Welcome to EBible Fellowship’s Bible study in the book of Romans. Tonight is study 35 of Romans, chapter 1, and we are beginning with Romans 1:18-20:

For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness; Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto them. For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse:

In our last study, we were looking at verse 18 and the word “revealed,” which is closely related to the word “revelation,” and we saw that in Judgment Day…and that is the time we are living in, and that is why we are so sensitive to this and why we are able to see this so clearly that, as a matter of fact, God has revealed “wrath” in His Word. He has opened up the Scriptures to the eyes of His people and opened our understanding so that we can see the wrath of God that has come upon the world, beginning with the date of May 21, 2011 and continuing until now. And according to everything we are reading, it will continue for several years more.

And this information has come down from heaven: “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men.” We talked about those two words a couple studies ago, but I will mention them again. “Ungodliness” has to do with those that do not worship (God). That is, man was created in the image of God, and he was created to worship God and glorify God and serve God, but he does none of those things. He will not worship God and, therefore, he is an ungodly man, whereas someone that is a “true man” is considered to be right and good, and, of course, the only way that is possible is if God has made a person that way by transforming him and changing his heart, taking out that evil heart of unbelief and giving him a new heart and new spirit. Then that person becomes like Noah, “perfect and just,” or he becomes a man that is “upright,” like Job, and so forth. So God has transformed certain ones out of the human race and made them godly, and now they are saints because their sins have been dealt with and they were purified as Christ has made payment for all their sins. In God’s sight, they have that pure, white linen as a covering. But the rest of the people are ungodly, wicked, evil and transgressors of the Law, and that is really what “unrighteousness” means. The best definition would be in 1John 5:17:

All unrighteousness is sin…

Here, the link is made between unrighteousness and sin. And, of course, that is probably the one thing that accurately characterizes all people that are ungodly and opposed to the God of the Bible, and that is “sin.” They love their sins. They prefer their sins. They are completely wrapped up in it, as we see everyday as we live in this world.

Again, it says in our verse, “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven.” Let us go to Matthew 21:25-27:

The baptism of John, whence was it? from heaven, or of men? And they reasoned with themselves, saying, If we shall say, From heaven; he will say unto us, Why did ye not then believe him? But if we shall say, Of men; we fear the people; for all hold John as a prophet. And they answered Jesus, and said, We cannot tell. And he said unto them, Neither tell I you by what authority I do these things.

Here, we can clearly see that “heaven” is being used as a synonym for God. The two choices here are either “from heaven” or “from men.” We understand what it means to be “from men.” It comes out of the minds of men. But the baptism of John, which would be a teaching or doctrine, certainly did not come from a “place.” Heaven is a spiritual place, but it is a “place,” nonetheless. Or, at least, that is the only way I can think to describe where God dwells in the spiritual realm. It really represents a kingdom, but a kingdom is nothing without the King upon the throne. God is the King upon the throne who establishes the Law of the kingdom, and He sends down His Law from heaven to the earth. That is what the Bible is, so when a man like John the Baptist received Word from above, from heaven, he was getting it from God. He was not getting it from an angelic being or from an empty spiritual city, but he was getting it from the “throne” of that city.

So, here, again, heaven is a synonym to represent God, and Jesus is really asking these Jews: “The baptism of Joh, whence was it? From God or from men?”

Also, it says in John 3:27:

John answered and said, A man can receive nothing, except it be given him from heaven.

Once, again, “heaven” is not a Being. It cannot give spiritual gifts. It cannot produce anything to give to men. Only God can do that, so it is being used here to refer to God and so, too, in Romans 1:18:

For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness;

Again, there is a whole spectrum of unrighteousness, which has to do with lying, stealing, being deceitful, being a false witness, or transgressing the Law in any way. Here, God is speaking of men in general or all mankind in our natural fallen condition. These “hold the truth in unrighteousness.”

Now the first thing we want to define is “the truth.” You know, Pilot had no idea what the truth was when He said to Jesus, “What is truth?” The people of the world have no understanding of the truth if you asked them, “What is the truth?” They might say, “Well, it is when you are not lying, and you are telling the actual events.” Yes – that is telling the truth in a certain situation, but there is a greater truth. The truth, as defined by the Bible, is the Lord Jesus Christ, as we read in John 14:6:

Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.

Jesus is the essence of truth. He is the Truth, as far as salvation is concerned; as far as God is concerned; and as far as the truth of what the world would consider to be “religion” is concerned. And that is a good area where we can observe and see how the world does not know the truth – just look at the world’s religions. And there are many, and they contradict and go against one another. One religion says, “This is God, and this is what God is like, and this is what you have to do to please God.” Another religion will change some things and maybe leave some things the same. And then there is a third and a fourth and a fifth, and so on. And you end up with a God that does one thing in one religion, but would never do that same thing in another religion, and they cannot both be true.

Then, of course, we have Christianity, which is a religion based on the revelation of God in the Bible, as He has revealed Himself. And that religion, we could say, is set apart from all others because it has the right document and authority for truth, at least when it starts out with the Bible. And that is the problem with all the other religions out there in the world. They may believe in part of the Bible, like the Jewish religion holds onto the Old Testament. The Muslim religion will say they believe parts of the Bible. But most religions would say that the Bible is just another holy book and they have their own religion that is completely separate from it.

But no matter what, we know the truth of God can only be found in the religion of Christianity, and no other religion because of the things the Bible says, just as we read of Jesus in John 14:6: “I am the way, the truth, and the life.” And that means that religions without Jesus as the Saviour and God in the flesh do not have the truth, nor do they have life – they have no salvation. God has limited the truth to Christianity, but then we find the same turmoil that is present when we look at all the world’s other religions. We find one Christian church saying one thing about God, and another Christian church saying another thing about God; and a third, fourth and fifth, and so on. They are opposed, one against the other. And we realize that out of ten, nine are lying or even all ten are lying regarding the thing they are saying.

Then God further refined the truth as we entered into the end stage of earth’s history, and He is refining it more and more. This is all part of His judgment program and His testing program for those that profess to be His people and who claim to be Christians. God has used the truth of His Word, as it says in John 17:17:

Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.

And this goes hand in hand with John 14:6 and Jesus’ declaration that He is “the truth.” No – this does not mean that Jesus was wrong when He said that He is “the truth,” because we know it says in the same Bible, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” And the Word became flesh. The Lord Jesus is completely identified with the Word of God, the Bible. What is true of Christ is true of the Word, so that is how we know if we have “the truth,” who is Christ, when we have the truth of the Word of God, the Bible.

So at this time of the end, God has opened the Scriptures in order to confound and destroy the wisdom of the wise. No – not so much of the scribes and Pharisees, as He already did that in the Old Testament. But in the New Testament, He has confounded and destroyed the wisdom of the theologians, bishops, popes, priests, pastors, elders and deacons that have set up their own confessions and creeds and established “doctrines of men” as traditions in the churches. They have place them high above the Bible, and they do not dare to go against what their particular church father taught centuries ago. Yet they do not have the same respect or regard for the Holy Word of God, the Bible, and the things God is saying in His Word when God opens up His Word, as He has done at this time of the end where we are presently living.

And His Word has revealed things through the comparison of Scripture, and in that way the Holy Ghost teaches. And this is actually true doctrine, and not what their church or denomination (or even the entire corporate body) has held to for centuries. And they have made it (their doctrine) into an idol by placing it in their confession and creed, and they have made it a “high place,” and it is wrong. And now they must bow the knee. They must humble themselves before the Lord Jesus, the truth, and before the truth of the Word of God, the Bible. Submit to it, and recognize the true way that God has saved, which is the faith of Christ, and not faith in Him; it is not man’s doing, but God’s doing. And what is the response? They refuse. Or when God revealed that “hell” was not a place of eternal torment, but it was the grave, and His final judgment upon unsaved mankind will be to annihilate them and destroy them for evermore. The Bible has revealed this, but what do they say? “We will not change our teaching.” Or, when God revealed that Christ made payment for sin at the foundation of the world and not at the cross, they refuse to accept it. Or, when God revealed the truth about baptism being “the washing away of sin” and that water baptism has no power to save anyone or cleanse anyone from sin, there are many churches that will refuse that. And there are other churches that refuse the truth regarding the Lord’s Supper being a ceremonial Law that points to a (spiritual) truth, but partaking does not impart any grace, but these people will stick to their “mysterious language,” like the Reformed churches that want to trust that partaking of the Lord’s Supper will somehow convey spiritual grace to them. But they never define it. They do not want to define it, and they will not bow the knee on that point, nor will they bow the knee regarding the Sunday Sabbath. Or, regarding marriage and divorce, the Westminster Confession allows for divorce in the case of physical adultery. And, of course, that has been exploited and expanded at the time of the end by the apostate churches to allow divorce and remarriage for any reason. They will not bow the knee, and in all these things the churches are suppressing “the truth,” and they are doing what God says here in Romans 1:18, and theologians like to read this passage and sort of look out there at the world at the natural man. And it does have some application to that, and we will talk about the fact that God has a witness of sorts apart from His divine Word, the Scriptures. We will talk about that, but, first, let us talk about that wrath of God being revealed from heaven or from God Himself, as it says in our verse in Romans 1:18:

For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness;

In 1Timothy 4, we find a verse that will not allow those in the churches or professed Christians to point the finger at someone else, because it can only be pointing to the churches themselves. It says in 1Timothy 4:1-3:

Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils; Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron; Forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from meats, which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth.

You see, they are speaking lies in hypocrisy, and their conscience is seared with a hot iron. It is even more horrible, and this is why judgment began at the house of God and why God started the final judgment program with those that were called by His name. They had been entrusted with His Word. And these people that had entered into the churches and congregations of the world had the witness of “creation,” which many people will immediately point to concerning this passage. (And we will look at that.) But, in addition, they had the witness of the Law written upon their hearts which gives man a conscience. (And we will look at that.) And we just saw that God is speaking of those within the churches, and they might like to look out at the world today and see all the desperate wickedness out there and say, “Oh, their conscience is seared with a hot iron because men marry men and women marry women, and there is abortion.” And, yet, in 1Timothy 4, God is speaking of those that hold doctrines in hypocrisy or speaking doctrinal lies, and it is their conscience that is seared with a hot iron. It is referring to those that have taken the name of Christ and have dared to take the Word of God into their mouths and teach it, but they are not teaching it truthfully.

So God has some of the harshest language in the Bible directed against the hypocrites, or the one that professes Christ in salvation and professes to know the truth and, yet, he is just like his neighbor out in the world that is unsaved and unregenerate. There is no difference, except the unsaved in the churches have just added to their sins, and that is why God gave more stripes to those called by His name than those out in the world. So those in the churches had the witness of God in creation, and they had the witness of God concerning the Law written upon their hearts, and they also received the witness of God, the divine revelation of the Holy Bible.

Yes, the people out in the world tend to suppress the truth of divine creation and they say, “There is no God. There was no Creator. There was the ‘Big Bang’ and then there was evolution, and that is how we got here.” They suppress the truth in that area, and that leads to suppressing the conscience as they develop their own morality. The people who just profess to be Christian may not have done that, but they have suppressed a much more finely detailed “revelation” than that given through the witness of the creation itself, and that is the witness of God that was written down in volume after volume in the sixty-six books of the Bible, and it is all laid out for the reader. And, yet, we find these unregenerate men suppressing the truths of the doctrines and teachings and holding onto their manmade doctrines and gospels and beliefs. They are quite content to do this, and this is why the wrath of God came down and was revealed from heaven against these things and against these people that hold the truth in unrighteousness.

Lord willing, in our next Bible study we will look at the word “hold” in a couple of places to get a better understanding. Then we will go on and see what else God has to say in these verses in Romans 1.