Romans 1:18-32

Verse 24, “Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity…”

Verse 28, “And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done.”

As many are aware of the common false doctrine within the church that as Christ was sent forth as a propitiation, God no longer executes His judgment and wrath upon mankind. But scripture clearly shows that God indeed does and will reveal His righteous judgment. Romans 2:4-5 is enough in and of itself to refute such an argument: “Or do you presume on the riches of His kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance? But because of your hard and impenitent heart you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath when God’s righteous judgment will be revealed.” Presumption on the false knowledge that God is just a God of love; surely God could not punish – that would be to deny who He really is. This is the god that reigns in most of our western evangelical churches, but scripture teaches that this is not worship of the only true God, but an image erected in the minds of many, void of the knowledge of salvation whereby many still remain outside of Christ under the wrath of God. The New Testament is full of warning to flee the wrath to come. I refer to the New Testament, without showing regard to the Old Testament, because it is the covenant of God at its pinnacle, revealed in a new way through Christ.

Paul in Romans 8 states, “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” This is the irreversible, and incontrovertible inevitability that Paul comes to, after expounding from chapters 1-7; those who are united to Christ by faith and grace are no longer under the wrath and judgment of God. Liberal theology emphatically claims that everyone in the world has been delivered from wrath because Christ died, and therefore it is not contingent upon whether or not one is regenerate, for God’s love is unconditional. This is why the doctrine of hell is refuted in many churches because it does not agree with their philosophy and ethics, and what in essence is characteristic of liberal theology – that it always brings down the Word of God to a humanistic level and standard of this world which fails at its best. Is it any wonder the apostle Paul states, “The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned.” (1 Corinthians 2:14) And again in Romans 8:7, “For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law; indeed, it cannot.” Engrafted to Christ by spiritual rebirth reconciles us to God, and in that way alone, and we know whether or not we are truly in Him as the apostle John says, “By this we may know that we are in Him: whoever says he abides in Him ought to walk in the same way in which He walked.” (1 John 2:5)

Where does that leave those who remain outside of Christ? 1 Peter 4:17 is where the apostle explains the judgment of God beginning at the house of God, meaning that we (who are in Christ) are already justified, and are being sanctified and perfected through discipline and suffering. Peter asks a rhetorical question: “What will be the outcome of those who don’t obey the gospel of God?” And in verse 17 he quotes, “If the righteous are scarcely saved, what will become of the ungodly and the sinner?” Here is a contrast to show the severity of God’s judgment that awaits those who spurn and reject the gospel of Jesus Christ, “if the righteous are scarcely saved”. It is a negative contrast to bring out the force of the argument. Christ’s own words alone settles the fact of the matter that those who have not been saved from condemnation – the wrath to come – remain under it, continuing to store up more judgment, “Whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved darkness rather than light…” (John 3:18, 19) No one will be inexcusable; everyone will have been confronted by the Truth in this life (Romans 2:12, 14-16).

What kind of judgment will fall upon those outside of Christ? What the Son of God endured by being made sin, the horror, torment, the shame and the agony – far beyond the physical – of God’s judgment. God held nothing back when His wrath was fully executed upon His own Son. Christ became the filth that God abhors and hates and was crushed under the weight of it all that made Him cry with depths you and I will never fathom, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” It was not the beatings, the cross and vast loss of blood that caused Christ’s death, although contributing to it. Neither was it the world’s weight of sin He bore – which truly disfigured Him – that made His heart rupture, expiring the life out of Him; it was the Father’s reserved wrath, vehemence and hatred of sin poured out in full measure upon the Son.

This is the judgment awaiting, not so much the ‘fires’ of hell that we have become so familiar with in a humorous way; we limit it to that alone. This will not span over a short duration of time; the Bible is very explicit in stating that God’s judgment will have no end, whether or not we agree, His judgment and condemnation will be just and righteous (Romans 3:3-8).

Not only is God’s judgment confined to those who will stand before Him at the Great White Throne – and there will be no corruption in that Court room like we have in our highest justice systems – but there is a preliminary judgment of God that takes place while here on earth, sometimes sealing a person’s eternal destiny. I cannot think of anything more fearful than having God’s judgment that seals a soul’s damnable eternal destiny. It does happen. The religious leaders in Jesus’ time had their eternal destiny sealed when they blasphemed the Holy Spirit, and many today fall into such hardness and depravity sealing their own damnation.

One of the ways in which God’s judgment falls upon individuals and nations is revealed in Romans 1:18-32, particularly verse 28, stating that God gives them up to a debased mind; the restraints of evil are removed resulting in the most depraved acts unimaginable committed, sometimes setting the duration of their lives here on earth unto damnation. We read of something similar in 2 Thessalonians 2:10-12, “…because they refused the truth and so be saved. Therefore God sends them a strong delusion, so that they may believe what is false, in order that all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.”

Are we not currently seeing something of this nature again within our society, where darkness is called light, wrong is called right and vice versa? Are we not witnessing arising laws within our government that we never dreamed possible would take place, and that godly influences – that strengthen and prosper a nation – are made a ‘crime’ if adhered to? Would any of us have believed that what principles constituted this nation are being torn down one by one? America is becoming a nation that hates righteousness.

This is not an overnight change but over decades of time where the USA has prospered insurmountably since the Great Depression, and in her luxury has forgotten – even forsaken God. God has raised His men periodically since the 1950’s onwards to warn this nation. The church progressively grew lax and lukewarm in the swamp of materialism and has continued to decline spiritually as the spirit of this world continues to fascinate, rendering the church powerless.

Why are we, as Christians, taken by surprise at godless nations, corrupt governments and the increase of lawlessness in society when the Church fails to fulfill her commission? Is it really wrong and unfair to say that the Church bears a significant amount of responsibility for the way in which this nation is heading and will have to give an account before God? Of course, this obviously does not excuse individual responsibility and governing authorities in a secular society; each one stands accountable to God, and those in leadership will have a weightier judgment – but, has the Church failed to pray and seek the face of God until she is empowered again to be who she has been called to be that inevitably influences a nation for the better? The Church’s first priority is not politics but prayer! That is how revivals came about. We cannot positively change a nation through politics; it is prayer, power and then politics, and in that order alone. If the heart is corrupt, then the use of righteous laws are nothing more than a hypocritical veneer; dry rot and disease always prevails unless treated and eradicated.

 Dry rot is a manifestation of God’s judgment on this nation, and the severity of it is how apathetic we are. Does it not alarm and concern us that God has given this nation over to a state of depravity? Do we not see it – or are we also a part of the many who have been deluded to believe what is false and is a lie?