Our subject today is one of the most difficult I've
ever been pressed upon by the Holy Spirit to speak about, the
wrath of God. In the first three chapters of
this book of Romans, all of Adam's race is found guilty and declared
guilty. before God, both Jews and Gentiles,
as we read in this passage, both moral and immoral, both religious
and non-religious, both male and female, both young and old,
all Adam's race. We like to pick and choose certain
sins to bless people over while we overlook many other
things. But it needs to be understood that all sin is despicable in
God's eyes. None are exempt. And those sins are categorized
by us, some small and some great. I'd remind us that there are
no small sins because we have no small God to sin against.
All sin is great sin because it's all in rebellion against
our great God. One of the attributes of God
is His wrath. His wrath. And I would say in
beginning, I cannot afford to take anyone's word about the
character of God except his own word, and neither can you. I can be wrong about a great
many things in this life, but I cannot afford to be wrong about
who God is, and neither can you. The modern trend of the religious
world today is to play down the subject of God's wrath. I mean
for those who still believe in it. We're told it's best not
to talk about it and not cause people to think about it and
dwell on it. People need to hear more. I've
been told that God loves them. Well now, be honest, that's about
all we have heard in our generation, is God's love. But great as His
love is, it does not take precedence over His other attributes, His
power, His holiness, His justice, His wrath. There is an equality
in God's attributes. None are at the expense of another,
and wrath is one of his attributes. The mention of God's wrath nowadays
is done so as if to consider it a blemish in the divine character,
an imperfection in God himself. And many see God's wrath as being
inconsistent with His goodness, and therefore just avoid the
subject altogether. But when we open God's Word,
we find that He did not conceal the facts concerning His wrath. He makes it known, well known,
that vengeance and fury belong to him. In our reading this morning,
where Brother Andrew read 2 Thessalonians 1, when the Lord Jesus shall
be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming
fire, taking vengeance on them that know not God and that obey
not the gospel. of our Lord Jesus Christ who
shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence
of the Lord and from the glory of His power. It's a real thing.
Deuteronomy 32, 39 through 41, see now that I, even I, am He
and there is no God with me. I kill and I make alive. I wound
and I heal. Neither is there any that can
deliver out of my hand. For I lift up my hand to heaven
and say, I live forever. If I whet my glittering sword
and mine hand take hold on judgment, I will render vengeance to mine
enemies and will reward them that hate me. Psalm 95 11 I'm talking about
the generation of Israelites that perished unto whom I swear
in my wrath that they should not enter into my rest. Hebrews 12 29 for our God is
a consuming fire the little prophet Nahum, which
we seldom hear from. Chapter 1, I want to read you
a few verses. God is jealous, and the Lord
revengeth. The Lord revengeth and is furious. The Lord will take vengeance
on his adversaries, and he reserveth wrath for his enemies. The Lord
is slow to anger and great in power, and will not at all acquit
the wicked. The Lord hath his way in the
whirlwind and in the storm, and the clouds are the dust of his
feet. He rebuketh the sea, and maketh
it dry, and dryeth up all the rivers. Bashan languisheth, and
Carmel, and the flower of Lebanon languisheth. The mountains quake
at him, and the hills melt, and the earth is burned at his presence.
Yea, the world and all that dwell therein, who can stand before
his indignation, and who can abide in the fierceness of his
anger? His fury is poured out like fire,
and the rocks are thrown down by him. The wrath of God is as
much a divine perfection as is the faithfulness of God, or the
mercy of God, or the grace of God. I said the wrath of God
is a divine perfection. How could he who delights only
in that which is pure and holy How could he not despise and
be angry with that which is impure and unholy? The divine perfection
demands it. The divine character demands
it. He who is perfect in holiness
must also be perfect in wrath. There are two things I believe
that trouble us or cause us to have
a wrong concept of the wrath of God. First, it is because
of our fallen nature we are inconsistent in our attitudes toward sin and
toward evil. Sometimes we applaud sin and
other times we criticize it. We judge things according to
the measure of personal involvement and effect. You say, I don't do that. Well,
hold on a minute now. I think we do. You see, I can give you
down the road about a specific something you're guilty of and
I'm not. I can tell you how wrong it is.
How awful you are! But when that same thing comes
to my house, invades my family, and I'm guilty, it's not so bad
anymore. That's how we are. That's how
we are. I can side with God against you,
but not against me. I can speak of God's displeasure
and anger and wrath against you, but not me. That's inconsistency. And then another thing, secondly,
the wrath of God is so different from the wrath of man. That's
why a lot of people believe The subject of God's wrath is wrong. They just don't believe in a
God of wrath. They just believe in a God of love, they say. It
is so different from the wrath of man. With man, it is vindictive. It involves losing control, flying
off the handle, throwing things. furious, uncontrollable temper that means to get even. Man's
wrath. But the wrath of God is not like
that. God is not like that. He never loses control. The wrath of God is the patient
executing of justice. He's never hasty in it. Matter
of fact, he's very long-suffering. He's never wrong about it, but he's never regretful of it. And yet God is very passionate
in it, in his wrath. Psalm 711, God judges the righteous. God is angry with the wicked
every day. He's not uncontrollably angry, but He is angry. He is controllably
angry. Luke 12, 4 and 5, Be not afraid
of them that kill the body, and after that have no more power
they can do, have no more that they can do, But I will forewarn
you whom you shall fear. Fear him which after he hath
killed hath power to cast into hell. Yea, I say unto you, fear
him." Revelation 14.10, the same shall drink of the wine of the
wrath of God which is poured out without measure or without
mixture. that is undiluted, the wrath of God is poured out
into the cup of his indignation. They should be tormented with
fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and in the
presence of the Lamb. God is a God of wrath. The wrath
of God is universal. No child of Adam escapes it.
Ephesians chapter 2 and verse 3, we were all, all by nature
the children of wrath, God's wrath. The modernist idea of how to
deal with this is to concoct in our minds a weak, sentimental
God who is not bothered too much with sin and welcomes everyone into heaven. Now let me just say it plainly.
I've got to say it plainly. I've got to keep you awake. I'm
just going to go ahead and say it and get it over with. God
hates what you are. And our trouble is we don't. We don't. Even God's love cannot violate
His justice. And God's word is very strong
in asserting this reality of His wrath. The very nature of
God makes hell as much a necessity as heaven. It's a must. A.W. Pink said, God's wrath is the
stirring up of His holiness into activity against sin. The pouring out of God's wrath
is a continuous past, present, and future throughout history. Not uncontrollably. Oh, no. Oh,
no. It's not that God goes into a
rage and just loses control. In the garden, when sin entered,
when Adam disobeyed the clear command of God. How did God take
that? Was Adam given a warning? Was he put on probation? Was he told, don't let that happen
again? No, no, none of that. The sentence
of death was pronounced. on Adam and all his race, and
it's never been reversed. The ground was cursed. Man was
driven from the garden. Adam died spiritually, and we
have no record that he personally ever called on God again. God hates what we are by nature
that much. Then in time came a universal
flood, and later the destruction of the cities of the plain by
fire, and further judgments on and on and on throughout history. And because of sin, God has judged
Men, women, boys and girls have plunged into hell by the millions.
God's wrath executing judgment. And it was just. It was right. I fear what God might do to me
or you or any of us because of our sin. I do not fall out with
God because of what He might do. Because it will be just. It will be right. Romans chapter
1 and verse 18. For the wrath of God is revealed
from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who
hold the truth in unrighteousness. He's talking there about moral
folk. He's talking there about church
folk that hold the truth in unrighteousness and yet deny its truth. It's the self-made ideas about
righteousness and about unrighteousness, about God. You see, a God without love is
no God, and a God without wrath is no God. I have seen so much change in
my lifetime, and many of us sitting here have. And what is so awful
about it, it is this. The hearts and minds of people
are deceived with the idea that God's not all that angry with
sin. Well, the Bible says He is. There is a wrath to come. In the beginning of the New Testament,
John the Baptist, Matthew 3, 7, says to a crowd, who hath
warned you to flee from the wrath to come? There is a wrath to
come. Matthew 23, 33, our Lord speaking, ye serpents,
ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of
hell? Revelation 6.16, and said to
the rocks and mountains, fall on us and hide us from the face
of him that sitteth on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb. Hide us. This is not just future
tense. This is the cry of all humanity
right now as we speak. Give us anything. other than
the thought, the awful fearfulness of falling into the hands of
a living God, of a holy God. Hide us from Him. Don't make
us think about Him. Give us a peaceful, loving image
of Him. Don't tell us about His wrath. Don't tell us about a coming
day of His wrath. Verse 5 here in our text, Paul
said, but after thy hardness and impenitent heart. Oh my,
hardness and impenitent heart. Old John Gill said, an impenitent
heart is not only in heart, which does not repent, but such in
one as cannot repent, being harder than millstone. Now men by such
hardness and impenitence treasure up unto themselves wrath. They
are the authors of their own destruction in opposition to
the riches of His goodness, despised by them and is in reserve for wicked
men, and is laid up against, and will be brought forth in
the day of wrath, which the Scriptures call the evil day, the day fixed
by God, when He will call men to an account for their sins,
and stir up all His wrath against them." In that day, There will be no deception. There will be no escape by use
of hypocrisy. There will be no second chance. There will be no hope for anyone
left to the outpouring of God's wrath against them. That day will be final. The only hope for any of us is
this. And there's such an irony here.
As much as our flesh fears and dreads the thought of the pouring
out of God's wrath, our only hope is that it's already been poured
out on one representing us 2,000
years ago on the cross of Calvary. One who was actually pressed
in the wine press of the awful fury and anger and wrath of Almighty
God. Isaiah 53 describes it so vividly, hath borne our griefs and carried
our sorrows. Surely he was smitten of God
and afflicted. Surely he was wounded for our
transgressions and bruised for our iniquities. Surely his soul
was made an offering for sin. Surely he hath poured out his
soul unto death. He was numbered with the transgressors.
He bore the sin of many. He made intercession for the
transgressors. Surely this morning, if there's
any hope for me, it's in Him. What about you? What's your condition
before God? What have you to boast of? What's
your hope? I readily confess if I should be called to meet
him this afternoon and never see you again, and that could
be the case, I could be summoned into eternity today, or it could
be you. But I readily confess I do not
have any righteousness of my own that I can afford to face
God with. I don't. Now I guess, I hope when I'm
gone, a few at least will say some nice things about me. He
was a good person. He was a good man. He was a good
feller. You know? But guess what? They don't know this. This heart that is deceitful,
above all things, and not just a little, but desperately wicked,
Jeremiah said. That's in the Old Testament,
and that guy Jeremiah knew me. Desperately wicked heart. I'm not going to let you know
what's in here, but God knows what's in here. My only hope is that the one
that died on that cross, His only begotten Son, the Lamb of
God, the Lord Jesus Christ, my sin offering. I believe in Him
who died and was raised from the dead, even Jesus which delivered
us from the wrath to come. There is a wrath to come, but
in Christ Jesus, His people are delivered from that. I believe
I'm delivered in Him. The wrath of God is surely coming, but I trust Christ. In Him, I am surely delivered
from the wrath to come. I believe God that before He created the world,
He chose me by His grace. placed me in His Son, and dealt
with my sin in His Son on the cross. I believe with Paul the
Apostle, 1 Thessalonians 5, 9, God hath not appointed us, believers
that is, to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ. who died for us, that whether
we wake or sleep, that is, whether we live till He comes or not,
whether we wake or sleep, we should live forever together
with Him. Wherefore, comfort yourselves
together and edify one another, even as ye also do. I beg of you this morning, don't keep living on the fool
idea of your superior character, that you hadn't been as bad as
others. Don't live in the fool idea of
your outstanding performance, that you've done so much better
than others. Don't live on the foolish idea
of your good reputation. People will flatter you to your
face about what a fine Christian you are and cuss you to your
back. You can't afford to take anybody's
word but God's. And you'd better be honest with
him in your heart. And here's why. We've been here long enough to see precious families and
homes be disturbed. Things happen. And it's wonderful to have a
good home and a good family. but I got a little secret for
you which is really no secret one of these days all hell is
gonna break loose around your house and the devil will show up just
to tell you what a fool you've been to believe God and he'll make it so hard for
you ever to show your face again. Just stay at the house. Crawl
in your shell. Forget the whole business. I
want to say to you, there's not but one way, dear friends, for
you to survive that. And that's to keep on believing
God. Keep on believing Christ died
for sinners. Keep on believing you're one
of them. Keep on trusting Him. Knowing the wrath of God is a
certainty. It's greater than any child of
Adam can escape or survive. And yet in the person of the
Lord Jesus Christ, God's wrath is exhausted against His children. There is no more. John 3.36, He that believeth
on the Son, that is trust in, relies on, rests in. He that believeth on the Son
hath everlasting life. And unbeliever, here's what the
Scripture says about you. He that believeth not the Son,
shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him. This is a most fearful statement
that you or I or anyone could ever hear. The wrath of God abideth
on him. The wrath of God abideth on her. That word abideth is in the continual
sense. Day and night, continually, God
is angry with the wicked every day. That never changes. And that word abideth, it's present,
present. It's not just a matter of a future
dread. The reality is already present. He that believeth not is already
condemned. It's already a fact. Why? John 3.18, because he hath not
believed, trusted in, relied on the Son
of God. The only escape from God's wrath
is the embrace of God's Son. Can you trust Him? Can you give up on yourself? Can you say, my religious profession,
my religious performance, I'm just going to have to lay all
that aside and say with a songwriter, My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness. This is all my hope and peace. Not just something to be added
to my goodness and my reputation and what people think of me.
It don't make a rip what people think of you. What does God think? What does God think? His Son. Can you give up on yourself?
Can you lay aside your weapons? I want to say this morning, as
certain as the redeemed shall live forever in the happiness
and bliss of Christ's presence, just that certain shall those
left to endure the wrath of God, be forever in torment, outer
darkness, everlasting punishment, everlasting fire, everlasting
damnation. That's what the Bible says. Thank
God for his love for sinners. But oh, this awesome truth of
God's wrath. May we all say with the songwriter,
Pass Me Not, O Gentle Savior. May our hearts be moved to plead.
Hear my humble cry. And knowing that God don't owe
us anything, As old Dr. Caldwell used to say,
God don't owe us anything but hell and can pay us off any minute. Oh, may we be brought to plead
and cry. Gentle Savior, while on others
Thou art calling, please do not pass me by. Trusting only in
Thy merit, would I seek thy face. Heal my wounded, broken spirit.
Save me by thy grace. This dear Christian lady, Fanny Crosby,
the last verse went like this. Thou, the spring of all my comfort. Thou, Lord, the spring of all
my comfort, there's none without you. You're more than life to me." She closes with a question, whom
have I on earth beside thee? Whom in heaven but thee? Savior, Savior, hear my humble
cry. While on others thou art calling,
do not pass me by. That should be our prayer this
morning, our heart cry this morning. Stand with me.