Weekly Devotional 5-21-12 Rejected Truth and It’s Result
Paul wrote in his letter to the fairly new Church of Rome that he was not ashamed of “16 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. 17For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, ‘The just shall live by faith’” (Romans 1:16-17). To these Romans (and us) Paul qualified that the gospel of Jesus Christ is that which overwhelms man, and brings him to salvation. “It is the power of God to salvation.” The gospel of Jesus Christ is the good news that in Him God’s wrath (is) satisfied against sin, against unrighteousness.
As we read through the letter we must keep in perspective that Paul’s aim was to heal divisions that were growing between those who had come out of Judaism to Christianity and those Gentiles who had come to salvation. Later on, he would address the Jewish converts, but here in the early part of the letter he reminds both (Jew and Gentile) that the Gentiles were those who had suppressed (and were suppressing) the truth of God. Paul wrote that such suppression resulted in God’s wrath. He wrote in verse 18, “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness.”
Paul went on in the following verses to explain how that wrath was being (present tense) manifested. We read, “24Therefore God also gave them up to uncleanness, in the lusts of their hearts, to dishonor their bodies among themselves, 25who exchanged the truth of God for the lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen. 26For this reason God gave them up to vile passions. For even their women exchanged the natural use for what is against nature. 27Likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust for one another, men with men committing what is shameful, and receiving in themselves the penalty of their error which was due. 28And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a debased mind, to do those things which are not fitting; 29being filled with all unrighteousness, sexual immorality, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, evil-mindedness; they are whisperers, 30backbiters, haters of God, violent, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, 31undiscerning, untrustworthy, unloving, unforgiving, unmerciful; 32who, knowing the righteous judgment of God, that those who practice such things are deserving of death, not only do the same but also approve of those who practice them” (Romans 1:24-32).
Rejection of the gospel opens man up to all sorts of imaginations and practices (sinful works), as witnessed by the above passage. God’s wrath will certainly be exacted against all unrighteous persons when He imposes upon them the sentence of eternal banishment from His presence and casts them into the lake of fire (Revelation 20:11-15), but His wrath is being exacted against those who live un-righteously; it is a present condition. Paul wrote that God gave them up. God allows such persons to reap the seed they have sown. But, praise God, He so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that who-so-ever would believe in Him, He would grant newness of life (John 3:16) and then conform that person into the image of His Son (Romans 8:28-29). One does not have to remain as those described above. One can be and will be changed if he (or she) will call upon God for their salvation. He will turn no one away.
Steve