Nice to be back. I trust that your fellowship with our brother Merle Dodd is a real blessing to you. He's a fine brother. He loves the Lord. He served the Lord a number of years in Africa. And he had a number of times that he was there. I know of at least twenty-one years in Ethiopia and other times in the Sudan. I invite you to turn with me this morning to the book of Naeem. Nam chapter one. Today we want to follow what we had a few weeks ago on the holiness of God. Today we want to deal with the holy wrath of God or the holy justice of God. Nam chapter one verse one where we read the burden of Nineveh, the book of the vision of Nehemiah. God is jealous and the Lord revenges. The Lord revengeth and is furious. The Lord will take vengeance on his adversaries and he reserveth wrath for his enemies. The Lord is slow to anger and great in power and will not at all acquit the wicked. The Lord hath his way in the whirlwind and in the storm and the clouds of the dust of his feet. He rebuketh the sea and maketh it dry and dryeth up all the rivers, basin languisheth. and Carmel and the flower of Lebanon languisher. The mountains quake at him, and the hills melt, and the earth is burned at his presence, yea, the world and all that dwell therein. Who can stand before his indignation, and who can abide in the fierceness of his anger? His fury is poured out like fire, and the rocks are thrown down by him. The word is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble. And he knoweth them that trust in him, but with an overrunning flood he will make an utter end of the place thereof, and darkness shall pursue his enemies. May the Lord bless the reading of his word. Let us pray. Our Father, in the precious name of our Lord Jesus Christ, we ask you that as we multiply words upon the sacred text, that our hearts may be open to receive the truth that is here. For this truth is so important, for thou art absolute in your holiness and absolute in your justice. And your wrath is just as real as your love. Help us, O God of our praise, to so speak that we may indeed honor and magnify thee with the words spoken. For we pray in the name and for the sake of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. Now in our last study together a few weeks ago, we examined the attribute that is central, that should be central in our thinking concerning God, that of the holiness of God. Today we want to continue to consider God's holiness as it relates. to his justice and his wrath. The holiness of God in Isaiah six related to the salvation of Isaiah. Here, today we want to notice how his holiness relates to his justice and his wrath. Now, it is impossible to examine this subject in its entirety. So today we'll have a half of a message. And a few weeks from now we'll have the other half. In the meantime, we're going to be dealing, as you noted in the bulletin, on the subject of baptism and church membership. However, the subject of God's holy wrath is a vital concern, not only to the whole church, but for the individual. In verse two, we note the words, God is jealous, and the Lord revenges. The Lord revenges and is furious. The Lord will take vengeance on his adversaries, and he reserveth the wrath for his enemies. From that verse we can say, first of all, that God is an angry God. God is a wrathful God. God is a God who will punish sinners. He will punish sinful creatures. This truth is not very difficult if you believe what the Word of God says. The anger and wrath of God is found throughout the Old Testament. And it is also found in the New Testament. It was taught by the Apostle Paul in Second Thessalonians chapter one and chapter two and in other places. You see, the seventh Psalm and the eleventh verse says, God judges the righteous and God is angry with the wicked every day. The anger of God is a very real thing. Now, there are expressions of God's wrath in the world. Famine, earthquakes, pestilence, sickness, persecution. Great examples are the flood of Noah, the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, the plagues upon Egypt, and the removal of seven nations greater than Israel when Joshua and the Israelites entered the land of Canaan. These are all expressions of the anger of God against sin and the wrath of God against the enemies of God. God punished Israel also for her unfaithfulness. And God judges the people of God. And he punished Israel. He sent them into captivity. The Word of God teaches us that God gives men over to their own lust. If a person desires something, God will give it to them. He will let man have his own way. Finally, God will sentence the sinner who wanted his own way to the lake of fire. He'll sentence him to hell. God is an angry God. God punishes all kinds of sin. He punishes immorality, greed, lying, stealing, you name it. Whatever the sin is that is not going to escape, the holy God of heaven. and God's justice will pursue it. Now modern man doesn't agree with it. And in our modern society, in the news media, even in the modern church, to believe that God is a God of wrath as well as a God of love is unacceptable. To think that God would punish sinners is absurd to a lot of people, but it is tough in the word of God. To many even so-called professing Christians, it seems that we must apologize for speaking about the anger and the wrath of God. But we don't need to apologize to many that the anger of God is a blemish on the divine character. But that is wrong thinking. The divine character is perfect. holy and absolute. Therefore, we don't want to think about it. The wrath of God is something that man puts out of his mind as far away as possible. But you see, when we deny the wrath of God and we deny that God is holy, then we create a God according to our own ideas. How many gods are there? Does everybody have one of their own? The Word of God declares there is but one God. Our God is the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, the God who thundered from Mount Sinai when he gave the law, and the God who rained fire and brimstone on Sodom and Gomorrah. This is the God of the Bible. God revealed himself in fire and in avenging wrath. To acknowledge this truth, is to stand squarely against the spirit of our age. But while acknowledging this truth, we stand squarely upon the teaching of the word of God about God. So we want to deal with a question this morning. For the past number of Lord's days, as we go back, we've been dealing with the attributes of God. How God has revealed himself. And this morning I want to ask the question, is the wrath of God an attribute of God? If you read James I. Packer, whom I love dearly, and his writings are wonderful, he says yes. If you read Arthur Pink, who's writing, Garong, very much, Arthur Pink says yes. But I'm not sure. And the reason I say that, I want to make you think. You see, I believe. that the justice of God is one of his attributes, and the holiness of God is one of his attributes, and I am inclined to believe that the wrath of God is a response rather than an attribute, a response to the sin in man. It's a response of God's holiness and God's justice to man's sins. Now, wrath and anger are responses. God has always been holy, and God has always been just. Before God created moral beings, there was no wrath in the Godhead. God had no reason to be angry. But God was just, and God was holy. But when sin raised the trouble they had, then the response of God's holiness and the response of God's justice became a reality. It became a reality to Satan and the angels who followed him. And it became a reality in the human family for by one man sin entered into the world and death by sin. And there has been death ever since Adam and Eve. God's wrath and anger were displayed when sin entered the world. Another question we have to ask is this. Why does God get angry? Why does God get angry? And it's very easy to answer. God gets angry because he is holy, holy, holy. and his anger is a righteous response. He responds to sin with righteous anger. The scriptures tell us that holiness and justice are the foundation of the very throne of God. Now, God is not vindictive, nor does he delight in wrath, but he punishes because he is holy, holy, Holy. Let me make a statement. Technically, sin is never forgiven. The Word of God speaks about the forgiveness of sin, doesn't it? But technically, it is never forgiven. There is only one remedy for sin. And that remedy for sin is judgment. And either a person has his sin judged at a place called Calvary in the person of God's dear son, or he will suffer in the lake of fire forever. The wrath of God is a very real thing. And when we look at the cross on Calvary's hill, We see the wrath of God demonstrated in a most unique way. The cross of Christ, and it was there that the Son of God, the lovely Savior of sinners, he suffered the punishment for our sins. Remember our Lord in the Garden. In the Garden of Gethsemane, he prayed, Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me. What was the cup? Christ was looking in the cup of God's wrath with all the divine horror that's associated with the wrath of God against sin and against sinners. His holiness demanded it, and His justice pursued it. And there it came face to face. with a son of God in the Garden of Gethsemane on the cross in Calvary's Hill, Christ drank the cup. And when he drank that cup, he cried out, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? We sang this morning at the Lord's Supper. Death and the curse were in our cup. O Christ is full for thee. But thou hast drained the last dark drop. It is empty now for me. That bitter cup loved drank enough. Left but the love for me. You see, friends, holiness and sin cannot coexist. Sin must be punished. For God is always just. Turn with me, if you will, to the tenth chapter of Leviticus, the third book of the Bible. Leviticus chapter ten. In Leviticus chapter ten, we have two boys, Nadab and Abihu. They're priests. They're sons of Aaron, the high priests. And they offer strange fire before God. Leviticus chapter ten verse one and Nadab and Abihu the sons of Aaron took either of them his censer and put fire therein and put incense thereon and offered strange fire before the Lord which he commanded them not and there went up fire from the Lord and devoured them and they died before the Lord sin and holiness cannot coexist. The righteous anger of God snatched those two priests. And they were consumed before the Lord. How would you feel if you were Aaron their father? Aaron was a high priest. His two older sons were taken in death before the Lord. Notice the third verse. Then Moses said unto Aaron, This is not the Lord spake, saying, I will be sanctified. Remember four weeks ago we took up that word sanctified. It is a Latin form of the word holiness. I will be declared holy. It could be translated. In them that come near me. And before all the people I will be glorified. And Aaron held his peace. Aaron had nothing to say. To boy, he's gone. The wrath of God demonstrated because of his holiness. You see, beloved, in conviction, my mouth is shut before God. Romans three, verse nineteen. For we know that whatsoever the law saith, it saith to them that are under the law that every mouth may be stopped. and all the world may become guilty before God. But once I'm saved, you see, my mouth is opened in testimony to the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. What a difference. Do you have a testimony for God this morning concerning his saving grace or is your mouth stopped? Nothing to say. What is wrath? Four Sundays ago I told you what wrath is. Wrath is the product of the encounter of sin with the holiness of God. That's wrath. Let me ask you a question. How do you punish sin? You that are parents, how do you punish sin in your children's? Well, you discipline them. You chastise them. You see, how does society punish sin? They deal with a criminal. How is God going to punish sin? He's going to deal with the one who committed it, just as parents deal with their children. God is going to punish the sinner if he has yet any sin. There's a way out, friends. And we're going to talk about that in a few minutes. There's a way out. The Lord Jesus said, if you die in your sins, whither I go, you cannot come. You either die in your sins, friends, or you die in Christ. If you die in Christ, you're saved and saved because you have come to the cross on Calvary's Hill. And God judged sin, not in you, but in the substitute. But if you die in your sins, your sins yet await a awful judgment of a holy God, and you will be sentenced to a lost eternity. The good news is today is a day of salvation. Today you can be saved. Now, just as Aaron was silent in the presence of Moses, you and I are going to be silent. at the awful revelation of God's wrath. At the great light throne, sinners will be convinced that God is just and righteous in sending them to hell. You see, God is an angry God, and God will punish sin, but God does not explode. at the first evidence of sin. When you read the hundred-third psalm, when you read the second chapter of Joel, Joel two-thirteenth, Exodus chapter thirty-four, verse seven, Nehemiah chapter one, verse three, they all teach us something, that God is slow to anger. You see, the Old Testament is not so much a record of the wrath of God as it is a record of the Patience of God. God is slow to anger. He is long-suffering. Look how long he put up with Pharaoh. Look how long he put up with me. God is slow to anger. I talked with a man this past Monday in Bermuda. Sunday night, as he was coming home from church, He said, boy, he said, you gave me an awful lot to think about. He's eighty-five years of age. I went up to his home on Monday morning. I said to him, Mr. Barnes, if you were to die today, are you in Christ? Are you saved? He said, I hope so. My answer to him was, you have a right to know so. And I'd never be satisfied. with a hope so. I want to know so. Don't toy with your never dying soul. He said, I have a lot to think about. He does. Sin provokes God and sin as God who is righteous and holy. to curse the sinner. And one day God's wrath will break for him. Notice the third verse. The Lord is slow to anger and great in power and will not at all acquit the wicked. The Lord hath his way in the whirlwind and in the storm and the clouds of the dust of his feet. God's anger will break forth. Now let us apply these truths to our own soul. Application number one. Because God is a God of holy justice, you need to repent and to trust in Christ. And I'm speaking to you this morning if you're lost. If you've never been cleansed by the blood of Christ, if you have never come to Calvary and have seen what God did there to the person of Christ, for there God dealt with sin. God made him who knew no sin, to be sin for us, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. And you are the enemy of God. If you've never been born of God, you're his enemy. John three thirty-six says, He that believeth on the Son of God has everlasting life. But he that believeth not God shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him. And that word speaks like a sword over your head, just hanging there by a thread. And that thread is your breath. And if God cuts off your breath, the sword will strike. There is a line by us unseen that crosses every path. It is the boundary line between God's mercy and and God's wrath. There is a time by us unknown. A place we know not where, but it marched to destiny a man for glory or despair. You see, it's a terrifying thing to fall in the hands of a righteous God. Turn with me to the tenth of Hebrews. Hebrews chapter ten we need to read these verses beginning at verse twenty six Hebrews ten twenty six where we read for if we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins but a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation which shall devour the adversaries. He that despised Moses' law died without mercy under two or three witnesses of how much sorrow or punishment suppose ye shall he be thought worthy who hath trodden underfoot the Son of God and hath counted the blood of the covenant where which he was sanctified and unholy things and hath done desperate under the Spirit of Grace. For we know him that hath said, Vengeance may longeth unto me, I will repay, saith the Lord. You see, my friend, if you're here, because God is a God of holy justice, you have but one option. Your option is either Christ or perish, which is Application number two. Because God is a God of holy justice, we must be certain that we are saved and saved. There must be a certainty about your eternal destiny. You see, the stakes are too high to gamble with your eternal soul. The stakes are too high. The wrath of God is not a fairy tale, friends. It's real. And Peter said in Second Peter chapter one and verse ten, give diligence to make your calling and election sure. Give diligence to know that you have genuinely been called of God. I wouldn't rest for a moment in a prayer that I prayed twenty years ago. If I wasn't obedient to Christ today. I'm serious about that. The Word of God says in John ten, My sheep hear my voice and they follow me. You see, beloved, we can talk about something that took place twenty years ago. But am I obedient to Christ today? The Lord says his sheep follow. and they endure to the end. God is a God of holy justice. I want to be sure that I'm saved and saved. Application number three. Because God is a God of holy justice, you ought to pity the wicked. There's no need to be angry with those that are lost. They're going to get the reward. We must pity them. We should not be like the psalmist in Psalm seventy-three, who was envious over the wicked because they increased in riches. Everything they did, a full cup was poured into their lap. There's no need to be envious of the wicked. And what the wicked are able to amass, you see. There's no need to envy a proud man with all he's pumped and he shows. Why not? I wouldn't then be a proud man with all these pomp and show any more than I would. A wreath of flowers on a corpse. What do we do? We pity them. For the person is lost. They don't need our wrath. They need our pity. To be last is the worst possible thing and the worst possible condition for anybody to be in. Application number four. Because God is a God of holy justice, we must warn the wicked. And this message today is basically a message of warning. How do we warn men? We preach the gospel of Christ. We tell sinners. What a lovely Savior. Christ is what He endured on our behalf at the cross on Calvary's Hill. You see, hell is real and God is just. Proverbs, verse eleven, it speaks to us. We cannot say in our heart we didn't know concerning those who are drawn unto death. We can't say that. We do know. Second Corinthians chapter five, verse ten says, for we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ to receive the rewards for the deeds done in the body, whether they were good or bad. The next verse says, knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men. Our God is a holy God. And the holiness of God has been manifested at various times down through the history of man, the flood of Noah, Sodom and Gomorrah. And other times, and we cry out, knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men. Oh, we cry out, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Don't gamble with your soul. He that has the Son has life. and he that hath not the Son of God hath not lied. Application number five. Because God is a God of holy justice, we must live carefully in the fear of the Lord. We, as referenced to believers, we must live carefully in the fear of the Lord. Our greatest fear should be to offend God. Our greatest joy should be the pleasing. Our greatest joy should be the pleasing. Matthew chapter ten verse twenty eight our Lord says don't fear him who is able to destroy the body but rather fear him who is able to destroy both body and soul in hell. we fear him we learn who God is and we learn what pleases him we seek to live carefully I'd like you to turn over to Hebrews chapter twelve and verse twenty eight we ought to begin reading at verse twenty six at verse twenty five see that ye refuse not him that speaketh for if they escape not who refused him that speak on earth much more shall not we escape if we turn away from him that speaketh from heaven whose voice then should be earth but now he hath promised saying yet once more I shake not the earth only but also heaven And this word yet once more signifies the removing of those things which are shaken as of things that are made, that those things which cannot be shaken may remain. What can't be shaken, friends? What can't be shaken that will remain? Verse twenty eight, wherefore we receiving a kingdom that cannot be moved. The paltry things of this life are worth nothing in comparison to the kingdom that multitudes of people just fritter away and prefer this world and what this world offers. We receiving a kingdom that cannot be moved, let us have grace whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and with godly fear. Why? For our God is a consuming fire. I ask you, let not your heart become cold toward the Lord. The holy wrath of God is very real. And a word for you today is the day of salvation. Or if you're here without Christ. Don't put it all. Don't put it all. There's no better time than today. Today is the day of salvation. The difference between heaven and hell is a person. And that person is Jesus Christ the Lord. Sin is remitted. when a person comes and realizes that the judgment of God, which deserves to fall on us, fell on him. And he willingly bore the judgment in our place as our substitute. That, my friend, is the gospel. Not to receive Christ. is the greatest blunder that any man can ever commit. My friend, trust Christ today. Let's stand together for the benediction. Our Father, we thank you this morning for the power of the Spirit of God to convict and the power of the Word of God with the Spirit of God to convert. We thank you, O God, that we can rest in thy holiness, for there at Calvary it was a holy work which our Lord Jesus accomplished on our behalf. We ask you now that you will take this word and bless it to every heart in conviction or in comfort. May thy grace, thy mercy, and thy peace abide upon thine own, for it truly believes in thee, and rejoice in that great salvation that is ours. But if there are any here who have not believed in thee, who have not really seen themselves as they really are before a holy God, give them no rest or peace until they rest indeed now we thank you for the privilege of speaking of thy holy wrath and more and warning men and women to flee from the wrath to come in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ