really important because I will say, and I think we would maybe agree, that when we look around in our world, we can be overwhelmed at the rampant immorality. I mean, it's just everywhere. It's everywhere. It's just all over the place. And I tend to honestly think we just need to fix these people. There's so many problems. We just gotta go fix all this. But what I think a passage like this is really showing us is that the issue goes back probably a lot further.

So thinking about maybe when some of y'all were growing up, when people stopped valuing worshiping God. When people stop that, like, how did we get to a place where the things that are being talked about today are, you could never even imagine? I mean, I remember, for example, my dad saying, and he died in 2011, so some of the things we're already dealing with are super different than what my dad, but my dad died in 2011, so I remember talking to him about issues related to homosexuality. I was like a 15-year-old, 14-year-old, I'm trying to figure out what's going on in this world, asking him questions, and he just said, when I was growing up, and he was growing up in the 50s, he said, I wouldn't have believed that there was a homosexual within 50 miles of where I grew up. He said, not because they actually didn't exist, but because that was just so unheard of. Okay, fast forward 50 years, 60 years to when I'm in high school, that doesn't even, I can't even imagine, I would have believed there was a homosexual within a 500 yard radius of my house.

You know what I mean? That's just how different it was. But my point with that is how do we get, so the reason I bring that up is not to pick on any particular group, that's not my point, it's just to simply ask the question, how do you get from there to there in a matter of just a few generations?

And I think a text like this is saying it's actually a lot more subtle than we think. We think it's just like these external things, but this is saying it's because our worship started to go to the wayside. And as our worship went to the wayside, and so what we need is we need regeneration, don't we? We need to see the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. Putting good laws in place are good. We want to see our magistrate putting good laws, yes and amen, but unless people are converted, unless people learn to worship God how he's revealed himself in his word and to love him as he reveals himself in his word, all these other things are downstream from false worship. And I think, I don't know that I actively think that way as much as I ought, and I think this passage is challenging us to to rethink the way that we view the world. What we need is Christ and salvation and right worship, and out of that, Lord willing, in time, we'll see some of these rampant immoralities be pushed back.

So the words God gave them up are important. You see it in verse 24, verse 26, verse 28. They teach us the following. the punishment of sin is more blank this is great classic john murray punishment of sin is more sin so one of the punishments of sin how is the wrath of god revealed presently because the text said it's revealed right now verse 18 It's revealed by giving the world over to more of its sin, more of its sin, more of its sin. And can't we say we see that today? So this is one of the ways God's wrath is, present tense, verse 18 revealed now. How do you see this happening in the culture today?

I mean, you don't even have to try, right? I mean, you just see God letting us go, letting us go, letting us go, and it's awful. But God is merciful. He can still save. So let's not forget that. But God will not mercifully restrain forever. He will eventually give you what you want, and it will be to your own blank. It will be to your own destruction.

Y'all might remember, I'm sure Wayne talked about this, I actually don't know if I quite moved here yet, so I can't say, but y'all might remember that in 1 Samuel chapter 8, when they asked, when they get to King Saul, Saul's name literally means, what was asked for. That's what Saul's name means, what was asked for. God says, you want a king? And you want a king just like all the other nations?

And he's patient with him, and he's gracious with him, and finally he says, all right. I give you over. I'm giving you what you asked for. I'm giving you literally, quite literally Saul, what was asked for. And of course we know the story of Saul. So that's kind of what's happening here in Romans 1. He's giving them over. You want this?

I'm okay. You are fully, so then this next thing is you are fully blank for your actions. You're fully responsible for your actions. So just because God gives them over doesn't mean they're not responsible for their wickedness. I wrote this little illustration.

The chain that restrains a dog is for its good, but if the dog fights long enough and hard enough, the owner may let the dog go. This will be to the destruction and death of the dog. So it is with those who hate God's good order in their lives. They can fight against it, and God will give them what they want, knowing that it will be to their destruction. The problem is not with God, but rebellious man. Where does evil in a person begin? According to verse 24, let's look at that. It says, Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity. So it's evil blank, evil desires or lusts in the blank, in the heart. So evil desires in the heart, according to verse 24. That's, of course, very important because We are often told that as long as your actions aren't overtly wicked, you're fine. But this text says, no, it all begins in your heart. Of course, Jesus teaches the same in the Sermon on the Mount.

Do most people today think that wicked desires are sinful? No. We've even seen this in the church. You may know, but that's been an issue in the last eight years or so in the PCA, right? Can a man have sinful desires as long as he doesn't act on them? Is it fine?

And many have said, you know, as long as he's not acting on them, and the Bible says, well actually, The thing is, some people wouldn't even call them sinful desires, but the Bible does. If it's a desire that's not good, it's sin. So sinful desires are sinful. What is the result of these wicked, lustful desires? Well, lustful actions, lustful actions.

And you see that again in the text. The truth is, it's never just going to stay in my heart. So, therefore God gave them up in the lust of their hearts to impurity, and then how does that manifest itself? To the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves.

It leads to these actions, these physical actions. So we see here that impurity of heart leads to impurity of life. To put it another way, heart impurity, so that's blank, Blank impurity, heart impurity leads to blank impurity, life impurity. If I have this heart impurity, it will in some ways manifest itself in my life.

So, you know, a man is upset, you know, gets grumpy towards his wife and his heart. And then he, you know, says a snide remark before he walks out the door. Well, that was a heart impurity, but it manifests itself in his life. And that's with all sins. At some level, if you have these things in our hearts, they will show up in our lives.

Why does all of this happen? Well, because they set aside the god of blank the god of truth and replaced him with a blank lie so god of truth and they replace him with a lie verse 25 tells us this because they exchanged the truth about god for a lie and worshiped so they're still worshiping but they're worshiping the wrong thing and worshiped and served the creature rather than the creator who is blessed forever Amen. Do you see this in the world today? I mean, I just don't even think we even need to, I mean, it's not that, it's just so obvious. We see this all over the place, right? We set aside the church, we set aside the things that God says are valuable, and then we look up and we see the things happening that happen. So yes, we see God's truth being set aside and lies being promoted in countless ways in our culture.

So what do people end up worshiping when they set aside God? Well, the text tells us, right? The creature rather than the creator. The creature rather than the creator. And again, I'll allow y'all the liberty to think of how you see these things going on today. in our world. It can be money, it can be academics, it can be all sorts of even fine things that people can become, that are creatures that people worship, created things rather than the Creator.

And so, again, I would just close with this comment that the Bible knows us better than we know ourselves, and I think if we're honest and we really reflect on what these verses 18 through 25 that just showed us, we would all say, that's a perfect diagnosis of what we see happening. And it's right there in God's Word.