Romans 1:18-20 ESV
“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 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.”
The wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all
ungodliness (irreverence, wickedness, lack of respect and refusal to give honor
to God that is due him). To me this describes the cheap grace gospel which is
permeating the church (or what is falsely called church) here in America, for
it discourages repentance, obedience, and submission to Christ as Lord. It
calls that works salvation or Lordship salvation as though that is evil.
The wrath of God is also revealed against the
unrighteousness (injustice, a violation of God’s moral standards) of men
(includes women), who by their unrighteousness (immorality, dishonesty, indecency)
suppress (hide) the truth. So, this is not speaking just of those who make no
profession of faith in Christ but of all who are living immoral, dishonest and
indecent lives by their thoughts, their words, their attitudes, and their
behaviors.
God’s wrath is revealed against them because he has made
himself known to all humankind. He has shown us who he is through his created
works. And it isn’t just that he revealed that he is God but he revealed his
divine nature to us through the things that he has made. So all of us are
without excuse if we refuse God, and if we refuse to honor him as God by not obeying
him and by not submitting to him as Lord and by not forsaking our sins to
follow him.
Romans 1:21-23 ESV
“For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but 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 images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.”
Now, this “knowing” of God is not in intimate relationship
with him as we have when we believe in Jesus to be Lord and Savior of our
lives. This has to do with knowledge and understanding of who God is via God
revealing himself to us through his creation. Even though he has revealed
himself to us so that we can know him intimately, many people refuse to honor
him as God by refusing to repent of their sins and to submit to him as Lord and
to walk in obedience to his commands.
And this is exactly where many people are today who profess
faith in Jesus Christ because they have bought into a lie which tells them that
nothing is required of them, that Jesus does it all, and that they do nothing.
And they believe the lie because they don’t want to have to honor Christ as
Lord, and they don’t want to have to forsake their sinful practices, so they
accept a lie which gives them permission to keep on sinning guilt free.
And so rather than submit to Christ as Lord they follow
after the gods of this world and of their own flesh and they do what their evil
hearts desire regardless of who gets hurt in the process because it is all
about them and it is all about having their sinful lusts satisfied. And it is
all about their pride, for their pride will not let them submit to or bow to
anyone else but self because they always have to be the ones in control.
Romans 1:24-25 ESV
“Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.”
God, although he provided the way for us to be saved from
our sins and to have eternal life with him, will not force his will upon us. He
will make himself and his will known to us but we have the choice to choose him
or to not choose him. And if we choose to go the way of the flesh and to
dishonor him and to refuse to obey our Lord, then he lets us go. He hands us
over to the will of our flesh and he lets us do what our evil hearts desire.
And when we are given over to the flesh to do what our
sinful hearts desire, there are no limits to what we might do when under the
control of the flesh and not under the control of the Spirit of God. For evil
knows no limits and the more evil that you do the more you will want to do
because evil never satisfies and so it keeps on wanting more. And so many
people in this place will go deeper and deeper into sin without conscience or
regret.
Since sin keeps wanting us to go deeper, many people will
end up following all sorts of immoral and sexually perverted ways and they will
get into lots of weird stuff which destroys both body and soul. And they are
filled up with all sorts of malice, evil, slander, hate, insolence, pride,
foolishness, faithlessness, heartlessness and ruthlessness. And they not only
practice these things but they also give approval to others who practice them.
The Way of the Lord
So, if we live like what was described above, even if we
profess faith in Jesus Christ, still the wrath of God will come against us. We
will not inherit eternal life with God, but we will die in our sins because we
refused to submit to Christ as Lord, and we refused to forsake our sinful
practices in order to follow our Lord in obedience, and we refused to honor God
as Lord but we chose the way of the sinful flesh, instead.
For the way of salvation from sin is the way of the cross of
Christ. And the way of the cross is via dying with Christ to sin and living to
him and to his righteousness, not just once but daily and continuously until
the day that we die. For the way of salvation is via us being crucified with
Christ in death to sin and us being raised with Christ to walk in newness of
life in him, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.
The only way that we can have salvation from sin and eternal
life with God is through faith in Jesus Christ which comes from God and thus submits
to God and which honors him as Lord. If we do not die with him to sin and live
to his righteousness, but we continue living in deliberate and habitual sin to
the glory of self, and not to the glory of God, then the Bible teaches that
heaven is not our eternal destiny but hell is. So, please take this to heart.
[Lu 9:23-26; Jn 6:35-58; Jn
15:1-11; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-17; Eph 4:17-24; 1 Pet 2:24; 1
Co 6:9-10,19-20; 2 Co 5:10,15,21; Tit 2:11-14; Jas 1:21-25; Rom 12:1-2; Eph 2:8-10; Php 2:12-13; Col 1:21-23; Col
3:5-10; Gal 5:16-21; Eph 5:3-6; Gal 6:7-8; Rom 2:6-8; Heb 10:26-27; 1 Jn 1:5-9; 1 Jn
2:3-6; 1 Jn 3:4-10; Matt 7:21-23; Ac 26:18; Rev 21:8,27;
Rev 22:14-15]
He
Gives Purpose
An
Original Work / June 9, 2012
“Listen to Me when I’m calling to you.
Obey freely My word.
Follow Me in all of My ways.
Do all that I say.
Hear Me gently whisper to you
My will for your life and future.
Give all of your life and heart to
Follow Me always.”
Repent of your sins and worship Jesus.
He’s your Lord and Master.
He died for your sins so you could
Live with Him today.
He has a plan for your life and
He gives purpose and direction.
He gives meaning to your life,
So follow Him today.
“I love you so much I gave My life for
You to walk in My ways,
Living for Me each day as you
Bow to Me and pray.
Witness for Me of your love for Me and
Of My grace and mercy,
How I died to save you of your
Sins now and always.”
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