Who Rescues Us From Wrath to Come (II)
This is a transcript. It may contain small inaccuracies.
We come back one last time, I think. It's a definite, I think, this time. So, to 1 Thessalonians chapter 1, and we're considering the last verse and the last part of verse 10: "Jesus who rescues us from the wrath to come." We come to consider this tremendous church that received the word of the gospel with warm welcome. They received the word with open arms. It was a reception with delight. It was an eager reception, and it really brought a genuine transformation in their lives.
This was not a quasi-reception. This was a full embrace, and you could see the transformation wrought by the power of the gospel in the lives of these people, so much so that Paul says—he says, we give thanks to God always for all of you, verse 2, making mention of you in our prayers, remembering without ceasing. He said, we remember without ceasing your work of faith, labor of love, steadfastness of hope. He sees all the fruit of what the gospel has wrought in their lives. This was a genuine reception of the word of God. There was a transformation of life. There's the fruit of righteousness, and then he talks further about really the fruit of repentance and conversion.
He talks about how they became imitators of him and of the Lord, how they received the Word in much affliction with the joy of the Holy Spirit, and how they became a model to all the believers all around, and how the Word of God sounded forth from them, reverberated all throughout the region of Achaia and Macedonia. In every place, he said, your faith toward God has gone forth so we have no need to say anything. And he said, they themselves, verse 9, report about us, what kind of an entrance we had with you. And he said, you've turned from idols. When you receive the word, here's the fruit, here's the proof. You actually turned your back on your idols, and now you turned and face to face with the living God in an intimate communion and relationship with Him.
And not only that, but now you are a second coming people. You live here in the light of there. You live now in the light of then. And by the way, as a second coming people, as they were waiting for that glorious hope, they didn't sit on their hands. They were laboring for the Lord. It really was the fuel to the fire of their zeal and passion for the Lord. And so as they lived—as they lived in anticipation of the coming of the Lord—they were arduous in their labor. They were working so hard to honor the Lord, to serve Him, to make much of Him.
And as they're waiting for the Lord to come, we learned concerning waiting for the Son of God to come from heaven, six marvelous truths: that Jesus is coming again, verse 10, that He will descend from heaven, that He will appear in bodily form, that He could return today, and that His return demands our readiness. And we have been considering the last one: Jesus rescues us from wrath, the wrath to come.
And we saw last Lord's day how this doctrine of the wrath of God is taught in Scripture. We learned together that not only this wrath of God is the wrath of God—He is the author of it. He is the dispenser of it under the heading, the fact of divine wrath. We saw together that God is the author of this wrath. Thirty-five times this word wrath or He is used in the New Testament, and at least twenty-five of those times it refers to a wrath that has its origin in the heart of God. God is a God of infinite wrath. Just like He is the God of infinite love, He is the God of infinite wrath. He is the author of it. He is the distributor of it as well. And it is a frightful thing to fall into the hand of the living God.
God's wrath, Pastor MacArthur writes, is crucial to who He is. All of His attributes are balanced in divine perfection. If He had no righteous anger, He would not be God. Apart from His wrath, the concept of His love is rendered meaningless. End of quote.
We saw together the creatures will be the object of His wrath, and this is really frightful—the object of His wrath. And as we will see shortly, really, salvation fundamentally is being saved from the wrath of God. Whereas before our coming to know God, God was our number one enemy. But now He is our friend. He is our Savior. He is our Lord. We're reconciled to Him. We are saved from the wrath of God. He is our Lord. We're reconciled to Him.
And under the fact of this wrath, thirdly, we learned together last Lord's Day that the infliction of divine displeasure is the essence of this wrath. What will that infliction of divine displeasure involve? We saw this last time. Three simple phrases really explain to us what is involved in this infliction of divine displeasure, the wrath of God.
Number one, it will be a shutting out from heaven. Revelation 21:26–27. A shutting out from heaven. Number two, it involves a shutting up to misery and torment. Matthew 10:28. And in the third place, it means being shut in to that state for all eternity, and there are no redos. It is forever. It is forever.
Who can understand such anger and wrath that shall come from an infinite God, which, when it funnels from the head up—or on the head of the wicked—will shut them out from heaven, will shut them up to misery, and will shut them into that state for eternity? And fourthly, we saw together that the day of judgment will be its revelation. It is coming. The day of wrath is coming. The books will be open. The wicked will be judged.
We'll pick up where we left off. Let us consider in the second place—and this is really the wonderful truth bound up in this verse—that only Christ Jesus can rescue from this coming judgment. Only Christ Jesus can rescue from this coming judgment: "and to wait for His Son from heaven, whom He raised from the dead, Jesus, who rescues us from the wrath to come." And would you note that it is in the present tense? It is in the present tense: "who rescues us," or literally, "who is rescuing us from the wrath to come."
And this word “rescues” means to deliver, to bring someone out of the state of danger. It's the same word used by Paul when he said, "I was rescued out of the lion's mouth." Get the picture of someone who was just about to be devoured by a raging lion and suddenly whisked away—saved, delivered. That's the picture. It means escape, unusual escape from impending doom.
And in this passage before us, in 1 Thessalonians 1:10, Paul not only declares the fact of divine wrath, but he declares that the only way for deliverance from divine wrath—and he identifies that deliverance, first of all, as coming through Jesus Christ, the Christ of biblical revelation, the Christ of scripture, the Christ of biblical revelation—who rescues us from the wrath to come. He answers. He answers the question, well, who rescues us from the wrath to come? Well, "to wait for His Son." To wait for His Son. He is the Son of God, able and mighty to deliver. No human deliverer, but this is God the Son, the Son of God, God manifested in the flesh. He is the God-man.
But He is not only the Son of God, God able and mighty to deliver, but notice later he identifies Him, Jesus. That peculiar name that is attached to His humanity: "You shall call His name Jesus, for He shall save His people from their sins"—Matthew 1:21. And so the only Christ whom Paul acknowledges as the deliverer, as the rescuer from the wrath to come, is the Christ of biblical revelation, who is the Son of God, who is God the Son, who is the Son of Man, who is the only God, the Son, but who is Jesus, joined together in one person.
And then he identifies Him, in verse 10, as the one "whom He raised from the dead." The one whom God the Father raised from the dead. This is the Christ who actually died. This is the Christ of scripture. And this is the Christ who actually died. This is the Christ who was buried. He died such a complete death that there is needed a supernatural resurrection to take place, to raise Him from the dead. Paul knows no Christ but the Christ of biblical revelation: Son of God, Jesus, died, buried, raised from the dead.
This is the Christ who brings deliverance. And then Christ alone delivers. The Christ of biblical revelation and the Christ who has formed the basis of deliverance. How is it that only Jesus can rescue us from the wrath to come? How is it? How is it? Because only Jesus was sunk beneath the billows of divine wrath that He might deliver us.
That's why if sinners are to be delivered from that coming wrath, which is their just due—God being holy, the sinner being what the sinner is, God being just, a God of inflexible justice, His law being what it is—He must inflict punishment upon a broken law, otherwise He wouldn't be a perfectly just God. And so the Lord Jesus came to the realm, to the very realm of man's failure and sin and rebellion, and so identified Himself with us that the Scripture says, 2 Corinthians 5:21, "He made Him, the Father made the Son, who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf." Christ redeemed us, Galatians 3:13, from the curse of the law. How? Paul tells us, "having become a curse for us—for it is written, 'Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree.'"
Perhaps this will give us a little bit more, really, appreciation of the cross, for what our Lord bore upon Calvary's cross was nothing less than the divine wrath of which we're speaking. That's what He bore. He bore it all, nothing less than the positive outgoing of divine wrath upon His beloved, sinless head. He took it all—all of the billows of the wrath that we explained last Lord's Day, the fact of the wrath of God—all of that, all of that He bore. That's what He experienced.
Do away with the divine doctrine of divine wrath and it won't be long before you're ready to jettison the doctrine of the cross, and the only context in which the cross of Christ will be loved is a context in which the wrath of God is feared. And when one goes, the other inevitably goes—always, always, always. On the cross the Son of God became swallowed up in the billows of divine wrath, and that's what we've been seeing in John 12, right? "My soul is dismayed"—has become dismayed, troubled—because He knows what awaits Him, how He's going to become the sin bearer, how the billows of the wrath of God will come down upon His blessed head. And on the cross the Son of God became swallowed up in the billows of divine wrath, and yet, wonder of wonders, He was swallowed up in wrath that He might deliver us from wrath.
Very often, as we remember when we gather around the Lord's table, we declare and remind ourselves that He drank the cup of wrath that yours and mine will be a cup of mercy. And so Paul identifies Him as the Christ of biblical revelation, who formed the basis of deliverance by Himself—Himself taking upon Himself the wrath that we sinners deserve in order that we might be rescued.
Now, how does He do this work of rescuing? How? How does He do this work of rescuing? Paul says, Jesus who rescues—present tense—who is rescuing us from the wrath to come. Well, He does it initially when He takes away the sentence of wrath, when, like these Thessalonians, we are effectually called by the gospel, drawn—to use the word this morning—by the gospel. We are brought into a living fellowship and relationship with Christ, that the first great blessing is the imputation of His righteousness, His righteousness become ours, the putting to our account of the perfect righteousness of Christ, so that Romans 8 verse 1 is true—blessedly, gloriously true—"Therefore there is therefore now no condemnation, And what is condemnation? It is the sentence of divine wrath, it is the sentence of divine wrath, it's upon every sinner, for the wrath of God abides on him who does not believe. John 3:36, "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." And what turns away that sentence? What turns away that sentence? When the sinner is joined to Jesus—savingly joined to Christ—and the perfect righteousness of Christ is put through His account, there is now no sentence of divine wrath to those who are where? In union with Jesus, Jesus who rescues from coming wrath initially by taking away the sentence of wrath.
And then He delivers continually by taking away what we might call the fitness for wrath, the fitness for wrath. Why is God angry with sinners? Because of our wicked deeds, because of our rebellion to His holy law. That's why Ephesians 5:6, having listed the sins of the flesh, says, "Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience." Now what is God doing? Well, He's delivering us through His Son from the fitness for wrath. He's taking us off the course of being willful rebels against His law, and He's putting us in the course of obedience—imperfect but nonetheless real, real. He's put us in the path of holiness—imperfect but nonetheless real. He has broken the dominion of sin, and He is at work to clear out the remains of sin. Day after day after day we are moving forward from glory to glory.
And so the Lord Jesus, by His intercessory work and by the supply of the Spirit, He's rescuing us from wrath, not only in taking away the sentence of wrath, but in taking away the cause, the fitness for wrath. He's making us more and more like Himself. And then, bless God, bless God, bless God, He delivers us from the wrath to come when one day He will deliver us from the very reality of wrath. When we shall be like Him and see Him as He is, to know that wrath is an utter and complete impossibility—impossibility—that we shall be, as the theologians say, confirmed in righteousness and holiness on a footing far more stable than Adam ever had, a footing which grace has produced, in which we shall be like Him for all eternity.
I want to bring this thing to a very practical conclusion tonight. And again, I wish I had more time really to do so, but I trust the Holy Spirit will make up in power, in pointedness, what I feel I can't do in time.
The third great principle of our text: the fact—divine wrath, number one; number two, Christ alone delivers, He's the deliverer of divine wrath. But in the third place, number three—number three, only those who are converted are being rescued from divine wrath. Only those who are converted are being rescued from divine wrath.
Let me ask you this question: on what basis could Paul rejoice that these people there in that city at Thessaloniki were being rescued from the wrath to come? Was it that he had some false notion of human perfection? Well, these people are all so nice, so good, I mean God is, you know, so nice that He just couldn't judge them. They're nice, they're good, they're nice people. Was it that he had some vague notion of universalism, as we alluded to this morning, that everyone is eventually going to be saved from divine wrath? No.
You know what was the root of his conviction, that they were being delivered from divine wrath? I'll remind us of what it was. It was the evidence of the genuineness of their conversion. It was the fruit, the evidence of the genuineness of their conversion. The fact that he already said—just let your eyes actually see this with me—the fact that he already said, verse 5, "our gospel did not come to you in word only, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit." Verse 6, "you became imitators of us and of the Lord." Verse 7, "you became a model to all believers." Verse 8, "the word of the Lord has sounded forth from you." And verse 9, "you turned to God from idols to serve a living and true God."
The reason, beloved, Paul is confident that they have been rescued by Christ and they were being rescued by Christ from the wrath to come was the undeniable evidence of the genuineness of their conversion. And I say to everyone in the sound of my voice this evening, this is the crux of the whole thing. None will be rescued from the wrath to come except those who are soundly converted. None will be rescued from the wrath to come except those who are soundly, genuinely converted.
And to be soundly converted means that the things are true of you that they were true of these people in Thessaloniki. That's what it is. That's the crux of the matter. That the Word has come to you in something more than verbiage—words, words. Christ and the Bible and God and heaven and hell are something more than words that you've collected like a great kind of a storehouse in your head. But rather they've come with power—power. And you've trembled at the thought of your sins. You've trembled at the thought of hell and judgment and the wrath of God. And you fled, broken, pleading to the cross of Jesus, and you've embraced Him and Him alone as your hope of mercy. The Gospel has come in power.
And you turn. You indeed turn from your idols. You turn to God. You turn with a disposition to serve Him. And your will has been brought subject to King Jesus. And any hope that you will escape divine wrath apart from the evidence of true conversion is but a delusive hope, a mocking hope. It's the hope of the hypocrite, of which the Scripture says shall ultimately perish.
Who is Christ rescuing? He's rescuing those whom He saves. He's rescuing those whom He saves. Who does He save? Who does He save? Those who are soundly converted. Is He rescuing you from the wrath to come? Are you under the canopy of His mercy or under the awful canopy of His wrath tonight? A canopy of wrath about to break over your head, mixed with long-suffering and forbearance. That's the only reason, perhaps, you aren't in hell today. It's that God is long-suffering. And if you're outside of Christ, that's the only reason. Just the fact that you're here to listen to this invitation and warning.
The only reason some aren't joining that rich man who cries out, "Father Abraham, I am tormented in these flames," is only one reason. Only one reason as you sit here and listen: the forbearance of God, called in Romans 2 verse 5, "the riches of His kindness and forbearance and patience." That's why. That's the only reason.
But one day, one day, that will all be past, and judgment and wrath shall come down unmixed with mercy, undiluted. Isaac Watts, who was wonderfully used of God in the conversion of many, said this, I quote, "The love of God is"—now listen carefully to what he called it—"the love of God is the suasive power, suasive power. It is the power that draws a sinner to embrace God's mercy. But the wrath of God is the awakening power." End of quote.
Do you know what's going to awaken some, perhaps, in our midst here in this place from the slumber of your sleep of sin? The thought of divine wrath. The doctrine of divine wrath. And you've been able, perhaps, to sleep through many a gospel sermon. All your eyes have been awake, but your spirits have been slumbering, sleeping. You haven't come to the word saying, oh God, oh God, speak today, speak. I see myself lost, undone, Lord, speak Your word, Your word of power to me, to my heart today.
No, you've been able to come very indifferent, very careless, calloused. Oh, may God send an arrow tonight to awaken you to the thought of His coming impending wrath. Wrath is coming. May God take this phrase of His word, the coming wrath, the wrath to come, and I pray that He will so etch it upon your conscience and in your mind that it will follow you wherever you go this evening—to your home, to your dinner table, to your evening activities, follow you to your bed, meet you in the morning, meet you through the day—until you begin to cry out, oh God, oh God, deliver me from the wrath to come.
You see, the doctrine of divine wrath is the awakening proof. And then the doctrine of divine love becomes the suasive, the drawing, the wooing truth. And may I say to you who by the grace of God can see yourself in verses two through nine, by the grace of God, you say, oh yes, blessed be God, yes, the gospel has come in power, yes, by the grace of God, I have become a true child of God, a true believer, I've turned from my idols to serve the living and true God. I do wait for His Son from heaven. Oh beloved, oh what motive to gratitude it should be in our hearts this evening.
We don't think of it often, do we? That we have been delivered and are being delivered from the wrath to come. How long has it been since you thanked God that you're not in hell? How long has it been since you thanked God that that wasn't your hopeless destiny? Shut out from heaven, shut up to misery, shut in for eternity. And how we need to obey the exhortation of Scripture, to look to the rock from which you were hewn and to the quarry from which you were dug, Isaiah 51. And this would produce a motive of gratitude.
What drove John Wesley continually when people stood amazed at the passion with which this man poured himself into the work of preaching the gospel? He said, quote, "I am as a brand plucked from the burning," end of quote. And he never could forget it—never, never. I am as a brand plucked from the burning.
And then what motive of a debtorhood to others—neighbors, loved ones, friends, some of your own children, husbands, wives—they're under the canopy of divine wrath. What motive to pray? What motive to plead? What a motive to cry to God that they might be delivered through the Lord Jesus Christ? Oh, may God compel each and every one of us in our hearts.
But having looked at this first chapter, what a marvelous chapter. We learn from the example of the Thessalonians in this first chapter of Paul's letter, we learn this: that churches, congregations just like this one, have the privilege of pointing people to God's true work by their own obedience. If the Thessalonian church, if the Corinthian church, and all of those New Testament churches, if these churches become the best evidence to answer Paul's critics—and he had so many, he had so many—then these churches themselves point to a true work of God.
Remember this, remember this: what is the church according to Scripture? "The pillar and support of the truth." The church, this body of Christ, the called out ones, is the pillar and the support of the truth, 1 Timothy 3:15.
Is there a place in the world where the truth is upheld? Is there a place in the world where I can find Truth? The New Testament answers this way: yes, yes, the true church. That's where you find the truth—yes, the true church. And where you find the true church, you find the truth. You find the truth upheld, you find the truth defended, and you find the truth displayed.
What Paul is saying to the Thessalonian church when he says you're the best evidence of the genuineness of our ministry—look at what he said here, verse 9, "for they themselves report about us what kind of an entrance we had with you." That's what he's saying. What he's saying to the Thessalonian church when he says you're the best evidence of the genuineness of our ministry is the change God has wrought in you points to the true, genuine, authentic work of God.
Find out what the Thessalonians heard, what they believed, what they devoted themselves to, the message they're sharing, the way they're living—discover that and you will discover what Jesus does in saving sinners, in redeeming sinners. And that means that churches like ours have the privilege of having a standing in the world by which you could hang a sign over this place, over Grace Chapel—you just put it right outside in front of the building—a sign that reads, the truth is found here. The truth is found here, not just here but wherever you find churches that are faithful by the grace of God to God and His Word, the truth is found here because the church is the pillar and support of the truth.
And here's what I want to challenge us with as we conclude this chapter. That's true of us by the grace of God congregationally as we strive, we strive. But that takes place individually, that takes place individually, doesn't it? One heart at a time, one life at a time.
And so what I want to challenge you and myself with is this: are you, am I, are you and I living in a way that when we come to this place, to this church, we are contributing, we are taking advantage of the privilege to say to a watching world, the truth is found here. The truth is found here. The way you believe, the way you talk, the motives that drive your life, the hope on display in your life—you're living today in light of tomorrow that God has promised—the holiness that marks our lives, turning from a life of idolatry, which involved all sorts of immorality, to a life of devotion to the one true and living God.
When someone looks at my life, at your life—yes, yes, it's a rescued life, it is not yet a perfected life—but is it a genuine life? Is it a genuine life? Do they find in your testimony that there's a real, true, living God, a real, true, living Savior, therefore a real, true, living gospel message—that God's power is indeed at work in this world, transforming human lives through salvation in Christ Jesus? Does your life and mine say that's true?
Did someone say to you, to me, you're exhibit A for the genuineness of the gospel ministry that we engage in? They look at your life and mine, and you're proof of the genuineness of the ministry of this body of Christ. Someone looks at your life as an individual—if they would just follow you around—does it speak of Jesus? Does it?
Someone watches how you interact with your spouse, your marriage at home, your kids, your friends, your siblings, your interactions with others—does it say that Jesus lives? Someone's watching the way you're interacting with brothers and sisters in the body of Christ—does it say that you belong to that church which is the pillar and the support of the truth? Someone watches how you conduct business versus how other people conduct business, and they understand you're not living for now, you're living for ever, for eternity.
The only reason you can have congregational commendations like this one here in verse 9—and we'll see it throughout the rest of the epistle—the only reason you can have congregational commendations is because God's work is real, and God's people are the proof that God's work is real, and what a privilege that God would make use of our small lives to speak to the reality of His presence and His power, and His Son, and His truth.
Do you need proof that what you met with was indeed from the Lord? Paul says to the Thessalonians and to us, just look at your own life, just look at your own life.
Let's pray.
This was not a quasi-reception. This was a full embrace, and you could see the transformation wrought by the power of the gospel in the lives of these people, so much so that Paul says—he says, we give thanks to God always for all of you, verse 2, making mention of you in our prayers, remembering without ceasing. He said, we remember without ceasing your work of faith, labor of love, steadfastness of hope. He sees all the fruit of what the gospel has wrought in their lives. This was a genuine reception of the word of God. There was a transformation of life. There's the fruit of righteousness, and then he talks further about really the fruit of repentance and conversion.
He talks about how they became imitators of him and of the Lord, how they received the Word in much affliction with the joy of the Holy Spirit, and how they became a model to all the believers all around, and how the Word of God sounded forth from them, reverberated all throughout the region of Achaia and Macedonia. In every place, he said, your faith toward God has gone forth so we have no need to say anything. And he said, they themselves, verse 9, report about us, what kind of an entrance we had with you. And he said, you've turned from idols. When you receive the word, here's the fruit, here's the proof. You actually turned your back on your idols, and now you turned and face to face with the living God in an intimate communion and relationship with Him.
And not only that, but now you are a second coming people. You live here in the light of there. You live now in the light of then. And by the way, as a second coming people, as they were waiting for that glorious hope, they didn't sit on their hands. They were laboring for the Lord. It really was the fuel to the fire of their zeal and passion for the Lord. And so as they lived—as they lived in anticipation of the coming of the Lord—they were arduous in their labor. They were working so hard to honor the Lord, to serve Him, to make much of Him.
And as they're waiting for the Lord to come, we learned concerning waiting for the Son of God to come from heaven, six marvelous truths: that Jesus is coming again, verse 10, that He will descend from heaven, that He will appear in bodily form, that He could return today, and that His return demands our readiness. And we have been considering the last one: Jesus rescues us from wrath, the wrath to come.
And we saw last Lord's day how this doctrine of the wrath of God is taught in Scripture. We learned together that not only this wrath of God is the wrath of God—He is the author of it. He is the dispenser of it under the heading, the fact of divine wrath. We saw together that God is the author of this wrath. Thirty-five times this word wrath or He is used in the New Testament, and at least twenty-five of those times it refers to a wrath that has its origin in the heart of God. God is a God of infinite wrath. Just like He is the God of infinite love, He is the God of infinite wrath. He is the author of it. He is the distributor of it as well. And it is a frightful thing to fall into the hand of the living God.
God's wrath, Pastor MacArthur writes, is crucial to who He is. All of His attributes are balanced in divine perfection. If He had no righteous anger, He would not be God. Apart from His wrath, the concept of His love is rendered meaningless. End of quote.
We saw together the creatures will be the object of His wrath, and this is really frightful—the object of His wrath. And as we will see shortly, really, salvation fundamentally is being saved from the wrath of God. Whereas before our coming to know God, God was our number one enemy. But now He is our friend. He is our Savior. He is our Lord. We're reconciled to Him. We are saved from the wrath of God. He is our Lord. We're reconciled to Him.
And under the fact of this wrath, thirdly, we learned together last Lord's Day that the infliction of divine displeasure is the essence of this wrath. What will that infliction of divine displeasure involve? We saw this last time. Three simple phrases really explain to us what is involved in this infliction of divine displeasure, the wrath of God.
Number one, it will be a shutting out from heaven. Revelation 21:26–27. A shutting out from heaven. Number two, it involves a shutting up to misery and torment. Matthew 10:28. And in the third place, it means being shut in to that state for all eternity, and there are no redos. It is forever. It is forever.
Who can understand such anger and wrath that shall come from an infinite God, which, when it funnels from the head up—or on the head of the wicked—will shut them out from heaven, will shut them up to misery, and will shut them into that state for eternity? And fourthly, we saw together that the day of judgment will be its revelation. It is coming. The day of wrath is coming. The books will be open. The wicked will be judged.
We'll pick up where we left off. Let us consider in the second place—and this is really the wonderful truth bound up in this verse—that only Christ Jesus can rescue from this coming judgment. Only Christ Jesus can rescue from this coming judgment: "and to wait for His Son from heaven, whom He raised from the dead, Jesus, who rescues us from the wrath to come." And would you note that it is in the present tense? It is in the present tense: "who rescues us," or literally, "who is rescuing us from the wrath to come."
And this word “rescues” means to deliver, to bring someone out of the state of danger. It's the same word used by Paul when he said, "I was rescued out of the lion's mouth." Get the picture of someone who was just about to be devoured by a raging lion and suddenly whisked away—saved, delivered. That's the picture. It means escape, unusual escape from impending doom.
And in this passage before us, in 1 Thessalonians 1:10, Paul not only declares the fact of divine wrath, but he declares that the only way for deliverance from divine wrath—and he identifies that deliverance, first of all, as coming through Jesus Christ, the Christ of biblical revelation, the Christ of scripture, the Christ of biblical revelation—who rescues us from the wrath to come. He answers. He answers the question, well, who rescues us from the wrath to come? Well, "to wait for His Son." To wait for His Son. He is the Son of God, able and mighty to deliver. No human deliverer, but this is God the Son, the Son of God, God manifested in the flesh. He is the God-man.
But He is not only the Son of God, God able and mighty to deliver, but notice later he identifies Him, Jesus. That peculiar name that is attached to His humanity: "You shall call His name Jesus, for He shall save His people from their sins"—Matthew 1:21. And so the only Christ whom Paul acknowledges as the deliverer, as the rescuer from the wrath to come, is the Christ of biblical revelation, who is the Son of God, who is God the Son, who is the Son of Man, who is the only God, the Son, but who is Jesus, joined together in one person.
And then he identifies Him, in verse 10, as the one "whom He raised from the dead." The one whom God the Father raised from the dead. This is the Christ who actually died. This is the Christ of scripture. And this is the Christ who actually died. This is the Christ who was buried. He died such a complete death that there is needed a supernatural resurrection to take place, to raise Him from the dead. Paul knows no Christ but the Christ of biblical revelation: Son of God, Jesus, died, buried, raised from the dead.
This is the Christ who brings deliverance. And then Christ alone delivers. The Christ of biblical revelation and the Christ who has formed the basis of deliverance. How is it that only Jesus can rescue us from the wrath to come? How is it? How is it? Because only Jesus was sunk beneath the billows of divine wrath that He might deliver us.
That's why if sinners are to be delivered from that coming wrath, which is their just due—God being holy, the sinner being what the sinner is, God being just, a God of inflexible justice, His law being what it is—He must inflict punishment upon a broken law, otherwise He wouldn't be a perfectly just God. And so the Lord Jesus came to the realm, to the very realm of man's failure and sin and rebellion, and so identified Himself with us that the Scripture says, 2 Corinthians 5:21, "He made Him, the Father made the Son, who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf." Christ redeemed us, Galatians 3:13, from the curse of the law. How? Paul tells us, "having become a curse for us—for it is written, 'Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree.'"
Perhaps this will give us a little bit more, really, appreciation of the cross, for what our Lord bore upon Calvary's cross was nothing less than the divine wrath of which we're speaking. That's what He bore. He bore it all, nothing less than the positive outgoing of divine wrath upon His beloved, sinless head. He took it all—all of the billows of the wrath that we explained last Lord's Day, the fact of the wrath of God—all of that, all of that He bore. That's what He experienced.
Do away with the divine doctrine of divine wrath and it won't be long before you're ready to jettison the doctrine of the cross, and the only context in which the cross of Christ will be loved is a context in which the wrath of God is feared. And when one goes, the other inevitably goes—always, always, always. On the cross the Son of God became swallowed up in the billows of divine wrath, and that's what we've been seeing in John 12, right? "My soul is dismayed"—has become dismayed, troubled—because He knows what awaits Him, how He's going to become the sin bearer, how the billows of the wrath of God will come down upon His blessed head. And on the cross the Son of God became swallowed up in the billows of divine wrath, and yet, wonder of wonders, He was swallowed up in wrath that He might deliver us from wrath.
Very often, as we remember when we gather around the Lord's table, we declare and remind ourselves that He drank the cup of wrath that yours and mine will be a cup of mercy. And so Paul identifies Him as the Christ of biblical revelation, who formed the basis of deliverance by Himself—Himself taking upon Himself the wrath that we sinners deserve in order that we might be rescued.
Now, how does He do this work of rescuing? How? How does He do this work of rescuing? Paul says, Jesus who rescues—present tense—who is rescuing us from the wrath to come. Well, He does it initially when He takes away the sentence of wrath, when, like these Thessalonians, we are effectually called by the gospel, drawn—to use the word this morning—by the gospel. We are brought into a living fellowship and relationship with Christ, that the first great blessing is the imputation of His righteousness, His righteousness become ours, the putting to our account of the perfect righteousness of Christ, so that Romans 8 verse 1 is true—blessedly, gloriously true—"Therefore there is therefore now no condemnation, And what is condemnation? It is the sentence of divine wrath, it is the sentence of divine wrath, it's upon every sinner, for the wrath of God abides on him who does not believe. John 3:36, "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." And what turns away that sentence? What turns away that sentence? When the sinner is joined to Jesus—savingly joined to Christ—and the perfect righteousness of Christ is put through His account, there is now no sentence of divine wrath to those who are where? In union with Jesus, Jesus who rescues from coming wrath initially by taking away the sentence of wrath.
And then He delivers continually by taking away what we might call the fitness for wrath, the fitness for wrath. Why is God angry with sinners? Because of our wicked deeds, because of our rebellion to His holy law. That's why Ephesians 5:6, having listed the sins of the flesh, says, "Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience." Now what is God doing? Well, He's delivering us through His Son from the fitness for wrath. He's taking us off the course of being willful rebels against His law, and He's putting us in the course of obedience—imperfect but nonetheless real, real. He's put us in the path of holiness—imperfect but nonetheless real. He has broken the dominion of sin, and He is at work to clear out the remains of sin. Day after day after day we are moving forward from glory to glory.
And so the Lord Jesus, by His intercessory work and by the supply of the Spirit, He's rescuing us from wrath, not only in taking away the sentence of wrath, but in taking away the cause, the fitness for wrath. He's making us more and more like Himself. And then, bless God, bless God, bless God, He delivers us from the wrath to come when one day He will deliver us from the very reality of wrath. When we shall be like Him and see Him as He is, to know that wrath is an utter and complete impossibility—impossibility—that we shall be, as the theologians say, confirmed in righteousness and holiness on a footing far more stable than Adam ever had, a footing which grace has produced, in which we shall be like Him for all eternity.
I want to bring this thing to a very practical conclusion tonight. And again, I wish I had more time really to do so, but I trust the Holy Spirit will make up in power, in pointedness, what I feel I can't do in time.
The third great principle of our text: the fact—divine wrath, number one; number two, Christ alone delivers, He's the deliverer of divine wrath. But in the third place, number three—number three, only those who are converted are being rescued from divine wrath. Only those who are converted are being rescued from divine wrath.
Let me ask you this question: on what basis could Paul rejoice that these people there in that city at Thessaloniki were being rescued from the wrath to come? Was it that he had some false notion of human perfection? Well, these people are all so nice, so good, I mean God is, you know, so nice that He just couldn't judge them. They're nice, they're good, they're nice people. Was it that he had some vague notion of universalism, as we alluded to this morning, that everyone is eventually going to be saved from divine wrath? No.
You know what was the root of his conviction, that they were being delivered from divine wrath? I'll remind us of what it was. It was the evidence of the genuineness of their conversion. It was the fruit, the evidence of the genuineness of their conversion. The fact that he already said—just let your eyes actually see this with me—the fact that he already said, verse 5, "our gospel did not come to you in word only, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit." Verse 6, "you became imitators of us and of the Lord." Verse 7, "you became a model to all believers." Verse 8, "the word of the Lord has sounded forth from you." And verse 9, "you turned to God from idols to serve a living and true God."
The reason, beloved, Paul is confident that they have been rescued by Christ and they were being rescued by Christ from the wrath to come was the undeniable evidence of the genuineness of their conversion. And I say to everyone in the sound of my voice this evening, this is the crux of the whole thing. None will be rescued from the wrath to come except those who are soundly converted. None will be rescued from the wrath to come except those who are soundly, genuinely converted.
And to be soundly converted means that the things are true of you that they were true of these people in Thessaloniki. That's what it is. That's the crux of the matter. That the Word has come to you in something more than verbiage—words, words. Christ and the Bible and God and heaven and hell are something more than words that you've collected like a great kind of a storehouse in your head. But rather they've come with power—power. And you've trembled at the thought of your sins. You've trembled at the thought of hell and judgment and the wrath of God. And you fled, broken, pleading to the cross of Jesus, and you've embraced Him and Him alone as your hope of mercy. The Gospel has come in power.
And you turn. You indeed turn from your idols. You turn to God. You turn with a disposition to serve Him. And your will has been brought subject to King Jesus. And any hope that you will escape divine wrath apart from the evidence of true conversion is but a delusive hope, a mocking hope. It's the hope of the hypocrite, of which the Scripture says shall ultimately perish.
Who is Christ rescuing? He's rescuing those whom He saves. He's rescuing those whom He saves. Who does He save? Who does He save? Those who are soundly converted. Is He rescuing you from the wrath to come? Are you under the canopy of His mercy or under the awful canopy of His wrath tonight? A canopy of wrath about to break over your head, mixed with long-suffering and forbearance. That's the only reason, perhaps, you aren't in hell today. It's that God is long-suffering. And if you're outside of Christ, that's the only reason. Just the fact that you're here to listen to this invitation and warning.
The only reason some aren't joining that rich man who cries out, "Father Abraham, I am tormented in these flames," is only one reason. Only one reason as you sit here and listen: the forbearance of God, called in Romans 2 verse 5, "the riches of His kindness and forbearance and patience." That's why. That's the only reason.
But one day, one day, that will all be past, and judgment and wrath shall come down unmixed with mercy, undiluted. Isaac Watts, who was wonderfully used of God in the conversion of many, said this, I quote, "The love of God is"—now listen carefully to what he called it—"the love of God is the suasive power, suasive power. It is the power that draws a sinner to embrace God's mercy. But the wrath of God is the awakening power." End of quote.
Do you know what's going to awaken some, perhaps, in our midst here in this place from the slumber of your sleep of sin? The thought of divine wrath. The doctrine of divine wrath. And you've been able, perhaps, to sleep through many a gospel sermon. All your eyes have been awake, but your spirits have been slumbering, sleeping. You haven't come to the word saying, oh God, oh God, speak today, speak. I see myself lost, undone, Lord, speak Your word, Your word of power to me, to my heart today.
No, you've been able to come very indifferent, very careless, calloused. Oh, may God send an arrow tonight to awaken you to the thought of His coming impending wrath. Wrath is coming. May God take this phrase of His word, the coming wrath, the wrath to come, and I pray that He will so etch it upon your conscience and in your mind that it will follow you wherever you go this evening—to your home, to your dinner table, to your evening activities, follow you to your bed, meet you in the morning, meet you through the day—until you begin to cry out, oh God, oh God, deliver me from the wrath to come.
You see, the doctrine of divine wrath is the awakening proof. And then the doctrine of divine love becomes the suasive, the drawing, the wooing truth. And may I say to you who by the grace of God can see yourself in verses two through nine, by the grace of God, you say, oh yes, blessed be God, yes, the gospel has come in power, yes, by the grace of God, I have become a true child of God, a true believer, I've turned from my idols to serve the living and true God. I do wait for His Son from heaven. Oh beloved, oh what motive to gratitude it should be in our hearts this evening.
We don't think of it often, do we? That we have been delivered and are being delivered from the wrath to come. How long has it been since you thanked God that you're not in hell? How long has it been since you thanked God that that wasn't your hopeless destiny? Shut out from heaven, shut up to misery, shut in for eternity. And how we need to obey the exhortation of Scripture, to look to the rock from which you were hewn and to the quarry from which you were dug, Isaiah 51. And this would produce a motive of gratitude.
What drove John Wesley continually when people stood amazed at the passion with which this man poured himself into the work of preaching the gospel? He said, quote, "I am as a brand plucked from the burning," end of quote. And he never could forget it—never, never. I am as a brand plucked from the burning.
And then what motive of a debtorhood to others—neighbors, loved ones, friends, some of your own children, husbands, wives—they're under the canopy of divine wrath. What motive to pray? What motive to plead? What a motive to cry to God that they might be delivered through the Lord Jesus Christ? Oh, may God compel each and every one of us in our hearts.
But having looked at this first chapter, what a marvelous chapter. We learn from the example of the Thessalonians in this first chapter of Paul's letter, we learn this: that churches, congregations just like this one, have the privilege of pointing people to God's true work by their own obedience. If the Thessalonian church, if the Corinthian church, and all of those New Testament churches, if these churches become the best evidence to answer Paul's critics—and he had so many, he had so many—then these churches themselves point to a true work of God.
Remember this, remember this: what is the church according to Scripture? "The pillar and support of the truth." The church, this body of Christ, the called out ones, is the pillar and the support of the truth, 1 Timothy 3:15.
Is there a place in the world where the truth is upheld? Is there a place in the world where I can find Truth? The New Testament answers this way: yes, yes, the true church. That's where you find the truth—yes, the true church. And where you find the true church, you find the truth. You find the truth upheld, you find the truth defended, and you find the truth displayed.
What Paul is saying to the Thessalonian church when he says you're the best evidence of the genuineness of our ministry—look at what he said here, verse 9, "for they themselves report about us what kind of an entrance we had with you." That's what he's saying. What he's saying to the Thessalonian church when he says you're the best evidence of the genuineness of our ministry is the change God has wrought in you points to the true, genuine, authentic work of God.
Find out what the Thessalonians heard, what they believed, what they devoted themselves to, the message they're sharing, the way they're living—discover that and you will discover what Jesus does in saving sinners, in redeeming sinners. And that means that churches like ours have the privilege of having a standing in the world by which you could hang a sign over this place, over Grace Chapel—you just put it right outside in front of the building—a sign that reads, the truth is found here. The truth is found here, not just here but wherever you find churches that are faithful by the grace of God to God and His Word, the truth is found here because the church is the pillar and support of the truth.
And here's what I want to challenge us with as we conclude this chapter. That's true of us by the grace of God congregationally as we strive, we strive. But that takes place individually, that takes place individually, doesn't it? One heart at a time, one life at a time.
And so what I want to challenge you and myself with is this: are you, am I, are you and I living in a way that when we come to this place, to this church, we are contributing, we are taking advantage of the privilege to say to a watching world, the truth is found here. The truth is found here. The way you believe, the way you talk, the motives that drive your life, the hope on display in your life—you're living today in light of tomorrow that God has promised—the holiness that marks our lives, turning from a life of idolatry, which involved all sorts of immorality, to a life of devotion to the one true and living God.
When someone looks at my life, at your life—yes, yes, it's a rescued life, it is not yet a perfected life—but is it a genuine life? Is it a genuine life? Do they find in your testimony that there's a real, true, living God, a real, true, living Savior, therefore a real, true, living gospel message—that God's power is indeed at work in this world, transforming human lives through salvation in Christ Jesus? Does your life and mine say that's true?
Did someone say to you, to me, you're exhibit A for the genuineness of the gospel ministry that we engage in? They look at your life and mine, and you're proof of the genuineness of the ministry of this body of Christ. Someone looks at your life as an individual—if they would just follow you around—does it speak of Jesus? Does it?
Someone watches how you interact with your spouse, your marriage at home, your kids, your friends, your siblings, your interactions with others—does it say that Jesus lives? Someone's watching the way you're interacting with brothers and sisters in the body of Christ—does it say that you belong to that church which is the pillar and the support of the truth? Someone watches how you conduct business versus how other people conduct business, and they understand you're not living for now, you're living for ever, for eternity.
The only reason you can have congregational commendations like this one here in verse 9—and we'll see it throughout the rest of the epistle—the only reason you can have congregational commendations is because God's work is real, and God's people are the proof that God's work is real, and what a privilege that God would make use of our small lives to speak to the reality of His presence and His power, and His Son, and His truth.
Do you need proof that what you met with was indeed from the Lord? Paul says to the Thessalonians and to us, just look at your own life, just look at your own life.
Let's pray.
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