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Escape from wrath? What in the world are you talking about?
I'm talking about whether you have what it takes to escape being counted worthy of
receiving wrath and eternal damnation from God. And you most definitely do need to have
an escape because God's wrath is not only real, but you will face it either when you die or
when God stops being longsuffering with this
world. In fact God has already declared to you
that His wrath is against you, just as the Apostle Paul says:
18 For the wrath of God is revealed
from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold
the truth in unrighteousness; (Romans 1:18)
As Paul states, God is making it known that His wrath is "against all ungodliness
and unrighteousness of men." However for the
time being God is actually holding off His "day
of wrath," and He is telling men that they
both deserve His wrath and that they will eventually receive it.
Now you yourself will eventually receive God's wrath, either when you die or when
God stops being longsuffering with this world.
This is because you yourself fully qualify to
receive it. As Paul says, God's wrath is revealed "against all ungodliness and
unrighteousness of men," and that includes you. If you are
honest with yourself you know perfectly well that by nature you are not godly or righteous.
And just to make sure that you do know this, God has Paul further describe man's state as, …
29 Being filled with all
unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness,
covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder,
debate, deceit, malignity; whisperers,
30 Backbiters, haters of God,
despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil
things, disobedient to parents,
31 Without understanding, covenant-breakers, without natural affection,
implacable, unmerciful:
32 Who knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things
are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do
them. (Romans 1:29-32)
Bad News
As you can clearly see, you do qualify for receiving God's wrath. You are part of this
ungodly world and you know that you "commit such things." And this is just what God
wants you to realize, as well as what you need to
realize.
But now, what are you going to do? How are you going to escape the wrath that is
eventually going to come upon you? Time is running out, you know. Eventually you are
going to die, and maybe sooner than you think. Or God may end His longsuffering with this
world at any time. And then it will be too late
for you.
More Bad News
Right now this doesn't sound like very good news. And indeed it isn't. And to
make matters worse, there isn't any way for you to escape God's wrath on your own. There
isn't anything you yourself can do to make up for your sins or to make yourself righteous
in God's sight. It's impossible for you or anyone to appease God's Justice by any works,
religious rites, or ceremonies of any kind.
But thanks be to God there is good news. For God Himself has provided a way for
you to escape His wrath. And best of all, God offers it to you as an absolutely free gift.
However the choice is up to you whether or not you accept God's escape.
The Escape
Romans 3:24-26 sets forth how that God Himself has provided the way of escape
for you through what His own Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, did for you when He died in your
place upon the cross of Calvary.
24 Being justified freely by his
grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus:
25 Whom God hath set forth
to
be a propitiation through faith in his blood,
to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through
the forbearance of God;
26 To declare, I say, at this time his
righteousness: that he might be just and the justifier of him which believeth in
Jesus. (Romans 3:24-26)
When the Lord Jesus Christ died upon the cross of Calvary, He did so to provide
redemption for us. Redemption is the issue of one
person paying the price for someone else in order to release him from a predicament that he
is in. And this is just what Jesus Christ did for
us on the cross. He took the debt and penalty of our ungodliness, unrighteousness, and
sins, upon Himself and suffered in our place the judgment of God's wrath against our sin.
And this He did to fully provide for us to be released from the predicament of being
worthy of God's wrath.
In so doing the Lord Jesus Christ not only fully satisfied God's Justice concerning
our sins, but being raised from the dead He also made it so that God could completely
forgive us our sins and justify us, or declare us
righteous, in His sight. And this is exactly what we need so we can have "peace with God"
and escape receiving His wrath.
Are You Going To Escape?
Now the question remains, Are you going to avail yourself of the escape from wrath
that God has graciously provided for you? Or are you going to ignore, or refuse God's offer
and stand in jeopardy of receiving His wrath? Again, the choice is up to you.
The only condition that God has placed upon forgiving you your sins and
justifying you in His sight, is that you believe in the
Lord Jesus Christ as your all-sufficient Savior.
As the Apostle Paul declares, God is "just,
and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus."
When you believe in someone, you depend upon him and his ability to do something
for you that you cannot do for yourself. And this is just what it means to "believe in Jesus." Instead of depending in any way upon
yourself or your own works to save you, you choose
to depend completely upon the redemptive work of the Lord Jesus Christ as all that you
need for your salvation from God's wrath.
Have you believed in the Lord Jesus Christ? If not, why not do so right now
and escape the wrath of God? Then the following will be true of you: "Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through
our Lord Jesus Christ:" (Romans 5:1)
—
K.R. Blades
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