Paul's Indictment of the Jews, Part 2

Recap: The Work of God, True Ministers, and True Hearers

0:03 Let us turn together to 1 Thessalonians after a nine-week digression during which time we have focused our attention upon the very vital and practical matters of the teaching of the Word of God with respect to the office bearers in the structure of a New Testament church. We return to the regular exposition of the Word of God Sunday mornings which presently finds us in 1 Thessalonians the latter part of chapter 2. Now just briefly to pick up the loose ends of thought after a nine-week digression let me remind you of the general setting of the passage that we will be considering this morning. The theme of the first chapter of this letter is, as we have said again and again, the work of God in the establishment of the church at Thessalonica. Paul attributes all that transpired to the mighty work of God stretching back into his eternal purposes where he says, knowing, brethren, beloved of God, your election followed out in the effectual call of God our gospel came unto you not in word only but in power and then all of the blessed fruits that follow Paul would trace them all back to the sovereign purpose of God in eternity and to the mighty working of God the Holy Ghost in time. But not only does God establish churches and accomplish His work

1:32 in keeping with His sovereign purpose but He does so by means of fit workmen. And so the general theme of chapter 2 verses 1 to 12 is the kind of men God uses in the establishing of His church and in the accomplishment of His work. And so those first 12 verses give us some of the clearest teaching in all of Scripture on the marks of a true minister and of a true ministry. Whether that ministry be as it is in this context that of a servant of Christ preaching the gospel, and establishing churches whether it's the ministry of a father or mother with his children or the ministry you have as a witness to your neighbors all of the principles though specifically applied to the apostle carry out in all of these areas of ministry. Then in verse 13 Paul turns the tables as it were and says that there must not only be true ministers if the work of God is to be accomplished but true hearers. And so he commends the Thessalonians for the fact that they were true hearers. For this cause thank we God without ceasing because when ye received the word of God which ye heard of us ye received it not as the word of men but as it is in truth the word of God which effectually works in you that believe.

2:48 And so the marks of a true hearer are a reception of the word of God an assimilation of the word of God and then in verse 14 an obedience to the word of God even unto suffering. Once the word of God is received as the word of God then the person thus receiving it cares not what comes in the path of his obedience since God has spoken I must obey and if in obedience I welcome suffering in the cross welcome it I must. Now at the close of that statement concerning the right reception of the word of God by the Thessalonians in that they embrace the word of God and obeyed it even unto suffering he mentions the Jews the latter part of verse 14 and at the end of the verse 14 at the mention of the Jews who persecuted the Judean Christians he then launches in to this very scathing almost scathing denunciation of the Jews as a nation in verses 15 and 16 and in our last study together we sought to understand what provoked Paul to speak in this manner perhaps this is the strongest statement in all of his writings on the nature of the Jewish apostasy from God and man. And the reason for this was that he had just come fresh from several circumstances in which these recalcitrant apostate Jews had persecuted and driven him out of town and now at Corinth

The Provocation for Paul's Indictment of the Jews

4:17 he had recently experienced more pressure from them and in the midst of that pressure he was writing so his mind was very much filled with the opposition of the Jews and so he digresses in these two verses to mention the present state of the Jews under the wrath and judgment of God. Last time we studied we only had time to consider the first three things that he says about the Jews there are seven altogether the general persecution mentioned in verse 14 then these three things who both killed the Lord Jesus and their own prophets and have persecuted us they killed Christ killed their prophets and they persecute or better translated they drove out the apostles and their companions in ministry now I tried to answer this question last time we studied why did they treat the Lord Jesus and the prophets and the apostles in this manner certainly it was not because of the novelty of the teaching of the apostles for they were simply confirming the words of Christ and Christ's teaching was not novel for he said he did not come to destroy the law and the prophets but to fill them to the full and so the thing which provoked the Jews to kill the Lord Jesus Christ the prophets and the apostles was their common denominator of content in their ministry for all three of them continually insisted

5:44 when preaching to the Jews number one that external privileges were not enough the privilege must lead to vital experience secondly they could not stand the insistence that there had to be internal reality there must be vital experience of truth and there must be there must be vital experience of truth as opposed to mere privileged exposure in short it was the close application of the truth to life and experience both in the ministry of our Lord and of the prophets and the apostles which the Jews could not stand for under the ministry of all three they realized we must either forsake our lust and our sins or we must reject the words of the apostles the prophets and the Lord Jesus they could not keep both under the falsehoods the false teachers they were encouraged to believe that they could receive the words of God and still cling to their lusts that was the problem of Jeremiah the false prophets continually said you're the covenant people of God don't listen to this fellow Jeremiah who says break off with your sins or judgment no no rest in the promises you may have your lust plus the promises of God's covenant mercies Jeremiah said no you have dis-covenanted yourself in that sense he insisted that there must be righteousness and a breaking off with sin now we begin today

Indictment 5: They Please Not God

7:10 with the remaining matters of this list of seven things which characterize the activity of the Jews now reviewers behind us were into new material they not only killed the Lord Jesus killed the prophets and drove out the apostles and their companions but Paul goes on to say in the latter part of verse 15 they please not God they are contrary to all men forbidding us to speak to the Gentiles that they might be saved now very briefly let's consider these three things that are now mentioned and that completes the list of seven the general persecution of the Christians of Judea mentioned in verse 14 number two they killed the Lord Jesus number three they killed the prophets number four they drove out the apostles number five they please not God now need I remind you that the whole end of the creator creature relationship is that the creature might please God his creator this is the purpose for which man was made and so we might say the whole end of all revealed religion God moving toward fallen man in grace is that once again man might bring pleasure to God he might do that which is agreeable to God and bring joy to man and bring delight to the heart of God the Apostle Paul in this very letter

8:39 chapter four in verse one makes pleasing God the whole sum and substance of the Christian life notice furthermore then we beseech you brethren chapter four verse one and exhort you by the Lord Jesus that as you have received of us how you ought to walk and to please God so ye would abound more and more what is the practical sum and substance of a vital vibrant spirit directed Christian life it's a life that is lived to the pleasure of God he ought to walk he said so as to please God this was the essence of our Lord Jesus relationship to the Father he could say in John 8 29 I do always the things that please my Father I do the things that please him now the Jews thought that they were pleasing God Paul a very devout Pharisee thought that when he got letters from the authorities to go and get the Christians and bind them and commit them to prison and death he thought he was pleasing God and the Jews of all people thought that they were the people who stood in the midst of heathen idolatry as the one group of people who are bringing delight to God who are doing the things agreeable to God and so when Paul indicts them as the people who please not God this is a terrible indictment

10:07 every Jew would believe that of a Gentile one of those Gentile dogs of course they don't please God but we Jews we who are not like other men certainly we please God Paul says no in all of the religious form in all of the involvement of carrying out even God appointed sacrifices and in the whole system that was handed down by Revelation he says marked over all of it are these three things three words they please not God the reason they did not please God is the reason why all of us by nature do not please God Romans 8 in verses 7 and 8 the carnal mind is enmity against God for it is not subject to the law of God neither indeed can it be so than they that are in the flesh cannot please God even if it's Jewish flesh they that are in the flesh cannot please God it was to a Jew it was to a very devout and well instructed and very admirable character kind of a Jew that our Lord said that which is born of the flesh is flesh in John chapter 3 in his discourse with Nicodemus now the Jews thought as I mentioned they were pleasing God and they were sincere in the carrying out of that intent but sincerity is not enough

11:36 for Paul says in Romans 10 1 to 3 I bear record that they have a zeal after God but not according to knowledge for being ignorant of God's righteousness and going about to establish their own they have not submitted to the righteousness of God the only thing that pleases God is that life that deed those deeds those acts that are done by a right rule the word of God with a right motive love to God and with a right end in view the glory of God and in that sense the Jews did not please God for though they may have been doing things commanded by God the bringing of sacrifices they were not bringing them out of a right motive out of love to God nor were they doing it with a right end in view the glory of God and so the apostle indicts them as the people who please not God and yet that indictment sweeps over all of us in the state of nature for they that are in the flesh those who have never been born of the spirit cannot please God even doing things God requires because they are done from a wrong motivation and with a wrong end in view God writes over our most devout acts that they are sin so that scripture says even the plowing of the wicked is sin the sacrifice of the wicked the scripture says is an abomination

Indictment 6: They Are Contrary to All Men by Hindering the Gospel

13:05 the prayer of the wicked is an abomination then he goes on to say that they are contrary to all men now some commentators have tried to infer from this that as part of the evidence of the Jewish apostasy they've just become unbearable and hard to live with now I don't think that is what Paul is saying he explains what he means by contrary or set against all men in the 16th verse forbidding us to speak to the Gentiles that they might be saved in what sense are they contrary or set against all men this attitude is revealed in their hostility and open opposition to the preaching of the gospel forbidding or hindering us to spread the gospel now notice what Paul is saying in this verse he is saying that men are saved by the preaching of a message forbidding us or hindering us to speak to the Gentiles notice he doesn't say forbidding us to live before the Gentiles forbidding us to be involved in the needs of the Gentiles we spoke last week about this so many in our day are trying to tell us the gospel is getting involved in the needs of society and when you do this and slap a little paint on a building in the ghetto that's evangelizing no no Paul views the whole thrust of the evangelistic emphasis and ministry

14:32 as proclaiming a message Romans chapter 10 how shall they call on one whom they've not heard and how shall they hear without a preacher and how shall they preach except they be sent and so the Jewish apostasy and the Jewish opposition to God comes to its climactic expression when not only rejecting the gospel themselves they show this contrariness to all men in that wherever the apostle and his companions would go they either seek to proceed him to throw up stumbling blocks in the way of preaching the message or once it be done begins to be preached they come in and seek to hinder its full proclamation so hang these factors together men are saved by the speaking of a message this message must be gotten through to them according to Romans 10 consequently from the human standpoint men may hinder the salvation of others when they suppress or hold back in some way the full proclamation of the message of grace now this is a very important point this is a sobering thought one which is not new or unique in this passage in Thessalonians for you remember that one of the most sober indictments that our Lord made against the Pharisees and the scribes in the 23rd chapter of Matthew is found in verse 13 in fact after a general warning

16:01 to his own disciples regarding the influence of the scribes and Pharisees the first direct indictment which he makes to the Pharisees themselves is that they are not the scribes but the scribes is this in verse 13 of Matthew 23 but woe unto you scribes and Pharisees hypocrites for ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against men for ye neither go in yourselves neither suffer ye them that are entering to go in now we know that from the divine perspective John 6.37 is true all that the Father giveth me shall come to me and if there are a thousand oceans and a thousand barriers standing between one of Christ's blood-bought sheep and the effectual calling of that sheep the Lord will somehow surmount those barriers but we must never lose sight of this principle from the human perspective that the message must come to the sinner and anything that hinders the coming of that message is in that sense a shutting up of the kingdom of heaven against men and so the apostle Paul said indicts them as being contrary to all men in that they forbid or hinder the speaking of the message to the Gentiles that they might be saved now we sit here this morning and say but oh we wouldn't be guilty of that certainly I have never stood

Subtle Ways We Can Hinder the Gospel

17:30 in the way of the speaking of the message of salvation that others might be saved is that so let me show you some of the ways that we can very subtly be guilty of this message same sin and come under this indictment when you as the head of your family do not do everything in your power to see to it that all the members of your family are exposed to as much of the preaching and teaching of the word of God as possible in your home and in the church you are in that sense hindering the speaking of the message for it's the divine seed of the word of God sown at the table sown in the Sunday school sown in the morning exposition sown in the evening exposition sown in every possible legitimate means that is God's way of bringing to faith and repentance your own children your own husbands and wives and when we who stand in places of responsibility in the family do not do all within our power to structure the events and the circumstances and the activities of the home that consistent time is given to the people for the ongoing and the seeding of the word of God in the hearts of our children in a real sense we are hindering them from hearing the word of God that they might be saved when we sit in the assembly

18:58 if we allow ourselves to be distracted and you see distraction is like a contagious disease I noticed it this morning when Mr. Whitehead had to come through to check the thermostats and he said when one head turned it was so easy for the person next to the other person to turn and when two heads were turned the third until finally you see it was contagious and inside of three seconds it went right through the whole group sitting here at the catechism and I had no one at that point for about 15 seconds I didn't have oh you see that's just a little thing is it is it it points out a principle dear ones that there might just be some word from God that might be the thing that God would use to unlock some body or some area in which we've been perplexed some problem upon which we seem to have no answer for which there seems to be no answer if we really believe that it's by the word of the living God that we are both brought to life and life is sustained and developed then we will resolutely refuse everything within our power will be set against anything that will distract the hearing of the word of God when in any way by my life when in any way you by your life discredit the gospel so that you men won't hear it have you ever heard it said ah don't talk to me about the gospel I know so and so and he says he believes it and looking at his life I don't want to hear it and have you ever had that thrown in your teeth I have

20:26 have you had that thrown in your teeth what's happened that person has hindered the speaking of the gospel oh not like the Jews who tracked Paul around and organized themselves into mobs and sought to stir up other mobs but the end result is the same ears that need to hear the message don't hear it why because someone's life has hindered the speaking of the word of God as Paul said to the Jews in Romans 2 24 for because of you the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles so may God grant that as we see this sweeping indictment upon the Jews we shall not draw our robes about us in self-righteousness and say poor Jews never be true of me but may God make us sensitive to the word of God to this terrible sin that is indicted for which Paul indicts them here now having considered the full list briefly what is the result of this activity has God as it were been slumbering while they persecute the Judean Christians when they kill the Lord Jesus and the prophets and persecute and drive out the apostles in this life that does not please God and is contrary to all men in that it forbids the ongoing sin of the world and of the gospel what is the result of these seven things well Paul gives us the answer not from the perspective of the Jew involved in them

The Result of Their Activity: Filling Up the Cup of Sin

21:55 but from the perspective of God who passes sentence upon them and he says two things are true as a result of this activity number one he says they fill up their sin all the way and then as a result of that the second thing for the wrath is come upon them to the uttermost these are some of the most sober words in all of Holy Scripture first of all he says they fill up their sin all the way better translated or paraphrased a little bit they fill to the brim the cup of their sins in other words they were bringing their sins to the prescribed point in the cup where God God's mercy is exhausted and God's judgment comes down upon them this is a thought again that is not unique to this passage in Thessalonians let's trace it through the scriptures at several other points in order that we might feel the weight of it back in Genesis chapter 15 we are first introduced to this concept of men filling up their sins to the point of judgment Genesis chapter 15 God is entering into covenant with Abraham and he makes certain promises

23:24 concerning that which he will do in grace to Abraham and to his seed verse 13 he said unto Abram know of a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs and shall serve them and they shall afflict them 400 years a prophecy of that descent down into Egypt and the duration that the people of God would be there in Egypt and also that nation whom they shall serve that is Egypt will I judge and afterward shall they come out with great substance and thou shalt go to thy fathers in peace thou shalt be buried in a good old age but in the fourth generation they shall come hither again that is I will bring them out of Egypt and bring them up into the land that I have promised full now this is one of the reasons why four generations must pass but in the fourth generation they shall come hither again for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full now God had many reasons some of which are revealed some are not revealed as to why he sent his people down into Egypt for that period of time but this is one of them the iniquity of the Amorites not yet full you see the cup has not yet reached that prescribed mark where long suffering and mercy give way to judgment when it reaches that point

24:54 and he said in 400 years it will reach it then my judgment will come then if you have any question as to the rightness and the justness of God sending his people in to wipe out the Hittites and the Amalekites you just read some of the portions Leviticus chapter 18 is one of them where he speaks of some of the abominations and pollutions of the land into which the people of God were going the vilest kind of sins and uncleanness and God said it had come to the point where his judgment could tarry no longer and so he timed the exodus out of Egypt and subsequently the invasion of Canaan so that Israel might be his instrument of judgment upon the land of Canaan now you find the same concept in the 23rd chapter of Matthew in our Lord's dealings with the scribes and Pharisees Matthew chapter 23 notice verses 32 and 33 perhaps we should back up to verse 30 these people are building tombs to the sepulchers and the prophets and they say that is the scribes and Pharisees say to themselves if we had been in the days of our fathers we would not have killed the prophets we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets our Lord's going to tear away that mask

26:23 of self-deception wherefore ye be witnesses unto yourselves that ye are the children of them which killed the prophets fill ye up then the measure of your fathers your fathers by their rejection of the prophets have poured something into that cup now by your rejection of the last true prophet the Lord Jesus by your rejection of me he said you're bringing the cup to the point of the prescribed mark and what will follow when it reaches that mark notice the next verse ye serpents ye generation of vipers how can ye escape the damnation of hell when that prescribed mark is reached then judgment follows as a result this is why the apostle could say as he does now back to our passage in first Thessalonians two you fill up to fill up their sin always that obdurate opposition to the gospel was the last great expression of this general attitude all through the old testament they rejected the ministry and message of the prophets oh there were a few exceptions but by and large Christ could indict that whole nation as being the ones who slew the prophets and they were true sons of their forefathers in that the last two prophets stood amongst them and they cried out give us in his place Barabbas and crucify him and so he says this pattern is a pattern described by the word always to fill up

27:51 their sin always now what was the problem with the Jews all through this history why were they not struck with fear that they were filling up their sins to that mark where judgment would follow and I trust you'll listen carefully because here I believe is the crux of the word of the Lord to our own hearts this morning they thought that each rejection of the message of God was like a little drop of rejection that fell down into a boundless ocean of infinite mercy and kindness and the was completely absorbed into that ocean so that they could go on forever and ever slaying the prophets killing those who came in the name of Christ and Paul says what they didn't realize was that each rejection of a prophet was like a drop that was captured in a cup by God and on that cup was a mark and in their first rejection of Moses that great prophet and in their subsequent rejection of Elijah and Elijah and Isaiah and Jeremiah God says you thought that each rejection was just a drop once again spilling into the great ocean of my infinite mercy and kindness and this would go on forever and ever we're the covenant people of God we're his favorites has he not delivered us in the past oh sure we rejected his counsel and came down into judgment

29:20 but he delivered us he sent us a Joshua he sent us a Gideon he sent us mighty deliverers he brought us back out of captivity he established us again in the land and they misinterpreted their whole history for God says instead of those drops being dissipated in an ocean of infinite boundless mercy every one of them was captured in the cup of God's remembrance and in this generation to which the Lord Jesus came and subsequently the apostles that cup was getting more full and more full until the last drops was this rejection of the apostles and their message delivered in the name of Christ and shortly thereafter the next verse became true the next part of the verse wrath came upon them to the uttermost they misinterpreted the whole thing just as some of you today are misinterpreting your resolute rejection of the message of God's saving grace there are some of you young people who have been entreated time after time by parents by your pastor by your Sunday school teacher to forsake your sins to step down from off the throne room of the heart and vacate that throne for Jesus Christ its rightful heir and possessor and you have sensed the overtures

30:49 of God's mercy extended in this very building these walls are witness to the fact that the prophetic message of God has pierced your heart and what have you done you've rejected passed it off and you think that each time you do that rejection is a drop of rejection going down into a boundless ocean of infinite mercy and long suffering utterly dissipated and forgotten but oh dear young people it hasn't been forgotten there's a sense in which in the life of every individual God is a cup and there's a mark on it and there comes the point where those drops accumulate till that measure is reached and when it is there's only one thing left judgment judgment judgment it's true of some of you individuals here adults the mercy of God extended in the preaching of the word in the prayers of a godly husband or wife in the loving entreaty of friends rejected rejected rejected like the Jews you misinterpreted failing to realize that this is a filling up of the sin all way and then the issue of that in their lives is found in this phrase for the wrath is come upon them to the uttermost spend a few minutes just defining these words and then seeing their implication notice

The Wrath of God: Its Nature and Coming

32:18 it says the wrath not wrath in general but the wrath the clear implication being the wrath of God is come upon them to the uttermost and what is the wrath of God it is the positive infliction of the judgment of God no less than 25 to 30 times in the New Testament the wrath of God is mentioned with distinct reference to God now the problem with us is we can only think of wrath in a human context as something sinful we are told in Colossians 3.8 that we are to put off as Christians among other things wrath same word use 1st Timothy 2.8 says that men are to pray lifting up holy hands without wrath and without doubting for any wrath we have has mixed with it something of vindication something of our sinful and our depraved state so perhaps it would be better to translate the word wrath in this way the holy anger of God and its attendant punishment now see if it fits to fill up their sin all the way for the holy anger of God and its attendant punishment is come upon them to the uttermost when John said flee the wrath to come what was he telling them to flee not some sinful passion but the holy anger of God

33:47 and its attendant punishment and I believe if you use that little phrase and substitute it where the concept of the wrath of God is used it will fit and it will help communicate the biblical concept it is said in John chapter 3 that the wrath of God abideth on him that believeth not Romans chapter 1 the wrath of God is revealed from heaven it is that holy anger of God and its attendant punishment and the King James translation here says that wrath is come but the word is in what we would call in English the past tense wrath has come wrath came upon them to the uttermost in what sense has wrath already come it has already come in terms of the counsels of God God has determined from eternity wrath upon those who reject the message of his mercy coming through prophets coming through apostles coming through the Lord Jesus those who cast out that message wrath is determined upon them in this sense the scripture says of those who reject truth in the letter a letter of Jude that this condemnation was ordained of old and then wrath has already come upon the Jewish people in the sense of the pronouncement of God the Lord Jesus said

35:14 your house is left unto you desolate he prophesied of the absolute destruction of Jerusalem and said that not one stone would be left upon another in their most cherished temple then wrath had already come upon them in terms of the history of the world of the nation Paul is writing somewhere around 52 A.D. and profane history tells us that around 48 A.D.

35:39 there was a terrible judgment right in the city of Jerusalem at Passover time when at least 30,000 people were killed in a violent way and then of course Paul is speaking of that future judgment which from the standpoint of its certainty has already come to pass and he is able to use the statement wrath has come upon us to the uttermost that is to its full extent to its ultimate end to the place where mercy's doors will never again be open now thank God there are exceptions the elect of God within the nation as we read in Romans 9 and chapter 11 there will be a time when God will take a great number out of national Israel but in terms of his general dealings for the great periods of the history of the nation it is a nation under wrath the line on the cup was reached and judgment followed if we don't understand this I submit that we cannot understand in the first place the mystery of the Jews as a nation preserved uniquely by promise and yet plagued continually by judgments how can you understand that other nations who've received lesser judgments have vowed never to rise again other nations have risen to be free from their plagues but not this nation I read an article several months ago

37:08 by a young Jewish theologian who said these words and I'm just paraphrasing now he said I can no longer believe in the God that my forefathers believed in for this reason he said if I believe in the covenant God of Israel as taught in the Old Testament he said then I must believe that Hitler was God's instrument to punish the Jews as a nation and he says I can by no means accept this therefore the God who's revealed in the Old Testament is dead and he has adopted the God is dead theology of some of the new radical theologians but you see he got the point he saw that if God has any dealings with that nation his dealings for the great part are now dealings in judgment when they said there on the brink of the crucifixion of Christ his blood be upon us and our children the Lord took them at their word and the blood of Christ has been upon them and their children now this is not to stir up a feeling of anti-semitism no no not at all but simply to face squarely the implication of this passage that wrath is come upon them I submit in the second place that this passage unlocks the problem of the lingering judgment of God upon nations and individuals if you and I were to have stood in the midst of the Amorites and the Hittites and the Hittites just a few years before God sent the armies of Israel

38:37 under Joshua in to clear them out of the land we would have said oh God how can you be silent look at these abominations look at this gross idolatry look at this flaunting of your law the remains of which written upon the consciences of men Lord how long will you carry and God's answer would have been there's still a few more millimeters to rise in the cup but the line is fixed and when the sins and iniquities reach that line my judgment will fall this is the key to the lingering judgment of God upon our own nation someone was telling me they were talking to someone recently who was shocked someone who we have no reason to doubt is a true Christian shocked at the thought that God might judge America he said oh no God wouldn't do that we send out missionaries and we print so many Bibles you see that false philosophy that our sins are not captured in the cup of God's impending wrath but they simply sink into that ocean of God's infinite mercy and long-suffering oh no God alone knows where that line is on the cup but if the scripture teaches us anything and history teaches us anything I don't believe we need quarts more to fill the cup I believe we're down to drops and beloved that's the key that unlocks the history of individuals

40:06 it pains me to say what I'm going to have to say but if I'm true to the scripture I must say it some of us will be shocked when we see certain of our own young people in days ahead utterly and completely throw over everything that they've heard and perhaps for a time profess to believe and we're going to say how could it be how could it be I'll tell you how it could be by that continual resistance of the overtures of grace and the probings of the word and of the spirit they have been filling up the cup to where God gives them over and no longer strives and they become like the man in the iron cage who says God has denied me repentance does it strike fear to the hearts of some of you dear young people some of you adults how can it be is this perplexing you say people who one time seemed to be so tender and all the rest and now they can sin with a high hat and now they can spout their unbelief without any twinges of conscience what's happened wrath has come upon them to the uttermost the wrath of God in giving them up to hardness of heart now and all they're doing literally is marking time to the day of judgment like the man in the cage

The Supreme Fear: God's Wrath to the Uttermost

41:34 Bunyan's pilgrim's progress who knew that all the time he breathed in that cage every breath was just marking time for the day of judgment that's serious business isn't it see you're not playing with my words or the words of preachers these are the words of God words which if rejected each drop of rejection captured in the cup and so these words unlock the mystery to the Jews as a nation and their history they unlock the mystery of the lingering judgment of God upon individuals and upon nations and I want to close with this exhortation this morning if I were to ask you what is the one thing above all else that you ought to have as your supreme fear in life what would your answer be I see lots of people fearing the wrath of man the thought that we live uncomfortably close to Newark and the summer's getting hotter or getting closer and the days are getting hotter some of us fear what may bust loose on every hand around us here and we have genuine fear some of us fear what may happen if the talks in Paris go down compromise lane as they so often have in this kind of thing when principle will be sacrificed upon the altar

43:03 of political expediency some of us fear but what should our greatest fear be listen to the words of Christ 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 killed hath power to cast both soul and body into hell what should be your greatest fear I'll tell you what it should be that you should ever have it said of you the wrath is come upon him to the utmost let ten thousand hydrogen bombs explode over our heads make us nothing but a little handful of atoms the Lord says don't fear that let some of us fear that let some of us fear that let some foreign power come in and strip away every last human freedom and personal liberty the Lord says don't fear that but fear the wrath for it's wrath for the uttermost wrath that will never give way to mercy and you see the problem is that we misinterpret

44:32 God's present mercy as recorded in Romans chapter 2 and I ask you to turn for a moment to that passage we find this saying in Romans chapter 2 in Romans chapter 2 in Romans chapter 2 in Romans chapter 2 of a people who had no fear of the wrath of God in fact they felt they had good reasons not to fear it and notice what their reasons were verse 3 Romans 2 3 and thinkest thou O man that judges them which do these things and doest the same that thou shalt escape the judgment of God or despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and long suffering not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to death to repentance but after thy hardness and impenitent heart treasurest up unto thyself wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God you see what he's saying he's saying you people misinterpret the lingering of God's judgment you think that because as you walk in this course of open disobedience to the revealed will of God and to the truth of his word and the gospel of his son you feel that this is an indication that God is looking down with toleration that he does not burn in righteous and holy anger he said oh no what a terrible misinterpretation he said what is happening is the long suffering

45:59 and the mercy of God is holding back that righteous judgment with a view that you might be awakened and flee to him that the goodness of God might lead you to repent of your sin and your pride and your self-determined will and weigh and flee to his son but you misinterpret that you think you think that you're going on in this way and that God is apparently indifferent and each day he said adds a little weight to the treasure house of the wrath of God and one day that great vault will be opened and all the treasure you've stored up every sermon you've heard every tearful entreaty that has been uttered in your presence every prayer every longing desire of the saints of God for your salvation all of that will be in that great treasure house and when the vault doors are opened the wrath of God will come tumbling upon your head and all the prayers of a godly wife and a godly father and a godly mother and a godly neighbor and all the entreaties of an earnest pastor and an earnest Sunday school he said you'll meet as a treasure house of wrath when it should have been the means of leading you to see mercy some of us can remember when they still used scales in the stores I'm really dating myself here and you can remember

47:29 when the weight was put on the one end of the scale the little five pound weight and maybe they were weighing out some beans or some sugar and they put the first big scoop on and the scale was like this and then when they got near the end they'd sprinkle out a few grains and then it seemed just one or two grains and all of a sudden the scale would begin to rise just the one or two grains and the scale balanced oh beloved that's the picture how many grains are you away from the cup being full the balance that now is weighted down with the long suffering and mercy of God but that will ultimately give way to the judgment of God and I say to you if you've been savingly joined to Christ and awakened from the wrath to come how your heart should be filled with praise that this phrase will never be pronounced over you wrath is come upon him to the uttermost for we read in 1 Thessalonians 5 9 God hath not appointed us true believers he hath not appointed us to wrath but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ oh may God fill our hearts with some measure of gratitude that the Lord Jesus bore the brunt of the Father's wrath for us and if we are healed hidden in the Savior's side and by the Spirit sanctified we need not fear

48:58 his wrath for us but we stand in the midst of men and women upon whom that wrath hangs today may God sober us with a fresh concern that we might in no way either by life or conduct or lip hinder the saving message from getting through to them that they might turn from being the objects of wrath and become the objects of his mercy Paul's indictment on the Jews contains much sober instruction and application for us for he says in Romans 11 be not high-minded but fear when you see how God dealt with them don't be high-minded but fear but be spared not the natural branches how much less will he spare you let us pray