I invite you to open the Bible and turn with me to the book of Romans, chapter 1, verse 18. That's right. Tonight, we are going to spend our whole time together, talking about one verse. So, I want to encourage you to turn there. And I want to welcome anybody who's watching this outside or online, or maybe there's somebody watching this because they want to see if we're going to say anything tonight about the current events that are happening in our country right now. Well, let's just say that we have been studying the Apostle Paul here at our church for a long time now. Am I right about that, everybody? I mean, we went on these missionary journeys with this guy and Barnabas, back in the book of Acts. And we saw this journey of faith that he went on, when God said He was going to get to Rome, and how all that he went through to get to Rome, and how God was true to what He had promised Paul. And we decided long ago that we were going to go from the book of Acts, where we got to go along on the journey with Paul, right into the book of Romans, so that we could really study the teaching of Paul. And so, we've been planning to do Romans chapter one here at our church this summer, way before we ever knew Roe v. Wade could be overturned this summer, way before we knew it could even happen this week when we would get to this verse, okay. So, if the timing of this verse and what's happening in our country seems like, Whoa, are they doing that just because of what happened? Let it be known that this is God's timing, not ours here at Compass HP. All right, because the truth is that this verse is true whether Roe v Wade is overturned this week, or whether it is not. This verse would be true, no matter when we preached it, because this verse exists outside of space, and outside of time, this tells us who the eternal God really is. And he may not be who we want him to be. But this is who he really is. So I want to invite you to stand up right now for the public reading of Scripture, as we get to really understand tonight together our God.
This is Romans1:18, please follow along, as I read: “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth.” That's the reading of God's word, go ahead and have your seat.
What we have here, it says in verse 18, is the revelation of the wrath of God. Now it begins with the word “for” and we've seen that if you were here last week, we had three different phrases that began with “for” and it goes all the way back to verse 15, where he said, “I'm eager to preach the gospel to you also who are in Rome.” So, he wanted to go to Rome and preach the gospel. He wasn't able to get there, so he wrote the letter to the believers in Rome, to teach them his masterclass on the gospel. And so, he says, here's why he wants to preach the gospel. One, “because he's unashamed of it.” Two, we saw “because it's the power of God to salvation.” Everybody who responds with faith gets saved. That's the power of the gospel. And then, Three, we saw that in the Gospel, this is verse 17, “the righteousness of God is revealed from faith” for faith as it is written, The righteous shall live by keyword – what is it there everybody? Faith, when you trust in Jesus dying on the cross for your sin, and rising again, that's when the fact that you are now right with God is revealed to you. You will now see the righteousness of God is given to you through your faith in Jesus. And then it says in verse 18, for so now he's going to say, continuing that thought, “the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men.”
So, if you hear the gospel, the good news of who Jesus is and what he did for you, and you put your trust, you put your faith in Jesus, you have revealed to you the righteousness of God that you are justified, declared righteous by God through faith. And we had some great conversations here at church this last week based on that verse, because we found out that some people here at Compass, HB are trusting in trying to do good themselves, rather than trusting in the good that Jesus has already done for them. And when he found out, hey, that's something we need to talk about, because when you trust in Jesus, you understand the righteousness of God. But here's the thing: if you don't trust in Jesus, well then here's the flip side now, “the wrath of God is revealed against all ungodliness and unrighteousness.” And this is really a fascinating idea because it's saying that the wrath of God is revealed in a present tense, just like the righteousness of God. You receive that as soon as you believe in Jesus. God declares you righteous. Well, when you continue in your unrighteousness, right there, the wrath of God is revealed in a present way.
So, this is what we all need to really think about is that when we sin, it is not okay with God. Like there is no way to avoid the fact that when we sin, God gets angry at sin. God is not okay with it. He's not just going to let it go, he's not going to pretend it didn't happen. See, we have this ability, like to do something evil and then act like we didn't really do it, we have this ability to do something and then try to pretend, try to keep it hidden, try to keep it covered up, try to keep it in the dark, like that didn't really happen. Know, when God sees the ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, he sees it for what what it really is, he knows about it, and he has wrath for it. So, this idea of the wrath of God, this Greek word here orge is the word for wrath; It shows up 12 times in the book of Romans. So, this is a theme throughout the 16 chapters of the book. And the wrath of God is presently being revealed against unrighteousness. And in the future, people will experience the wrath of God on a day of judgment. So, this idea of God's wrath is both a present tense and a future tense. The present tense is going to continue here in our passage, and we're going to be looking at how people turn away from God into sin. And so, it's going to happen – look at verse 24 – let me show you, three times. This is what the wrath of God is revealed to look like in the present tense. Verse 24, it says, “Therefore, God gave them up.” One of the ways that you can see God is angry with sin before the day of wrath and judgment comes even now, even now, here in America, when you can see God giving people over to their sin. That is the wrath of God being revealed in a present way.
If people are choosing sin over God, then God gives them up to that sin. It says in verse 24, “God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts.” So, here we see God giving people over to sexual immorality, verse 26. “For this reason, God gave them up to dishonorable passions,” and it talks about women with women and men with men – homosexuality, and then verse 28 says, “And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, they're not turning back to God. They're not responding to Him in faith. If they had faith in Jesus, they would see the righteousness of God but, instead, they're continuing in unrighteousness. So, they're getting revealed the wrath of God. And so, look what God did here in verse 28, “God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done.” So that's a clear theme of Romans one. When you continue in your unrighteousness, then the wrath of God is revealed. And what does it look like, God giving you over to more sin? And you see here, you can see the giving over to sexual immorality, homosexuality, and then to a debased mind, just thinking about life in a wrong way, a way that God did not intend when he designed how life was to be lived. You're now thinking that's the right way to live life.
Now, go over to Romans chapter 2. And you'll see here in verse 5, the future tense so Romans 1 gives us the present tense of the revelation of God's wrath. Romans 2 is going to take us into the future of it. For example, Romans 2:5 says, “But because of your hard and impenitent heart you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath when God's righteous judgment will be revealed.” See, you're not sorry about your sin. You're not repenting of your sin. You're not confessing your sin before God and others; you're actually hardening your heart in your sin. Impenitent, that means not sorry, not repentant. You're just kind of continuing in sin and you're acting like everything's fine. It's okay for me to be this way. This is just how I am. And as you're doing that, you're actually storing up wrath when judgment day comes. As you continue in your sin in the present, someday you're going to see the real wrath of God brought to you on a day of judgment. And so then here in chapter 2, verses 6 to 11, it begins to describe how this judgment is going to work. Look at Verse 8, it says For but for those who are self-seeking, and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness,” if you continue in unrighteousness, there will be what does it say there at the end of verse 8, everybody? There will be what? Wrath and what? Fury. Wrath and fury.
So, Romans 1 into Romans 2, what we're studying through here at our church, is going to show us both a present and future revelation of the wrath of God that is surely coming upon all who continue to sin. Now, the good, the beautiful thing about Scripture is it'll talk about the wrath of God and it'll also, at the same time, talk about God's love. Because we've got to be careful as we're looking at his wrath together in this one verse. See, the Bible gives a full picture of the character of God. God is full of steadfast love and faithfulness, or as it says about Jesus in John 1:14, He is full of grace and what? Truth. Is God ready to forgive people for their sin right now here tonight? Is God ready to judge people for their sin right now here tonight? That's who our God is. And we're usually a little quieter on the second, Yes. Just pointing that out. Okay, because we like verses like Romans 2:4 and Romans 2:4 is right in the middle of all of this, where it says, “do you presume on the riches of His kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God's kindness is meant to lead you to what? Repentance. See, there's this idea that people have that if God is real, and he's angry with me, and he's out there, why doesn't he just strike me down right now? Well, praise God, He's not like that. Can I get an Amen from anybody on that? Because no, right now is God being patient with you, long suffering with you. See, a lot of people are mistaking this forbearance and this kindness that God is giving them, a lot of people are either taking that to mean God's not there or that God's weak and he's going to let him get away with it, when really the point right now is that God has been patient, and long suffering so that people won't perish but they will reach repentance. That's what God's doing right now. He's giving people opportunity in the present moment to turn from their own unrighteousness, and to repent and to find his readiness to forgive and His mercy and His grace and His steadfast covenant love that will be with them forever. That's what God wants for people. But when you continue in unrighteousness, no, that's when the wrath of God is revealed. So, you're going to hear people say things like, Well, my God, he doesn't treat people like that, or the God that I believe in, He's a God of love. He doesn't get angry with people for their sin. You know, I think that's hundred percent true. I think that the God you believe in, or your God may be that way, but the real God, the true God, he gets angry with sin every day.
Point number one – let's get it down like this: Do you know the God who gets angry? Do you know the God who gets angry? Have you made up your own God? Have you brought God down to a level that is okay with you? Or do you understand that God is not okay with sin, and his wrath is being revealed even in the present tense in America right now. You can see his wrath as he gives us over to our sin. You can see that God is angry with sin. Every single day. If you could, write down Psalm 7:11. It's a great verse to just keep it in your mind. “God is a righteous judge and a God who feels indignation every day.” It says that's this idea of righteous anger. That's what wrath means. It's indignation. It's this feeling that it is not okay that people are doing things that are not right.
So let me take you over to Ephesians chapter 2. If everybody can turn over to the book of Ephesians. Let's go to another book where we'll see both the present tense and the future tense of God's wrath that is surely coming upon all sin. And there's so much that we could say about the wrath of God, the judgment of God, the anger of God against sin. It's really a theme of the scripture from cover to cover as soon as there is the fall into sin. In the beginning in Genesis, just go read Genesis 6,7,8 and see what God thinks about sin so that he would flood the world because of His wrath against the sin that people were in. Skip all the way to the end of the book, read the book of Revelation. Who's ever read the book of Revelation before? Has anybody ever read about some wrath that God has in the book of Revelation? He's literally got bowls of wrath being poured out upon planet earth. So, we might shy away from speaking about God's wrath today, but God is very clear that he's getting angry with our sin. And He has no problem saying that throughout His revelation in Scripture, and here in Ephesians, chapter 2, when Paul's writing to these believers, he says, Look at Ephesians 2:1-3, as it describes us in our sin. It says, “You were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, (Satan), the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience.”
Here's the verse, write this one down Ephesians 2:3, “among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of what is it say? Wrath, like the rest of mankind. And then we get to the good news, which is always right next to this fact, that God being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses made us alive together with Christ. By grace you have been saved from what everybody? Saved from God's wrath against our sin. That's what we're being saved by God, from God. By His grace from his wrath. And as we live our life in sin, as we follow the desires of our body and mind, as we go the way of the world, the way that the forces of evil in the heavenly places want us to go, we are by nature, children of wrath. That's what the Scripture says. It's a present way that God is revealing even now, through His scripture. This is how he thinks about sin at this present hour. He is not okay with it.
Go over to Ephesians chapter 5, and look what it's saying now, to the believers here, as it's calling us out of all that sin, that lust, that it was describing the way of the flesh that we used to live in. Well, now that we have the spirit, now that we have a new heart, God's calling us to live a new way, not in unrighteousness. But now we're supposed to live out the righteousness that we received by faith in Jesus. When God gives us that righteousness, He wants us now to walk in the new way of righteousness. And so that's what Ephesians 4 and 5 are about teaching us the new way. And look what it says here in Ephesians 5:3, “but sexual immorality and all impurity, or covetousness must not even be named among you, as is proper among saints. Let there be no filthiness, nor foolish talk, nor crude joking, which are out of place, but instead let there be Thanksgiving” and then look what it says here. This is Ephesians 5:5, “For you may be sure of this, that everyone who is sexually immoral or impure, or who is covetous, (that is, an idolator) has no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things,” the sins that he was just describing “the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience.”
Okay, so you are going to someone with their empty words that are going to sound so nice to your ears, but are going to have no truth to them. Someone is going to try to tell you that God doesn't get angry with sin. And that God, he's really not even that angry at your sin. And if you are in sin, and you continue in that sin, it's not really that big of a deal. People are going to try to deceive you with those kinds of words. And the warning here in Ephesians 5:6 is no, no, no, because of these things, these sexual moralities impurities, covetousness really It says it's all idolatry. No, that is why the wrath of God is coming. Just because you may not have experienced judgment yet doesn't mean it's not a real thing that everyone is going to experience who continues in unrighteousness.
Now, I have never heard America talk about God the way they're talking about Him right now in my entire life. You want to talk about filthiness and foolish talk, corrupt speaking, the amount of people that are just cursing out God, the Bible, and Christians like us right now is clearly at an all-time high. All people who don't care about the Bible all of a sudden seem to know a lot about the Bible as they rip it to pieces and curse it out. And then you see Christians responding to what can only be described as hatred. Like, people are angry that God is not okay with sin. People are haters of God right now. And they are coming after God. And then some of the Christian responses do not seem to be very helpful, in my humble personal opinion, as they seem to be gloating, as they seem to be making it about politics, as they seem to be acting like they're better than other people. We need to be very careful how we talk about it, because the issue is not a political issue. The issue is not even an issue really, of what is right and wrong. The issue is, what does God think about your life? If you're not having a conversation that God's a part of, it's probably not a conversation that's really going to help anybody. It's probably going to continue to polarize and divide and increase hostility on both sides. No, in the Bible, God makes it very clear how he feels about our sin. And Christians have done a very bad job of making it clear how God feels about our sin.
So, let's make sure that we are thinking and talking about it in a way that actually helps in a way that actually brings God into the conversation. And it doesn't matter what you believe, and it doesn't matter what I believe, because the universe is not built on what we believe, the universe is built on who God is in what he says. That's how this world really works. So, you can't write off the Bible, because you don't believe it. But the Bible's not true, because we believe it. The Bible is true because God said so. And if you're not quoting God's word, you are wasting your time in that conversation. Let God speak, he speaks with authority, he speaks the truth. And Christians have been blowing this issue for a long time in the way that they talk about.
Turn with me to Leviticus, chapter 18. And let me show you very clearly from the beginning of his revelation, how God described how he feels about sin. This is God getting us into His anger, his wrath about sin. Leviticus 18. Does anybody remember when we read this chapter together here at our church a while ago? This chapter was eye opening. To many of us, unfortunately, a lot of churches, they don't preach from the law of Moses. A lot of Christians don't really read books like Leviticus these days, because they say it's ancient law of Israel. It doesn't apply to us anymore. We're not of the Old Covenant. We're in the new covenant with Jesus. And yes, that is true that we are in the new covenant with Jesus. But Jesus didn't come to abolish the law and the prophets, he came to what fulfill them. And this law doesn't just talk about Israel. In the law of Moses, God says how he feels about any nation, anywhere on planet Earth, at any time in history. God has one set of rules for all nations for all times, there are no favorites with God and the nation's. He's judging all the nations by his standard, and God tells us what his abominations are. These are the things that God hates. These are the things that God gets angry about. And when you do these things, you can guarantee it, it is money in the bank, it is as sure as the sunrise, when you do these things, God will be angry with you at that present time. His wrath will be revealed from heaven against you, when you do the things that he tells you not to do, he will be angry. And he says it here in Leviticus chapter 18. Look what the Lord spoke to Moses saying, “Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, I am the Lord your God, You shall not do as they do in the land of Egypt.” Don't be like the other nations where you live, “and you shall not do as they do in the land of Canaan, to which I am bringing you the promised land,” the land that we now know of as Israel. You shall not walk in their statutes if you're going to be my people. God's saying here to Israel. Don't be like they were in Egypt. And don't be like they are in Canaan. And he's saying you got to you got to live the way I'm going to tell you right now because I am the Lord your God. Now, God gets into some very graphic sins that he is in. No, he is just not okay with these things. Verse 6, All the way to verse 18 is about uncovering nakedness. It's basically that is inappropriate, you should not be uncovering nakedness. This is like a way to just go off on the idea of pornography, on the idea of looking at things that you should not be looking at, the lust of the eyes, it is very detailed, it is very specific, this kind of uncovering of nakedness is completely inappropriate. Then look at verse 19. And let's start reading here it says, “You shall not approach a woman to uncover her nakedness while she is in her menstrual uncleanness and, you shall not lie sexually with your neighbor's wife, and so make yourself unclean with her. You shall not give any of your children to offer them to Molech and so profane the name of your God, I am the Lord.” God is not okay with any sexual activity outside of marriage, can I get an Amen from the congregation? And they were ready to kill kids about sexual immorality here in Canaan and Egypt, like people are ready to do it today. And God says, Look what he said about it very clear in verse 21. Don't “give any of your children and offer them to Molech.” See, did you notice how even in Ephesians 5 or even if you go to Colossians 3:6 when it's saying sexual immorality, impurity, covetousness, and then it says this in parentheses, “which is idolatry.” See, that's what these idols Molech, this ancient idol, what that's all about, it's about getting God out of the way so you can do what you want. That's what idolatry is about. Let's worship somebody besides God, who doesn't get angry when we sin. Let's worship them, so then we can sin and not feel like God is getting angry. So Molech we can offer our kids to him in the fire and he approves of it, and he's not angry with us for doing that. That's the idea. Here it is in this passage, and look what God goes on to say, verse 22, you shall not lie with a male as with a woman, and here's the key phrase, it is an abomination. You shall not lie with any animal, and so make yourself unclean with it. Neither shall any woman give herself to an animal to lie with it, it is perversion. Do not make yourselves unclean by any of these things for all these nations, all the different nations in the land of Canaan, I am driving out before you have become unclean, and the land became unclean, so that I punished its iniquity and the land vomited out its inhabitants. But you shall keep my statutes and my rules and do none of this key word… What is it everybody? What? Abominations. That means these are the things that I hate. These are the things that make me angry. These are the things that my wrath will be revealed from heaven against this ungodliness and unrighteousness of men. God has been saying what it is inappropriate for nations to do from his original revelation here in the Law of Moses, he's been making it very clear. We have not heard it very clear. And we have not done a good job communicating it clearly. But these abominations are ones God hates something God's not cool with it later. Can I get an Amen from anybody on? If God says, this is inappropriate, it's, you can't say, well, it was back then. But now it's cool know, when God hates something, when he says something is wrong, that he's not okay with it. See, this is how it will be for all nations throughout history, and all the different boundaries that God has allotted for them at all the different times that God has allotted for them. These are the things that if a nation does these things, God will see them as an abomination in the land that they're in. And so, he says, verse 27, for the people of the land, this is why God sent the Israelites to Canaan, not because he picked them and he didn't pick somebody else. No, he sent Israel in to judge them because of what they were doing. For the people of the land who were before you did all of these abominations so that the land became unclean, lest the land vomit you out, when you make it unclean, as it vomited out the nation that was before you. For everyone who does any of these abominations, the persons who does them shall be cut off from among their people. So keep my charge never to practice any of these abominable customs that were practiced before you, and never make yourselves unclean by them. I am the Lord your God. Doesn't matter what I believe, doesn't matter what you believe. It is written. It is spoken, he has said it. This is the criteria by which people and nations of the earth will be judged.
Go back to Deuteronomy chapter 18. And look what it says here. Easy to remember; Leviticus 18 and Deuteronomy 18. And again, the bad news of God's wrath is always right next to the good news that God is sending His Son to save you and give you His righteousness. And so, Deuteronomy 18 is famous for the prophecy of the prophet that there's going to be someone like Moses who will come and he'll speak to us. And when we listen to him, we'll find the words of eternal life. So, there's a prophecy starting in verse 15 of Jesus coming to give us the words of eternal life so that we can be saved from the wrath of God, so that none of us will perish. But everyone who believes in the words of this Prophet Jesus will receive eternal life by faith. you will have the righteousness of God revealed to you. But before it gets to that it says this in Deuteronomy 18:9, when you come into the land, that the Lord your God is giving you, you shall not learn to follow the abominable practices of those nations. So, there's a clear warning here, there is a way that nations act that God hates, make sure you're not doing that. There shall not be found among you, anyone who burns his son or his daughter as an offering. Anyone who practices divination, or tells fortunes, or interprets omens, or a sorcerer, or a charmer, or a medium, or a necromancer, or one who inquires of the dead, for whoever does these things, is an abomination to the Lord. And because of these abominations, the Lord your God is driving them out before you so you shall be blameless before the Lord your God for these nations, which you are about to dispossess listen to fortune tellers, and to diviners. But as for you, the Lord your God has not allowed you to do this implication, don't create your own people to tell you what is right or wrong. Listen to what God says is right or wrong. Because God's wrath, his anger will be revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness. That is the issue. We are making this way too much an issue of what you believe versus what I believe. And what really trumps everybody's faith is what God has said. He is the One who created heaven and earth, and he gets to judge us, the living and the dead, according to his standard, not according to what we believe.
And that's the way we've got to approach this conversation. Because a lot of people don't know the God who gets angry, and we just start getting angry with them. Because they don't know maybe we need to really just let them hear from God Himself and introduce them to a real God who has wrath from heaven that's revealed against us. Go to Romans 1 because we want to pay attention. There's a reason we're only doing one verse, because this is the kind of stuff that's so easy for us to just skip right over. We're talking about the wrath of God; we're seeing that God gets angry. We're seeing that he's been this way since the beginning. And he's this way to this very day. In fact, John the Baptist came preaching, and he said, Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. And then he saw the religious leaders of the Jews of his day coming and he said, You brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the what? The Wrath. I mean, once you start looking for the anger, the wrath, once you start looking for what God hates, his indignation, his abomination, it is a theme of the Scripture that he has revealed to us. God is not ashamed of the fact that he is not okay with sin, and you should not be ashamed of that either. You should worship God for who he is.
I understand we all approach God's wrath for sin with a little bit of bias, I understand. Because we're all sinners, we all understand that we would experience judgment, that we would be wrong before God. And so, we're all a little bit hesitant to fully embrace the fact that God judges sin, because on some level, we know on some level in our conscience, that we are guilty of doing things wrong, but we need to see God for who he is. And he reveals himself as a God of wrath. But look what it says, pay close attention here. It says, “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all unrighteousness of men.” Is that what it says? No, it says two things. “It's revealed from heaven against all” what? “ungodliness and unrighteousness of men.” Now, I know for myself, I just kind of read that and think why did … that's Paul just throwing out extra words, right? I mean, Paul, why, why give us a sentence when a paragraph will do right? I mean, but this is how it works. See, this is the this is actually really helpful in thinking about why does God get angry against sin? Well, because sin actually works on multiple levels.
There are actually two levels that sin works on. First of all, sin is an offense to a holy God, it is against God and how He designed life and the commands that he has given. And then it is also not right down here on planet Earth. Sin is also affecting other people in our lives as we sin against them. And so, there is actually, when you think about it, wow, this is actually very profound, because God is angry, that we are sinning, one, in our ungodliness in a vertical way against him, and two, he's angry because of how our sin is taking advantage of or mistreating other people. And that also adds to his anger. Our sin is an offense to God. And oftentimes our sin causes other people to stumble, other people to sin. In fact, sometimes we are hating other people we are sinning with, even in sexual immorality, other people, and so it's unrighteous. It's not the right way to treat other people. And it's definitely not the right way to be before God. That's the issue. He takes it personal, and he wants to defend other people who are being oppressed and taken advantage of and abused. And so, these are the two reasons that God gets angry is because of ungodliness and unrighteousness. One of the main things that I hear many people saying today why sin is okay is because it's not – what? it's not hurting anybody. It's my own private decision about what I'm doing in my own life. And what I do in private, what I do in my own bedroom, what I do with my own people that I associate with, that's not that doesn't affect anybody else. It just affects me. That's one of the prevailing lines of thinking that is spreading in our country right now. And Romans 1:18 says, actually, when you choose to do that sin, it's actually hurting a lot of people, it's hurting God, and it's hurting other human beings. It's ungodliness and unrighteousness.
Go to Exodus chapter 20. Let's just go to familiar passage of the 10 commandments. And let's just see how these 10 commandments really break down. Let's try to really get this thought of ungodliness and unrighteousness. Let's try to really get this into our thinking. Because when we look at the 10 commandments, really a lot of people overlook the first four. If you ask people today, probably what is one of the 10 commandments, they'd be more likely to say something like, “Thou shalt not murder, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Honor thy father and mother.” But “Honor thy father and mother,” that's the fifth commandment. The first commandment with a promise, but look with me at the first four here. God spoke all these words. This is Exodus 20:1. God spoke all these words, saying, “I am the Lord your God, who” and notice, there's always good news right next to these statements. I'm the one who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery, God's the one who delivered them when they were crying out for salvation. So, here's what he says, verse 3, “you shall have no other gods before me.” That's number one, no other gods. Number two, you shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above or that is an earth beneath or that is in the water under the earth, you shall not bow down to them or serve them. For I the LORD your God. What kind of a God does he say he is, everybody? Don't be ashamed of it, because he's not. This is how he's introducing himself. First thing that was ever written down as a revelation from God was what was written on the two tablets of stone. And the first attribute that God actually reveals to us on the first written revelation on that first tablet of stone is God says, I am a jealous God, I made you to worship me. That's why you have life. That's why he intimately formed you in your mother's womb. That's why everyone here is handcrafted by the Creator is you were made to worship Him. And so, he says, I am a jealous God. So don't make any other images. Because what I do is I visit the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me, but I show steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments. Here's God introducing himself right away. I made you to worship me. And make no mistake about it. I will judge sin, but also I'm ready to forgive. I have steadfast love for those who come to me. Here he is revealing himself. Now, third commandment, verse 7, you shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain. How's that going? In America, you shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes His name in vain. Come now, commandment number 4, Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. And this was, now I know the Sabbath was about not working. That's what we think. But look at verse 11. For in six days, the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea and all that is in them and rested on the seventh day. Therefore, the Lord blessed the Sabbath day, and made it holy, the point of having the seventh day off a day to rest. The point was to remember your God. It wasn't just like, don't work, and physically rest, it wasn't just like, don't work and do whatever you want for a day. It wasn't like don't work, so you can go do all your errands and rush around and do all the chores. The point of not working on the Sabbath was to set apart the day to remember God, your Creator and your Savior.
Every time that we choose to sin, you better believe that God sees it as ungodliness, as a rejection of his personal creation of your life. There is no such thing as a sin that is not affecting anyone because every sin affects God. And God is a real person, whether we believe in him or not. He is the one who made us. And when we put things before him, he is affected by ungodliness. That's a key word that it says there. It's not just the fact that you're not doing what is right. It's not just the fact that you're not keeping the command. It's not just the fact that your own actions might actually be dragging someone else down with you, it is first of all, missing the point of life on planet Earth. That we were all designed, and placed here by a Creator, who designed the life so that we would find maximum satisfaction, the fullness of joy, peace, and life forevermore. And it's all found in worshiping Him. So anytime you say, while I'm going to do this sin, one that's acting like you're forgetting why who God is and why he made you. Then, yes, your sin as we continue to go here through Exodus 20. Your sin affects other people in your life. In fact, your sin definitely affects your family. They're the first people that's brought into it. I mean, a foolish son brings so much grief to his mother and a disobedient son is such a heavy burden on his father. I mean, sin definitely affects our family. I mean, murder, we can clearly see how that affects somebody else, committing adultery, we can clearly see, that's not right, you got up in front of all your family and friends, and you said to you, and you only until death do us part. Like that's affecting a lot of people stealing, that's clearly affecting someone else lying that's clearly affecting whoever you're talking to coveting, seeing what somebody else has, and instead of cheering for them, you want to take it from them. See godliness, and unrighteousness. Our sin is against God and others. It does not exist in some kind of moral vacuum, where it's just up to me whether I want to sin or not. This is why God gets angry, he gets angry, specifically, at the ungodliness and unrighteousness of men. And so, have you learned in your life to be sorry about your sin? Have you learned to defend your sin and to act like you're free to do whatever you want? And it's up to you? And who really has authority over you? And who can really tell you what to do? Or have you learned that everything you do does affect other people? And particularly, everything you say, Think or do is between you and God the only one who is always with you. Always watching? See, I think we don't understand that God sees us for who we really are 24/7. God has everything you've done written down in a book. Like we think the idea of constant surveillance. That's creepy. No, that's God, everyone. Again, God knows you. We see this if you're reading through Matthew with us, if you're reading through Mark with us, as we go through these books of the Bible, like Jesus is hearing conversations that are out of earshot. Jesus is answering people's thoughts right over there. Like a guy can come to Jesus and say, How do I get eternal life and Jesus knows exactly the thing, keeping this guy from eternal life is his desire to be rich and his love of money. And Jesus can just say to the guy piercing to his soul, cutting straight to his heart, like nobody else could ever say to this man, Jesus says, You got to sell everything you've got, brother. I mean, Jesus already knows before you even speak what's in your heart. And He knows whether you're really sorry. He knows whether you actually don't just feel bad when you sin, but you actually have this, this godly grief that leads you to repentance, where you, you get so sick of your sin, you begin to agree with God about your sin, you begin to confess to God that the way God thinks about your sin is how your sin really is, that God has this whole time been right about your sin, and you've been wrong about your sin, and you're changing your mind about your sin to say, you were right to be angry with me, you would be right to judge me for this. In fact, every time that I did this, if you were displeased with it, I can see why you would be right to think that and so I'm agreeing now with you about my sin. And I'm sorry that I did it. And I'm begging you, will you please forgive me? Because I don't want to do that anymore. So, have you had a change of heart about your sin? Are you still trying to convince yourself somehow deep down that God is still somehow okay with your sin? Or have you come to the full realization that God is not okay with my sin? And you know what, I'm not okay with it either. See, that's repentance. That's, that's the change of mind. That's the new heart of Jesus Christ. God, I agree with you, all those things are wrong. And I'm asking you to forgive me. Because I don't want to be that way towards you. And I don't want to be that way towards other people. And I need you to do a real change in my life. I need your power. I need your righteousness. See, then you start seeing why Jesus coming to save you is the best news you've ever heard. Because God is angry at your sin, and you have sinned. And here comes Jesus coming to save you.
See, the question number two that we have is: Have you had a change of heart about sin? Are you still defending your ungodliness? And your unrighteousness? Are you still blaming God? Are you still blame shifting to other people? Are you still pointing the finger? Are you still defending yourself? Or have you come to realize that everything God says about sin is true? And it's not only true in general, it's true specifically about me.
Go over to Mark chapter 12. That's what we just read on our scripture of the day. If you're reading with us, you might have read this just yesterday, because in Mark chapter 12, they're coming to stump Jesus. And one guy who maybe is actually asking a sincere question here, it seems because Jesus by the end of this says, this man is not far from the kingdom of God. This is Mark 12:28, where this this scribe, he came up as he's seeing that the Pharisees are trying to stump Jesus, the Sadducees are trying to stump Jesus. Well, this guy he comes and he asked an interesting question, which commandment is the most important of all, I mean, so many things in the Law of Moses, which, which is the greatest commandment? And you might already know the answer, and where this is going, but this guy's thinking, this is a stump Jesus kind of a question, because how could you pick one commandment to be the one out of them all? How could you possibly do that? And look what Jesus says, Jesus answered, the most important is and he quotes Deuteronomy 6:4, “Hear, O Israel, the LORD our God, the Lord is one.” Jesus doesn't answer the question by well, you believe this, but I believe this. No, let me just go straight to what God said. That's how we're going to answer questions. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength. That's the greatest commandment. See, what he just said, right? There is the opposite of ungodliness. Instead of taking my life from God, and acting like I can just take the money and run, I can just go and do whatever I want with my life. No. What is the greatest commandment? What's the real change of heart? What's the real turnaround is with when I decide that I'm going to do everything I possibly can in my heart, soul, mind and strength, all that I am. I'm just going to love God , my life is going to be a response of worship. To my Creator, my life is going to be lived for the one who saved my soul and everything I've got, instead of taking it for me, I'm giving it all back to him. That's the opposite of ungodliness. That's a godly life. That saying, God is now my first and foremost priority. He's my driving passion, he is my heartbeat. Everything I'm doing is for God. That's the greatest commandment. And the second is this, you shall love your neighbor as yourself. There is no other commandment greater than these, once you realize that your sin is against God. And it does really affect other people in a very negative way, perhaps to the third and the fourth generation, it could affect them. See, then you turn from all that ungodliness and all that unrighteousness. And then you see what the greatest commandments are, I got to love God, and put him is more important than myself. And I got to love other people and treat them as more important than myself. See, that's the real change of heart.
A lot of people they know their sin is wrong. And they'll say, they're sorry, but they're not really sorry enough to turn from the sin, to loving God and loving other people. And I'm asking you here today, is God still angry with you and your ungodliness and your unrighteousness? Even at this present hour? Or have you seen God change your heart? Have you seen the power of the Spirit work in your life have? Have you seen Jesus Christ make you a new creation, so that you can really say today, not that you're perfect, but that you now are not in it against God and against other people for yourself, but that you are now for God and for other people, even more than yourself? See, that's the opposite of ungodliness and unrighteousness of men. See, here's Jesus given it to this, this man a yeah, let me take you from the way that people live for themselves, and let me turn you to God, and let me turn you to others. That's the way God has always been commanding us. And have you heard the commands of God been convicted of your sin, agreed with God, that you are in sin, and turn to him. And if you have not, this could be your chance.
Go back to Romans chapter 1. And look what it says here, the last phrase of our verse that we're looking at, because it says that there is a truth that is being suppressed, this unrighteousness, this ongoing sin, the fact that people are not turning to God, and they'll know they're continuing and in there, in fact, they're, they're so in their sin that God is giving them up even to more sin, and to more sin and to more sin. We'll see what that unrighteousness is doing. Is it suppressing the truth? the Greek word here for suppress, it's like it's holding it down, it's holding it back. See, it is just another reason that God gets so angry about the acceptance of sin. This is another reason that God has wrath when people act like they can do whatever they want in his world, and they can treat other people however they want. And it's their life. And it's their rights. And it's their choice, and it's up to them to do whatever they want. Well, why does God get so angry at that? Because there's actually an awesome truth that's supposed to be known by everyone, and in their unrighteousness, they are holding down the truth. See, sin is covering up what is real, what is true. So many are blinded, so many can’t hear the truth. Well, what is the truth? Well, if you come back next week, we're going to get into the fact that the truth of God is self-evident. Can I get an Amen from anybody on that? We don't have to prove God. He is. That's what we're going to see next week, if you come back. Verse 19, for what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. And we're going to see his invisible. If you come back next week, you're going to see His invisible attributes. That's what it says. I'll tell you who God is. And in fact, everybody's without excuse. The truth. It's right there. There is God. Now he's going to develop that thought through the rest of chapter 1. But then in chapter 2, he's going to take it to the future wrath. And then in chapter 3, he's going to take us to the truth that Romans is really about. So, in our immediate context of chapter 1, the truth is that there is a God in the whole book of Romans, in all of the chapters. The truth is that there is a God, and we have sin. And so, God sent His Son Jesus to make us right with Him by being the propitiation for our sin. That's the truth. It's being suppressed. How many people today are railing against God, hating God, like God's a big meanie guy, he’s got all these rules. God's so against us! When the truth is, God sent His one and only Son to die for that person’s sin. See in their ungodliness and unrighteousness, they are holding down the truth that could set them free.
Look at Romans chapter three, look what it says here. When we finally get back to the good news and it starts to get revealed to us, it says in Romans 3:23, a very famous verse, that we're going to know very well by the time we're done with this study, if we stick with it. For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, but we are justified. That's what we learned last week, declared righteous by His grace as a gift through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood to be received, by how, everybody? By faith. Okay, so God has solved the problem that we have with God. God is not just angry while you were learning, he is angry. But he's not just angry. He's angry at our ungodliness and unrighteousness. But what he did is he set forth his one and only Son to be a propitiation. Now, I heard somebody the other day here at the church, that word all of a sudden it comes up every once in a while “propitiation,” and somebody was like, I know what that word means, right? And, and they were like, hey, we're excited to know what it means. Do you know what a propitiation is? Let's put it up here on the screen so you can write down the definition. “Propitiation is an atoning sacrifice that appeases or satisfies the wrath of God.” That's what it is. Propitiation means that God's wrath has been satisfied. So, God has wrath, the wrath is at our ungodliness, and our unrighteousness. But God puts forward his son, and the atoning sacrifice of His body, the shedding of His righteous blood, when Jesus dies. That is the truth, the way, the life, and when Jesus dies, God is now satisfied that our sin has been paid for. Can I get an Amen from the congregation?
So, yes, God is angry at sin every day and has indignation towards the wicked. And, yes, we have sin for which we will be judged. But the good news is that God already judged his son for your sin, and his wrath has already been satisfied by Jesus, and everybody who keeps railing against God, and everybody who keeps continuing in sin, is holding down the glorious truth that God had through his son has already done all the work to save all of us from our sin. But we would rather keep on sinning. And we would rather keep blaming God. And, my friends, Roe v. Wade may have been overturned this week, but I don't think that's turned around in America this week. Not based on what I'm hearing. Right now, where you live, every day, the truth is being suppressed. And here's what's really sad is, some of us are a part of the suppression. Some of us are ashamed of this truth, or some of us are continuing in sin. So, we don't even really enjoy and know this truth. The truth, that all of the hatred, all of the animosity, all that people are raging about, right now, it's all already been satisfied. It's already been paid for. It's all done. The righteous blood is in the heavenly bank. Everybody who comes by faith, you could have righteousness revealed to you, instead of wrath revealed to you. That truth is being held down by our unrighteousness.
You can write down John 3:19-20, where it says, “And this is the judgment that the Light has come into the world and people love the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked things, hates the light and does not come to the light lest his work should be exposed.” Why are people not coming to the light? See people have a bias. People want to keep sinning, they want to take their life and do what they want with it. They want to take the money, the life that God has given them, so to speak, and they want to run with it. When really the light is there right now, the light is already shining. People are railing against the truth. Turn with me in 1 Timothy 2. Here's a way that it describes the truth. And we need to just see this here that this is for all people. This is the truth that is meant for every man, woman, and child to know. We're supposed to go make disciples of all nations, we're supposed to preach repentance and forgiveness of sin, in Jesus name to all people, to every nation, tribe, and tongue to America here in this day. At this time, every single soul needs to know we're supposed to be praying for people. And then it says in 1 Timothy 2:3, “This is good and it is pleasing in the sight of God, our Savior, who desires all people to be what does it say everybody saved.” Does God want people to be judged? Okay, so you got to make that clear. Is he angry about people’s sin? Does he want to judge them? That's why he hasn't yet. He's giving them an opportunity to repent, he's being patient with them. Because God doesn't want to judge people. He wants to save them. That's why He sent His one and only son. In fact, it says here in verse 4, “who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the what? The truth, the truth that should be self-evident, that should be exalted, that should be lifted so high, so everybody could see the name of Jesus, the one name given among men under heaven by which anybody can be saved. And here's where the name of Jesus should be. But our unrighteousness is holding it down and suppressing it. So, it says, in Verse 5, “there is one God and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself as a ransom for who doesn't say he gave himself as a ransom” for who? “for all.” The offer is on the table, that the wrath has already been satisfied. Everything that's been done, could be forgiven right here, right now. All you got to do is stop being angry at God and agree that God is right to be angry at your sin, and confess your sin to God. When you see Jesus on that cross, you see perfectly, both the wrath of God, I mean, Jesus is crying out, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me.” The rhetorical question that comes to every one of us here tonight, Why did Jesus get forsaken so that we could be forgiven. That's why? Because God already gave all the wrath for your sin, all of his anger, all that he felt about those things that the ungodliness and the unrighteousness that you have done, he poured out all that wrath on his Son, Jesus, and he's ready to give everyone who comes to Him in faith, you get the righteousness that Jesus earned, and Jesus gets the wrath that you’ve earned. That's good news. That's the truth that Jesus has already offered Himself as a ransom for all.
Point number three: Stop the suppression by sharing the truth. Stop the suppression by sharing the truth. Let's get our lives that we know the truth, the truth will set us free. We abide in Jesus. And in his words, he will set us apart from sin, we will start giving glory to God, we will start walking in ways of righteousness, and people will see by our redeemed lives, people will see by the words coming out of our mouth, we will both show and tell everybody the truth, that there is good news that all of your sin can be paid for by Jesus, the wrath of God against you has been satisfied, there is propitiation for our sins through the blood of Jesus. That's the message we're here to give. And now is the time that you … we didn't get to choose the time that we would live if we didn't get to choose what would happen. When we gather together as a church, here in Huntington Beach, we don't get to often choose our places, and our times God chooses those for us. And we have been here sent here we are living here right now for such a time as this. And America needs to see Christians that don't think they're better than their fellow Americans, because of what we believe. America needs to see Christians that love them enough to share with them what God says, no matter what anybody believes. That's what they need to see from us. And you can show them that you know who God is, and what he says as you live your new life in Jesus Christ. And so, we want to take communion together.
Go over to Romans chapter 5 with me. And let me just show you how this thought is going to keep developing. We want to take some time as we gathered to learn about this verse about the wrath of God against ungodliness and unrighteousness. We want to celebrate the truth. And the truth is Look at Romans 5:8, “but God shows His love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since therefore we have now been justified by His blood, much more shall we be saved by Him from the wrath of God.” Anybody here tonight, know one hundred percent that you will never experience the wrath of God on your life because Jesus has already paid for your sin as a propitiation, and he will save you from God's wrath. See, that's good news. Oh, it might be a hard truth to understand that God has wrath, and His wrath is directed against my ungodliness and my own righteousness. That might be a hard truth to believe. But then when you realize that Jesus already shed his blood to pay for your sin, and will for sure, save everyone who believes in Him from the wrath of God, both present and future. See, that's the best news you've ever heard.
And that's what a lot of people they need to see it. And they need to hear it right here where we're living today. If you got the bulletin, we put George Washington there on the cover, everybody. Our first president, we like to throw out quotes like this. We've done this throughout the history of our church. And this, this quote from George Washington, our first president, and it says “It is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey his will, to be grateful for his benefits, and humbly to implore his protection and favor.” And his first speech as our president, George Washington, who's an eyewitness, he was there at the beginning of our nation, we all know that about George Washington. He said that, hey, you can't really see how America came to be without seeing the hand of God has been in the foundation of this nation. Now, a lot of people thought that back at the beginning of America, a lot of people acknowledge the existence of God, a lot of people might have even acknowledged the sin that they were in now, those foundational thoughts that there clearly is a God, and that we have all fallen short of His glory in sin. Those foundational thoughts have been greatly eroded since the time of George Washington. And if you keep coming back over the next few weeks, we're going to just watch how that happened. And as we go through Romans 1, it'll be like going through American history because the thought that there is a God and that we're sinners, that thought is really leaving our culture. But even though George Washington knew there was a God and knew there was sin, that doesn't mean he believed in Jesus Christ as his Savior. In fact, George Washington, when he went to church, and my dad was just telling me about this. He told me this story. And it was in this, this book by Greg Fraser, that he shared with me and George Washington, he would go to church where he was a regular attender at church. He would go with Mrs. Washington to hear the sermon. And one of the things they noticed about George Washington is that when it came time for communion, when there came time for the congregation to take the Lord's Supper, George Washington was gone by that point of the service. In fact, this was so noticeable. You can imagine if George Washington went to your church, you'd probably know where he sat, right? I mean, we got the president come into our church, that seems like a big deal. And so, people started to notice and make comments about the fact that our president doesn't stick around for communion at church, to which the pastor and I read a quote from the pastor of the church, where he preached a sermon about how people should be examples, especially people of a high station in society should wink wink wink, people like that should be examples, especially when it comes to taking communion at the church. Can you imagine that one that George Washington was doing that, too, that the pastor preached like that to George Washington, in the church? And, and in the in the book that I was reading, the quote from the pastor is that George Washington went and had a conversation about it, that came back to the pastor, and George Washington is like, you know, I really heard a good sermon the other day, and the sermon really rebuked me for not being a good example. And, you know, I'd never really thought about how my example could influence others. And so, I really heard that reproof in the sermon. And so, from that time on, whenever there was going to be communion at church, George Washington didn't go to church at all that day.
So we're not trying to get America to believe in God. We're not trying to get America to agree that we have sin. We're trying to get America to see that only through the body and the blood of Jesus, is there any hope of God's wrath being satisfied for our sins? And so, I'm telling you there is a way that you will never experience God's anger for your sin. There is a way that all the ungodliness all the unrighteousness that you have done, can be forgiven, it can be erased, it can be blotted out, it can be as if it was never even done. And the way is through the propitiation of Jesus, that Jesus is the atoning sacrifice that satisfies the wrath of God, Jesus's blood pays for your sin, and it pays for it all. Can I get an Amen from anybody? Okay, so we're not hoping that you're going to be like George Washington and never come to our church again, okay? We want you to be here with us. We want you to know that your sin is forgiven, we want you to know that there is no condemnation, no judgment, no wrath coming for you, because you know, your Savior, Jesus. And so, everybody, we're going to do a song right now to give you a chance to think about this. And then I'm going to come back and we're going to take communion together. And this is for those of us who have turned from our sins to believe in Jesus. This is a way that we lift the name of Jesus high, and we proclaim His death until He comes, as we eat the bread and we drink the cup, we celebrate the fact that Jesus is my propitiation, he satisfied God's wrath for me. So, if you're a brother or sister in Christ, I want to encourage you that you will never experience the wrath of God. And that's why we love Jesus because of what he did for us. And so, we're going to have a song about how Jesus took the wrath for us. And I encourage you to worship Jesus during this song, to pray to Jesus during the song. And when we take communion together, that will be us as a response to what we've heard here today, giving Jesus the glory and lifting his name high. Now, if you have not yet believed in Jesus, if you have not yet agreed that you are ungodly, and are unrighteous, and God is right to be angry with you, you don't need to take communion, you need Jesus Himself. And so I want to encourage you don't just leave church and feel some kind of rebuke, or don't just leave church and be like, Yeah, I guess that is who God is. And I guess sin really is bad. No, it's not just knowing about who God is. And knowing what sin is. It's about knowing Jesus who gives us eternal life, who paid for our sins. I can't tell you how awesome it is, I wish I could describe to those who don't believe in Jesus, I wish I could describe to you what it's like to wake up every day and know you are right with God. But you won't have it revealed to you until you respond in faith. And this is your time. This is your hour. The reason that all this is happening isn't because God wants to come and judge us. It's so God could save you right now. That's why you're here. Let me pray for us.
Father in heaven, we just confess that sometimes we have been ashamed of who you really are. We confess that that many of us Christians, all throughout the United States of America, we have been dumbing down who you really are that you are a God of wrath, and that your wrath is revealed against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men. And so, God, we thank you that we could hear from your word, who you really are here tonight. And I pray that no one here would shy away from who you are, that no one here would be ashamed of you. But that we would say Yes, there is a God who is in heaven. And He's angry with the wicked every day, that He does get mad at the abominations of the nations. And this guard, He is going to give us over to our sin. If we continue in it this guy, He's got a day of wrath where He's coming to judge everyone according to what they have done. But this God loved us so much that he didn't want to judge us. But he desires all of us to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth that He sent His one and only son, his son that he was so pleased with his son that he loved perfectly his son that he was with for all of eternity past He sent His one and only Son to take our place to take our wrath to take the judgment that we deserve for our sin. Not because Jesus is our propitiation, because he's the atoning sacrifice in his body. Because he's the one who redeemed us through his blood, that we will never be judged. And all of our sin will be forgiven. God, we pray that we would be bold to tell people who you are. We pray that we will show people who you are, that we will not suppress the truth, and are in righteousness. But we will show that the truth has set us free from sin and it no longer has sway over our souls. It no longer has power over our lives, and that we can now live a new way because we know Jesus. So, Father, we have gathered here tonight to worship you for who you are the God of wrath, and the God of steadfast love. And the God who sent your son in your love to take that wrath for us. We worship you now in the name of Jesus.