Much More

Much More Romans 5:9 Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God.

Dilemma the wrath of God

It is sad to find so many professing Christians who appear to regard the wrath of God as something for which they need to make an apology, or at least they wish there were no such thing. While some would not go so far as to openly admit that they consider it a blemish on the Divine character, yet they are far from regarding it with delight, they like not to think about it, and they rarely hear it mentioned without a secret resentment rising up in their hearts against it. Even with those who are more sober in their judgment, not a few seem to imagine that there is a severity about the Divine wrath which is too terrifying to form a theme for profitable contemplation. Others harbor the delusion that God’s wrath is not consistent with His goodness, and so seek to banish it from their thoughts. God has made no attempt to conceal the fact of His wrath. He is not ashamed to make it known that vengeance and fury belong unto Him. Deut. 32:39-41, Ps 7:11. The wrath of God is defined as His eternal detestation of all unrighteousness. It is the displeasure and indignation of Divine equity against evil. It is the holiness of God stirred into activity against sin. It is the moving cause of that just sentence which He passes upon evil-doers. God is angry against sin because it is a rebelling against His authority, a wrong done to His inviolable sovereignty. Insurrectionists against God’s rule shall be made to know that God is the Lord. They shall be made to feel how great that Majesty is which they despise, and how dreadful is that threatened wrath which they so little regarded. Not that God’s anger is a malignant and malicious retaliation, inflicting injury for the sake of it, or in return for injury received. No; while God will vindicate His dominion as the Governor of the universe, He will not be vindictive. (Pink)

“His wrath was revealed when the sentence of death was first pronounced, the earth cursed, and man driven out of the earthly paradise; and afterwards by such examples of punishment as those of the Flood and the destruction of the Sodom by fire from heaven; but especially by the reign of death throughout the world. It was proclaimed in the curse of the law on every transgression, and was intimated in the institution of sacrifice. . . The creation which declares that there is a God, and publishes His glory, also proclaims that He is the Enemy of sin and the Avenger of the crimes of men . . . But above all, the wrath of God was revealed from heaven when Jesus came down to manifest the Divine character, and when that wrath was displayed in His sufferings and death, in a manner more awful than by all the tokens God had before given of His displeasure against sin. Besides this, the future and eternal punishment of the wicked is now declared in terms more solemn and explicit than formerly.” Robert Haldane

Wrath (Wayne Grudem)

God’s wrath means that he intensely hates all sin Ex. 32:9-10, Deut. 9:7-8

If God loves all that is right and good, it should not be surprising that he would hate everything opposed to his moral character. There would be something very wrong with a God who did not hate all evil and sin, who just said, "Oh, that's fine" to every horrible, evil deed. And what would heaven be like if God did not punish and exclude

sin? Therefore the wrath of God is a good and necessary attribute. It is the other side of his love for the excellence of his character. God's wrath therefore must be directed against all sinful human beings, and it is only removed from us by Christ bearing God's wrath in our place John 3:36, Rom. 1:18 People who have believed in Christ have no need to fear coming under God's wrath Eph. 2:3;1 Thess. 1:10 In this age we should also be thankful for God's patience, which means that his wrath does not come on the world at once (but it will come!). Ps. 103:8-9, 2 Peter 3:9 -10

The wrath of God is a perfection of the Divine character upon which we need to frequently meditate. First, that our hearts may be duly impressed by God’s detestation of sin. We are ever prone to regard sin lightly, to gloss over its hideousness, to make excuses for it. But the more we study and ponder God’s abhorrence of sin and His frightful vengeance upon it, the more likely are we to realize its heinousness. Second, to beget a true fear in our souls for God: "Let us have grace whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear: for our God is a consuming fire" (Heb. 12:28,29). We cannot serve Him "acceptably" unless there is due "reverence" for His awful Majesty and "godly fear" of His righteous anger, and these are best promoted by frequently calling to mind that "our God is a consuming fire." Third, to draw out our souls in fervent praise for having delivered us from "the wrath to come" (1 Thess. 1:10).(Pink)

Grudem’s Application of God's wrath: 1. We should thank and praise God also for his just wrath against sin. (yet also for his mercy and patience in this age) 2. Though we should never fear God's wrath (to do us harm, to punish us), still we should fear displeasing God and coming under his fatherly discipline (for our good). Eph 4:30, Ps 111:10) 3. Imitation: There is a righteous anger against sin and evil that is appropriate to us as human beings and that is not inconsistent with love for our neighbor Eph 4:26, Mark 3:1-5 (Grudem). Great will be the rejoicing of the saints in that day when the Lord shall vindicate His majesty, exercise His awful dominion, magnify His justice, and overthrow the proud rebels who have dared to defy Him. Deut. 32:43, Rev. 19:13.

3 If you, O LORD, should mark (impute) iniquities, O Lord, who could stand (Ps. 130:3). Well may each of us ask this question, for it is written, "the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment" (Ps. 1:5). How sorely was Christ’s soul exercised with thoughts of God’s marking the iniquities of His people when they were upon Him! He was "amazed and very heavy" (Mark 14:33). His awful agony, His bloody sweat, His strong cries and supplications (Heb. 5:7), His reiterated prayers ("If it be possible, let this cup pass from Me"), His last dreadful cry, ("My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?") all manifest what fearful apprehensions He had of what it was for God to "mark iniquities." Well may poor sinners cry out, "Lord who shall stand" when the Son of God Himself so trembled beneath the weight of His wrath? If you, my reader, have not "fled for refuge" to Christ, the only Savior, "how will you do in the swelling of the Jordan?" (Jer. 12:5)? “When I consider how the goodness of God is abused by the greatest part of mankind, I cannot but be of his mind that said, The greatest miracle in the world is God’s patience and bounty to an ungrateful world. If a prince had an enemy that laid hold of one of his towns, he does not send them in provisions, but lays close siege to the place, and does what he can to starve them. But the great God, that could wink all His enemies into destruction, bears with them, and is at daily cost to maintain them. Well may He command us to bless them that curse us, who Himself does good to the evil and unthankful. But think not, sinners, that you shall escape thus; God’s mill goes slow, but grinds small; the more admirable His patience and bounty now is, the more dreadful and unsupportable will that fury be which arises out of His abused goodness. Nothing smoother than the sea, yet when stirred into a tempest, nothing rages more. Nothing so sweet as the patience and goodness of God, and nothing so terrible as His wrath when it takes fire.” (Wm Gurnall, 1660).

Then flee, my reader, flee to Christ; "flee from the wrath to come" (Matt. 3:7) ere it be too late. Do not, we earnestly beseech you, suppose that this message is intended for somebody else. It is to you! Do not be contented by thinking you have already fled to Christ. Make certain! Beg the Lord to search your heart and show you yourself. (Pink)

The specific wrath here is speaking about the Lake of Fire described in Rev 20:11-15. God admittedly is a God of wrath. And the Bible clearly assigns sinners to the wrath of God. Rom 1:18, 2:3-6. God's wrath is not some sort of automated system that works apart from him. It's not some anonymous cosmic force. God's wrath is an active, intense, personal reaction to sin by a holy God on the basis of which he punishes sinners eternally. Unconverted people are called in 'children of wrath' Eph 2 because it is their nature to experience God's wrath. 2 Thess 1 gives us one of the most formidable warnings about this when it talks about the Lord Jesus being revealed from heaven with his mighty angels and flaming fire dealing out retribution to those who do not God and do not obey the gospel. They will pay the penalty of eternal destruction. God is a God of wrath. And men without Christ are children of wrath. That is to say that it is their nature to experience judgment. (Mac Arthur)

Desire much more shall we be saved

"much more than". If God did the greater, which was to save us and declare us righteous when we were enemies, will he not more readily do the lesser, which is to keep us now that we are his children? Have been, are being, and will be saved If we have already been justified by his blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through him. If God already justified us in the past, we don't have to fear wrath in the future

Deliverance justified by his blood . . . by him No Christian is ever going to know the wrath of God. The full fury of wrath for your sin as a Christian was poured out on Jesus Christ. So, we will be delivered in the future.Christ died to appease God’s wrath against sin. Rom 3:23-25 Gk Hilasterion appeasing or expiating, a means of appeasing or atoning, a propitiation used of the cover of the ark of the covenant in the Holy of Holies, which was sprinkled with the blood of the expiatory victim on the annual day of atonement (this rite signifying that the life of the people, the loss of which they had merited by their sins, was offered to God in the blood as the life of the victim, and that God by this ceremony was appeased and their sins expiated (Heb) 9:5 God’s wrath need to be appeased. In the past God had left sins unpunished. Now, however, he has put forth Jesus as the propitiation. This proves both that God is just (his wrath required the sacrifice) and that he is the justifier of those who have faith in Jesus (his love provided the sacrifice for them) Rom 3:26. Christ’s death was necessarily propitiatory (Rom 1:18, 2:5, 8; 4:15; 5:9, 9:22, 12:19. 13:4-5; Eph 2:3; 5:6 Col 3:6; 1 Thess 1:10, 2:16; 5:9) Christ death for sin not only covers sin and cleanses from its corruption (expiation), but that the sacrifice also appeases a God who hates sin and is radically opposed to it (propitiation) (Erickson)

The Bible teaches that in perfect justice, because Jesus was made to be our sin, he died for us. His death was in our place solely for our benefit and without benefit for himself. . . . Jesus took the penalty for our sins in our place so we do not have to suffer the just penalty ourselves. The wrath of God that should have fallen on us and the death that our sins merit fell on Jesus. Driscoll Godliness is not the path to justification. It's the result. It's the result. You were justified by trusting in the Christ who suffered as your substitute and God declared you righteous. Not because you were. You weren't and aren't but because he treated Christ as if he committed your sins and treats you as if you lived his perfect life. You were made right with God by the death of Jesus Christ. And that is the ground of your acceptance with God. That's the reason you have a permanent peace, permanent grace and an eternal hope. Your salvation wasn't based on your works and neither is your perseverance. Your salvation in the beginning, middle and end is based upon the work of Jesus Christ. (MacArthur)

Declaration therefore, we have now been

Because we are all by nature and choice guilty sinners, we have no right to stand before God and be declared righteous. But on the cross Jesus accomplished our justification through what Martin Luther rightly called "the great exchange." On the cross Jesus took our sin and gave us his righteousness. (Driscoll) Our judgment has already taken place. God has already arrived at the fundamental decision with respect to us. When God as Judge Eternal makes his pronouncement . . . in the Court that he regards us as righteous, He has declared His judgment on us, and God never goes back on His Word. It is final. We are justified, . . . we have passed from death into life. John 5:24 (Jones)

Believers will be judged (Rom 14:10, 12; 2 Cor 5:10) This judgment of believers will be to evaluate and bestow various degrees of reward, 1 Cor 3:12-15, but Believers should never fear eternal condemnation.(John 5:24; Ro 8:1) The day of judgment can be portrayed as one in which believers are rewarded and unbelievers are punished. Rev 11:18 The doctrine of final judgment provides a motive for righteous living Matt 6:20 and a great motive or evangelism Ezek 33:11, 2 Peter 3:9 (Grudem)