Well, good morning, if you're able. Once again, open up your Bibles to the first chapter of Romans. And we're sort of camping out still on verse 18. And as I sort of alluded to last week, the reason we're doing that is that it might give us a greater appreciation for the love of Christ. I hope that when you're singing that song or songs like that, that you're not just thinking, oh, I hope my unbelieving neighbor might hear this, or I sure hope the guest that I've invited to church would hear this. I need to hear that. on the Lord's day, but every day, my righteousness is Christ. If you guys followed me around for a day, for a week, for a month, you would be shocked. But praise God, He has provided for us a perfect righteousness and His perfect Son. He demonstrates His wonderful love for us. In condescending and coming into the world, born a virgin, born under the law, to do what we could not. We could not live a perfect life of righteousness. We could not merit that. And that's what Paul's laboring to show us in Romans 1, that we are unrighteous. But God has provided for us righteousness in Christ, and it's the free gift of God's righteousness. This is good news that Jews need to hear, that Gentiles need to hear, that the world needs to hear. And this is what Paul is excited to teach to Christians. So if you found Romans 1, please stand up. We want to read this morning, verses 16 to 20. We'll still be in verse 18. We will speed up next week, God willing, but I want to foster a greater depth of gratitude for the gospel. Sometimes we just take it for granted and we sing the songs, but oh, that the Holy Spirit would reveal to us this morning that outside of Christ we were children of wrath, like the rest of mankind, and that Jesus has borne that. He has been that propitiation. is setting us up in Romans 1 for Romans 3. There is a righteousness available, but it's only God's righteousness through faith in Christ for all who believe. And I love these songs. I love Romans 1 because it is reminding us we must come to Christ alone. We cannot merit it. We cannot do it. It is impossible. Even if we wanted, which we don't, we couldn't and we can't. So here now God's word, Romans 1 beginning in verse 16, Paul says, for I'm not ashamed of the gospel. And perhaps if you're new to Christianity or this is sort of spiritual talk, the Greek word simply means good news. I'm not ashamed of God's We're going to be thinking about bad news this morning, but please see the bad news as driving us to the good news. It's like the bad news of a doctor saying, I looked at the scan and you've got brain cancer. That's bad news. But what if he says, I've got great news for you. I've got a gospel for you. You'd be very eager to hear it upon the revelation of that bad news. And that's what Paul's doing here. But let me read and not preach. I'm not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes. To the Jew first, and also to the Greek. For in it, for in the gospel, the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, but the righteous shall live by faith. For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all godlessness and unrighteousness of men, who in or by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For His invisible attributes, namely His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived ever since the creation of the world in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. Let's pray. Father, these are heavy words. but we're thankful, Lord, that you have inspired the Apostle Paul to write them, not only to a first century audience thousands of years ago, but for us today. And Father, we're thankful that this is part, or perhaps the preparation for, the good news. And Father, I pray that your spirit would be moving, revealing to us How vile our sin is. Would you show us, as the old Puritan called it, the sinfulness of sin, and that we would hate it and loathe it, have an indignancy against it the way you do. And the best way to see it is in the cross. Behold the holiness of God. But would you help us also to behold the love of God in Christ? And so, Father, I pray that you would be working in the hearts of those who do not yet believe, who may have heard but have not yet been converted. Would today be that day? Would today be the day that they believe in their heart that you raised Jesus from the dead? That they confess with their mouth that Jesus is the risen Lord, and that this good news of God is the good news concerning His Son, who was born from the seed of David according to the flesh, but was raised from the dead by the Spirit of holiness. Father, I just ask now, help me to make this word Help me to preach this word clearly as I ought. It is clear, but Lord, help me to preach it clearly as I ought. Attend its preaching with power. You see that faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ. Oh, bring faith. Increase faith. Even as Paul said, the gospel reveals your righteousness from faith unto faith. Give faith, increase faith through this gospel proclamation, we ask, Father. Save and sanctify your people, we ask in Jesus' name. Amen. Please be seated. So as we're trying to figure out what Paul's methodology is in this section of supposed bad news, you have to understand the context with which it is found. We already saw in the thesis statement, Paul is unashamed. He is eager, actually, to preach the gospel in Rome. to Jew and to Gentile. And he's going to sort of play on this in the first two chapters, Jew and Gentile, Gentile and Jew. And what he wants us to see is that everyone needs the gospel. And so Douglas Moo, he's one of the commentators that I read, he says this, we need to see chapter one, verse 18 and following, as a preparation for Paul's exposition of the gospel of God's righteousness. And so it's almost like he's making us thirsty. He's giving you salt so that you long for water. Or what he's actually doing is revealing our great need, all of us. whether religious or irreligious, are great need of God's righteousness, which can only be found in Christ. And what he is doing in chapter 1 is he's undercutting, perhaps, the claim that God is not fair. Sometimes you will hear that. How can God judge those who have never heard? And that's what Paul's seeking to show here, right? Whether you read Acts 14 when he's in Lystra and Derby, or when you read Acts 17 and he's in Athens, he's preaching this good news, this gospel, to people who've never even heard of Jesus Christ. And he's preaching to them because they're guilty. And so what he's wanting to show and to prove is that even Gentiles who have never heard are without excuse. And we'll look at that more next week, why they are without excuse. But I want you just to know this morning, at least they are without excuse. We'll look at why this morning is enough to know that they are without excuse. And I want to pause here. It's not in my notes, but this should just change how we see people. On Judgment Day, no one is going to get to say, but Lord, I never heard. Have you ever thought about why do Christians do missions? Sometimes you'll talk with a good, well-meaning Mormon, and they'll say, well, if you don't hear in this life, then Jesus will preach the gospel to you sort of in the next in-between life. Which is heresy, of course, because it is appointed unto man once to die, and after that, the judgment. There's no second chances, which is why Paul is so eager to preach the gospel even to believers. Not that they might be saved, but that they might actually catch this burden and understand just how important it is to proclaim the gospel to all creation. And so I want us to catch a sense of that, and that we wouldn't play games, that we would understand that anyone who's outside of Christ right now, religious or irreligious, even if they've never heard the name of Jesus, they're under God's wrath. Doug Moore says, Paul is here indicting all humans. And what he's doing here is first he's showing, yes, that Gentiles are under God's wrath, but he's using this actually as leverage to show these self-righteous Jews that they're also under God's wrath. If the Gentiles who do not have God's special revelation in the Word, if they're guilty, how much more are you who have God's oracles, who have his covenants, who have his worship? How much more? And this is very practical, because this preaches to the children who sit in our church, week by week, who might have all these privileges and yet remain unconverted. And before we even get to the text, oh, that you would flee to Christ. Oh, that you would flee to him now. Don't wait till the end of the sermon. Flee to Christ right now. If these, say there's children across the sea and they've never heard of Christ, and by virtue of their union with Adam as their head, if they are guilty, How much more you who hear the gospel every Lord's Day, who have perhaps your parent read to you the Bible, who hear Sunday school. Paul is seeking to show not only the guilt of the Jews, but he is showing through Romans 1 through 3 that all mounts will be stopped and will be held accountable. before this holy God. So I'm pleading with you children, explicitly, I'm not trying to be sneaky, I'm pleading with you, whether you're five or 10 or 15, whether you're in your 20s, I'm pleading with you old people, you less young people, be reconciled to God, be justified this morning by faith in Christ, that you might have peace with this holy God. Moose says, all are under sin's power to such a degree and only God's power, unleashed in the gospel of Jesus Christ, can rescue you. This is your goal as you're seeking to share the gospel with others, is to show them Jesus is not only one of many ways, He's the only way. That we have no power to rescue ourselves. And it might seem harsh and condemning. It might seem exclusivistic and proud and arrogant. How dare you tell me That my good works aren't good enough, or that my meditations, or my burning incense, or my going to church is not enough. Paul is showing that to Gentile and Jew, Jew and Gentile alike. You need a miracle. You need not any power to be rescued from God's wrath. You need God's power to be rescued from God's wrath by God's righteousness. See how theocentric, how God-centered the gospel is? This isn't about us. It's not about a pastor trying to preach a good sermon. It's about a pastor just saying, this is what the Word says. and us sharing this good news, which is God's power that brings salvation. What do they need to be saved from? Not low self-esteem. They need to be saved from God's wrath. That is the most terrifying thing in all the world. Not the devil, not inflation, not shrinkflation. We bought dog food at Costco, and it's like way more expensive, and the girls are like, well, the bag's getting smaller. Yes, it's inflationary shrinkflation. That's not my biggest problem. Your biggest problem is not how expensive houses are, right? Your biggest problem is not the World Economic Forum or Trump's tariffs. Your biggest problem this morning is the wrath of God. And that's why we sing, it's not in me, but only you. Jesus Christ is our righteousness. Never forget that church. This is, right, perhaps you're visiting here for the first week. What is this church about? We're not here to flatter ourselves and commend ourselves. We're here to give homage and worship to God the Son, to the glory of God the Father for what they have done. That God in His mercy would send forth His Spirit and show us our sin, but then show us a Savior, to show us God's heart for lost sinners. And then for us to be so moved that we would then share this good news with others. So let's think this morning about the wrath of God. And this is uncomfortable, but it's necessary. Remember, Paul's spending almost three chapters dwelling in some things that are uncomfortable. But as Spurgeon said, if I'm trying to sell you a diamond, I'm going to put that beautiful diamond with all of its facets, I'm going to put a light above it, but I'm also going to put underneath it a black velvet underlay. The blackness highlights the brilliance of the diamond, and the blackness of sin, the blackness of our guilt before a holy God as lawbreakers and idolaters highlights just how glorious the gospel is. It shows us our desperate need of Jesus. And as believers, we're reminded of our desperate need of Jesus. When we get to Romans 6, we're going to see this gospel is good news not just for unbelievers. This gospel is good news for believers like you and me, who have sinful weeks, who have sinful mornings, who have sinful inclinations that need to be broken. And I'm reminded I need God's power. And it's not through religion or reform. It's through the gospel. So, let's just do a quick review of what we learned last week. What is God's wrath? I did a little bit of study rather than free-balling it this morning. I'll tell you what some others have said, and hopefully it's congruent and in agreement with what I said yesterday. So Wayne Grudem, he says this in his systematic theology. He says, it may surprise us to find how frequently the Bible talks about the wrath of God. Yet, if God loves all that is right and good, and all that conforms to his moral character, then it should not be surprising that he would hate everything that is opposed to his moral character. And so, as you're sharing the gospel with people, you can say, your God seems so angry. Why is he so wrathful? Because he is so loving. If you came home and you saw someone doing something to someone you love and you remained indifferent and said, no big deal, I would question and call into question your love. But God is full of wrath because he is full of love and he loves what is good, therefore he is angry against what is evil. Grudem continues and said, God's wrath directed against sin is therefore closely related to God's holiness and justice. God's wrath may be defined as follows. You can write this down. This is a very succinct, precise definition by Grudem. God's wrath means that he intensely hates all sin. God's wrath means that he intensely hates all sin. And what Paul is showing in Romans 1, 2, and 3 is that we have all sinned. Meaning what? We're all under God's wrath. Meaning what? We need a savior. We need help. And Paul is just trying to break out every false crutch that we try to find refuge in, that we might flee alone to Christ. This word wrath is used 12 times in Romans, and so it's a big theme for Paul. And so please don't say that, okay, this good news is void of wrath. No, the wrath drives us to good news. We need bad news to drive us to good news. Twelve times you're going to hear this word wrath. Another man says that it's God's settled opposition to and displeasure with sin. Okay, so when you hear wrath, please don't think, you know, of maybe a bad father you had or maybe like me, sometimes you just have an outburst of anger. That's not the Greek word orge. The Greek word orge has to do with this simmering, this settled intense Opposition this settled intense disposition that is opposed to and hates all sin Okay, that's just just the way a compass always goes north God is always opposed to sin. You just have to see it He doesn't pick and choose Right? Light is opposed to darkness. Why? Because that's the very nature of light. God's very holy nature is opposed to sin. He doesn't choose to hate sin. Because he is holy and just, he hates sin. And it's a settled. He doesn't flip a coin and say, am I gonna be loving today and wrathful tomorrow? This is just who God is. Another said, God's wrath is his holy hatred of all that is unholy. It is his righteous indignation at everything that is unrighteous. So holy opposed to unholiness. Righteousness is opposed to and hates unrighteousness. Lastly, this is review, it's not your first point, but Arthur Pink, in his wonderful book that was transformational in my own understanding of who God is, The Attributes of God, is the book. Arthur Pink says this, God's wrath is his eternal detestation of all unrighteousness. Why is there an eternal hell? Because God has an eternal detestation against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men. It is the holiness of God stirred into activity against sin. Think about that now. Not just hell, but the coming of Christ is the fullest expression of God's hatred of sin. It is the holiness of God stirred into activity against sin. That's why the Son of God came into the world, right? This is what it says in Hebrews. He came to deal with sin. God was so stirred, so hateful against our sin. Yes, he sent his Son out of love, but he also sent his Son because he hates our sin. And so Jesus becomes that sin-atoning offering, which we're gonna see in Romans 8, verse 3. We couldn't save ourselves, and so God did what we could not do in sending His Son, who became a sin offering. He condemned sin in Christ's flesh and gave us His righteousness. This is good news, and I hope you're not tired of hearing it. Let's think through. I've told you what the wrath of God is, or perhaps reviewed from last week what God's wrath is. It's his settled opposition to and displeasure with sin. It's his intense hatred of sin. It's his eternal detestation of all unrighteousness. Check. Got it. Wrote it down. Well, Paul's going to show us a couple more things. Okay? And I want to show us three things about God's wrath this morning. First, where it is revealed from. And this might seem like I'm just sort of prolonging, but this sat heavy on my heart this week. And so fortunately or unfortunately, you have to listen to me talk about it. But where is it revealed? Well, look at the text. For the wrath of God is being revealed, right? We saw that last week. It's in the present tense. It's being revealed right now, but where? He doesn't say from earth. It's being revealed from heaven. Though God's wrath is experienced right now on earth, its source comes from heaven. I just want us to think about this. This should cause us to tremble, in the language of Psalm 2, to rejoice with trembling, if we know the Messiah. Christ trembled in Gethsemane. Why? because it was not the wrath of man that he was so fearful of. It was the wrath that comes from heaven. When he is hung upon that cross between earth and heaven, he's not receiving the wrath of men. Yes, he has the men spitting on him. Men have lacerated his back and mocked him. I get it. He's been scourged from an earthly source, but that's not what makes him tremble in Gethsemane. The cup that he's going to drink has heavenly wrath, if you will. And so you need to remember that if you have unbelieving children, relatives, God's wrath is being revealed against them from heaven. Sometimes it's good to just slow down when we read. Read to get comprehension, yes, but sometimes pick apart those phrases. Doug Moos says this, the fact that God's wrath is being revealed from heaven adds weight to what Paul is saying. He didn't have to say, he said God's wrath is being revealed against all, but he says from heaven, so he adds weightiness. It significantly implies the majesty of an angry God and his all-seeing eye and the wide extent of his wrath. Whatever is under heaven and yet not under the gospel is under his wrath. So I want us just to do a little study. In scripture, heaven symbolizes three things. First, God's holiness, right? His holiness means that he's distinct or he's separate, he's other than, right? We think of holiness and we just think, oh, he does good things, he goes to church, he does not sin. And that's true of God, he does not sin. His moral holiness flows out of, however, his characteristic holiness, who he is. Ontological is the fancy word. And so heaven is a picture of God's holiness. He's everywhere, but in a sense, when it says God is in heaven, he's distinct. He dwells where there is no sin right now, in the heavenlies. And so when you see that his wrath is being poured out from heaven, this is a holy wrath. And I would say it emphasizes, therefore, the seriousness of his wrath. Sometimes I wonder if people who are sinning high-handedly, if they just understood that the wrath upon them is coming from heaven, they would have a seriousness about it. This is no trifling matter. Not only does it emphasize the seriousness of it, but the purity of his wrath. This is not an earthly or creaturely anger or wrath. It's divine, pure, and true. Habakkuk 220. Yahweh is in His holy temple. Let all the earth keep silence before Him, or literally in the Hebrew, let all the earth keep silence before His eyes. He's holy. This is not the God Baal. This is not some manufactured, man-made God I can handle that wrath. This God is in the heavens. He who is too pure, says Habakkuk 1-9, to look on sin. This is the God who is angry. And if you're not in Christ this morning, the wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against your ungodliness and unrighteousness. Not only does heaven picture God's holiness, it pictures his omniscience and omnipresence. Stop with the big words. Omni means all. Science means knowledge. God knows everything. Omni means all. Presence means presence. He's everywhere. He knows and sees everything. So it's not like God sees what I'm doing. I was listening to a fellow, I'm not going to say who it was, but he was trashing the Lord of the Rings. And he's like, what? I thought Sauron was supposed to be an all-seeing eye. But he's not an all-seeing eye. Because if they can sort of, just trust me, I know a lot of you haven't seen the Lord of the Rings, and I'm a Lord of the Rings kind of junkie. And so what they're doing is they're trying to divert Sauron's glance by attacking on this front so that some other people can sort of sneak in. God is not like Sauron. Sauron is not like God. You can't distract him. He sees and knows everything. He's pictured up in the heavens. You read the book of Revelation, and sometimes even the Christians are like, God, do you see what's happening? Oh, he does see. He sees everything. He sees what's happening in India now. He sees what's happening in Indonesia right now. He sees what's happening in Europe. He sees what's happening in Lethbridge. And so that he's in heaven emphasizes his omniscience, his all-knowingness and his omnipresence, his everywhere-ness. And if heaven firstly emphasizes the seriousness of his wrath, I would say heaven also emphasizes the fairness of his wrath. He's not like a judge who's trying to gather facts and wondering if the lawyer's lying or making things up. God knows everything. Everything will be exposed and naked before him with whom we have to do. Again, children, he sees. When you tell a little fib, when you lie to mommy or daddy, he sees. It's tax season. I've never known anyone who cheats on their taxes. Every preacher talks about cheating on the taxes, so it must happen. But he sees if you fudge a number. He sees if you fudge this. He sees what you're looking at, right? You might be on your phone and no one else sees. God sees. He's in heaven. It's interesting, I remember last year I saw a guy, he had his phone, and he was on it, and I couldn't see, and he's like, oh, you can get like an anti-glare thing, so no one else can see what you're on. But God can. God can see what's on your phone, and he knows what's in your heart. God's omniscience and omnipresence. Don't turn there, read it after. Psalm 10's one of my favorites. I go there often, because often it feels, to me, when people are doing things that are wrong against me, I'm like, Lord, do you see? Psalm 10 says, he does see. But I don't not only see, Ryan, what others are doing to you, I also see what you're doing to others. So Psalm 10, verse 4 says this, in the pride of his face, the wicked does not seek the Lord. All his thoughts are, there is no God. But he's in the heavens, there is a God. And whether or not you see him or not, or perceive him or not, he's there. Psalm 1011 says, the wicked says in his heart, God has forgotten. No, he's in the heavens, he's not forgotten. He's being patient, Romans 2.4 says. He's forbearing, he's kind. But don't think because you've gotten away with ungodliness or unrighteousness, it's because you pulled a quick one on him. He sees, and he takes note. The wicked says in his heart, God has forgotten. He has hidden his face. He will never see. Paul says, absolutely wrong. God is in the heavens, and his wrath is being unleashed and revealed from heaven. Lastly, Psalm 10, verse 14. I love this. You have seen. It's just, it's so terse in the Hebrew. You have seen. Dave is like, Lord, do you see the injustice? Do you see the godlessness? Do you see all of the sins that are? Yes. Why? Because he's in heaven. I can't see what's happening across the street, let alone across the world, but God can because he is omniscient and omnipresent. Thirdly, Heaven emphasizes God's omnipotence, okay? It emphasizes his holiness, his omnipresence and omniscience, but also his omnipotence. Again, these big words. That's okay, I'm gonna teach you what it means. Omni, all, potent, right? Like, oh man, that coffee's potent, it's strong. And so God is omnipotent, he is almighty. He's powerful. And so one of the commentaries says this, a man named Harvey says, heaven is the transcendent dwelling place where God's throne is located. This is not any old servant pouring out the wrath. This is the king enthroned in the heavenlies. In the heavenlies, the angels who are sinless fall down before this one. Heaven emphasizes the awfulness of God's wrath. To be under the wrath of the world's most powerful king would be terrifying. How much more ought we to tremble under the wrath of the Lord of heaven's armies? Long necker the A theologian says this, the wrath of God is revealed from heaven means it lays stress on the cosmic nature of God's judgment on all the rebellion and lawlessness of humanity. So when Paul says it's being revealed from heaven, it's being revealed from the Lord of heaven, the one who sits enthroned in the heaven, the cosmic king who rules over all. Not just an angel, right? The angels unleash God's wrath, I get it in Revelation, but it comes ultimately from God. And so I would say with Habakkuk, let us tremble. Yahweh is in his holy temple. He's a king. Let all the earth keep silence before him. And before you sin this week, remember there is an all-seeing eye, not Sauron, but God Almighty. So the first question that we answered is where is God's wrath being revealed from? From heaven. Second question that we would ask is against whom? Is God's wrath being revealed? Where is it being revealed? Check. Against whom is it being revealed? Mankind. You see that in the text? For the wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men. I would translate mankind. Because Paul is going to say it's against Gentile and Jew. And then he switches it up in Romans 2 against Jew and Gentile. Nobody gets a pass. It's being revealed against all of mankind, anthropon. Whether you're Jew or Gentile, God's wrath is upon all sinners and their lawlessness and godlessness. Paul wants to show the church in Rome that both, i.e., Jew and Gentile, are equally guilty before God as sinners. If you're a child here this morning, you might think, who's I talking with? Oh, I was talking with Joe this week. And he was talking with a gentleman, and I hope I'm not betraying any trust, Joe. I'm not gonna say what church or the guy's name, because I've forgotten both. But they practice what is called infant baptism, and there's various spectrums of where people believe with presumption. But this gentleman, who was a scholar, was talking to Joe, and he said, oh no, we baptized our kids, They're good. Until they apostatize, we just assume they're saved. And Romans destroys that. Romans says God's wrath is against all. And it's not through being sprinkled as an infant or going to church as an adolescent or even bringing your children to church as an adult. That's not what gets you out of God's indignant and holy and righteous wrath. It is faith in Christ, right? You need faith in Christ. And so whether you're a Gentile who's never heard or you're like the Jew who hears all the time, you must believe in Christ. All are equally guilty, right? Even our very good moral children, they're guilty if they're not in Christ. Sometimes we think, oh, we have two children and one's a little more rebellious. They're all under God's wrath if they're not united to Christ by faith. Jesus himself said, or perhaps John, it's hard to know who's speaking in John 3, 36, but the Spirit does say this, he who believes in the Son has eternal life. He who does not obey the Son shall not see life. But the wrath of God abides. We looked at the word abide this morning in Sunday school from John 15. If you're not in Christ by faith, the wrath of God abides on you. Oh, you mean a Gentile? Yes, but also a Jew. Actually, Paul's going to say, first to the Jew, right? When he preaches the gospel in Romans 116, it's God's power of salvation to all who those believe. First to the Jew. But in Romans 2, we're going to see, actually, the Jews have a greater culpability Right? God's wrath is being poured out first on the Jew and then the Gentile. Why? Because the Jews know more. They have more, as it were, revelation from God from the scriptures. And so Paul is trying to show us here. that God's wrath is revealed against all of mankind outside of Christ. Ephesians 2, right, verse 3, Paul says that we who have come to know Christ, right, we were dead in our trespasses and sins, right, we were according or followed the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience, and we're like the rest of mankind, children or literally sons of wrath. Oh, you mean Jews or Gentiles? Paul says, all, like the rest of mankind, children of wrath. Because God is righteous, He must be impartial. We're going to see that in chapter 2. God shows no partiality. You're either in Christ or you aren't. There's no middle ground. He doesn't fudge the numbers. He doesn't grade on the curve. You either have Christ's righteousness or you don't. You're either in Adam or you're in Christ. And if you're in Adam, you're a child of wrath. You're condemned in your sins. Which is why we always keep saying, but here is Christ in all of his earned, merited righteousness, which he offers you if you would but humble yourself and receive it as a gift by faith. What are these two words, ungodliness and unrighteousness? Here's a couple of definitions. Ungodliness, or the NIVI like godlessness, it means a lack of respect, a lack of reverence to God. Or it is a disregard for God, listen, which leads to living as if he did not exist. That's what ungodliness is. No reverence for God. And it's easy to say, oh, that's the world. But remember, Paul's writing to Christians is to let us guard our hearts against a lack of reverence for God. At a prayer meeting, I think it was just of saying, oh, that we would, I'm paraphrasing, but this idea like, oh, that we would get the wrath of God, that we'd have a reverence for him. Why would I, as one who's been justified by faith in Christ, why would I sin against this God now? As a believer, I ought to have the greatest reverence I can look at the unbeliever and say, oh, they're full of irreverence, right? They so disrespect God. But what about me? And so let us, church, not be ungodly, which leads to unrighteous living. Okay, I want to show you this. Okay, so this word godlessness, ungodliness, lack of respect, lack of reverence to God. And as one person put, what we believe determines how we live. If you have a low view of God, your life will reflect it. If you have a high view of God's holiness, he is in the heavens and he does all that he pleases. He is high and lifted up and exalted and he sees all things. If I believe that God, he's using these big words, if I believe that God is all-seeing, if I believe it, it will transform how I live. What does unrighteousness mean? It describes the attitudes and actions which fall short of the perfect standard of right as required by the perfectly righteous God. It is a disregard for what is right. Okay, so this is what I want you to understand, okay? And some commentators disagree with me. But the older ones, and I'm finding, usually are the better ones. So guys like John Murray and Haldane, I think even Longnecker said this, they said basically this, the order is important here, okay? Not every commentator says that, but this is what I believe. The order is important here. What comes first? Ungodliness, which leads to unrighteousness. You have a low view of God, it will be reflected in how you live. Commentator Harvey says this, he says, asabia, that's the word for ungodliness, reflects the vertical dimension of lack of reverence for God. While adikia, that's unrighteousness, reflects the horizontal dimension of lack of respect for his just order. You have a lack of respect for God's person, you will therefore have a lack of respect for his laws, which will be reflected in how you live. And so instead of beating people up, here's more law, here's more law, you need to respect his law, The law is a reflection of his person. Honor the king and you will live accordingly. And so they are linked. I get it. It is a bit of a hendiatis. But notice what comes first. Godlessness precedes unrighteousness. Jean-Marie says this. I know I'm quoting lots of guys. I just thought this was helpful for me. Ungodliness reveres to the perversity that is religious in character, whereas unrighteousness to what is moral. The former, ungodliness, is illustrated by idolatry, the latter by immorality. This is what he says. The order, no doubt, is significant. Impiety is the precursor of immorality. Which is why we don't say, clean yourself up. Become more religious. That's what the Jews tried, and Jesus says the outside can be cleaned up, but it's actually your inward rejection of God. Right, so when it says ungodliness, and you think, oh, that's for the Gentiles. It's very interesting that Paul uses this word only twice in Romans, the others in Romans 11. And he says when Messiah comes, he will rid Jacob of all ungodliness. And so don't think, oh, ungodliness or godlessness is only to the Gentiles who don't know the true and the living God. It's for all of humanity. Remember? It's being revealed from heaven against all ungodliness, whether irreligious or religious. There are a lot of people who would say they believe the Bible, but they have no reverence or respect for God, which is reflected in how they live. I played soccer with these guys. I'll never forget. When I first, Mark, we played. And I'm like, oh, sweet, reformed soccer, yes. They're gonna have Calvin beards. And I thought, oh, we're gonna pray before we play. These guys talked worse than I did when I was a pagan sailor. I wasn't a sailor, but I talked like one. It blew my mind, and yet these guys were talking about, you know, on the Sabbath, going to both services. You have to be very careful. Right? And so when you're diagnosing, say, unrighteousness, it stems from ungodliness or godlessness. And so how we live is a reflection upon what we believe. When I see the little dial thing on my van that says, oh, it's overheating, I don't fix the dial. I go and see what's going on in the engine. And so if we're living unrighteously, it flows out of what we believe. And this is why Paul wants to preach the gospel to the Jews, that they might see Christ. And especially here, he's saying to the pagans, because they don't know God. They know him in creation, but they don't know him through Christ. So his wrath is being revealed from heaven against whom? All, all mankind in their ungodliness and their unrighteousness, and the two are linked. But I agree with Murray, the order's important. Let me just quote John MacArthur quickly, and then we'll move on. I see the time is flying. He says, here's the relationship of ungodliness to unrighteousness. MacArthur says, unrighteousness encompasses the idea of ungodliness, but focuses on the result. It'll get clearer. Sin first attacks God's majesty and then his law. Men do not act righteously because they are not rightly related to God. Okay, you're fighting sin, you gotta go and be rightly related to God. That's where it all, as a Christian even. Like with Adam and Eve, we want to put on fig leaves. but there's something deeper, more insidious happening beneath the surface at a heart level. I'll say it again, men do not, and women, men and women, children, do not act righteously because they are not rightly related to God, who is the only measure and source of righteousness. This is all I want to say. Ungodliness unavoidably leads to unrighteousness. Because men's relation to God is wrong, their relation to their fellow man is wrong. Men treat other men and women the way they do because they treat God the way they do. You want to be a better husband? Be rightly related to God, and you'll treat your wife better. Want to be a better dad? Be rightly related to God, you'll be a better dad. Want to be a better worker, witness? You'll want to bear, we saw it this morning, abide in Christ. The fruit will come. Don't try to, right, like Tripp says, don't staple fruit onto the tree. It will rot and reek, rather abide and the fruit will come. Man's enmity with his fellow man originates with his being at enmity with God. And so if you're bitter at another human bearer, or image bearer, sorry, yes, the issue is horizontal, but it stems from because there's something wrong between you and God. Right, so if you've got bitterness against another human, we just think, oh, we just need to fix our horizontal relationship. I would say, no, first you need to fix your vertical relationship. Otherwise, you just smile and say things you really don't mean. And so understand ungodliness unavoidably leads to righteousness. Get right with God, and you'll begin to live rightly. Does that make sense? Okay, I was going to quote some church father, but he was basically saying, and I would agree, that ungodliness refers to the first four, how we relate to God on the table, right, of the Ten Commandments, and then unrighteousness refers to how we relate to others horizontally, right? The first four commandments is our vertical relationship to God, right? If we're idolaters, right, in our worship of God, we will then begin to reflect that in how we relate to others. And we can see that in the Gentile world, but we can also see it in many churches that have forgotten the gospel. And so what's the solution? I'm eager to preach the gospel to you also who are in Rome. I want fruit. And so I'm gonna preach about this God who reveals his wrath from heaven, against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of the men who are suppressing the truth in unrighteousness." This is another reason why God is angry, is because all men suppress the truth in unrighteousness. I'm not gonna get into a long study, but let me just give you the best illustration I heard in seminary, and the reason it's the best is because it's so simple to follow. Have you ever been to the beach, and you've seen a kid with a big beach ball, and they're trying to sink the beach ball? I've tried to do it, it doesn't work. Yeah, right, Kathleen's, right? What happens when you try to push the ball out? Zoop, it comes out. So you're trying to suppress it, but you can never fully suppress it. And that's what Paul says. This is the futility and insanity of humanity, is that God sees it from heaven, and they're suppressing, and we're gonna see what the truth that they're suppressing is, but they're suppressing this truth. And if that's you this morning, stop suppressing it, yield to it, surrender to who God is as the creator God, as the Lord of heaven and earth, and most clearly, surrender to Him as your Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. So when Paul sees the Gentiles and also the Jews, Romans 118, I agree with the commentators, is indicting all of humanity, not just the Gentiles. The Gentiles is next week, but verse 118 is everyone. Guilty of this irreligious people I talk with atheists. They try to suppress the truth through university degrees but let me Encourage you you need to have Romans 118 memorized and in your back pocket when you share in the gospel This is a wonderful ally if you ever watch Ray Comfort He knows this is what you call Presuppositionalism. What does that mean? You have pre means before, suppose means you know something. You know that they know God. I'm not trying to convince to an atheist that there's a God. Why? Because the Bible says they know. They're just suppressing it with big fancy words and degrees. I'm not smart, but I've never met an atheist within five minutes he's become an agnostic. Why? Because I know something that he doesn't. I know he knows there's a God. And he might say, I don't believe in a God. I don't believe in a natural evolution and materialism and da, da, da, da. The Bible says he knows there's God. We're going to look at it more next week. But please don't try to convince people there's a God. Tell them there is. They know by creation, and we'll see in chapter 2, conscience. This is so relieving. You don't need to go and study astrophysics. I love this study. God drew me to himself when I was studying biochemistry in university. Yes! But why? Why did God save me when I'm studying biochemistry? I heard the gospel, yes, but I knew that there was this God. It's insane. Norman Geisler says this, I don't have enough faith to be an atheist. You have to be insane or you have to really be suppressing the truth. And so tell people there is a God. Think about the complexity, right? Ray Comfort will talk about the intricacy of the human eye. Right? You know there's a painter because there's a painting. You know there's a building because there's a builder. You know there's a creator because there's creation. You have to be insane not to, right? Just, anyway, I'm not gonna get into all those sources. No, they know there is a creator. And what they're doing is they're unsuppressing it. And what you need to do is unsuppress their unsuppression. That was pretty deep. Sharon's eyes, whoa, profound. You need to show them and expose to them that they're suppressing. And why are they suppressing it? Jesus says in John 3, the darkness hates the light. It suppresses it because its deeds are evil. When you listen to Ray Comfort, you can go on binges like me, and you'll be talking to these PhD professors And he'll say, the reason why you actually don't believe in God is because you like pornography, isn't it? Because you love your sin. That's exactly why they believe there is no God. Evidence points that there is a Creator. We're going to see that next week. Please hold your horses, I'll show that. And this wasn't in my notes, but I want you to be encouraged. You don't need to go to science school, to university for 5, 7, 10 years so you can prove to the scientists there's a... They know. Because God has created them in His image. And they're suppressing that knowledge in their unrighteousness. It happened in the garden when they covered themselves with fig leaves, and it's been happening ever since. But miracle of miracles, God in His mercy, He reveals himself in the gospel, whether to Adam and Eve, to Abraham, to David, or to us. Praise God. And so as you preach the gospel, the very thing that they're suppressing becomes very obvious. It reveals to them. The God they're suppressing is true. He's wrathful, but he's also merciful. God's wrath is being revealed against all humans, humanity in their ungodliness and unrighteousness. Why? Because they're suppressing him. That's the futility. That's the futility. Perhaps you're suppressing him here this morning and you don't want to say, well, everyone's going to find out I'm a sinner. That's what Paul's trying to show all of us. I'm a sinner too. And until you realize that and confess it, you're gonna continue in your unbelief and your ungodliness and unrighteousness and you'll live a life of futility suppressing the truth. The truth which we'll see next week. is God's existence, that he is creator of all and therefore Lord of all. I had in my notes Acts 17, you can read it this afternoon perhaps, but Paul goes to Athens and he says, therefore, being creator, he is Lord of all. He doesn't need your temples, he doesn't need man-made things, he has no need, he's not like us. And Paul, by preaching, he says to the unknown God that you worship, I'm gonna tell you who he is. Paul didn't get into science in Acts 17. The fact that they're worshiping shows that they're made in the image of God. He says, but let me tell you who the true and the living God is. And he preaches the gospel of Jesus and his resurrection to them. And he warns them of judgment because God's wrath is being revealed. It says that he has set a day where he's going to judge the world in righteousness through a man. And he has proven this by raising him from the dead. And so you can preach this to scientists. I'm not very smart. They know there's a God. They're suppressing the truth about him in their unrighteousness. What's the solution? You don't have to argue science with them. When Paul went to Corinth, he said, I determined to know nothing among you except what? What are the laws of thermodynamics again? Those prove there's a God, but he preaches to them the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. They might be saved. I was atheistic agnostic in between. But you know what destroyed that? Faith in Christ. The moment I became a Christian, it all made sense to me. And when I talk with atheists, they're like, I don't know how you can do that, and you're brainwashed. I said, no, I was brainwashed before. And God has unsuppressed my suppression of the truth, not through the acquisition of facts and knowledge of science books, which are good, but through faith in Christ. All that, give it to me simple, pastor. You've bored me for the last 10 minutes. Preach Christ to them. Religious, irreligious, scientists are worshipers too. Atheists are worshipers too. Preach Christ, like Paul says, to Jew and to Greek alike. They're all suppressing the truth. We can suppress the truth in religion. We're going to see that next week. Flowery, reformed quotes will not justify you. But that's chapter two. Fifthly, and lastly, and quickly, you like those adjectives or those adverbs? Romans shows four ways that God's wrath is being revealed. From where it's revealed, against whom it's revealed, thirdly, and lastly, mercifully, how is God's wrath being revealed? In Romans, there's four ways. Did someone just say, oh no, another four sub points? Yes. Firstly, God reveals his wrath through government punishing wrongdoers, chapter 13. They are his agents of wrath to punish evildoers. Orge, same Greek word used. Right, so every time a violent criminal is locked up, rightly so, it's a picture of God's wrath. Secondly, through the futility of creation, chapter 8. God subjected the world and creation in futility, in hope. But when you see the futility and you cry out sometimes like Solomon in Ecclesiastes, there's futility in the world because it's an expression of God's judgment. That's chapter eight. Thirdly, God's wrath is being revealed through physical death. That's Romans 5. We'll get to them. I'm not preaching on them, but I'm just showing you. There's four ways, and you should be able to show people. God's wrath is being revealed through the justice system in a rightly functioning country, through government, but through futility. When people have all kinds of futility in their lives, that's actually God's wrath. showing us things aren't the way they should. Why? Because God's wrath is being revealed. It's Him whispering to us, hey, things aren't the way they should be, and I'm coming one day to judge the world in righteousness, but until then, there's futility. Thirdly, through physical death, chapter five, and lastly, which we're going to see next week, through the passive wrath of God. What is that? God gave them over, God gave them over, God gave them over. You wanna see the wrath of God? You will see when he gives people up in verse 24, 26, and 28 to ungodly lusts, ungodly passions, unrighteous lusts, unrighteous passions, right? Things like sexual deviancy, hating parents, maliciousness, all those vices that you're gonna see later, That's the wrath of God. And so when people say, oh, you know, we're a nation blessed of God. We're a nation that has been given over to rife homosexuality, that we're calling into question what is a male and female. We are not blessed. We are under the wrath of God. Solution? Let's go and petition for laws. Go and do that. Yes. Preach the gospel. This is what Canada needs. Yes, we need maybe better government. Of course, I'm not saying don't do that, but that's just a Band-Aid. Paul wants to go to Rome and preach the gospel. Why? Because Rome, like the rest of the world, is under the passive wrath of God. In the words of one commentator, like, what does passive wrath of God mean? He's not pouring out his fury like you read in Revelation. But the hardening of your unrepentant heart is just as much the wrath of God as him sending a tsunami or causing the market to crash. One commentator says, God's passive wrath is Him letting us stew in the juices of our sinful choices and actions. There's your food reference for the day. Some of you have a nice stew simmering on the stove right now, and you're thinking about it, waiting for me to finish. What God is doing when we refuse to repent, when we're suppressing the truth about Him and unrighteousness, He says, fine! And sometimes we as parents do that. We have to. The child wants out, and they can't stay, and it breaks your heart. You're not like, good, get out of here. You're like, this crushes me, but I'm letting you go. I'm letting you have the fruit. I'm letting you, as Christine would say, sleep in the bed you've made, or probably for a lot of our kids, in the bed they've not made. But you're letting them stew in the juices of their sin. That's a terrifying thing. It's terrifying. I'm not going to quote 2 Thessalonians 2, 7 to 13. You can write it down and read it after, but it's a picture of the passive wrath of God as well. We see it throughout. But God is showing all of these, revealing all of these pictures of his wrath currently being poured out. But do understand, this is not the full or final expression. Does everyone know what a harbinger is? Or is it harbinger? Ger? Ger, harbinger. And it's the picture. You know a massive storm is coming, but before that massive storm comes, it starts to slowly rain. Do you remember, Justice, when we were driving back from the Creation Museum? There wasn't much of a harbinger, but we could see the sky lit up for 30 minutes, and that's the heaviest rain we've ever faced. It was literally a deluge. So there's a couple drops, and like 30 seconds later, you couldn't keep up with the windshield wipers. Those couple of drops now are the harbinger of God's wrath, which is why John the Baptist, which is why Jesus, which is why Paul, which is why John in Revelation is saying, flee, flee, flee the harbinger. The storm is, will come. And if you try to flee for it into your own little hut of righteousness, or your hut of religion, or your hut of morality, it's not going to be able to withstand. If it's built on a bad foundation with bad materials, But Paul would say there is a refuge that God has provided, and you may safely and freely, rejoicingly find refuge in Him. His name is Christ. He is the only one who has endured the wrath of a righteous God for sin. So flee to Him. It is coming. It is happening now, but not in fullness. And it's God's mercy that He hasn't yet poured it out. These are harbingers. that God will pour out his righteous wrath against all wicked, sinful people on that great and final day of the Lord, when Jesus comes back to judge the world in righteousness. Conclusion. Why is God's saving righteousness in the gospel needed? Because human sin has resulted in the revelation of God's wrath and his judging righteousness. What? You need God's righteousness in Christ. because you're under God's wrath outside of Christ. It's as simple as that, which is why you preach the gospel, which reveals God's righteousness to everyone who believes. Everyone is guilty. All have sinned. All have fallen short of the glory of God. I don't care how moral you've grown up. I don't care how good or bad you've been. This is wonderful news. You might say, I'm like those pagans. You have no idea how godless I've lived all my life. But God does. God knows exactly how godless you've been. And nevertheless, he commends, demonstrates, shows his love towards us in this, in that while we were yet sinners, ungodly, unrighteous, he gave us, he sent his only begotten Son. So feed on this good news, rejoice in it. Not in me, but only you. Let's praise Jesus, but let us also proclaim him. Proclaim this good news. The bad news, which should drive them to the good news. Okay, so we've learned about God's wrath. Next week we'll learn about how it is revealed against the Gentiles. Father, we want to thank you that you did not leave us to ourselves, Lord, that in your mercy you plucked us up out of the fire. We were stewing in our own sin and ungodliness, and we loved it. Father, we're thankful that you took all the initiative in planning redemption, but then also procuring it through the Lord Jesus Christ and applying it through the Holy Spirit. Thank you, triune God, that you save the unrighteous, you save the ungodly, and you do so through faith in Christ, your righteous, godly Son. Father, I just pray that we would rejoice in so great a salvation, rejoice in so great a Savior. I pray for the young ones, Lord, who are learning perhaps in Sunday school, who are sitting under long, heavy sermons. Would you just even reveal to them their need of Christ? He is the only mediator between God and man. He is the only one who can bear my burden, who can bear my sin, who can take my unrighteousness and my ungodliness and present me holy before a holy God. Father, thank you for the gospel. Help us to rejoice in it, but help us, Lord, to share it in word and in deed to all that they too might believe and be saved. Thank you for your son, Father. We praise you for him and in his name. Amen.