The Unrighteous
Romans: Righteousness for the Unrighteous • Sermon • Submitted
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Intro
Intro
How do we live?
By God’s Power
Through God’s Salvation
Because of God’s Righteousness
With Faith
What are the two meaning of Righteousness from last week?
To be declared right and to be made right
There is another meaning of righteousness that refers to who God is.
God is righteous which means that he acts according to a perfect standard of right and wrong. So then what would be considered unrighteous? Any action that is different from God’s perfect standard.
Tonight we are going to look at who is unrighteous, what is the consequences for unrighteousness, can we become righteous, and can Christians be unrighteous?
Who is Unrighteous?
Who is Unrighteous?
In verse 18 Paul writes that those who suppress the truth are unrighteous. What truth do you think he is talking about? The truth that God exists. Look at verse 19 and 20.
To suppress means you actively try to keep it hidden. Illustration of dog in toy box
Paul says that God can be known just from nature. Nature, our world around us reveals God’s eternal power and divine nature. Let’s think about those for a minute.
Use order illustration.
So those who do not believe there is a God are unrighteous, but verse 21 says that even those who believe there is a God but do not honor or treat him as if he is God, as if he is Lord, are also unrighteous.
But Paul continue. If we don’t understand those two things he makes a list for us in verses 26 through 32. I’m going to list some of the ones I think most apply to you guys. Gossips, boastful, disobedient to parents, envy, deceit, slanders (lie about others to make them look bad), insolent (showing rude and arrogant lack of respect). If you do one of these things then you are unrighteous.
Why? What about these actions make us unrighteous? They are against God’s standard. God has said these things are wrong, and then we have said to God, “God you are not my God, I’m going to do what I want.” We have personally rejected God and that is sin. Sin is not just actions, but it is also attitudes, ways of thinking. The basic definition of sin that sin is a rejection of God commands. So who is unrighteous? Anybody who at any point has rejected God’s commands. So who is unrighteous? Everybody. Everybody is unrighteous.
But exactly are the consequences?
What are the Consequences?
What are the Consequences?
Look at verse 18. The consequence for unrighteousness is God’s wrath. Now we need to ask what is God’s wrath?
God’s wrath is God’s controlled anger against sin.
1. God’s present anger
When we reject God’s commands then God rejects us.
God cannot be around sin and unrighteousness because he is righteous. Therefore, when we sin, God has to separate himself from us because of our unforgiven sin.
Look in verse 28. God gave them up to a debased mind to do what out not to be done. You see what happens is we tell God we want to do things our way and not his. And God says you go for it. So part of God’s wrath is allowing us to what we naturally want to do which is sin.
Provide example.
2. God’s future anger
In the future, meaning when a person dies and they have not become righteous through faith in Jesus then they will experience God’s punishment and God’s anger forever.
3. God’s Past Anger
God’s wrath, God’s anger has already been poured out once before. Anybody remember when? When Jesus was on the cross. On the cross God punished Jesus for the sins of all people. So even through you have faith in Jesus Christ it was still your sin, your unrighteousness that brought about God punishing Jesus on the cross. Look at and . Jesus was on the cross and darkness was over the entire land. What this exactly means is not totally for sure but it does signal God’s judgement. Jesus suffered God’s anger on the cross so that you wouldn’t have o suffer God’s future anger.
How to become Righteous
How to become Righteous
We must now answer the question of how does a person become righteous?
A person becomes righteous by placing their faith in Jesus Christ.
We talked last week of God’s power, about salvation which means to deliver us from the consequences of our sin, and about how God declares us right and makes us right when we place our faith in Jesus.
Jesus was righteous. He never sinned, and it is because he died on the cross and rose from the grave that when we place our faith in him God sees Jesus’ righteousness rather than our unrighteousness.
Response
Response
Tonight if you have never placed your faith and trust in Jesus Christ then you are unrighteous. You have not been forgiven and you are in danger of suffering God’s future anger. Tonight through, you can be made righteous. Tonight you can be made right and decalared right by God through faith in his son Jesus Christ.
If you have placed your faith in Christ, then I hope these verses reminded you of who you once were. You too were at one time unrighteous. But it is because of God’s grace and mercy that he saved you. And he saved you not so that you could continue sinning and continue being unrighteous. He saved you so that you may become righteous. So that you may not do the things Paul listed in our verses. He saved you so that you could be loving, obedient, humble, faithful. He saved you so that you could bring him glory. So are you bringing glory to God through your actions? Or are you still living as an unrighteous person. Tonight if you are a Christian I want you to pray that by the power of the Holy Spirit God would show your sin and that your actions would not be sinful but that they would be approved by God.