Last week, we started looking at the question, “Is God loving, or is He angry? Can He be both?”

We looked at many references in the Old Testament to the anger of the Lord – usually incited by rebellion and idolatry. So, is God still angry in the New Testament?

Romans 1:18-19 tells us,

For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, because that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them.

God is still angry – His wrath is against ungodliness and unrighteousness, just like it was in the Old Testament! Paul states this Truth even more strongly in Romans 2:3-8, noting that

because of your stubbornness and unrepentant heart you are storing up wrath for yourself in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God.

Because of our sin, we have earned God’s wrath. As we commit idolatry, as we misuse His name, as we dishonor our parents, as we hate, as we lie, as we covet, as we steal… we have flagrantly violated His nature and broken His law and have earned His wrath.

So, why does the tone of the New Testament seem different than the Old? Friends, this is the extravagant grace of God’s gift to us in Jesus Christ:

But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him.
Romans 5:8-9

Jesus’ death in our place satisfied the wrath of God against our sin! The Scripture is also very clear that without a personal belief in Jesus as our only hope of salvation, we still will face God’s wrath:

“He who believes in the Son has eternal life; but he who does not obey the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.”
John 3:36

In preparation for this post, I was reading through Johnathan Edwards’ classic sermon “Sinners in the Hands of an angry God.” Talk about a sermon that would not be well received in most churches today!

He builds a compelling argument that without faith in Christ, the only thing keeping all of us from hell at this very moment is the the will of God – the fact that He does not want us to perish. As mankind rejects salvation through Christ, foolishly thinking that they can somehow withstand God’s wrath on their own, they have lost all hope.

“So that, thus it is that natural men are held in the hand of God, over the pit of hell; they have deserved the fiery pit, and are already sentenced to it; and God is dreadfully provoked, his anger is as great towards them as to those that are actually suffering the executions of the fierceness of his wrath in hell, and they have done nothing in the least to appease or abate that anger, neither is God in the least bound by any promise to hold them up one moment; the devil is waiting for them, hell is gaping for them, the flames gather and flash about them, and would fain lay hold on them, and swallow them up; the fire bent up in their own hearts is struggling to break out: and they have no interest in any Mediator, there are no means within reach that can be any security to them. In short, they have no refuge, nothing to take hold of; all that preserves them every moment is the mere arbitrary will, and uncovenanted, unobliged forbearance of an incensed God.”

Sobering!

There has been so much confusion caused over the “if God is so loving…” arguments. Entire cults have formed from the flawed premise that a loving God cannot possibly send people to hell.

Friends, God IS loving – make no mistake. The fact that He is slow to anger and abounding in lovingkindness is vividly displayed in the work of Christ. He owes us nothing – all we can possibly earn on our own is hell, for we constantly live in rebellion and flagrant violation of His nature. He has given us the free gift of salvation!

Many in our day and age will argue that saying that Jesus Christ is the only way to the Father is too narrow and elitist. What they have failed to understand is that because of God’s holy nature, He cannot overlook sin. It must be paid for. And without accepting the work of Christ on our behalf, there is no one else who can take the full wrath of God against our sin – we will face it ourselves!

The Scripture makes it undeniably clear that we deserve God’s wrath because of our sin. But God has demonstrated His love toward us in this: while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us! Amazing grace, indeed!