1258. The Wrath of God
The Wrath of God
"For the wrath of God is revealed from Heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness" (Rom_1:18).
The wrath of God lies over the whole world. The revelation of the wrath of God against sinners is not a result of the coming of the Gospel of God. The Gospel of God shelters from wrath only those who believe; the rest remain under the wrath of God.
Thus there is a wrath of God upon all those who reject the Gospel.
1. It is a wrath against all ungodliness and unrighteousness. Our God is a holy God and cannot receive into His presence the unholy; our God is a just God and cannot justify the guilty.
God's wrath against unrighteousness is everywhere seen. Wherever the laws and righteous requirements of God are set at naught, wrath ensues. This wrath is revealed in the penalties that overhang all of God's laws. It is thus in the natural world, it is thus in the moral world, it is thus in the spiritual world.
Wherever there is sin, there is wrath. We are all subjects of wrath. Therefore let us pass the time of our sojourning here with fear. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. Fear? Wherein? Fear lest we walk in sin, lest we grieve Him, lest we stumble.
All unrighteousness and all ungodliness, whether it be sin against man or sin against God places the sinner under wrath.
2. It is a wrath against hard and impenitent hearts. Here is another manifestation of wrath. It is an added wrath. It is a wrath against those who refuse to repent.
Men know that those who practice evil, are worthy of death, they know that there is wrath, and yet with hard and impenitent hearts they doggedly press on in their evil way.
Men know that God, in His love and mercy, has prepared a way to escape, and yet they despise the riches of His goodness and press on in their sin.
Men know that God has been rich in forbearance and longsuffering, giving every man abundant opportunity to turn, yet they press madly and stubbornly on in their sin. Against all such there is an accumulation of wrath.
3. It is a wrath against those who place Christ under their feet. Heb_10:28-29 : "He that despised Moses' Law died without mercy under two or three witnesses:
"Of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden under foot the Son of God, and hath counted the Blood of the covenant, wherewith He was sanctified, an unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the Spirit of grace?"
God's wrath falls with greatest severity upon those who reject His mercy. There was wrath upon those who despised Moses' Law; what wrath must there be against those who
1. Tread under foot the Son of God.
2. Count the Blood of the covenant, as unholy.
3. Do despite to the Holy Spirit of grace.
The flood was destined to come. The ark was built for a shelter from the storm. Those perished who refused to enter.
God's wrath is destined to come. Christ is our Ark, or Refuge. Those who refuse Him will be overswept with the storm.
Let the unsaved rejecter beware. Three things stand before him. (1) There is the matchless Son of God, made flesh. (2) There is that Son bowing His head and dying in the sinner's stead. (3) There is the Holy Spirit writing and wooing and seeking to win the acceptance of the lost.
The sinner may have tried to excuse the fact of his sins on the ground of having been born in sin, he cannot excuse his wilful rejection of the Saviour.
Autor: R.E. NEIGHBOUR