THE WRATH TO COME

Photo by B Smith from the Patio

 

 

10 - THE WRATH TO COME

February 3, 1963

Pastor Henry F. Kulp

 

I Thessalonians 1: 9, 10 For they themselves shew of us what manner of entering in we had unto you, and how ye turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God; And to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, even Jesus, which delivered us from the wrath to come.

We said in these two verses we have two words which cover the whole Christian life— serve and wait. Notice their connection. These people served the living and true God while they waited for His Son from Heaven.

1/ And this Son from Heaven has delivered us from the wrath to come. But the message that the church has for this unbelieving world is wrath and grace. Wrath and grace comprise the message that we have for society in its sinful condition. We want the world to know it is living under the wrath of God, but grace is the answer to this condition.

2/ Some people are disturbed by the idea of a God of love possessing wrath, but do you realize any god who does not have wrath is a monstrosity? He is a crippled God. God’s attributes are balanced by His perfection. Do you know that one of the proofs of the deity of the Lord Jesus Christ as set forth in the first chapter of the Epistle to the Hebrews is that He knew how to hate.

Hebrews 1: 9 Thou hast loved righteousness, and hated iniquity; therefore God, even thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows.

3/ Romans 1: 16 - 18 For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek. For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith. For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness;

And here we see two revelations, it has to do with the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. Christ dying for our sins. First of all, the Gospel reveals God’s righteousness. It is a revelation of this—that you who have no righteousness can have righteousness through the Gospel, the cross. He is ready to bestow it by faith. But the Gospel is also another revelation, for the wrath of God is revealed.

I do not believe that any such revelation of God’s wrath has ever been given as the revelation of the cross. Where Jesus Christ was crucified and made sin for us. Where God let His wrath out against His Son that we might be saved. This is given to us in II Corinthians 5: 21 For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.

I do not believe we are really able to fathom the depths of this verse, but you listen to it. But He hath made Him to be sin for us Who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God.

There you will notice the two revelations. Christ feeling the wrath of God, and man being enabled to have the righteousness of God through the Son of God being made wrath for us.

4/ Let me illustrate what I mean. You have that sweet, dear little girl in your home, running about as a little ray of sunshine that you love, and actually you would be willing to die for that child. But what would ever induce you to place upon that little girl some dread disease that would paralyze her, that would put her in a place of agony, that would spoil her life and put her in excruciating pain. You say, nothing could induce you to do that. But, suppose you know that if you would have this disease put upon that little girl, a thousand other children would be spared? Would you still be willing to do it? No, I doubt very much whether even this fact would induce you to have the dreaded thing placed upon that little one you love so much. That is God’s problem. That is exactly what God did. God did what no human father would ever be willing to do. He put the wrath of sin upon His Son, so that we might have the righteousness of God as a gift.

5/ But now let’s take this a step further and notice Romans 2: 5 But after thy hardness and impenitent heart treasurest up unto thyself wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God;

Here He talks about the day of wrath. There is a day of wrath coming. When is this day of wrath? So let us read Romans 2: 3, 4 And thinkest thou this, O man, that judgest them which do such things, and doest the same, that thou shalt escape the judgment of God? Or despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering; not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance?

Here it talks about, O, man, do you think you will escape thee judgment of God? When you despise the riches of His goodness, and forbearance and longsuffering?

And here we have God talking about common grace. You might ask, Pastor, what is common grace? The highest manifestation of Grace is found in Jesus Christ in the cross of Calvary, when God gave Himself for sinners and now gives us everything for nothing through His death.

But then there is a common grace—we have to see that God does not owe anything at all to any of His creatures. If God had taken Adam and Eve after the fall and sent them into the Lake of Fire immediately, He would have been just. Or if He had permitted the race to come from Adam and Eve just to live out in sin, not providing any plan of salvation at all, and all of this race go to hell, He still would have been just, and the angels would have been able to sing, Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God Almighty, all the earth is full of Thy Glory. But this is not what God has done. Even though God does not owe a thing to any man, He has manifested His common grace toward unsaved man. For example, if you are not a believer in Jesus Christ, you are still alive on this earth, and you are still not in hell. That is the grace of God. Here you are on this earth in good health, and more than likely in prosperity, that is the common grace of God. The vast majority of those who listen to my voice this morning live in comfortable homes or apartments. That is common grace, you don’t deserve it but God has permitted it. You come home from your job and your child rushes to meet you in good health and high spirits. That is common grace. You are able to put your hand into your pocket and give the child a quarter or a half a dollar for an allowance—that is common grace. You go into your house and you sit down to a good meal, and enjoy it. That is common grace. And you know the thought is this, man takes this common grace, God giving him all this, when He should be giving him nothing but wrath and pain and tribulation and suffering, and man turns his back upon all of it and he just ignores it, and ignores Jesus Christ and His glorious Gospel.

Romans 2: 5 But after thy hardness and impenitent heart treasures up unto thyself wrath unto the day of wrath?

What is man doing? Man, as he ignores this common grace of God, accepting it and rejecting God’s Son and His glorious Gospel, He is treasuring up wrath against the day of wrath.

6/ Notice, Romans 2: 4 Or despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering; not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance?

Do you? The answer, of course, is that you do. Man is by nature filled with ingratitude toward God. The English word despise, has a literal meaning of looking down upon. Man believes he has reached such a high summit that he can look down upon God and all that God has given him by His grace. And all the while man forgets that he is treasuring up wrath.

7/ Verse 5 But after thy hardness and impenitent heart...

Here is the reason why man does that. Do you know what the Greek word that is translated hardness is the one that doctors have adopted to describe the disease of the hardening of the arteries. And, of course, you realize that the hardening of the arteries my take you to an early grave. But, there is a far worse disease—the hardening of the heart, spiritually, will take you to this day of wrath.

8/ Why is God showering His common grace upon man? The end of the 4th verse says, not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance.

In other words, to mend your ways and to receive Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour. But man doesn’t realize this common grace is doing this. But do you realize the common grace that God is showering upon you is bringing you to that terrible day of the wrath of God?

Every doctor knows there are medicines that will cure some people and kill others. For example, the sulfa drug—it will work wonders with certain types of pneumonia, yet there are certain human bodies that are allergic to these drugs, and when this drug enters the blood stream it will destroy the one type of white blood cells, and it will bring death to the patient. It will destroy the one thing that helps to cure infection. And so, it actually destroys the defender against the infection. And so, it is with the common grace of God. The Lord pours out His grace upon mankind. If you receive it, your sins are removed, but if you reject it, then that grace will become the wrath of God and destroy you, and cast you into the Lake of Fire.

9/ But let us go back to I Thessalonians 1: 10 And to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, even Jesus, which delivered us from the wrath to come.

Now, what is the wrath to come in this Scripture? It is hell, it is the day of wrath when men will be cast into hell? Oh, no, not at all. You will notice that Paul is talking about the Appearing of Jesus Christ, the Rapture of His Church, they lived day by day in the expectation of Christ’s Appearing for them. And so Paul is not talking here about eternal judgment, but rather they look for the Lord, they know that they will be delivered from the wrath that is coming upon this world. This is not the day of wrath, the judgment, this is another time, which will be wrath upon this earth.

10/ Isaiah 28: 21 For the Lord shall rise up as in mount Perazim, he shall be wroth as in the valley of Gibeon, that he may do his work, his strange work; and bring to pass his act, his strange act.

Here is God talking about this day. In other words, strange means to vary from the usual, or ordinary. God’s work right now is saving souls, He is still trying to get men and women to turn to Him in Jesus Christ, but a day is coming when He is going to stop doing His usual work, and He will speak to man in wrath, and He will pour out His wrath upon this earth.

Isn’t it wonderful to know that the church will not go through this wrath? We have been delivered from it.

11/ Isaiah 66: 15, 16 And here is another picture, For, behold, the Lord will come with fire, and with his chariots like a whirlwind, to render his anger with fury, and his rebuke with flames of fire. For by fire and by his sword will the Lord plead with all flesh: and the slain of the Lord shall be many.

Notice, this next part—And the slain of the Lord shall be many. That is not talking about eternal hell, this is talking about the time when God will pour out His wrath upon this sin-sick, sin-weary world that is in rebellion against Him, treasuring up, and misering up wrath by rejection of the common grace of God.

12/ Now let us go back to the book of Proverbs.

Proverbs 1: 24 - 29 Because I have called, and ye refused; I have stretched out my hand, and no man regarded; But ye have set at nought all my counsel, and would none of my reproof: I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your fear cometh; When your fear cometh as desolation, and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind; when distress and anguish cometh upon you. Then shall they call upon me, but I will not answer; they shall seek me early, but they shall not find me: For that they hated knowledge, and did not choose the fear of the Lord:

And here God says, because I have called and you have refused. In other words, they refused what God has presented, I have stretched out My hand and none hath regarded it. But ye have set at naught all My counsel and would none of My reproof.

Notice this, I will laugh at your calamity, I will mock when your fear cometh. Does this sound like I Timothy 1: 15? This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief.

Does this sound like God presenting common grace to man? No, this is the day when the common grace of God will be withdrawn, and it will be a day of wrath upon this earth. Then, He says in the 27th verse, When your fear cometh as desolation, and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind, when distress and anguish come upon you, then notice, men shall call upon Me, but I will not answer, they shall seek me early, and they shall not find Me.

Here we have the strange work of God which has to do with the wrath of God. 

13/ Let us go to another Scripture.

Zachariah 14: 12 And this shall be the plague wherewith the Lord will smite all the people that have fought against Jerusalem; Their flesh shall consume away while they stand upon their feet, and their eyes shall consume away in their holes, and their tongue shall consume away in their mouth.

Here is another description of this awful day of wrath. And then he says, Their flesh shall consume away while they stand upon their feet. In other words, flesh shall melt on their bones. This is not hell, this is the day of wrath. Then He says their eyes shall consume away in their holes. Eyes shall melt and run out of their sockets. Man shall have liquid eyeballs, and their tongues shall consume away in their mouths, their tongues shall melt in their mouths. What an awful day of wrath is coming upon this earth!

14/ But in this same book, Zachariah 9: 12 we have another picture of this day of wrath. There will be a time when man will be given a chance to turn to God, but not those who have already heard the Gospel during this present day and age, but those who have not heard it. Notice what God says here. Turn you to the strong hold, ye prisoners of hope: even to day do I declare that I will render double unto thee;

There it is, double or nothing. In other words, if the folks of that day will flee from their false hope and turn to the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ, He will pour out a double blessing upon them. If they refuse, they will have nothing of mercy, and double of wrath. You cannot win unless you play by God’s rules. If you are stubborn and refuse His Word, all that can come upon you is wrath. But, if you know Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour, if you will turn to Him, you will be delivered from the wrath to come upon this earth, and delivered from the day of wrath when men and women who turn their backs upon God will be turned into a hell of fire and brimstone.

15/ Notice, Paul speaks of Jesus which delivered us. He is the only One that can deliver you. There is no other way to escape the wrath of God.

Acts 16: 31 And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house.

AMEN

Ref: 02/03/1963 / THE WRATH TO COME / 08/27/2022