The wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth.
Romans 1:18

“Godliness” is living my life in the awareness of God, bearing in mind that He is watching and that I will give an account of my life to Him so that I seek to be pleasing to Him.

“Ungodliness” is the opposite of that. It means a life lived without taking God into account, either because I don’t believe He exists or because I don’t care what He thinks. It means a life lived without the fear of God.

Ungodliness leads to unrighteousness, because where there is no fear of God there is no foundation for morality. We fall back on human reason and groupthink for our ethics, where one man’s opinion is as good as another’s, and nobody can claim to be right. The result is moral chaos, oppression and abuse.

The Bible says here that by unrighteous behavior, men not only ignore the truth, we suppress it. That explains why people who choose to ignore God and His rules for living get angry and even violent when confronted with the truth. They say things like, “You can’t tell me what to do!” And “That’s just your narrow-minded opinion. Don’t try to impose your morality on me.”

So they exchange the truth of God for a lie, turn light into darkness, redefine right and wrong to suit their own desires, and suppress the Truth by their unrighteousness.

Marriage, gender, love and family are all redefined to hide the truth and make the lie seem normal. Anyone who still stands up for the truth is shouted down, and if that is unsuccessful, they are silenced in other ways; last week it was a sniper’s bullet to silence Charlie Kirk.

The wrath of God is revealed from heaven against what’s happening among us. Only His grace and mercy restrain it from raining down on us: His desire “that all be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth.”

Lord, have mercy on us. Hold back the wrath we deserve and give us boldness to speak the truth; Your Law in all its sternness and Your Gospel in all its sweetness. Open hearts to receive Your forgiveness and salvation, for Jesus’ sake. Amen.

Pastor Dan Giles