Rom 1:18-2:5 God abandoned us to our shameful desires…

Rom 1:18-2:5

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Am I a Christian if I refuse to accept parts of the gospel, the parts of the Bible I do not like?

Everything that looks Christian is not necessarily Christian. Many things are dressed in Christian clothes which are not Christian at all, but pagan and atheistic.

Be sceptical of anything that puts us in the centre. Of "theology" where God does everything that we want him to, and where we get power and wealth and health and the American Dream! That’s why we’re going through Romans: because here the gospel is clearly and systematically laid out. What the gospel is, what it contains and why we need it. This is what we believe.

From 1:18 to 3:20, we are in the "Why do we need the gospel" part of Romans. And we immediately crash into something we struggle with in our culture: that God is God! He is sovereign over all things, he judges us, and his judgment is right. Akk! No!
So we’re tempted to say, “but how can a loving God be like that? I can’t believe in such a God”.
What we’re upset about is not that he is sovereign, but that I’m not. Because when everything’s going our way, we love thinking of the sovereign God, ruling on high, smiling down on us and taking care of things. But when he does something that goes against our will, when we disagree with his choice – that’s when we suddenly have problems with his sovereignty.

And the biggest problem with his sovereignty is his judgment - and we struggle with it! Try telling one of your friends. See what reaction you get. “But God is a God of love! What's important is if we've tried”

Really? When you hit your sister in your face, did your parents say, “Doesn’t matter, we're full of love!” Ha! That’s not love, that’s unfair! That’s injustice. If God is really is a God of love, He will judge us for what we have done. He must judge, otherwise he is not good! But like children caught in the act of doing something wrong, we choose to close our ears and eyes and pretend that the parent isn’t there.

Will we believe the word of God, or will we 25 They traded the truth about God for a lie. A tame God for the "modern" Norwegians? Do we believe in Jesus or Jusus? The fake copy, or the real thing?

In today's text, the Holy Spirit, through the Apostle Paul, is teaching us that we all, without exception, have sinned. It is not that there are "good" people and "bad" or "evil" people – that’s the worldly, humanist, atheist way of thinking and it’s not Biblical. Ro 3:23 For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard. says 3:23.

We are stuck the quicksand of sin. And the more you struggle and try to save yourself in quicksand, the faster you sink.
We need the gospel because we have all sinned and are under the right judgement of God, and face his anger.

1. We see God’s judgement in our thinking.

2. We see God’s judgement in our sexuality

3. We see God's judgement in everything that we do

4. How can we understand God's judgement and anger as Christians?

1. We see God’s judgement in our thinking.

18 But God shows his anger from heaven against all sinful, wicked people who suppress the truth by their wickedness.

Because we are sinners, we suppress the truth. What truth? The truth about God: that he exists, that he created us, that he is King. We must suppress this truth, for how can we pretend to be God if God is there?

19 They know the truth about God because he has made it obvious to them. 20 For ever since the world was created, people have seen the earth and sky. Through everything God made, they can clearly see his invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature. So they have no excuse for not knowing God.

Look around you. Look at Creation. See its design. Look at yourself, your morals - why do you say “this is wrong” when you do the same thing? For example, we all “know” that lying is wrong - but we all lie. It’s as if we know that there is a Standard beyond us, above us.

God has made it obvious that He is there. And we have chosen to ignore him. We choose to rather believe that everything is just random, that order came out of chaos - something that never happens - except in evolution! Why? Because we'd rather believe in something so ridiculous than believe in God. We suppress the truth and therefore everyone is without excuse. Not one person can say to God “I did not know you existed”. We are all guilty.

21 Yes, they knew God, but they wouldn’t worship him as God or even give him thanks. And they began to think up foolish ideas of what God was like. As a result, their minds became dark and confused. 22 Claiming to be wise, they instead became utter fools. 23 And instead of worshiping the glorious, ever-living God, they worshiped idols made to look like mere people and birds and animals and reptiles. 24 So God abandoned them to do whatever shameful things their hearts desired. As a result, they did vile and degrading things with each other’s bodies. 25 They traded the truth about God for a lie. So they worshiped and served the things God created instead of the Creator himself, who is worthy of eternal praise! Amen.

We exchanged the gospel in all its glory with something else, something less. Instead of Jesus and his immense love, we put ourselves and our desires in the centre. Seek first your own interest. Follow your heart. Look out for number 1. Me, me me. What kind of world does that create?

And it affects us as Christians too. We are always tempted to make God less, a little more tame, a little more manageable, a little less sovereign, a little less full of anger, a little less God - and make ourselves a little bigger. But the truth is the greater we make ourselves the less we become in reality. We become limited and full of fear. To acknowledge the truth that God is sovereign that my salvation is based not on what I do but what Jesus has done, and that God works in me in the power of the Holy Spirit, that same Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead - then the possibilities are endless. Then I'm really free!

This isn’t just theory, we’ve seen it time and again just in these five years at Rock Church. We have seen people being saved, healed, released from prison, and Satan's power crushed. God is sovereign! Our God is sovereign! And then the possibilities are endless, unlimited. Then we are free to experience all that God can do.

Let's not be tempted to make God small, because that is God's judgment: that he abandons us to dark and confused minds.

We see God's judgement in our thinking.

2. We see God’s judgement in our sexuality

26 That is why God abandoned them to their shameful desires. Even the women turned against the natural way to have sex and instead indulged in sex with each other. 27 And the men, instead of having normal sexual relations with women, burned with lust for each other. Men did shameful things with other men, and as a result of this sin, they suffered within themselves the penalty they deserved.

This Homosexuality thing is nothing new. In Roman times, homosexuality was the old, worn out and backwards sexual morality, and it was Christian sexual ethics that was revolutionary and new! Homosexuality is not new and modern and evolved. It’s older than Christian sexual ethics. We haven’t evolved in our understanding. We’ve gone backwards!

That we think now as a society that being gay is a good thing and must be praised says a lot about us and what we think about God and his creation order. We take what he says and do the opposite. We twist it - we will not be women and men, but we’ll decide for ourselves what we’ll be. We won’t have sex with those whose genitals fit - no we’ll choose our own way, our own truth. We won’t have sex in marriage, but out of marriage! But all of this only damages us because it's not the way we’re created. As v27 says they suffered within themselves the penalty they deserved.

When we commit sexual sin, we punish our own body. We inflict suffering on ourselves. Duh! Whether we are heterosexual or homosexual, sexual sin brings with it a lot of "gifts": a whole bunch of sexually transmitted diseases that can kill us with cervical cancer, make us sterile, destroy our sex drive, or "just" give us sores and an itchy crotch.... And if we’re engaging in gay sex or imitating porn, we can quickly ruin our, let's say, 'rear end'. (Not so sexy to wear a nappy the rest of life).

Homosexuality is no solution. Transgender (pretending you are another gender) is no solution. Saying: “God you’ve made a mistake, I’ll make my own choice, I’ll decide my own reality” when it comes to our gender or our sexual orientation is to really only hurt ourselves. It's no way out, no guarantee of happiness.

That’s not to deny that we can have big feelings, overwhelming feelings that “I'm a girl” or “I want to sleep with men” - but that should not define who we are. That should not be our identity. Our identity is A son or daughter of God, loved by God. And so the question is, will we let God be God and trust what he says? Do we want to live by faith? V17. The righteous shall live by faith. Trust in the goodness of God and his faithfulness. Yes, it may well be difficult, but the alternative is sin - and that only hurts us.

Now, if you’ve been listening and are thinking “Well, this has got nothing to do with me, just those disgusting gays” then the Holy Spirit has a word for us: 2:1 You may think you can condemn such people, but you are just as bad, and you have no excuse! When you say they are wicked and should be punished, you are condemning yourself, for you who judge others do these very same things.

When you judge someone else for their sin, you condemn yourself. It's too easy to mock gays and wag your judgemental finger at "them" while we heterosexuals divorce and live together and watch porn and destroy our own lives and society. Heterosexuals ruined the world long before gays organized!

Paul writes very cleverly here, gets us judging and saying - "yes, yes, that's completely wrong" - before he nails us with the next verses 29-31 covering all sorts of sin - because all of a sudden we’re all grouped together with homosexuals! We condemn ourselves with our own condemnation! Brilliant!

Because it’s true that gays have been bullied by the church. When we rage against homosexuality but don’t say a word about adultery, pornography, or cohabitation, or other “heterosexual” sins – that’s bullying. That’s discriminating against a small, vulnerable group. So, I would like to apologise on behalf of the church to my brothers and sisters who are gay: sorry. Forgive us for what we have done wrong. Forgive us because we came with judgement and turned our back on you, closing the door so that it was difficult for you to accept Jesus.

Brothers and sisters let me just say something quite clearly: in this church there is no room for hatred. Here there is no room for judgmentalism, for an attitude of “I'm better than you”. We are all in the same boat, equally sinful, no-one better than another. And if we have accepted Jesus as Saviour and Lord, we are equal in Christ, all children of God, loved equally as dearly by our Heavenly Father.

So this church is for homosexuals and for heterosexuals because we are all sexual sinners. We are all lawbreakers. And we all need Jesus. Jesus accepts us as we are. Remember what we have learned: that the gospel is something God does, not us. So if you're a homosexual you're not disqualified from knowing God because of your sin. And if you’re heterosexual, you’re also not disqualified from knowing God because of your sin. We can both come to Jesus, and be washed clean, whether we are gay or not. Come to Jesus and receive forgiveness, and receive the power of the Holy Spirit, to repent of . - turn away from the sin that comes so naturally, so easily, to us. Whether it's porn, or infidelity, or cohabitation, or fantasies about people you're not married to, or if you're violent or abusive during sex. Repent! Stop doing such things! Or you may refusing to have sex with your spouse, you’re rarely together. Again, by the Spirit’s help, let’s repent.

We need help, and that’s why we have a church. I’d like to challenge us to help each other here. That we can share our struggles with sin with each other, including sexual sin, so that we can pray for each other. And we do not judge each other, no matter what, because we are all sinners, and the only solution is to expose our sin to the light in order to deal with it. If you’re struggling with something difficult or you are too scared to share with someone in the church, feel free to talk to me or to Debby and we'll be happy to help you fight your sin and grow in godliness.

Just before we leave this point I want to clearly state God’s position on sex. Christian sexual ethics is easy. Are you married to the person: have lots of sex, often. If you are not married to the person: Do not have sex, and that includes all kind of sex, including pornography.

We see God’s judgement in our thinking.

We see God’s judgement in our sexuality’

3. We see God's judgement in everything that we do

I’ll just spend a few minutes on these verses.

28 Since they thought it foolish to acknowledge God, he abandoned them to their foolish thinking (sin begins up here, in our minds. Beware your thoughts. Be careful what you put in - what you watch, what you listen to. Does it help you to fight sin and obey Jesus, or not? Cut out whatever draws you towards temptation and so to sin. The battle begins here.) and let them do things that should never be done. 29 Their lives became full of every kind of wickedness, sin, greed (we’re fat because we eat too much and drown in debt because we buy too much. We need to eat less, exercise more, and give money to the gospel to be set free from the tyranny of greed!), hate, envy (advertisements! They’re built on envy. And jealousy in the church – she’s prettier than me, they have a bigger house, they... Instead turn to thanksgiving and praise. Thanks God for what you do have instead of looking at what you don’t. Praise Him. It kills envy and jealousy), murder, quarreling, deception, malicious behavior, and gossip. (Christian gossip starts with "just so we can pray but have you heard". Love ruins gossip and backstabbing. If you want to share something about someone else, stop and ask yourself “Why do I want to say this? Is it to bless and help them - or is it for me?” 30 They are backstabbers, haters of God, insolent, proud, and boastful. They invent new ways of sinning, and they disobey their parents. 31 They refuse to understand, break their promises, are heartless, and have no mercy. 32 They know God’s justice requires that those who do these things deserve to die, yet they do them anyway. Worse yet, they encourage others to do them, too.

they piss out evil
Oh, that's us! And if we think we’re better because “I don’t do all that (well, maybe one or two small things)” then the next verses nail us. Just look at 2:3 Since you judge others for doing these things, why do you think you can avoid God’s judgment when you do the same things?

Naughty, naughty, don’t lie, we say – and then we lie. Naughty, naughty, we say, you gossip – while we’re watching porn. Naughty, naughty, don’t be violent we say – but then we quarrel and use our words like weapons.
Every time we point our finger at someone else’s sin, we judge ourselves because we show that we know right and wrong! And then we choose to do what's wrong anyway!

We see God’s judgement in our thinking.
We see God’s judgement in our sexuality
We see God's judgement in everything that we do

4. How do we understand God's judgement and anger as Christians?

We have spent a lot of time seeing ourselves as we really are: sinners without hope. But how should we understand this as Christians? Why do we still sin? Why do we experience God judgement in our own lives as he allows us to sin? Why does he allow sin in the church and in the life of his children?

That was the question the prophet Habakkuk asked. Why am I suddenly talking about Habakkuk? Because the quote in v17 “It is through faith that a righteous person has life.” is from Habakkuk and his book forms the basis of the argument in chapters 1 and 2.

So in these last few minutes I want to give us a framework for how we can understand God's wrath, his anger, as part of his salvation!

See, Habakkuk’s complaint to God is this: everyone is sinning, the law has no power - what are you doing O God? Save us!
And God says, “I will save you by judging you. I’m sending Babylon to destroy Israel.”
“What?!” said Habakkuk, “that’s not a solution! They’re even worse! Why does allow that?
And God answer to him is “It is through faith that a righteous person has life.” Actually in Habakkuk 2:4 it says “the righteous person will live by his faithfulness”
Trust me, God is saying. Be patient and you will see my faithfulness.

The Babylonians swept in like a flood and destroyed Israel, just like we sometimes experience sin - our sin or other's sin - like a flood. But we must stand firm. We must have faith in God's faithfulness.

When we look around, we look at the church, we look at Christians – oh dear. There’s so much disappointment, so much heartache. And that’s God's judgment. He has abandoned us to our shameful desires... but in that judgement there is salvation, for we who have faith. Have faith in his faithfulness. Stand on Christ as everything else fails and crashes about you – and you will stand firm.

There’s a famous scene from 1928 with Buster Keaton where a whole wall falls on him - but because he's standing just where the window is, he is not be hurt. He’s standing exactly where he needs to be, and he has faith that everything has been correctly calculated so that when the wall falls, he will not be smashed, but will stand tall.

That's how we should be. Stand firm. Have faith, trust, in God's faithfulness. Even though we are in the storm of his anger, his judgement, we who trust in Him will stand.

What about those who keep sinning, and God seems to do nothing – just keeps allowing their sin? Breivik and Hitler and Mugabe and others who just ruin everything around them? Well, we’ll find out next week – but here’s a little foretaste. God’s judgment will fall on them like a wall on a man, and smash them into pieces. Their sins will catch up with them. 2:6 He will judge everyone according to what they have done…11 For God does not show favouritism.

We see God’s judgement in our thinking, our sexuality, in everything that we do! But do not be afraid. Stand firm. Have faith in God’s faithfulness, and as everything crashes around you, you will stand, for salvation comes from the Lord.

Romans 1:16 to 31 Why do we need the gospel (Good News)?

Romans 1:16-31

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How do you picture God? What words would you use to describe our God? Grace, love, mercy, generous, welcoming, acceptance. But what about judge? Wrath? Angry? Big? Powerful? And dangerous?

Because that is what we see in today’s text.
Why do we need the gospel or Good News as the NLT translates it? We need the gospel because we, you and I, have a problem, a big problem, a problem created by our sin: and it is that God is our enemy.

His anger burns against us. It's not blind fury, out of control, but his anger is the feeling you get when you see someone doing something terrible to someone else and you react to protect them.
His anger is his settled opposition to all that is evil.

And we see it there in v18 But God shows his anger from heaven against all sinful, wicked people who suppress the truth by their wickedness.

We need the gospel, God's plan of salvation, because our biggest problem is: God.

Therefore, the gospel must be from God, God’s action, God’s achievement, and something that God gives to us. And that’s why we cannot be saved in any other way than through the gospel. Because if we are not in Jesus, in the gospel, we are against God.

Only God can satisfy God's wrath (anger).

That is why we rejoice in the gospel. Because if God had not done something, we would be without hope!

Ro 1:16 For I am not ashamed of this Good News about Christ. It is the power of God at work, saving everyone who believes—the Jew first and also the Gentile. 17 This Good News tells us how God makes us right in his sight. This is accomplished from start to finish by faith. As the Scriptures say, “It is through faith that a righteous person has life.”

Today we are going to explore the first part of today's text:

1. What is the gospel? The gospel is God's plan of salvation for we who are under Gods anger

2. The gospel is about Jesus. Not me.

3. The gospel is by faith from start to finish

Next week we will look at the rest of the chapter.

1. What is the gospel? The gospel is God's plan of salvation for we who are under Gods anger

For I am not ashamed of this Good News about Christ. It is the power of God at work, saving everyone who believes—the Jew first and also the Gentile. 17 This Good News tells us how God makes us right in his sight. This is accomplished from start to finish by faith. As the Scriptures say, “It is through faith that a righteous person has life.” 18 But God shows his anger from heaven against all sinful, wicked people who suppress the truth by their wickedness.

The “but” there in v18 is a bit of a poor translation. In the original Greek text it is more like “for” or “because”, which makes the link a little more clear. The Apostle Paul who wrote the letter says he is not ashamed of the gospel, the Good News about Jesus, FOR God is showing his anger against all people.

God is angry with us, with our sin and ungodliness, therefore I’m not ashamed of the gospel. Therefore it is Good News. Because otherwise we could earn our salvation. We could be good enough. We could try, strive, achieve nirvana, create our own truth - all the other ways that promise salvation that all rest on us and what we can do. Sacrifice to the ancestors, generate "faith", use crystals, say "oohm" do good deeds, go to worship services every week.

But the Holy Spirit reveals to us in these chapters that all this is in vain. A waste. Pointless. For when we do those things, we are choosing to reject God and we replace him with our own customized version. We don’t want the God of the Bible, but our own god.
Our mind is darkened as it says in v21 Yes, they knew God, but they wouldn’t worship him as God or even give him thanks. And they began to think up foolish ideas of what God was like. As a result, their minds became dark and confused.

By nature we do not worship God, but instead create something else to worship: a false God. Whether it’s a humanists with "choose your own truth," or Islam with Allah, or today's church, where far too often you meet God created in our image: God as a 21st century Norwegian instead of the God of the Bible. 23 And instead of worshiping the glorious, ever-living God, [we] worship idols made to look like mere people and birds and animals and reptiles. An idol does not have to be physical, but can be one mentally: God is an idol when we remake him in our own image. As v22 says, claiming to be wise, we have instead become utter fools.

And because we're empty up here, we start to do stupid things. And God allows this. Is this not the worst form of judgment - to let people do exactly what they want? Like an exasperated parent saying to his kid who has whined an moaned about touching the fire – fine, do what you want! WAAAAAHHH!

24 So God abandoned them to do whatever shameful things their hearts desired

26 That is why God abandoned them to their shameful desires.

28 Since they thought it foolish to acknowledge God, he abandoned them to their foolish thinking and let them do things that should never be done.

That's what we are, by nature. There is nothing in us that chooses God. Even though we can look out of the window at creation and see that "God exists!" we reject him by nature and worship something else. Anything else.

Therefore, the gospel has to be something that God does. And that's exactly what we heard last week. The gospel is the power of God for salvation. In Jesus, achieved by Jesus, through Jesus, in the power of Jesus. In Jesus, and only in Jesus, can we be saved! There is no other name by which we can be saved.

I recently heard a comedian saying, “When I was a kid I thought that quicksand and lava would be a bigger problem than they turned out to be.” And that's true! How many times did we play that the floor is lava or that you have been caught in quicksand? And in so many children's stories!

But maybe we were right as children. Because we are in quicksand. The quicksand of sin. And we are sinking. And the more you try to get yourself out of quicksand, the more you struggle and kick and try to save yourself - the faster you sink. As we try to save ourselves from our own sin, we just sink faster. Sin is, after all, a self-focus instead of God-focus. Depending on ourselves for salvation just makes things worse!

What is the gospel? The gospel is God's plan of salvation for we who are under Gods anger

Is that what you believe? Do you see yourself in quicksand, crying out “help”, saved only by the mighty arm of Jesus who lifts you up and out? Or is it a little more 50/50? Or maybe it's you who have chosen this, you’re a good person who does good things. Well, if that’s what you think, let me warn you that you do not believe in the gospel and you worship an idol. A false Jesus. A Jesus created in your own image. Repent!

But what about those of us who know the truth, that we are sinners saved by the grace of God - how often do we live as everything depends on us? That our salvation stands or falls on what we do? Brothers and sisters, we should be the happiest, most free of all people. We are saved by Jesus! We were under the wrath of God, but now he has saved us and accepted us.
Let's be happy today and every day to come.
What is the gospel? The gospel is God's plan of salvation for we who are under Gods anger.

And the gospel is about Jesus.

2. The Gospel is about Jesus. Not me.

1: 16 It [the Good News, gospel] is the power of God at work, saving everyone who believes

The Gospel is about God's power for salvation, about the Son of God Jesus and what He has done. So I want to stop here and remind us of what we learned last week from Christian because it is so important that we get this in place.

Turn back to v1-4 and see how the Holy Spirit has inspired Paul to present the gospel right up front.

Ro 1:1–4 This letter is from Paul, a slave of Christ Jesus, chosen by God to be an apostle and sent out to preach his Good News. 2 God promised this Good News long ago through his prophets in the holy Scriptures. 3 The Good News is about his Son. In his earthly life he was born into King David’s family line, 4 and he was shown to be the Son of God when he was raised from the dead by the power of the Holy Spirit. He is Jesus Christ our Lord.

What is the gospel? It is "Jesus Christ, our Lord." He who was promised through the prophets, he who is Jesus, the man born in Bethlehem, and Christ, the promised rescuer who fulfils the covenants, who is also our Lord, God most High, the Second Person of the Trinity. Jesus Christ our Lord.

God has not hidden this, but He has revealed Himself in the Bible through the history of Israel, through the great covenants with Adam and Abraham and Moses and David. And everything finds its origin and fulfilment in Jesus Christ. He is Plan No. 1. He has always been the plan, and indeed the purpose of all creation is to glorify Jesus! We were created so that Jesus could be glorified through his salvation work in the gospel.
Jesus was not something new, a new dispensation, a plan B or C. The Bible has always been looking forward to Jesus, the better Adam, the better Moses, the better David. Jesus did not sin, he did not only save Israel but the whole world, he fulfilled the law, and he is the everlasting king on David’s throne. He is the fulfilment of the Abrahamic covenant that the whole world would be blessed through his descendent. Jesus blesses the whole world. And Jesus is the answer to the Old Testament's dilemma: How can a holy and good God forgive sinners?

Jesus is and has always been our representative. He stands in our place, as our substitute. He does what we could not do. Obeysthe law, fulfils the covenants, lives a perfect life. Jesus does all that we could not. For by nature, we reject God, we sin, we forget God, we ignore God, we do not listen to the Word of God and instead we form another god in our image and worship it instead. Just like the Israelites in front of God on the Mount Sinai (Horeb), they made a golden calf and worshiped that while Moses received the Word of God! Doh! They didn’t bother to listen to God but instead chose to make an idol. A false god.

The gospel is about Jesus, and it is the Bible that defines both the content of the gospel and who Jesus is.

When Kristin and Kaleb were small, they really struggled when it was someone else's birthday. I think most young children struggle with that! They were convinced that the birthday was about them. And that the presents were theirs. How embarrassing! When you sit in the place of honour and have to be moved. When you have to give back the present you took for yourself to the rightful person.

We are like toddlers on someone else’s birthday when we believe the gospel is about us. We are not the focus, we are not the one who will be honoured either now or in the future. That is Jesus.

Do we believe that? Or are we still living as if we were the one who must be honoured and worshiped in our lives? The Gospel is about Jesus. Not me. It is about what he has done on the cross, and the resurrection. And that is why the gospel must be by faith from start to finish. From faith to faith.

3. The gospel is by faith from start to finish

17 This Good News tells us how God makes us right in his sight. This is accomplished from start to finish by faith. As the Scriptures say, “It is through faith that a righteous person has life.”

Have you ever wondered why the gospel is by faith? Why is it faithm belief that matters, and not what we do (actions, deeds)? Because faith is a nothing. Faith is not special. Faith is trust: "I trust this". Like sitting on a chair: I trust this chair. Faith is so ordinary, so boring. Why can’t it be “the good people who want to seek God”? That’s what the Jehovah's Witnesses say. And many “churches” today.
Have you heard such messages? “God helps those who help themselves.” “Do what is right and God will love you, bless you.” Or “Seek the Lord within”
This is not the gospel – it’s paganism. It is humanism: “We will succeed by our own efforts. We will save ourselves.”

That's not what the Bible says! It’s the opposite of what the Bible says. Why do we need the gospel? We need the gospel because God does not look down on us with love in his eyes, simpering “so lovely” beaming with delight as one of his creations stumbles into the light, like a mother’s delight in watching her children take their first faltering steps.
That is how God is presented in many places. And it’s completely unbiblical and wrong. Romans 1: 18-31 tells us the truth.

18 But God shows his anger from heaven against all sinful, wicked people who suppress the truth by their wickedness.

God looks at us in anger. Like a mother who walks in on her children bleeding all over because they’ve been kicking, biting and beating each other. “No no no! Stop it! What do you think you are doing?”

What are we doing? We are exchanging the glory of God for with our own image of god.

21 Yes, they knew God, but they wouldn’t worship him as God or even give him thanks. And they began to think up foolish ideas of what God was like. As a result, their minds became dark and confused. 22 Claiming to be wise, they instead became utter fools. 23 And instead of worshiping the glorious, ever-living God, they worshiped idols made to look like mere people and birds and animals and reptiles.

We who were created to praise and honour God, who are surrounded by His amazing creation which bellows the truth that “God is great and almighty and creative and beautiful and good”, we who were placed as rulers over all the earth to take care of it and each other and we have done a terrible job: war, famine, climate change, rape, lies, cheating, theft, etc., etc. – that’s us! Do we really believe that God should love us? Should love those who ruin and vandalise his creation. That destroy and break down each other. Who takes each new invention into a weapon and each new technology is twisted to oppress others.

So God is rightfully angry with us!

18 But God shows his anger from heaven against all sinful, wicked people who suppress the truth by their wickedness.

God’s anger is shown. God's wrath is revealed. That's what the Bible tells us. And we must believe it. Belief, faith - so boring. So ordinary. And so hard. I have to accept this? I have to believe in all that God says? Can’t I just choose the parts I like? Must my faith, my belief, really include all that God says?

Because we can reject God's anger. “I do not want to believe what the Bible says”
But if I do that, am I a Christian? Because the Bible is God's revelation of himself to us. So if we are Christians we can not pick and choose our “truth” because if we do we have made an idol, a false god image - in fact formed a whole different religion.
And then you may as well be honest with yourself and cross the street to the "Make God a 21st Century Norwegian Club" also known as the Norwegian State Department of Religious Indoctrination.

Am I exaggerating? Maybe. But isn’t this what God is warning us about in His Word today?

25 They traded the truth about God for a lie. So they worshiped and served the things God created instead of the Creator himself, who is worthy of eternal praise! Amen.

When a church, when “the church” fails to talk about God's anger and God's judgment as the Bible does, they are preaching a false gospel. A false gospel that places you and me in the centre and not Jesus. “We’re good people who struggle a bit, but if we try hard and are good Norwegian citizens and follow the government's guidelines then God will like us.” That is no gospel. That is emptiness and folly.

If you really want to change God to be more palatable, rather drop the whole pretence, be honest and become a humanist. They say right up front “You create your own truth”!

Am I being too harsh? Maybe. Maybe I’m overdoing this. But I would rather overdo this than not, for this is life and death. This is the core of today's debate in the state church. Will we believe and obey God's word or not?

Am I still a Christian if I refuse to accept parts of the gospel, the parts of the Bible I do not like? Will we have faith in, will we believe in the word of God, or will we exchange him for a lie?
And instead of worshiping the glorious, ever-living God, they worshiped idols made to look like mere people. A tame God for the "modern" Norwegian?

Look at my T-shirt. From a distance it looks like any Christian T-shirt, with a good Christian message. “Jesus saved my life”. Amen and Hallelujah. But look a little closer. That’s not what it says. Because a small printing error has crept in - and it changes the entire message. Because Jesus can save, yes, but not Jusus! “Jusus saved my life.”

Unfortunately, many people have their faith in “Jusus” – they believe in a false god. And there is no power for salvation there. For it is the gospel that is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes. The gospel as a whole, also with those parts that we don’t agree with and don’t like. The gospel is God’s revelation - it's not something we've made up or discovered. It is God's message, and so we are not at liberty to change it. Because even a slight change can mislead people. Jusus instead of Jesus.

Whatever it is we struggle with in the Bible – whether it’s the wrath of God, God's judgment, God's sovereignty, it doesn’t matter. We must believe it. It is by faith from first to last. We must have faith that what He has said is true. And we can have faith. God has made that clear that this is something we can trust. Because Jusus didn’t do anything, your false image of God didn’t do anything… but Jesus: Jesus was shown to be the Son of God when he was raised from the dead by the power of the Holy Spirit. He proved who he is when he rose from the grave. And that's impossible! Nobody did that before Jesus, and nobody’æs done it since. The resurrection of Jesus is the great demonstration that he is God.
Therefore, brothers and sister, let's listen to what he says and obey it. Have faith, living faith to do as he says, leaving the consequences to him.

Do what’s right and trust in God.

The gospel is by faith from start to finish.

1. What is the gospel? The gospel is God's plan of salvation for we who are under Gods anger

2. The gospel is about Jesus. Not me.

3. The gospel is by faith from start to finish

This means we have absolute freedom to obey God. For example we can support the church by giving money and serve with our time and effort, we can block out put on Sundays and Wednesday evenings and time each day to read the Bible and pray, and we can care for others who can’t repay us, we can work for the Lord and not just for a paycheck, we can fight injustice, and we can love our spouse and our children even when they don’t deserve it, because Jesus first loved us when we didn’t deserve it!

Because God has saved us, we are free to do what is right! Not oppressive, not a heavy burden of the law that weighs us down, but Jesus who lifts us up. Yes, we deserve God’s anger, but in the gospel we have the power of God for salvation for all who believe. Let's believe. Living faith. Amen.

Isaiah 62:1-64:12 How to read the Bible when you don't like what you're reading: Jesus will crush his enemies

Isaiah 62:1-64:12

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Today I want to take you behind the scenes – a ”making of” – of preparing a sermon. Welcome to my world, at least on Thursday’s and Friday’s. What I do Monday-Wednesday is accounting – be grateful I’m not giving you a behind the scenes on that!

So, when you’ve got a text like Isaiah 62-64 how do you go about preparing to preach it?

The first step in preparing a sermon is to read the text. Not the commentaries. Not the latest article on Facebook to pop up on this topic or this book. But to read the text. Why? Because the text is inspired by God. It is God’s word. And everything else is uninspired. Everything else is corrupted by sin. Only the Bible is written by God for us so that we can know him in all his fullness.

So we start by reading, just like we’ve done.

And then we read it again, more carefully. Look for surprises. Look for questions. Look for big ideas.
That sounds familiar, yes. This is what we do in Bible study! This is in fact how we read any text we want to understand. Especially those written from a different cultural viewpoint, and especially those which disagree with us. The Bible is both of those. It’s written to Ancient Jews. And it often disagrees with us!

Here’s my text.

Here’s some of the surprises and questions.

62:1 Because I love Zion, I will not keep still. Because my heart yearns for Jerusalem, I cannot remain silent. I will not stop praying for her until her righteousness shines like the dawn, and her salvation blazes like a burning torch.

Who’s speaking? Is it Isaiah? Is it Jesus (carrying on from chapter 61)? Is it the Lord, speaking from Heaven?

Whoever it is, He is speaking with great power. And he will not stop until Jerusalem is holy, until Israel is restored, until the people of God are made righteous. It is someone who loves Israel. So, these could very well be Isaiah’s words – but they are also the words of the Servant King, the words of Jesus, the one who fulfilled Isaiah 61 “The Lord has anointed me to preach good news.”
Why? Because there is amazing grace here. Did you notice it? Eg v5 Then God will rejoice over you as a bridegroom rejoices over his bride. And that’s a surprise, isn’t it? WHY? Why does God love his people? Why does God claim them as his bride.

If you don’t ask that question, you’ll miss it. You’ll miss the glory. You’ll miss the astounding grace. You’ll just go, meh, that’s what God does. Yes it IS what God does – so be astounded, be amazed! That’s why this first part QUESTION is so important. Why will God rejoice over his people? Because they’ve been really good? Because they repented? Because they followed the rules really well? No. Because God has decided to have mercy. Because Jesus announced the day of the Lord’s favour. (61:2) That is now.

So the first surprise is the love of God for his people. The mercy that he has on rebellious people. Today is the day of the Lord’s favour. I fact, turn back to 61:1-2. Remember last week? This is what Jesus quoted in the synagogue (the Jewish church) in his home town: The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is upon me, for the LORD has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to comfort the brokenhearted and to proclaim that captives will be released and prisoners will be freed. 2 He has sent me to tell those who mourn that the time of the LORD’s favour has come,

So, context control! Yes, our first surprise is right – God really does love his people. He really has come to save us.

But the second surprise is the sudden violence in 63:1-6 where the Lord is covered in blood from crushing his enemies. It is a big puzzle, a big surprise, a big question mark – but it is also, we have found one of the BI GIDEAS in theses chapters and the book as a whole: Jesus the warrior.

Read those verses again and feel the weight of them. Let it hit you between the eyes. This is our God. Woah.

63:1-6 Who is this who comes from Edom (one of the enemies of Israel), from the city of Bozrah (the capital of Edom), with his clothing stained red? Who is this in royal robes, marching in his great strength? “It is I, the Lord, announcing your salvation! It is I, the Lord, who has the power to save!” 2 Why are your clothes so red, as if you have been treading out grapes? 3 “I have been treading the winepress alone; no one was there to help me. In my anger I have trampled my enemies as if they were grapes. In my fury I have trampled my foes. Their blood has stained my clothes. 4 For the time has come for me to avenge my people, to ransom them from their oppressors. 5 I was amazed to see that no one intervened to help the oppressed. So I myself stepped in to save them with my strong arm, and my wrath sustained me. 6 I crushed the nations in my anger and made them stagger and fall to the ground, spilling their blood upon the earth.”

Good grief! Is this the God we know and love? Is this God the gentleman? God who is full of love? God who accepts everyone? Who is always fair and just? Is this really gentle Jesus meek and mild?

The difficulty with preaching is this: I have an idea of God in my mind. A way I like to think about God. But in preparing a sermon I cannot preach to you my version of God. I must preach God’s version of God. And in my experience he is always more out of control, wilder, bigger, scarier than my version of him.
And it’s the same for all of us if we want to read the Bible properly and really know God. We must allow the text to change our picture of God.

A big problem is that our idea of God comes not from the Bible but from our culture around us. What does our culture say God should be and shouldn’t be? It affects us more than we know.

How do we deal with a passage like this? It wrecks us because it ruins our idea of God. And our idea of ourselves.

In order for us to be good Bible readers we need to understand our cultural bias. So we don’t read what we want to be there, but read what’s actually there.

So, what does our culture say about God and about us?

Let’s start with ourselves. Because that’s what we’re most interested in. What do we think about ourselves? We are inherently good. Not perfect, but pretty decent. It is outrageous that God does not accept us. Totally unfair that God sends us to hell. Punishment does not fit the crime. We do not think of ourselves as sinners. Sinners are other people, certainly not me.

This is because we don’t understand that God’s standard is perfection. That’s partly what holiness means: absolute perfection. Absolute goodness. But we think that’s unreasonable. Perfection is unreasonable. When Chinese parents drive their children or Russia drive their gymnasts to be perfect we think hey, slow down. So when God says be perfect. Uh-oh.

And of course Hell doesn’t exist. That’s far too unreasonable. Maybe Hitler is there. And a few Islamic State guys. But no-one else. Fire & brimstone seems childish.

Our movies though reveal another side. When Liam Neeson’s daughter in Taken gets kidnapped – he goes all out and murders loads of criminals involved in the sex trade. And we’re all woohoo! Justice.
Or in Avengers when the alien baddies get killed by our heroes. With a nuclear bomb! Oh well they’re aliens.
But we understand the need to be rescued from evil. When there’s evil in the world we want justice.
But note we are always innocent. We’re never the ones doing the evil. Bad news – the Bible says that we’re the evil ones.

Well, that’s what we think about ourselves. The good. The decent. The innocent. I’ve heard many times “I thought I was good, until I started reading the Book”. One of our members said that a few weeks ago! We don’t believe we are sinners, rebels against God.

But what do we believe about God?

God is a kindly old grandfather, who says tut-tut to our sins, but will really let us all in to paradise anyway, because hey, we’re basically good people. Maybe not Hitler though. Maybe he shouldn’t be let in. Anyway, the Bible says “God wants everybody to be saved” so they will be, right? The Bible says it so it must be true.

We don’t believe God is sovereign. I determine my life. I have free will, and that is what makes me human. It is the creed of humanism – har du lyst, har du lov (så lenge det ikke skade andre). Do what you want, as long as it doesn’t hurt anyone else. And so there is no room for the God of the Bible who is in control of my life.

We also don’t believe in God as judge. I am my own judge. The only opinion that matters is mine. On Thursday at the school concert a young girl was wearing a t-shirt that said “I complete me”.
In the movie Frozen the heroine, Elsa, ends up saving herself. No-one else saved her. She did it. Her own character was what saved her in the end. Our culture says you do not need a rescuer (Jesus) you can save yourself. God cannot judge you, only you can judge yourself.

How does this compare to what we’ve just read?

Couldn’t be further apart! And so our temptation is to make God a bit less holy, a bit less scary, ourselves a bit better, a bit bigger, a bit more like God. Every cult, false religion, has a small God. You can win him over. Do this, do that and he’ll like you. JW’s, Iglesio ni Christo, Islam, Hindism, even atheism although there the “God” is me. Just do these things and you can win God’s favour. The God of the Bible? You cannot win his favour. You cannot impress God. Look at 64:6! We are all infected and impure with sin. When we display our righteous deeds, they are nothing but filthy rags. Like autumn leaves, we wither and fall, and our sins sweep us away like the wind.

Even the good things we do are worthless – our goodness is like dirty rags. Literally the word there is menstrual cloths – that is pads or tampons. You really think you can impress God with your goodness. I’m a decent guy! Hey look God here’s a load of used tampons – are you impressed. It’s shocking language because it’s mean to shock us, wake us up! It’s meant to blast our cultural bias right away.

Our culture creates a God like ourselves – just slightly bigger. He has a bit more power, but not all-powerful. He’s a bit better than us, but not holy, not blindingly, frighteningly perfect. He demands nothing of us. Unlike the God of the Bible who demands obedience. As Jesus said: if you love me you’ll obey my commands. If you want to follow me pick up your cross – crucify yourselves daily and give up your lives for me. Would our Norwegian “God” ever ask that?!

No wonder we struggle when the Bible says that God is coming as judge – to judge us! That his judgement is that we have fallen short, and belong in hell. And that he’s coming to trample us like grapes in his winepress.

So what do you do as a preacher or indeed just as a reader of the Bible when you come to verses like these? What do you do with 63:1-6?

I know. Just don’t read them. Just don’t read the Bible. Many of us don’t. Or just read the “nice” bits. Or we read the Bible lazily. We read without really thinking about what we read. We read what we want to be there, rather than what’s there.
That’s what we do isn’t it? How many of us here do exactly that?
Examine yourself here. If you don’t read the Bible or you only read the bits you like... is it because you are hanging onto your culture, your false view of God – an idol, rather than the true and living God.

It’s much easier if we don’t read the Bible or just read bit of it, because then we can make God whatever we want him to be. That’s what the Jehovah’s Witnesses do. And the Mormons. And unfortunately, many, many Christians. Including us.

So, those are the puzzles, the surprises, the question marks. Ok. So now that we’ve battled our culture we can see what these verses really tell us. We can get to the big picture. What are some of the big ideas in the passage, and what is its overall message?

62:1-12, the whole chapter, is God’s promise to rescue his people and give them a glorious future. Made righteous, not forsaken, a royal wedding. He will place watchmen on the walls who will cry out day and night to the Lord , praying, until he keeps his promise. He will not forget. HE will redeem, save, rescue his people.

And this is certain. Because he is the sovereign, AWESOME God of the Bible – BIG not small. Because we’ve seen time and time again that when he says something it happens. We know: he will redeem his people. He will rescue his people. If he was not sovereign it would just be wishful thinking. I HOPE I can rescue my people.

See, we like the God can rescue us part, but we don’t like the God is sovereign part – but God’s promises are meaningless, worthless, if he is not sovereign. If we want God’s rescue, if we want to know the future is secure that heaven awaits, that the world will be remade, that Jesus will come back – if we want all of that, we have to accept his sovereignty. Otherwise he has no power to make things happen! But we know he does because of the Old Testament stories. Because of Isaiah. How often do we read “ I, the Lord, have said this”. He wil rescue his people.

And we also know that God will take revenge on his enemies. 63:1-6. Why is this here? Because judgement is the flip side of salvation. There is no salvation without judgement. It is one and the same action. God comes down – you either cry to him for mercy – and he will save you – or stand against him – and he will crush you. Are you one of his people or not.

Again, God is sovereign to judge. Judgement will happen. Again, that’s not something we particularly like. But actually, we should. Because it means that evil will not have the last word. Evil will not overcome. He will have the last word.

I read on Wednesday evening in the newspaper that Islamic State just burned alive 19 Yazidi girls for refusing to be sex slaves. I read another article about two of these women who were kidnapped by IS and what they went through – and the men who are risking their lives to rescue them. That’s just one event, in one small part of the world. Stuff like that is going on everywhere. We live in an evil and ugly world. But evil will not win.

Because God is sovereign. Because God is taking care of them now. No-one escapes. Everybody dies and will stand before the fury of the righteous judge. Light so bright you cannot look at it. Remember Isaiah’s cry when he saw the Lord “I am doomed”. And Isaiah WAS a “good” man. But he was doomed. Filthy rags do not belong in the throne room.

So, application. What do we do with this chapter?

If we read the Bible lazily. If we read with our cultural blinkers on. What will our application be?

Work hard! Impress God. By being a bit better. By choosing to be a nice person. That’s our default “gospel” that we have.

And that’s completely wrong.

Thankfully Isaiah shows us what our reaction should be, what our application should be: a prayer of thanks and asking for mercy.

63:7 to the end of 64 is one long prayer.

I want us particularly to note his reaction to Jesus the warrior God in v7. 7 I will tell of the Lord’s unfailing love. I will praise the Lord for all he has done. I will rejoice in his great goodness to Israel (His chosen people), which he has granted according to his mercy and love. Remember that Isaiah writes this inspired by the Holy Spirit. So He, the Spirit is also teaching us how we are to respond to God’s judgement on his enemies: “I will tell of his unfailing love”.

Isaiah then goes through and remembers all the times God has faithfully rescued his people in the past, even though they rebelled and sinned against him. God of mercy.
And so, because God is merciful to sinners, he is so bold to ask again “Lord, remember us. Lord, save us.” 15 Lord, look down from heaven; look from your holy, glorious home, and see us. Where is the passion and the might you used to show on our behalf? Where are your mercy and compassion now? 16 Surely you are still our Father!

Amen we cry. Lord, you are still our Father because of your great mercy. We do not trust in our own goodness – even our best good works are filthy rags before you the holy, almighty God. We are weak, we are small, we are hard pressed. Is 64 Oh, that you would burst from the heavens and come down! How Himingen and Gaustatoppen would quake in your presence!

Let us cry out to mercy to the Lord, and ask him to help us, remember us. Our God will come in salvation or in judgement. Let us plead with him to come to us in mercy. Let us plead with him for Notodden, for Norway.

Let us stand and pray v5-9 Let us make it our prayer. 5 You welcome those who gladly do good, who follow godly ways. But you have been very angry with us, for we are not godly. We are constant sinners; how can people like us be saved? 6 We are all infected and impure with sin. When we display our righteous deeds, they are nothing but filthy rags. Like autumn leaves, we wither and fall, and our sins sweep us away like the wind. 7 Yet no one calls on your name or pleads with you for mercy. Therefore, you have turned away from us and turned us over to our sins. 8 And yet, O Lord, you are our Father. We are the clay, and you are the potter. We all are formed by your hand. 9 Don’t be so angry with us, Lord. Please don’t remember our sins forever. Look at us, we pray, and see that we are all your people.