SUNDAY (LIVE) - August 16, 2026 | UNASHAMED: Romans 1:18-32 - Lights Out

Aug 16, 2026

Devotional

Day 1: Love and Wrath: Two Sides of God’s Righteous Heart

God’s anger isn’t petty rage but the fire of a protective parent. When creation is harmed, the Creator responds. A father’s fury at his child’s pain mirrors God’s wrath against sin—not because He’s cruel, but because He’s fiercely committed to what’s good. This tension holds both justice and love: the same heart that burns against unrighteousness also bleeds to restore the broken. To reject this duality is to misunderstand holiness. The cross becomes the ultimate collision of these twin flames. [42:26]

For 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, ESV)

Reflection: Where have you seen God’s justice protect what you love? How might His wrath actually be proof of His care for you?

Day 2: Creation’s Unspoken Testimony and Our Suppressed Truth

Sunrises shout. DNA strands hum. The eight-year-old’s instinctive fear of divine displeasure proves what we all know deep down. Nature isn’t neutral—it’s a neon billboard for the Creator. Yet we stuff cotton in our ears, pretending not to hear the rocks cry out. Our rebellion isn’t ignorance; it’s willful muting of a song too glorious to bear. The ice chest still full from family camp reminds us: denial doesn’t erase reality. [48:17]

For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived ever since the creation of the world in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. (Romans 1:20, ESV)

Reflection: What part of creation most disrupts your unbelief? Where have you been stuffing “cotton” to avoid truth’s weight?

Day 3: Exchanging Glory for Shadows: When Idols Own Us

We trade diamond rings for plastic baubles, then wonder why our fingers feel empty. The college student swaps faith for a boyfriend’s embrace. The scientist exchanges wonder for alien DNA theories. Every idol starts as a good thing turned god-thing—careers, relationships, even ministry. Like Copenhagen chew, our cravings leave us sick. Yet we return, forgetting the Father’s house has a feast. [54:15]

They exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen. (Romans 1:25, ESV)

Reflection: What “plastic bauble” have you clutched lately? How does its emptiness point you back to the feast?

Day 4: When God Steps Back: The Mercy in Letting Go

Sometimes love looks like withdrawal. A father watches his son pocket the chewing tobacco, knowing nausea will teach what words cannot. God’s “giving over” isn’t abandonment—it’s the severe mercy of hitting bottom. The billionaire’s hollow eyes, the addict’s trembling hands—these are not punishments but invitations. Leanness of soul becomes the hunger pang that drives us home. [59:08]

And he gave them what they asked, but sent a wasting disease among them. (Psalm 106:15, ESV)

Reflection: Where has God’s “withdrawal” actually been His persistence? What soul-leanness might be His kind warning?

Day 5: The Mirror of Romans: Seeing Ourselves in Sin’s Catalogue

The list isn’t ammunition—it’s an X-ray. That old man’s malice? We recognize our own gossip. The prideful scientist? We see our hidden arrogance. Paul’s litany of sins isn’t a Pharisee’s checklist but a surgeon’s scalpel, exposing the tumor in us all. The Volkswagen bus coveting, the quiet desperation—we’re all in the catalogue. Only grace turns indictment into invitation. [01:09:28]

None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one. (Romans 3:10–12, ESV)

Reflection: Which sin in Paul’s list surprises you by being familiar? How does seeing yourself here deepen your need for grace?

Sermon Summary

Paul lets Romans 1:16-17 blaze with the bright light of the gospel: justification by faith alone, identity before activity, sons and daughters receiving salvation as a free gift. Then Romans 1:18 turns the lights off and brings the room into the darkness of wrath. Paul administers a genetic predisposition test, and the result comes back the same for every single person: sin is 100 percent fatal, and “the wages of sin is death.”

God’s wrath is not the opposite of God’s love. Love and wrath are Siamese twins, two sides of the same coin, because real love rises up against whatever destroys what is beloved. Ungodliness breaks the first table of the law by refusing God honor, worship, and thanks. Unrighteousness breaks the second table by harming neighbors through theft, lust, murder, deceit, coveting, and every other way human beings spread chaos.

Genesis shows what image bearers were made to be. God brought order and beauty out of chaos, then gave his good world with open-handed generosity. Image bearing should create order, beauty, and generosity in little spheres of life. Human rebellion does the opposite. Sin turns gifts into gods, makes souls stingy and selfish, and tears up God’s good creation.

Paul says the reason for wrath is simple: human beings know better. Creation declares a Creator. God’s eternal power and divine nature have been “clearly perceived,” so there is no excuse. The exchange is the disaster at the center of the text: the glory of the immortal God gets traded for creeping things, boyfriends, lusts, careers, money, and anything else that promises life but cannot give it. Futile thinking follows that exchange. The heart goes dark. Claiming to be wise, human beings become fools.

God’s present wrath looks strange. God gives people up. God gives them up to overheated desires, to dishonorable passions, and to a debased mind. Lust takes good things and makes them terrible masters. Dishonorable passions flow from idolatry into immorality. A debased mind can even applaud evil with a thumbs up.

The long list at the end of Romans 1 is not ammo to shoot other people with. That list is an X-ray for the heart. Paul’s purpose is to bring every mouth shut before God and show that none is righteous, no, not one. God’s strange wrath still remembers mercy, like the father who lets the son taste the thing until he pukes and never wants it again. Jesus alone is the great physician. Confession, repentance, communion, and the reminder of identity in King Jesus call lean souls back to the bread of life.

Key Takeaways

1. Wrath and love belong together God’s wrath is not a mood swing or a divine temper tantrum. Righteous wrath rises from holy love when what is good, beautiful, and beloved gets attacked. A God who never burns against evil would not be loving, because indifference would leave destruction unopposed. [42:26]
2. Creation leaves humanity without excuse Creation is not quiet about God. The world bears witness to eternal power and divine nature, not as a lab test in a tube, but as evidence piled up everywhere the eye can look. Unbelief is not mainly a lack of information, but a suppression of truth already made plain. [48:17]
3. Idolatry makes the mind dark The exchange is always costly. When the glory of God gets traded for created things, the thing gained starts ruling instead of serving. The heart does not become freer by pushing God away; it becomes easier to fool, easier to justify, and easier to believe anything. [53:57]
4. God sometimes gives people over God’s wrath in this age often looks like the terrifying word “go ahead.” The desired thing may be granted, but leanness enters the soul when the gift is forced to carry the weight only God can bear. Mercy may be hidden inside that collapse, because the empty pigsty can become the road home. [61:14]
5. Sin lists expose the reader Romans 1 is not meant to be used as ammunition against “those people.” The list becomes an X-ray, showing pride, coveting, malice, and every hidden fracture in the heart. Self-righteousness dies when the text stops being a weapon and starts telling the truth about the one reading it.

## [69:10]

Youtube Chapters

[00:00] - Welcome
[33:09] - Family Camp And Opening Prayer
[35:04] - Reading Romans 1:18-32
[38:22] - From Gospel Light To Wrath
[41:34] - Why God’s Wrath Is Revealed
[44:18] - Image Bearers And Creation’s Order
[46:13] - Humanity Knows Better
[48:17] - Creation Declares The Creator
[53:57] - The Terrible Exchange
[58:00] - God Gave Them Up
[60:15] - Overheated Desires And Lean Souls
[62:36] - Dishonorable Passions And God’s Design
[66:13] - The Debased Mind
[69:10] - The List As An X-Ray
[73:57] - Pornography, Confession, And The Cure
[81:45] - Communion And Clean Hearts

Bible Study Guide

Bible Reading

Romans 1:18-32
“For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things. Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen. For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature; and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error. And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done. They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless. Though they know God’s righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them.” [00:35:22]

Romans 1:16-17
“For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, ‘The righteous shall live by faith.’” [00:38:30]

Psalm 106:15
“So he gave them what they asked, but sent a wasting disease among them.” [01:01:03]

Habakkuk 3:2
“O LORD, I have heard the report of you, and your work, O LORD, do I fear. In the midst of the years revive it; in the midst of the years make it known; in wrath remember mercy.” [01:12:58]

Observation questions

In Romans 1:18-32, what are the two broad things God’s wrath is revealed against, and how were those connected to sins against God and sins against other people? [00:43:42]
According to Romans 1, what did people fail to do even though they knew God, and what happened to their thinking and hearts afterward?
What three times does Paul repeat the phrase “God gave them up,” and what are the three things people are given over to? [00:58:46]
Looking at the long list near the end of Romans 1, which sins are easy to overlook because they seem ordinary or socially acceptable, yet are still included in the list? [01:06:13]

Interpretation questions

Romans 1:16-17 reveals the righteousness of God in the gospel, and Romans 1:18 reveals the wrath of God. Why is it important to hold those two together instead of choosing one and ignoring the other? [00:38:22]
Paul says people are “without excuse” because creation clearly shows God’s eternal power and divine nature. Does this suggest that unbelief is mainly a lack of evidence, or something deeper going on in the human heart? [00:48:17]
Paul says people “exchanged” the glory of God for created things. How does that exchange help explain why idolatry does not stay private, but eventually spills over into disordered desires, damaged relationships, and darkened thinking? [00:53:57]
God’s present wrath is described by the repeated words “God gave them up.” How can that be understood not only as judgment, but also as a severe mercy that may expose the emptiness of sin and turn someone back home? [01:13:09]

Application questions

The heart was made to honor God and give thanks to him. Where has thanklessness been creeping into life lately, and how might that be connected to restlessness, envy, or a growing pull toward lesser things? [00:53:57]
Human beings were made to reflect God by bringing order, beauty, and generosity into small corners of life. In what part of life right now is there a need to stop spreading chaos and start bringing order instead—at home, at work, in speech, in money, or in relationships? [00:44:18]
Created things make good gifts but terrible gods. What is one good thing that has recently started acting like a master—approval, romance, money, comfort, sex, success, or something else—and what signs show that it is beginning to own too much of the heart? [01:00:59]
“God gave them up” can look like getting exactly what is wanted while the soul grows lean. Has there been a time when getting something deeply desired did not satisfy the soul the way it was expected to? What did that reveal? [01:01:03]
The list in Romans 1 is an X-ray, not ammo. Which part of the list is easiest to spot in other people, and which part hits closest to home when there is honesty before God? [01:09:10]
A debased mind can eventually approve what God calls evil. Where is there pressure right now to clap for, laugh at, excuse, or normalize what Scripture says is destructive? How can a believer stay truthful without becoming proud or harsh? [01:07:00]
Jesus is the great physician for lean souls, overheated desires, and darkened minds. What would confession and repentance look like in one concrete area this week, and who might be safe to talk to for prayer and help? [01:15:34]

Sermon Clips

47s

#OneCureJesus

“The cure is there's one cure. There's one great physician. There's one who can change your heart. There's one that can take what the enemy would want to use for evil and turn it to good. There's one, his name is Jesus. That's it. And scripture makes it really clear. You confess, I blew it. I believed the world when I should have believed the scriptures. You repent. I don't want that anymore. And you remember who you are. I'm a son of king Jesus. I'm a daughter of king Jesus. I belong to him. He is not mad at me. I can run to him anytime I want, and he will not cast me out. That God rushes to the repented sinner. Jesus is the cure.”

58s

#DenySelfFollowJesus

“Well, Matt, aren't we supposed to act authentically? Like, this is who I authentically am. No, you're not. The Bible says this. Jesus says this. Deny yourself. That every single one of us has things in ourselves that are bad and will take us down. You deny those things. You take up your cross and you follow Jesus Christ. Acting authentically is a American culture idea. That's all it is. It's not scriptural. It's not biblical. And I don't think it actually brings you what you want. You deny yourself. You take up your cross and you follow Jesus. Jesus was celibate. He never got married. And he lived a brilliant universe changing life. That God's plan for you and me is way better than ours. And we choose to follow him and choose to do it his way. It's better than you can ever imagine. And you deny yourself and take up your cross and say, I'm following Jesus. It's better.”

64s

#HeartCheckNotAmmo

“And something happened that I'll never forget. It changed how I looked at the bible. Because as I was reading over this list, it was like God's spirit convicted me. And it was this, hey, Matt, you're in the list. Matt, you're in this list. You're prideful. You're in the list. You covet. I do. There was a 23 window Volkswagen bus that I saw two weeks ago at the car show. I was like, what do I need to trade for that? Do you want Myron? You can have him. I don't care what it is right now. I'll take that bus. Right? I covet 100%. It, like, changed me because up to that point, I would get these lists and look at them as ammo to shoot other people with. And what I found was, no, it's an X-ray for my own heart. This is an ammo to shoot other people. That what Paul is doing from this chapter all the way through chapter three is to say, there's none righteous, no, not one.”

38s

#ComeHomeToGod

“The goal, the giving up, the allowing people to have everything they think they want, and it will not make them happy. The goal is puke your guts out and come home. Live in the pig's side as long as you need to, and come back to the father's house. Come back to me. That's why. That's this age we live in right now. That God is not willing that any should perish, but all should come to repentance. Go ahead. Have it full degree, and then come home. Give me honor. Give me thanks. Worship me alone. That's why.”

39s

#JesusIsTheOnlyCure

“Jesus is the cure. You come to him. You repent. You confess. It's wash, rinse, repeat until you're cleansed. Create in me a clean heart. Renew a right spirit within me. He's the only one that can do that. And every Sunday, go to the table. And part of the table is that, like reminding Jesus alone is the one that can transform me. Jesus alone is the one that can take this leanness of soul. Jesus alone is this one that can take my mind that's been debased, deplorable, dishonorable, and change it and renew a right mind inside me. He's the only one.”

43s

#LoveAndWrath

“But here's what you need to know. Love and wrath are Siamese twins. They come from the exact same source. They are two sides of the same coin. That a righteous wrath is always gonna be there for someone that gets hurt that you love. So we're in about the one year anniversary of the founder of is it man. Turning Point USA, Charlie Kirk. He was killed a year ago. When he was killed, what did you feel? Wasn't there just some some kind of, are you kidding? I thought he was a gift to America.”

32s

#RighteousIndignation

“because he was hurt in that way, because there's this just, no. That's wrong. What if the judge was to let the murder her off? How would you feel? Right? There'd be this, no. That's wrong because love and wrath are Siamese twins. If something hurts your child, there is a righteous indignation or righteous wrath against the person that hurt or the thing that hurt your child. So wrath and love, not against each other. Same root.”

34s

#IdentityThenActivity

“And we looked at justification by faith alone that our identity leads to activity. Not our activity brings about our identity. God identifies us as his sons, as his daughters, as his bride, as adopted into his family. And because of that identity, out of it flows activity. It's what makes Christianity different from every other religion. You get it freely as a gift. Brilliant, light, shining, amazing.”

36s

#LoveOverWrath

“God's wrath is not a popular Sunday message, is it? We don't like God's wrath. We're probably uncomfortable with God's wrath. What do we prefer? God's love. Right? God is love. We love that. We have songs about God's love. Your love, oh, Lord, reaches to the heavens. Right? We sing songs about that. We don't have songs about God's wrath. We're not singing, your wrath, oh, Lord, burns them to a crisp. We're not singing that song. Right?”

56s

#WrathCanBeIndifference

“God's wrath. What does it look like? We know when someone's mad today. Right? They turn red, maybe they yell, maybe their veins start to bulge, maybe their eyebrows get furrowed, maybe they slam a door, they pace, they cuss, they throw things, their teeth are dreaded, they shake. How about indifference? Can wrath look like indifference? They just don't answer your phone call. They don't text you back. You try to proke and provoke them, and their simple response is, So if you listened as I read through this, three times it says this, God gave them up. That's the way God's wrath is right now. Go ahead.”

30s

#OverheatedDesires

“God gave them to lust. That word, if you've been at Edgewater for any time, it's one of my favorite words. It's epi thumea. Epi means over in the Greek. Thumea is it literally means heated. It's these overheated things, overdrives in life. It's good things that God has given to us that then we make into God things and they rule over us. They'd be great servants, but they're terrible masters.”

61s

#ImageBearersCreateOrder

“So the big picture is this. You read Genesis, God creates, and then God makes image bearers that you and I are supposed to reflect what God does in the universe in our own little spheres. That's what we're supposed to be. We're supposed to image, mirroring, image bearing God. And if you read Genesis one, what does God do? Pretty amazing. The earth is without form and void. It's chaotic. The waters are chaotic. And what god does is he works six days. And out of chaos and unruly formlessness, god begins to bring order and beauty. And then he demonstrates his generosity. Image bears, you can have it all. I'm giving it to you. I'm giving you a really great place to live called paradise, called the Garden Of Eden. That's what we're supposed to do.”

43s

#CreateDontDestroy

“We're supposed to take our skills and our gifts and our spirits. We're supposed to create order and beauty. We're supposed to be generous. That's what image bearing would be. But so often, we're not that way. Instead, we're stingy and meistic and selfish, and our lusts and addictions and tempers, they create more chaos and more destruction. That's what ends up happening. We destroy God's good creation because we don't image bear him well. We're ungodly, and we're unrighteous. And God has this beautiful good creation, and his wrath is provoked because of that, because we're hurting his good wrath. And here's the main reason why. It's the next verses.”

31s

#EvidenceForGod

“So people will ask me, Matt, give me proof that God exists. And I'll say, I can't. I can't bring it into a laboratory and give you some kind of tests, but I can give you a ton of evidence, tons of evidence. Just like I can't prove that my wife loves me. I can't test that in a test tube, but I have so much evidence that my wife loves me that I'd risk my life for it. There's tons and tons of evidence for the existence of God.”

36s

#GodsOpinionMatters

“It is a tiny step from idolatry, the exchange, putting something in the place of God. It's a tiny step from idolatry into immorality. Because if you don't have a God, then you can do whatever you want. So I'll have people ask me, Matt, what do you think about homosexuality? What do you think about same sex attraction? My answer is always the same. It does not matter what I think about homosexuality. All that matters is what God thinks. What does the Bible teach? That's all that matters.”

42s

#DontFollowSexCulture

“In a room like this, I'll guarantee you there are people that have done sex wrong, 100%. And maybe you feel like you've been given over to that thing. That's owning you. And we have this ridiculous culture right now that says, you know, sex, do it your way, however you want to. And when not if, when it screws up your life, when your soul is lean, when it's destroying you, then that same culture says, oh, come to us. We'll help you now. Never go to the cause for the cure. It's ridiculous.”

41s

#ReturnToFirstLove

“I pray for lean souls, that you alone are the bread of life, You put eternity in our hearts and only eternity can fill eternity. So I ask, Lord, for every heart in here has maybe left their first love and drifted away. I pray today that we return to the source, to the living water, to the only one that can satisfy.”

40s

#TurnEvilToGood

“You would take what the enemy would want to use for evil to spread chaos. The undoing of creation, the harming of others, you would take what the enemy would want to use for evil, and even today, turn it for good. Setting your people free, turning us into the image bearers that we most deeply want to be, denying ourselves, taking up our crosses, and following you. So create in us clean hearts. Renew in us right spirits this morning.”

74s

#IdentityInChrist

“When we hold the cup, It's so easy to make bad exchanges in life, to feel trapped by lusts, passions, broken minds. You are the great physician. We can know truth, and truth can set us free. And so I pray for every believer in here. I pray that we begin with the knowledge that we are your family, that you have us, that we belong to you, that you're with us to the end of this age, that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. I pray for any in here that need to confess and to repent and turn. I pray that that by the power of your spirit, you'd be convicting us of unrighteousness and turning our hearts back to you.”

44s

#SinIsFatal

“Well, these next chapters, Paul is gonna administer disposition test, and he's gonna say every single person has this. It's worse than the plague. It's worse than black death. It's worse than Ebola. It's every single human has this disease, it's called sin, and it's 100 fatal. The wages of sin is death. So it's just like Paul, bright light and then darkness. And this is what we just read.”

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