By
1.
INTRO:
1.1.
In our last study, we looked
at the first twelve verses of chapter 1 and the introduction to the book of
Romans.
1.1.1. In our last study, we observed how that Paul began the epistle stating
his name, and we observed that this fact proved his authorship of the book.
1.1.2. We observed how that the book was a general epistle written to the
Romans in a general sense probably because Paul had never been to the church
and did not really know what was going on in people’s lives.
1.1.3. We saw also that the book touched the widest range of doctrinal issues
including to some degree every major doctrine of the Christian faith.
1.1.4. We saw that Paul expressed the greatest of love for the Romans as he
told them that he was constantly thinking of and praying for them and that he
intended to come to them in person soon.
He was then writing the letter so that he might find some sort of way to
bless the church and edify them before he began his trip to see them.
1.2.
In our study today, we are
going to look at verses 13 through 20 of chapter 1.
1.2.1. We will see in this study how that Paul told the Romans how that he was
always ready and desiring to share the gospel with others because he was not
ashamed of the gospel since he knew that it contained the power of God unto
salvation.
1.2.2. Next, Paul will begin to discuss how that God’s wrath is always growing
against those who live in sin and rebel against Him and His rule over their
lives.
1.2.3. We will discuss what God’s wrath involves as well as why it is
important for the church to teach about not only God’s love for mankind but
also the fact that He must punish sin because He is a God of wrath also.
2. VS 1:13 - “13 Now
I do not want you to be unaware, brethren, that I often planned to come to you
(but was hindered until now), that I might have some fruit among you also, just
as among the other Gentiles.” - Paul tells the Romans at the church that in
the past he had often planned to come and to visit them
2.1.
The Romans may have questioned how much Paul loved
them as well as his sincerity in often saying that he wanting to come to them,
because of the fact that he had not as yet come to them. However, Paul tells the Romans that he really
had wanted to come to them for a long time, but he had always been hindered
from being able to do so.
2.2.
Paul tells them again that he desired to come to them
in order to ‘obtain some fruit among’ them, just as he had been used
greatly in other Gentile churches. Paul
so wanted to help edify and build up this very important city located right in
the very capital of the world.
3. VS 1:14 - “14 I
am a debtor both to Greeks and to barbarians, both to wise and to unwise.” - Paul tells the Romans that he
knew he was a debtor to Greeks and barbarians, wise and unwise
3.1.
Paul knew that he had a great debt to all men to
preach the gospel and build up the church in her faith. Having received the tremendous mercy of God
after being such a horrible sinner and persecutor of the church, and having
inherited the most awesome of blessings from God in his life, Paul knew that he
had a tremendous responsibility to give to others what the Lord had given to
him, to bless others as the Lord had blessed him.
3.2.
In this verse, Paul creates two opposite extremes in
speaking of two different categories of people.
‘Greeks’ represented those who were the most cultured of all of
the people on the earth. ‘Barbarians’
represented those who were the least cultured of all people. The Romans had inherited most of the Greek
culture, so Paul was not offending them in saying this. Paul is really just saying that he was “a
debtor to all men.”
3.3.
‘Wise’ perhaps represented those who were most
educated according to the standards of this world, as was the case in Paul’s
life.
3.4.
‘Foolish’ represented those who were the least
educated according to the standards of this world. Paul knew that Christ was for all men,
therefore he was for all men. He was
debtor to preach the gospel to all, regardless of their culture, heritage, or
station in life.
3.5.
In our evangelism efforts, I believe we Christians
ought to concentrate on those who will be most responsive to the gospel, and go
to them. From them, our testimony will
be the most fruitful. These are the
people that we pray to find and for God to lead our way to share with when we
go out on visitation with our Evangelism Explosion teams each week. Unfortunately however, the church has often
times in futility spent much of its energies trying to woo those who are of
high station in this world, the famous, the rich, the successful, etc. The fishing is much better if you share the
gospel with ordinary and needy people.
3.6.
Jesus told His disciples that the fields are white
unto harvest in this world, but the problem is that there are few
laborers. When we become equipped to
share the gospel and then simply go out and talk with people it is amazing how
that spiritually lost people often respond positively to the gospel and receive
the free gift of eternal life in Christ Jesus.
4. VS 1:15 - “15 So,
as much as is in me, I am ready to preach the gospel to you who are in
4.1.
Paul was always ready, willing, and eager to preach
the gospel, and he desired to do just that in
4.2.
We Christians ought to always be not only reading and
willing to preach the gospel to the lost, but also ‘eager’ to joyfully
announce the “good news” far and abroad to all who will listen to
us. Paul told Timothy to preach the word
both in season and out of season. Paul
said of himself, “Woe unto me if I do not preach the gospel,” as he had
such a great burden and desire to tell the message.
5. VS 1:16 - “16 For
I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to
salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek.” - Paul tells the Romans that he
is not ashamed of the gospel of Christ because it is the power of God for
salvation
5.1.
Paul was not ashamed of the message of the gospel
because he knew personally of the power that it had to bring people to
salvation. As Jon Courson says, “The
gospel did not talk about the ‘power of God for salvation’ it is the ‘power of
God for salvation.’”
5.2.
The gospel opens the door for all people on all parts
of the earth to come to know the Lord.
Jesus told His disciples that we are all called to be His witnesses in
all the world and thus we all must tell others about how they can come to
salvation in Christ: Acts 1:8, “8 but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon
you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and
Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth.” Being a witness for Christ and sharing the gospel is not
limited to those who have the gift of evangelism.
5.3.
We sometimes take for granted this word ‘salvation’
or “being saved,” however what it refers to is the experience of someone
being rescued from his sin and transformed through the regenerating power of
the Holy Spirit in his life, as he yields to Jesus Christ to be his Lord and
Savior. It not only implies rescue from
the present ‘power’ of sin experienced in our day to day lives, it also
implies receiving “eternal salvation,” which a Christian is guaranteed
upon receiving Christ as Lord and Savior.
5.4.
“Eternal salvation” means to be rescued from
the “presence” of sin for all of eternity, which all true Christians
will experience when Jesus comes for them either at their death or when He
returns personally to rapture from the earth those who at that time remain
alive. All true Christians will spend
eternity with God in heaven, separated from the presence of sin.
5.5.
Many churches have made a fatal mistake in trying to
clothe the gospel of Christ in something that it is not, or in trying to
somehow change the nature of the message of the gospel in order to make it more
appealing to the people of this world.
For instance, one church I know of has changed the requirement of “repentance
of sin” necessary in order to be saved to be to “have a positive
self-image.” This idea initially
caught on and many people flocked to the church only to have pseudo-conversions
to Christianity. However, if we change
the gospel message, people will not be genuinely saved as a result of a
watered-down gospel, and the church itself will suffer from a gospel that can
not save its people from the power of sin today.
5.6.
We Christians need to be encouraged that in our day as
well as any other it is the gospel itself that is ‘the power of God for
salvation.’ Since we want to see
people gloriously saved from their sin and brought to walk in that newness of
life that only a relationship with Christ can bring, then we ought not to
shrink back from declaring to all the message of the wondrous and great love of
God displayed and offered to all men through God giving His only-begotten Son
to die for the sins of mankind.
6. VS 1:17 - “17 For
in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is
written, “The just shall live by faith.”” - Paul tells the Romans that in the gospel ‘the
righteousness of God is revealed’
6.1.
In our first study it was mentioned that the major
theme of the book of Romans is ‘the righteousness of God’ and here we
see the theme introduced.
6.2.
The gospel reveals ‘the righteousness of God.’ God is totally holy. It is man’s sin that has separated him from
God, since God is totally holy and cannot have sin in His presence. It is man’s sin that has caused him all the
problems that he has gotten into.
6.3.
God is totally holy and righteous and mankind is a
sinful race. Coming to salvation is the process of a sinful person being able to
come into the presence of and fellowship with a holy God.
6.4.
Some people believe that God winks at man’s sin, and
thus He overlooks it in order to forgive men.
Other people believe that Jesus is merciful and God the Father is full
of wrath. Jesus talked God into being
merciful to men, and in that way He bribed God from exhibiting His wrath, which
He really wanted to do. Neither of these
reasonings are true.
6.5.
The scriptures teach us that it was Jesus’ death for
mankind that totally satisfied God’s righteousness, being the propitiation
(full payment) for man’s sin. God’s
wrath against sin was poured out completely upon His Son, and God the Father is
completely satisfied by the sacrifice of His Son for our sins. Therefore, if any person receives Jesus as
His Lord and Savior, the ‘righteousness of God’ is completely satisfied
in the sacrifice of Jesus, and that person is completely forgiven of his sins
and given eternal life.
6.6.
Paul writes that salvation is entered into by men
through ‘faith’ in Jesus Christ as one’s Lord and Savior, apart from the
works of the Law. Salvation is a gift
through God’s grace, not through any works that man might try to perform.
6.7.
This phrase ‘the righteous man’ is also
translated as ‘the just’” since the root of the Greek word is the word
for “justification.”
6.8.
God in judicial decree declares His people to be in
fact ‘righteous’ and therefore ‘without blame.’ God does this because He imputes the
righteousness of Christ to believers, and Jesus is the One who fully kept all
of God’s laws and therefore fully satisfied the standard of God’s
righteousness. God forgives a believer’s
sin and likewise forgets any wrong that he has done, and thereby a believer is
restored to an experience of relationship with God which is just like it would
have been had Adam and Even never sinned in the Garden of Eden.
6.9.
The phrase ‘from faith to faith’ has been
variously interpreted. Some have taught
that it refers to a progression of growth in faith that a Christian
experiences, and that with each step of growth that the believer takes God
reveals more of what true ‘righteousness’ is. However, what it probably refers to is that
faith is the agent by which a person enters into “justification,” which
is itself a “life of faith.” Its
as if Paul says that faith is all that there is, and that a man obtains his “justification”
through faith in Christ who imputes to him His righteousness, since he has none
of his own, and that there is no way that he will ever be righteous in and of
himself. Our faith in Christ places in a
position of faith or a “life of faith.”
6.10.
Christians enter into their relationship with God
solely on the basis of faith, however many times at some point they find that
they have begun to live in a works relationship with God subsequent to
salvation. They are trying so hard to
fulfill every commandment of God in order to win His approval, when instead they
should just be standing in wonder marveling at the greatness of God in still
accepting them completely through Christ.
Paul wrote to the Galatians about how that they subsequent to salvation
had come to begin to live on a works basis with God: Gal. 3:1-3, “3:1 You
foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was
publicly portrayed as crucified? 2 This is the only thing I want to find out
from you: did you receive the Spirit by the works of the Law, or by hearing
with faith? 3 Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being
perfected by the flesh?”
6.11.
When we as people come to the place in our life that
we realize that through Jesus and He alone that we are no more under the
condemnation of God for any of our sins, then we are set free, and, then we cannot
help but be transformed by the powerful grace of God that is now working
through our life. If we will just stop
trying to make ourselves righteous in God’s eyes, stop trying to establish a
relationship with Him based upon the righteousness of our own works, and just
accept the righteousness which the gospel declares is our possession through
receiving Jesus Christ as our Lord and our Savior, then we shall receive ‘salvation,’
and we shall be forever dramatically transformed through the power of God’s
love and grace.
7. VS 1:18 - “18 For
the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and
unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness,” - Paul tells us that God’s
wrath is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of
men
7.1.
Paul goes immediately from telling us that he was not
ashamed of the gospel to speaking of God’s wrath, for one of the reasons Paul
was not ashamed of the gospel was that he also knew of God’s wrath.
7.2.
The Bible is full of scriptures which depict the fact
that the Lord is a God of ‘wrath.’
‘Wrath’ is one of God’s characteristics just as are “love”
and “mercy.”
7.3.
Before beginning his expounding to us concerning what
the gospel is and what it consists of, Paul knows that he must first tell us
about God’s ‘wrath.’ In the
Bible, we see over and over again that people are first confronted by God with
their being sinners and deserving of judgment, before the Lord shows them the
way out, the way of forgiveness and restoration. The covenant of grace did not come first, but
that of law, and it is only because law was first given that mankind can
appreciate grace.
7.4.
One principle that we see that Jesus implemented when
talking with people was that He always spoke God’s Law to the proud and mighty,
and He reserved speaking of “grace” to those who were humble and
downcast.
7.4.1. In Matt.
19:16-22, the proud rich young ruler was an example of Jesus using Law when
speaking to men, “16 And behold, one came to Him and said, “Teacher, what
good thing shall I do that I may obtain eternal life?” 17 And He said to him,
“Why are you asking Me about what is good? There is only One who is good; but
if you wish to enter into life, keep the commandments.” 18 He *said to Him,
“Which ones?” And Jesus said, “You shall not commit murder; You shall not
commit adultery; You shall not steal; You shall not bear false witness; 19
Honor your father and mother; and You shall love your neighbor as
yourself.” 20 The young man *said to
Him, “All these things I have kept; what am I still lacking?” 21 Jesus said to
him, “If you wish to be complete, go and sell your possessions and give to the
poor, and you shall have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.” 22 But when
the young man heard this statement, he went away grieved; for he was one who
owned much property.””
7.4.2. In John
8:10-11, the story of the humbled and downcast woman who was caught in adultery
was an example of how Jesus spoke grace to a person, “10 And straightening
up, Jesus said to her, “Woman, where are they? Did no one condemn you?” 11 And
she said, “No one, Lord.” And Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you; go your
way. From now on sin no more.””
7.5.
Churches today have gotten away from teaching about
God’s “wrath.” Thinking that to
teach about “wrath” is a negative or “turn-off,” they have taught
and preached that people should come to Jesus because He will enhance their
life. This teaching produces false
conversions, and many who will fall away as soon as some persecution or
temptation occurs.
7.6.
It is so important for a person to understand the
wrath of God. Unless a person
understands the wrath of God from the scriptures then he cannot appreciate the
gospel message, he cannot appreciate the grace of God, and he really cannot
understand the depths of the love and mercy of God.
7.7.
We Christians must make non-believers aware of the
fact that they are sinners and that unless they repent and receive Jesus Christ
as their Lord and Savior, they will one day experience the full wrath of God
against their sin, because God hates their sin.
We must first show them how that they have broken God’s laws and will
for their life and therefore they are destined one day to experience His wrath,
before we show them God’s remedy for their sin.
7.8.
I love Ray Comfort’s illustrative story about the man
who buys a ticket for an airplane ride and is given a parachute as he boards
the plane. The flight attendant tells
him that she would be very happy and that he would be blessed greatly if he put
on the parachute for the duration of the flight. The man would then get on the plane and
though he may at first be inclined to put on the parachute, he will eventually
take it off because it is uncomfortable to wear in the plane and besides he
does not think that there is any good reason that he should put on the
parachute. However, if the same man were
to buy an airplane ticket and as he is boarding the plane the flight attendant
were to hand him a parachute and tell him that it would be best for him to put
and keep on the parachute because at some unpredictable time during the flight
he would have to make an immediate jump out of the plane, then you could be
sure that the man would put on the parachute and keep it on regardless of any
inconvenience and discomfort that would be caused by wearing the
parachute. In the same way, if we tell
non-believers that they need to receive Jesus Christ into their lives because
it will make their life better, then they will probably not be motivated to
receive Christ and walk with Him through all of the difficult circumstances of
life, and they will probably not stick with their Christianity. However, if we tell them that they have
broken God’s laws and sinned and therefore His wrath is abiding upon them and
that if they die in an unrepentant state they will have to suffer the furious
wrath of a holy God against them for their sin, then they will probably be much
more willing to accept God’s offer of pardon and forgiveness of their sins
offered through Jesus’ death for them on the cross, and they will probably
remain walking faithfully to the Lord all of their life, even through the
difficult and uncomfortable circumstances they go through. We must tell non-Christians the sobering fact
of the wrath of God that Paul writes of here as being ‘revealed from heaven
against all ungodliness.’
7.9.
Another illustrative story that Ray Comfort relates is
similar to this one: If a stranger were
to come to your house tomorrow and tell you that he is very excited that he has
the opportunity to give to you some sweetwood roots, and that he would very
much appreciate it if you took the roots immediately and ate them, you would
probably tell him that you do not usually like to eat roots raw and that you
are therefore not interested in taking his roots and eating them. Besides, you have something that is very
important that you need to be excused in order to do. However, if that same man had instead come up
to you and said to you that he has observed you in your yard and that he has
noticed that you are suffering from a terminal form of “spinal meningitis,”
that you are clearly displaying 10 symptoms of the disease. And, if within 24 hours you do not consume 1
kilo of sweetwood roots, you will be dead.
Then, you would probably gratefully thank the man for caring enough to
point out the illness that you are now aware that you are suffering from, and
you would take the sweetwood roots from him knowing that these may in fact be
what saves you’re very life. In the
same, we need to make people aware of how that God’s revelation in the Bible
says that they are under God’s wrath and will suffer the full consequences of
that wrath if they do not repent. Then,
when they have been made aware of their position before God as a sinner (then
and only then) can they appreciate God’s remedy for their problem: God’s grace as revealed in the gospel of His
Son.
7.10.
Christians need to realize when reading this verse
that they are not now under God’s wrath for their sins because Jesus bore the
full brunt of God’s wrath for them on the cross. Though God disciplines His children in order
to remove sin from their life today, they are not under His wrath, as Rom. 5:9
tells us, “9 Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we
shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him.”
7.11.
The
7.12.
The ‘wrath of God’ is very different than the
wrath and anger of man. Men become angry
quickly, however God is “slow to anger.”
Men become angry unjustly, however God’s anger is always 100%
justified. Men’s anger is tainted often
with selfishness, however God’s anger can never be considered as being a
selfish act. Men’s anger is often times
unholy, however God’s anger and wrath is a holy anger and wrath 100% of the
time. Men are extremely impatient and
thereby they carry out their anger and wrath too soon, however the scripture
tells us the following in 2Peter 3:8-9 about how patient God is, “8 But do
not let this one fact escape your notice, beloved, that with the Lord one day
is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. 9 The Lord is not slow
about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not
wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance.”
7.13.
SCRIPTURAL EXAMPLES OF GOD’S WRATH:
7.13.1.
Old Testament.
7.13.1.1. Deut.
29:22-23: “22 “Now the generation to come,
your sons who rise up after you and the foreigner who comes from a distant
land, when they see the plagues of the land and the diseases with which the
Lord has afflicted it, will say, 23 ‘All its land is brimstone and salt, a
burning waste, unsown and unproductive, and no grass grows in it, like the
overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah, Admah and Zeboiim, which the Lord overthrew in
His anger and in His wrath.’”
7.13.1.2. Nahum
1:2-3: “2 A jealous and avenging God
is the Lord; The Lord is avenging and
wrathful. The Lord takes vengeance on
His adversaries, And He reserves wrath
for His enemies.The Lord is slow to anger and great in power, 3 And the Lord will by no means leave the
guilty unpunished. In whirlwind and
storm is His way, And clouds are the
dust beneath His feet.”
7.13.1.3. The Lord
destroying the wicked world through the flood.
7.13.1.4. The Lord
destroying the cities of
7.13.2.
New Testament.
7.13.2.1. Ephesians
2:3, “3 Among them we too all
formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh
and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest.”
7.13.2.2. Rom.
9:22-24: “22 What if God, although
willing to demonstrate His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much
patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction? 23 And He did so in order
that He might make known the riches of His glory upon vessels of mercy, which
He prepared beforehand for glory, 24 even us, whom He also called, not from
among Jews only, but also from among Gentiles.”
7.14.
God could not be holy without hating that which is
unholy, namely “sin.” God does
not dislike or merely seek to avoid “sin,” He absolutely hates it. He is also firmly intending to punish all
sin. Those who do not receive Christ as
their Lord and Savior in this life will in the next life drink of the full fury
of God’s wrath against sin.
7.15.
To all people (including Christians) there are
consequences of sin, and it is to this that Paul wrote the rest of chapter 1 of
Romans. Paul wrote in Col. 3:25: that
there are consequences for all people who sin, “25 For he who does wrong
will receive the consequences of the wrong which he has done, and that without
partiality.”
7.16.
From where does God reign, and from where is His wrath
going to be revealed? Paul writes: ‘For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven.’
7.17.
Against whom is God’s wrath to be revealed? Paul writes:
‘against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the
truth in unrighteousness.’
7.18.
‘Ungodliness’ is the action of sinning, and ‘unrighteousness’
is the state which those who continue to live in a lifestyle of sinning.
7.19.
Paul explains in the next verse how it is that
non-believers come to ‘suppress the truth.’ Suffice it to say here that non-believers
must know ‘the truth’ before they can ‘suppress’ it. It will be shown in the next couple of verses
that ‘the truth’ that is suppressed refers to a knowledge of God Himself
and that it is to every person on the face of the earth that God ‘reveals’
His characteristics or nature.
7.20.
In fact, Paul writes that God “already has”
revealed Himself to every person, therefore that revelation must come early in
life.
7.21.
In the next couple of verses we shall also see that
this ‘truth’ which is revealed to every man and woman makes the
unbeliever “without excuse” when they stand before God never having
received Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior.
8. VS 1:19 - “19 because
what may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to
them.” - Paul
tells the Romans that God has made Himself known to all men at some level
8.1.
God gives to “every” man what has been called “general
revelation.” This is not revelation
which is sufficient in content to bring a man or a woman to salvation. It is merely sufficient enough to convince
them that there is a God, who is creator of all, and it is also sufficient
enough to reveal what Paul calls the invisible attributes of His ‘divine
power’ and “divine nature.”
8.2.
The “Special Revelation” of the gospel message
as found in our New Testament is necessary in order for anyone to come to
salvation through Jesus Christ.
8.3.
It is intriguing that Paul writes that ‘God made it
evident to them.’ People did not of their
own brain power come to the conclusion that there must be a creator God, rather
God is the One who has (past tense) already revealed Himself to “every”
person. Therefore, all people are
accountable to Him for revealing Himself to them.
8.4.
We Christians need to realize that the Lord has
already revealed Himself to the people of this world. We are not bringing God to them, He has
already been there with people. Paul
does not say that God will reveal Himself to people, but rather that He already
has revealed Himself to them. There is
something deep within each person that will respond to someone who shares the
gospel with people. People may have
hardened themselves and determined to deliberately reject the Lord, however
they still have that witness of God to them somewhere within them.
9. VS 1:20 - “20 For
since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly
seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal
power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse,” - Paul tells the Romans that
men in unbelief are without excuse because from the beginning of creation the
attributes of God are seen and understood through creation
9.1.
Paul says that God has revealed not one but many of
His ‘invisible attributes’ to
all men.
9.2.
An incredible design reveals the handiwork of a
designer. God’s ‘eternal power’
is seen in the fact that from the earliest time God can be seen in His creation
of such a vast, complex, and orderly universe.
Billions of galaxies He threw out into space, stars and planets of
incredible size and diversity, all reveal how mighty is His ‘power.’ The next time you go out and put your keys in
your automobile, turn on the motor, and drive away, remember the fact that that
automobile didn’t just appear out of nowhere, nor did it evolve from iron
molecules. An large team of designers
spent much time and effort conceiving, designing, and prototyping every aspect
of that automobile so that you could drive yourself in it. In the same way, the world around us is
filled with incredibly complex systems that have been designed by God and
reveal incredible forethought and planning.
9.3.
God’s ‘divine nature’ is seen in that good
things happen in our lives. Jesus said
in Matt. 5:44-45, “44 “But I say to you, love your enemies, and pray for
those who persecute you 45 in order that you may be sons of your Father who is
in heaven; for He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends
rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.”
We see God’s love, kindness, patience, and graciousness through the many
blessings that we receive and experience in our life.
9.4.
Paul writes in Rom. 2:4, “4 Or do you think lightly
of the riches of His kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that
the kindness of God leads you to repentance?”
9.5.
Paul says that these characteristics of God which He
reveals to every man are ‘clearly seen,’ and therefore were it not for
man’s willful rebellion and consequent blindness, this revelation should be
accepted and not ‘suppressed.’
These attributes of God are ‘clearly seen’ and are ‘being
understood through what has been made’, i.e. through His visible creations and
His providential care and upkeep. The
Psalmist said in Ps. 19:1, “The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament showeth His handiwork.”
9.6.
Paul writes that because of the clear revealing of
Himself to all men through general revelation, every man is ‘without excuse’
of the day of judgment if they have not received Jesus Christ as their Lord and
their Savior. Each unbeliever will justly
suffer the punishment of eternal damnation because he has knowingly and
willingly suppressed the truth of God from his heart and mind, and he will have
no excuse that he will be able to give to God that will be able to defer this
judgment.
9.7.
We Christians can communicate to the people of this
world about the fact that God that has been providing for them and watching
over them. As Paul writes here, people
of this world have not only a sense that an almighty God has created this world
and universe, they also have a sense concerning God’s nature (His divine
attributes), and that He has been blessing and providing for them throughout
their life.
9.8.
Non-Christians should take the soonest opportunity to
give their life to Jesus and allow Him to be the One who delivers them from the
‘wrath’ that is to come.
10.
CONCLUSIONS:
10.1.
As we consider this study
and how we ought to apply it to ourselves, lets first of all be committed to
not being ashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Lets be committed to spreading the gospel
good news of Jesus Christ and the love of God revealed to mankind through the
cross of
10.2.
As we consider the fact that
God’s wrath is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness
of men who suppress the truth that God has revealed to them, lets appreciate
and drink to the full of God’s grace and mercy which He has extended to us
through His Son, Jesus Christ. Lets not
take for granted God’s grace but rather throw ourselves upon His grace and
mercy and let Him mold our lives and make us into the people that He wants us
to be.
10.3.
If God is going to pour out
His wrath on all who are ungodly and unrighteous, we people would be wise to
repent of any known sins in our life and allow the Lord to take the throne of
our life and make of us whatever it is that He desires, all for His glory.