The Wrath of Abandonment
The Wrath of God, and the Corruption of Sin
18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, 19 because that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them. 20 For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse. 21 For even though they knew God, they did not honour Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened. 22 Professing to be wise, they became fools, 23 and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and crawling creatures.
24 Therefore God gave them over in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, so that their bodies would be dishonoured among them. 25 For they exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.
26 For this reason God gave them over to degrading passions; for their women exchanged the natural function for that which is unnatural, 27 and in the same way also the men abandoned the natural function of the woman and burned in their desire toward one another, men with men committing indecent acts and receiving in their own persons the due penalty of their error.
28 And just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God any longer, God gave them over to a depraved mind, to do those things which are not proper, 29 being filled with all unrighteousness, wickedness, greed, evil; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, malice; they are gossips, 30 slanderers, haters of God, insolent, arrogant, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, 31 without understanding, untrustworthy, unloving, unmerciful; 32 and although they know the ordinance of God, that those who practice such things are worthy of death, they not only do the same, but also give hearty approval to those who practice them.
The Wrath of God is one of His most glorious attributes that the churches of today have chosen to ignore. However , anyone familiar with their Bible will know that God’s wrath is so often shown and spoken of in sacred Scripture. In our text for this article, Paul warns us of the wrath of God against those who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, and what that wrath looks like against an unbelieving nation and the punishments that accompany the sin of unbelief. An entire book can be written on this passage of scripture alone, however for the sake of this article I intend to address three short points drawn from the Apostle. The first point is the wrath of God against unbelief. Second, the sin of idolatry. And finally, what I call the progressive corruption of sin. Please join me as we draw glorious truths from the deep wells of this wonderful epistle from the great Apostle Paul.
The wrath of God against unbelief
“For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness”.
The first point we will look at is the wrath of God. What is meant by the wrath of God? Much can be said about the wrath of God, so to keep on track we will stick with a simple definition. The wrath of God is essentially His divine anger shown in judgement against unrighteousness and lawlessness. His wrath is a consequence of His righteousness, holiness, and justice. In this passage Paul is referring to one act of sin rather than sin collectively, the sin of unbelief. In His conversation with Nicodemus in John chapter 3, our Lord Jesus mentions a judgement similar to what Paul is talking about. “For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him. He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. This is the judgement, that the Light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil” (John 3:17-19). Christ is here talking about judgment against the Jewish people because they have not believed in Him and perhaps also a foreshadowing of the future judgment against all unbelievers, both Jews and Gentiles. This is again seen in John 12; 37-40, “But though He had performed so many signs before them, yet they were not believing in Him. This was to fulfill the word of Isaiah the prophet which he spoke: ‘Lord, who has believed our report? And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed’”. So, God’s wrath is revealed against the sin of unbelief. The next point to answer is what kind of wrath or judgment is Paul here talking about? In the Bible we read of the many ways God manifests His judgement against people. There is eternal judgement, where those whose names are not written in the Lamb’s book of life will be sentenced to the lake of fire for all eternity, there is the judgement of Sodom and Gomorrah, where God destroyed them with fire and brimstone, but those types of judgement is not what Paul is referring to, but rather the wrath or judgement of abandonment. God removes His restraining mercy which holds back mans deepest and darkest sins from coming to the surface. We see this in verse 24, “therefore God gave them over in the lusts of their hearts to impurity…”. This type of wrath can be seen in the Old Testament. In Isaiah 6, which is quoted by John in chapter 12:40 of his gospel account, we read in verse 10, “Render the hearts of this people insensitive, their ears dull, and their eyes dim, otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts, and return and be healed.” God sends Isaiah to preach judgement to the people of Judah, but God has already hardened their hearts because of their sin against Him. And as we will discuss latter on, part of this wrath of abandonment is falling deeper and deeper into corruption and depravity.
The Sin of Idolatry
“Professing to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and crawling creatures.”
So, man has rejected God. One might say, “but how can man be held responsible for unbelief if God has not revealed Himself to them. What about those who do not receive the Word?” Well, our text answers that very question in verse 19-20, “because that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them. For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse.” All are without excuse. This can also be seen in Psalm 19:1, “The heavens are telling of the glory of God; and their expanse is declaring the work of His hands.” However, those who receive greater revelation will face greater judgement, “Whoever does not receive you, nor heed your words, as you go out of that house or that city, shake the dust off your feet. Truly I say to you, it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgment than for that city” (Matthew 10:14-16). In fact, the sin of idolatry in the ancient world shows this to be true, as John Calvin said, “Therefore since from the beginning of the world no country, town or even household has managed to do without religion, there we have a tacit admission that in the heart of every human being is stamped a feeling for divinity.” Although ancient false religions have mostly passed away, some still remain, in the western world idolatry has become the worship of self rather than some other false gods. Man, having not worshipped God, but rather false gods, have fallen under the judgement of God. This is the very sin that Israel herself fell into on so many occasions. In 2 Kings 17; 15-20 we read, “They rejected His statutes and His covenant which He made with their fathers and His warnings with which He warned them. And they followed vanity and became vain, and went after the nations which surrounded them, concerning which the Lord had commanded them not to do like them. They forsook all the commandments of the Lord their God and made for themselves molten images, even two calves, and made an Asherah and worshiped all the host of heaven and served Baal. Then they made their sons and their daughters pass through the fire, and practiced divination and enchantments, and sold themselves to do evil in the sight of the Lord, provoking Him. So the Lord was very angry with Israel and removed them from His sight; none was left except the tribe of Judah. Also Judah did not keep the commandments of the Lord their God, but walked in the customs which Israel had introduced. The Lord rejected all the descendants of Israel and afflicted them and gave them into the hand of plunderers, until He had cast them out of His sight.” This apostasy was followed by bloodshed, first caused by the Assyrians, and then the Babylonians after them. Let us pray that we may repent of our idolatries, that we may not face similar bloodshed and destruction.
The Progressive Corruption of Sin
When God judges a nation for their unbelief, he abandons them to their own sin. This means that His restraining mercy is taken away and the depths of human depravity begin to show. So, what does this look like? In reading the passage before us, many would observe that the sin described between verses 26 and 32 seems to describe the modern western world perfectly. Well, that’s because it does. We in the west, dear friends, are already under the judgement of God. Let us work through the progressive depravity described by the Apostle. First, homosexuality becomes more prevalent in a society, more widespread, more accepted. In fact, it begins with women who, in verse 26, exchange the natural function for that which is unnatural. Then follow men who do the same. Verse 28, “And just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God any longer, God gave them over to a depraved mind…” This dear friends is where we currently are, a civilization experiencing the judgement of God, a depraved or even a reprobate mind. How sad this is, and I personally believe one of two things will follow this judgement, the first being revival, the second and more likely of the two being bloodshed. As Jonathan Edwards said concerning the wrath of God, “ The bow of God’s wrath is bent, and the arrows made ready on the string, and justice bends the arrow at your heart, and strains the bow, and it is nothing but the mere pleasure of God, and that of an angry God, without any promise or obligation at all, that keeps the arrow one moment from being made drunk with your blood.” How merciful and patient is our God dear friends! Look around the world, see how the depraved reprobates mock our King, how they rebel against His wonderful law. The arrow of His wrath is aimed at our cities and our countries, and I believe He is close to letting loose, and raining destruction on us as He did on Sodom and Gomorrah. So let us pray for revival, let us preach the gospel without fear, and more importantly, let us workout out our own salvation with fear and trembling (Philippians 2;12).
A final point, sin is often times punished with more sin. This is apparent in our text, unbelief leads to idolatry, idolatry leads to homosexuality, homosexuality leads to a reprobate mind. James 1:15 says, “Then when lust has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and when sin is accomplished, it brings forth death”. Let us be watchful over our lusts, do not let them settle in our minds and hearts, instead we must kill them. As John Owen said, “be killing sin, or sin will be killing you.” Even king David, the man after God’s own heart, was not immune to the corruptions of sin. If you remember, his lust quickly gave way to adultery, which then gave way to murder. Let not us not give sin its place, instead let us “put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh in regard to its lusts” (Romans 13:14).
I hope this finds you all well. May the Lord bless you and keep you, “For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever. Amen.”
