The Wrath Of God

INTRO.- ILL.- On one occasion Col. Robert G. Ingersoll, the agnostic lecturer of the last century, was announced to give a lecture on hell. He declared he would prove conclusively that hell was a wild dream of some scheming theologians who invented it to terrify people. As he was launching into his subject, a half-drunken man arose in the audience and exclaimed, "Make it strong, Bob. There's a lot of us poor fellows depending on you. If you are wrong, we are all lost. So be sure you prove it clear and plain."

God’s wrath or righteous anger expressed in any form, including hell, is something that people don’t want to hear about or perhaps haven’t heard about in a long time.

ILL.- Leighton Ford (Associate evangelist to Billy Graham) wrote these words: “Many things we don't know about hell. But Jesus and the New Testament writers used every image in their power to tell us that hell is real, it's terrible, it's something to be feared, and something to avoid. In his description of the last judgment, Jesus taught that some would go to eternal punishment, some to eternal life (Matt. 25:46). In other words, hell will be as real and as lasting as heaven.

“The horror of hell is not physical pain. After all, the Bible tells us hell was "prepared for the devil and his angels" (Matt. 25:41), and they're not physical beings. Rather the fire and outer darkness and the thirst depict spiritual separation from God, moral remorse, the consciousness that one deserves what he's getting.

“Hell is disintegration -- the eternal loss of being a real person. In hell the mathematician who lived for his science can't add two and two. The concert pianist who worshiped himself through his art can't play a simple scale. The man who lived for sex goes on in eternal lust, with no body to exploit. The woman who made a god out of fashion has a thousand dresses but no mirror! Hell is eternal desire -- eternally unfulfilled.

“But there's another side. G.K. Chesterton once remarked, "Hell is God's great compliment to the reality of human freedom and the dignity of human personality." Hell, a compliment? Yes, because God is saying to us, "You are significant. I take you seriously. Choose to reject me -- choose hell if you will. I will let you go."

“God’s wrath is expressed or demonstrated in hell, a place that no man should desire. And yet, people of all ages have joked about it as if there is no such thing or that should no one would really experience it.”

Peter Kreeft said: The national anthem of hell is, "I Did It My Way."

C. S. Lewis: “There are only two kinds of people in the end: those who say to God, "Thy will be done," and those to whom God says, in the end, "Thy will be done." All that are in Hell, choose it. Without that self-choice there could be no Hell. No soul that seriously and constantly desires joy will ever miss it. Those who seek find. Those who knock it is opened. ”

J. Vernon McGee: “Don't say that a loving God is going to send you to hell - He's not. The thing that's going to send you to hell is that you're a sinner and you don't want to admit it.”

PROP.- The wrath of God is too hot to handle. This text shows heat from the wrath of God toward mankind.

1- God’s wrath is revealed from heaven

2- God’s wrath is reserved for the ungodly

3- God’s wrath is restrained from the godly

I. GOD’S WRATH IS REVEALED FROM HEAVEN

18 The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness, 19 since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. 20 For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.

God’s wrath. Not WILL BE revealed. It already is revealed and will continue to be revealed. Can you think of any examples of God’s wrath being revealed? I can. He’s sitting in jail for 150 years, but he won’t live that long. Guess who? Bernie Madoff.

It seems to me that Bernie’s jail sentence could be an example of God’s wrath on his life for cheating so many people out of their life savings. Of course, that’s not all of God’s wrath on his life. It could be a whole lot more unless he repents and turns to Christ, which is doubtful he will.

The beginning of God’s wrath is seen in this world on the lives of some people who continue to persist in doing evil. Of course, some many only experience God’s wrath when they leave this world. And it will certainly be enough.