God Hath Not Appointed Us To Wrath

Temple Baptist Church - 1-3-2016

1 Thessalonians 5:9-11

 

Introduction:

 

A.  As we take a short look at the study of Eschatology, we find what will transpire (the Rapture of God’s Church) and where God’s people stand in relationship to the impending Tribulation Period or Jacob’s Trouble.

 

1.  Chapter 4:13-18 is one of the most vivid pictures of what will transpire when the Lord comes for His Church.  The Church is also called the Body of Christ or the Bride of Christ.  He is coming and we are leaving this old sin sick world behind and so shall we ever be with the Lord.

 

2.  Chapter 5:1-8 differentiates between the “children or the night” and the “children of the day.”  Darkened hearts vs. illuminated hearts.  Lost or saved!  These verses give to us the certainty of the times along with an exhortation to continue to live for Christ in expectancy.

 

3.  Chapter 5:9-11 shows the love of God for and the security of His children.  “God hath not appointed us to wrath.”

 

1 Thessalonians 1:9-10  For they themselves shew of us what manner of entering in we had unto you, and how ye turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God;  (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.

 

B.  “The wrath to come” in chapter 1:10 is not a single act of God’s wrath but a process of wrath manifested in stages. 

 

 

1.  Stage One: The Tribulation Period in which God will finish His work with the Nation of Israel: God’s covenant people.  In the beginning of Jacob’s Trouble, Israel will be persecuted, but ultimately restored to as is recorded in the Book of Zechariah and again in the Book of Romans.

 

Zechariah 12:10  And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications: and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn.

 

Romans 11:25-26  For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in.  (26)  And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob:

 

1 Thessalonians 1:9-10  For they themselves shew of us what manner of entering in we had unto you, and how ye turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God;  (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. (The Church will not go through the Tribulation Period or any part of it.  We are pre-tribulation rapture saints and, before “that wicked” will be revealed, we will be finally home.)

 

2.  Stage Two: The Lake of Fire in which God will eternally punished the unsaved.

 

Revelation 20:11-15  And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them.  (12)  And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works.  (13)  And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works.  (14)  And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.  (15)  And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.

 

Revelation 20:6  Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years.  (Thanks to Calvary, the children of God will never have to experience the Lake of Fire!)

 

C.  Four things that will qualify you for God’s wrath:

 

1.  A Hardness of Heart that turns man from the Truth - Zechariah 7:11-12  But they refused to hearken, and pulled away the shoulder, and stopped their ears, that they should not hear.  (12)  Yea, they made their hearts as an adamant stone, lest they should hear the law, and the words which the LORD of hosts hath sent in his spirit by the former prophets: therefore came a great wrath from the LORD of hosts.

 

2.  A Holding of the Truth of God in Unrighteousness - Romans 1:18-20  For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness;  (19)  Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto them.  (20)  For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse:

 

3.  A Failure to Repent of Sin - 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; 

 

4.  A Heart of Unbelief - John 3:36  He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.