Audio Transcript:

This media has been made available by Mosaic Boston church. If you'd like to check out more resources, learn about Mosaic Boston and our neighborhood churches, or donate to this ministry, please visit MosaicBoston.com.

Good morning church, and welcome. For those of you who don't know me, my name is Tyler. I am the teens director here at Mosaic Boston, and it is an honor and a privilege to be able to preach God's word to all of us today. If you haven't known, we've been going through the book of Romans. We are in the middle of our series on Romans and we are taking it nice and slow and digging in deep to this text. To try and see and understand the truths that God is revealing to us in it.

And one thing I want us to understand as we go into this text today is that Paul throughout the book of Romans is making an argument. Each verse, each thought is building upon the previous and leading into the next, making an argument. It's a continuous thought. And I bring that up to say, if you were here last week and heard pastor Jan's sermon on the previous verses, I want you to remember that. I want you to remember the idea that he preached on that was in the text of the power of the gospel for salvation. That is where Paul leaves off and launches into this text. If you haven't heard that sermon, I strongly encourage you to go back and listen to it right after. It'll make this make even more sense.

And the reason why I bring that up is I have the joy of preaching on the wrath of God today. Not many of us like to talk or think about the wrath of God, let alone want to stand up in front of people and stare them in the eyes while you tell them about God's wrath. It's not what we like to do. I remember my first day in Boston, I was looking at colleges, just visiting. And I was here with my parents and we were just walking around the city, having food, enjoying the sites and things like that. And there was a guy with a sign. You know the signs I'm talking about. The signs that say like "Repent for the wrath of God is at hand." Or like, "You are going to hell repent and believe." Things like that. I don't remember exactly what it said, but it had that sign.

And I was like, "Oh, praise God I'm not a fire and brimstone type preacher. I like to focus on the love and grace of God. Thank you." And last time I preached, I got to preach on the love of God. And I was so thankful and grateful for that. Because I love God's love. But today the text is about God's wrath. So we're going to deal with God's wrath, because it's in scripture and it's in the word and it's true. So with that, will you pray with me over the preaching of God's word.

Heavenly father, we come to you humbled, submitting, knowing that we are unrighteous before you. Knowing that you are great and glorious and have provided salvation through the gospel of Jesus Christ. Lord help us to submit our entire lives, to you to let the gospel permeate all of us, every area of our life to sanctify us, to change us, to make us more like you, and use us to bring and proclaim the gospel to those around us, into the world. Lord, we thank you. Praise you for who you are and your goodness and your love your mercy, and even your wrath, praise you in Jesus's name. Amen.

So today we are in Romans chapter one, verses 18 through 23, you can turn in your Bibles or you can follow along on the screens behind me, but it says "For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. For what can be known about God as 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 and the things that have been made, so they are without excuse. For, although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile and their thinking and their foolish hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise they became and exchange the glory of the immortal God for images, resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things." This is the reading of God's holy, inerrant, and authoritative infallible word. May he write these eternal truths upon our hearts.

We will spend our time in three points, but the three points is really one point. It's all point it's even one sentence. So it should be nice and easy to remember. God's wrath is coming so stop suppressing the truth by honoring and thanking him. So first point, God's wrath is coming. This is verse 18. The first part of it, where it says for the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men.

So before we address the elephant in the room of God's wrath, there's a small word that we need to deal with first. It's the word, for. If you've been in church or Christian culture for a long time, you've probably heard the phrase. If you see the word, therefore scripture, you have to ask, what is it there for? Similarly, if you see the word for at the beginning of a sentence or clause, you need to ask what in the world is it referencing that came before. It's a little less catchy, but the truth is still the same. And it's good, helpful advice.

We have to look at the previous verses and see what is Paul talking about? So if you will follow with me, we'll go to verse 15 of the same chapter where it says, "So I am eager to preach the gospel to you also who are in Rome for, I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes. To the Jew first and also the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith. As it is written, the righteous shall live by faith."

Paul used the word for a lot there again. He's stream of thought. He is making a point, it's all connected. You can't separate it. So what is being addressed. Says, "I am eager to preach the gospel." Why is Paul eager to preach the gospel? For he is not ashamed of it. Why is Paul not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation. How do we know it's the power of God for salvation? For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith. We see and understand the gospel because in it we understand God is righteous, but we also understand that in his righteousness, he provided a sacrifice and penalty for our unrighteousness. And our response to that is living by faith.

It says the righteous shall live by faith. Now the natural next step question is why do the righteous live by faith? That's where our text picks up, "For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men." What Paul is addressing is we are called as Christians to live in faithful obedience to God because we also know what the alternative is.

The alternative is the wrath of God for our unrighteousness. Now we can talk about what is wrath. Wrath is different than anger. Anger is just an emotion. It's you get mad about something, something you don't like. It's distasteful to you, hurts you, you get angry and you get mad. The definition for wrath in this context is the strong indignation of wrongdoing with a focus on retribution. So if you remember any part of that, I hope you remember that ending part. So it's with a focus on retribution. So unlike anger, that's just an emotion. Wrath is an emotion, strong indignation, strong hatred and distaste and anger against wrongdoing against sin. But it's also an action of bringing in retribution, bringing in payment for that wrongdoing. God's wrath is not just anger. It is requiring and bringing in payment for sin.

And one of the things we need to know about God's wrath is that it's not just blind rage, either. It's calculated, it's precise. He is using his wrath, his characteristic of wrath in perfect harmony with all of his other attributes. We like to focus and talk about how God is love. That is true, but God's love does not negate his wrath and God's wrath does not negate his love. And it's not that at certain points in time, God is acting in love. And at other points in time, God is acting in wrath. It's always all of it. He is always fully his attributes and this can be difficult to understand. But one of the texts that I find clearest demonstrating this idea comes from the book of Exodus. With the teens downstairs we've been going through the book of Exodus. We actually finished it last week.

And one of the most famous stories in the book of Exodus is the story of the golden calf. And this text comes in Exodus, chapter 32, wherein verse seven, it says, "And the Lord said to Moses "Go down for your people, whom you brought out of the land of Egypt have corrupted themselves. They have turned aside quickly out of the way that I commanded them. They have made for themselves a golden calf and have worshiped it and sacrificed to it and said, these are your gods, oh Israel who brought you up out of the land of Egypt." And the Lord said to Moses, "I have seen this people and behold it is a stiff necked people. Now therefore let me alone that my wrath may burn hot against them. And I may consume them in order that I may make a great nation of you.""

God had just led the people of Israel out of Egypt. He saved them from slavery and from oppression and he delivered them and they choose to worship something that they made. And say, this is what saved us rather than God. That's sin. That's unrighteousness. It's putting something else in the place of God and rightfully so, God's wrath burned against them.

And he says, let them... Sorry, "That my wrath may burn hot against them. And I may consume them." Why consume them while in Romans, it tells us, and throughout scripture it tells us that the penalty for sin, the retribution that is required for sin is death. That is the only payment for it.

And so God's wrath is anger at the wrongdoing, but it's also bringing in that payment. However, God's wrath does not negate his other attributes. God is still trustworthy and he is true. And he has promised Abraham that he would make a great name out of him. So how does God's wrath and God's trustworthiness, God's love, God's mercy work together in this moment. God relents, but there's still punishment in verse... The next chapter in verse three, it says "Go up to a land flowing with milk and honey, but I will not go up among you unless I consume you on the way for you are a stiff necked people." God has mercy. He doesn't kill them. He spares them. But he also says, I'm not going to go with you, lest my wrath consume you because that is the only right response to sin.

So he has mercy, but there's still punishment. And then Moses prays to God, begs him and says, "Save them, forgive them. We ask that you forgive them." And God says, "I will forgive them. I will go with you. However, there will be a day. He says, I will blot them out of my book." He says, "Those who persist in unrighteousness, I will blot out." And so God's wrath didn't come requiring retribution in that moment, but he promised that it would come. So the natural question then is why are we all alive today? If we have sinned, if we have done wrong, the penalty is death. God requires retribution. Why are we even here? How are we alive? It's all God's mercy. Jonathan Edwards in his sermon, sinners in the hands of an angry God, if you haven't read it, I encourage you to read it.

It's free online in PDF form. It's a very convicting and challenging sermon, but it helps us understand the wrath of God. In this text, in this sermon, Jonathan Edward says this. "The observation from the words that I would now insist upon is this. There is nothing that keeps wicked men at any one moment out of hell, but the mere pleasure of God. By the mere pleasure of God, I mean his sovereign pleasure, his arbitrary will restrain by no obligation, hindered by no manner of difficulty, any more than if nothing else, but God mere will had in the least degree or in any respect whatsoever any hand in the preservation of wicked men one moment." Wat he's saying is the only reason why we don't all die immediately when we sin is because of the will of God. It's because it's God's will, it's God's plan, it's his mercy on us to give us a chance, to repent, to give us opportunities, to turn to him and repent of our sin.

But that doesn't negate the fact that penalty still needs to be paid. Retribution still will need to be paid at some point. This is why I again started this sermon talking about remember week sermon on the gospel, because that is what the gospel is. Is that Jesus Christ came and died on the cross to be that penalty for us, to pay that penalty of sin for us. In Romans chapter five, verse nine, it says, "Since therefore we have been justified by his blood much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. Through the gospel, we are saved. We are justified, we are declared righteous before God, but we are also saved or spared from his wrath. Praise God for that." But the reason for that is something that we need to think about. If you're like me, I like to get technical.

I like to get it like into the nitty gritty. How does Jesus dying forgive us. How does it pay the penalty for our sins? Well, first again, the penalty for sin is death. So that is why Jesus needed to die. But Jesus didn't only die he also took on himself, the fullness of the wrath of God. In the garden before his crucifixion, Jesus is praying and he is anxious and stressed and he starts sweating blood. This is actually a medical thing called hematidrosis. You can look it up.

It's where so much stress and anxiety comes upon you, that blood vessels in your forehead burst, and it starts sweating out of your pores. It's gruesome, but it's that much anxiety that Jesus was having in the garden. Why was Jesus so anxious? It's not because he knew he was going to be crucified. It's not by the way he knew he was going to die. It's because he knew he was bearing the wrath of God. How do we know this? He says, "Lord, if there's any other way, let this cup pass from me." What is the cup? It's always talking about the cup of the wrath of God.

But he submitted anyway. He lived in obedience and faithfulness to the father because he loved us and knew he can save us from our sins. Isaiah 53 prophecy about this in verse four through six, it says, "Surely he, Jesus, has born our griefs and carried our sorrows. Yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God and afflicted, but he was wounded for our transgressions. He was crushed for our iniquities. Upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace. And with his stripes, we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray. We have turned everyone to his own way and the Lord has laid upon him the iniquity of us all."

Praise God that there needs to be a penalty for sin. And that Jesus willingly took it. He did it. He died on the cross, bearing the fullness of the wrath of God for us. Let's run to him. Let's thank him. Let's live a life and full faithful obedience to him because he is worthy because he saves us and he spares us.

But if you choose not to accept this free gift of God, there still needs to be payment for sin. And if we don't let Jesus take that payment for us, we have to pay it ourselves. This is in Revelation, chapter 14 versus 10 through 11. It says he, the he that's talked about here is any buddy who rejects Christ, no other qualifications. Doesn't matter, race, ethnicity, nationality, political... Doesn't matter. Do you reject Christ?

"He also will drink the wine of God's wrath poured full strength into the cup of his anger. And he will be tormented with fire and sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the lamb. And the smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever. They have no rest day or night, these worshipers of the beast and its image and whoever receives the mark of its name." That ending part, the beast and its image and its worshipers. What is that talking about? It's the antichrist. We often think of this in the graphic image that's depict did in Revelation, but the idea is anti-Christ, anyone who is in opposition to Christ, who rejects Christ will have to bear the fullness of the wrath of God Themselves.

And I was thinking about it. Why would anybody choose to do that? And one of the things I was thinking about is that we don't actually fear hell. Hell, doesn't scare us. We think about it as just like this red painting, where Satan lives with his pitchfork. And like, it's not fun, but it's fine. We view of it like a campfire where you stick your hand and you get a little bit burned, but it's not that bad. And it's also where all the fun happens, because that's where all the sin is and things like that.

That's not what hell is. I want to tell you, God is love. There's no love in hell. God is joy. The greatest parties that have ever been thrown in the history of the world are in the Bible, thrown by Jesus. If you want to have a good time and have a party, it's going to be in heaven. There's not going to be any party in hell. It's not what we think of. And also we think we can take it. We think we can handle it. Oh, it's not that bad. I was watching a YouTube video this week of a guy who was playing a game where he had to like answer questions about himself and see what it said about him. And it was complete and utter nonsense.

But one of the questions was if there's a hell, which there is, would you go there? And his response was, well, I don't believe in God. So I don't believe in hell. But if there was hypothetically a hell yeah, I'd probably go there, but I could take it, I've got tough skin. I want to tell you something. None of us can take the fullness of the wrath of God. None of us. We are not as strong as we think we are. How do I know this? I almost died this past week. First service, I said, no one knew this, but now first service knows it, but no one else here who hasn't heard the sermon yet knew this. Besides my wife. I almost died this week. How did I die? I didn't die phrase God. How did I almost die? Sorry. How did I almost die?

My wife was out to dinner on a business dinner. And so I was like, okay, she's out. She's been like being really good about being health conscious, trying to eat well. And so she hasn't been eating fried food, but I love fried food. But I feel a little bit guilty. So like I'll make it healthy. I'll have fried fish, fish and chips, fish and french fries. French fries, potato, super food. It's basically a health meal right there. And so it was a great time having fish and chips.

And I'm actively writing this sermon as I'm eating my dinner. And I have this vivid image burned in my mind of me grabbing three french fries. Someone after the service was like, you should only eat one french fry at a time. I was like, "Who does that?" I ate three and I put it in my mouth. And one of those three immediately went straight down my throat and then turned sideways and stopped. And I started choking and gagging and coughing. And all at first I could think of was, "I'm going to be a guy who gets killed by a french fry."

Who wants to be known as the guy who died to a french fry, I'd become famous. I would make the news, but it'd be idiot gets killed by a french fry. And then I start to think my wife is going to come home and see me dead on the floor with a french fry in my mouth. Be like "He got killed by a french fry. Why was I ever married to this guy? Like, what is he doing?" Then my next thought was, "She's not even here. No one can save me. There's nobody here to help helped me. I'm helpless. I'm vulnerable to a french fry."

And then praise God. I remember that he had a purpose for me still to continue living in preaching the sermon and Lord willing many more things. He will use me for afterwards. So I, in that moment, thanked God. I said, "Thank you that you have a purpose for my life. I know I'm not going to die now." And then I threw up the french fry. All this is to say, we aren't as tough as we think we are. We can be killed by french fries.

We cannot withstand the wrath of God in and of ourselves. We can't. Don't try. Don't even try. Turn to Jesus who has fully paid the penalty for you. Trust him, submit your life to him. Let him bear that penalty for you. Now, how do we go from being in God's wrath to being in his good graces. It starts by stopping suppressing the truth. We can't suppress the truth. This is verse 18, again, through verse 20, where it says "For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. For what can be known about God is plain to the 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 and the things that have been made. So they are without excuse."

And verse 19 starts again with the word for. So again, what is it referencing? It's explaining why the wrath of God is coming against those who suppress the truth. Well, we need to understand what that word suppress is. If you're like me, I think of the word suppress as like push down. The image I have in my mind is packing for a vacation where the weight limit is 50 pounds on planes. So you take the smaller suitcase, but you still shove everything in that you want, that would actually fit into the bigger suitcase. And you're trying to get it to fit in.

And so like you put everything in it, won't close. So like you jump on top of it with a knee and knee it down and you're sitting on it and you finally get it zipped up. That's what I picture when I think of suppressing. And that's not what's going on here. That's not what's happening at all. The word is more of an idea of restraint. It's the idea of a prisoner breaking free and you being like, oh no, we can't let this out. Let's put shackles on his wrist and anchor him to a wall. We don't want this thing to escape.

What this verse is saying is that our sin suppresses truth. It's not just truth in general, it's a specific truth. It's the gospel. That is what Paula is referring to. Our sin restrains and holds back the gospel.

The past few weeks pastor Jan has been talking about how he believes that God is wanting to do a great work, miracle in this city. And he wants to use this church and praise God, I agree. But he's also said that if we tolerate and we live in sin, it's holding God back from doing that. Where does he get that from? It's this verse. Our sin, our unrighteousness is suppressing the power of the gospel from being let out. We are restraining it. We are holding it back. Do we want to see God work mightily in this city and in our lives? Yes. Then live in righteousness, live in obedience, stop suppressing the gospel.

Now why is God's wrath coming against those who do suppress it? It says in verse 19, "For what can be known about God is plain to them because God has shown it to them." This word plain is a word that is plain. It doesn't affect us in any way. It doesn't make us feel a certain way. But the idea of this word is it's obvious beyond a doubt, beyond a question. We get a reference to this word in Acts chapter four. And in the story, Peter and John just healed a man who was lame from birth. The whole city of Jerusalem knew that he was lame, couldn't walk. They heal him in the name of Jesus and he jumps up. It says he leaps up and walks out.

And then Peter and John are proclaiming that this is the work of Christ. This is the grace of God that has done this, repent and believe. And then the Pharisees come and arrest them and bring them and put them on trial. And after they hear what happened, they send them out. And this is where it picks up in acts chapter four, verse 15. It says, "But when they," the Pharisees, "Had commanded them," Peter and John, "To leave the council, they conferred with one another saying, what shall we do with these men for that a notable sign has been performed through them is evidence to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem. And we cannot deny it."

The same word is the word evident. It's so clear that when you see someone who their whole life couldn't walk, jumps up and walk. You're like, "Oh, That's clear. I can't deny that." And the Pharisees wanted to deny it. This doesn't help their cause. They were trying to suppress the preaching of the gospel. They were trying to prevent people from proclaiming the name of Jesus Christ. This doesn't help their cause. So they want to deny it. But they can't. They're like we know this guy, the whole city of Jerusalem knew this guy. He was in the gates begging and his whole life, he couldn't walk. Now he can, it's clear.

And that's the same way that God reveals himself to each and every one of us. It's plain. It's clear. It's undeniable. And this leads us into the question. One of the many pushbacks and many questions about Christianity is like, what about those who have never heard? What about those who live in a remote island or a remote part of the world where no missionary has ever been? Nobody has ever gone with the Bible and proclaimed the gospel. What about them? Well, what this text is saying is that God is revealing himself even to them.

And actively, it says because God has shown it to them. God is actively involved. God doesn't want anybody to not know who he is. He is actively showing it to them. One of the craziest stories that I love when I think about this is the story of the Paumarí tribe and the Amazon, Paumarí, if you haven't heard of them, you should look up this story. It's incredible. But there's this small tribe in the Amazon of the Paumarí who live up this river. That's like black with gun and dirt and debris. It's hard to get to. And then they live in a lake village.

And so there were people that decided they were going to be the first missionaries to go and preach the gospel to these people. So they gather their resources, their supplies, everything they need. And they go to get there. And they can't because of this river. And so they feel that God is calling them to sell everything that they had brought, all of the provisions, to get a boat ride, to get somebody who can make the journey for them up there. So they do. And it's the exact amount that they needed for a boat ride.

And so then with nothing but the clothes on their backs, they go up this river and they get to this village. And the people of the village welcome them joyfully. They throw a feast and a party for them. One of the elder women of the community comes to them and says, "Why are you here? What are you here for? What are you doing?" And they say, "Well, we want to share with you the story of Jesus, the son of God who loves you and wants to save you." And she says, "Good. We have houses built for you."

And they're like, "What?" And she said, "You don't know this, but we have radios. And a rogue radio wave came to us and we heard a sermon about a God who loves us and wants to save us. And we said, if this God is real, he'll clearly send people to help us. And so we built houses in preparation for you.'

Let's not limit the ways God can reach people. He is all powerful. He is all knowing, all loving. He can reach anybody he wants to, he can reveal himself to anybody he wants to with or without us. We should still be faithful in proclaiming the gospel. Let's not stop that. Later, Paul says, "How are they to hear if no one preaches?" So we still need to preach. But it also says in verse 20, "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." This is saying is creation is crying out to reveal God to us. Creation is an example, is God showing us, "Look at how great I am." You can't deny God's existence when we look at creation, I challenge you to study the origins of science.

I challenge you. I talked about this briefly in the first service and then someone, a brother came up to me and gave me even more information, praised God for him. And reminded me that we came at a time when people were worshiping odds over every specific area. And then Christians came and said, no, there's one, God, who's over all things, but he's a God of order and of design. And so we can know God through the order of creation. When we look at creation, we can understand who God is. So the first scientists that ever existed were studying creation to see the proofs of God.

A small example of this, I don't know. Do you guys remember high school chemistry at all? Most of us probably blocked it out. But Boyle's law. I don't know if anyone remembers Boyle's law. I can't even tell you what it was about, but it's one of the fundamental principles in chemistry. In seminary, I was reading a book, a theological work by a guy named Boyle. And I was a like, who is this guy? What does he... I want to know more about him. This work is really good. And he is the guy who made Boyle's law that is named after him. Why is a theologian founding scientific laws? Well, because he knew that within it, he saw the greatness of the glory of God. He couldn't help, but look at creation in the world around him and be like this screams that God exists. The screams that God is here. And so we are without excuse.

God is revealing himself to us. We are given his gospel. And even those who don't hear, he is actively revealing himself to, and all of creation testifies to the existence of God. And it says, so we are without excuse if we reject him. And that phrase without excuse is not like you got caught off guard and you weren't prepared to give an answer. So you're like tongue tied. It's not that you gave an excuse, but it wasn't good enough. It's that there's not even an option for excuses. It's the idea that when we get to heaven and stand... Well, when we get to the judgment throne of God, we stand before him and he doesn't say, "Why didn't you believe?" And then be like, "Oh, okay. I understand that reasoning or, oh, that wasn't good enough reasoning." That's not what happens when we get before the judgment seat of God, he says, "Did you believe? Or did you not?" No.

No. Then you have to incur the wrath that we have is in bio disobeying God. Now, one of the main reasons why throughout history, we suppress this truth, even when it's so obvious to us is that we're arrogant and we're stubborn. I know I am arrogant and I am stubborn. You can ask my wife. But God calls us to stop being arrogant, and in the very next chapter in Romans chapter two, verse five, it says, "But because of your heart and I'm-penitent heart, you are storing up wrath for yourself. On the day of wrath when God's righteous judgment will be revealed." I know many brothers and sisters in the church, not many. I do that to make everyone feel a little bit more anonymous. But there are some brothers and sisters in this church who I know that come every Sunday, that sings songs go to community group. And we're thankful that you do that. But that you don't call God Lord of your life, that you don't put him as king and ruler over your life.

And there's excuse and reason after reason. And what I want to challenge you with guys, soften your hearts. Stop fighting against the truth of the gospel. Let the gospel change your life. I didn't say this first service, but I was thinking about it. The church I grew up in there's a pastor named Ted Martins. I'm very thankful for him. He had a huge impact on my life, specifically in love for scripture and love for debating, love for arguing the truth of scripture. But he had an example that I loved and has stayed with me my whole life. Says the gospel is like a lion. Now imagine that there's a lion and a cage behind me and I'm standing here like back up against the cage.

You'd be like, "What are you doing? The lion's going to reach out and claw you. You're going to die. What are you doing?" And I'm saying, "No, no, I'm, I'm protecting the gospel. I'm protecting this lion." And he says, what we need to do is not stand and protect it. We need to let it out. We need to let the gospel come out and transform our lives. Change every single part of us. Come into the parts we don't want God to be in, reveal the truth of the gospel in us. And then we can stop suppressing the truth. Just let God work in you. Let him, he loves you. He sacrificed and gave up everything for you.

He incurred God's wrath for you. Let him change your life. Now again, I said, I am stubborn. So I know that hardheaded, stubborn people don't stop doing things just by saying, don't do it. Again you could ask my wife. And so how do we actively stop suppressing truth? How do we actively stop being stubborn. It's by honoring and thanking God. This is verses 21 through 23, where it says "For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him. They became futile in their thinking and their foolish hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for the images, resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things."

They're suppressing the truth because they did not honor God or give thanks to him. What do we mean when we say we need to honor God? What is honor? Honor is putting someone or something in the rightful place that they deserve. What does it means to honor God is to put him in his rightful place as king and ruler and Lord of our lives and Lord of all creation. That's what it means to honor God. So if you want to honor God, you first have to start by acknowledging God exists. Then you need to acknowledge that he is ruler. He is creator over all things, and you have to live in faithful obedience to him, let him change your life. And to give thanks to him. We don't do it begrudgingly. We don't do it because we have to.

We actually realize, oh, the gospel spared me from God's wrath. Praise him. I'm alive because the gospel, because of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. God, you're a ruler of my life. Thank you. I'd be dead apart from you. You have something you want to command me to do and tell me to do all right, I'll do it. Because if I don't, I don't have any reason to live. I'm thankful that you allow me to live. So I'll do whatever it is that you tell me to do. Thank you. Thank you for life. Thank you for the ability to do anything. Thank you for creation that proclaims your goodness and your glory. Thank you.

And when we don't. It says that we become futile in our thinking and their foolish hearts were darkened. Were darkened is not the idea of putting on sunglasses or closing the blind so it gets a little bit darker. It's the idea of complete and utter darkness. We see this in Matthew 24, verse 29, where it says "Immediately after the tribulation of those days, the sun will be darkened and the moon will not give its light. And the stars will fall from heaven and powers of the heavens will be shaken."

It's the idea that there is no more manmade light. There's no sun, there's no moon. There's no more stars. Complete utter darkness. The darkness where your hand can be an inch in front of your face and you can't see it. That's what happens in our hearts when we reject God. It's not that God makes us darkened. It's that we reveal that our arts are dark as well. If you're here today, you're not a Christian. You're thinking, you're saying I have questions. I have doubts. I'm thinking about it. I'm on a journey.

I want to ask you a question. If, hypothetical, it's not hypothetical, but hypothetically, if there is an all powerful God. A God who created all things, a God who willingly suffered for you to save you and offered you a free gift of salvation and you choose to reject it. What kind of a decision is that? Is that a smart one? It's not. It's not. And it shows that our thinking is futile. The word futile means useless. Shows that if we can't trust God with the most important thing in life, our thinking is flawed. Because of sin all of us start this way. So how does our hearts change from a darkened heart to one of light. That loves the truth, gives glory to God and thanks him. What changes?

We need light. Revelation 22:4-5 says, "They will see his face," Jesus' face, "And his name will be on their foreheads and night will be no more. They will need no light or lamp or son for the Lord God will be their light and they will reign forever and ever." How do we get rid of the complete utter darkness in us? We let Jesus come in and change our lives.

We welcome Jesus into our life and say, "Jesus, I need you. You are light." And his light pierces all darkness, nothing will be hidden from him. He will expose all of it, help us, heal us, transform our lives, sanctify us when we let Jesus in. I beg of you, let Jesus into your heart. Let him transform your life. Verse 22, it similarly says "Claiming to be wise, they became fools." Again it's showing that when you say you're smart, but you reject God it shows how not smart you are.

And then verse 23, "And exchange the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things." The word exchanged means understandably, giving up. You can't exchange something you don't know you have. And what God is saying is I offered you really my glory eternity with God, praise him for it. But we gave it up. We gave up the immortal glory. The word immortal we think of as only not dying, but that's part of it. But the other part of it is it's imperishable. It's untaintable. It can't be diminished, withered or hurt or destroyed in any way. God's glory is immortal. And we gave it up for what?

For mortal, for perishable, for things that are on their way to death. And what was that? For man, for creeping things for... Sorry, for man and birds and animals and creeping things. This phrase at the end should immediately bring us back to Genesis 1, the story of creation, where these are the categories of the creatures God created on earth. And the idea here is that yes, throughout history, people have created images of these things. We read that in the beginning in Exodus. They created a calf, an animal. But it's also the idea of anything in creation. We exchanged the immortal glory of God for things in creation, for things God created, we worshiped creation over creator.

So the question is, what do we put in the place that God alone deserves from his creation? Doesn't have to be just animals and birds and creeping things. What in creation takes the place of God in our lives. What are the things that we say, "I'm not going to listen to God on that. I'm not going to budge." What are the things that we say, "I can't believe in a God like that." Or, "I don't need to go to church today because I have more important things to do."

I don't need to spend time with God and his word and praying to him because I'm just so busy. What are the things that we put in place of God in our lives? And what are we to do with them? We're to exchange them back, or to get rid of them. We're to give them up and say, "God, I don't want these things. I want you, I want your glory, I want your love, I want your grace, I want the gospel." Praise him for it. And if you're not a Christian, think of those same things and say, God, I don't care. Any of it. I'm changing my life. I'm submitting all of it to you.

With this, I'd like to close. And if you know anything about preaching, when someone says, I'd like to close you got to at least 10 minutes left, but I'll try and be a little bit shorter than that. I'd like to close with a quote from Jonathan Edwards' sermon again, sinners in the hands of an angry God that he brings up at the end.

Where he says, "And now you have an extraordinary opportunity a day wherein Christ has flung the door of mercy wide open and stands in the door, calling and crying with a loud voice to poor sinners. A day wherein many are flocking to him and pressing into the kingdom of God. Many are daily coming from the east, west, north, south many that were very lately in the same miserable condition that you are in, are in now a happy state with their hearts filled with love to him who has love them and washed them from their sins and his own blood and rejoicing in hope of the glory of God. How awful is it to be left behind at such a day, to see so many others feasting while you are pining and perishing. To see so many rejoicing and singing for joy of heart, while you have cause to mourn for so of heart and how for vexation of spirit. How can you rest one moment in such a condition. Are not your souls as precious as the souls of the people at Suffield where they are flocking from day to day to Christ."

Suffield is another place where the gospel was being preached and people were being saved. And his point is the people he's preaching to your souls are just as valuable. If you're here today, you're not a Christian, God values your soul. He loves you. He willingly died to save you. Why put all off committing your life to him? Why, when you see the rejoicing.

It says that wherein many flocking to him pressing into the kingdom of God and that we were not that long ago in the same state. There was a point in my life where I wasn't a Christian. I'm a Christian because God revealed his love to me because God showed the gospel to me. And I'm willingly submitting my life to him because he is worthy. And I could tell you, I rejoice. I praise him. I get to sing songs of praise to him. Again, the greatest parties are in heaven. God is great. I'm rejoicing. I want that rejoicing for you too. If you're not a Christian, let Jesus bear the wrath for you. Let him do it. Let the gospel transform your life. If you are a Christian, praise him, he has paid the penalty, has spared us from his wrath. Let's glorify him. Let's praise him. Let's honor him and rejoice. Let's pray.

Heavenly father, Lord, we love you. Help us to love you. Lord, help us to no longer suppress the gospel in our lives. Let the gospel run free and reign in our lives. Let it transform us. Sanctify us. Make us more like you. Lord, we thank you that Jesus has spared us from your wrath. Lord, we ask that everyone here who is on the path of incurring your wrath, that you soften their heart and change them. Help them to see your love and your grace for them and spare them. Lord, we thank you and praise you that you are good. You are holy. You are honorable and praiseworthy. In Jesus' name, amen.