When God Lets Go

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[0:00] But one thing, last week, there was a discussion on God's righteousness. And this week, there's that harder discussion on God's wrath. But I think back to Romans 1, 16 and 17. I'm not ashamed of the gospel. And if we say we're not ashamed of the gospel in so much as God is love and Jesus saves, that's only half of it. We have to also not be ashamed of the gospel when we say God is angry, God is judge, God is lawgiver.

[0:40] Sometimes there's destruction in wrath. And so today we're going to hear the good news and the bad. And we're not ashamed of either one. And that's important to remember. Our scripture today comes from Romans 1, 18 through 32. And it starts right off with the wrath. So let's jump into it. The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people who suppress the truth by their wickedness. Since what may be known as the wrath of God is not the wrath of God, it is the wrath of God. Since what may be known about God is plain to them because God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world, God's invisible qualities, his eternal power and divine nature have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made so that people are without excuse. For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him. But their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like a mortal human and birds and animals and reptiles. Therefore, God gave them over in their sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another.

[2:13] They exchanged the truth about God for a lie. And what? Worshipped and served created things rather than their creator, who is forever praised. Amen. Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural sexual relations for unnatural ones. In the same way, the men also abandoned their natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another.

[2:44] Men committed shameful acts with other men and received. In themselves the due penalty for their error. Furthermore, just as they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God. So God gave them over to a depraved mind so that they would so that they do what ought not to be done.

[3:05] They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossip. Slanderers. God haters. Insolent, arrogant and boastful. They invent ways of doing evil. They disobey their parents. They have no understanding, no fidelity, no love, no mercy.

[3:38] Although they know God is God's righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death. They not only continue to do these very things. But they also continue to do these very things. But also approve of those who practice them.

[3:52] Let's pray. Our good and gracious God, we ask for your blessing on this word. God, we ask that you would speak to our hearts and our minds. You would meet us where we are. And open our eyes to see you. These things we pray in Jesus name. Amen.

[4:15] So I really do love the book of Romans. And I think that's what I'm going to do. It's encouraging and it's quotable. It's actually my favorite book of the Bible. And it ties the discussion of the gospel up into a neat little package with a nice little bow. But I don't love this section of Romans. And it's not bad. None of the word of God is bad. It just makes me uncomfortable. And like I said before, it's part of the gospel. So if we're not ashamed of the gospel, then we can't be ashamed of this part either. Of the wrath, of the judgment. We have to proudly proclaim it.

[4:55] I remember one of my seminary professors challenging us to just take scissors and cut out the parts of the Bible that we didn't feel like dealing with. Or that didn't feel as necessary as others. And of course that's ludicrous. But whenever one of us complained about a passage, he'd hand us a pair of scissors. Just to challenge us. And we knew we couldn't just ignore a passage just because it makes us uncomfortable.

[5:24] But that's what we want to do. And that's what I think we do do in regular life. We may not take a pair of scissors and cut it out. But we certainly aren't going around quoting this verse. Well, some people are.

[5:42] We aren't proud of certain passages. And we tend to ignore those passages that we're not proud of. But the hard parts are every bit as necessary as the easy parts. And sometimes they're more necessary. And I know that if I were to cut this passage out of the Bible, we'd be doing ourselves a great disservice. So we liked the last section. The beginning of the chapter on God's righteousness. That made us feel good. But the hard truth is that we can't even begin to talk about God's righteousness without looking at the Bible. Without at least acknowledging God's wrath.

[6:22] In a real and deliberate way. We don't need God's righteousness without his wrath. We don't need salvation if God has no wrath. Without the wrath, really the gospel is kind of useless. And to be clear, I am saying wrath and not anger. And that's going to make more people uncomfortable. A number of translations actually use the word anger instead of wrath. And that's not quite right. Because anger is an emotion. It's very human. It comes and it goes. And it makes snap judgments.

[7:01] It's unstable. But wrath is a response. And it comes with action. God's not irritated. God's not annoyed. God isn't going to let this go tomorrow when he's had to. He doesn't have a chance to eat and take a nap.

[7:20] He's annoyed to the point of anger over sin. And it's not just his pet peeve. Because God's entire being stands in absolute opposition to sin. So his wrath is justified. And his wrath is holy. And it's an action against sin. We want to lessen the word to anger. In the hopes that God will get over it. Or he'll let it go without punishment. But his being actually cannot do that. Who he is would all crumble if he just let it go. His being cannot tolerate sin.

[8:05] And he cannot let sin go unanswered for. Now in verse 17 it says, For in the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed. A righteousness that is by faith from first to last. Just as it is written, the righteous will live by faith. So the righteousness of God has been revealed. And then in the very next verse, the beginning verse of our passage today. The wrath of God is revealed. And this translation doesn't show it. But in the Greek there is a gar in there. Or the word for. So for the wrath. The wrath of God is being revealed. It's a continuation of the thought. It's not two separate thoughts. They're not completely changing gears. One is the positive happy cheery God. And oh by the way there's this wrathful God. It's the same exact continuation of thought. So the wrath of God is in the same mode of thinking as the righteousness of God. Paul uses the word gospel as a positive. Whenever he writes about the word gospel. And the wrath of God doesn't seem to fit into that. So this word gar or for probably means. That because it was necessary for God to reveal his wrath for sin. He also saw it necessary to reveal his righteousness in the gospel. Both of these things are who God is. On the one hand. A just God who cannot tolerate sin.

[9:45] On the other hand. A loving God. Who wants to give second chances. And sometimes they don't seem to fit together. But with God they do. So because these two ideas are linked. We can be assured. That wrath really is the correct idea. When people think of the wrath of the gods. They think of a God. Smiting because of a person. Or a personal affront. Or smiting just because something feels.

[10:18] Like it has angered them. Or maybe their ego hasn't been stroked enough. So they were infuriated to action. But this God. The one true God of Israel. Is defined by his love and his righteousness. So it's impossible for his being to act outside of the boundaries of complete righteousness. That means the God of Israel does not act egotistically. And what ignites God's wrath. Is unrighteousness. So he must act against sin. In order to restore righteousness to the rest of creation. So in order to fully love. God must act wrathfully.

[11:04] And that goes against what we believe. Or that goes against what we feel. We don't like to think of wrath and love as the same thing. If somebody hurt you. Or slighted you in any way. You would think it fair and righteous. If God responded on your behalf.

[11:29] And so he does. But the problem is that we are all sinners. And so we act against God. And we act against other people. And we act against creation. All the time. And so God's wrath is then directed at each of us. And then it doesn't feel so good. And it doesn't feel righteous. But it still is. Wrath is his necessary being. Just and righteous retribution against sin. It is the holiness of God. Stirred into activity against sin.

[12:11] It is not though. Because he has a desire to punish. God takes no joy in bringing wrath. Look at Ezekiel 33 11. It says say to them. As surely as I live. Declares the sovereign Lord. I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked. But rather that they turn from their ways and live. Turn. Turn from your evil ways. Why will you die people of Israel? His being. Will not and cannot. Let the guilty go unpunished.

[12:49] But unlike the wrath of the created gods. God is impartial. And he will judge all the people with complete fairness and justice. According to their deeds. So God's wrath is both a very very good thing. Because it stands for the hurt. And the broken. And the oppressed. And at the same time. We're inclined to think it's a very bad thing. Because it stands against our own sinful natures. Not one of us is immune. And not one of us is even worthy. Of escaping God's wrath.

[13:25] But like our. But our understanding of God. And his wrath has been distorted. When somebody slights you. You like to play the victim card. And say to yourself. Someday they're going to answer before God. But when you sin against others. You tend to justify it. But God's wrath can't be manipulated like that. We suppress the truth. We delight in apathy. Immorality. Justification. And blame. And Paul says we're fools. We are fools living in the dark. Who cannot see the sin. That we continue to survive. And therefore deem ourselves Righteous.

[14:33] Righteous people. Righteous people. Righteous people. we long for that which will only cause pain in the long run because it gives us a sense of free will and this temporary fleeting happiness so when a person tries a drug or any number of of instant pleasurable experiences the brain is flooded with dopamine and you feel happy and you feel a sense of pleasure even though you might not be happy at all there are healthy ways to balance the chemicals in your brain there are things that will make you actually happy and healthy in the long run but they take more time and more effort and more intentionality so instead you long for that instant hit of dopamine that will make you momentarily but instantly happy so you become addicted to superficial experiences and you will not be happy if you don't have the energy to do so you need more and more of them to reach that flooding of dopamine and that's kind of like sin in fact it is like sin we've found things that will give us superficial satisfaction but they make us more and more unhealthy and they take us farther and farther away from god and away from righteousness but instead of getting wise to it we become more and more foolish and we chase after these sinful homes we deem homes

[16:00] things with even more passion. Paul says their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. And in that foolishness they rejected God, the one who is trying to pull them out of their futility. And that's where the problem really exploded. They did not glorify God, they did not honor him, they saw creation and they did not recognize it as being by God's hand. There was no respect for God because they did not accept that everything comes from God. And this is the very basis of sin, not trusting in God. If there was a willingness to honor God as the creator and sustainer and as God of the universe, then there would be restraint from sin. But there was none of that because they just didn't respect God.

[17:01] So here's a little side challenge. It's easy to honor God as God here in this place on Sunday morning. But how do you revere God as God in your deepest challenges during the week? Because when we stop looking to God in his position of absolute authority, we stop respecting him and that's when it's easier to sin. So the problem with sin is that it's not just about the sin itself, it's about the idea of God. And so the idea of sin from the beginning is wanting to set ourselves higher than God. Adam and Eve wanted to have the same knowledge as God. They didn't trust that he had their best interests in mind. At Babel, the people wanted to be as high as God. As humans, we want control. We want to take our lives into our own hands because we think that we will take the best care of ourselves. So we remove God from the center of our lives. And then what is God's response? He'll let us go. Three times in this passage it said, God gave them up or God gave them over. This is his wrathful response and acted out in complete righteousness. He gave them over or he gave them up. And this might be one of the hardest parts of the passage for me. Even more of a struggle than God's wrath. I remember being a teenager and I was really

[18:35] stubborn. And I remember times when I really wanted to be just completely independent. And somehow there were times that my mother gave in and let me have that independence. And then I felt so abandoned, which didn't make sense. I know because I had wanted that. And when she gave it to me, I just felt, I don't know, I don't know what to do. I don't want to live in this world. Right? Right Right and he allowed them to act out their sin, and he allowed it to manifest in their lives.

[19:30] God says, you want independence from me, then all right. And you want to live your life your own way, okay. You want to be your own God, you've got it. But you also have everything that comes with it. And guess what? Everything that comes with it is painful.

[19:53] Psalm 81 12 says, so I gave them over to their own stubborn heart to walk in their own councils. And what did he give them over to? First, he gave them over to false truths. It says, they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served created things rather than the creator who is forever praised, amen.

[20:20] What we really want is not to be let go, but we want God to be like us. We want him to fit our desires and wishes. And so one sin is to assume that God works for you alone. It's the sin of self-centered thinking. All of God's truths were exchanged for our own truths. What God thinks is right no longer matters as long as we think it's right.

[20:51] What God thinks is just, no longer matters as long as we think it's right. What God thinks is just, no longer matters as long as we think it's just. What God thinks is just, no longer matters as long as we think it's right. God's truth is not important, only our truth matters. And it reminds me of that futile feeling statement from the end of the book of Judges. At that time, there was no king in Israel, everyone did what was right in their own eyes.

[21:15] When there is no God, when there is no king of the world, we make our own rules. It's what our immediate pleasure-seeking minds want. But it also feels so depressing because we are not righteous to know what is truly right. If we're living only for ourselves, we're hurting those around us and we're ultimately hurting ourselves too.

[21:43] So next, he allowed them to fulfill their own desires. We invent ways to satisfy lusts. I'm not going to say a lot about verses 26 and 27. It's a discussion that needs to be had in every church, but today it would detract from the main point. I'm only going to say that these ways of filling their own passions were idolatrous and hurtful to God's people.

[22:11] So oftentimes in the Bible, same-sex pairings also referred to the abuse of same-sex children in cultic worship practices. So there were a number of ways in these passages that people were going against God's heart. And we use our desires to satisfy ourselves without care of who they could be hurting and without care of how they're hurting God. And so they are also taking us away from honoring God.

[22:45] And then finally, he gave them over to impulsive passions. Verse 28 says, Furthermore, just as they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, so God gave them over to a depraved mind, so that they do what ought not to be done.

[23:06] So God will let people get so wrapped up in their sin that they can no longer think right, perceive right, or act right. They will begin to believe that the debasing act of humanity, is justifiable. So God didn't abandon them. God doesn't abandon people. But he allowed sin to take its course.

[23:36] Their thinking was futile, serving no useful purpose, completely ineffective. The word foolish literally means without understanding. So they were seeking spiritual answers in an ungodly way. Their minds were dark and incapable of perceiving light.

[23:58] And all this time, this passage said they knew the truth about God. They knew that God is righteous, trustworthy, unchanging, eternal, and just. God is the one that humankind can come to and lean on in all times.

[24:17] But they, and we, we refuse to accept that. They know what is right about God, who knowing the righteous judgment of God, we know the righteous judgment of God. But we would rather claim ignorance. It's easier for us to pretend what we are doing is all right by God.

[24:39] We even know what the consequences will be, for the wages of sin is death. But we like to think that doesn't apply to us or that God is on our side and not on the side of those who slight us. What we need is to put God back in the place of honoring. When we see that God's wrath is righteous and just, when we see that God's wrath is part of the gospel of salvation, we gain respect for God. The respect that God has for us. The respect that it says these people had lost. And the respect that sometimes we lose too. Our job is to constantly wake up in the morning and put God at the center. And that means giving God the respect that God deserves. And giving God the honor and awe that God deserves. And saying, what would a righteous God do in my situation?

[25:44] And that's what we need to do. We need to be able to talk about God's righteousness. We need to be able to talk about God's wrath. And that includes God's wrath toward our own selves. But isn't it good news that we also can't talk about God's wrath without talking about the gospel of salvation?

[26:03] Because pardon for sin is available for all. Remember, God does not enjoy punishing people. Romans 5 says, Romans 5, 8-9 says, But God demonstrates his own love toward us in this, that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Much more than having now been justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him.

[26:29] And on that, I think we can say amen. Let's pray. God, thank you that you are a just and righteous God. Amen. Thank you that you have wrath for sin, for unrighteousness. God, thank you that you have saved each and every one of us.

[26:57] Help us to put you at the center of our lives and to honor you. These things we pray in Jesus' name. Amen.