Lesson 2
Trapped by God’s Wrath (Romans 1:18-3:20)
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Lesson Theme: We are _all condemned because of our unrighteousness
Lesson Objective: To recognize the futility of human effort towards obtaining righteousness
Religion is man’s attempt to achieve peace with his concept of God (or gods) through his own efforts to
1. Appease God
2. Atone for his own sinfulness
Essentially, Religion is man’s attempt to reconcile with the God of his understanding.
What does the Bible say about God’s Wrath?
Ezekiel 7:8-9; Psalm 89:29-33; Isaiah 13:11; Jeremiah 9:25; Amos 2:6; Isaiah 66:15-16
I. God will pour his wrath on the unrighteous (Romans 1:18)
Question: What is God’s wrath?
Answer: God’s wrath is the permanent attitude of a holy and just God when confronted by sin and evil
Question: What is the Basis of God’s Wrath?
A. God has revealed himself (Romans 1:19-20)
1. Man has no excuse for not acknowledging God
2. Rational reasons from nature for believing in God
a. Cosmological Argument (Cause and Effect)
b. Teleological Argument (Design)
c. Moral Argument (God’s Moral Law written on our hearts)
To make oneself right with God, you first have to acknowledge who he is and that we have an obligation to complete submission to him.
B. Man has chosen to reject God’s revelation
1. They refuse to give God glory or thanks (Romans 1:21)
2. They exchanged God’s glory for glory of man-made objects (Romans 1:22-23)
Question: What is the Result of God’s Wrath?
C. God allows man to destroy himself
1. God Gave Them Over to sinful sexual desires (Romans 1:24-26)
Question: Why did God do this?
Answer: Because they exchanged the truth of God for a lie and worshipped created things rather than the creator
Sexual promiscuity is the first sign that God is pouring out his wrath on you.
2. God Gave Them Over to sexual perversions (Romans 1:26-27)
Question: In this case, what is the consequence of their sinfulness?
Answer: They receive the due penalty of their sinfulness in their body.
3. God Gave them Over to perverse thinking (Romans 1:28-31)
There is a point when those in deep sexual sin and perversion know they are wrong, but then they reach a point where even their mind becomes twisted and they no longer can distinguish between right and wrong.
Question: Why would God allow people to spiral out of control like this?
Answer: Because sometimes people need to be completely broken and self-destruct before they can submit to God.
Question: What can we conclude from all of this? (see Romans 1:32)
Conclusion: Mankind knows to do right, but chooses to do wrong
What about the Jews? (Look at Romans 2:1)
1 Corinthians 5:9-13
Sometimes we are too quick to judge the world and too slow to judge ourselves… instead, we should be quick to judge our own sinfulness and slow to judge the world. Our job is not to judge the world, but to point them to Christ.
II. God’s will pour his wrath on the Jews (Romans 2:1-5)
Question: Why would God pour his wrath on those who work to follow his law?
A. God has established his righteous law
1. God rewards good works (Romans 2:6-7)
2. God punishes evil works (Romans 2:8-11)
Question: So what is the basis for determining what is “good” and what is “evil”?
Answer: The law
3. God judges those who sin under the law (Romans 2:12)
4. God justifies those who uphold the law (Romans 2:13)
Romans 2:14-15
Question: If we all just keep the law, then what’s the problem?
B. We are ALL lawbreakers (Romans 2:21-22)
God’s law requires complete and unflawed obedience. The Mosaic law provided sacrifices to atone for unknown sins and for sins that were originally unknown but became known later, but there are no provisions in the law for blatant rebellion against God… there was no sacrifice for high-handed sins such as what David did with Bathsheba and Uriah.
If you openly defied and disobeyed God, your only hope was to throw yourself on God’s mercy (like David)
Psalm 51:1-12
Question: Why didn’t David just offer a guilt offering?
Answer: Because the guilt offering could not take away his sin.
C. The consequence of God’s people being lawbreakers
1. God is dishonored (Romans 2:23)
2. The world blasphemes God because of their sins (Romans 2:24 )
When we sin, we bring shame on God
III. God will pour his wrath on All Men
A. Jews and Gentiles alike are all under the curse of sin (Romans 3:9)
B. There are none who are righteous before God (Romans 3:10-18)
Paul went through this exercise in order to draw a very important conclusion about the law:
Romans 3:19-20
Conclusions:
· The Law cannot bring righteousness
· The Law can only reveal our unrighteousness
Romans 6:23a
We cannot merit salvation by our works
WE ARE TRAPPED BY GOD’S WRATH !
Fret not, we can be rescued from this trap!
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