Pathway to Victory

Speaker 1

Hey podcast listeners, thanks for streaming today's podcast from Pathway to Victory.

Pathway to Victory is a nonprofit ministry featuring the Bible teaching of Dr. Robert Jeffress. Our mission is to pierce the darkness with the light of God's Word through the most effective media available, like this podcast.

To support Pathway to Victory, go to ptv.org/donate or follow the link in our show notes.

Now here's today's podcast from Pathway to Victory.

Speaker 2

Hi, this is Robert Jeffress and I'm glad to study God's Word with you every day. This Bible teaching program on today's edition of Pathway to Victory.

Speaker 3

Do you know what the problem of righteousness is? You don't have any of it and neither do I. None of us is in a right standing with God.

You see, before you understand the good news of how God offers to put you in a right standing with Himself, you have to understand first of all that you're in a wrong standing with Him and so am I.

And that's where Paul starts the presentation of the Gospel.

Speaker 1

Welcome to Pathway to Victory with author and pastor, Dr. Robert Jeffress. We all enjoy hearing a feel-good message about God's love and forgiveness.

But we can't talk about God's forgiveness without addressing what we need to be forgiven for. Today on Pathway to Victory, Dr. Robert Jeffress describes the problem of sin and explains why all who reject God's free gift of salvation must pay a price.

Now here's our Bible teacher to introduce today's message.

Speaker 2

Dr. JEFFRESS thanks David and welcomes everyone again to Pathway to Victory. It won't be long before hundreds of us embark on one of the most exciting journeys available to the Christian. I'm referring to the upcoming Pathway to Victory Journeys of Paul Mediterranean Cruise. The dates are May 5th through 16th, and it's not too late to join us.

Imagine getting to witness with your own eyes the very places that Paul traveled on his missionary journeys. You'll have a whole new appreciation for the origin of your Christian faith and the manner in which the Gospel spread throughout the world. Please, while there's still time, check out the amazing places we'll visit and the luxurious manner in which we'll travel. All the details for reserving your spot can be found at ptv.org.

Whether or not you choose to join us for this vacation of a lifetime, I'd like to send you a creative resource that will make you feel like you've traveled to Paul's first-century world. It's an illustrated guide to the Apostle Paul. This is one of the finest Bible study resources of its kind. I've chosen this book for you because it complements our current study in Romans and because it'll open your eyes to the cultural pressures and the religious tension that constrained Paul, not much differently than our own times.

And it's my gift to you when you specifically request it and when you include a generous gift to support the ministry of Pathway to Victory. We'll say more about the illustrated guide and other resources later after my message. But right now, let's continue our study in Romans 1. I titled today's message "No Excuse."

Speaker 3

You probably remember the story about the atheist who decided to go mountain climbing. As he was ascending the side of the mountain, his foot slipped, and he began to fall. He grabbed hold of a thin branch of a tree. Realizing he couldn't go up any further and that the branch wasn't going to hold him much longer, he did the unthinkable. He looked up and shouted, "Is there anyone out there who can help me?" To his dismay, a voice shouted down from heaven, "Yes, but first you must let go of the tree branch." The atheist waited for a moment, looked back up into heaven, and said, "Is there anyone else up there who can help me?"

It's a funny story, but it illustrates a serious truth. The reason atheists reject the idea of God is not because of a lack of evidence, but because of a lack of desire to know and obey God. That is why every unbeliever is deserving of God's wrath. This is the theme of the passage we're going to look at today in our study of the Book of Romans. If you have your Bibles here, or if you've joined us by television or radio, we invite you to take your Bibles and turn to Romans chapter one.

As we've seen before, the theme of the Book of Romans is about the righteousness of God and how to have a right standing with God. Paul says that the righteousness of God is available to everyone who comes to Christ, not through works, but through faith. Notice that we've been in the first 17 verses of Romans 1 so far. These are the prologue of the book. In verse 17, we find the climax; it's the theme. For in the Gospel, the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith. For as it is written, "The righteous shall live by faith."

Now, I want you to hold your place here and turn over to Romans 3:21, where once again Paul picks up this theme of righteousness, a right standing with God. He says, "But now, apart from the law, the righteousness of God has been revealed or manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets." Do you see how these verses are bookends to one another? Look at your chart. He ends the prologue in verse 17 of chapter one by saying, "For in the Gospel, the righteousness of God is revealed." Then, when you look at chapter 1, verse 18 in the second session of Romans, he starts talking about the provision for God's righteousness, saying, "Apart from the law, the righteousness of God has once again been revealed."

So, Paul is talking about how we can have a right standing with God. But chapter 1, verse 17 and chapter 3, verse 21 are bookends to the first section of Romans that begins in chapter 1, verse 18 and goes to chapter 3, verse 20. Before Paul can talk about the good news of how God has provided a right standing with Himself, he has to share the bad news. The bad news is the problem of righteousness. That's the theme of the first major section: the problem of righteousness.

Do you know what the problem of righteousness is? You don't have any of it, and neither do I. None of us is in a right standing with God. Before you understand the good news of how God offers to put you in a right standing with Himself, you have to understand first of all that you're in a wrong standing with Him, and so am I. That's where Paul starts the presentation of the Gospel.

By the way, that's a good place for us to start with our presentation of the Gospel. Today, we're told that if you want to present the Gospel and you're talking to somebody, you need to start with their felt needs. Are you lonely? Are you depressed? Do you feel something's missing in your life? Well, why not try Jesus to satisfy that need? Isn't that what we're taught? You ought to start with people's needs to try to lead them to the Gospel.

Here's the problem with starting with people's felt needs: we don't always know what their needs are. I learned that the hard way. I was pastoring my first church, and there was a man who lived in town, a very wealthy man. People asked me if I would go see him because he was not a believer and if I would witness to him. So, I agreed to go, and he allowed me to come and see him. After the pleasantries, I said, "Now, so and so, you're the wealthiest man in town, but even though you have all of this money, I know you must feel an emptiness inside. There's something missing in your life. You're searching for something greater, a greater purpose in life." He looked at me strangely and said, "I don't know what you're talking about. I'm as happy as I've ever been in my life."

He didn't have any need that he felt right then and there at all. That's the problem with starting with felt needs. Even when people do have felt needs, we don't always accurately diagnose what those real needs are. If you go to a doctor complaining of a stomachache and the doctor simply gives you two Tylenol or some antacid to take, he's a delinquent doctor. Your immediate symptoms may not be the real cause of your problem. You might have a tumor the size of a baseball in your stomach. You need to get to the heart of the problem.

It's the same way with people's needs. A person may be feeling lonely, suffering a broken marriage, or going through an addiction. Those are all real felt needs, but those aren't his greatest needs. His greatest need is a right relationship with God. That's where the Gospel begins, and that's where Paul begins. He doesn't start with man's need; he begins with God's view of man. He starts with talking about a politically incorrect subject in today's world: not the love of God, but the wrath of God.

Notice how he does that, beginning in chapter one, verse 18. First of all, he talks about the reality of God's wrath. Look at verse 18: "For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness." Because that which is known about God is evident within; for God made it evident to them. You know what people's greatest need is? It is not something to fill up their life. A person's greatest need is for a right relationship with God. The problem is not that we need God, but that God is angry with us. That's where Paul starts his Gospel presentation, talking about the wrath, the anger of God.

Now, like I said, people want to talk about that today. How many times have you heard a sermon recently on the wrath of God? Today, people's attitude about the idea of God's wrath is one of three responses. Some people say it's uneducated to talk about the wrath of God. Only ignorant backwoods Christians would ever talk about the wrath of God. In today's intellectual culture, to do so is just uneducated. Some people think that it's unimportant. They will concede, "Well, yes, the Bible does speak about God's wrath, but we just kind of need to keep that under the radar. We shouldn't talk about that because it's a real turn-off to people."

A few minutes ago, we sang that great hymn "In Christ Alone," and remember the phrase in there? "For on the cross as Jesus died, the wrath of God was satisfied." The fact is, the wrath of God is a truth that is found all over Scripture. Some people say it's uneducated, some people say it's unimportant, and some people say it's undeserved. This is perhaps the most lethal attitude of all about the wrath of God: "Well, I don't deserve the wrath of God. I may not be perfect, but I certainly live the best I can. I try to keep the golden rule. Surely I don't deserve the wrath of God."

But I want you to notice in this passage that the word of God dispels all of our arguments against talking about His wrath. Arthur Pink, the great commentator, says a study of the concordance will show that there are more references in Scripture to the anger, the fury, the wrath of God than there are to God's love and tenderness. Did you know that? More references in the Bible to God's anger than there are to His love and tenderness. And by the way, these aren't just a few scattered verses here and there that were added later by some editor of Scripture who was having a bad day or woke up on the wrong side of the bed. No, these are actually in the text themselves, throughout the Bible.

For example, we don't have time to look at all of them, but look at Psalm 2:5, 12. "Then God will speak to them in His anger and terrify them in His fury. Do homage to the Son, lest He become angry and you perish in the way. For God's wrath may soon be kindled. How blessed are those who take refuge in Him." Or Psalm 78:49-50: "God sent upon them His burning anger, for fury and indignation and trouble, a band of destroying angels. He leveled a path for His anger. He did not spare their soul from death, but gave over their life to the plague."

Don't fall into the trap of thinking, "Well, all of these references to the anger of God are in the Old Testament." In the New Testament, we find the love of God. That's what I heard when I went to religion class in college. Our professor stood up and said, "The Old Testament talks about God's anger because the Old Testament was written by sinful men who didn't really understand God. In the Old Testament, you find man's lowest thought of who God is. It's only the New Testament that tells us that God is a God of love." Perhaps you've heard that as well, but it's not true. In the New Testament, you also have great references to the anger, the fury, the wrath of God.

For example, we all know John 3:16, don't we? "For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son that whoever believes in Him will not perish but will have eternal life." But we stop too short because if you keep reading in Jesus' words to Nicodemus and get to John 3:36, you know what it says: "For he who believes in the Son has life, but he who does not believe in the Son shall not see life. For the wrath of God abides on him." When's the last time you ever saw John 3:36 on one of those banners at a football game? Can you imagine an athlete having the courage to have under his eyes, "John 3:36"? People at home would say, "Oh, I think I'll look that up. That must be a nice, sweet verse." The wrath of God.

It's not politically correct to talk about that, but Jesus talked about it. Or Ephesians 5:6, the passage we read just a moment ago: "Let no one deceive you with empty words. For because of these things, the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience." Hebrews 10:26-27: "For if we go on sinning willfully after receiving a knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a certain terrifying expectation of judgment and the fury of a fire which shall consume the adversaries."

Make no mistake about it: the Bible teaches the wrath, the anger of God. Now, what do we mean by God's wrath? That's important to understand. In the New Testament, there are primarily two Greek words that are translated as anger or wrath. The first word, "Thumas," refers to an explosive kind of rage that is easily triggered. Now, you've experienced "thumas" before. You're driving down the Dallas North Tollway, and somebody cuts in front of you, and that eruption occurs. Your foot hits the gas pedal, and you're going to catch up with that guy and give him the one-way sign or something. But you're angry. That is "thumas."

Or somebody at work says something that just ticks you off. They press exactly the wrong button, and your mouth spews forth words of rage. That's "thumas," a volcanic expression of rage. Colossians 3:8, Paul uses that word when he says, "Put them all aside: anger, that is 'thumas,' malice, and slander." But that's not the word here in chapter one, verse 18. Instead, the word here is that second word, "orge." This word is best defined by Leon Morris in his book "The Apostolic Preaching of the Cross." He says this kind of wrath is a strong, settled opposition to all that is evil arising out of God's own nature.

This kind of wrath is the holy revulsion of God being against that which is a contradiction of His holiness. God doesn't blow up like we do. He doesn't look at somebody who is sinning and have that volcanic eruption and then quickly come back and apologize for His outburst. That's not what He does. Instead, His wrath is a slowly building revulsion and hatred toward everything that is against His holiness. Just like water that builds behind a dam and builds and builds and builds until the dam can no longer contain it and it pours forth on the residents below, so God's settled wrath is building and building and building. One day, it's going to be poured out on the earth.

The day of God's wrath is that day of the Lord we've been talking about in prophecy—the last seven years of Earth's history, the great tribulation when God will pour out His wrath on the earth. And that, as you know, is one way I'm absolutely convinced the church of Jesus Christ will not be there for that. We don't have to experience God's wrath; Jesus experienced it for us. There is, therefore, Paul said, no condemnation awaiting those who belong to Christ Jesus. There is a future expression of God's wrath that is coming, but there's also a present expression of God's wrath.

Notice in verse 18 where Paul uses this word "orge." He uses it ten times in the book of Romans. Notice he doesn't say, "For the wrath of God will one day be revealed against all ungodliness." He said, "The wrath of God is now being revealed against all ungodliness." How do we see the expressions of God's wrath right now? Let me suggest two ways. First of all, we see God's wrath expressed through God's natural order. God has put certain rules and laws into effect that, if we violate those rules, we're going to suffer the consequences.

I mean, there is a law of gravity that says if you jump off the roof of this worship center, you're going to fall and go splat. You don't have to wait for some future consequence; it's going to happen immediately. In the same way, God has set certain rules into effect that if you violate His principles, you're going to suffer right now. You don't have to wait until eternity to suffer.

Now, one example we're going to look at in depth in a few weeks is found in Romans 1:26-27, where Paul is going to argue that homosexual behavior is the result of rejecting the knowledge of God. Turn to look down at verses 26 and 27. Paul says, "For this reason." For what reason? Well, he's talked about how the ungodly have rejected the knowledge of God. "For this reason, God gave them over to degrading passions. For their women exchanged the natural function for that which is what? Unnatural. And in the same way also, the men abandoned their natural function of the woman and burned in their desire toward one another, men with men committing indecent acts and receiving in their own persons the due penalty of their error."

How many of you have heard people say, "Well, it's only the Old Testament that condemns homosexuality. There's nothing in the New Testament about it." Here it is right here, one of many places. Notice in verse 26 what God says about homosexual behavior: it is not a legitimate sexual expression. He says it is unnatural. Do you know what the word unnatural means? Literally, it means it is against nature. That's what the word unnatural means—against nature. He says as a result of this, they have received, verse 27, in their own persons, the penalty of their error.

As we're going to see in a few weeks, there are several different interpretations of that, but one interpretation that many people hold to is that there are natural consequences for doing that which is unnatural. Listen, this doesn't come from Focus on the Family; this comes from the Center for Disease Control, a government agency that has reported that there is a much higher incidence of diseases like hepatitis, syphilis, and AIDS among the homosexual population than there is in the heterosexual population. Did you know that's documented? Homosexuals are much more likely to contract hepatitis, syphilis, and certainly AIDS than the heterosexual population. That is a documented fact.

Why is that? Why are they more prone to disease? Because what they do, God says, is unnatural. It goes against nature. It is a misuse of the sexual apparatus that God has designed. When you break God's laws, when you go against nature, don't be surprised if you experience natural consequences. By the way, that principle applies not only to homosexuals but to heterosexuals as well. Do you know the way that is 100% guaranteed not to contract an STD, a sexually transmitted disease? There is a 100% foolproof way to make sure you don't contract an STD: don't have sex before you get married, and don't marry somebody who has had sex before they got married, and keep your marriage vows. If you do that, you will be 100% free of STDs. That's the way God designed things.

Speaker 2

You may be listening to Pathway to Victory and thinking about someone who needs to hear today's message. The audio CDs and the video DVDs for today's study are available right now. My study in Romans is called Grace Powered Living, and the collection of recordings contains the sermon you heard today. With far more teaching material than we've had time to include on the program, David will describe all the details in just a moment.

If you love the Bible and want to learn more about Paul's letter to the Romans, I've set aside an excellent resource for you. It's called An Illustrated Guide to the Apostle Paul. This is a Bible study tool that belongs in your private collection because you'll be reaching for this book for many years to come. Remember, Paul was a Jewish rabbi who, before his conversion, persecuted Christians. But after his spiritual transformation, Paul traveled far and wide to tell others about the saving grace of Jesus Christ.

In this illustrated guide resource, you'll learn about the cultural pressures that pushed back against Paul, much like the pressures you and I feel in our world today. Ask for your copy of An Illustrated Guide to the Apostle Paul. It's yours when you give a generous gift to support the growing ministry of Pathway to Victory.

In fact, when you get in touch today, I'll be sure to include a bonus resource for you, the Journeys of Paul Map and Brochure. I've just given you a lot of information, so I'm asking David to repeat that for you now. And please let us hear from you today. Thank you so much for linking arms with Pathway to Victory by giving a generous gift as together we pierce the darkness with the light of God's word.

Speaker 1

David thanks Dr. Jeffress. Today, when you invest in the ministry of Pathway to Victory by giving a generous gift, we'll say thanks by sending you the book *An Illustrated Guide to the Apostle Paul*. Now, to request this special package of resources, call 866-999-2965 or visit our website at ptv.org. When your investment is $75 or more, we'll also send you the audio and video discs for the *Grace Powered Living Teaching* series featuring Romans Chapters one through eight. Ask for your very own copy of the *Grace Powered Living Teaching* set when you call 866-999-2965 or go online to ptv.org. You're always welcome to write to us at P.O. Box 2236, Dallas, TX 75222. Again, that's P.O. Box 223609, Dallas, TX 75222.

I'm David J. Mullins inviting you back next time for part two of the message called "No Excuse." That's coming up Friday here on Pathway to Victory. Pathway to Victory with Dr. Robert Jeffress comes from the pulpit of the First Baptist Church of Dallas, Texas.

You made it to the end of today's podcast from Pathway to Victory, and we're so glad you're here. Pathway to Victory relies on the generosity of loyal listeners like you to make this podcast possible. One of the most impactful ways you can give is by becoming a Pathway Partner. Your monthly gift will empower Pathway to Victory to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ and help others become rooted more firmly in His Word. To become a Pathway Partner, go to ptv.org/donate or follow the link in our show notes.

We hope you've been blessed by today's podcast from Pathway to Victory.