Romans 1:18-23

God’s Righteous Wrath at Human Suppression

Text: Romans 1:18–23
Preacher: Bryan Schneider
Theme: God has clearly revealed Himself, yet humanity suppresses that truth in unrighteousness, resulting in idolatry and deserving His righteous wrath.

Key Points

The gospel reveals both righteousness and wrath

• The same gospel that reveals the righteousness of God (vv. 16–17) also reveals the wrath of God (v. 18).

• We cannot understand salvation without first understanding what we are saved from.

• God’s wrath is not sinful anger but His holy opposition to sin.

God has made Himself known through creation

• God’s invisible attributes—His power and divinity—are clearly seen in what has been made.

• Creation constantly testifies that God exists and is worthy of worship.

• Humanity is therefore without excuse.

Humanity suppresses the truth in unrighteousness

• The problem is not ignorance but resistance.

• People actively “hold down” the truth rather than submitting to it.

• Suppression is moral, not intellectual—we refuse to worship God.

Ungodliness leads to unrighteousness

• Ungodliness = refusal to honor and worship God.

• Unrighteousness = sinful actions toward others.

• When we reject God vertically, it inevitably distorts our lives horizontally.

The root sin: failure to glorify and thank God

• “Although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful.”

• Ingratitude is central to human rebellion.

• Refusing to honor God leads to empty thinking and darkened hearts.

Suppression results in spiritual blindness

• Futile thinking and darkened hearts are the result of rejecting God.

• Claiming wisdom apart from God leads to foolishness.

• This is not merely something that happens to us—it is something we do to ourselves.

Idolatry: exchanging God for created things

• Humans do not stop worshiping—we redirect worship.

• We exchange the glory of God for images, created things, or self.

• Idolatry is trading infinite worth for what is temporary and corruptible.

Modern idolatry takes many forms

• Career, comfort, relationships, identity, entertainment, and even ministry can become idols.

• We often rename sin to justify it (lust → freedom, pride → strength, greed → wisdom).

• What we worship ultimately shapes who we become.

The gospel is the only hope for suppressors of truth

• Romans 1 is not a weapon to judge others but a mirror revealing our own condition.

• “Such were some of us.”

• The same gospel that reveals wrath also reveals salvation in Christ.

Right response: repentance, faith, and gratitude

• Stop suppressing truth and submit to it.

• Turn from idolatry to worship the Creator.

• Live in reverence, gratitude, and faith in Christ’s righteousness.

Summary Line

Humanity is not neutral—we are suppressors of truth, idolaters at heart, and deserving of God’s wrath. But the gospel offers hope: the righteousness of God is revealed in Christ for those who stop resisting and begin believing.

God’s Righteous Wrath at Human Suppression

Main Passage

Romans 1:18–23

“For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness…”

1. Biblical Themes

• The Wrath of God Revealed

  • Nahum 1:2–3 – God is just, jealous, and slow to anger, yet will not acquit the wicked.

  • John 3:36 – Whoever does not obey the Son remains under God’s wrath.

  • Romans 2:5 – Impenitent sinners are storing up wrath for the day of judgment.

• God’s wrath is not sinful passion or instability. It is His holy, just opposition to sin.

• General Revelation and Human Accountability

  • Psalm 19:1–4 – The heavens declare the glory of God.

  • Acts 14:16–17 – God did not leave Himself without witness in creation and providence.

  • Acts 17:24–28 – God is near, and people ought to seek Him.

• Creation clearly reveals enough of God’s power and divinity to leave humanity without excuse.

• Suppression of the Truth

  • John 3:19–20 – People love darkness rather than light because their deeds are evil.

  • Ephesians 4:17–19 – Sinful humanity is darkened in understanding and hardened in heart.

  • 2 Peter 3:5 – Some are willfully ignorant.

• The problem is not a lack of evidence but a moral refusal to bow before what God has made known.

• Idolatry and the Great Exchange

  • Jeremiah 2:11–13 – God’s people exchanged glory for what does not profit.

  • Psalm 115:4–8 – Idols are lifeless, and those who trust them become like them.

  • Romans 1:25 – Humanity exchanges the truth of God for the lie and worships the creature rather than the Creator.

• When people refuse to glorify God, they do not stop worshiping. They redirect worship toward created things.

2. Historical Context

• Rome and Paul’s Argument

  • Romans was written to a mixed church of Jewish and Gentile believers in Rome. Paul is laying the groundwork for the whole letter by showing that the human problem is universal. Before he explains justification by faith, he first shows why all people need it.

  • Romans 1:18–23 especially begins Paul’s case that the Gentile world is guilty before God—not because they lacked revelation, but because they suppressed the revelation they had.

• The Larger Flow of Romans

  • Romans 1:16–17 gives the thesis: the gospel reveals the righteousness of God.
    Romans 1:18 immediately begins the bad news: the wrath of God is revealed against human suppression, idolatry, and rebellion.

  • This means Paul is not changing subjects. He is showing why the gospel is necessary.

3. Key Doctrinal Ideas

• General Revelation

  • God reveals Himself in creation, providence, and conscience. This revelation is true and sufficient to render humanity accountable, though not sufficient by itself to save.

• Total Depravity

  • Humanity is not morally neutral. Fallen people do not naturally respond rightly to revelation but suppress the truth in unrighteousness.

• Idolatry

  • Idolatry is not merely bowing to statues. It is exchanging the Creator for created things—making anything ultimate that is not God.

• Divine Wrath

  • God’s wrath is His settled, holy, judicial opposition to sin. It is revealed because sin is real, guilt is real, and judgment is real.

4. Westminster Confessional References

• Westminster Confession of Faith

  • WCF 6.2–4 – The Fall and Sin
    By Adam’s sin, humanity fell from original righteousness and became wholly defiled in all the faculties of soul and body.

  • WCF 21.1 – Religious Worship
    The true God alone is to be worshiped, and worship must be offered according to His revealed will.

  • Westminster Larger Catechism

  • WLC Q.21
    Man was left to the freedom of his own will, mutably, to stand or fall.

  • WLC Q.24–29
    These questions deal with the sinfulness and misery of mankind by the fall.

Westminster Shorter Catechism

• WSC Q.14
  Sin is any want of conformity unto, or transgression of, the law of God.

• WSC Q.17–19
  These questions explain the fall, the resulting estate of sin and misery, and the guilt and corruption passed to mankind.

5. Practical Application

1. Stop suppressing what you already know

The issue is not always confusion. Often it is resistance. Ask honestly: where am I pushing truth down instead of yielding to it?

2. Glorify God and give thanks

Romans 1 identifies ingratitude as central to rebellion. Cultivate daily gratitude to God for life, breath, provision, beauty, and mercy.

3. Identify your idols

What do you functionally treat as ultimate?

• comfort

• control

• success

• family

• approval

• pleasure

• self

Whatever captures your reverence will shape your life.

4. Use Romans 1 as a mirror, not a weapon

This passage is not given so Christians can feel superior. It exposes the human condition so that we flee to Christ.

5. Let bad news drive you to the good news

Romans 1:18–23 is meant to prepare the way for the gospel. The answer to suppression is not self-improvement but repentance and faith in Jesus Christ.

Optional Discussion Questions

1. What does Paul say is being revealed in Romans 1:18?

2. According to verses 19–20, what has God made known to all people?

3. Why does Paul say people are “without excuse”?

4. What is the relationship between failing to glorify God and becoming futile in thinking?

5. What are some modern forms of idolatry?

6. Where do you see suppression of truth in your own heart?

7. How does this passage prepare us to appreciate the gospel more deeply?

Will you please turn in your Bibles with me to the book of Romans chapter one. Romans chapter one, and this morning we'll be looking at verses 18 through 23. We're gonna start the reading though at verse 16. If you're using the New King James Pew Bibles provided for you, you'll find that on page 999. Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Acts, Romans. Romans chapter 1 beginning at verse 16. Brothers and sisters, this is God's perfect word. For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ.

For it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes. For the Jew first and also for the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith. As it is written, the just shall live by faith. For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness.

Because what may have been known of God is manifest in them. For God has shown it to them. For since the creation of the world, His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse. Because although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened. professing to be wise, they became fools, and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible men, and birds, and four-footed animals, and creeping things.

Thus ends this portion of the reading of God's Word. Let's go to God in prayer. Lord, you give us your word. And when you place it into our hands, it is a sharp two-edged sword. We cannot touch it, handle it, wield it in a careless way unless we damage ourselves and others. So Father, we pray that your Holy Spirit might take the sharp word as a scalpel, Lord, and that you might cut out and do a surgery in our hearts, take out the cancer and give us new hearts. Lord, we pray that you would convict, correct, rebuke, teach, train.

Father, I am just a sinful man up here. I pray your people may not put some type of implicit trust in me. But Lord, I pray that your spirit might be in your people, working in them and through them, that they may go to your word and examine and see, are these things so? Lord, and I pray that as there is no doubt fodder and chaff that should be blown away in the wind, I pray that that might happen, that the truths of the gospel might bear good fruit being buried deep in the hearts of your saints. Lord, build up your saints. Convict and bring to life those who are dead. Help us, God, as we come to your word. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. God has revealed a truth.

But just because God says something doesn't mean that we always like it. There's many times that people tell us things in our lives that are true and yet we don't want to hear it. Sometimes it offends us. Sometimes it hurts. But when the Lord tells us things that are challenging and difficult, like He's going to challenge us this morning, It's because he loves.

And over the next few weeks, we're gonna be looking, it's gonna take a number of different sermons to get through chapter one and chapter two and the first half of chapter three. And it's gonna be a whole bunch of stuff that we probably don't naturally want to hear, because it's gonna be talking about our sin.

But we must not ever divorce these verses from the core thesis of this book in verses 16 and 17. For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is a good news. It is the power of God unto salvation for everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For it is written, for in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith as it is written, the just shall live by faith. What do we need saved from? What is this triumphal news? Well, Paul has to start with some bad news. A revelation that we may not want to hear.

We may really like verse 17, for in it the righteousness of God is revealed. From faith to faith, we like that. The righteousness of God and he makes us alive by faith. These are wonderful things. But there's a dual nature of God's revelation in the gospel. There's two things revealed. I told you last time that we could very well change the name from the book of Romans to Paul's Apocalypse. Or Paul's Revelation. Because you see in verse 17, For in it, that's the gospel of Christ. For in the gospel, the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith. But then look at verse 18. Something else is revealed though.

For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men. Do we have a problem with the same gospel that reveals to us the hope of salvation, the glorious good news that we could be made alive and live with God forever, be reconciled to the king of the universe? It's the same gospel message that tells us that God has a holy indignation, an abhorrence of sin. It's against the backdrop of the darkness of human corruption. That the light shines as a beacon of hope. So today we have to look at the darkness. What we've done to ourselves and our natural state. Look with me first at verses 19 and 20.

The truth God makes known. Because what may be known of God is manifest in them. For God has shown it to them. For since the creation of the world, his invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse. God is knowable. Creation declares it.

As humans, we are the type of people that we long for mountaintop vistas. We know that there's something in our hearts, in our lives, in our beings that wants to be in awe of something or someone. This is why people will travel thousands of miles to go to the Grand Canyon and sit at the precipice and just have their breath taken away. Or they'll climb to the top of the Rocky Mountains, the 10,000 foot peaks, and they want to see the beauty of the grandeur. Why people will go and they'll chase tornadoes throughout Kansas and Oklahoma because they want to see something more powerful and greater. Why people will watch shows and see all these deep sea creatures and want to be in awe of all the majestic beauty. Why people will go to art museums to see the beautiful paintings that evoke something from deep within us because we know that there's something greater than us.

This is what Paul is saying here. This is what the Spirit has revealed. God has made known to us by creating a world that takes our breath away, that there is something even greater than this created world. Creation makes it that we can't help but know as humans that there is a God.

And if there's such incredible beauty when you see the sky painted in its glorious colors, you know there's an artist with his brush. When you go out at night and you see the Milky Way with the billions of stars that greet you, And the more you're there, the more you see the heavens, the smaller you feel and the more immense the universe seems to you. You know that you're just a speck in the existence and not the center of the universe. We know when we stand next to the giant sequoias or the redwoods. that there is something, someone more powerful, greater, more eternal, and more grand than anything. This is what Paul is saying.

Because what may be known of God is revealed, manifested, like shined before them, because God has shown it. For since the creation of the world, His invisible attributes, it's the things you can't see about God, yet when you stand at those places of awe, you see him. The unseeable things of him are clearly seen. They're understood by the things that he's created by the word of his power. As he spoke them into existence, and we stand in awe of just what he speaks. We get a glimpse, we know of his eternal power. As the new King James puts it here, of his Godhead, of his deity, of his being.

I know not everybody wants to believe this, right? Because there's many people who are atheists and will go to the Grand Canyon and say how awe-inspiring and wonderful and beautiful things are. Or they'll climb Mount Everest and they'll see where the sky touches Earth, and yet they still won't believe in God. But the very fact that they stand in awe of something shows them that there is something even greater than that to be awe-inspired of.

You might imagine somebody going into a room in their house and they decide one day that they don't like the sunshine. And so they start pulling the drapes down or the blinds down and closing the drapes. They're making their room as light-proof as possible to say, no, no, no, I don't like the light out there, and I don't want the light out there, so I'm gonna make this room as dark as possible. Just because you deny the light's existence and do everything you can to try to hide it doesn't mean that the light doesn't exist.

That's what the Lord is saying here. But this isn't saying that creation saves us, that the goal is just to stand in awe, Creation could do nothing about the guilt of our unrighteousness. And also notice it doesn't tell us, creation doesn't tell us everything about God.

Did you notice that in verse 20? All creation tells us is that there is a God. That's what we're talking about here. Theologians call it general revelation. And we have special revelation that we open God's word and we know about God himself and we learn about Christ and the plan of redemption and the covenant of grace and we, that's special. But when he displays to all people in verse 20, In general revelation in his creation is his power and his divinity. It's real revelation. Now, not everybody is going to know it as well. Not everybody is going to grasp it as thoroughly. But God is saying here that in reality, there are no true atheists.

We live in a world where God is speaking every day, every time we're filled with that sense of overwhelming awe and love when we hold a baby. And when we see our spouses, we ought to see our spouse, and we experience that deepness of relational love that we think, this is incredible and beyond words. We know that where that love comes from is from God. Every sunrise declares that we have a maker. Every meal that we eat, every morsel of bread says that there is a giver. And every breath you take, there's someone who's sustaining you. We cannot say that God is silent. While there's beauty and there's love and there's good.

But if that truth seems to be as plain as what Paul is saying here, why doesn't everybody worship God? Why doesn't everybody bow to him? Why doesn't everybody everywhere in the whole world give thanks to him? If general revelation is so absolutely pervasive, why do people not serve him? Well, that's where Paul actually started in verse 18. Look at the Romans chapter one, verse 18. For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness. Make no doubt about it, God has wrath.

This is not like me when I'm overwhelmed and irritated and temperamental. When there's a lot of stuff going on in my life and I just kind of like get annoyed with people or get annoyed with my children or something, I might become a little peeved. I might even raise my voice or speak too sharply. That's not the type of anger that's happening here in verse 18.

God is not capricious or shallow. No, this wrath is God's holy displeasure, opposition, abhorrence of evil. It's not divine irritability. What is God angry against? What is being revealed from heaven about God? Well, it's against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men. And now there's a little bit of nuance here that I'd like to go into with you. It's a little bit nerdy, so we have to go to the school room. I'm gonna say a few Greek words. Just stick with me, don't lose track. I'm gonna tell you this for a reason.

When the text says here in the Bible that God's wrath is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness, the word ungodliness there is irreverence. Meaning they will not stand before God to serve. to treat anybody else as higher, worthy of absolute respect and love and fidelity and obedience. And because they will not worship and serve the creator, because they will not bow their knees before the God of heaven who made them, even in his own image, then what do they do? They do unrighteousness first against God and then others. And by they, make no doubt about it, I've said they a lot.

We. God's anger, his righteous wrath, judging sinners, is because we will not worship Him, we will not stand in reverence of Him, and because we won't, we both steal and rob Him of the glory that's due His name and the thanks that we ought to bring to Him.

And then what do we do? We give that honor and glory to somebody or something else. And then we decide we don't want to listen to him. We don't want to listen to his ways. And so we'll do things our own way. And what we're going to find out in the rest of chapter one is what those ways look like as we both rob God of the glory that's due his name. It is inevitable that as we rob God of the glory of his name, it is inevitable that we will then start to hurt people.

See, when we, when we will not, be corrected vertically, it will have effects horizontally. And we can't say that this is a passive thing that happens. We do it. When we sin, we do it willingly. Notice what he said in verse 18. For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men. Why, what do they do who suppress the truth in unrighteousness? This is holding it in, pulling back and pushing it down. This is not accidental, it's purposeful. This is, the idea for a suppressor is taking a giant beach ball and trying to push it under the water and hold it down there. No, I will not worship you. I will not reverence you. I will not serve you. I will not obey your ways. I will not stand in awe of you and bring glory and honor and praise and thanksgiving to you. No, I will not do it.

This is how Paul is saying we were. The truth isn't missing. The truth is actively resisted. Resisted in, notice, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness. We as humans want to take the things that are most beautiful and wonderful and twist them and change them And then we take those sayings and as we hold them down and as we push them down, we do so in our own unrighteousness. We know this. We can talk about it relationally, when somebody brings something to light in your life, how you're treating someone, or how you've spoken to someone, or something you're doing in your life, and somebody who really does love you and your family or one of your relationships will bring that truth, that hard thing to you, and the first thing you want to do is defend yourself, fight against it.

We're just like those types of people who If you imagine waking up in the middle of the night, and you hear the smoke detector going off, and you get mad at the smoke detector, so you rip out the battery and you go back to sleep. I don't want to hear that there's actually problems going on here. Just get rid of the alarm. That's the idea here. The warnings are unwelcome.

Unbelief isn't innocent. And this is not saying that people who, some people, even Reformed, leaning people have said things about this passage that go too far. Some of the most brilliant people in this entire world who have ever lived who should have been at the very edge of awe, actively suppress that awe. So are you the type of person who, though you see God, though you know God, though you may stand and marvel at the things of this life, Are you like the person in verse 18?

That in your heart you say, no, I will not bow. I will not serve. You are not good. I am good, and I know I'm good. I'm not gonna listen to a God who says mean things or hard things about me, because that's wrong. You're not loving, you're not gracious, you're not merciful, and I'm not gonna give you thanks, because I worked for this food, I did these things. Who are you in your heart? Do you know what he commands and yet refused to yield, to bow the knee?

We often just take these things and we know that they're sin and yet we'll just rename them. Lust becomes freedom. Pride becomes strength. Greed becomes the wisdom of this world. Rebellion is termed authenticity. But suppression never stays abstract. When we rebel, it will always have effects on ourselves and on our relationships. And what we suppress in our unrighteousness will strain us and will eventually warp our view of the world and our lives. What we suppress will warp us. And this is the consequences we choose. Look at verses 21 through 23 with me.

Because although they knew God, they did not glorify him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools, and changed the glory of the incorruptible God to the image of man, like corruptible man, and birds, and four-footed animals, and creeping things. Paul is saying they knew it, because although they knew God, yet, two things, did you notice? They would not glorify God nor thank him.

That one has hit me like a ton of bricks lately. How often, even as we evaluate our lives, do we just take the good things that God gives us in this life for granted? We don't even thank Him. When we wake up, do we thank Him that there's life? When we're spared from the car accident, do we thank Him for the nearness? When we eat our food, do we just pray, oh thank you God for this food absentmindedly or is it truly from the depths of our being knowing that we are utterly and absolutely dependent on him? When you look at your bank account, do you thank him that there's at least something there?

This is one of the key indictments in this whole legal case against humanity is They did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful. And so as they refuse to give Him glory, as they refuse to honor Him as God, as high and lifted up and worthy of them having reverence towards Him, and then because they deny that He even exists or that He is who He says He is, something changes.

Something changes in people when that happens. but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Empty in reasoning is how I would have translated that. Not so convinced in their, and where their synapses have gone, and in the neurological pathways in their brain that reach deep down into their heart, no. No, I'm not even gonna think about God. The reasoning, though it may seem like it's deep and profound, becomes hollow. And notice these two things are tied together. They were not, They would not glorify him as God nor thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened.

We're just in the West. We have this idea of who we are, that like we got a brain that thinks and a heart that feels. And in the Hebraic and in the Greek mind, that distinction doesn't exist. The whole point is, what goes on in your brain is intimately connected with what's going on in your heart.

And so as your thoughts are hollowed out because you do not have a place for the awe and the amazement and the glorying and the thanking of God, what happens to the thinking in your mind? It gets hollowed out. And what does that do to your heart? It gets darker and darker and darker. Senseless. Claiming to be wise. They became fools.

And the hard thing here is that I'm convinced, as I've worked through this and the grammar of it, I'm not going to annoy you with all the grammatical terms here. I think this is what's... I think what the Greek is pointing to is that we did it to ourselves.

This isn't God darkening our minds. This isn't God hollowing out our brains or darkening our hearts. people actively doing it to themselves. It's our choice. Do you see the wrath of God that's being displayed from heaven even now? Is that God is essentially saying, fine. You wanna act like I don't exist, we're not worthy of your reverence? Have it your way. I'll let you live the life that leads unto destruction. It's actually one of the amazing things that God does. And the Lord, the Lord is angry, but it's not because people don't know.

It's precisely because we do know. And we choose the darkness. rather than to walk in the light. That's the thing, right? This is the hard thing that the scriptures tell us, and we don't like it, but this is what our natural human condition is, is that we are the type of people who love darkness more than light. This is why in the book of Genesis, God looked upon all humanity, saw all the men, and he said, all the inclinations of their hearts were only evil continually. And how did it play out?

Verse 22, 23. And they changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image of like corruptible men and birds and four-footed animals and creeping things. Worshiping the created rather than the creator. See, when we wanna, this is what happens when we wanna not show reverence to God, we wanna plug up our ears and la la la la la, you don't exist. When we wanna take the truth and suppress it in unrighteousness, you must still have something you reverence, you care about, you honor and respect the most. And what does it happen to be? It will either be the created things or yourself.

And Paul was talking to a first century Roman church where you just walk down the road, and there's statues of gods everywhere. And you see the statue of Zeus, and what does he look like? He looks like a man. Poseidon. Yeah, he might look like a merman, but he's still part man. Part fish, part man.

You think of the people with the golden calf, and what do they do? We're too afraid and we don't know what's happened to this Moses fellow up on Mount Sinai. So what do we need to do? Well, let's make an image of that invisible God. Make a four-footed animal, a calf. And think that somehow that calf could in any way capture the majesty and the power and the authority and the dominion and the glory of the invisible God. And they've worshipped and served the creator rather than the creator. That's why God says to Moses, I'm just gonna wipe them all out and start over. And Moses has to act like Christ and say, no, God, please don't. You redeemed them. It's like taking a, I'd hate to see my wife do this, right?

But if Olivia decided she was gonna take her engagement ring And somebody convinced her that plastic beads in a vending machine were more valuable. And she went and she exchanged the diamond ring for plastic beads in a vending machine. That's what we do with idolatry.

When we take an image, an idol is this image And you take something and you make it to look like whatever you think is powerful. And so you take a piece of wood. And you take that piece of wood and you start carving it like something you can imagine. And you may have a really creative imagination.

And you want to thank the God who provides for you wood. And so you take the wood and you fashion the wood and you nail it to the table because you don't want it to totter and fall down. And then before the meal, you thank that God out of wood that represents somehow a God who brings you wood.

And the Lord says, what foolishness. With half the wood, You cut down, you make your little idol, and with the other half of wood, you burn the fire to cook the meat you're gonna make your sandwich with. It's useless. It's useless, and that's just what I'm saying. See, when you suppress the first commandment, that He alone is God, that there's none like Him, what flows from it is the second commandment.

You will start making yourself idols. As Sproul once said, we are homo religioso. We are religious animals. We are religious humans. No matter what, we are just constantly bent towards worshiping something or someone. And when we worship those idols, what happens, it flows from it that we defame God himself, the third commandment. And we can go on, and the point is is that Paul will go on elsewhere and abstract it and saying, that's what happens when we no longer want to give thanks to God, but instead we're filled with covetousness. When we don't want to glorify him and thank him and say, God, you are good.

Thank you for giving me everything I have. But instead we start thinking, man, I wish I had a better life. I wish I had the sighting, like we were driving down the road the other day and there was a guy power washing his sighting. And I thought, man, I wish I was the type of person who had that type of brain, who knew how to wash, like, I need to have this on my schedule and actually power wash our house so it looks nice. And I catch myself, like, I have a gorgeous house. Why am I coveting that guy's, like, hold on.

Or we look at somebody's wife and we think, why does my wife honor me like theirs? Or somebody's husband, we think, man, he treats her so good, why can't my husband treat me that way? All the while, when's the last time we've given thanks to God for the good things he's blessed us with? And Paul will say that covetousness, that desiring of what somebody else has, guess what?

It's idolatry. You're not giving thanks, you're not worshiping the God who's given you everything you have. And what happens is you become like the things you worship. They'll demand more sacrifice. Your career can become a god. Your romance can become a god. Comfort can become a god. Entertainment can become a god. Children can become gods. Ministry can become a god. We are the type of people who we love to twist good things and make them into the object of our desires, rather than bringing glory and thanking God.

And so if the rebellion is this deep, what hope do we have? Brothers and sisters, this is why Paul was so excited to go to Rome. Because it's not just that the wrath of God has been revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness, but just look up a few verses. For the righteousness of God has been revealed in the gospel of Jesus Christ. You see, this is the good news, is that though we are sinners, though we are the type of people, every one of us who has constantly struggled with a heart factory of idolatry, God saves those type of people. If you are the type of person and you're sitting here today and you think, well, I don't struggle with anything that you're talking about in Romans chapter one. Well, then I hate to tell you, you're outside God's plan for salvation. You must not need saved, but you're fooling yourself. You've become your own God, your own pride, your own self-righteousness.

We're gonna find out in chapter two, that smells like something horrible to the Lord. No, God's power is revealed in the gospel of Jesus Christ. The good news is that Jesus Christ saved sinners who needed in Romans chapter 1. So we don't come to Romans chapter 1 and look at verses 18 through 23 with a bat to take to our neighbors and say, you dummy, foolish, idiot, why won't you believe in God? No. No, such were some of us. idolaters, irreverent. We ought to see Romans chapter one and not use it as a battering ram, as judgmental, looking at everybody else and their sins, but to look at ourselves and our own sins and say, thanks be to God. He saves sinners like that, and it's describing me. And so we know it's true, but we don't look at others as we see it's true.

We look at our own hearts and we say, God, you saved me. Even though you are righteous, even though you are holy, even though you are just, even though you are deserving all the glory and the honor and praise, most of all that is displayed in your righteousness by saving sinners.

Us. Do you live by faith in the Son of God? who has loved you and given his life for you? Is your life filled with praise and reverence because you stand before an absolutely holy and righteous and just God who cannot even stand to look upon unrighteousness or uncleanness, and yet in his Son, because he's given you his perfect righteousness and cleansed you from all of your sins, do you stand in joy-filled awe? How could you serve in love of God who loves you that much?

It's good news. It's good news. So if you're one of those who has been taking the beach ball and suppressing it and suppressing it and suppressing it, and your arms are getting tired, and your life is just, you know something's off, Jesus says, come to the well of living water and I will give you water to drink and you will never thirst again. Let the truth come up and take my yoke upon you for my yoke is easy and my burden is light. And you will find rest for your soul.

The point isn't trying to act like we're perfectly righteous or suppress the truth in our unrighteousness, but it's letting God be true and hoping in Jesus, his righteousness revealed to us. Let's pray. Lord, this has been a sermon twice as long as I planned to preach. and your people have been patient. Father, I pray that your spirit might take the words of the scriptures and they may be like drops of honey from heaven, like gold because it has shown us how loving and good and righteous you are. Lord, we pray that you would please, if we are in Christ, we pray that we might be those who live our lives in joyful, submissive reverence and thankfulness. And if there are those in the room who do not know you, Lord, I pray that your spirit may not give them any place to hide or rest except for in your son. Father, may this be the day of your salvation. We thank you, Lord, for your word and for letting your light shine in the darkness. In Jesus's name, amen.

• What does it mean to “suppress the truth in unrighteousness”?

• Why does Paul say humanity is “without excuse” before God?

• Why is failing to glorify God and give thanks such a serious sin?

• What are common modern forms of idolatry?

• Where might you personally be tempted to suppress truth instead of submit to it?

• Gospel – The good news that Jesus Christ saves sinners.

• Justification – Being declared righteous before God through Christ.

• Sanctification – The lifelong process of becoming more like Christ.

• Imputation – Christ’s righteousness credited to believers.

• Faith – Trusting in Christ alone for salvation.