The Plight of Man and the Power of God by Martyn Lloyd-Jones

The Plight of Man and the Power of God by Martyn Lloyd-Jones

Author:Martyn Lloyd-Jones
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00


WRATH OF GOD

ROMANS 1. 18

"For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness."

In this verse the Apostle begins to show the need for the Gospel which he has just been extolling. He has been describing its nature and showing the only way by which it and its benefits can be received. He has also referred to the sense of urgency which he himself felt in the work of proclaiming the Gospel. And now he begins to illustrate all that in terms of the human situation. Why is the preaching of the Gospel such an urgent matter? The answer is "that the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men." Why is salvation entirely a matter of faith? The reply is that the whole world, Jews and Gentiles alike, are hopelessly guilty before God. Why will nothing which is less than the power of God unto salvation meet the situation? The answer is the havoc wrought by sin both on man's standing in the presence of God and also upon man's nature.

But the Apostle starts with that which is most urgent and most central of all--the wrath of God. He states it as a fact and then proceeds to consider the cause of the wrath and its manifestation. We, in the previous lectures, have adopted the reverse order. We have stated the case and examined the situation first, in order that we may of God. We have done so deliberately and for the reason that we have repeated on each occasion--namely, that the situation with which we are confronted has a new element in it which makes that procedure a necessity. The trouble in St. Paul's day, as he tells us in verse 32, was not that man denied or disbelieved in the wrath of God, but rather that, though they knew the judgment of God against sin and wrongdoing, they nevertheless continued to sin and to take pleasure in others who did the same. Now that was once the case in this country. But during the past century it has certainly ceased to be the case. Men no longer ignore the doctrine, or sin in spite of it; they deny it, they dispute it, and indeed entirely reject it. That is the situation with which we have to deal, and with which we propose to engage ourselves now.

In a sense, we are still dealing with the question and the problem of sin. But we are concerned about it in its godward aspect rather than in terms of man as in the last lecture.

There is one aspect of this question of the wrath of God which we must note, in which it differs somewhat from the questions with which we have been engaged hitherto. In the main, but not entirely so, it has been true to say with regard to the fallacies concerning man's attitude towards morality, and his hopelessly inadequate view of sin, that they belong to the world outside the Church.



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