Last year, while I was on my sabbatical, Pastor Adam sent me pictures of this platform slowly turning from the grey and purple that it was to black. Why would anyone paint a church platform black? It wasn’t because Pastor Adam was a supervillain and needed an environment reflecting his black heart. It wasn’t because it is a trendy church thing to paint your platform black. It wasn’t because we couldn’t determine how to match the existing paint color, so we decided black would be easy to match.
No, the reason for the black walls is so that the things you put up against the wall will stand out, and everything else will fade away. We want to see the people who are leading us, not the music stands, cables, microphone receivers, etc.
It’s just like what happens when you go into a jewelry store to buy your wife a nice piece of jewelry. You peruse the cases until you find something you think you can afford and ask the person behind the counter, “Can I see that one?” What do they do? They lay out a piece of black velvet and put that beautiful piece of jewelry on that black velvet cloth so the jewelry will sparkle and stand out and its true beauty can be seen.
This morning, we are going to continue our study of Romans. Today is week two, and we are looking at Rom 1:18-32. What we will see here is that Paul is doing just that. He is laying out the black background so that the beauty of the gospel against this black background can be unveiled (The Gospel Unveiled), seen, and understood.
What is the black background Paul is spreading out? It is “The Problem of Sin.” Paul wants his readers to understand the problem of sin so that the intense beauty of the gospel will shine.
Now, I want to press pause for a moment. Hold on to that thought. Don’t lose it. Just set it aside.
I want to point out something here that is important to understand.
It is easy to read the Bible and misunderstand what it says because you don’t understand the context. You may read these verses in Romans 1 and think, wow, God is an angry God just waiting to smite me if I step out of line. You may read this and think God hates homosexuals and anyone engaged in sexual perversion. You may read this and think anyone who is proud, arrogant, untrustworthy, or unloving is just a breath away from experiencing God’s wrath.
If you don’t understand the context, you will not see the picture Paul is painting. Most Christians are lazy when it comes to understanding context. We love to pluck verses from the Bible. “Oh, I like this one.” “This verse speaks to me.” We sometimes will even develop an entire doctrine from a single verse.
But if you want to understand the Bible. You must understand its context.
You must understand the historical context. Who was it written to, and why?
You must understand the context of what you are reading within the rest of the book. How does this fit with the verses that precede and follow?
Then, you must understand what you are reading in the context of the entire Bible. How do theses verses gel with the overall message of scripture?
Those principles are undoubtedly true for Romans 1.
Paul is writing this letter to Jewish and Gentile followers of Jesus, who make up the church in Rome. The church is divided over a host of issues. Paul’s purpose in writing the letter is to unite that church by unifying it over the most essential part of their faith, the gospel.
I said it last week: We can disagree on many different issues as long as we are unified on our purpose. What is our purpose? Our purpose is to share the good news that God loves you, has provided a way of forgiveness from your sins, and has made a way into a relationship with Him. The only way to do that is through Jesus.
Jesus said I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father but through me.
It is impossible, though, to talk about the beauty of the gospel message without understanding why we need the gospel message. The gospel means “Good News.”
Paul wants us to understand why we need this “Good News.” He is going to show us we need the gospel because of sin. This is the context for Rom 1:18. So, let’s understand what Paul says about sin.
Rom 1:18 (CSB)—For God’s wrath is revealed from heaven against all godlessness and unrighteousness of people who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth,
Why is God’s wrath going to be revealed?
Imagine going to the doctor for a checkup, and after examining you, the doctor says, “Well, you have cancer. With surgery, we could remove the cancer. But that would be pretty uncomfortable. After all, surgery generally hurts. So, we’ll just leave the cancer and hope for the best.”
No doctor would do that. That would be malpractice. It would be wrong because cancer, left unchecked, will bring death.
In the same way, God will not allow people to continue in their sins.
Just like when a doctor knows there has to be surgery, so, too, the wrath of God will deal surgically and powerfully with people whenever they fail to embrace Jesus and refuse to allow His blood to remove the cancer of their sin.
Sin falls into two categories.
Paul says here that God’s wrath is being revealed against all godlessness and unrighteousness.
Godlessness is sin against God.
Unrighteousness is sin against man.
When Moses came down from Sinai, he had two tablets in his hand.
In my imagination, I picture one tablet containing the first four commandments—all about our relationship with God—and the second one containing the remaining six commandments—all about our relationship with other people.
Paul says that godlessness and unrighteousness happen by suppressing the truth.
Rom 1:18 (CSB)—For God’s wrath is revealed from heaven against all godlessness and unrighteousness of people who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth,
To understand the word “suppress” here, imagine you are steering a boat against the current. In other words, the current wants to take the boat one way, but determined to go the opposite way, you hold the rudder so that the boat goes your way instead of the current’s.
Paul is saying that God’s wrath is revealed against those who are determined to go their own way regardless of what they know is true. This is a simple definition of sin.
It’s the garden all over again.
“Doesn’t this fruit look good?” “God said we can’t eat that fruit. If we do, we will die.” “You won’t die. God is just a killjoy. He’s keeping something from you. He doesn’t want you to become like Him.” “Hmmm, it does look good. Okay, pass the fruit.”
“But I didn’t know” is not a defense, Paul says.
Rom 1:20 (CSB)—For his invisible attributes, that is, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen since the creation of the world, being understood through what he has made. As a result, people are without excuse.
Paul says that all people are without excuse. All you have to do is look around at God’s creation, and you will see that there is a creator. Whether you look at the impossible complexity of life, especially human life, or you look at the stars in the sky or a beautiful mountain valley. It all speaks of a creator.
If you acknowledge that there is a creator, you are responsible for that knowledge.
This is why so many people have tried to explain the natural world without God. This is why they try and take God out of the equation. If there is a God, then there is sin, and we are accountable for that sin.
Instead of acknowledging God, Darwin developed the theory of Evolution. However, as that theory continues to lose steam because of its scientific implausibility, people are developing new theories like Panspermia.
Panspermia is the theory that life exists throughout the Universe, distributed by space dust, meteoroids, asteroids, or alien spacecraft.
They are grasping at straws, trying to deny and suppress the truth. They are trying to remove God from the story.
What is the result of suppressing the truth?
Rom 1:25 (CSB)—They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served what has been created instead of the Creator, who is praised forever. Amen.
Let’s remove God from this slot and insert a lie. Now, we have something new that doesn’t require us to acknowledge our sins.
Sin is a warping of God’s intended design for His creation. Sin happens when something God created is deformed and misshaped by a lie.
Paul then gives us a specific example.
In vs. 26 and 27 he gives the example of homosexuality. People have exchanged, he says, what God created and is natural for something that is not natural. They have warped the beautiful gift of sex into something God did not intend for His creation.
God intended something beautiful and wonderful, but a lie has twisted that beautiful and wonderful thing into something else.
When the truth of God is exchanged for a lie, Paul says something happens.
Rom 1:28-32 (CSB)—And because they did not think it worthwhile to acknowledge God, God delivered them over to a corrupt mind so that they do what is not right. 29 They are filled with all unrighteousness, evil, greed, and wickedness. They are full of envy, murder, quarrels, deceit, and malice. They are gossips, 30 slanderers, God-haters, arrogant, proud, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, 31 senseless, untrustworthy, unloving, and unmerciful. 32 Although they know God’s just sentence—that those who practice such things deserve to die,—they not only do them, but even applaud, others who practice them.
When you exchange the truth of God for a lie, unrighteousness is the result. Sin against other people is the result. God’s creation hurting God’s creation is the result. Hopelessness, despair, brokenness, and pain are the result.
This is the problem of sin.
In the next few chapters, Paul will remind us that we are all infected with the disease of sin and guilty of it.
But I cannot leave you there this morning. Because of God’s love for you, He would not leave you in hopelessness, despair, brokenness, and pain. Instead, He has designed you to experience hope, joy, wholeness, and healing.
But to experience God’s design, we must acknowledge and deal with our sins.
That is why King David prayed this in
Ps 139:23-24 (CSB)—Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my concerns. See if there is any offensive way in me; lead me in the everlasting way.
The Bible calls this practice confession. Confession is agreeing with God. Instead of suppressing the truth, we come before God and agree with Him about what is true. We acknowledge the ungodliness and the unrighteousness within us, and when we agree with him, he makes a promise:
1 Jn 1:9 (CSB)—If we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
Because of the blood of Jesus, our sin is wiped clean, and we are forgiven completely.
God desires to reveal to us that His capacity to forgive is bigger than our capacity to sin.
—A.W. Tozer
Overcoming the problem of sin begins with confession and ends with complete and absolute forgiveness.
Chris Hankel 
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