Pastor Martin expounds 1 Thessalonians 1:8-10, focusing on the doctrine of divine wrath. He argues that true saving faith is always joined to repentance and manifests in a transformed life, leading to deliverance from God's wrath. Martin systematically defines divine wrath as originating from God, directed at creatures, involving the positive infliction of displeasure, and revealed on the Day of Judgment. He emphasizes that only Jesus Christ, the Son of God and Son of Man, can deliver from this wrath by bearing it on the cross and continually sanctifying believers. The sermon concludes with a strong call to self-examination, urging listeners to ensure their conversion is genuine as the only escape from the wrath to come, and motivating believers to gratitude and evangelism.
Primary Texts
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1 Thessalonians 1:8-10This passage is the primary text, particularly verse 10, which introduces the doctrine of divine wrath and deliverance through Jesus.
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Romans 2:4-6This passage is expounded to define the 'day of wrath' as the revelation of God's righteous judgment.
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Psalm 11:4-7This passage is expounded to illustrate the active, positive infliction of divine displeasure as the essence of God's wrath.
Paul's Praise for the Thessalonians' Saving Faith0:03
The Uncomfortable but Essential Doctrine of Divine Wrath4:52
God as the Author and Dispenser of Infinite Wrath10:50
Creatures as Objects of Wrath and the Positive Infliction of Displeasure16:17
The Nature of Divine Wrath: Shutting Out, Shutting Up, Shutting In23:23
The Day of Judgment as the Revelation of Wrath27:50
Christ Alone Delivers from Divine Wrath33:42
Only the Converted Are Delivered from Wrath42:32
Key Quotes
“But when you open up the book of the Revelation and as it were the curtains are pulled back and we're given a glimpse of the redeemed in heaven you will find them not only gathered about the throne lost in rapturous worship and praise to God for His mercy but you will find in chapter 11 and in chapter 19 two hymns of praise to God for His wrath.”
“You see, if you worship a God who is nothing but wisdom love omnipotence and sovereignty but who is not a God of wrath you're worshipping an idol. That's not the God revealed in Scripture. He's some other God. For the God of Scripture is revealed as the God of wrath.”
“now take one individual out of the great sum total and to think that that little creature of nothing will have to stand before the infinite God and have poured upon His head infinite wrath oh it should be enough to make some of us tremble and fall on our knees and cry for mercy and dare to not leave those doors until we know that all is well between us and our God”
“hell has for its intensest flame the severance of the soul from God the source of all light of all joy of all peace of all blessing”
“it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God”
“all of the inflictions of divine wrath now are mingled with long suffering with forbearance with patience with the call to repentance with the proffers of grace with the promises that all who turn and flee shall find deliverance in Christ so the worst manifestation of divine wrath here on earth is but a poor and feeble picture of what it will be in that day when there will be no dilution of wrath with mercy long suffering patience gospel promises gospel pleadings the prayers of God's people divine wrath will have all of that excluded and the scripture says then will be poured out the cup of his wrath unmixed unmixed undiluted pure wrath”
“do away with the divine doctrine of divine wrath and it won't be long before you're ready to jettison the doctrine of the cross and the only context in which the cross of Christ will be loved is the context in which the wrath of God is feared and when one goes the other inevitably goes always always”
“the love of God is what he called the suasive power it is the power that draws a sinner to embrace God's mercy but the wrath of God is the awakening power”
Applications
Parents & families
Don't ever look upon the doctrine of divine judgment as some creation of preachers; you are flirting with your soul and eternity by being indifferent to God.
May God send an arrow today to awaken you with the thought of coming wrath, as you have been indifferent and careless to gospel sermons.
All listeners
Don't rejoice simply because your neighbor says, 'I believe.' Instead, ask, 'What do you believe? In what are you believing?'
Learn to stand in awe and fear of the terrible awesome doctrine of divine wrath, just as you revel in God's electing love, to come up to the measure of Paul's thinking.
Ask yourself: Can you worship such a God who is a God of infinite wrath as well as infinite love? Is this the God whom you worship?
Consider how long it has been since you thanked God for His incomprehensible wrath as well as His incomprehensible love.
Tremble and fall on your knees and cry for mercy, and dare not leave these doors until you know that all is well between you and your God.
You adults, this is what you're flirting with: the infliction of divine judgment.
None of you will be delivered from the wrath to come except those of you who are soundly converted, with evidence of the gospel coming in power, turning from idols, and serving God.
You have fled broken and bleeding in spirit to the cross of Christ and have embraced Him and Him alone as your hope of mercy.
Any hope that you'll escape divine wrath apart from the evidence of a true conversion is but a delusive hope.
May God take this phrase 'the coming wrath' and etch it upon your conscience and mind until you cry out, 'Oh God, deliver me from the wrath to come.'
If you can see yourself in verses 2-9, recognize what a motive to gratitude it should be that you've been delivered from the wrath to come.
Look unto the rock from whence we were hewn and unto the pit from whence we were digged to produce gratitude.
Recognize the motive of debtorhood to others (neighbors, loved ones, children, spouses) who are under the canopy of divine wrath, and pray, plead, and cry to God for their deliverance.
A full transcript is available on the
tab. 53 paragraphs, roughly 50 minutes.
Machine transcription
Paul's Praise for the Thessalonians' Saving Faith
Let us turn once again to Paul's first letter to the church at Thessalonica. We are coming to the end of our studies of chapter 1, which we might well call, at least from verse 2 to the end of the chapter, Paul's paragraph of praise to God. For this paragraph begins with the words in verse 2, We give thanks to God always for you all, making mention of you in our prayers. And then he enumerates the many things which, as he thinks of the people at Thessalonica, and as he reviews the report brought to him by Timothy of their spiritual state, cause him in the presence of God to lift up his voice with praise and with thanksgiving. We are presently considering verses 8 through 10, which are some of the things for which he thanks God. We looked last week at these verses. In terms first, First of all, of the fact that there had come this wonderful trumpeting abroad of the word of God.
For from you sounded out the word of the Lord, not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but in every place your faith to Godward is spread abroad, so that we need not to speak anything. Whoever Paul went, the message of the mighty work of grace had already gone forth and preceded him. Not these Thessalonians going out as evangelists preaching, though that is a truth taught in the scriptures, and one to which we must conform in terms of the scriptural pattern, but the message concerning the transformation of their lives. For we read in verse 9, For they themselves, these people that we meet wherever we go, in Macedonia and Achaia and in all other places, show of us what manner of entering in we had unto you, and how ye turned to God from idols to serve the living and the true God, and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, even Jesus, who delivered us, from the wrath to come. Now having considered last week the fact of this sounding forth of the word and the nature of it, we then sought to discover some of the tremendous, what I call doctrinal lessons of this passage. And those that we considered last week, clustered around the biblical doctrine of saving faith. And Paul tells us in these passages that saving faith is always directed to an objective revelation.
He is not... He is not thanking God that the people at Thessalonica simply had faith.
It would have killed him. It would have wounded him with a spiritual wound that could not be healed if they simply believed. But what caused him rejoicing was, as he says in verse 8, that their faith to Godward is spread abroad. That they turn to the living God.
That their faith is placed in the objective revelation of God and of his salvation in Jesus Christ. And we should be like Paul. Don't rejoice simply because your neighbor says, well, you know, I believe. And you say, well, isn't that wonderful?
No, what you want to say is, what do you believe? In what are you believing? And the little ditty that his son have faith, hope, and charity, for that's the way to live successfully. How do I know the Bible tells me so?
The Bible tells me no such thing. The Bible nowhere builds a monument to faith, but it continually points sinners to place their faith, to believe in the Lord, for Jesus Christ, as he's revealed in Scripture. Then we saw that this passage teaches that saving faith is always inseparably joined to repentance. For in verse 8, he says, your faith to Godward is spread abroad.
But when he goes to describe that faith in verse 9, he describes it in terms of the actings of repentance. Ye turned from your idols, ye turned to God, ye turned with a disposition to serve him. So that saving faith is not only directed, directed to the objective revelation of God and of Christ, but will always be inseparably joined with repentance. And so if you're a stranger to repentance, then your faith is not the faith of God's elect.
It is either a dead faith or the faith of the demons, a deceptive, delusive faith. And then we closed our study by considering that true faith will always manifest itself in the life. Though their faith and repentance were invisible, active, endings of the soul quickened by the spirit, they could not in their fruits be invisible. So wherever Paul went, the fruit of their faith had preceded them.
The Uncomfortable but Essential Doctrine of Divine Wrath
And this is why he preached as he tells us in Acts 26 20, that men should repent, turn to God and do works, meet for or answering to their repentance. Now there is a second major doctrinal theme in this passage that I want us to consider. And one that I consider simply because honesty to the text demands that I consider it or we consider it together. It's one of those themes which if left to ourselves, we would never touch upon.
For everything in our flesh rebels against it. Or if not rebels against it, everything in our flesh is uncomfortable in the presence of it. And that's the doctrine dealt with in the latter part of verse 10. The doctrine of divine wrath.
For when Paul thanks God in the presence of God, for the work of God amongst the people of God at Thessalonica, he cannot forget this doctrine of divine wrath. He mentions the doctrine of the peculiar distinguishing love of God to his own in verse 4, knowing brethren be loved of God your election. But the same Paul who rejoices as he's confident of the election of the Thessalonians, also is conscious in the same context of prayer, of the doctrine of divine wrath. The doctrine of divine wrath and divine judgment.
Therefore, if we would be Bible Christians, we must not only learn in the presence of God to revel in his distinguishing particular electing love of his own, but we must learn to stand in awe and fear of the terrible awesome doctrine of divine wrath. Only then have we begun to come up to the measure of the thinking of the Apostle Paul. So when he writes concerning the marvelous conversion of the Thessalonians and how the report of it has gone forth, he says in verse 10, And you were waiting for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, even Jesus, who delivered us from the wrath to come. With this phrase before us, I want us to consider this morning the doctrine of divine wrath as set forth in this portion of the Scripture and as illuminated by other portions of the Word of God. Now the very mention of the word wrath brings problems. For the two words anger and wrath, when applied to human beings, are almost always thought of in an evil connotation. In fact, Ephesians 4.31 explicitly states that anger and wrath are never to be found
in a child of God directed toward another creature. This kind of anger and wrath, where Paul says let all bitterness and anger and wrath be put away from you with all malice. So to mention the word wrath in connection with God, we immediately face a problem. For wrath is almost always associated with an evil passion in us.
Because love is not always, though increasingly the term has an evil connotation to our generation, but at least in many situations the word love has no evil connotation most of the time, it's easy for us to try to at least contemplate the love of God without having to clear away prejudice. But the moment you mention wrath and anger in connection with God, you immediately find some psychological reaction in you, wait a minute, that's imputing a passion to God that is evil. We must not do that. For this passage speaks of the wrath to come and mentions it in connection with God.
And I would go so far as to state. that we are not Bible Christians and our worship is not worship in truth unless we have begun to learn what it is to worship God as much for His wrath as for His love. But when you open up the book of the Revelation and as it were the curtains are pulled back and we're given a glimpse of the redeemed in heaven you will find them not only gathered about the throne lost in rapturous worship and praise to God for His mercy but you will find in chapter 11 and in chapter 19 two hymns of praise to God for His wrath.
They worship God that He has poured out of His wrath and manifested His anger in judgment upon the ungodly and upon the wicked. Therefore if we would be prepared for that state just as we are learning to worship Him and adore Him and magnify Him for His love and His grace and His mercy and that school room in which we are now found will find its full graduate level in heaven. So now we should be in the kindergarten of praise to God for His righteous anger and wrath and in that day we will enter the graduate school of praise to God for this display of His attributes as well. Very well then so much for an introduction to the subject and now as we try to think our way through let us consider in the first place the fact of divine wrath in the second place the truth that only Christ can deliver from divine wrath and thirdly only those who are soundly converted are being delivered from divine wrath. When the apostle writes to the Thessalonians he apparently assumes that they are well instructed in the doctrine of divine wrath. So he says in sort of an offhanded way even Jesus who delivers us from the wrath from the wrath to come in the first place consider that God is the author of this wrath spoken of
God as the Author and Dispenser of Infinite Wrath
in verse 10 the word used here is used about 35 times in the New Testament and at least 25 of those times it refers to a wrath that has its origin in the heart of God. Sometimes it speaks of the wrath of man it's the word used in Ephesians 4 let all anger and wrath be put away from you. But of the 35 times 25 of those times it refers to the wrath of which God is the author. John 3.36 is an example He that believeth not the wrath of God abideth upon him. Romans 1 in verse 18 one of the verses you men have been studying in your Bible class in the morning for the wrath of God is revealed from heaven. Ephesians 5.6 for which things say the wrath of God cometh upon the children of disobedience.
Now we have no problem do we when we think of the love of God. Romans 5 in verse 5 for the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost. Romans chapter 8 nothing shall separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus. Now when we speak of the love of God what are we speaking of?
We're speaking of that love of which God is the author but of which God is also the distributor. The love of God is that love which is bound up in his heart but which finds expression and is directed toward creatures according to his own sovereign pleasure. In the same way when the Bible speaks of the wrath of God it's speaking of a wrath of which God is the author and a wrath of which God is the dispenser just as surely as the love of God speaks of that love of which he is the author. And the dispenser.
Now when you think of the love of God he's the author of it he's the dispenser of it then you try to think of a love that must of necessity then be infinite love for it's love that flows out of an infinite God. You think of a love that is sovereign flows from a sovereign God. You think of a love that is incomprehensible. Who among us would dare to claim that you can fathom and understand and trace out the bounds of the love of God?
Well the scripture says it's a love that passeth all knowledge all understanding. In the same way that wrath of which God is the author that wrath of which he is dispenser because it is the wrath of God is incomprehensible.
It's an infinite wrath. It's a wrath that we cannot understand any more than we can understand the love of God.
And this is not just the wrath of the Father but one of the most frightful statements in scripture is concerning this matter of the wrath of the Lamb. Almost a contradiction of terms. There are some who would give the idea well you see God the Father is the wrathful vengeance of God of vengeance but God the Son has come to reveal the love of the Father and so that you have the Father a God of wrath and the Son being the one who manifests love. This is an entirely erroneous concept for we read in Revelation 6 in verse 16 that those who are present when the wrath of Christ is poured out will cry out who shall fall call on the rocks and the hills to hide them from the wrath of the Lamb from the wrath of the Lamb. That's what they'll be crying out to be protected from the wrath of the Lamb. Revelation 19.15 declares that the Lord Jesus this one called the Word of God shall tread out the fierceness of the wrath of Almighty God.
And then of course Psalm 2 is a picture of the wrath of the Son. Kiss the Son lest He be angry and ye perish from the way. There be a pouring out of the wrath of the Lamb. And so this wrath of which Paul speaks here is a wrath of which God Himself is the author.
Let me ask you a question.
Can you worship such a God who is a God of infinite wrath infinite wrath as well as infinite love?
Let me press the question even further. Is this the God whom you worship?
How long has it been since on your knees in worship of God you've stood amazed and have perhaps with mingled awe and yet appreciation thanked Him for His incomprehensible wrath as well as His incomprehensible love?
You see, if you worship a God who is nothing but wisdom love omnipotence and sovereignty but who is not a God of wrath you're worshipping an idol. That's not the God revealed in Scripture. He's some other God. For the God of Scripture is revealed as the God of wrath.
Creatures as Objects of Wrath and the Positive Infliction of Displeasure
Second thing I want us to see under this matter of establishing the fact of God's wrath is not only that He is the author but that the creatures of God will be the objects of His wrath. Notice Paul says in this text even Jesus who delivers us you people at Thessalonica and me Paul and my associates Silas and Timothy who address this letter in verse 1 He delivers us we creatures He delivers us from the wrath to come clearly indicating that if they had not been delivered from that wrath they would have been its objects and that had not that peculiar distinguishing love of God spoken of in verse 4 been funneled upon their heads and into their hearts then the wrath of God would surely have been funneled upon their heads and would have buried them beneath its weight in eternal darkness. What a frightful thing that the creature made to be the object of the loving concern of God should become the object of His fierce and righteous anger and wrath.
That a creature helpless weak as I was reading in Isaiah 40 this morning that tremendous passage on the greatness of God seeking to have my own heart prepared for worship and when he says the nations are before him as less than nothing now what's less than nothing when you've got zero even you fellas and girls in kindergarten you know that you can't take anything from zero and get less than zero and yet the prophet declares the nations are before him not just individual creatures but take the sum total of all humanity and compare it with the greatness of God and the prophet says you come up with a zero as to our significance in ourselves in terms of the fact that out of the nations God will call this innumerable multitude we are something in terms of the fact that His loving kindness and His long suffering are shown even to the rebel nations we are something but viewed in and of ourselves God says through His prophet the sum total of all humanity is less than nothing now take one individual out of the great sum total and to think that that little creature of nothing will have to stand before the infinite God and have poured
upon His head infinite wrath oh it should be enough to make some of us tremble and fall on our knees and cry for mercy and dare to not leave those doors until we know that all is well between us and our God oh listen what will it be when omnipotence is linked to wrath and is funneled upon the puny little creature of dust it's a frightful thing when a community links together to bring wrath or judgment upon an individual a fellow creature and that can be terrible the riots of the past summer are an indication of this when a few people band together and want to give vent to the wrath of their hearts against society and the wrath of their hearts you see what happens but that's just a few creatures directing their wrath against a few other creatures but what will it be when the infinite God funnels His wrath upon the finite creature and yet this text reveals not only the fact of divine wrath God being the author but the creatures of God being the objects in the third place I want us to consider this truth that the infliction of divine displeasure is the fact is the essence of this wrath what is the wrath of which Paul speaks here who delivers us from the wrath
to come that wrath will be nothing less than the positive infliction of divine displeasure that's the essence of the wrath of God there is a graphic picture of this in the 11th psalm I want us to consider it for a moment the 11th psalm beginning with verse 4 the Lord God the Lord is in His holy temple the Lord's throne is in heaven His eyes behold His eyelids try the children of men the Lord trieth the righteous but the wicked in Him that loveth violence His soul hateth and because God has a disposition of anger and wrath to those who are not His children what will He do? verse 5 the Lord trieth the righteous but the wicked in Him that loveth violence His soul hateth verse 5 verse 6 upon the wicked He shall rain snares fire and brimstone and in horrible tempest this shall be the portion of their cup for the Lord loveth righteousness His countenance doth behold the upright you see God's wrath is not a passive disposition it's not as though God simply has this attitude of displeasure but verse 6 reveals that this attitude of displeasure will give expression in the positive
infliction of punishment upon the head of the wicked upon the wicked He shall rain snares fire and brimstone just as surely as God's love is something more than a passive disposition locked up in His heart it's something more than that it's a disposition that moved Him to give His Son it's a disposition that moves Him to send the Spirit to awaken that sinner dead in trespasses and sins to pull the scales from His eyes to bring Him into saving relationship with Christ to place upon His head the conferrence and confer to Him all the blessings that are stored up in Christ you see His love is not an inactive disposition of His heart but one that moves out to bring all the blessings of redemption upon the head of His own so God's wrath will do the same thing in reverse not being an idle dormant disposition of His heart it will move forth to bring upon the head of the wicked all that divine wrath demands no wonder Paul could thank God as he prayed for the Thessalonians thinking of what their portion would be had the gospel not come to them in power had it not come to them in the Holy Ghost had they not been wonderfully transformed by the mighty work of God's grace Paul as he's in the presence of God and thinks of those Thessalonians
The Nature of Divine Wrath: Shutting Out, Shutting Up, Shutting In
remembers that there is a wrath of which God is the author and that is His creatures will be the objects and the nature of that wrath will be the positive infliction of His displeasure in judgment upon their heads how He thanks God for that from which they've been rescued what will that infliction of divine displeasure involve I believe we can summarize all that the scripture tells us under three simple phrases it will be a shutting out from a shutting up to and a shutting in for it will be a shutting out from heaven the scripture reveals in Revelation 21 verses 26 27 and then in chapter 2 verses 14 and 15 describing the glories of the redeemed and all the blessings it says but without are the dogs and the whoremongers and the sorcerers and whatsoever loveth and maketh a lie it describes the glories of the redeemed and then it says but nothing unclean shall enter there's that concept of cleavage and divine displeasure divine wrath to come will be manifest in shutting out from heaven and worst of all from God Himself I quote again the statement of Charles Spurgeon which I cannot improve upon hell has
for its intensest flame the severance of the soul from God the source of all light of all joy of all peace of all blessing and what is this divine wrath which causes Paul in his prayers to thank God it will not come upon their heads that's what it is it's that disposition of God that will result in the shutting out of men from heaven and from God it involves secondly a shutting up to misery and to torment and this brings us into the context of the words of our Lord Jesus Christ Himself fear not them which kill the body and after this have no more that they can do but fear Him which after He hath killed hath power to cast into hell or hath power to destroy both soul and body in hell the words of our Lord outer darkness weeping wailing gnashing of teeth these are words that fell from the lips of the Son of God words that indicate that that divine displeasure means not only a negative thing being shut up not out from heaven and God but being shut up to misery and torment and in the third place it means being shut in to that state for all eternity for again the words of our Lord are clear Matthew 25 46 these shall go away into everlasting
punishment and the righteous into everlasting life and the same word is used in the original for everlasting everlasting punishment everlasting life no wonder the writer to Hebrews when contemplating this wrath of God that would fall upon the heads of resolute sinners cries out at the end of chapter 10 it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God no wonder the psalmist prayed in Psalm 90 when he said who knoweth the power of thine anger who can understand such anger and wrath that shall come from an infinite God which when it funnels upon the head of the wicked will shut them out from heaven shut them up to misery and shut them into that state for eternity dear young people don't ever look upon the doctrine of divine judgment as some creation of preachers in order to enforce their exhortations upon you this is what some of you are toying with as you think of being indifferent to mommy's God and to daddy's God and to pastor Martin's God this is what you're flirting with dear young people you're flirting with your soul you're flirting with eternity some of you adults this is what you're flirting with
The Day of Judgment as the Revelation of Wrath
the infliction of divine judgment these are the issues not because I say so but because this word which though heaven and earth pass away declares it then under this matter of the fact of divine wrath God is the author the scripture reveals creatures will be the objects the infliction of divine displeasure its essence the bible also reveals the day of judgment will be its revelation notice in this text Paul says even Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come he calls in this text this matter of divine wrath a coming wrath John said the same thing when he said in chapter 3 as recorded in chapter 3 in verse 7 of Matthew who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come now there is a present wrath again you men have been studying this we discussed it this morning in the men's class Romans 1.18 says for the wrath of God literally is being revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men and in the movements of nations and in the way God deals with an individual there is now an infliction of divine wrath but listen all of the inflictions of divine wrath now are mingled with long suffering
with forbearance with patience with the call to repentance with the proffers of grace with the promises that all who turn and flee shall find deliverance in Christ so the worst manifestation of divine wrath here on earth is but a poor and feeble picture of what it will be in that day when there will be no dilution of wrath with mercy long suffering patience gospel promises gospel pleadings the prayers of God's people divine wrath will have all of that excluded and the scripture says then will be poured out the cup of his wrath unmixed unmixed undiluted pure wrath just as surely as the scripture says in 1st John 3 beloved now are we the sons of God but it doth not yet appear what we shall be in other words whatever you know of the love of God now it's just slim pickings to what we're going to know then beloved now are we the sons of God behold what manner of love hath been bestowed upon us that we should be called the sons of God and such we are and that causes us amazement but it's as though John says but look if you think that's something the best is yet to come it doth not yet appear what we shall be what you know of divine love now in that day you'll look back and say well did I really know
anything about it did I really know anything about it that's true of divine wrath you read of Sodom and Gomorrah when in an instant of time a whole city many cities of the plains were consumed in the anger of God you look at God's dealings with whole nations when he brings them from pinnacles of blessing and power into the rubbles of disgrace and powerlessness and you say oh God's anger must be a terrible thing dear friends it's but a little picture of what it will be in that day a very little picture just as surely as all the blessings of his love are only faintly known so all the terrors of his wrath are only faintly revealed and the day of judgment will be its revelation you say pastor upon what basis do you make a statement like that well because Paul calls it a coming wrath a wrath which is to come and he identifies the time at which that wrath will come in his letter to the church at Rome now I want us to look at this passage for a moment in Romans chapter 2 Romans chapter 2 beginning with verse 4 perhaps we should back up to verse 3 and thinkest thou this oh man that judges 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 notice now judgment coming but now there are riches of goodness forbearance longsuffering and longsuffering and knowing that not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance but after thy hardness and impenitent heart treasurous up unto thyself wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God when is that who will render to every man according to his deeds and that identifies the coming day of wrath in that day when men will be rendered unto according to their deeds and then the scripture is full of references showing us that that day is the great day of judgment revelation 20 verses 10 through 15 the picture of a court of law in which the records are opened and men are summoned before the tribunal of eternal justice and then the sentence is issued and so when Paul thanks God for the Thessalonians that they were delivered from the wrath to come he was thanking God that they were delivered from a wrath of which God is the author of which the creature will be the object in which infliction of divine displeasure is the essence and one that the day of judgment
Christ Alone Delivers from Divine Wrath
will reveal let us consider in the second place and this is the wonderful truth of this verse that only Christ can deliver from this coming judgment Paul describes it when he says even Jesus who is the Lord who delivered us from the wrath to come which in the present tense it ought to be translated this way who delivers us or who is delivering us from the wrath to come someone has translated it this way our deliverer from the coming wrath the new English Bible translates it this way our deliverer from the terrors of judgment to come and the word for deliver means to rescue to bring someone out of a state of danger it's the same word Paul used when he said God rescued me out of the mouth of a lion get the picture of someone who is just about to be devoured by a raging lion and is suddenly whisked away that's the picture it means escape unusual escape from impending doom and in this passage before us 1 Thessalonians 1.10 Paul not only declares the fact of divine wrath but he declares the only way of deliverance from divine wrath and he identifies that deliverance first of all is coming
through the Christ of biblical revelation who delivers us from the wrath to come he answers verse 10 to wait for his son he's the son of God able and mighty to deliver no human deliverer but this is God the son the son of God God manifested in the flesh but he is not only the son of God God able and mighty to deliver but notice later on he identifies him even Jesus that peculiar name attached to his humanity thou shalt call his name Jesus for he shall save his people from their sins and so the only Christ whom Paul acknowledges as the deliverer from the wrath to come is the Christ of biblical revelation who is the son of God who is the son of man who is not only God the son but who is Jesus joined together in one person and then he identifies him in verse 10 as the one whom he raised from the dead this is the Christ who actually died who died such a complete death that there needed to be a supernatural resurrection now when people say that the book of 1 Thessalonians has no doctrine it always amazes me now what they mean is Paul is not formally teaching doctrine but look at the doctrine packed into this book and this is just part of his prayer he's not teaching a doctrine class he's just giving you
some notes on his prayer life and that's what I want to preach on next week but this passage shows the inseparable relationship between doctrine and experience even his prayer life Paul knows no Christ but the Christ of biblical revelation son of God Jesus died raised from the dead this is the Christ who brings deliverance and then Christ alone delivers the Christ of biblical revelation and the Christ who has formed the basis of deliverance how is it that only Jesus can deliver us from the wrath to come because only Jesus was shunned beneath the billows of divine wrath that he might deliver us if sinners are to be delivered from that coming wrath which is their just due God being holy the sinner being what he is God being just his law being what it is he must inflict punishment upon a broken law and so the Lord Jesus came to the realm to the very realm of man's failure and sin and rebellion and so identified himself with us that the scripture says he who knew no sin became sin for us Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law how? by being made a curse for us perhaps this will give us a little more appreciation of the cross for what our Lord bore upon the cross was nothing less
than this divine wrath of which we're speaking nothing less than the positive outgoing of divine wrath upon his own beloved and sinless head that's what he experienced do away with the divine doctrine of divine wrath and it won't be long before you're ready to jettison the doctrine of the cross and the only context in which the cross of Christ will be loved is the context in which the wrath of God is feared and when one goes the other inevitably goes always always when you open up some of those psalms in which the psalmist by prophetic utterance speaks of all thy waves and thy billows have gone over me thy hand presseth me sore you're reading something of the actings of the soul of the son of God when he became swallowed up in the billows of divine wrath and yet wonder at wonders he was swallowed up in wrath that he might deliver us from wrath and so Paul identifies him as the Christ of biblical revelation who formed a basis of deliverance by himself taking wrath upon him that we sinners might be delivered but now how does he do this work of delivering Paul says even Jesus who delivers present tense
who is delivering us from the wrath to come well he does it initially when he takes away the sentence of wrath when like these Thessalonians we are effectually called by the gospel and we are brought into living fellowship and relationship with Christ the first great blessing is the imputation of his righteousness the putting to our account of the perfect righteousness of Christ so that Romans 8.1 is true there is therefore now no condemnation what is condemnation it's the sentence of the law of God it's the sentence of the law of God of divine wrath it's on every sinner the wrath of God abideth on him that believeth not and what turns away that sentence when the sinner is joined to Christ and the perfect righteousness of Christ is put to his account there is now no sentence of divine wrath to those who are aware in union with Christ Jesus even Jesus who delivers from coming wrath initially by taking away the sentence of wrath and the perfect righteousness and then he delivers continually by taking away what we might call the fitness for wrath why is God angry with sinners because of our wicked deeds because of our rebellion to his holy law that's why Ephesians 5.6 having listed the sins of the flesh says for which things sake the wrath of God is coming
upon the sons of disobedience now what is God doing he's delivering us through his son from the fitness for wrath he's delivering us he's taking us off the course of being willful rebels against his law and he's put us in the course of obedience imperfect but nonetheless real he's put us in the path of holiness imperfect but nonetheless real he has broken the dominion of sin and is at work to clear out the remains of sin and so the Lord Jesus by his intercessory work and by the supply of the spirit he's delivering us from wrath not only in taking away the sentence of wrath but in taking away the cause the fitness for wrath he's making us more and more like himself and then bless God he delivers us from the wrath to come when one day he will deliver us from the very possibility of wrath when we shall be like him and see him as he is and to know that wrath is an utter and complete impossibility that we shall be as the theologians say confirmed in righteousness and holiness and we shall be on a footing far more stable than Adam ever had a footing which grace has produced in which we shall be like him for all eternity and now I want to bring this thing to a very practical conclusion this morning and again I wish I had more time to do so
Only the Converted Are Delivered from Wrath
but I trust the Holy Spirit will make up in power and pointedness what I feel I cannot do in time the third great principle of our text the fact of this divine wrath Christ alone the deliverer of divine wrath but in the third place only those who are converted are being delivered from wrath let me ask you this question on what basis could Paul rejoice that these people at Thessalonica were being delivered from the wrath to come was it that he had some false notion of human perfection well these people are all so nice and good God couldn't judge them was it that he had some vague notion of universalism that everyone is eventually going to be saved from divine wrath no you know what was the root of his conviction that they were being delivered from divine wrath I'll tell you what it was it was the evidence of their genuineness the genuineness of their conversion the fact that he'd already said our gospel came not unto you in word only but in power ye became followers of us and of the Lord ye were examples from you sounded out the word you turned to God from your idols the reason Paul is confident that they have been delivered by Christ and were being delivered by Christ from the wrath to come was the undeniable evidence of the genuineness of their conversion and I say to you dear people this morning and this is the crux of the whole thing none of you
will be delivered from the wrath to come except those of you who are soundly converted and to be soundly converted means that the things are true of you that were true of these people of Thessalonica that the word has come to you in something more than word Christ and the Bible and God and heaven and hell are something more than words that have collected like a great kind of a storehouse in your head they've come with power you've trembled at the thought of your sin you've trembled at the thought of hell and judgment and wrath and you have fled broken and bleeding in spirit to the cross of Christ and have embraced Him and Him alone is your hope of mercy the gospels come in power you've turned to God from your idols you've turned with a disposition to serve Him and your will has been brought subject to King Jesus in any hope that you'll escape divine wrath apart from the evidence of a true conversion is but a delusive hope a mocking hope it's the hope of the hypocrite of which the scripture says it shall ultimately perish who is Christ delivering? He's delivering those whom He saves who does He save? those who are converted is He delivering you from the wrath to come are you under the canopy of His mercy or under the awful canopy of His wrath oh wrath mixed with long suffering and forbearance
that's the only reason some of you aren't in hell today is that God is long suffering the only reason some of you aren't joining that rich man who cries out Father Abraham I am tormented in these flames only one reason the forbearance called in Romans 2 the riches of His goodness and His forbearance one day that will all be passed and judgment and wrath shall come down unmixed with mercy Dr. Isaac Watts who was wonderfully used with God in the conversion of many said that of all those converted under his ministry he could recall only one who had been awakened by the amiable attributes of God that is the love and mercy of God the love of God is what he called the suasive power it is the power that draws a sinner to embrace God's mercy but the wrath of God is the awakening power you know it's going to awaken some of you dear young people from the slumber of your sleep of sin the thought of divine wrath you've been able to sleep through many a gospel sermon oh your eyes have been awake but your spirit has been asleep you haven't come to the word saying oh God speak today I see myself lost and undone Lord speak thy word of power to me today no you've been able to come
very indifferent very careless and calloused oh may God send an arrow today to awaken you with the thought of coming wrath some of you dear adults the same is true of you wrath is coming may God take this phrase of his word the coming wrath and I pray that he'll so etch it upon your conscience and in your mind that it'll follow you to your table follow you to your afternoon rest follow you to your evening activities follow you to your bed meet you in the morning meet you through the day until you begin to cry out oh God oh God deliver me from the wrath to come you see the doctrine of divine wrath is the awakening truth then the doctrine of divine love becomes the the drawing the wooing truth in closing may I say to you who by the grace of God can see yourself in verses 2 through 9 by the grace of God you say yes you say yes the gospel has come in power yes by the grace of God I have become a true believer I have turned from my idols to serve the living and the true God I do wait for his son from heaven oh what a motive to gratitude it should be in our hearts this morning we don't think of it often do we that we've been delivered and are being delivered from the wrath to come how long has it been since you thanked God
you're not in hell how long has it been since you thanked God that wasn't your hopeless destiny you're not in hell shut out from heaven shut up to misery and shut in for eternity oh how we need to obey the exhortation of scripture to look unto the rock from whence we were hewn and unto the pit from whence we were digged and this would produce a motive of gratitude this is what drove Charles Wesley John Wesley continually when people stood amazed at the passion with which this man poured himself in to the work of preaching the gospel he said I am as a bran plucked from the burning and he never could forget it and then what a motive of debtorhood to others neighbors, loved ones, friends some of you your own children and husbands and wives they're under the canopy of divine wrath what a motive to pray what a motive to plead what a motive to cry to God that they might be delivered through the Lord Jesus may God grant that as we consider this portion of the word we will not only understand something new of the doctrine of saving faith but the doctrine of divine wrath and may be warmed strengthened motivated by this doctrine of the scriptures let us pray
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Passages Expounded
1 Thessalonians 1:8-10
This passage is the primary text, particularly verse 10, which introduces the doctrine of divine wrath and deliverance through Jesus.
Romans 2:4-6
This passage is expounded to define the 'day of wrath' as the revelation of God's righteous judgment.
Psalm 11:4-7
This passage is expounded to illustrate the active, positive infliction of divine displeasure as the essence of God's wrath.
Texts Expounded
auto_stories
This is the primary passage from which Martin draws his sermon, particularly focusing on verses 8-10.
auto_stories
This verse is the central text for the doctrine of divine wrath and deliverance through Jesus.
auto_stories
This passage is used to identify the 'day of wrath' as the 'revelation of the righteous judgment of God' when men will be judged according to their deeds.