SCRIPTURE: Matthew 3:7 "flee from the wrath to come?"
Titus 3:5 "Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost;"
Romans 5:9 "Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him."
PROPOSITION: To use these texts and others to show that there is a day of wrath coming, and that there is nothing that anyone has ever done by way of self effort that will save them from the penalty of sin, and also to show that Christ at Calvary shed his blood, suffered and died in the sinners place to provide a way that God can be just and the justifier of all them that come to God through Christ.
1. Why there must be a day of wrath.
A. Because all sin is infinitely evil by nature, it is the ragging of our hearts against the sovereign pleasure of an infinitely good and loving God, and deserves everything that the wages of unrightousness will reward it with, it is only fitting that sin should see God's frown in judgement, and hear the dreadful words "depart from me ye cursed into everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angles"
2.There is nothing that you have ever done that will save you from the wrath to come.
A. Churchianity or any amount of good works will not save sinners, some may think if they preach in the name of Christ or do some wonderful works that this will give them a ticket to heaven, but Jesus warned that many would trust in this type of splendid nothingness. Matthew 7:21-23 "Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity."
B. Baptism can not save it is only a figure of the death, burial and resurrection of Christ. Some may put confidence in their baptism seeking a salvation through it, but this type of false doctrine implies that the vicarious death of Christ was unnecessary, and it also implies that Christ who was infinite perfection was seeking salvation for himself when he was immersed by water. but Christ made it clear that his baptism was "to fulfil all righteousness" not to gain righteousness. Matthew 3:13-16 "Then cometh Jesus from Galilee to Jordan unto John, to be baptized of him. But John forbad him, saying, I have need to be baptized of thee, and comest thou to me? And Jesus answering said unto him, Suffer it to be so now: for thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness. Then he suffered him. And Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straightway out of the water: and, lo, the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon him:"
C. The Lords supper is practiced by believers and false believers around the world, remember that in the upper room Judas was there and yet when he died he went "to his own place" he was the "son of perdition" the communion he partook of did not transform his heart, after Christ had diped the sop he set out to see that Christ would be murdered, and after his success, he murdered himself. He went from the hell within him to the hell beneath him and he is in hell today. So if communion could save, why didn't it? Matthew 26:24 "woe unto that man by whom the Son of man is betrayed! it had been good for that man if he had not been born."
3. There is nothing that you could do before you leave this earth that would save you from wrath to come.
A. Hiding from God is futile, His wrath will find you and bring you before his tribunal to give an account of every evil work, and every idle word, and you will find yourself wholly lost. Revelation 6:15-17 "And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every free man, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains; And said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb: For the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?"
4.) There is nothing that you could do after entering into the next world that will mitigate or lessen God's just wrath.
A.God's wrath will be poured out upon vile contemptable sinners who opposed his moral government and trampled his glorious unfathomable majesty in the service of Satan. Those who take arms against the most high and join hand in hand will be broken in pieces as an iron rod would dash a potters vessel. Psalms 2:9 "Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron; thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel"
5.) Why does the blood of Christ have the power to justify and cleanse even the chief of sinners?
A. The virtue and value of Christs blood is inconceivable and incomprehensible, it can make the vilest offenders of the law clean and even whiter than snow, so that it can be said that they are "the spirits of just men made perfect" this moral perfection is found only in Christ, so it behooves all sinners to be found in him.
Isaiah 1:18 "Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool."
CONCLUSION: The day of wrath is coming and God alone will be exalted in judgment. sinners will know that trusting in their righteousness was a vain confidence, but God who is rich in mercy has provided a way for the unclean to be clean and to walk in the way of holiness, and this way is in his beloved Son who took our sins and "for the joy that was set before him indured the cross and despised the shame."
