Deuteronomy chapter 32 and we're reading verses 35 onwards.
35. To me belonged vengeance and recompense; their foot shall slide in due time: for the day of their calamity is at hand, and the things that shall come upon them make haste.

Verse 39 onwards
39. See now that I, even I, am he, and there is no god with me: I kill, and I make alive; I wound, and I heal: neither is there any that can deliver out of my hand. 40. For I lift up my hand to heaven, and say, I live for ever. 41. If I whet my glittering sword, and mine hand take hold on judgment; I will render vengeance to mine enemies, and will reward them that hate me. 42. I will make mine arrows drunk with blood, and my sword shall devour flesh; and that with the blood of the slain and of the captives, from the beginning of revenges upon the enemy. 43. Rejoice, O ye nations, with his people: for he will avenge the blood of his servants, and will render vengeance to his adversaries, and will be merciful unto his land, and to his people.


An uncomfortableness regarding the wrath of God :
Well, based on the verses that we have read so far, can I ask if you can guess what we're going to look at today? The wrath of God, that that's perfect the wrath of God, the anger of God. And we might all agree that this is not an attribute we would want to appreciate of God. Especially in the 21st century, when we share the gospel, and we tell that you will go to hell, you would find people asking how can God send somebody to hell? Or we like to see God as loving, omnipotent and merciful, and all the other attributes. But then when we say God is angry, God has indignation. God has wrath. We might not appreciate it. I mean, it is something that throws us away from God.

Or we might, we might feel that anger is not a quality befitting God. God is not worthy to have something like wrath. This is our general perception that we can concentrate, we can meditate on all the other qualities, but there is an uncomfortableness when we see the wrath of God. And there are so many questions we need to ask, why should God be angry? Why should wrath be an attribute of God? Why should we appreciate the wrath of God? What are the reasons? So is there any reason to worship God because he's angry? Is there any reason to adore Him because He has wrath? Let's first ask the question of why we feel this uncomfortableness for the wrath of God, why don't we appreciate it? Or why will you not want to study it much?


God's wrath is appreciable :
To answer this question, let's try to find out or let's try to work out. If somebody becomes angry, if somebody shows his indignation, and expresses his wrath, how is it expressed? Not talking of yourself, you can just give examples. If somebody gets angry, how is it expressed? He shouts words, yeah. Actions, violent expressions, silence, destruction, okay. Can we talk of lack of self-control, or self burst, impulsiveness, anger out of irritation, anger coupled with lots of evil emotions, like malice and jealousy, anger that is capricious and whimsical. And that is why we don't appreciate the wrath of God. Come again, out of control. Yeah, lack of self-control.

So when we are exposed to this kind of wrath. This is the kind of anger that comes out of us and around us. We don't want to appreciate the wrath of God because we try to understand the wrath of God through the wrath expressed through men or human anger. Well, that is what we need to first learn that God's wrath is completely different. God's wrath is appreciable, you can take pleasure in the fact that God is angry, and that it is important for God to be angry. It is important that wrath is an indispensable attribute of God.

If God is not angry, if God does not have wrath, then you can bring into question all the other attributes of God. For example, let's ask this question. Can you appreciate a God that loves good, but does not hate evil? Can you appreciate a God that does not show his displeasure and his appearance towards sin? Forget God. Think about a judge of the city. Can you appreciate a judge that does not condemn evil as evil. In judiciary, there are some crimes that are called crimes of passion and some crimes that are called crimes that shake the conscience of the society. So death penalty is not awarded to every murderer. But if the crime is a crime that shakes the conscience of the society, that person is given death penalty, at least in our country.

So if you have a judge that is not able to figure out that is not able to be shaken up, his conscience has not been able to shaken up by the heinousness of the crime. If he is not finding crime hideous. If he's not finding the disgusting nature of sin. Can you appreciate a judge like that? You see, that is why we need to appreciate God. Because God is not only a God that appreciates virtue, but he condemns vice. He doesn't appreciate simply wisdom, but He condemns folly. He doesn't just desire goodness, but He hates sin and wickedness.

And so if God does not have wrath, then you can call into question all the other attributes of God. The wrath of God is just an indispensable attribute, like any other attribute of God. God is angry, God shows His anger, and that is something that God is not ashamed of talking of. You see the way He said in verse 39. Chapter 32, of Deuteronomy and verse 39. I kill, and I make alive; I wound, and I heal: neither is there any that can deliver out of my hand.God is not mincing words when he expresses His anger, and He tells vengeance belongs to me.


Qualities of God's wrath :
1. An expression of God's justice
Let's begin by looking at some qualities of this wrath. For one reason why God's wrath is different from man's wrath. One is because God's wrath is an expression of His justice, it is not cruelty.

So for example, let's read Romans 2:5.
But after thy hardness and impenitent heart treasurest up unto thyself wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God; Well, it's clearly written over here that God gives judgment unto those who are sinful or those who are hard-hearted and impenitent, which means God's judgment or God's wrath is a response to our sin. It is just wrath. It is a judicial wrath. It is not a wrath that comes out of cruelty. Which means that God's wrath is not going to be equal to everybody. You see, when the Lord Jesus was explaining a parable, He talked about two servants. One servant who knew the will of the Lord and did sin, that servant will be beaten up with many stripes. Then there's another servant that did not know the Lord did not know the will of the Lord, and still sinned.

That servant is beaten up with few stripes. You see, it is not that when God wants to judge people, God wants to express His wrath. He is absolutely retributive, or He is vindictive, or He just wants to finish the person. His wrath is an expression of His justice. Just as one has sown, so shall somebody reap. To whom more is given, more shall be expected. So God's justice, forces His wrath. Another thing about God's wrath is that, you see, we can't complain when God is angry towards us. When God is angry towards us, when God's wrath is expressed in the Bible, it is only expressed against sin. God's wrath is not expressed for any other reason. It is only against sinfulness, against ungodliness.

You can read this in Romans 1:18.
For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness;

God's wrath is an expression against our sin. That's it, no other reason for God to be angry. So when God is angry towards us for our sins, we cannot complain, no matter who we are. For example, when David was such a great person, a man after God's own heart, but when he said he had to pay the price, and what is his response to God? Was he complaining, Lord, what did he do? Was he angry towards God that God took away his baby? Was he angry towards God, for all what David had to go through, eventually lose so many children because of that one sin?

There were so many repercussions of the sin, and David could have been angry because God is angry towards him. David could have shown his vengeance back to God. But what did David say? That God You are justified when You speak? And You are blameless when You judge. That shows how God's wrath is an expression of His justice? There are no complaints there are no no reasons, no, no rehearing of the case. God's wrath is final, and we have no complaints towards it


2. Our sins leads God to exercise His wrath
One more thing we see about God's wrath is not that God's wrath is simply judicial, but God's wrath is our choice. When God is angry towards us, it is only because we are asking for it. God's desire is not that he wants to express his anger. God desires that nobody perish and all be saved. And so whenever God expresses his anger, it is simply asking for it. We are inviting God's wrath whenever we go away from God. Our condemnation is that we love darkness and hate light. We see this is how the Lord would tell that, when the light came into the world, men loved darkness and hated the light and that is their condemnation. Our sins, invite God's wrath, our sins are our choice.

We make the choice to invite God's wrath. It is not that God is willingly voluntarily pouring out His wrath, we are inviting it. That's why when you see God's wrath, all the other examples of God's wrath in the Bible, you will never find God's wrath to be impulsive. It's not suddenly. It doesn't just come out of the blue. There might be some exceptions, like Nadab and Abihu. There could be exceptions like Ananias and Saphira. But even in those exceptions, those sins were deliberate sins.

They exactly knew what they were doing. Those sins were in no way ignorant, since they knew what they were getting themselves into. They knew what they were asking for. And God's spontaneous wrath even in those case was not a surprise. God's wrath is never a surprise. God's wrath is his last resort. He is so patient, he is long-suffering that he doesn't want to pour out His wrath. God's wrath is His last resort.


3. God's wrath and mercy go hand in hand
We always see that God's wrath is mixed with His mercy. God's wrath doesn't go alone. God's wrath is not simply a wrath that wants to correct us and finish us or destroy us. You see, this is what the Lord would tell through Isaiah and through Jeremiah that you have corrected me, but you have not brought me to my end. God corrects, God pours His wrath, God judges, but God does not bring us to our end. Habakkuk would say like this, that Lord in Your wrath You remember Your mercy.

How God's wrath and mercy goes together is what makes God's wrath appreciable. That God is. God is not somebody who wants to dole out punishments immediately. He says the wages of sin is death, but he doesn't give us wages immediately. If God was to give those wages immediately, nobody would survive. God holds back his punishment.

We're going to read this in Romans 2:4.
4 Or despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering; not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance? 5 But after thy hardness and impenitent heart treasurest up unto thyself wrath

There are two options here, for God is giving the riches of His goodness and forbearance and long suffering so that the goodness of God should lead man to repentance, that is one option. Then in verse 5 there is the other option, if you don't want to repent, we are treasuring up wrath onto the day of wrath. It is God who is holding all the wrath for the last day. You see, God is not a bad account, and He is not going to miss out any accounts. He will dole out His punishments according to our sins, but God is gracious.

He is long-suffering, He wants nobody to perish. And that's why He wants everybody to be saved. He's holding up His wrath. He is treasuring up the wrath. At last, at the last moment, somebody would be saved. You see, God's wrath always goes in with his mercy. This is how Micah would say that God restraints His wrath, and he delights in His mercy.
God's wrath we see, in Romans 9:22.
What if God, willing to shew his wrath, and to make his power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction:

This is amazing about God, that God has always been patient with men. He didn't have to. He didn't require the time to roll so far. He had so many reasons to destroy everybody, but He endured the vessels of wrath and to destruction. Many times He has talked about Israel like this, that these are people that have no understanding and lack wisdom, and they do not know Me, but still He would endure them. He would not destroy them because He would remember the covenant that He had with Abraham. You see, God's wrath is not absolute. It is not completely destructive or destruction oriented wrath. It is a wrath that is coupled and minced and salted with His love and His mercy.


4. No one is spared from God's wrath
One more thing about God's wrath is that nobody's spared. You see, nobody can be spared of God's wrath. Think about all the people that have experienced God's wrath. Nobody has been spared you. If you want to see Moses, Moses would say towards the end of his life, that Your wrath has brought us to nothing, and we are troubled by Your wrath. Moses was not spared because even when He was coming to Egypt, from that burning bush, it was said that the Lord's anger burned against him because of the lack of circumcision. And then at Mount Sinai, we see again that the Lord's anger burned against the people.

God's anger is not just for the wicked, even for His anointed. You see, towards the end of the history of Israel, it is written that God's wrath arose and there was no remedy. His temple was destroyed, His people were taken to captivity, there is just nobody who spared God's wrath. Ultimately, even at the cross when God's Son bore our sin, even He was not spared of God's wrath. You see, God's wrath is uncompromising, it is unyielding, because it is an expression of His Holiness. It comes out of his holiness, just like his holiness does not eat to our sin, it does not compromise. God's wrath, spares nobody.

Let's just consider for some time, what are the examples of wrath that we have in the Bible. All the examples of can you, for example, tell me what is the earliest expression of wrath in the Bible? The first ? The flood, even before that. Adam and Eve even before that. The first expression of God's wrath was before anything was created, not even the world was created, all men were created. Lord Jesus told about Lucifer that I saw Lucifer falling out of heaven like a lightning. That's an expression of His wrath. Why? Because light is the fastest object to travel ever. And the moment Lucifer sinned, he was evicted with that speed. He fell down from God's presence like a lightning.

That's an expression of His wrath. So unyielding, so uncompromising. Not sparing anybody. That movement Lucifer sinned, he was not fit for God's presence, he was sent down, like a lightning. And even before man sinned, God's wrath is expressed in the words when God told Adam that the day you eat, you will die because death is an expression of His wrath. So Adam and Eve knew God's wrath even before they committed the sin. And when they committed the sin, God's wrath exploded, not just to them was not just reserved to them, but everything from the snake to the ground and everything they touch their body, and everything was subjected to the curses of God, which is again an expression of His wrath.

You see, the creation declares his glory declares his power, but the creation also declares God's wrath, because nothing works according to our wants. The creation is subjected to vanity. It is mourning, it is groaning because God's wrath is upon the creation. That's why creation is used as an element of God's judgment. You see, Moses would tell people that if you sin then the sky above you will become iron and the ground will become brass, and you will not bear any fruit, and you'll be cut off from the land. How God would use elements of the water and fire to destroy the people is because the creation expresses God's wrath. You see, nobody has been spared of God's wrath. You want to talk about Sodom and Gomorrah, that was an expression. Noah, that was an expression. Ten plagues of Egypt.

It's incredible how God would describe it. We'll just read it in Psalm 78:49.
49 He cast upon them the fierceness of his anger, wrath, and indignation, and trouble, by sending evil angels among them.

This is very, very graphical expression of God sending evil angels among Egyptians. You see, Egyptians were not spared. The Israelites were not spared. Moses was not spared. Finally, in the whole history of Israel, they took out to be captive to Assyria, Babylon because they were not spared of the wrath of God. The wrath of God ultimately was shown at the cross where Lord Jesus would cry, Oh, My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?

You see, apart from all of that the law of God, which the Lord that God gave to Moses, expresses God's wrath, because the law increases sin and when transgressions increase, the wrath of God came upon them. The law brings wrath. That's how Paul would say, in Romans chapter four. And ultimately, we see, our Lord Jesus Christ also was angry. And he was not only angry on this earth, we see in Revelation that He is described to be a lamb of Wrath. Of how He will even adjudicate His judgments and pour out His wrath against all the wicked, and He will swear by His anger. So you see, this wrath of God is seen from eternity past to eternity future.


How should we respond to God's anger ?
The question is, this is God's wrath fine. What's in it for us? How are we going to appreciate this? What are the lessons that we learn from God's anger? How are we supposed to respond to the fact that God is angry?


1. Detest sin like God hates sin
Well, the first thing that the anger of God teaches us is, it tells us that we need to detest sin the way God hates. And it's what we read in Romans chapter one that God's wrath has been expressed and revealed against all ungodliness, unrighteousness and those who do not hold the truth. We see that if God hates sin so much, then there is no excuse for us to compromise to peddle or to pamper our sin. We need to hate sin, the way God hates sin. That is the first thing we need to learn from the wrath of God that if God expresses so much of His wrath towards sinners and wickedness.

How He would say in Psalm seven that He is angry with the wicked every single day. Every day His anger is there against the wicked. His anger never ceases towards sin and if that is how much God hates sin then there is even more reason for us to detest and hate sin the way God hates sin. In fact, I believe that the power of the gospel is not realized until a sinner realizes the way God looks at sin. If he has a lower understanding of sin, then he won't appreciate the work of the gospel. And if we want to have a higher understanding of the sin, we need to see sin the way God sees it.


2. Fear God
The second thing is not just that we detest sin. We can read this from Hebrews 12:28-29.
28 Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear: 29 For our God is a consuming fire.

That is the second outcome of appreciating God's wrath is the fear of God, that we might serve God with reverence and godly fear. Because God is a consuming fire, it means that we cannot take God for the ride, that when God says the day you sin, you will die God was not kidding. He actually meant it. He cannot be taken lightly. He needs to be given the due reverence and respect.

Can we read one more verse in connection, Psalm 130:3-4.
3 If thou, Lord, shouldest mark iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand? 4 But there is forgiveness with thee, that thou mayest be feared.

This is the other side of the coin, God is awesome. He is terrible in His works. He is a great God, He's a powerful God, His wrath makes us fear God, His vengeance belongs to Him. But then the psalmist says that Lord, if it is Your wrath, then nobody can stand. Then the Psalmist gives us one more reason to fear God. It is His forgiveness, it is His mercy, it is His love. You see, this is the problem with modern day, principles and philosophy that when we talk of God, being loving and kind, and we think that we can take God for the right that God can be compromising, that God also is okay with the way we are living our lives, that God also will be lenient... No. God's love and God's grace and God's loving kindness, His forgiveness should bring about in us the same emotion, the same outcome that His wrath brings us, that is the fear of God, the reverence of God. It is not different. You see, the wrath of God teaches us to detest sin. It teaches us to fear God.


3. Praise and Worship God
Another thing that we need to do is when we look at the wrath of God, we need to praise God, why should we praise God for the wrath of God? Why should we praise God that he is an angry God? Just look at ourselves, who have either called the children of wrath, we were made to call the wizard vessels of destruction. And what did God do through Christ, He has delivered us from the wrath. This is how Jonathan Edwards would give his one of his most famous messages, that we are sinners in the hands of an angry God. But that anger, that wrath that was towards us, God has taken away.

Let's read 1 Thessalonians 1:10
10 And to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, even Jesus, which delivered us from the wrath to come.

In the same book, chapter five and verse nine. God has not appointed us to that, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ. This is so beautiful that, that God has delivered us from the wrath to come, and He has appointed us unto salvation. So the wrath of God becomes a reason to praise and worship God because Christ, on the cross, took away that wrath.


4. To persuade sinners concerning gospel
Another reason, another lesson that we should learn from the wrath of God is that we cannot be lax concerning the gospel.

We need to read this from 2 Corinthians 5:10.
10 And to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, even Jesus, which delivered us from the wrath to come.

Paul gives one reason we are why he was persuasive towards the gospel because he knew the terror of the Lord. He knew the wrath of the Lord that was about to come. He knew that God Christ, on the throne is a lamp of wrath, and for the terror of the terror of the Lord, we persuade men, you see, we cannot take, we cannot take gospel lightly. We need to read one more verse in this connection back to Second Thessalonians.

2 Thessalonians 1:8-9
8 In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ: 9 Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power;

This is the end result of every sinner banished from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of the Lord, for anybody who does not know God, and who does not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, this becomes a reason to tell the gospel to be persuasive with man, that they are headed to eternal destruction. You see, we might struggle by telling that you're going to hell, especially there are so many in christiandem today that don't want to talk about hell, when they share the gospel. You see, this is one illustration that I heard that you could understand it this way.

Imagine your neighbor's house was set on fire, and you're sleeping inside. Would you? Would you care of offending him, of hurting his sentiments, or of telling him that I know this is such a great home? It's beautiful, but you know, just want to tell your house is on fire. Would you so softly whispered to him? Or would you make it your greatest priority to get him out of it? You see, we cannot mince words when we talk about Hellfire because Christ Jesus is the one who talked most about hell in the Bible. And God's wrath becomes a reason to persuade men to be saved, and believe in God.


5. To not be Vengeful
Finally, one more lesson that we need to learn from the wrath of God is that if God is angry so much, if vengeance belongs to God, if God Avengers through His adversaries and His wickedness, if God can punish people, and throw people out of His presence, and his wrath is it can destroy everybody, then well, is there any reason for us to be angry? Is there any reason for us to be avenging people, to be retributive towards people? It's so beautifully put in Romans chapter 12, in verse nineteenth,

Romans 12:19
8 In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ: 9 Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord

You see, there is no reason for us to be angry towards people who do wrong towards us. For the sake of the Gospel, or even otherwise, we don't have reasons to be angry towards people to hold bitterness towards people, because our greatest example is Lord Jesus Christ, when He was beaten up and when He was persecuted and troubled for no reason of Him, for no sins of Him. It is written, Peter would say that he committed Himself to God who judges righteously. So we have no reasons to avenge ourselves. We need to give space for God's wrath, that God who to whom vengeance belong, He will replace. You see, wrath of God is not an attribute we can just stay away from we can be uncomfortable with, there are so many lessons we learned from it.

One is that God's wrath is indispensable. God's wrath makes God complete. God's wrath is an expression of His Holiness. And God's wrath is an expression of His justice. It is so linked with all the other attributes. God's wrath is not something to be afraid of. It is something that teaches us to detest sin. It teaches us to fear God. It makes us to worship Him because we are vessels of wrath, children of wrath, and He has saved us from Wrath. It teaches us and persuades us to share the gospel. And ultimately, it helps us to take our hands off and not avenge people not be retributive towards people. Not be complaining or not have bitterness towards people but let God take the chance.

May God's name the glorified