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[0:00] The name A.W. Tozer may be familiar to a few of you. A.W. Tozer was a pastor in the last century. And he wrote a book called The Knowledge of the Holy.

[0:12] ! And in that book, The Knowledge of the Holy, he makes this comment that what comes into our mind when we think about God is the most important thing about us.

[0:26] What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us.

[0:42] Tozer goes on and says, Were we able to extract from every man or woman a complete answer to this fundamental question?

[0:54] What comes into your mind when we think about God? If that was possible, he says, We might be able to predict with certainty about the future state about that man or woman.

[1:08] So in other words, when you and I think about God, whatever that is, That thought or thoughts about God, one might be able to predict, he says, With certainty about the future eternal state of that individual.

[1:29] He goes on and says, Were we able to know exactly what our most influential religious leaders think of God today? We might be able to predict, he says, We might be able with some precision to foretell what the church will stand tomorrow.

[1:44] And here's a key part, he says, That our idea of God correspond nearly as possible to the true being of God is of immense importance to us.

[1:57] Whatever you and I think of God, When you think of the name God, That is of vast importance. And that is very true today, Because no aspect of the idea of God at the present time and the present day Is more misunderstood, reviled, and perhaps detested Than the idea of the wrath of God.

[2:25] When you think about the wrath of God, No idea in today's society, Is it more vilified, detested, reviled, And perhaps even misunderstood Than the topic or the idea of the wrath of God.

[2:45] And so this morning, what I want us to do is, I want us to think upon this particular topic. In Romans 1, the Apostle Paul writes to the Church of Romans, And reintroduces the idea and the concept of the wrath of God.

[2:59] Please turn with me in your copies of the Scriptures to Romans chapter 1. I want to read beginning in verse 1.

[3:16] Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, Called to be an apostle set apart for the gospel of God, Which he promised beforehand, Through his prophets in the Holy Scriptures, Concerning his son, Who was descended from David according to the flesh, And was declared to be the son of God in power, According to the spirit of holiness, By his resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord, Through whom we have received grace and apostleship, To bring about the obedience of faith, For the sake of his name, Among all the nations, Including you who are called, To belong to Jesus Christ.

[3:57] To all those in Rome who are loved by God, And called to be saints, Grace to you and peace from God our Father, And the Lord Jesus Christ. First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, Because your faith is proclaimed in all the world.

[4:13] For God is my witness, So my serve with my spirit in the gospel of his Son, That without ceasing I make mention of you always in my prayers, Asking that somehow by God's will, I may now at last succeed in coming to you.

[4:27] For I long to see you, That I may impart to you some spiritual gift to strengthen you, That is, That we may be mutually encouraged, By each other's faith, Both yours and mine.

[4:39] I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, That I have often intended to come to you, But thus far have been prevented, In order that I may reap some harvest among you, As well as among the rest of the Gentiles.

[4:51] I am under obligation, Both to the Greeks and to barbarians, Both to the wise and to the foolish. So I am eager to preach the gospel to you also, Who are in Rome.

[5:03] 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 to faith, As it is written, The righteous shall live by faith.

[5:21] For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven, Against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, Who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth.

[5:33] 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, And the things that have been made, So that they are without excuse.

[5:51] For though they knew God, They did not honor him as God, Or give thanks to him, But they became futile in their thinking, And their foolish hearts were darkened, Claiming to be wise, They became fools, And exchanged the glory of the immortal God, For images resembling mortal man, And birds and animals and creeping things.

[6:11] Therefore, God gave them in the lust of their hearts, To impurity, To the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, Because they exchanged the truth about God, For a lie, And worshipped and served the creature, Rather than the creator, Who is blessed forever.

[6:28] For this reason, God gave them up to dishonorable passions, For their women exchanged natural relations, For those that are contrary to nature, And the men likewise, Gave up natural relations with women, And were consumed with passion for one another, Men committing shameless acts with men, And receiving in themselves, The due penalty for their error.

[6:50] And since, They did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind, To do what ought not to be done. They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, Evil, Covetousness, Malice, They are full of envy, Murder, Strife, Deceit, Maliciousness, Their gossips, Slanderers, Haters of God, Insolent, Haughty, Boastful, Inventors of evil, Disobedient to parents, Foolish, Faithless, Heartless, Ruthless, Though they know God's righteous decree, That those who practice such things, Deserve to die, They not only do them, But give approval to those, Who practice them.

[7:30] So read God's words. Let us, Plead with the Lord for his mercy, As we, Hear God's word this morning. Grant, Almighty God, That as we open up the word of God, Which you have breathed out, And which we confess is authoritative in our lives, And is infallible and inerrant, And it's revelation.

[7:58] Grant that, As we know that, The grass withers and the flowers fade, But the word of God endures forever, That we might this morning, Truly hear the word of God, As it is, And that we might be, Strengthened by it, We might be humbled by it, We might be built up in it, And that you would be pleased, To convict sinners among us, That they might see themselves, Truly under, The dreadful wrath of God, But that they might flee, To the cross of Christ, Where they might receive mercy and grace, Help now, As I preach this morning, To be faithful, Send your spirit to enable me, To rightly articulate the words, And to rightly divide the word, And help those who hear this morning, Not just to be hearers of the word, But to be doers of it, We ask your blessing now, For the glory of your name, And for the good of your people, And for the salvation of men and women, Here this morning, We pray these things now,

[8:59] In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, Who has been raised from the dead, For our justification, In his matchless name we pray, Amen. What I want us to see, In Romans 1, 18 through 23, Is this simple truth, That God is just, To reveal, His wrath against all wickedness of men, God is just, To reveal, His wrath against all wickedness of men, And women, Because, They suppress the truth, And have turned to idolatry, So God is just, To reveal, His wrath, Against all wickedness of men, And women, Because, They suppress the truth, And have turned, To idolatry, Now, In Romans chapter 1,

[10:00] The apostle announces, His theme, In verses 16 and 17, Regarding the entire epistle, Where he says, That he is not ashamed, Of the gospel, For it, That is the gospel, Is the power of God, Unto salvation, And then he goes on, To announce, That in verse 16 and 17, That the gospel, Is made known, First to the Jews, And also then, To the Greeks, Or to the Gentiles, And he says, Now here's the key, In verse 17, That in it, That is the gospel, Is the righteousness of God, Is revealed, From faith to faith, And then he quotes scripture, As it is written, The righteous, Shall live by faith, So what the apostle Paul, Is doing, Is that he is on his way, To go to Spain, And he wants the church of Rome, To support him, In his endeavor, As he goes to Spain, And to help him, He wants them to know, And to understand, The gospel that he has proclaimed, To them, And so the apostle says, That his theme is that,

[11:01] All men and women, Lack this fundamental truth, We are unrighteous, And that God has revealed, A righteousness, In Jesus Christ, That is received, By faith alone, In Christ alone, And so in verse 17, He announces his theme, And then in verses 18, All the way through chapter 3, Through verses 20, He is now seeking, To show that essentially, That the entire world, Both Jews, And Gentiles, Are under the condemnation, And universality, Of sin, He needs to show that, Fundamentally the question is, Well, Someone asked, Why do I need, The righteousness of God?

[11:42] And so the apostle Paul, Needs to demonstrate, And show that, From verses 18, All the way through, Chapter 3, And verse 20, That the entire world, Is under, The judgment of God, And so that is, What he seeks to do, Beginning in verse 18, And so he speaks, In chapter 1, Verses 18, Through the end of the chapter, He is particularly concerned, To address the Gentiles, That is, He wants to first show, That the Gentiles, Essentially have no excuse, They are under the wrath of God, And they have no excuse, And then he turns over, In chapter 2, And says, That the Jews also, Are culpable, They are blamable, And so, Therefore, In verse 20, In chapter 3, If you look in verse 20, In chapter 3 there, Paul says there, For by the works, In verse 19, Sorry, Now we know, That whatever the law says, It speaks to those, Who are under the law, So that every mouth, May be stopped, And the whole world, May be accountable to God, And there it is, That everyone, Every man,

[12:43] Every woman, Every boy, Every girl, They are all accountable to God, Because of this truth, That every single person, Born in Adam, Has come into this world, With a death sentence, And therefore, They are under the wrath of God, And under the judgment of God, Now in verse 18, The apostle Paul begins, With the statement for, The wrath of God, And I want us to see, Fundamentally, Three things, In verses 18 through 23, The first thing I want us to see, Is the nature of God's wrath, The nature of God's wrath, The second thing, Hopefully, You will see, Is the objects of God's wrath, The objects of God's wrath, And then third, The reason for God's wrath, The reason for God's wrath, So we look at, The nature of God's wrath, We'll second look at, The objects of God's wrath, And then finally, We'll look at, The reasons for God's wrath, So the apostle Paul, Begins in verse 18,

[13:44] You see there, The word for, The wrath of God, Is revealed, From heaven, Against all ungodliness, And I want us, To first look at, The nature of God's wrath, And notice, That the apostle begins, With the word for, And he's connecting, Obviously, With the preceding verses, Like I said, That he's announced this theme, And he said, That all men and women, Fundamentally, Have a need of righteousness, Well, If you have a need of righteousness, The apostle Paul, Then goes on to say, Well, Here's the reason, Why you lack righteousness, Because all men and women, Are under the wrath of God, And so in verse 18, He says, The nature of God's wrath, Is this, That Paul, In presenting the gospel, Begins, With the staggering, And subject, And sobering subject, Of the wrath of God, He starts with, The staggering, And sobering subject, Of the wrath of God, To present this gospel, He does not begin, Notice, His presentation, With the love of God,

[14:46] But with the wrath of God, He does not commence, By expounding, On the love of God, In fact, The apostle Paul, Does not mention, The word love, In the epistle of Romans, Until chapter 5, In verse 5, He waits almost, Four chapters, To actually use, The term love, In the book of Romans, However, At the same time, Six times, He used the word wrath, Up until that time, Six times, So look with me quickly, In Romans chapter 18, Obviously the wrath of God, Is mentioned, In Romans chapter 2, In verse 5, There, Turn over with me, Here the apostle Paul, Mentions wrath, He says, But because of your heart, And impenitent heart, You are storing up, Wrath, For yourself, That is, You are storing up, The wrath of God, For yourself, On the day of, Wrath, When God's righteous judgment, Will be revealed, So,

[15:47] Here he mentions wrath, Again, In verse 8, He says the same thing, Similarly, He says in verse 8, He mentions the word wrath again, He says, In verse 8, But for those who are self-seeking, And do not obey the truth, But obey unrighteousness, There will be wrath, And fury, And he says the same thing, In chapter 3, In verse 5, Again, Just turn over there, In verse 5, He says, But if our unrighteousness serves, To show the righteousness of God, What shall we say?

[16:17] That God is unrighteous, To inflict wrath on us, I speak in a human way, And then again, In verse 4, In verse 15, So, The apostle Paul, Has mentioned this term, Wrath, Six times, Before he mentions, The word love once, In verse 5, Chapter 5, Where he says that, The, In verse 5, Chapter 5, Where he says that, Hope does not, Put us to shame, But God's love, Has been poured out, Within our hearts, Now, When you think about, The presentation of the gospel, You and I, Your method of actually, Presenting the gospel, Is this the method that, You see that is common today, In our day and age, Most, Presentations of the gospel, Begin with what?

[17:07] The love of God, They begin with the love of God, The wrath of God, Is a subject, That is, In our day and age, An abomination almost, It is considered, Something that, People don't want to hear, They don't want to embrace, They don't want to think about, They don't want to accept, But the apostle Paul, Intentionally, Begins with this particular subject, Which is the wrath of God, And in so doing, He also teaches us, Something else, He says that, He is not, Telling men and women, In the church of Rome, That, Essentially, The gospel is to bring you happiness, He's not beginning also, With the subject of happiness, That he's not there to say that, Well, Some of you are experiencing sadness, Some of you are experiencing happiness, And so what I want to do is, I want to bring to you a message, That says, How you can be happy, No, The apostle Paul begins with, A sobering subject, Which is, The wrath of God, And so why does he adopt this method,

[18:08] Well, Fundamentally, The apostle Paul, Is concerned about pleasing who, God, He is concerned to please God, And not men, You and I know that, If you had to go and speak the gospel right now, And you begin to mention the wrath of God, To an unbeliever, The immediate reaction, More than likely, Is what, That they are going to perhaps, Ridicule you, Perhaps mock you, Or they're going to scorn you, They're going to ask you, What's wrong with you, To begin with the wrath of God, But the apostle Paul is concerned, As a herald of the gospel, Not so much with what, Men and women think, He is concerned with what pleases God, He's not concerned, As one popular writer said, To win friends, And to influence people, But his concern, Is to see men and women, Who are under the wrath of God, Be reconciled to God, Irrespective of what they think of him, That's his fundamental concern, He is concerned to recognize, That all men, The whole world, Is under this dreadful state, And that the only thing,

[19:09] That can extract them, From that condition, Is the reality, That they must first realize, That there is a truth, Called the wrath of God, That is which is upon, All men and women, And unless they recognize that first, They will never begin, To appreciate then, The love of God, And the grace of God, And so he's concerned, To demonstrate, Why men and women, Boys and girls, Have a need, For the righteousness of God, And it is because, Men and women, Are under, The wrath of God, So you see his method first, Is that he begins, With a sobering, And a staggering subject, Which is the wrath of God, Another matter, The apostle makes it clear, That notice in verse 18, That he says, The wrath of God, Is revealed from heaven, Now the apostle, In saying that is revealed from heaven, States something very similar, In verse 17, Notice in verse 17,

[20:09] That the righteousness of God, Is revealed from faith to faith, Now, If you are going to be consistent, With the scriptures, And you embrace, The revelation, Of the righteousness of God, You have to embrace, Also the revelation, Of the wrath of God, If you're going to say, That you believe, That the righteousness of God, Has been revealed, From faith to faith, In the next verse, In verse 18, It says what?

[20:39] The wrath of God is revealed, And to acknowledge, That you accept, The righteousness of God, But you don't accept, The wrath of God, That is revealed, That is at best, Inconsistent, It is illogical, It is inconsistent, It's in the same book, And in the same chapter, And one verse next to another, And so either one accepts, The scriptures, And says that, The righteousness of God is revealed, And the wrath of God is revealed, One accepts both, And not one, And reject the other, Now I'm aware that, Some unbelievers, If they are consistent, And they are inconsistent, They are consistent wrong, Will reject both, They won't accept, The righteousness of God, And they will not accept, The wrath of God, But at least, They're being consistent, Though they are wrong, But, For anyone to accept, The righteousness of God, And not the wrath of God, Is showing to themselves,

[21:40] That they are not submitting themselves, To the scriptures themselves, Now let's come to a bit more clarity, Those are just two general points, About the nature of God, Let's talk about, What is the wrath of God itself, In terms of our definition, And understanding, The wrath of God, Is holy hatred, For sin, It is God's, Holy detestation, And enmity, Against iniquity, It is his eternal, And everlasting, Hatred, Against evil, And it is an outworking, Of a God, Who is infinitely, And unchangeably, And eternally holy, Who sees sin, And his reaction, And response, Is that he must, Hate sin, He, By nature, Has to respond, In this manner, Because of who he is, And because of his perfections,

[22:41] As a holy, Righteous God, And so it is just, In perfect response, To all ungodliness, And unrighteousness, Of men, And women, Boys, And girls, He cannot, And will not be indifferent, To men, And to women, To boys, And to girls, Who continue, On the path, Of unrighteousness, And ungodliness, He will not tolerate it, And he cannot, Now, I think it is important, For us to distinguish, Between, The wrath, Or the anger of God, And the wrath, And the anger of men, I think that is important, Because, For some, They might think of, The wrath, And the anger of God, In a way, That is colored, By their thoughts, Of how we think of, Our wrath, And our anger, But, The wrath, Of God, As John Stodd has noted, Is, Totally different, From human anger, It does not mean, That God loses his temper,

[23:41] Flies into a rage, Or is ever malicious, Spiteful, Or vindictive, You and I, When we get angry, We do what?

[23:52] We lose our temper, We fly into a rage, We find ourselves, Acting with spite, Or vengeance, Or vindictive, That's not the way, That God acts, Remember now, The God of the Bible, Reads himself to be, Absolutely, Perfectly, Holy, He cannot, And does not respond, In that way, And even, When we are acting, With righteous indignation, Our response, Is still tainted, With sin, So that, Even our most, Righteous, Indignation, Is still contaminated, With some measure of sin, That's not true of God, God's righteousness, God's anger, God's fury, Is wholly different, From man's anger, And wrath, So the wrath, Of God, Is revealed from heaven, Against all, Ungodliness, And righteousness, Of men, So we see, In something of the nature, Of God's wrath, Itself, That is,

[24:53] It's his holy hatred, For sin, It's his everlasting, Hate, Emnity, Against iniquity, Let's now consider, The object, Of God's wrath, And the object, Of God's wrath, You see there, Look again, In verse 18, It's against what?

[25:11] All ungodliness, And unrighteousness, Of men, That is, Men and women, Who by their unrighteousness, Suppress the truth, So the apostle Paul, Here is saying that, The object of God's wrath, Specifically, Is against, He says, Ungodliness, And unrighteousness, Of men, And women, You can say it another way, It's impiety, And immorality, Now notice the order, Ungodliness first, And unrighteousness second, Now, Ungodliness, Precedes unrighteousness, That is, When men and women, Go astray from God first, That is, In their thoughts, In their action, The inevitable conclusion, Is that, Their conduct, Will go astray also, So, When the apostle says, That ungodliness, Many have thought, That the apostle, Has been referring to, What is known as, The first table of the law, That is, The first four commandments, Generally, People think of, The commandments, That are directed towards God, That is, We should have what,

[26:12] No other gods, You're not to worship, Any idol, Third is that, You're not to, Take the name of the Lord's name in vain, Or remember the Sabbath day, So generally, Some have thought that, When it speaks about ungodliness, It's the first table of the law, And when it speaks of unrighteousness, You think of the second table of the law, That is, The remaining six commandments, Honor your father and your mother, Do not murder, Do not commit adultery, Do not steal, Do not take, Do not blaspheme, And then finally, Do not covet, And it's important to note that, Whenever men and women, Perform acts, Of unrighteousness, Or immorality, They have gone astray first, From ungodliness, The first step towards unrighteousness, Has already been taken, By steps, On the path of ungodliness, And then we live in a day and age, Where so much in our society, Is concerned about the moral conduct, Of men and women, That is right in its place, But there is a deafening silence, So to speak, Even by preachers of the gospel,

[27:14] Which speaks about that, When men and women act, In a certain way, That they forget, That they have gone first, Astray from God himself, It's ungodliness, That is the primary concern, That is men and women, Have gone astray, From the glory of God, And decided that, They will do whatever they want, To please themselves, And once they have done that, Immorality begins to set in, And men and women, Begin to act, In a way that pleases themselves, So the object, The apostle Paul says, Of God's wrath, Is ungodliness, And unrighteousness of men, Now this ungodliness, And unrighteousness, Is irrespective, Of a person's, Gender, Irrespective of their education, Irrespective of their wealth, And notice the apostle Paul, Is not concerned right now, To dive into details, Of specific sin, The fundamental issue, Of men and women,

[28:14] Is not the individual sins, The fundamental problem, Of all men and women, Is sin, Sin, That is the fundamental problem, Not the individual sins, Men and women, Men and women, Commit sins, Because of sin problem, And so the apostle Paul, Is addressing this issue, Of both ungodliness, And unrighteousness, Which I am subsuming, Under the title of, Sin or wickedness, Or evil, So that is the object, Of God's wrath, Now notice he goes on, And says that, The reason for God's wrath, The reason for God's wrath, He says that, The reasons for God's wrath, That's been revealed, From heaven, That is, It is because, Notice in verse 18, They used to what?

[29:05] Suppress, That's the truth, That is, They are holding down, They are restraining, That here it is, That they have a knowledge, Of who God is, In his existence, You see that, In verse 19, For what can be known, About God, Is plain to them, Because God has shown it to them, So what the apostle Paul, Is saying is this, That the Gentile world, Has an understanding, Or a knowledge, Not a saving knowledge, So I'm going to distinguish, Between a saving knowledge, In which they are reconciled to God, No, This is a knowledge, Of God's existence, That he is the creator, Of the entire world, And they have an understanding, That he exists, And even though they know that, What do they do?

[29:46] They suppress, They hold down, Conscience says, You're not to do this, And what did the person do? They suppress the truth, And go ahead, And still do it, And no matter, Where you are in the world, You go to the farthest corner, Of the world, To east or west, No matter where you are, Every single, Man and woman, Boy and girl, Has a knowledge, Of God's existence, They are therefore, Without excuse, Because they're suppressing the truth, He says, In unrighteousness, They're suppressing the truth, They're holding it down, And it's quite plain to them, Because who made it evident to them?

[30:30] God himself, God himself, Has made it plain, To everyone, Of his existence, Because God has shown it to them, There's no excuse, There's no excuse, One of the most popular questions, That sometimes people ask, About is, What will happen, To people in this place, Or that place, Who's never heard the gospel, I'm sure many of you, Have been confronted with that, Perhaps, People ask, What about the person in, You know, For example, In outreaches, Of Australia, Maybe some of the aborigines, They say, Well, They haven't heard the gospel, How can they be held guilty?

[31:07] The apostle Paul, Answers that question, He says, No matter where you are, On this face of the planet, Everyone is accountable to God, Because God has made it evident, To them, Himself, They have no excuse, So, In fact, He's saying that, They have knowledge of God, In their conscience, And they still, Suppress the truth, They're holding it down, And then, He goes on, In verse 20, He says, Not only they have it, Where they're in their conscience, That is, They know, Right, And wrong, They know that God exists, He says in verse 20, He now says, For His invisible attributes, Namely, His eternal power, And divine nature, Have been clearly perceived, Ever since the creation, Of the world, And the things, That have been made, So that, They are without, Excuse, That is,

[32:08] When you look up into the heavens, You see that, There is a creator, And that creator, By this world, You can detect, And discern, That He is an almighty creator, He is a powerful creator, You can also discern, And detect, That He has invisible attributes, And you can also discern, Something of His existence, That is, No one, On the face, Of this earth, Will on the final day, Of judgment, Be able, To stand before the living, And the true God, And be able to say, That I did not know, You existed, Even the atheist, Who proclaims, That God does not exist, Will not on the final day, Be able, And his own conscience, Will testify, That he knew, Of God's existence, His own conscience, Will testify, And will be, Openly plain, And made bare, For him to know, And so, There is no such thing, Truly, As they were to call,

[33:10] A theoretical atheist, They are practical atheists, But not a theoretical atheist, And so, God, Says that, In creation, He has made it evident, Of his existence, And therefore, Everyone is without excuse, Now in verse 21, He goes on, And he says, Notice he says, Although they, Knew God, That is, That knew God, It's not a saving knowledge, Of God, That is staying between, A saving knowledge of God, And certainly, A knowledge of God, Of his existence, It's not a saving knowledge, Of God, For though they, What?

[33:45] Knew God, They did not, Honor him, As God, Or give thanks to him, Do you understand, What the apostle Paul is doing? He is saying, That here is, The Gentiles, In the first century, Who have a knowledge of God, And yet, What do they do?

[34:00] They suppress the truth, And they, Did not honor him, As God, Or give thanks to him, But, They became futile, In their thinking, And their foolish hearts, Were darkened, And they claimed to be wise, They became fools, And exchanged the glory, Of the immortal God, For images, Resembling mortal man, And birds, And animals, And creeping things, Essentially, The apostle Paul says there, That, The Gentiles, Have actually made, An exchange, They have taken, The incorruptible, Glorious God, And they have actually, Exchanged him, For a creature, See there, Said that, See there, In verse 23, They exchanged, The glory, Of the immortal God, For images, Resembling mortal man, And birds, And animals, And creeping things, Here is it, That the apex, Of God's creation, Has actually, Taken God,

[35:01] And made, An exchange, And now, Committed idolatry, And stoops so low, That they are actually, Now, Worshipping, Creatures, So you get, So you get a sense, Why the apostle Paul says, That the wrath of God, Is revealed from heaven, That is, His reasons is that, Fundamentally, Every man, Every woman, Every boy, Every girl, In this entire world, Has, No excuse, There won't be on the final day, Any excuse, To go before the living God, And to claim, That I did not know, That God, Does not exist, There is none of that, The apostle Paul argues, And so, We see that, The apostle gives his reasons, For, The wrath of God, And the revelation of it, Now,

[36:02] The revelation of the wrath of God, Should do a few things, For us, The first is that, It should actually, Stir in our hearts, First, A desire, For evangelism, There should be, A pity, For, The unbelievers, The unbeliever, Is in a state, In which, They are miserable, And they do not know it, They are in a condition, In which they are enslaved, To their sin, And they are under, The wrath of God, And yet, They do not know it, So, The first thing is that, The wrath of God, Should excite us, To have pity, Upon the unbeliever, And to proclaim, The gospel, The second thing, The wrath of God, The wrath of God, Is a truth, That believers, You and I, Need, To meditate upon,

[37:02] More soberly, And seriously, Is a truth, That is revealed, In the scriptures, And just as, The love of God, The righteousness of God, The faithfulness of God, Should all be meditated upon, The wrath of God, Is a subject, That we ought, To meditate upon, And it is sad, That for, A number, Of Christians, The wrath of God, Is become a subject, By which they are, Either ashamed, To discuss, Or even to think about, It is a sobering subject, I'm not denying that, It is an awful subject, Yes it is, But the wrath of God, Is a subject, We should meditate upon, And think upon, So that, We may be reminded, That the God, That we actually worship, Is a God, Who is majestic, And glorious, And thirdly, The wrath of God, Should for the believer,

[38:04] Create in our hearts, True thankfulness, When we think, That you and I, Have been delivered, From this reality, That we are no longer, Under the wrath of God, That you and I, Have been delivered, From the wrath of God, By, The wrath, That was poured upon, Jesus Christ, That you and I, Who were once, Under God's sin, Who were under, Sin, Who had enmity with God, Have been delivered, From this condition, And this predicament, By, Jesus Christ, And it's important, To note that, The wrath of God, Has been, Poured out, Fully, Completely, Upon only, The Lord Jesus Christ, Even, I would say, Even, In, The hell to come, The wrath, That will be poured out, It was, Fully poured out, On the Lord Jesus Christ, And extinguished, By his death, That is, That you and I,

[39:05] Whatever we have done, Who truly believe, Can say that, We have actually, Been delivered, Completely, Fully, And finally, From the wrath, That is to come, For those, Who continue, In unbelief, But brothers, And sisters, We should, Be thankful for, What God has done, For us, In salvation, In sparing us, Of his wrath, And showing to us mercy, Let us pray, Father in heaven, We thank you, This morning, That your wrath, Has been extinguished, In the Lord Jesus Christ, And that you have shown to us, Mercy, And grace, When we were once dead, In our trespasses, And sins, But according to, Your grace, You have delivered us, From the wrath to come, And we pray that,

[40:06] We ourselves, Would be more faithful, To proclaim the gospel, And that we would also, Be more thankful, For what you have done, For us in salvation, We pray your blessing, Now in Christ's name, Amen.