A good friend of mine shared this story with me years ago, about how he was sitting in a Sunday School class in a church that prided itself on being ‘Pro-Israel’ as well as being on the ‘right’ side of the ‘political divide’. An elderly deacon in the class chimed in with a passionate statement of support for the nation of Israel, voicing his view that “Israel can do no wrong!”

There was just one minor problem with such a blanket statement made by this gentleman: nearly the entire Old Testament is a well-documented account of how Israel was constantly ‘doing wrong’, and then suffering the consequences of God’s wrath for their ‘wrong doings’.

God’s ‘chosen people’ were repeatedly falling into sin and rebellion, and then ‘forgetting the Lord their God’, despite the repeated warnings that came through various prophets whom God sent to them. And 'whose' people... were often ‘destroyed for a lack of knowledge’? It was God’s people (Hosea 4:6).

It’s not surprising that many people today who would profess to be ‘students of the Bible’… look back on the writings found in the Old Testament and view it as a collection of stories filled with much wrath and judgment …followed by repentance and restoration. It certainly seemed to be a deeply entrenched pattern the people fell into, actually going back all the way to the garden of Eden. That’s when God told them about not eating the fruit from that ‘one tree lest they die’ (Gen. 2:17)…and then they ate from that one tree (Gen. 3:1-11).

And despite all that God has done, demonstrating His patience and mercy over the centuries towards His people, culminating with His loving sacrifice when He offered up His only begotten Son (John 3:16)…we still have a ‘sin problem’ that exists today, and in the church of all places.

I know this next statement will only come across sounding arrogant to many, not to mention borderline heretical, but I will say it again, as humbly as I can: I believe this is where much of the ‘church at large’ has gotten it wrong when it comes to the message of the cross, and what Jesus’s death and resurrection meant for all who ‘believe and call upon His name’. His attonement for our sins did not just forgive and wipe away all our sins… His death and resurrection was the payment of our ransom where we might be set free, and be free indeed…so that we could actually ‘go and sin no more’. (John 8:32-36,11; 5:14)

Jesus did not come to simply put some ‘holy bandage’ over our ongoing problem with sin, He came to deliver us from the power of sin so we could walk in the newness of life (Romans 6). What more could He possibly do? And those who truly ‘abide in Him’…ought to be ‘walking as He walked…and no longer sin’ (1 John 2:6; 3:6,9; 5:18). But dare I say... that to suggest such an idea in many circles today will certainly get a rise of opposition out of those who would teach just the opposite. No wonder Jesus warned of widespread deception in the last days (Matt. 24:4-5).

As I like to remind readers here occasionally, it was that passage in John 8:32-36 that God arrested my attention with one early morning that sparked these ongoing ‘blog lessons’ of mine here these past five years. Whoever commits sin is a slave to sin…but we no longer need to live as ‘slaves’…once we ‘know the truth’. And don't take my word for it…read it there in God’s word for yourself!

So consider this scenario….God’s wrath still comes upon sin; always has, always will. “Let no one deceive you with empty words’…Paul would write…for ‘because of these things the wrath of God is coming’ (Eph. 5:6; Col. 3:6; Gal. 6:7-8). The ‘wages of sin’…is still ‘death’! (Rom. 6:23)

This is the same ‘wrath’ that John the Baptist alluded to in Matt. 3:7-10, when he warned that we better produce ‘fruits of repentance’ given the ‘axe is already laid at the root of the trees’. And this is the same wrath that Paul announced is ‘now being revealed’, in Romans 1:18. The Amplified version includes: ‘for God who does not overlook sin…’.

Please note the verb tense being used here: “the wrath of God IS revealed…”. He offers no suggestion that God’s wrath is no longer in play, nor does he imply that God’s wrath has been placed on hold until later on in the ‘great tribulation’. But what Paul is letting us in on here is that now…God’s wrath is being ‘revealed from heaven’; and what it is coming upon or against: ALL ungodliness and ALL unrighteousness. You will also note there is no ‘*’ or footnote providing some clause saying ‘unless you have accepted Jesus as your personal Savior’.

That word ‘reveal’ comes from a Greek word that suggests ‘removing the cover’ or ‘bringing to light’, which we see often throughout scripture. God’s truths are not ‘figured out’ because we are smart or go to seminary. God’s truths are spiritual in nature and must be ‘revealed’ to us…or to those who come to Jesus with all their hearts. Do you remember what Jesus told Peter when he made that declaration as to who Jesus was? “Flesh and blood has not revealed this to you Peter….but My Father who is in heaven…”(Matt. 16:17).

When the disciples came asking Jesus to explain the parable of the sower to them, what was the response of Jesus to them, as you can read in Matt. 13:11? You might also make note of Luke 10:21; 24:32,45, & 1 Cor. 2:6-14, and I’d suggest you look those up and read them.

But going back to Paul’s statement in Romans 1, look how he leads up to this announcement that God is revealing to us just what all this wrath is about. He writes in vs. 16 that he is ‘not ashamed of the gospel …for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes…both Jews and Greek/Gentile.”

I know most of us have been conditioned to believe that ‘salvation’ is basically a ‘golden ticket’ that guarantees us entrance into heaven when we die. So when people talk and fret over whether one can ‘lose their salvation’, they do so with the mindset of having secured a winning lottery ticket, then misplaced it, but are then reassured they still can have the ‘prize’. There’s just one problem with that line of thinking- when we talk about ‘salvation’, or ‘getting saved’... do you realize what it is we are being ‘saved’ from? It’s the ‘wrath of God’ that we are saved from, according to Romans 5:9. Now look at John 3:36 and see for yourself what was/is upon anyone and everyone who is not a follower of Jesus?

And this is why I suggest our understanding on much of this has been somewhat skewed. Care to guess how Jesus ‘saves’ us from God’s wrath, which still comes against all ungodliness and sin? He frees us from the power of sin which is what brings the wrath of God in the first place. Yep…read that again…and again…and again.

Why do you think Jesus told that man in John 5:14…”go and sin no more or something worse will come upon you.”? Do you really think Jesus would command that if it were not possible to do?

Meet me back here tomorrow?