Most people not interested in salvation because they do not know what it is from which they need to be saved. Sin; Death: Hell; Devil….Wrath.

Must know the bad news before you can understand the good news.

THE MEANING OF GOD’S WRATH

• Not human rage; flying off the handle; lack of self control.
• God’s hatred for sin. Not a spasmodic, fitful, selfish human emotion.
• A permanent, consistent attitude which is part of his holiness. It is the reaction of holiness to anything diametrically opposed to it.
• Simply God’s view of sin.
• Leon Morris says: It is the personal divine revulsion to evil and his personal vigorous opposition to it.
• His continuous, settled antagonism aroused only by evil. The annihilating reaction of holiness against that which is unholy.

THE REVELATION OF GOD’S WRATH

• Conscience.  Sense of justice. Wrong must be punished. We cannot sin without feeling a sense of misery and shame.
• Consequences.  Fallen world, sickness, disease. Thorns and thistles. Warp in creation. Combination of violets and vipers.  Overwhelming sense that something is wrong. Rom 8…Three groans; Creation; mankind; Spirit
• Universality of Death.  A result of sin. A terrible thing.
• History. Adam, driven away; sweat; pain & sorrow. Cain; Flood; Sodom and Gomorrah; Israel .

THE REASONS FOR GOD’S WRATH

• Godlessness. Total disregard for God. Reckoning him of no account.
• Wickedness. Conduct, acts not in conformity with God’s righteousness. Why does this trigger God’s wrath? Because…
• Suppressing the truth. They suppressed the truth they knew. 

How did they know?

• Conscience.  Moral Law, order, ought to be, right and fair. In every heart there is an inherent knowledge that gives some understanding of morality. What did they Know about God... 3 things:-

      Invisible Qualities; Eternal Power; Divine Nature.

• Creation. Can’t get a total picture but can see Him in what has been made. Ps 19.

This is what merits the wrath of God…inexcusable. They knew him but rejected him. Refused to glorify or thank him. They didn’t “want” to know him. Here is the real reason for God’s wrath. Not intellectual ignorance but spiritual rebellion.

RESCUED FROM GOD’S WRATH

Romans 5:9…Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God's wrath through him!

1 Thessalonians 1:10…and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead-Jesus, who rescues us from the coming wrath.

Romans 3:25…propitiate; hilasterion. Turns away wrath by sacrificing an innocent victim. The mercy seat. The lid of the ark of the covenant.

Jesus saves or rescues us from God’s wrath. He stands in the way. He covers us from his blazing glory.  He absorbs and turns away God’s wrath.  He is our mercy seat, our covering.

This is the meaning of God’s love.

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

• What effect do you think a knowledge of our sinfulness will affect our view of salvation?
• What kind of love is described by this action of God in Christ to rescue us from his wrath?
• Why do you think mankind in general refuses to glorify or give thanks to God?
• Verse 20 ends with “so that men are without excuse”.  Why do you think the Apostle says this and which men are being referred to?