Book of Romans
12-7-2011 Vol. 6 Part 5
Psalms 52:1-9 NKJV Why do you boast in evil, O mighty man? The goodness of God endures continually. Your tongue devises destruction, Like a sharp razor, working deceitfully. You love evil more than good, Lying rather than speaking righteousness. Selah You love all devouring words, You deceitful tongue. God shall likewise destroy you forever; He shall take you away, and pluck you out of your dwelling place, And uproot you from the land of the living. Selah The righteous also shall see and fear, And shall laugh at him, saying, "Here is the man who did not make God his strength, But trusted in the abundance of his riches, And strengthened himself in his wickedness." But I am like a green olive tree in the house of God; I trust in the mercy of God forever and ever. I will praise You forever, Because You have done it; And in the presence of Your saints I will wait on Your name, for it is good. Father we praise you, we give you all the glory. Father open our ears, eyes, mind, and heart so we can recognize the things in our lives that we put above you, so that we can repent and put them in the proper order. This way we can truly worship you and only you that deserves glory and praise. In the name of Jesus of Nazareth we pray! Amen!
Romans 1:18-23
Romans 1:18-23 NKJV For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, 19 because what may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them. 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, 21 because, although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22 Professing to be wise, they became fools, 23 and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man—and birds and four-footed animals and creeping things.
In our last lesson we learned about the righteousness of God and the only way to Heaven is placing our Faith in what Jesus did on the Cross for us. Paul tells us that in; Romans 1:18 NKJV For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, and again in; Romans 3:22-23 NKJV even the righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, to all and on all who believe. For there is no difference; 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, Between these two verses Paul tells us that we are all guilty of sin and need to put our faith in Jesus if we want to go to Heaven to be with Him.
Verses 18 – 20: So in this and future lessons we will learn about the unbeliever and those that have never heard about Jesus. We will learn the answer to an often asked question by many people. That question is; What happens to those that die and have never heard about, or been told about Jesus? In the following verses we will learn about who, meaning all are guilty:
| · The heathen are guilty; Romans 1:18 – 32 (Heathen refers to a pagan; a Gentile; one who worships idols, or is unacquainted with the true God.) |
| · The hypocrites are guilty; Romans 2:1 – 16 |
| · The Hebrews are guilty; Romans 2:17 – 3:8 |
| · All have sinned and are guilty; Romans 3:9,10,23 |
The wrath of God is defined as violent anger; vehement exasperation; indignation; vengeance. The Greek work for wrath is “orge”, not a sudden or arbitrary anger of passion, but a consistent indignation based on a holy and righteous standard, God’s standard. God’s wrath is very much a part of the Bible. In Romans it is mentioned 10 times. In the Old Testament there are 20 different words that refer to God’s wrath that is mentioned approximately 600 times. God’s anger is revealed more than his love. So let’s take a look at the first three verses and see what they are all about.
Verses 18 – 20: They start out stating that God shows his anger against all sinful wicked people that suppress the truth by their wickedness. The wickedness of their flesh and thinking they can figure things out on their own. They forsake God until things get so bad, and then call upon the Lord for help. This is our human nature to do this, but God has revealed Himself to us and has manifested Himself in us, and if we would just be observant and look around us, and within us, we would be in awe of God. All we have to do is look around at what God has created, this universe and all that is in it, with us being made in his likeness by Him for Him. Colossians 1:16 NKJV For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him. God put in our hearts the knowledge of right and wrong when he created us. We know what is right and wrong, but our sin nature and the pleasures of our flesh override good, and we justify our actions according to other human beings and their lifestyles instead of God’s Commandments. Everyone has an empty spot deep inside of them. That is why people long for something, but they don’t know what it is. Some think if they have lots of money everything would be okay. Some people look to fill that void with drugs or alcohol. Some look to fill it with promiscuity, thinking love of this type will fill it. There are all kinds of vices people get involved with in an attempt to fill that void. When I gave my heart to Jesus that void in my life was filled. There was a great calm, peacefulness, and assurance that everything was alright now. It was like a great weight was taken off of my shoulders. It is a feeling that is hard to explain. Jesus is the only thing that will fill that void in our heart.
Natives that live in jungles know there is a supreme being. Do you remember in Acts 28 the occasion when a poisonous snake bit Paul and he was unharmed? The natives thought he was a God. Acts 28:6 NKJV However, they were expecting that he would swell up or suddenly fall down dead. But after they had looked for a long time and saw no harm come to him, they changed their minds and said that he was a god. So people that haven’t heard the Gospel know there is a greater power, because by nature they do the things of the law by their conscience bearing witness from right and wrong. Romans 2:14-15 NKJV for when Gentiles, who do not have the law, by nature do the things in the law, these, although not having the law, are a law to themselves, 15 who show the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and between themselves their thoughts accusing or else excusing them) The evidence of God is all around us and who can deny His handiwork of creation and how everything fits together and functions. Psalm 19, 8, and Isaiah 40:21-26 are more examples of Gods art work. A person that has never heard about the word of God will not be judged for rejecting Jesus, but he will be responsible for the revelation he has had presented in his conscience and in God’s creation around him.
Verses 21: In spite of man having the witness of conscience and the witness of creation, he still rejects God. Paul tells us even with all of God’s workmanship around us, man thinks up in their own mind, who and what God is and they make and worship idols they make. Man tends to think there is a scientific answer to all things. Cause and effect, you can’t make something out of nothing, but that is exactly what God did, Genesis 1:2. Man doesn’t even give thanks for what God provides, which is everything we have. If God held back the rain, what would happen to us? No crops, no food, no livestock, no cotton, no wool, no jobs, etc. When you stop and think what would happen without rain, lakes, and rivers, it is mind boggling. We need to give God thanks for rain whenever we get it, because without it we will perish. Yet we don’t, we complain on how the rain ruins our day of activities. Our minds become dark and confused and we get upset because the activities we had planned won’t happen and we can’t please our flesh.
Verse 22: Who is Paul referring to that claim to be wise? It is the Jews and Gentiles that claim to have all the answers and cannot believe who Jesus was, or the miracles that He preformed. Sometimes our education, human nature, and peer pressure gets in the way of us believing in the truth. When man deliberately rejects the Gospel he becomes an utter fool in his unbelief. Psalm 14 gives us a clear picture of what God sees when He looks at mankind. Psalms 14:1-3 NKJV The fool has said in his heart, "There is no God." They are corrupt, They have done abominable works, There is none who does good. 2 The LORD looks down from heaven upon the children of men, To see if there are any who understand, who seek God. 3 They have all turned aside, They have together become corrupt; There is none who does good, No, not one. Sin is sin to God. It doesn’t matter if the sin is little or great. If one takes a grape from the produce stand and eats it or if someone steals a car, both are stealing and sinning in Gods eyes. Our God is a just God and there is no gray area, it is black or white.
Verse 23: Why did the Israelites make a golden calf to worship? Why do modern day people worship idols made to look like mere people and birds and animals and reptiles? The previous two verses tells us why; they began to think up foolish ideas of what God was like and as a result, their minds became dark and confused, claiming to be wise, they instead became utter fools. It has been this way since the beginning. Mankind appears to have to have something physical, something he can see and touch in order to believe. Take the Apostle Thomas for instance, he wouldn’t believe until he saw Jesus. So man fabricates an idol out of his imagination. He fantasies about it and soon gives the image credit for good things that are happening in his life instead of giving God the credit. He starts telling others about what has happened to him because of the image he is worshipping. It get to the point where he believes in it so much he convinces others it has great power and worthy of worship, and if they worship it, great things will happen to them. Here is a modern day example of how we get sucked into believing in the wrong things in life. Chain letters/emails that come and they state that if you send them on to 10 people something miraculous will happen to you. This is a form of idolatry in God’s eyes because a person’s faith is put in the letter instead of God. So can you see how we get deceived into believing in the power of false images that man fabricates? You have to ask yourself these questions; What do I worship, God or mans idea of gods? Do I have to have a picture, statue, pet rock, lottery ticket, horse shoe, four leaf clover, etc. to pray to and put trust in? Your thinking now, it is pretty foolish praying to a lottery ticket, but when one buys one and hopes it is the winner, isn’t he putting his hope in it instead of God? Isn’t it a form of praying?
For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ,
for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes,
Create in me a clean heart, O God, And renew a steadfast spirit within me.
Unless you are Born Again, you cannot enter into Heaven, the Kingdom of God."
Bill
Last Week’s Trivia: Did Abraham find favor with God through obedience?
Answer: No, it was Abraham’s faith in God and who God is, that pleased God. It was because of Abraham’s faith in God that he was obedient to God. Abraham had faith in God so much that he was willing to sacrifice his son to God. It is out of faith that we are obedient to God. If Abraham only had obedience, his flesh would have ruled, and he would have been unwilling to sacrifice his son. This is why we live by faith.
This week’s Trivia: What do you think the word “Acts” could represent?
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