If you would be turning with
me to Genesis 18, I want to say some things first before I actually
read anything. Genesis 18, starting in verse
22. Genesis 18, 22. So first of all, I want to say
justice in scripture. The word in scripture means rightness. No matter what's done, no matter
how it may be perceived by others, it is right when we're talking
about this kind of justice. There are some who might read
the Old Testament scriptures and hold God in contempt, as
R.C. Sproul has put it. You know what? contempt of God sounds like,
that isn't fair. It sounds familiar, don't it,
to you? I've said that before. When that time when I was pondering
over what I had been told from scripture, and in particular
from Romans 9, before God was revealed in me, I said, if that
is who God is, I don't want a God like that. You know what I was
saying? A God like that is not fair. Holding God in contempt for what
he does with his own creation. Now God being just or for God
to show himself just, he must do this in wrath. God will bring
down justice in wrath. This is not an uncontrolled wrath
like you and I have. Just let someone take the right
away from me in traffic and you'll see my uncontrolled, unrighteous,
I might add, wrath. If someone could hear me or know
what I'm thinking out loud or heard me saying out loud or maybe
even see my reactions inside the car, they could rightly say,
he just flies off the handle. God does not do that. No matter
what the creature may see or think, He does all things right. He is totally controlled when
His wrath, and to be clear, God's justice requires His wrath. So
now turn with me to Genesis 18. You should be already there in
verse 22. We'll read this. And the men
turned their faces from thence and went toward Sodom, but Abraham
stood yet before the Lord. And Abraham drew near and said,
wilt thou also destroy the righteous with the wicked? Peradventure
there be fifty righteous within the city. Wilt thou also destroy
and not spare the place for fifty righteous that are therein? That
be far from thee to do after this manner to slay the righteous
with the wicked. And that righteous should be
as the wicked. That be far from thee shall not
the judge of all the earth do right? So I want to talk about
today wrath and mercy. Now I want to be clear here,
Abraham is the one speaking here. He's the one that said this.
And I believe he said this out of emotion and it's a rhetorical
question because the answer is true. Shall not the judge of
all the earth do right? Of course he will. It also to
me sounds like Abraham is trying to manipulate God in a sense. He didn't say anything wrong
here. Abraham did not say anything wrong, but he questioned God.
Will you treat the innocent just like the guilty? There were none
innocent. God certainly would not deal
with the righteous the same way he deals with the wicked, that
is true. But what happened in the end, if you will, God destroyed
the cities of the plains with his wrath. Let's not forget here
that there were men, women, and children in this city. There
were a few that God took out of the city, alive, but everyone
else was destroyed. This world has its justice, and
they say justice is blind. But that's not true at all. We
have seen many times where someone has put in prison as guilty of
murder or some other crime, and then 20 years later or so, they
get exonerated because of DNA tests were done later to show
that they were not the ones that were accused were put in prison
for doing this. That act was in fact not guilty
of this at all. Also, you might have several
who are guilty of murder. One gets life, maybe even the
death penalty, and the other gets 25 years. Where is the justice
in that? Justice must have had one eye
open at that time, like this, looking around. They say justice
is blind, but it cannot be when you're talking about this world's
justice because of fallen, sinful men and women who deal out this
justice. and as a secondary cause, I will
say. God is in control of all of it. This is not so with God. He deals
out justice in wrath, and he is right in doing so. God created
everything, so he owns everything. It is all his, lock, stock, and
barrel, as they say. He is totally, absolutely holy
and just. What he says goes. If he says
do this and you do not do it, then you're guilty. If he says
don't do this and you do it, then you are guilty. When it
comes to God, there is one punishment and that is death. Anything you
do that goes against what he says is punishable by death and
it will be carried out. That punishment will come because
or by the wrath of God always. I don't care what this world
says about it or thinks about it. Let me give you another instance
in Scripture where we can see God is held in contempt by the
creature. Very familiar to you. 2 Samuel
6, if you'll turn with me there. And keep your place there in
Genesis. 2 Samuel 6. Verses 1 through 7 is what I
want to read. 2 Samuel 6 verse 1, again,
David gathered together all the chosen men of Israel, 30,000.
And David arose and went with all the people that were with
him from Baal of Judah to bring up from thence the ark of God,
whose name is called by the name of the Lord of hosts that dwelleth
between the cherubims. And they set the ark of God upon
a new cart and brought it out of the house of Abinadab, and
that was in Gibeah. And Uzzah and Ahio, the sons
of Abinadab, draved the new cart. And they brought it out of the
house of Abinadab, which was at Gibeah, accompanying the ark,
and Ahio went before the ark. And David and all the house of
Israel played before the Lord on all manner of instruments
made of firwood, even on harps, and on psalteries, and on timbrels,
and on cornets, and on cymbals. And when they came to Nashon's
threshing floor, Uzzah put forth his hand to the ark of God and
took hold of it, for the oxen shook it. And the anger of the
Lord was kindled against Uzzah, and God smote him there for his
error, and there he died by the ark of God." God killed a man just for trying
to keep the ark of God from falling. He was just trying to hold it
up. You know, where it would fall to the ground and be defiled.
Seems kind of severe, doesn't it? At least as if it was a little
more than what was deserved here. That is the way this flesh and
this world thinks. But consider these things. First
of all, we should have never been on a cart. and never should
have been pulled by oxen. God specifically instructed that
the poles be inserted through the rings that were created for
this. They were added for this very purpose. But then the Levitical
priest designated for doing the job to carry the ark where it
was to go, and they were not supposed to touch anything that
was holy. David, you're asking for trouble already. So then
when they pulled the cart by these oxen, and the oxen, which
were never supposed to be pulling the cart, stumbled, it started
to teeter-totter, so to speak. Uzzah, with his utter contempt
of God, thought he could lay his hand to something God told
him not to touch. The Ark of the Covenant. Jesus
Christ being the picture here. God killed him on the spot. Do you think you're going to
change God's mind about it by holding him in contempt? He is absolutely right in all
he does. Let's read on in 2 Samuel 6,
8-15 what it says here. And David was displeased, because
the Lord had made a breach upon Uzzah, and he called the name
of the place Perazuzzah to this day. And David was afraid of
the Lord that day, and said, How shall the ark of the Lord
come to me? So David would not remove the
ark of the Lord unto him into the city of David. But David
carried it aside into the house of Abinadam the Gittite. And
the ark of the Lord continued in the house of Abinadam the
Gittite three months. And the Lord blessed Abinadam
and all his household. And it was told King David, saying,
The Lord hath blessed the house of Abinadam. Abednodim, and all
that pertaineth unto him because of the ark of God. So David went
and brought up the ark of God from the house of Abednodim into
the city of David with gladness. And it was so that when they
that bear the ark of the Lord had gone six paces, he sacrificed
oxen and fatlings. and David danced before the Lord
with all his might, and David was girded with a linen ephod.
So David and all the house of Israel brought up the ark, the
Lord was shouting, and was sound of the trumpet." This time, what did David do?
He had the priest bear or carry the ark as God had commanded.
See the fear of God in David now? He sacrificed oxen and battles. God does not need our help. God
does not need our opinion. He will do all, in all things,
despite us. He'll do right in all things
despite us. He is absolutely righteous and holy. Yet men and
women today want to put their hand to God's work as if to say
what you have done is not good enough. There are many different
ways this is manifested. But one way is manifested when
men and women thinking God needs their help to save themselves,
by them accepting Jesus as their personal Savior. God, Jesus Christ,
does not need accepting. He has already been accepted
by God the Father. Yet men and women put their hand
to God's work all the time, and they do this with enthusiasm.
They are happy and most ready to talk about what they have
done for God. Oh, the utter contempt that they
have for the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Their God is
no God at all. It is a God of their imagination
and they hate the one and only true God. In fact, their God
is themselves because they think what they do saves themselves. They do not care about the God
of scripture or for anything else that God says in his word.
All they care about is what makes them feel good. Salvation is
not about feeling good. Salvation causes trouble and
shame for what you are and what you've done. God revealing himself
to you will cause you to do just as Isaiah did. He cried out,
woe is me. I'm disintegrating. I'm coming
apart at the seams is what you can say. But those in this world
will not say this. They will also say things like
this. God loves everybody. God slaughtered millions of people
in the flood, and I suppose he did this because he loved them.
No, he hated them and their sin, and he slaughtered them righteously. just as he did for those people
in Sodom and Gomorrah. They will, and I did before Christ
revealed himself in me, but they will when they hear someone like
me talking about this subject that is Uzzah and the fact that
God rightfully and with holy judgment in wrath killed a man
just for reaching up his hand to save the ark. They will despise
this God. They will hold him in contempt.
Seriously, folks, they will say things like I did. If that is
who God is, I don't want a God like that. As I've said, the
Ark is a picture of Jesus Christ. Christ does not need saving.
We need the saving and it is He who must do the saving or
we will not be saved. And I know I've said this many
times before, or referenced this passage many times before, but
it says, for all have sinned and come short of the glory of
God. For to hit the mark as it concerns
His glory is to be holy and righteous. But that cannot be us, now can
it? Just think about how it says
that in Scripture. For all. That is all without exception
here. have, past tense, sinned, past tense, and come short of
the glory of God. So many people are trying not
to sin, thinking it will gain them favor with God. But the
problem is all have sinned and come short of the glory of God
already. So guess what? All of that sin
is punishable by death. And God will or has carried out
his wrath in punishment for those sins and those people. Because
listen to this verse, John 3, 18, familiar. He that believeth
on him is not condemned, but he that believeth not is condemned
already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only
begotten Son of God. You don't believe, you're condemned
already, this says. God will not treat someone different
just because he wants to, not without justice. Listen to Proverbs
17, 15. He that justifieth the wicked
and he that condemneth the just, even they both are an abomination
of the Lord. It is an abomination for God
to condemn the just. So if he condemns or that is
he takes vengeance on someone with his wrath, it is because
they are wicked. So how are we to escape this
condemnation, since we have all sinned and come short of the
glory of God? We know some do escape this condemnation
because we also read in Romans, Romans 8.1, there is therefore
now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk
not after the flesh, but after the spirit. So this flesh is
condemned already, but then there are some who are in Christ Jesus. We are not always in Christ Jesus. Remember, we were all born the
children of wrath, even as others. But how are we to escape this?
Well, there has to be mercy somewhere. If we are to escape this condemnation
and come into life and righteousness again, so next we have mercy. So mercy, it's because of His
mercy. God, by His wondrous grace, has shed His mercy on some. There's
nothing you can do to earn this grace. It is free, and this kind
of grace is really free. You cannot earn it. Listen, even
in our text, as you read on, you see that the only way some
escaped was because of mercy back in Genesis 19. Genesis 19. verses 12 through 16. This is
after they had come out of the city, Lot and his wife, or Lot
and his two daughters. Genesis 19, 12. And the man said unto Lot, Hast
thou here any besides, son-in-law, and thy sons? and thy daughters,
and let me start over. And the man said unto Lot, Hast
thou here any besides, son-in-law, and thy sons, and thy daughters,
and whatsoever thou hast in the city? Bring them out of this
place, for we will destroy this place, because the cry of them
is waxing great before the face of the Lord. And the Lord sent
us to destroy it. And Lot went out and spake unto
his son-in-law, sons-in-law, which married his daughters,
and said, Up, get you out of this place, for the Lord will
destroy this city. But he seemed as one that mocked
unto his sons-in-law. And when the morning arose, then
the angels hastened saying, Arise, take thy wife and thy two daughters
which are here, lest thou be consumed in the iniquity of the
city. And while he lingered, The man laid hold upon his hand,
upon the hand of his wife, and upon the hand of his two daughters,
the Lord being merciful unto him. And they brought him forth
and set him without the city. God was merciful to one. This
mercy was shown in those men sent to destroy the city. They
jerked him out of there because he was wanting to linger, as
we just read. This is how bad we are. He knew
what these men were telling him was the truth, but he lingered. He did not want to leave the
place. The only way you and I will escape ourselves is for God,
by his grace and mercy, to save us and jerk us out of where we
are. Sometimes you will see advertisements
on TV about this, you know, freeze. And usually they're religious
programs, but it's not always exclusive to religion. But they
will advertise a book or something and they'll say, free, for a
donation of $20. So it isn't free then. I have
to give you something in return you give me something else. It
kind of sounds like a sale to me, doesn't it to you? Because
it is. This world is selling you their
religion. God's grace is not like that.
His grace is free. It is given freely to those whom
he chooses to give it. Those he has chosen from before
the foundation of the world have always had his love and grace
toward them, even though they were born the children of wrath,
even as others. The only reason they are not
consumed is because of the long-suffering of God that he might bring his
people to himself. The only reason others are not
consumed in this moment is because he is long-suffering to his people
and will save them in his good time. We later read of Lot being
the righteous man. But there's one thing we need
to understand about this mercy given us in grace by him. This
mercy does not come without wrath. You can have justice without
mercy, but you cannot have mercy without justice and wrath. And
I have to go back to that verse that Walter has used so many
times, and it's still there, so it's still true. Habakkuk
3, 2. Oh Lord, I have heard thy speech
and was afraid. Oh Lord, revive thy work in the
midst of the years. In the midst of the years, make
known. In wrath, remember mercy. There will be no mercy unless
wrath comes. And if that wrath comes on us,
we will not be able to stand. We will be consumed. So this
wrath has to go on or against someone who can stand. The only
one that could do this is Jesus Christ, our Lord. See, our sin
is so great that the only one who could pay for that sin is
God himself. Jesus Christ condescended. He
being God came down and was made a little lower than the angels,
and he did this willingly. He did this because he loved
the people from the foundation of the world, and there was nothing
that they could do to stop him from doing this for them. He did not do this for all human
beings. That is, he did not do this for
all without exception. He did this for those God the
Father gave the Son in electing, or that is, choosing them in
His Son. We are told in Scripture in John
6, 37, all that the Father giveth me shall come to me, and him
that cometh to me I will unknowwise cast out. A good question to
everyone would be this, can you come to him? I like what Earl
used to say, you will if you can, and you can if you will.
Why can we say that? Because the grace of God that
sent his son to die on that tree, that he might by his grace have
mercy on me, by showing his wrath to the son is the same grace
that makes men and women willing in the day of his power. God
the father forsook the son. That is wrath. To be forsaken
of God is a dark place to be. But the son was in wrath shown
by the father. He forsook him. Matthew 27, 46,
we read, and about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud
voice saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani. That is to say,
my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? The son loved the
father and the father loved the son. Yet the son was forsaken
by God the father's wrath. and his wrath was being poured
out on the sun for our sins, which he bare in his own body. God's people know what they are.
We do not know it completely, but we know what we are, and
that is why when we begin to look at ourselves, we say things
like, how could Christ have done such a thing for such a sinner
like me? I just think how compassionate
Jesus Christ was when he was here on this earth. knowing He
would go to that cross, even compassionate to those who hated
Him and would never come to love Him by His grace. But even we
who were enemies, and while we were yet enemies of God, He gave
Himself for us. It says we were ungodly, a godless
people is who we were. but the love he shown toward
us in coming down and taking our place, having the wrath of
God against him so that he might show us mercy by his grace. Is
that not something astounding to think about? God is a holy
God. Sin will not go unpunished. It
will either be to you in and of yourself or it was by his
son on that tree on his people's behalf. You will never see mercy
any other way. Christ said it is finished some
2,000 years ago. What do you think your puny,
sinful hands and feet are going to do? You want to reach out your hand
to try and help or save God? You will perish. God is holy,
and there's no way I can explain what that really means to get
a hold of this. I can't really explain the holiness
of God. It's far above me. But there
are a lot of things in scripture that were called holy. You know,
they were called the holy things when we're talking about the
ark. These are things that were set
apart and that by God himself. He set them apart as holy. The
only reason they were holy is because God said they were holy.
He is holy in and of himself, he just is. set apart. Turn with me to Isaiah 40. Isaiah
40. Isaiah 40, 18 through 25. Isaiah 40 and verse 18. To whom then will ye liken God?
Or what likeness will ye compare unto him? The workman melteth
a graven image, and the goldsmith spreadeth it over with gold,
and casteth silver chains. He that is so impoverished that
he hath no oblation chooseth a tree that will not rot. He
seeketh unto him a cunning workman to prepare a graven image that
shall not be moved. Have ye not known? Have ye not
heard? Hath it not been told you from
the beginning? Have ye not understood from the
foundations of the earth? It is he that sitteth upon the
circle of the earth, and the inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers,
that stretcheth out the heavens as a curtain, and spreadeth them
out as a tent to dwell in. That bringeth the princes to
nothing, he maketh the judges of the earth as vanity. Yea,
they shall not be planted, yea, they shall not be sown, yea,
their stalks shall not take root in the earth, and he shall also
blow upon them, and they shall wither, and the whirlwind shall
take them away as stubble. To whom then will ye liken me,
or shall I be equal, saith the Holy One? There is none equal
to Go, None equal to go to but God himself. There's none equal
to God. You will not get to God by coming
to him face to face. For that, you will die. The only
way to get to God is by and through Jesus Christ the Lord. He's done
all that's needed. He has ensured, and He did this
willingly, He has ensured that mercy would come by suffering
in His people's stead, so that they might come unto God by Him. God deals with the righteous
according to their righteousness. Scripture says that we have been
made the righteousness of God in Jesus Christ. Outside of Jesus
Christ, there is nothing but wickedness. Man trying to lay
his hand to God's work all the time. Men and women today, in
their contempt of God, want to come do something for God, not
knowing that they need God to do something for them. Here is
the cry of the righteous, Psalm 69, 13. But as for me, my prayer
is unto thee, O Lord. In an acceptable time, O God,
in the multitude of thy mercy, hear me in the truth of thy salvation. The child of God cries. And listen,
the acceptable time is based on God, not us. If and in his
acceptable time, we pray for his mercy to be shown to us.
knowing that his wrath has come down on his son on our behalf. So his people are humbly bowed
down to the son. We must all say with Jonah, salvation
is of the Lord. Oh, that he might be pleased
to have mercy on me. We know that if he is pleased
to do so, that it will be overflowing because we read in scripture,
1 Peter 1.3, it says, Blessed be the God and Father of our
Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten
us again into a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ
from the dead. What more do we need other than
Jesus Christ? In fact, if you have anything
other than Jesus Christ, you have too much. But if he has
you and in turn you have him, then you have all the mercy needed
to bring you unto God. Don't touch anything. Amen. Thank you, our dear sovereign
God, dear Lord. Such simple creatures, dear Lord,
but such a faithful and loving God. We thank you this morning,
dear Lord. All these things we ask in Christ's
name. Amen.