Wrath/ Justice

Grace Abounds

Well welcome everyone, tonight we will be continuing our series on the attributes of God. Last time we we were in this series, Joost helped point us to the Holiness of God, and tonight is really an extension of that teaching. Tonight we will be looking at the Justice and Wrath of God. This isn’t the most fun topic to talk about, but it is necessary if we are going to properly understand God. If we are not careful, we will want to avoid this topic altogether, or we will talk about it in a fashion that is not fitting for the weight and gravity that this topic should bear on us. The reason why it is fitting that we talk about this after holiness is that the wrath and justice of God is a righteous , and just response to sin in light of God holiness. The wrath and justice of God are specifically tied to His holiness. That being said, we do not talk about His wrath in the same way we speak of His love. God is Love. God is not wrath, but rather He responds in wrath to rebellion to Him. God’s love is a Holy love and God’s justice is a Holy justice. That being said, I want it to be clear that God’s wrath and justice is not God losing his temper or Him flying off the handle. This my goal and outline of our time together. 1. To show you “Why the wrath of God?” 2. The nature and extent of this wrath and justice. 3. The gospel as an expression of justice and wrath. 4. How do we respond to this and counsel one another in light of it?

Let’s start with number 1. Why wrath? Why justice? So, will you Go with me Romans 1:16–20 “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.” 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.”

Paul in His gospel presentation starts here. He starts with the reason for the wrath of God. I don’t know about you, but I have the tendency to want to avoid tough topics like the Wrath of God in my witness. When is the last time that you in your Gospel presentation said “So I have to start with the reason for the wrath of God”? I really need this person to know that God is just in his anger towards sin. Or maybe in our own hearts we can avoid this too: I really don’t want to think about God’s wrath, I don’t want to think about His justice. This passage will not allow us to do that though. This passage gives more than just revelation that God has wrath, but that there is a reason for it. God wants us to know that when it comes to His wrath, it is not without reason. It is revealed from heaven. It comes from the presence of God. It is against something though, it is not aimless or misguided no. This is pointed anger. The wrath of God is against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. This is the reason for the Wrath of God: ungodliness and unrighteousness. Sin is reason. Sin is the cause. God hates sin. He cannot stand it. God is provoked towards wrath by sin or to say more plainly, by sinners. If there was no sin, there would be no wrath. All of us have sinned, fallen short of the glory of God, all of us are deserving of wrath. God revealing His wrath is never a matter of injustice. If someone does end up experiencing His wrath, it will be a matter of justice, not the lack there of. The main way that people express their unrighteousness is that they suppress the truth. The truth of God revealed in His creation. God has made himself known, it is plain to all of us that their is a God. There is no such thing as an atheist. Everybody knows that there is a God. Everybody is without excuse. The problem for the atheist is not that God has not provided enough evidence for him or her to believe, rather they love unrighteousness in such a way that despite the truth that is clear all around them in creation, they push it down. They suppress the truth that is all around them in unrighteousness. They claim wisdom, but their foolish hearts are darkened, they became futile in their thinking. The reason for God’s wrath is clear in this passage and it is sin. All of us have been born into to sin. That means that by nature, we were all children of wrath. Ephesians 2:3 It is important that we get this right, if we don’t, we won’t get the Gospel right. That is why Paul starts here, he starts by telling us that God has a good reason to angry. Sin is an offense to God and all have sinned. This is what Paul is doing here, he is exposing the sinfulness of sin. Sin is more than what we do. Sin is more than a oopsie. Sin should be opposed by God. It should be hated by Him. It is enmity with God. We may think of sin as just a mistake, but if you read the prophets, God takes sin as betrayal. God refers to Israels sin in the book of Ezekiel as whoredom and playing the whore. In Romans, Paul equates sin to exchanging the glory of God for something that isn’t God at all. It is worshipping creation rather than the creator, it is worshipping idols. God takes our sin personal. It is against God first and foremost. Sin is not just a thing. It is a heart in opposition to God. It is not just sin that will be punished, it is sinners. We see this throughout the scriptures, Here is an example:

Psalm 5:4–6 “For you are not a God who delights in wickedness; evil may not dwell with you. The boastful shall not stand before your eyes; you hate all evildoers. You destroy those who speak lies; the Lord abhors the bloodthirsty and deceitful man.”

God’s justice and anger is not just directed at the things that were done in this passage, but to those that do them. In other words, God face is not just set against sin but against sinners, and when we get to the Gospel, it will make what God has done all the more sweeter. But before we do that, we have looked at “Why wrath?” now lets look at the nature and extent of it.

The nature and extent. This is probably the point that will make some of us most uncomfortable. We do see times throughout scripture that God exercises His wrath in the temporal sense. That just means that God reveals His wrath here and now, He has also done it in the past, and He will do it in the future. For insistence, when He flooded the earth in the days of Noah, He first used Noah to proclaim the Gospel, and part of that proclamation was the warning that the wrath of God is coming. God provided a way of escape, there is an ark. Another example is when the Egyptians were killed while pursuing the Israelites. Even after God let His power be known to them through many signs and wonders and encouraged them to let them go, Pharoah still did not listen. Or when He brought judgement upon Sodom and Gamora by raining down fire. It is a theme that is weaved throughout scripture. Even within the camp of Israel, there are times when God displays His wrath, and to others He shows them grace. In the New Testament, we also see it with Anais and Saphira, the Spirit slays them for lying. Or Herod, when he was struck dead by the Angel of the Lord and eaten by worms. God does more than just exercise His wrath and justice temporarily though. God’s wrath and justice is also spoken of in an eternal sense. Jesus Himself spoke of Hell and the final judgement more than anyone else. God in His word has made it clear that the wrath of God has eternal consequences. Here are just a few of the places that Jesus talks about it:

Matthew 25:46 “And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.””

Mark 9:43–48 “And if your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life crippled than with two hands to go to hell, to the unquenchable fire. And if your foot causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life lame than with two feet to be thrown into hell. And if your eye causes you to sin, tear it out. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than with two eyes to be thrown into hell, ‘where the worm does not die and the fire is not quenched.’”

Matthew 10:28 “And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear Him who can destroy both soul and body in hell.”

These verses are hard but this is the extent of God’s wrath. We cannot gloss over this is or act like this isn’t a reality. Sin against an infinite God deserves an infinite punishment. Some people will try to get around this by saying that this is just a sign of what it will be like. I can’t really think of a time in Scripture where the sign is meant to us to something of greater magnitude. God’s wrath has eternal consequences. Also, it is important to mention the obvious here that Hell itself is God’s wrath. It is his judgement on sin. It is God pouring out His hatred for sin on sinners. We have to be careful that we don’t just attribute the wrath of God to God the Father or the “God of the Old testament” as some people say. When that great and terrible day happens, God will not be divide against himself. He is one in essence. What the Father hates, the Son hates, and so does the Spirit. Some people will paint Jesus like He is the reasonable one for not being angry at sin, that is not the way the Scriptures have spoken about the day of Judgement.

Revelation 6:15–17 “Then the kings of the earth and the great ones and the generals and the rich and the powerful, and everyone, slave and free, hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains, calling to the mountains and rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who is seated on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb, for the great day of their wrath has come, and who can stand?””

This passage teaches that Jesus in agreement with the Father, sin must be punished. We should not be glee or glib when we talk about the reality of God’s wrath and the extent of it, but we also must not be offended by it. If we are going to be offended, we ought to be offended by our sin and the sins of others. Not God’s just and Holy reaction to it. As we start to think about these things, it is important that we remind ourselves of

Ezekiel 33:11 “Say to them, As I live, declares the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live; turn back, turn back from your evil ways, for why will you die, O house of Israel?”

God has no pleasure in destroying the wicked. Our friend Spurgeon also put it like this: “Beloved, the eternal torment of men is no joy to God.”

Before we dive into our next point, I want to point out that this is the nature of salvation. We are saved FROM God’s wrath, BY God, and to God.

This leads us to point 3: The Gospel. The call of the Gospel and the satisfaction of Wrath and Justice within it. God through the Gospel is telling us to flee from the wrath of God. God is calling all men and women everywhere to repent and believe. The passage that was probably most popular when I was growing up was

John 3:16–17 ““For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.”

That same passage goes on to say this John 3:36 “Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.”

How does this happen?

How is that we, being deserving of the Wrath of God and eternal punishment, come to have eternal life? How has the wrath of God that was upon us been removed? The answer is found in the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Jesus being born of the virgin Mary, yet also being truly God and truly man, lived a perfect life. Not just by obeying his Father with his behavior, but by obeying with His whole heart. In Him their was no blemish or stain. He went to the Cross for our sins. It was more than just a crown of thorns that he faced. It was more than whips to his back, more than being naked and beaten and mocked that happened on that day at the Cross. At the cross, even though it was the middle of the day, the sky was darkened. Why was this sign given? What was happening? I’d like to point you to what Jesus has to say about darkness else where in the scriptures. Jesus speaks of hell as being the place of outer darkness, the place where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth. This is the wrath of God.

Matthew 8:12 “while the sons of the kingdom will be thrown into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.””

Matthew 22:13 “Then the king said to the attendants, ‘Bind him hand and foot and cast him into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’”

Matthew 25:30 “And cast the worthless servant into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’”

The bible is not just mentioning that the sky was darkened for no reason. God wants us to pick up on this, that the Wrath of God was poured out on Jesus. I could go on and on about how the Bible makes it clear what is happening on the cross. There is also the cup that Jesus asks His Father to take it from him, if there is any other way. In Scripture over and over the cup is seen as the Wrath of God. Its in the old testament

Jeremiah 25:15 “Thus the Lord, the God of Israel, said to me: “Take from my hand this cup of the wine of wrath, and make all the nations to whom I send you drink it.” It’s in the new testament

Revelation 14:10 “he also will drink the wine of God’s wrath, poured full strength into the cup of his anger, and he will be tormented with fire and sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb.”

Jesus knew what the cup was. It was the wrath of God against all ungodliness, it was the justice of God upon sin. This is what happened at the Cross, more than just human torment, at the Cross Jesus took the wrath of God. But Jesus was without sin, why is he punished? Why is this darkness surrounding him on the Cross?

Isaiah 53:5 “But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed.”

This is what really happened at the Cross. Jesus Christ, the righteous one, was pierced for our sin, he was chastised for us, He was crushed for our inequities. Jesus stood in the place of sinners. Anyone who believes in Him will not perish but they will have everlasting life. They will not have to face the Wrath of God but rather they have been reconciled. We have peace with God through Jesus Christ. There is one mediator between God and Man, the God Man Christ Jesus. If you have not trusted in His work on your behalf, do not wait. Do it now. If you have trusted in this sacrifice, come and ponder anew this reality: you are no longer under the Wrath of God because of Jesus Christ. We were enemies of him, and justly so, but Jesus Christ has bore our sins in his body on that tree. This matters. This hold sway over our lives now. We no longer fear the wrath of God.

Have you thought about this lately? This is the beginning of our last point: Counsel for us in light of the Justice and Wrath of God. The first piece of counsel is this, you are not under the wrath of God if you are in Christ. There no longer remains any wrath for you. Jesus drank the cup of God’s wrath dry for those who trust in him. That means that if something difficult comes into your life as a believer, it is not a sign that you are under God’s wrath, because are not. If you are struggling with physical aliments, that is not God’s wrath. If you are struggling with relational conflict, that is not God’s wrath. Nothing that comes into your life can tell you that you are under God’s wrath ever again. Jesus really has taken it all from you. God now relates to you as your Father. If He does discipline you, He now does it as your Father. The discipline may not be fun, but God has promised that it will bear the fruit of righteousness in our lives. There is a difference between this and being under God’s wrath. Even when are disciplined, we are not experiencing God’s wrath, we are not being treated as we deserve. Rick says it all the time: we are always being treated better than we deserve. This matters for you if you struggle with self pity. I have to fight against feeling bad for myself in times of suffering, but that feeling can easily be combated with this reality: we are always being treated better than we deserve. The thought of self pity may come to your mind or it may really be a battle for you. One time I was expressing this with my mom, I was telling her about how terrible everything was going and having a pity party for myself. I was a newer believer and I was telling her I don’t deserve all of this. Which was true, I deserved worse, I deserved hell. But she looked at me, and she calmly said “what about the good stuff Matt, do you deserve that?” Sometimes it is little sentences like that help us shift from a place of self pity, to really see how gracious God has been with us. In Christ, we are always being treated better than we deserve and we always will be. The last thing for counsel that I would like to say is it is that the Wrath and Justice of God can free us in ways we don’t expect. We can trust that those who have wronged us in this life will be dealt with. Either their sin has been dealt with in Christ and He has taken all the punishment that their sin deserves, just like yours was, or God will pour out His wrath on them. Romans 12:19 “Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.”” It is trust in the justice and wrath of God that will help us be loving. It is His justice that helps us trust Him and the truth that there is no sin that will go unpunished. Either their sin has been punished in Christ or it will be punished when Christ comes again.

I hope this time has helped you see the necessity of God’s wrath and justice, and the beauty of Christ taking our punishment on our behalf. I would also like to extend an invitation to our Good Friday service, this Friday at 6:30pm. We use this time to reflect our Lords death, and honor what He has done for us. It would be a joy to do this with you all.

On that note, lets pray