Bible Study – Romans 1:18-32

April 28, 2020
Romans 1:18-32

Hi and welcome back! This is Session Two of the Romans Bible Study.
I hope very much you were able to grow and hold onto your faith this past week.
Now Smile.
Grace and Peace to You for believing.
Grace and Peace from God our Father and from our Lord, Jesus Christ.

Let’s Pray…
Lord Jesus, here we are for the beginning of the awful parts of Romans, the ones about those with no faith. Help us, we pray. Hold up our hearts to see but to stay above the dread that so easily comes in this. Teach us, Lord. In Your name, I pray. Amen.

Read Romans 1:18-20 NIV

The NIV is the harshest of the two versions I use regularly, this is the way I memorized it, and I wanted you to see the words “Wrath of God.” Those of us with faith will not experience this wrath, Jesus did that for us. Hold onto your faith, if you stay in the NIV it’s going to get explicit.

In verse 20, we hear that since the creation of the world,
God’s invisible qualities,
his eternal power and divine nature
have been clearly seen.
Having been understood by what has been made,
so that people are without excuse.

People are without excuse. Wow. Have you ever just stopped right there and thought about that for a while? I mean have you ever just looked at nature, the way the ice hangs on bare trees and the sun makes it glisten, or the way that spring brings everything back to deeply saturated color? Does anyone not love spring? It all reminds us God is Good. God Loves You. God remembers You. That’s why those who don’t believe have no excuse. Thank Him if you believe. Praise Him for what your eyes behold.

Spring comes on fast here, the trees are fully leaved out already and the colors so saturated that all I can do is say thank you at the awe I behold. And I love winter so it’s not like I’ve been awaiting this. I was plenty happy with winter. But He is faithful. He is always going to bring everything back to life. He is life. Eternal power and divine nature and He loves, oh how He loves you and me.

Read Romans 1:21-23

These people saw and understood but they neither ________________ him as God nor gave __________ to him. As people of faith it is tremendously important to thank God for everything, even the hardships, in everything Jesus is working to bring good. Thank him. Without thanks, these people’s thinking became ___________ and their _____________ hearts were _______________. Although they claimed to be ____________, they became _________ and exchanged the _________ of the immortal God for _________. Like figurines or paintings, created things. All the created things. You’ll see, it’s coming.

Read Romans 1:24-25

Therefore God gave them over… They neither glorified him nor gave thanks to him, therefore, God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to all kinds of evil. He will not demand anyone’s love, anyone’s faith. Give your heart to him, believe. 

They exchanged the truth about God for a lie,
and worshiped and served created things rather than
the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen.

Read Romans 1:26-28
Furthermore, yes, there is more… they did not think it worthwhile to _________ the knowledge of God… So that they do what ________ not ______________________.

Read Romans 1:29-32

They have become filled with…
Every kind of ________________, ___________, _____________ and ____________. They are full of ________, ___________, __________, ________ and _________. They are _________, ___________, ________________, ___________, ______________, and ____________; they invent ways of doing ________; they disobey their _________; they have no ________________, no _____________, no love, no ____________. Although they know God’s __________________ decree that those who do such things deserve ____________, they not only ________________ to do these very things but also _______________ of those who practice them.

“They know perfectly well they’re spitting in God’s face.
And they don’t care—worse,
they hand out prizes to those who do the worst things best!”
That’s the final verse in The Message version.

Thank God that you have faith. Thank God that these words are here to show us our faith is precious. As Peter puts it in 2 Peter 1:1b-2
“To those who through the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ have received a faith as precious as ours: Grace and peace be yours in abundance through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.”

The same faith they had is the faith we have. The same God and Jesus they knew is the one we worship too. He is going to return. Be sure you have faith. Be sure you keep up your faith. And do not neglect to thank Him. He is worthy of everything.

As a preview, my favorite heading for chapter 2 is found in the Message.

God Is Kind, but Not Soft.

We’ll be there next week. Mull on what we’ve covered today for a while. Who needs to be encouraged by you this week?

Let’s pray:
Father, we thank You for all you’ve promised for us through faith. We thank you most of all for Jesus who made every promise be a Yes. Thank You for the way you’re going to get us all through these first several chapters, making our faith stronger and assuring and encouraging us to keep at it. All the glory is Yours, all the power and all the dominion too. My heart is yours. In Jesus’ name. Amen.