The Insanity of Unrighteousness

Genesis 19:1-14,22-26; Romans 1:16-32

I. IT HAS BEEN SUGGESTED THAT MARTIN LUTHER WAS MENTALLY ILL

A. Luther’s scrupulous concern about sin has led some psychologists to diagnose Luther with religious obsessive compulsive disorder.

1. “Martin Luther, though it wasn’t called this at the time, had obsessive compulsive disorder. Martin Luther was said to be scrupulous, literally asking for forgiveness more than twenty times a day for acts committed that day” (“Creativity and Mental Illness”).

2. “Martin Luther has been psychoanalyzed ever since Sigmund Freud introduced psychoanalysis… The most popular psycho-historical study is Erik H. Erikson’s “Young Man Luther” [1958]” (Christian History).

B. One of Luther’s most famous biographers observes that Luther’s terror of judgment, “tallies so well with a recognized type of mental malady” (Roland Bainton, Here I Stand).

C. “Whatever defense mechanisms normal people have to mute the accusing voice of conscience, Luther was lacking” (R.C. Sproul, The Holiness of God, Chapter 5: “The Insanity of Luther”).

1. Luther had a brilliant legal mind.

2. Luther understood his legal dilemma:

a. God is perfectly righteous and just.

b. I am a sinner.

c. Therefore I stand eternally condemned.

D. The only thing that could clothe Luther in his right mind was faith in Jesus Christ (Romans 3:24-26).

II. THE SANITY/INSANITY OF RIGHTEOUSNESS AND UNRIGHTEOUSNESS

A. Anybody who faithfully preaches or witnesses to others about God’s righteous judgment and wrath will be seen as insane.

1. John the Baptist (Matthew 3:7 with 11:18).

2. Jesus (Mark 3:20-22; John 10:20).

3. Paul (Acts 26:24-26; 2 Corinthians 5:13-15)

“He who believes in the Son has eternal life; but he who does not obey the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.” (John 3:36)

B. The world is not a good judge of what is sane and what is insane (cf. Romans 12:2).

1. “they became futile in their speculations and their foolish heart was darkened” (Romans 1:21).

2. “Professing to be wise they became fools” (Romans 1:22).

3. “They exchanged the truth of God for a lie” (Romans 1:25).

4. “God gave them over to a depraved mind” (Romans 1:28).

C. Reality is found in God’s revelation. Reality is found in God’s judgment! And the only way we can be clothed in our right mind is faith in Jesus Christ (Romans 1:16-18; 3:23-26).

D. Insanity is unrighteousness. Insanity is living your life as if God is not righteous. Insanity is not fleeing from God’s wrath by trusting in Jesus Christ alone.

E. Instead of telling the world to flee from the wrath to come, churches are trying to entertain people from the wrath to come!

1. Instead of preaching the Gospel, the church tries to lure people out of Sodom and Gomorrah through comedy, drama, music, jokes, puppets, fun parks, etc.

2. Churches are trying to put on a better show than Las Vegas.

We wanted a musical style that would elicit a response. Unchurched people come to a service hesitantly. Their mind-set is “you’re not going to get me.” Their defenses are up. We felt that a style of music that would get them moving in a physical way (nodding heads and tapping feet) would help break down their defenses (Ed Dobson, Starting a Seeker Sensitive Service [Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1993], pp. 42–43).

F. The message of the Gospel is not, “God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life.”

1. God hates sin and sinners (Deut.25:16; Psalm 5:5; 11:5; Prov.6:16–19; 16:5; 17:15; Jer.12:8; Malachi 1:3; Romans 9:13

2. The Gospel Paul preached emphasized the revelation of God’s wrath (Romans 1:18ff.).

III. GOD’S WRATH IS REVELATION (Romans 1:18)

Romans 1:17
For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, “But the righteous man shall live by faith.”

Romans 1:18
For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness,

Romans 2:5
5 But because of your stubbornness and unrepentant heart you are storing up wrath for yourself in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God,

A. Ways God’s wrath against unrighteousness revealed:

1. Conscience

2. Disease, illness and death

3. The foolishness of idolatry (Romans 1:22-23)

4. Handing people and nations over to degrading passions such as homosexuality (Romans 1:25-27)

5. Handing people and nations over to unrighteousness, murder (abortion), slander, hatred of God, arrogance, disobedience to parents, and hearty approval of these and other forms of unrighteousness (Romans 1:29-32).

B. “War is hell.”

C. All of the destruction and devastation that we see in this world (including global devastation; wind; fires; flooding; earthquakes; etc.) is a microcosm of the destruction and devastation when Jesus Christ returns (Romans 2:5).

D. The revelation of God’s wrath is also a call for us to repent and trust in the revelation of the Gospel (Luke 13:3,5; Romans 1:16-17).

“The biblical doctrine of God's wrath is rooted in the doctrine of God as the good, wise and loving creator, who hates - yes, hates, and hates implacably - anything that spoils, defaces, distorts or damages his beautiful creation, and in particular anything that does that to his image-bearing creatures. If God does not hate racial prejudice, he is neither good nor loving. If God is not wrathful at child abuse, he is neither good nor loving. If God is not utterly determined to root out from his creation, in an act of proper wrath and judgment, the arrogance that allows people to exploit, bomb, bully and enslave one another, he is neither loving, nor good, nor wise” (NT Wright, The Cross and the Caricatures).

QUESTIONS FOR SABBATH DISCUSSION & MEDITATION

Take what you have learned this morning and make it into a prayer. Pray that God would enable you to understand what righteousness is and how His righteousness is received.

What was the title of this morning’s sermon?

What is insanity?

Why have some people suggested that Martin Luther had Obsessive Compulsive Disorder? How would Luther’s “compulsive” worry about sin be treated today?

What dilemma did Luther’s legal genius grasp concerning God’s just judgment?

Do the Scriptures teach that God hates sinners or does God only hate sin?

Why is it that we hear Christians say so often, “God loves sinners but hates the sin?”

How is God’s wrath against unrighteousness revealed?