The Anger and Joy of God
Psalm 37:1-6
This morning I want to speak with you from the Word of God on something rather unusual - The Anger and Joy of God. I dare say that as I have prepared for this morning, I have come to realize that God is angry, and we tend to misunderstand how angry He really is, and God is joyful, and we tend to misunderstand how joyful He really is. We do not like the idea of God being overly angry or overly joyful. We somehow feel it may compromise His balance, and look like sin on the one hand and frivolousness on the other. Yet I believe God is both - He can be and is indignantly angry, and He can be and is ecstatically joyful.
Here is what we need to understand - when God is angry at something or someone, He brings great judgment to bear on that person or that thing. When God is joyful at something or someone, He brings great blessing to bear upon that person or that thing.
As a culture and as a Church, we like to look at the blessing side of the equation don’t we. We enjoy the fact that God exalt the humble and blessing His children with abundance and meets their needs, promises them safety and the list of God’s goodness goes on and on. And that emphasis it good and true, because God is a loving benevolent God.
But the other side of the equation is just as true. When God is angry at a nation, He judges that nation - and He judges it severely. Three times in the Old Testament God judges Israel significantly. In 722 BC Israel was ransacked by the Assyrians because of their sins and taken off into captivity. They recovered. Then in 586 BC the city of Jerusalem was destroyed by the Babylonians because of their sins. And the same thing again in AD 70 by the Romans.
So the question we need to ask is this: - What brings about the judgment of God? Good question - the answer is simple - the behavior of man. Do you understand that everyone who is in Hell is in hell because of his or her behavior? That is not how you get to heaven, but that is how you get to Hell. People who go to Hell go to Hell because of how they lived. But people who go to heaven go to heaven because of how Jesus Christ lived. He lived a perfect life as our substitute, actively obeying God’s law in our place and He took your judgment and my judgment, your sin and my sin on himself.
But the behavior of man stirs up God’s anger and brings about His wrath here below. In dealing with Israel’s sin and the coming judgment in AD 70 Jesus says in Matthew 32:23, "Fill up, then, the measure of the guilt of your fathers."
It is almost as if Jesus were telling them that there is a judicial scale, and on the one side of the scale is the good a nation does and on the other side of the scale is the evil a nation does. On the one side is a nation obeying the law of God, a nation following justice and living for God. And on the other side of the scale is a nation disobeying God, going its own way, committing acts of injustice. And Israel was, at that time, living on the wrong side. And Jesus is warning them saying they should be careful, because there is a tipping point, and when the scale tips, God judges that nation.
What Makes God Angry and lead to judgment?
So what sorts of things does God tell us in His Word He will judge nations for?
1. Apostasy
What is apostasy? Apostasy is simply turning away from God.
"For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles. Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator - who is for ever praised. Amen" (Romans 1:21-25).
What is the Bible saying here? It is saying that apostasy from God calls down the judgment of God.
2. Sexual Immorality
It is openly affirming sexual immorality. It is a sin that calls down the judgment of God. All you have to do is read the 18th chapter of Genesis. God wiped out Sodom and Gomorrah because of what? Because of sexual immorality.
Country
Porn Pages
%
United States
244,661,900
88.51%
Germany
10,030,200
3.63%
United Kingdom
8,506,800
3.08%
Australia
5,655,800
2.05%
Japan
2,700,800
0.98%
The Netherlands
1,883,800
0.68%
Russia
1,080,600
0.39%
Poland
1,049,600
0.38%
Spain
852,800
0.31%
Total
276,422,300
100%
3. Shedding of Innocent Blood
Shedding innocent blood is why did God judge Israel? Listen to these words for 2 Kings 24:3-4;
"Surely these things happened to Judah according to the LORD’s command, in order to remove them from his presence because of the sins of Manasseh and all he had done, including the shedding of innocent blood. For he had filled Jerusalem with innocent blood, and the LORD was not willing to forgive" (2 Kings 24:3-4).
Precious believer, since Roe vs. Wade in 1973, there have been over 50 million abortions in America - over 50 million. Do you realize that that is one and a half times the death toll from 9/11 every single day for the last 35 years. On 9/11 reports agree that 2973 people died. We have kill 4013 babies in abortion clinics and backroom each and every day since 1973.
Apostasy
Sexual Immorality
Shedding Innocent Blood
I believe for these three sins God is and will judge the nation of America. It was Dr. Billy Graham who said that if God does not judge America He will have to apologize to Sodom and Gomorrah.
It is important to know about the anger and judgment of God - but folks, that is just part of the truth. There is another great part of this truth - and that is that while there are some things that make God angry, there are many, many, many things that give Him joy.
In Luke 15 there is the story we all know about a father who had two sons - we call it the Prodigal Son. That is really not a good title for the story because it is not primarily a story about the Prodigal Son. In fact, there are two sons in the story. But more importantly it is a story about the father. I would like to have renamed it to The Loving Father or The Forgiving Father - or perhaps even The Joyful Father.
Please open your Bibles to Luke 15, I want to show you some incredible truths about the joy of God.
While you are turning there - did you know that Luke 15 is really one of the great party chapters of the Bible. In it there are three parties, three over the top expressions of rejoicing, three great celebrations. The first one comes out of a story that Jesus tells from verses 3-7 about a man who lost one of his hundred sheep, went out and found that sheep and brought it back and called all of his neighbors to have a party and to celebrate because he had found the sheep that was lost.
And then Jesus tells another story about a woman who lost one of 10 coins and, of course, went through the hard effort of searching everywhere in the dusty house until she had found the coin. And she, too, calls her friends and they have a celebration of joy because the lost coin had been found.
And in the third story there is a son who is lost and a son who is found—or, better yet, a son who is, for all intents and purposes dead and who is brought back to life again in the language of the story itself—and the father puts on a celebration, invites the entire village to come to the party.
John 15:7, "I tell you that in the same manner as the celebration over the sheep, in the same manner there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over 99 who need no repentance because they deem themselves righteous."
And in verse 10, the second parable is applied, "In the same way I tell you there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents."
And in the third story there is one sinner who repents and there is a subsequent party and therefore the same conclusion can be drawn. This is about three parties all symbolizing one great celebration in heaven over one sinner who repents.
There are a number of verses that teach us that God is a God of great joy.
In Isaiah 62:5, "as a bridegroom rejoices over the Bride, so your God will rejoice over you."
Zephaniah 3:16-17 "The Lord your God is in your midst. He will rejoice over you with shouts." God has so much joy that He yells.
Now this is a little bit different for us, isn’t it? We don’t think of God as wildly, over the top hollering because He is so full of joy. We think about God a serious and somber and perhaps even morose and weighted down with massive awareness of the wretchedness of sin and its presence in His universe.
But did you realize that God is not like that. God experiences exhilarating joy - and He gets so excited that He yells at the top of His voice.
Where does God get this joy? He gets it from at least four places.
God delights in His Son (Mark 1:11)
God delights when one sinner repents (Luke 15:7, 10).
God delights in Obedience - 1 Samuel 15:22-23 "Has the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord?"
God delights over you - Zephaniah 3:17 "The Lord your God is in your midst, A victorious warrior. He will exult over you with joy, He will be quiet in His love, He will rejoice over you with shouts of joy."
As a matter of fact, did you know that according to Isaiah 62:4 "It will no longer be said to you, "Forsaken," (Azubah) Nor to your land will it any longer be said, "Desolate" (Shemamah); But you will be called, "My delight is in her," (Hephzibah) And your land, "Married" (Beulah); For the Lord delights in you, And to Him your land will be married."
So here is the point I want to make this morning.
God is, I believe, going to judge America. He is angry because . . .
Apostasy
Sexual Immorality
Shedding Innocent Blood
But if you will flee to God He will protect you in the judgment against this nation.
So is America under the judgment of God? Absolutely. Is God’s judgment going to lighten up? Not at all unless people repent en masse.
So what do you do when a nation is under the judgment of God and you live in it? Here is what you do. Psalm 37, go with me verse by verse. We will skip over a bunch so you can read them privately:
Psalm 37:1-2 "Do not fret because of evil men or be envious of those who do wrong; for like the grass they will soon wither, like green plants they will soon die away."
Psalm 37:3 What do you do when all hell is breaking loose around you? "Trust in the LORD and do good; dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture."
Psalm 37:4 "Delight yourself in the LORD and he will give you the desires of your heart."
Psalm 37:5-6"Commit your way to the LORD; trust in him and he will do this: He will make your righteousness shine like the dawn."
You see my friend, God loves you - and He may judge this nation but there is a way to be on the other side of that equation - on the joy side.
God rejoices over us when we are born again . . . and God rejoices over His children.
That is why Nehemiah 8:10 says, "for the joy of the Lord is your strength."
This morning as we close I need to ask you a question. Are you, by your behavior and your choices evoking God’s judgment or engaging God’s joy?
Let us pray.
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