Sermon, 11/30/03 am

Jim Huskey, The Righteousness and Wrath of God

We began our look at the book of Romans by noting the parameters

within which that book is couched. Paul wrote for the purpose of

producing obedience to the faith among all nations. He began the book

that way, he ended the book that way. Last week in our study we

noticed that the basis upon which those parameters had been set was

the fact that the gospel had been preached. "For I am not ashamed of

the gospel of Christ; for it is the power of God unto salvation to

everyone that believeth; to the Jews first, and also to the Greek."

Rom. 1:16. So it was the gospel that was to engender that faith, that

it might be obeyed. But the next couple verses of Romans 1 give us a

picture of the gospel a lot of folks don't like. In fact, it's a two-

edged picture, as it were. I remember the Hebrew author said the

word of God "..is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged

sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and

of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents

of the heart." Heb. 4:12. Romans 1:17, 18 gives us much of that same

picture. "For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith

to faith; as it is written, The just shall live by faith." Rom. 1:17.

Now that's one side of the picture. Let's talk about that for a moment.

"...the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is

written, The just shall live by faith." God is righteous. In other

words, God is going to do with is right. The only catch is, and this

is what a lot of folks don't like, He determines what is right and

what "ain't." It doesn't matter how we feel about it. It's what God

determines it to be. Why is that true? Because He is God!!!! He made

man!!!! He created everything!!!!! Since He is perfect, then His

standard is a perfect standard. "For therein in the righteousness of

God revealed..."

I remember back in the Old Testament, in the book of Genesis, reading

in chapter 18, God had decided that the people of Sodom and Gomorrah

were so wicked that He would destroy the cities. Now you will remember

that the man Abraham, had a nephew Lot who had pitched his tent toward

Sodom and eventually would up sitting in the gate there. Evidently he

had two daughters who had married men from the city of Sodom. Let's

look at chapter 18, beginning with verse 17. "And the Lord said, Shall

I hide from Abraham that thing which I do; seeing that Abraham shall

surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the

earth shall be blessed in him? For I know him, that he will command his

children and his household after him, and they shall keep the way of

the Lord, to do justice and judgment; that the Lord may bring upon

Abraham that which he hath spoken of him." Gen. 18:17-19. So God

decided to share with Abraham the fate that is about to befall Sodom

and Gomorrah. If we go ahead and read a little further, we find

beginning in verse 23, "And Abraham drew near, and said, "Wilt thou

also destroy the righteous with the wicked? Peradventure there be

fifty righteous within the city; wilt thou also destroy and not spare

the place for the fifty righteous that are therein? That be far from

thee to do after this manner, to slay the righteous with the wicked;

and that the righteous should be as the wicked, that be far from thee;

shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?" Gen. 18:23-25. You

remember how Abraham continued because God said 'you're right. If

you find fifty righteous people, I won't destroy that city.' Abaraham

kept approaching God, and he got it down to ten righteous people. Then

verse 33 says, "And the Lord went his way, as soon as he had left

communing with Abraham; and Abaraham returned unto his place." But

notice Abraham's statement. "...shall not the Judge of all the earth

do right." The answer was obvious - Yes He will!!!!! God told

Abraham if he could find enough righteous people in Sodom, he wouldn't

destroy it. Even for ten righteous souls He would spare that city.

Why? Because the Judge of all the earth will do what is right!!!!

The Psalmist pointed out "....for all thy commandments are righteous."

Psa. 119:172. Why? Because HE is righteous. "...the righteousness

of God is revealed from faith to faith." That standard of righteousness

is set forth in the scriptures. In Romans 3:21 we read, "But now the

righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by

the law and the prophets; even the righteousness of God which is by

faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe for there

is no difference. (How so?) For all have sinned and come short of the

glory of God." Rom. 3:21-23. God's righteousness had been made

manifest. Let's turn to the book of Job. Now remember, Job is

probably the oldest book. It goes back even before Moses. Jod lived

in the patriarchal generation. Job was sorely tested. Satan came

among the sons of God as they were gathered before God and God asked

him 'Have you considered my servant, Job? There's none like him.' You

remember, Satan kept casting slurs. 'Well, you quit blessing him like

you've been blessing him and he'll curse you.' Well, that didn't work.

His cattle were slain, his posessions were taken away, some of his

family destroyed. Job retained his integrity. 'Skin for skin, you

put your hand on him.' That didn't work either. Even his wife said

'curse God and die', but Job wouldn't do that. He retained his

integrity. In Job 8:3 we read, "Doth God pervert judgment? or doth

the Almight pervert justice?" The answer was obvious. He doesn't!!!!

You see, Job's friends did not understand what was happening to Job

and why it was happening. Yes, they saw what was happening; they just

didn't know why. You see, they had it built up in their minds that

if this was happening to Job then the reason is because Job hasn't

done what he was supposed to do, because God isn't going to pervert

justice against him, or for him. They didn't understand that Job was

being tested of satan. So their who premise in one since was wrong.

Some of the things they said were right because they were based on the

idea that God does not pervert justice. In other words, God is going to

do what is right. "For therein is the righteousness of God revealed

from faith to faith..." In Psalms 58:10, 11 we read, "The righteous

shall rejoice when he seeth the vengeance; he shall wash his feet in

the blood of the wicked. So that a man shall say, Verily there is a

reward for the righteous; verily he is a God that judgeth in the earth."

What is he saying? When people do right because God is right, they

will be rewarded. The Psalmist saw that, the people in Job's day in

the partriarchal generation saw that. God will do what is right, just

as Abraham set forth, 'will not the Judge of all the earth do right?"

"For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith;

as it is written, "The just shall live by faith."

But there is another side of the coin. Not only is the righteousness of

God revealed but, "For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against

all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in

unrighteousness." Rom. 1:18. Paul went on and explained that in detail

and the progresssion of it through the remainder of the chapter. But

anybody who is familiar with the Bible at all understands that the

wrath of God is revealed in the scripture. All we have to do is go

back to Noah's day, Genesis 6. There at one time the righteousness of

God and the wrath of God join hands. How so? God said 'I am going to

destroy man from off the earth, because every thought and imagination

of his heart is only evil and that continually.' But Noah found

grace in the eyes of the Lord. Why? Because Noah was not like the

others. So Noah was told to prepare an ark, which he did, to the

saving of his household. That's the righteousness of God. But what

happened to the rest of the world's population? Every living thing

that moved on the the earth died, except those animals in the ark with

Noah and his family. Every living thing, man or beast, died unless they

were in the ark with Noah and his family. I guess that's another way

of saying 'we don't want to "tick" God off.' If God says 'don't do

that' and He tells us what the penalty is and we go ahead and do it

anyhow, we must not be surprised when God does what He said He would

do.

Remember when the children of Israel were coming out of Egypt and

marching through the wildereness? There were a group of people that

did not show them kindness and did everything they could to hinder

the Israelites and to hurt them. Well, time rocked on for a little

while and Israel decided they were satisifed with the judges. Since

they had judges, they'd been in the land of Canaan for a good while.

The first king was appointed, Saul. God gave to Saul a mission. 'Go

utterly destroy the Amalekites. Don't spare any of them, man, woman,

child, don't even spare their animals. Completely destroy them.' You

remember how that Saul didn't exactly do that. He kept the king alive,

he hept some of the best animals alive. When Samuel came to meet him

Saul came out and said 'Behold I've done the command of God.' Samuel

said, ..What meaneth then this bleating of the sheep in mine ears, and

the lowing of the oxen which I hear?" I Sam. 15. If Saul had done

what God told him to do, there would be no sheep to bleat and no oxen

to low. Then Samuel saw king Agan. Sameul took his sword and hewed

him in pieces. Why? Because just as the righteousness of God is

revealed, so also is the wrath of God revealed. God says what He

means, and means what He says. It like when Moses told the children of

Israel to set the blessing on one mount and the curse on the other

mount. The only difference was, on the mount of blessing that was when

people did what God commanded them to do. The blessings of God would

come upon them. What about on the mount of curse. OH, the people did

not do what God commanded them to do and the penalty God had attached

to their actions was so stated.

"For therein is the righteousness of God revealed..." "Bot the wrath

of God is revealed..." Now some folks like to say, 'Now, you're talking

about things in the Old Testament. The God of the New Testament is

a different God.' Oh, no he "ain't"!!!!! If you think the God of the

New Testament, evidently you've never read of the destruction of

Jerusalem in AD 70. God used the Roman army to destroy that place.

Josephus, who was a historian who lived during that period of time,

was a Jew. By the Jews, he was considered a traitor because he

advocated them leaving the city and not fighting. He saw the handwriting

on the wall. If you read the works of Josephus concerning the things

that happened during the destruction or Jerusalem you'll understand the

God of the Old Testament is the God of the New Testament. Woman slew

their children and ate them during that period of time. The famine

became so bad. The Roman had cut off all entrance to and exists from

the city of Jerusalem. No food could be brought in, no one could leave.

Why? God told them 'you've even slain the prophets before the altar.'

Remember those who followed Jesus weeping, as he went to the cross?

He said 'don't weep for me; weep for yourselves.' Remember in

Matthew 24 when Jesus was talking about the things that were going to

come upon that generation? He said it would be rough on those who had

children and it was. He said they should pray that their flight (escape)

didn't come on the sabbath day. They would be stuck; they would break

the law of God one way or the army would get them the other way. Why?

Because just as the righteousness of God is revealed, the wrath of God

is revealed.

All that simply points to the fact that God says what He means and He

means what he says. That is revealed in the gospel. God will do as He

has promised, whether it be to reward the righteous or to punish the

wicked. See, there are a lot of those people today who just want to look

at one side. The rightesousness of God - oh, God is a God of love. Yes,

He is. That's the reason He spared Noah, but it's also the reason He

destroyed the rest of mankind, because He loves righteousness, not

wickedness. God is longsuffering as Peter points out. II Pet. 3:9.

He wants all to come to repentance, but it is a plain fact that there

will be a lot of folks who just will not listen. Jesus taught that

while here upon the earth. "Enter ye in at the strait gate, for wide

is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and

many there be which go in thereat; because strait is the gate, and

narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that

find it." Matt. 7:13,14. Remember the parable of the sower? Some of

the seed fell on good ground, yes; but a lot of it fell by the wayside,

some of it fell among stones, other seed fell among thornes. Only

the seeds which fell into the good ground brought forth fruit.

The parameters, obedience to the faith. Faith is engendered by the

gospel. It's God's saving power. How so? Because in it the

righteousness of God is set forth and in it the wrath of God is also

set forth. God wanted man to understand His nature. Remember Jesus

who was meek, gentle and mild, but he took a whip and drove the

money changers from the temple. John 2. He wanted the people to

understand.