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[0:00] My subject this morning is a bit of an uncomfortable one, an uncommon one.! People will gladly hear a message about God's love, God's kindness and grace.

[0:16] ! And that is certainly true, absolutely rock solid true. God is love. He extends grace and mercy. Thank God.

[0:30] As well as that, the Bible tells us about the wrath of God. Wrath of God, wow! It's a bit radical, isn't it? The anger of God. It tells us that God is angry.

[0:44] In fact, the Bible speaks more about the wrath of God than about the love of God. It seems that these days though, that the terror of the Lord doesn't seem to frighten people anymore. Perhaps they kind of park that. It's sort of something they don't want to think about. And churches are staring right away from the wrath of God. That's just too hot to handle. There was a headline in a newspaper article that said, hell's not a hot topic right now. It's like it's just not featuring on the top of the pops of popular sermons these days.

[1:23] Hell. It's not a hot topic right now. But actually hell is as hot as it ever has been. And the problem is that not that hell is cooled, but the preaching is cooled. And if preachers won't preach about hell, who will? And if we won't warn the lost of hell, who will? We should tell of hell. If the churches won't warn of sinners of the hell to come, of the wrath of God, then we're missing the point. We're failing our duty. And the wrath of God is real, brothers and sisters. It is real. And we should be mindful of it. So to the word of God now, to find out about the wrath of God. To find out about the wrath of God and what that means for me and you. What should we do? What should we care? What should the impact be of the wrath of God? God is very clear about this subject. And so should we.

[2:24] I firmly believe that the truth matters. And God's eternal truth is just that. It's eternal. It's critical. It's needful for us to take heed of it and to take action because of it. It's important that we understand this Bible doctrine, the wrath of God. And that it should not be just some learning, but it should impact our lives. What then does the Bible teach us about the wrath of God? This eternal reality. And why should we bother? Turn with me to Romans chapter 1.

[3:05] Romans chapter 1. We're going to spend some time there and some other places in between. And the whole of Romans 1. The whole of Romans is a beautiful message for us all. But we're going to look from verse 18 through. Romans 1 verse 18.

[3:24] For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who hold the truth in unrighteousness. Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them. For God has showed it unto them. For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead. So that they are without excuse. It's saying God is angry in a holy way.

[4:10] God's anger is not like man's wrath and raging. God's anger is holy anger. It's righteous anger. God's wrath is just. It's perfectly just and right and rightful. God cannot overlook sin.

[4:33] God's wrath is what happens when holiness meets sin. The wrath of God. And it says the wrath of God is about to be poured out. It's revealed and it will be more so revealed.

[4:52] The wrath of God, it is anger, God's anger, and it is good anger. It's absolutely right that God is angry against sin, against the rebellion of man, of the planet, of wickedness. It tells us in Psalm 711, God judges the righteous and God is angry with the wicked God's wrath. It's God's wrath. It's God's wrath. It's God's wrath.

[5:23] God's wrath is his perfection. It's his glory. It's his very nature. His hostility, his holy hostility is against evil.

[5:35] And God's wrath is expressed. It expresses his very holy nature. His will, his person, his wrath. It's against that which opposes his holiness.

[5:51] Man is fallen, sinful, arrogant, wretched, godless, wicked. So God's anger is revealed from heaven.

[6:03] And it is perfectly right and true. Some would protest, well, that's not fair. It's not fair. But no one, no one is ignorant of God.

[6:20] Everyone, from A to Z, from Alpha to Omega, everybody is without excuse. No one is ignorant of God.

[6:35] Man is in willful rejection of his maker. God himself has given man a revelation of himself. He's told us. He's given us the message, the story, the account of the scriptures.

[6:49] They are without excuse. Everyone is accountable unto him. Every day and on the last day. You, me, all of us are accountable.

[7:03] And it says God's wrath is revealed. It's revealed. Romans 1 verse 18. Revealed from heaven. Against ungodliness and unrighteousness.

[7:17] Ungodliness. Men are the enemies of God. But they don't have to be. Romans 5 verse 10. For if when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his son, much more being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life.

[7:40] To go from an enemy to saved. To go from death to past to life. What a transformation.

[7:51] To go from an enemy of God, subject to his wrath, to become his friend, a recipient of his love and grace. There is a way to be saved.

[8:03] There is no excuse. There is a way to be made a friend of God. To think that we, his enemies, can be made his friends.

[8:19] Flee from the wrath to come. They are due his anger. These men that are the focus of the wrath of God. It says that we were enemies.

[8:34] I remember then, don't you? When I was an enemy of God, we were enemies. We were reconciled. We were reconciled to God by the death of his son.

[8:48] Much more being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life. He's risen. He's alive. Saved. Gloriously saved. The men that are in that state of lostness are due his anger.

[9:07] And are therefore the children of wrath. There's a term there, children of wrath. We find it in Ephesians 2 verse 3. You might want to flick there. It tells us that we were once by nature children of wrath.

[9:23] We were children of the devil. We were by nature children of wrath. And yet it reads on in Ephesians 2. It tells how God, rich in mercy, with his great love, wherewith he loved us.

[9:41] It tells of the exceeding richness. The riches of his grace. It tells of his kindness towards us through Christ Jesus.

[9:54] Friends, the great glad news is you can go from being an enemy, a child of wrath, to being a friend, a son of God.

[10:04] A child of the living God. How can that be? By grace, through faith. The great glad news is that your nature can be changed.

[10:18] We were by nature children of wrath. Then he gives us a new nature, doesn't he? Wow. If any man is in Christ, he's a new creature.

[10:30] Old things have passed away. Behold, all things have become new. Gloriously changed. The wrath of God is against us while we remain unconverted.

[10:41] Friends, there's danger there. Don't stay in that danger zone. And friends, I'm dwelling on that for a time. Some disregard their danger.

[10:53] They disregard their careless of the coming judgment. They somehow won't face up to the reality that one day they will stand before the judgment of God.

[11:06] And nothing in our hands we can bring. Nothing we can do. Nothing we have done. This is a threatening prospect, isn't it? You that are outside of Christ, this should alarm you.

[11:19] It should alarm you. It should make you restless and concerned for your soul. It should unsettle you and stir you. Romans 2, 3, it said, 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?

[11:38] Well, easy to look at others, think, oh, they deserve it. Do you think you that judge others and do the same, that you can escape the judgment of God?

[11:54] Don't kid yourself. If you're lost, you're lost, you're damned, you're hell bound. You shall not escape the judgment of God. Don't stay there.

[12:06] The wrath of God is revealed, it says. Why so? Why so? Because lost men will foolishly worship another God. They will set themselves up as their own God.

[12:16] The fact is, every lost man is headed for a burning hell. He is the subject of the wrath of God. Men have rebelled against God's truth.

[12:29] We read through Romans 1 further. It tells of people who hold the truth in unrighteousness. It's got the sense that they know it, but they do not act upon it.

[12:41] They know the truth. They know there's a creator. Open your eyes and see the creation and dare to deny the creator.

[12:51] What a fool. They know the truth, but they suppress it. They're unheeding, willfully, carelessly, taking the pathway of sin and rebellion instead of trusting the Lord.

[13:05] Instead of receiving his free gift, they go their own willy-nilly way and they choose their own hell. They willfully resist the truth. And some might think, oh, I'll get around to it.

[13:22] Or I think that I'll just scrape in. And what's the old saying? The pathway to hell is paved with good intentions. Good intentions.

[13:33] There's a lot of people with good intentions. They choose their damnation. Some do not want the truth of God. As we read again, Romans 1.19, Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has showed it unto them.

[13:49] It's like it's inbuilt in all of us. It's in all of our DNA. That sense, that sense of worship, that sense we're a created being, that sense that there is a God.

[14:01] And those that would deny a God are kidding themselves. They're lying to themselves and they know it.

[14:13] Man loves sin more than loves God. And they suppress the truth that they know about God. And at the same time, they're determined to go deeper and deeper into darkness and destruction.

[14:26] John 3.19, it says, And this is the condemnation that light has come into the world. And men loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil. They loved the darkness rather than the light.

[14:39] Surely the Bible says, truly the Bible says, Psalm 14 verse 1, The fool says no to God.

[14:50] He wants his own wretched way over God's way. And the sinner lives in this rebellion to defy the truth of God, to refuse to act on his invitation, to refuse the remedy, God's remedy for sin.

[15:05] And the lost alike on slippery ice, on thin ice. In Deuteronomy 32, 35, it says, Our Lord says, To me belongeth vengeance and recompense. He says that he's got the rightful say.

[15:20] He has rightfully has vengeance and recompense, judgment. And it says, Their foot shall slide in due time.

[15:32] Now, I've got a bit of a slippery slope at the back of my place. And with all this rain, it's easy to fall. I know Barry had a fall lately. He had some mud on his clothes and he told me he fell.

[15:46] And friends, sin and staying outside of Christ is like a slippery slope of mud.

[15:57] It says, Their foot shall slide in due time. I know Jonathan Edwards referred to this one in his Sinners in the Hand of an Angry God.

[16:08] Their foot shall slide in due time. It's like slip, slip, slip. They're climbing, but the slope is too slippery and muddy. And they slip, slip, slip and slide until eventually they'll slide into the pits of hell.

[16:22] That's the picture of it here. The lost are walking on this slippery slope, thinking they are standing, but they're sliding, ever sliding. Sliding downwards, backwards, hellwards.

[16:34] Isaiah 1.4, it says, Our sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity. It tells of children that are corrupt as they have forsaken the Lord. They have provoked the Holy One of God, the Holy One of Israel, unto anger.

[16:47] They are gone away backward. It tells of those who provoked the Holy One, that they provoked Him unto anger, and they are gone away backward. You know, sin is a slippery slope.

[17:00] And it tells us that the wrath of God is revealed. Isaiah 1.4, it says, Ah, sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity. Ah, Australia, a sinful nation.

[17:12] That's the kind of Andrew Craig version. You know, the sinful nation, Isaiah 1.4, you could put Australia's name there, couldn't you? It tells us that the wrath of God is revealed.

[17:24] We're witnessing it now. It's revealed now. In the very day that we're living now in this very land, the destruction of a nation. And friends, it's all part of the wrath of God.

[17:36] The wrath of God is against Australia. We are racing towards judgment. Think of the recent policymaking of our government, of the laws that they're making, of that which they are sanctifying, that perversion could be called holy matrimony.

[18:01] In effect. That which is the taking of innocent lives in the womb can be called pro-choice.

[18:14] When it's death. It's the wrath of God, isn't it? The wrath of God is revealed. We're witnessing it every day.

[18:26] In the newspapers. In the workplaces. When you're a Christian. And you're in the minority. Which we are. The wrath of God is revealed. God has withdrawn his restraining hand off of this nation.

[18:41] He's let man go his merry way to sin and to hell. We see the wrath of God revealed. How? With the moral and cultural standards going down the tubes. As we see deception.

[18:54] The disintegration. We see the rising of the occult. It's like every Hollywood movie. It's woven in there. The occult.

[19:05] The acceptance of abortion. Increasing fears and violence. The insecurity. The worldly mindedness that obsesses people.

[19:17] The immorality. The lukewarmness. It's like all the systems are breaking down. There's a moral decay. We can write petitions. Yes. And we should. But we know the wrath of God is against our nation.

[19:30] It's revealed. The wrath of God is revealed. God has given them up, it says in Romans 1. God has given them up. God has given them over. Drug abuse.

[19:43] Alcoholism. Families getting destroyed. Damaged. Broken. Unemployment. Skyrocketing. Increased crime. The wrath of God is revealed. There's a flood tide of evil. More and more so.

[19:54] Sweeping across this land. This God rejecting world. And the wrath of God is revealed. God's given them up. God's given them over. And we see an evident spiritual immaturity.

[20:06] A biblical illiteracy amongst the people of God. A weakness. Even in the so-called church. And as ministers and churchgoers fall into fleshliness and abandon the word of God.

[20:19] And our country has thumped its nose at the almighty God. We are accountable. This is judgment. This is the wrath of God. This is the wrath of God.

[20:30] Our country is being destroyed from within. Our politicians are failing us. They're scrambling to find some other perversity to bring in.

[20:41] And applaud when it gets through. Our country is failing. It's under the wrath of God. And it's as if many around us are acting like an ostrich.

[20:53] Bearing its head in the sand. Pretending it's not happening. Oh no. It is happening. Our nation is departing from the living God. And judgment has begun.

[21:06] It's already happening. The wrath of God is revealed. And it's of our own making. And we have no one to blame but ourselves. Brothers and sisters. People of God. Galatians 6, 7 through 8.

[21:19] It says, Be not deceived. God is not mocked. For whatsoever a man soweth that, shall he also reap. For he that soweth to his flesh, shall of the flesh reap corruption.

[21:31] But he that soweth to the spirit, shall of the spirit, reap life everlasting. What are we sowing? What are we planting? What are we tending, nurturing, or forsaking?

[21:43] We reap what we sow. We're on the verge of eternity, aren't we? Brothers and sisters. But are we living like it? Are we?

[21:57] On the verge of eternity. What matters? Luke 12, our Lord says, Nothing is covered that shall not be revealed.

[22:09] Nothing is hidden that shall not be made known. That which is spoken in the darkness shall be heard in the light. That which you have spoken in the ear, in the closet, shall be proclaimed upon the housetops. It's like there's nothing's going to be hidden.

[22:22] We're all going to be an open book. It says, Verse 4 of Luke 12, The wrath of God is revealed.

[22:50] These things are happening all around us. It's a manifest token of the wrath of God. Against sin, sinful man, against a nation, depraved, God forsaking, God rejecting.

[23:03] It says, Romans 1, 19 again, That which may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has showed it unto them. Lost man rejects the knowledge of God.

[23:16] Lost man rejects the revelation of God. But God is manifest in man. Himself. Man's intelligence. Your personality.

[23:29] You're fashioned after your creator. That's why we can think. That's why we can determine and decide and discriminate and make judgments, rightful ones.

[23:40] Man's sense of morals, it all comes from the righteous creator. It's revealed in man. Even the atheists. They've got some kind of what's right and wrong.

[23:53] They make it up as they go. It's their conscience. Amen. Romans 1, 20, it says, For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse.

[24:11] No one's going to have any excuse. As they stand naked before the God of the universe and they've got to give account of themselves unto him, everything will be before him.

[24:29] You can't hide. You can't run. You can't make any excuses. It's just pathetic and flimsy. Why you've rejected his saving grace.

[24:41] Why did you do that? God is manifest in man himself. And God is manifest in his creation. For the invisible things of him are clearly seen. The heavens declare the glory of God and the firmament showeth his handiwork.

[24:59] Day unto day uttereth speech and night unto night showeth knowledge. The heavens declare every sunset, every sunrise, the stars, the moon, the planets, everything, all of creation.

[25:15] The invisible attributes of God are clearly seen. This wonderful creator has painted the skies for you. He's painted the flowers for you. Open your eyes and understand.

[25:28] By the things that are visible, God is manifest in his creation. The design, the wonder, the order of the solar system, of the universe, of planet earth, in its unique place, his eternal power and deity, it's revealed.

[25:47] Man is without excuse. There's no excusing. You're a rejection of God's truth if you're in that state to willfully refuse to bow to the mighty king.

[26:01] It is a foolish choice, isn't it? Not only do they rebel against the truth of God, they also reject the truth of God. It says the wrath of God is revealed from heaven.

[26:12] It's revealed against a sinful, God-rejecting generation. It's like, is it getting worse? I think it is, don't you? That's just my personal opinion.

[26:23] I think it is getting worse. I think it is getting worse. Romans 1.21, because that when they knew God, everyone knows God, in that sense, that sense of God, they glorified him not as God.

[26:38] Neither were thankful, but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Man is ungrateful, isn't he? Just can't give people enough these days, can you?

[26:51] They just want more and more and more, accumulating, and not grateful for what they have. And they're foolish, and they're not thankful. Men fail to glorify him as God.

[27:03] It says, men become vain in their thoughts, foolish in their hearts. Romans 1.22 through 23, it goes on, professing themselves to be wise. They became fools.

[27:15] And there's a lot of foolish PhDs, isn't there? There's a lot of foolish university lecturers. There's a lot of foolish professors. There's a lot of foolish doctors, professing themselves to be wise.

[27:31] They can have all the certificates on the wall, all the letters after their name, and they can become fools. Fools. They've changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, to birds and four-footed beasts and creeping things.

[27:47] The wrath of God is revealed. Lost man is in unbelief. It leads to idolatry as they end up worshipping the creation instead of the creator.

[27:58] Oh, save the planet. Save the whales. Save the dolphins. Save the Great Barrier Reef. Save your soul.

[28:11] This is all going to go. Who cares about the environment? I'm being a bit flippant here. Of course, we should be good stewards of our environment. But it's like the environment is such a be-all and end-all.

[28:24] I just read an article just very recently. It's virtually the worship of Gaia, you know, the new world goddess of the earth. And it's saying that we've all got to become vegetarians to save the planet.

[28:37] You know, this is what they're saying now. We've all got to become vegetarians. They're worshipping the creation more than the creator, professing themselves to be wise.

[28:48] They become fools. And they're making God in their own image, making God in the image of other things. And for modern men, modern idols are secular humanism, worshipping self, covetousness, worshipping money, lost men.

[29:09] They want to replace God with something other than him. And the wrath of God is revealed, isn't it? It's revealed. How so? God has given man up.

[29:21] He's left man to his own destructive ways. And then they blame God when the world is in such chaos. Well, God's given you up to go your own merry way to hell.

[29:32] God's given you over to follow your passions and vanity and your God rejection. And that is why this world is in trouble. Because God has left man to his own destructive desires.

[29:48] He's given us over to moral uncleanness, to impurity, to vile passions, to debase minds, the vice and the decadence that prevails. It's a sign of God's judgment.

[30:01] That's why it's happening. Our present world, marked by greed and envy and strife and violence and faithlessness and a lost man is stumbling along in his blind ignorance to increasing degrees of depravity.

[30:18] The wrath of God is revealed. And it's absolutely just and necessary that it is. It's already happening. But one day in greater measure the wrath will be revealed.

[30:30] We see that in Revelation 6. So we get towards the back of the book. Revelation 6 from verse 15. One great day the wrath will fall in full measure.

[30:42] Friends, you want to get right with God, don't you? Get right with God. Revelation 6.15. And the kings of the earth and the great men and the rich men and the chief captains and the mighty men and every bondman and every free man hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains.

[31:01] They tried to hide. And they said to the mountains and the rocks, fall on us. Hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne. Hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb.

[31:20] For the great day of his wrath is come and who shall be able to stand? One day it's going to be the great day of his wrath. Wow, you want to be right then, don't you?

[31:32] You want to get right with God then, don't you? Don't leave it till then. Get right now. We're hurtling towards this great and awesome day. The great day of his wrath, the wrath of the Lamb.

[31:43] Friends, judgment day looms. And the last great day is getting closer day by day. We will stand before the throne of judgment. God's word tells of everlasting punishment.

[31:59] It tells of God's burning power. Hebrews 12, 29, it says, for our God is a consuming fire. Have you ever got too close to a fire?

[32:11] Ouch! Our God is a consuming fire. God's judgment is likened to a fire falling, like he rained on Sodom. In Genesis 19, 24, then the Lord rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the Lord out of heaven.

[32:31] Our God is a consuming fire. Friends, don't play games with God. What will your decision be? Hebrews 2, 3, it says in part, how shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation?

[32:52] Neglect is the lack of diligence. Lot was a neglecter, a drifter. Thankfully, he was saved, despite that.

[33:06] Saved by the skin of his teeth. Saved so as by fire. Do you want to be saved so as by fire? Better not play that game.

[33:24] I don't want to be just saved by the skin of my teeth. No. Neglect. Some people will neglect warning. They'll neglect a message like this and laugh it off and think, oh, just a hellfire preacher, fire and brimstone, ha, ha, ha.

[33:43] This is not the time for neglect. It's the time for the opposite of neglect. It's a time for urgency. Urgency. We should be red hot with zeal.

[33:56] To know of the need is not enough. We must act on the knowledge. The wrath of God, yeah, it's a Bible doctrine. Okay, I've learned somewhat about it today. I'll put that in my filing cabinet and do nothing with it.

[34:12] Now, some would sit back and slow the pace. You know, we're saved by God's mercy and they have this laxness, a sloppiness sets in.

[34:25] They would be like the crew spoken of in Amos 6, verse 1. Woe to them that are in ease in Zion. Let's not be at ease in Zion. You know, we've got to make these chairs a bit less comfortable, I think.

[34:37] You know, get rid of the cushions. Don't get at ease in Zion. Amen? Let's not get too comfortable. Let's not get so laid back and be at ease in Zion.

[34:51] Some will be pleased to rest and be sleepy and they will take their ease. cruises. You know, it's like it's been said, and I know some of you love going on cruises, but, you know, the church of God is not a cruise ship.

[35:04] It's a battleship. Isn't it? And we shouldn't be at ease in Zion. And that's not to condemn anyone about to go on a cruise. But we should not be at ease in Zion, should we? We should be urgent.

[35:16] We should be pressing. We should be red hot for God. The wrath of God. Shouldn't that be a motivator for us? Not that I'm trying to scare you into action here, but there's a sense where it is a motivator, isn't it?

[35:29] We think we're on the verge of eternity. Should we be saved so as by fire, or should we be, oh, we're going to go all out.

[35:40] We're going to pull out all the stops. In Ephesians 5 it says, Awake thou that sleepest and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light.

[35:51] See then that you walk circumspectly keep a wide looking around, not as fools, but as wise. We don't want to be amongst the fools. We want to be wise, don't we?

[36:03] Redeeming the time because the days are evil. Wherefore be you not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is. I pray this morning you've got a bit more of an appreciation that somehow eternity is close.

[36:19] Well, it's now. we have eternal life now. Judgment is certain. It's close. And there is a terror that awaits many.

[36:35] In the light of the reality of the wrath of God, what should we do? What ought we to be in such a situation as this? What is the answer?

[36:45] What should our response be to the wrath of God? God. Now, if you're outside of Christ this morning, thankfully, you can no rescue. Oh, the lifeboat.

[37:00] Will you choose the lifeboat or will you glug, glug, glug, glug, glug, glug, glug, glug, glug, glug, glug, glug, glug, glug, glug, isn't it clear to get on the lifeboat?

[37:14] Will you be in the miry clay that stinking, foul, miry, smelly, irksome, quicksand of clay or will you set your feet on the rock?

[37:28] Amen. Christ Jesus. There is a promised deliverance from the wrath to come. There's promised deliverance, there's rescue, there is a great deliverer, his name is Jesus, Jesus.

[37:47] Savior, and you can know him, the reality of the coming wrath, of the judgment of God. It shows for us the amazing glorious love of God.

[38:01] They're not contrary, they're two sides of his amazing person, aren't they? On one side we have the shadow, on the other side the sunshine.

[38:14] on the one side we have wrath, on the other side we have love and grace. And they're not opposite, they're complementary.

[38:29] The death of Christ turns away God's wrath. Christ bore the full weight of God's wrath. Can we conceive of Calvary's hill, what it meant, what it cost?

[38:43] No one else is able to help you. No one else is able to deliver you, able to save you. Without him you will face the wrath of God.

[38:57] Have you found the shelter he can give? Flee to the refuge.

[39:11] Flee from the wrath to come. Flee to Christ. Flee to Christ. Run to him. Come to him on his terms. And you that are saved by the grace of God, you have no need to fear of his wrath.

[39:27] You have no need to fear a facing of judgment for your sin because your judgment was at the cross. It was there. There your sin was paid.

[39:38] There your sin was paid. dealt with. Your sin's penalty was paid 2,000 years ago.

[39:50] And as a result you can stand safely under the umbrella of that grace. Sheltered. Under the refuge. Protected. Secure and safe from the terrible wrath of the almighty.

[40:04] Friends you've got glad reason to praise. You've got glad reason for thankfulness. For glory. to praise the Lord. To give him praise. God's mercy is manifest today for those willing to turn unto him.

[40:19] So friends acknowledge his revelation. The wrath of God is revealed. But the love of God is revealed. Where will you stand? I must sound a clear warning again for the lost.

[40:33] Those outside of Christ need to sense and fear the wrath of God. Not just the day of judgment but the consequences that God would give you up.

[40:44] That God would give you over to your own decisions, to your own desires, to your own foolishness. But thank God we were all there once. We were by nature the children of wrath.

[40:59] But he's given us a new nature. Amen. You can have a new nature. Wow. Wow. Won't that be something? A new nature.

[41:12] To be born again. Really? Yes. Really. Born again. By nature the children of wrath, as many as received him, to them gave you the power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name.

[41:28] You can become a child of God, partakers of the new nature. Friends, God's wrath was poured out in full force at that cruel cross in the person of Christ, in his body, for your sin.

[41:47] And he can become the propitiation, which means the satisfying of his wrath. It means he takes the wrath for us. He takes the wrath for us.

[41:58] Amen. The payment for our sins was poured out on Jesus at Calvary. Now, of course, we know for the believer there is a judgment. It's called the judgment seed of Christ. It's a judgment for your works.

[42:11] It's a judgment of how you've served, how you've lived. Judgment for your works. You don't have the judgment for your sin because that has happened for you when you trusted him.

[42:25] So there's good news for you. Good news. Friends, I'm nearly there. Romans 5, verse 9, it says, much more than being justified now by his blood we shall be saved from wrath through him.

[42:41] You can be justified by his blood. His blood can so cleanse you, so redeem you, so rescue you that you bear your sin no more because he's borne it.

[42:57] Justified by his blood, saved from wrath through him. What a wonder that is, the wonder of Calvary. And friends, just consider again, as I recap briefly, the wrath of God, it shows us God's rightful judgment against our sin.

[43:13] It shows us God's great mercy at the cross. God loved you even while you were an enemy. Wow, isn't that something? Think of times of war, of the enemy, they've got horns.

[43:28] you know, they're just, there's an animosity to them that you were an enemy of God and he has turned you to be his loved one, to embrace you, to receive you, to change your nature, to change your destination and to take the wrath off of you and to put it on his son that you could be saved.

[43:53] Wow, he spent the wrath on himself at the cross. He loved you, the objects of his wrath, so much that he put that wrath upon his son for you.

[44:06] Let me leave you with a word of caution here. I don't want this to be unclear in any way. I warn you all to flee from the wrath to come. That's what John the Baptist cried.

[44:20] He said to the Pharisees, who's warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Because he knew they weren't serious about it. We should consider this seriously, shouldn't we? Personally.

[44:31] Jonathan Edwards preached in 1741. He said this to his church congregation. Now get a load of this. Jonathan Edwards, Pastor Edwards, in 1741, addressing his congregation, he says, I don't desire to go about to terrify you needlessly or represent your case worse than it is, but I do verily think that there are a number of people belonging to this congregation in imminent danger of being damned to all eternity.

[45:03] There's people here in imminent danger of being damned to all eternity. Friends, we've got to get serious, don't we? And when Jonathan Edwards preached, there was revival because people wanted to get right with God.

[45:17] One day you'll have a meeting with God. We are accountable, all of us. Today, if you will hear his voice harder, not your heart, you must meet God.

[45:29] And one day we will stand before a holy God. And friends, as believers this morning, we've got such joy, haven't we, to reflect on the wrath that he took for us, that the outpouring of God's wrath at the cross of Calvary was God's greatest act of love the world has ever seen.

[45:48] Wow. And the hope for sinners is that between us and the wrath of God stands the cross of Christ. When Jesus died, he says, it is finished.

[46:02] He cried out with a loud voice, it is finished. The wrath of God was vented then, once, for all, for all time. For you that trust him, you can know his ransom.

[46:20] Instead of his wrath. And he's able to save you from the wrath to come. He's opened the door of heaven for you. And he's saying, come, come in, come unto me.

[46:32] And he's able to bring you in. And you can personally know the saving grace of God. And friends, what then for us that believe, what should it matter, what should that provoke in you and me today as God's beloved people, as those who were once by nature the children of wrath, now the children of God?

[46:58] What should this provoke in us? Should it provoke a zeal, should it not? That you who personally know the marvellous working of God's grace to save your lost soul, should want to tell others that others can escape that eternal hell, that you can take this glad message to others?

[47:26] 2 Corinthians 5.11 it says, therefore, knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men. Friends, the wrath of God, it's terrifying if you're outside of Christ.

[47:42] It should terrify you if you're lost this morning. I urge you, I persuade you, I trust, I beckon you, I implore you, I beseech you, I compel you, if I could, enter in, enter in.

[48:03] Do not be careless or neglectful of your soul. Do not trifle with these eternal truths. Christ is coming, he's coming. Are you ready? And for the meantime, he says for you, for me, occupy till I come.

[48:19] Luke 19, 13. We're part of the occupation force on planet Earth, aren't we? We're in enemy territory, so we've been parachuted behind enemy lines.

[48:30] We are here as the occupation force, as it were. We're here to take this planet and make an impact for eternity to save the citizens of this lost generation to take this message to persuade others, knowing the terror of the Lord.

[48:51] We must warn the lost, and you are that voice piece, you, each one of you that believe.

[49:02] I urge you to take the message to others, to warn them of the terror of the wrath of God and to tell them there's refuge, there's refuge. You can flee from the wrath to come.

[49:14] Let's pray. Lord, we thank you that you, in Christ, you gave everything you could give to save this lost planet, this lost humanity, Lord, and yet you give men over, you give men up to their foolishness and rejection of you, of truth.

[49:35] We pray, Lord, for everyone in the hearing of this, that you might work in every heart. Help us, Lord, if we're yet to trust you, to simply trust you now, to let go of our own flimsy effort and trust the finished work of the cross.

[49:54] Lord, to trust that the wrath was paid there, my penalty was paid and fully paid, and I can trust your redeeming grace to save my soul, here and now and for eternity.

[50:07] Lord, and for each believer, help us to be that occupation force, Lord, that we can tell others of the warning that we must impart and of the grace that we would see them receive.

[50:21]  Lord, in Jesus' name we pray. Amen.