Subject Thirteen

“WHERE ARE YOU?”—UNDER WRATH

Scripture: Gen. 3:9; John 3:36; Eph. 2:3; Rom. 1:18; Rev. 14:10; Rom. 5:1

1. God’s righteousness cannot tolerate sin
   God’s righteousness provokes God to anger, because conflict occurs as soon as God’s righteousness encounters man’s sins. This conflict is the wrath. A reaction takes place when two things collide. Give examples. When a cup falls and hits the ground, it will shatter. Likewise, when God’s righteousness encounters man’s sins, God’s wrath is provoked.
2. God’s righteousness keeps God from accepting man
   When God first created man, God loved man the best; man was the chief delight of God’s heart. But man’s sins offended God’s righteousness and kept God from accepting man.
3. The proof of man’s conscience
   Man clearly knows within himself that he has provoked God to wrath and has become abhorred by God. All the uneasiness and condemnation of the conscience prove that God is not pleased with man. In their conscience many people are afraid of God and dare not think about Him. Many have been in terror at the time of death because they know that they must meet God, but they were afraid to see God’s face. On the other hand, many Christians have passed away peacefully, with smiling faces, because they knew that they were freed from God’s wrath.
4. The proof of man’s circumstances
   The negative aspect of man’s numerous situations and circumstances also proves that God is not pleased with man. Such things as sickness, disaster, sufferings, distress, and so on, are proof that God is not pleased with man. The crafty ones are rewarded with trickery, and the evil ones never die peacefully. The violent ones are troubled within their hearts and also in their outward circumstances. These all prove that man is under God’s wrath.
5. The reason that the wrath is not yet manifested
   1. God’s wrath upon man is like the thunder that is about to come. John 3:36 says that God’s wrath abides on him, but it has not yet erupted.
   2. The reason it has not yet erupted is that God is giving you an opportunity.
   3. If you would not repent at all, eventually God’s wrath will erupt.
6. How to avoid the wrath
   1. The Lord Jesus has received God’s wrath in our stead, because on the cross He drank the cup of bitterness, which was the cup of God’s wrath (Rev. 14:10). A cup is a portion; God’s wrath is the portion we deserve. The Lord Jesus took it for us, and He drank the cup of wrath in our stead.
   2. If we confess our sins and accept the Lord as our Savior, we will be freed from God’s wrath, we will be accepted by God, and reconciled to God.