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Just As If I’d Never Sinned

Jesus Paid a Debt He Did Not Owe — I Owe A Debt I cannot Pay

UNSHAKEABLE: The Good News revealed in the New Testament is that through faith in Jesus Christ’s person and his work on the cross, sinners can now stand before the holy and righteous God justified — just as if they had never sinned. Now don’t miss the beauty of this! Our justification happened only by what Jesus did on the cross. There he paid the penalty that you legally owed as one who had transgressed God’s law. But not only were you pardoned from receiving the just punishment reserved for all lawbreakers, your guilt was removed as well. So not only were you set free, you were totally cleansed — your sin record was expunged. You now stand before God just as if you had never sinned.

Just As If I’d Never Sinned - Ray Noah

Unshakeable Living // Romans 3:24

For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.

As a young man, I heard a simple preacher offer this definition of justification: It is just as if I’d never sinned! When you study what the Apostle Paul meant by the word, it turns out that is a pretty good explanation for a highly complex theology construct.

Paul uses the verb “justified” and words derived from its root, thirty times in Romans alone. Obviously, this is an important theme with Paul and the critical core of our Christian faith. Along with “gospel” and “faith” (see Romans 1), this is our theology. The “good news” revealed in the New Testament is that through “faith” in Jesus Christ’s person and his work on the cross, sinners can now stand before the holy and righteous God “justified” — just as if they had never sinned.

Now don’t miss the beauty of this! Our justification, which was a legal concept, by the way, happened only by what Jesus did on the cross. There he paid the penalty that you legally owed as one who had transgressed God’s law. But not only were you pardoned from receiving the just punishment reserved for all lawbreakers, your guilt was removed as well. So not only were you set free, but you were also totally cleansed — your sin record was expunged. You now stand before God just as if you had never sinned.

Now how can that be? Well, part of the justification package included that not only were you pardoned from punishment and declared not guilty, but you were also literally infused with Christ’s very own righteousness — “everything Jesus” was imputed, literally and spiritually, to you. But that’s not all! As beautiful as that is, it is even more stunningly beautiful that to be imputed with Christ’s righteousness meant Jesus had to have both your sins and your sin nature imputed to him on the cross — “he became sin on your behalf so that you could become the righteousness of God.” (2 Corinthians 5:21)

All of that was legally necessary for you to be made right with God. You owed a legal debt that you could not pay to the Judge of all creation. He loved you so much that he sent his one and only Son — perfectly sinless — to pay the full legal price for your redemption by becoming sin and taking the punishment into his own being as he hung on the cross and shed his blood.

And you receive this free gift of God’s grace by faith (saving trust) alone — not by your own works of righteousness or inherent merit. Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! You stand before God just as if you had never sinned.

I don’t know about you, but the only response I have to such amazing and undeserved love is to offer the rest of my life as one unending thanksgiving offering to God.

Get Rooted: Today, write a thank you note to God for his free gift of your eternal justification. Keep it in your Bible in Romans 3 as a reminder of the debt of gratitude you owe.

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Christianity Made Simple

Even A Caveman Can Get It

UNSHAKEABLE: Christianity, as opposed to religion, is simple — so simple even a caveman can get it. God made sure of that. Romans 3 provides authentic Christianity in a nutshell: Religion is complex; Christianity is simple. Religion is about what you have to do to be made right with your god; Christianity is about what God has done to make you righteous. Religion requires you to sacrifice to appease your god; Christianity required God to sacrifice his Son to appease himself. In religion, you pay; in Christianity, Jesus paid it all. Religious faith is about works; Christian faith is about belief. Religion leads to death; Christianity leads to life. Now I’m not all that bright — on par with a caveman — but I think I’ll take Christianity! How about you?

Even A Caveman Can Get It - Ray Noah

Unshakeable Living // Romans 3:23-24

Everyone has sinned and is far away from God’s saving presence. But by the free gift of God’s grace all are put right with him through Christ Jesus, who sets them free.

A lot of people are overwhelmed by the complexity of religion. They are intimidated by it, they don’t get it, they don’t want to talk about it—and even if they do want to talk about it, they just can’t wrap their brain around it enough to be able to string enough cogent thoughts together to carry on a stimulating conversation.

But that is absolutely not true about true Christianity. I know, “true Christianity” is a redundancy—but I want to distinguish authentic faith from the messed up stuff that some misguided folk have turned our faith into.

Christianity is simple — so simple even a caveman can get it. God made sure of that. Romans 3 provides it in a nutshell. Here the Apostle Paul, master theologian, who sometimes is not all that easy to grasp, probably foresaw the need for a “Christianity for Dummies” (he was thinking of me!), so he simply, clearly, and briefly spelled out the real condition of humankind, God’s offer of salvation, the essence of faith, and the core beliefs of Christianity in this chapter.

I would highly recommend, as a reaffirmation of your faith and as a great refresher for evangelism, that you go back and re-read Romans 3 in a modern translation, like The Message” or The New Living Translation. You’ll be amazed at the profound simplicity of our Christian faith.

Or I can give you the CliffNotes version:

1. The truth about you and me — Romans 3:9-12

Basically, all of us, whether insiders (Jews who have the Law) or outsiders (Gentiles who live as a law unto themselves), start out in identical conditions, which is to say that we all start out as sinners. Scripture leaves no doubt about it: There’s nobody living right, not even one, nobody who knows the score, nobody alert for God. They’ve all taken the wrong turn; they’ve all wandered down blind alleys. No one’s living right; I can’t find a single one.

2. The bad news — Romans 3:20

For no one can ever be made right with God by doing what the law commands. The law simply shows us how sinful we are [we’ll never attain God’s favor in this life now or in the life to come by being good enough].

3. The good news—Romans 3:21-22

But now God has shown us a way to be made right with him [without our futile effort to be good enough for God]. We are made right with God by placing our faith in Jesus Christ. And this is true for everyone who believes, no matter who we are.

4. Say What? — Romans 3:23-24

Since we’ve compiled this long and sorry record as sinners and proved that we are utterly incapable of living up to the standards God demands of us, God did it for us. Out of sheer generosity he put us in right standing with himself. A pure gift. He got us out of the mess we’re in and restored us to where he always wanted us to be. And he did it by means of Jesus Christ dying on the cross to pay for our sins.

5. How cool is Christianity — Romans 3:25

God sacrificed Jesus on the altar of the world [you and me] to clear that world [you and me] of sin. People are made right with God when they believe that Jesus sacrificed his life, shedding his blood.

That’s it! That’s the Good News—and that news really is good! So, to summarize:

  • Religion is complex; Christianity is simple
  • Religion is about what you have to do; Christianity is about what God has done
  • Religion requires you to sacrifice to appease your god; Christianity required God to sacrifice his Son to appease himself
  • In religion, you pay; in Christianity, Jesus paid it all
  • Religious faith is about works; Christian faith is about belief
  • Religion leads to death; Christianity leads to life

Need I say more?

Now I’m not all that bright — on par with a caveman — but I think I’ll take Christianity! How about you?

Get Rooted: In one brief paragraph, write out your description of Christianity. Do it in simple terms so that even a caveman can get it. Who knows, you may run into one today!

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We’re All In The Same Sin Boat

But Thanks Be To God!

UNSHAKEABLE: We, the entire human race, past and present, have been horribly infected with sin. Our genetic code is horribly corrupted with willful disobedience to the God who created us for intimacy with himself. Horribly infected! Horribly corrupted! Yet all is not hopeless. You see, one word changes that tragic equation, interrupts the inexorable plunge, and trumps our sin: “But…” Paul pens one word that delivers the death blow to sin, splits the wide road to destruction with an off-ramp to redemption, and throws a life-saver to a sinking human race so we can get out of the proverbial boat we’re all in: “But now God has shown us a way to be made right with him.” (Rom 3:21) Hallelujah!

We’re All In The Same Sin Boat - Ray Noah

Unshakeable Living // Romans 3:9-10

Well then, should we conclude that we Jews are better than others? No, not at all, for we have already shown that all people, whether Jews or Gentiles, are under the power of sin. As the Scriptures say, “No one is righteous — not even one.”

The problem with the whole human race — Jew and Gentile, religionist and pagan, you and me — is that we are all horribly infected with sin. Not hopelessly, mind you. I’ll come back to that in a moment.

Though it is not too popular to talk about sin these days — particularly personal sin — nonetheless, sin remains what is wrong with humanity. We are all in that same sin boat, headed for an eternal maelstrom of deserved destruction. At the core, sin has separated us from our loving and righteous Creator. He made us for himself — for a loving, intimate, unfettered moment-by-moment relationship between the Creator and the highest of his creation, mankind; a relationship where we would not only literally live in his presence, but we would truly know his person and personally experience his Divine power as our very own.

But we blew it! The father and mother of our race, Adam and Eve, deliberately chose to walk away from the deal of a lifetime in order to be like God, to be equal with God, to be their own god. And in that sad moment, the genetic code of humanity was horribly corrupted by sin. Not hopelessly. I’ll get to that in a moment.

Moreover, as a race, we willfully and inexorably plunged forward down that same road the proto couple chose, insisting on being like God, being equal to God, being our own god. And compounding our tragedy, we don’t seem to get it: “No one is truly wise; no one is seeking God.” (Rom 1:11) Even worse, we do get it, and we still knowingly insist on doing our own thing:

All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one. (Rom 3:12)

They have no fear of God at all. (Rom 1:18)

And it gets worse, according to verses 13-18: “Their talk is foul (v. 13) … their tongues are filled with lies…venom drips from their lips (v. 13) … their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness (v. 14) …they rush to commit murder (v. 15) …destruction and misery always follow them (v. 16) … they don’t know where to find peace (v. 17) … they have no fear of God at all” (v. 18).

But enough of the bad news — we’ve already dealt with that in Romans 1-2. Let’s just cut to the chase of what results from our insistence in going it alone without God, which Paul sums up in Romans 3:16-17:

Ruin and misery mark their ways, and the way of peace they do not know.

Yes, “they” is “we” and we have been horribly infected with sin. Our genetic code is horribly corrupted with willful disobedience to the God who created us for intimacy with him. Horribly infected! Horribly corrupted! Yet all is not hopeless.

One word changes that tragic equation, trumps our sin, and interrupts the inexorable plunge into a Christless eternity: “But…” Paul pens one word that delivers the death blow to sin, splits the wide road to destruction with an off-ramp to redemption, and throws a life-saver to a sinking human race so we can get out of the proverbial boat we’re all in: “But…”

Though it is not in our reading for today, take a look at the first word of the next section; venture a sneak peek at these grand verses, Romans 3:21-22, along with their cousin verses in Romans 3:23-26, and let your heart be lifted by the unstoppable power of our gospel. Take a moment to read these amazing verses in the horrible context of the first twenty verses of this chapter, and just let the deep, deep love of the Father who lavished it upon sinners like you and me wash over your being:

But now God has shown us a way to be made right with him without keeping the requirements of the law … We are made right with God by placing our faith in Jesus Christ. And this is true for everyone who believes, no matter who we are.

Yes, the condition of humanity is horrible, “but” thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord, it is not hopeless!

Get Rooted: Here is a three-part assignment that will help you to get rooted in the amazing mercy and grace of God: Memorize Romans 3:10 and 3:23-24: “As it is written: ‘There is no one righteous, not even one’ … for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.” Meditate on the contrasting horror of universal sin and the hope of eternal redemption that Paul speaks of here in Romans 3. Write out a prayer of gratitude to God for the undeserved righteousness that was imputed to you through Christ’s work on the cross. If you are open to it, post your prayer as a comment on this devotional.

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The Center and the Circumference

Christianity Happens From the Inside Out

UNSHAKEABLE: It is easy to fall into the very same sin of Jews, presuming their ritualistic observances and religious activities got them in and kept them in good standing with God. But there couldn’t be anything farther from the truth. Let me illustrate it this way: Going to church doesn’t make you a Christian any more than going to McDonalds makes you a Happy Meal. You see, neither outward appearances nor practices of piety are good and accurate indicators of authentic faith. True faith is internal—it is a matter of the heart. That’s what God looks at: the heart—your heart.

The Center And The Circumference - Ray Noah

Unshakeable Living // Romans 2:25-29

Circumcision, the surgical ritual that marks you as a Jew, is great if you live in accord with God’s law. But if you don’t, it’s worse than not being circumcised. The reverse is also true: The uncircumcised who keep God’s ways are as good as the circumcised—in fact, better. Better to keep God’s law uncircumcised than break it circumcised. Don’t you see: It’s not the cut of a knife that makes a Jew. You become a Jew by who you are. It’s the mark of God on your heart, not of a knife on your skin, that makes a Jew. And recognition comes from God, not legalistic critics.

The covenant of circumcision was a highly important outward sign that was to distinguish the Israelites as God’s very own people. The covenant was first given to Abraham in Genesis 17:9-14 and later reaffirmed in dramatic albeit peculiar fashion to Moses in Exodus 4:24-26. Ritual circumcision was required of every Israelite male child, and it was an important physical reminder of the greater theological reality that the cutting away and cleansing from sin was necessary to a right relationship with God.

Unfortunately, over time, the Jews became prideful in their practice of the physical act of circumcision without the practice of the more important inward act of spiritual circumcision. In effect, the circumcised but disobedient Jew’s standing before God was no different than that of the uncircumcised heathen. In fact, the Apostle Paul, in a bit of news that must have been infuriating to the circumcised Jew, said that the uncircumcised but obedient Gentile was as good as circumcised in the eyes of God. (Rom 2:26)

I suppose at this point you may be wondering what Jewish males and ritual circumcision have to do with you. Simply this: It is easy to fall into the very same sin of Jews, presuming their ritualistic observances and religious activities got them in and kept them in good standing with God. But there couldn’t be anything farther from the truth.

Let me illustrate it this way: Going to church doesn’t make you a Christian any more than going to McDonalds makes you a Big Mac. You see, neither outward appearances nor practices of piety are good and accurate indicators of authentic faith. True faith is internal—it is a matter of the heart.

That’s what God looks at: the heart—your heart. Now that is not to say Christians shouldn’t look and act a certain way. They should—just like the Israelites were expected to look and act a certain way. Our faith should be observable. It should be especially true that having been with Jesus will make a noticeable difference to those watching us. (See Acts 4:13) Having experienced the grace and mercy of salvation ought to catalyze change in the way we interact with the world and experience life. The very way we look, talk, relate, work, play, and engage in our moment-by-moment existence should have the “fragrance of Christ” all over it.

But at the end of the day, the fragrance of our Savior is only possible if we are thoroughly saturated with Jesus. Jesus needs to get from the outside of our lives to the inside. Or perhaps more correctly, Jesus needs to start on the inside and work his way to the outside—which, by the way, is what takes place as a result of the more important spiritual circumcision of the heart. (Rom 2:29)

Most importantly, at the core of who we are, we ought to always retain the Lord Jesus Christ. In truth, Jesus must be both the center and the circumference of our lives.

So here is the $64,000 question: Is he?

Get Rooted: Make a list of the internal qualities that you believe should make a Christian an authentic Christ-follower. Now, with the help of the Holy Spirit, write out a plan to increase these qualities one by one this week. For instance, if you want to grow in gratitude, write a list and pray it back to God. Or share it with a friend. If you want to grow in kindness, write a to-do list with a date accomplish box of the things you want to do for people to show them kindness. Whatever inner quality of Christlikeness you want to develop, make a practical action plan to exercise that quality this week.

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Giving God A Bad Name

Clean Up Your Own Act Before Calling Out Another's Behavior

UNSHAKEABLE: It is easy to get caught up in the culture wars and the Christian political movement and every other cause that bashes the evil practices and mindset of this world. To be sure, there is nothing necessarily wrong with being outspoken about your spiritual values. However, we would do God and the Good News we represent a big favor if we would clean up our act first. How about we try this: Let’s first live what we say we believe, then we can talk! Let’s make sure our beliefs match our behavior. Let’s not just mindlessly parrot, “what would Jesus do” — do it! Let’s live it from the core of who we are.

Giving God A Bad Name

Unshakeable Living // Romans 2:23-24

You are so proud of knowing God’s laws, but you dishonor him by breaking them. No wonder the Scriptures say that the world speaks evil of God because of you.

While I certainly don’t think this is unique to our current context, year after year, we read the same scandalous reports of supposedly righteous people falling into the very sin they so publicly condemn: A family-values senator is found out to have kept the company of female “escorts.” A high-profile evangelical leader is exposed for abusing power, misappropriating church finances, or having an affair. The divorce rate among churchgoers is nearly the same rate as non-churchgoers. Believers are said to blend in ethically with just about everyone else in the workplace.

It is no wonder that non-Christians tag us as hypocrites and despise our God!

It is easy to get caught up in the culture wars and the Christian political movement and every other cause that bashes the evil practices and mindset of this world. To be sure, there is nothing necessarily wrong with being outspoken about your spiritual values. However, we would do God and the Good News we represent a big favor if we would clean up our act first.

Jesus had some pointed things to say about that:

Don’t pick on people, jump on their failures, criticize their faults— unless, of course, you want the same treatment. That critical spirit has a way of boomeranging. It’s easy to see a smudge on your neighbor’s face and be oblivious to the ugly sneer on your own. Do you have the nerve to say, ‘Let me wash your face for you,’ when your own face is distorted by contempt? It’s this whole traveling road-show mentality all over again, playing a holier-than-thou part instead of just living your part. Wipe that ugly sneer off your own face, and you might be fit to offer a washcloth to your neighbor. (Matthew 7:1-5)

How about this: First, try living what you say you believe, then you can talk! Make sure your beliefs match your behavior. Don’t just mindlessly parrot, “what would Jesus do” — do it! Live it from the core of who you are.

We may not win the whole world for Christ, but we would be a lot more effective than we are now. And perhaps we would convince a few people along the way that this Good News is a pretty good deal.

Get Rooted: Charles F. Glassman writes, “Gratitude, forgiveness, perseverance, self-honesty, and self-control fosters optimism, kindness, and success. [But] self-righteousness yields bitterness, hostility, and self-destruction.” Self-righteousness and spiritual arrogance are exceedingly difficult to spot in ourselves. That is why we need a trusted brother or sister to shed the light on our true character. I would encourage you to take a risk and share the above quote with a loving but straight-shooting Christian friend, then ask them where you line up with those descriptives.

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God’s Goodness To Little Goody Two-Shoes

Look Into God’s Mirror and Make Sure You’re Not Looking Like a Pharisee

UNSHAKEABLE: To be an intolerant, arrogant, hypocritical, coercive, pious religionist is perhaps the worst enemy of the advancement of God’s kingdom. These are the types who say one thing but do another. They spout piety yet behave anyway but pious. They sit in judgment over the world’s evil, yet their hearts are full of the very sin they condemn. They make church all about themselves and very little about reaching a lost world with the Good News. And more than any other repelling factor, these religious do-gooders keep seekers from church, sully the reputation of God before a watching world, and solidify the excuses of sinners not to darken the doorway of the church because “of all the hypocrites who go there.” Here’s the deal, dear friend: make sure you are not in that camp. Open your heart to God right now and ask him to examine you. Don’t let hardening of the spiritual arteries lead you down the Pharisee path. There are enough of them in your church — it doesn’t need one more.

God’s Goodness To Little Goody Two-Shoes —Ray Noah

Unshakeable Living // Romans 2:3-4

Since you judge others for doing these things, why do you think you can avoid God’s judgment when you do the same things? 4 Don’t you see how wonderfully kind, tolerant, and patient God is with you? Does this mean nothing to you? Can’t you see that his kindness is intended to turn you from your sin?

It is one thing to be a willfully sinful pagan, but it is quite another to be an odiously sinful religionist, which is the type of person Paul turns his theological guns on here in this passage. This one is of that tribe of people who fill the pews of churches every Sunday, perhaps sitting inconspicuously right next to you — self-righteous, spiritually arrogant, smugly sanctimonious, and self-absorbed. As John McClintock quipped,

The Pharisees are not all dead yet, and are not all Jews.

To be an intolerant, arrogant, hypocritical, coercive, pious religionist is perhaps the worst enemy of the advancement of the kingdom of God. These types say one thing but do another. They spout piety yet behave anyway but pious. They sit in judgment over the evil of the world, yet their hearts are full of the very evil they condemn. They make church all about themselves and very little about reaching a lost world with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. And more than any other repelling factor, these religious do-gooders keep seekers from church, sully the reputation of God before a watching world, and solidify the excuses of sinners not to darken the doorway of the church because “of all the hypocrites who go there.”

But, as Paul says in Romans 2:1-4, these religious moralists are without excuse, because the theological knowledge they possess brings them even greater accountability before God. The very judgment that God has pronounced on willful pagans will fall upon these folks as well. (Rom 2:3). It is these who will likely hear those haunting words spoken by our Lord, “Depart from me, I never knew you.” (Matt 25:41) In truth, it is they, themselves, who never really knew the God in whose name they sat in judgment over the world.

So, just what is their problem? Mainly, their self-righteousness has led them to focus only on the external acts of religious piety while ignoring the more important inner core of the heart — love, devotion, compassion, kindness, and purity — that so greatly matters to God. In so doing, they have minimized their own sinfulness before a holy God and have lost whatever connection with him they might have once, if ever, enjoyed. According to Romans 1:5, their hearts have become “hardened”, (“stubborn”—NIV), which in the Greek language is the word, sklayrotace — the word from which we get sclerosis, the hardening of the arteries—a silent, invisible but deadly condition. That is exactly what the religious, hypocritical, judgmental moralist has — hardening of the spiritual arteries — and that indeed is a problem.

Even while blind to their own sickly condition (Rev 3:17), yet again, the Good News is still at work in their lives. Paul says in Romans 2:4 that God’s common grace (“goodness”) is upon even these do-gooders. He has allowed them space to come to the truth rather than face the judgment they deserve (“forbearance”). He has given them a period of time (“patience”) for his grace and forbearance to bring a change of heart, behavior, and life-direction (“repentance”).

And while we are not to mistake God’s kindness for softness, isn’t it amazing that God’s grace still reaches out to the most annoying sinners of all—those sanctimonious saints sitting in their pew, turning people away from God right and left by their religious hypocrisy and spiritual coerciveness? Yet our stubbornly loving God continues to woo even these goody two-shoes to himself through his own goodness to them. Lord have mercy!

So here’s the deal, dear friend: Let’s make sure you and I are not in that camp. Open your heart to God right now and ask him to examine you. Don’t let hardening of the spiritual arteries lead you down that path. There are enough goody-two-shoes in your church — it doesn’t need one more.

Neither does a world that God so desperately desires to redeem!

Get Rooted: In light of this devotional, take a look at Psalm 139:23-24 and turn it into a personal plea before God: “Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.”

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Bad News: God Is (Good and) Angry

There is No Good News Without Addressing the Bad News

UNSHAKEABLE: We’re not too comfortable with an angry God. We prefer a tame God to a dangerous one. But Romans 1 reminds us that God is angry, and is currently revealing his wrath against a deliberately rebellious humanity. How? Not by inflicting plague-like judgment on the sinful as he did in the past and not by ending the world and sending sinners to eternal hell as he will in the future. No, God’s judgment today is particularly sad since it involves the removal of the Divine restraints that have protected humanity from its worst self. You see, we have come to the point where in judgment, God has said to our rebellion, “if you insist, then go ahead, do your own thing.” And that has brought the world a boatload of bad news! Yet the Good News remains available to delete all the sins of the world — even the most horrific ones — through the sacrifice his only Son.

Bad News - God is Angry

Unshakeable Living // Romans 1:18

The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness.

We are not too comfortable with an angry God, are we? In our day, people prefer a tame God to a dangerous one. As Dorothy Sayers aptly put it, “We have declawed the lion of Judah and made him a housecat for pale priests and pious old ladies.”

But if we are to be faithful to the authority of the Scripture, then we will have to acknowledge that God hates sin, and his righteous wrath will not only be poured out on sinful humanity some day in the future but is already “being revealed” against those who have gone their own way.

Now you might ask, how is God’s wrath being revealed? Well, from time to time we have seen how God has broken into human history to reveal his wrath by inflicting punishment upon both evil nations (the plagues visited upon Egypt being the most well-known example — Exodus 7-14) and disobedient individuals (for instance, the sudden death of Ananias and Saphira — Acts 5:1-11). We also understand that when people die in their sinful state, there is a literal hell that awaits them, a physical place where they will suffer the eternal wrath of God. And likewise, we know that one day, at the end of the age, the Great White Throne judgment of God (Revelation 20, Romans 2:5-6) will mark the final end of sin, when Satan, evil systems, and all the wicked will be cast into the lake of fire forever.

But the question remains: Is God’s wrath currently being revealed against sin, as Paul declares here in verse 18? The answer to that is a clear “yes!” And though all these other forms of punishment are tragic, this type of judgment is particularly sad, since it involves the removal of the Divine restraints that have protected man from his own worst self. There comes a point where in judgment, God says to rebellious mankind, “if you insist, then go ahead, do your own thing.” Paul describes it this way:

Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. (Rom 1:24)

Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. (Rom 1:26)

He gave them over to a depraved mind, to do what ought not to be done. (Rom 1:28)

And not only throughout this passage, but throughout humankind’s sad history of suffering and violence, we see the awful results of man’s rebellion against God: foolishness, darkened thinking, sexual perversion, degradation, idolatry, depravity, “They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; they are senseless, faithless, heartless, ruthless.” (Romans 1:29-31)

No wonder God is angry: He offered us his righteousness; we chose the worst kind of evil. And what makes this even worse is the depravity of the human race was, and continues to be, quite deliberate. Let’s be clear, man’s rebellion against God is not from ignorance, it is intentional, since “what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them.” (Romans 1:20) God’s truth has been made clear to every human being through the inner witness of the Creator’s implanted Spirit and through the Creator’s awe-inspiring creation itself, yet man has actually gone out of his way and has “suppressed the truth.” (Romans 1:19)

Obviously, that is a boatload of bad news! Yet amazingly, because of the immutable character of our gracious and merciful God, even within the bad news there is good news—Good News that should cause our hearts to explode in grateful praise. You see, there is yet another way that “God’s wrath is revealed from heaven” as Romans 1:18 states: At Calvary, God fully focused his judgment against sinful man on his sinless Son, Jesus, as he hung on the cross. In the greatest act of grace and mercy ever, Jesus bore the wrath of God for the sins of the world when he was crucified. (1 Peter 2:24)

As a believer it can be so disheartening to watch the world get increasingly and more inventively evil as the days go by. And it can be quite discouraging we as take the hits from those who don’t want to hear about a God who actually punishes sin. Yet we can take heart that even in the midst of all this evil, as God’s wrath is being revealed against sin, there at the center of it stands the grace and mercy of a God so loving that he was willing to sacrifice his only Son for all the sins of the entire world.

And that includes you and me!

Get Rooted: If the bad news of growing evil in this world disheartens you, take a moment to reflect on the Good news: that even in the midst of this evil stands the grace and mercy of a God so loving that he was willing to sacrifice his only Son for all the sins of the entire world. So, offer your gratitude to him for his grace and mercy, and make sure to share the Good News with those around you.