13 February 2022: God’s wrath, our deliverance, and the appropriate response

Service available on Youtube, or as text (below), or for audio see the Podcasts page.

Welcome

Let’s keep praying for those who are unwell and praise Him for good news when we hear it.

Testimony

The butterfly’s life cycle has four stages, egg, larva, pupa and adult, a process known as metamorphosis. This same word is used to explain the changes the Christian goes through in their daily walk with Jesus as we submit to the Holy Spirit (see Rom. 12:2: “Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind”; 2 Cor. 3:18: “We … are being transformed into His image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit).

Stella

Worship

Word

Read Rom. 3:21-31

God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of His blood – to be received by faith …

Rom 3:25

This verse brings out the terrible darkness of the Cross and all that Jesus suffered. There are those who believe His sacrifice was only an expiation for sins, meaning that it dealt with sins, so that people could be forgiven of their guilt and wrongdoings. Propitiation goes further, however, and deals not only with the guilt and defilement of sin, but also the wrath of God. I go with the latter, because the wrath of God has already been referred to and is one of the big problems facing humankind:

For the wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and unrighteousness of people, who suppress the truth by their unrighteousness.

Rom. 1:18

But because of your stubbornness and your unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath against yourself for the day of God’s wrath, when His righteous judgment will be revealed.

Rom 2:5

But if our unrighteousness brings out God’s righteousness more clearly, what shall we say? That God is unjust in bringing His wrath on us? (I am using a human argument.)

Rom 3:5

Furthermore, how can we explain the cry of total dereliction that is recorded of Jesus during the last moments of His dying on the cross:

“My God, my God, why have You forsaken me?”

Matt.  27:46

No one will ever be able to adequately understand, explain, or appreciate that. All that can be said is, surely this is when Jesus bore the wrath of God for the sin of the world. But let us also remember that

God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself

2 Cor. 5:19

The more we appreciate this, the more we will worship Him. The more we appreciate how far short of His glory we all have fallen, the more we will worship Him. The more we appreciate what a great future He has in store for us, the more we will worship Him. We must pray for more of the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, that we might know Him and His ways better, that we might the more worship Him better, Amen.

Quote of the week

“Thus God Himself, gave Himself, to save us from Himself”

John Stott

Verse of the week

This is love: not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.

1 John 4:10 NKJV

Let’s Pray

Heavenly Father, we worship, praise and thank You for Your great love in sending Your Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Thank You that we are now back where we belong, in Your Presence, both now and for all eternity.

Help us, by the empowering presence of Your Spirit in our lives, to live lives that are worthy, and to the praise of the name of Your dear Son, Jesus Christ. Lord build Your Church to be a dynamic, flourishing Church, once more in this nation, and in the nations of the world, in and through our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ, Amen.