Romans - The Letter, Week 2
Audio
Video
Notes
Lessons from Romans 1:18-32:
- You can’t have mercy without wrath – God is not bi-polar.
- Creation has an ongoing power of revelation.
- Idols fill the worship vacuum & have more power than you think.
- God gives over but He doesn’t give up.
Romans 1:18-32
Wrath & Mercy
18 The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people, who suppress the truth by their wickedness,
Wrath & Mercy
18 The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people, who suppress the truth by their wickedness,
God pours His wrath out on sin and He pours out His grace and mercy on people. As a person I can sink with their sin or I can rise to the surface on God’s mercy and grace.
Creation has an ongoing power of revelation.
19 since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them.20 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.
Idols Fill the worship Vacuum & have more power than you think.
21 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.22 Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools 23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like a mortal human being and birds and animals and reptiles.
Idols Fill the worship Vacuum & have more power than you think.
Two main problems with idol worship:
#1 inanimate objects (this includes ideas and philosophies) can’t receive our worship.
#2 inanimate objects can’t return life – they can only suck it up.
God gives over but He doesn’t give up.
The remaining part of this passage is plain in what God gave them over to…
Their sinful desires
To shameful lusts
To a depraved mind
Romans Chapter 2 Summary
Just because you are a Jew on the outside doesn’t mean you are a Jew on the inside. When you judge others and break the same laws you will deal with the same consequences. For our purposes I would say that just because you look religious on the outside doesn’t mean you are connected to God on the inside – you are just fooling yourself.
Romans 3:21-23
21 But now apart from the law the righteousness of God has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. 22 This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference between Jew and Gentile, 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
Romans 3:24
24 and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.
You don’t get salvation without getting Lordship.
Romans 3:25
25 God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement through the shedding of his blood—to be received by faith. He did this to demonstrate his righteousness, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished— 26 he did it to demonstrate his righteousness at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.
Romans 1:18-3:27
- The world is where it is because God gave men and women up to do whatever was in their heart to do. True love only operates in freedom.
- But God didn’t give up on mankind. He wrote His law on their hearts through the wonder of creation so that they are without excuse and He raised up Israel as His testimony.
- The proof of our right standing before God isn’t the label we carry – Jew or Christian – it’s in the life we live from the inside out.
- Everyone has fallen short of God’s perfection – no exceptions – as such we are all separated from God.
- Jesus paid the legal price to end our separation. His blood has bought us back into “rightness” with God our Creator. He is the mercy that satisfied God’s wrath. We apply His sacrifice to our lives by faith and we walk out our Christian lives by faith.