Exposed to the Wrath of a Sin Avenging God — E.A. Johnston

The Coming Storm of Divine Judgment

Let me ask you, friends. Have you ever been awakened in the dead of night to the piercing sound of tornado sirens? Have you ever sat up in bed wiping the sleep from your eyes as peals of thunder crashed about you and streaks of lightning lit up your room?

Have you jumped out of bed to check on your loved ones or pets while torrential rains and buckets of hail pounded your house? I have. A tornado came through our neighborhood some years ago and at 2 o 'clock in the morning everyone on our street was up in alarm and on their knees begging God for mercy.

It was a dread-filled night of sudden terror and one so terrible and life-threatening you didn't know if you'd survive or not. Listen to me, friend. There is a coming storm of judgment fast approaching and it will be a time of terror that this world has never witnessed before.

It will be as sweeping as the flood in Noah's day and as sudden as the fire that fell on Sodom. Let me read you about this time, turning your Bibles to 2 Thessalonians in chapter 1. We will be in verses 7 through 9.

Everlasting Destruction in 2 Thessalonians

Let me read us this alarming passage of scripture at this time, friends. And to you who were troubled, rest with us when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire, taking vengeance on them that know not God and obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his power.

Let me address these statements one by one as we proceed, but let me ask you, when that time comes, friend, and catches you unaware and in alarm, will you be exposed to the wrath of a sin-avenging God?

And that's the title of my message today, friends, Exposed to the Wrath of a Sin-Avenging God. In the first book of the Bible, in Genesis, we read about the dawn of civilization and in the last book of the Bible, in Revelation, we see the end of that civilization.

From Creation to the Consummation

In Genesis, we read about the spirit of God as it broods over the dark void and God speaks the world into existence, then God forms man out of the dust of the earth and breathes life into him. In Revelation, we read how God draws the curtain down on it all and wraps up this world like a dirty blanket and shakes it till the very stars fall out of the sky.

The Lord Jesus comes with flaming fire. We live in a Christ-rejecting world, a God-hating nation, and a God-mocking society, but there was a time in this country years ago when there was still a fear of God in the land, but now the land mocks God and stands against the word of God.

And in our text, we see Christ's return and his return is with flaming swords of justice in his hands as he appears from heaven in the company of mighty angels and Christ is coming this time not as a gentle babe in a manger or as a Messiah who brings peace, but as a Sin-Avenging Judge brandishing flaming swords of justice in his hands because the age of grace has ended and the time for judgment and justice to fall is here on a sin-loving world.

Our text declares that the Lord Jesus will pour out vengeance on them that know not God. And listen to me, unconverted church member, he's also gonna pour it out upon those that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, both the unconverted man outside the church and the unconverted man inside the church are lumped together like fishes that are taken in a net, like it reads in the book of Ecclesiastes, for man also knoweth not his time as the fishes that are taken in an evil net and as the birds that are caught in the snare, so are the sons of men snared in an evil time when it falls suddenly upon them, a sudden terror falls and snares them, catches them without warning and sadly without remedy because the remedy for sin is now an avenging judge executing punishment for sin.

The Eternity of Sin's Punishment

And our text from 2 Thessalonians states that punishment for sin is a duration that never ceases for it is everlasting destruction. Have you, friend, ever been caught in a horrible situation and you just wanted it to end, that you knew it would somehow soon end?

But when Christ appears with his mighty angels who have his dragnet in their hands, no one will escape, no one will be spared for it is reckoning day, and these lost sinners will have nothing to cover them, no shelter in this raging storm of justice, for they will be exposed to the wrath of a sin-avenging God, where there will be a reign before a great white throne, and where the judge of all the earth sits there in all his authority and majesty and holiness, and the books will be opened, and the small and the great will be judged according to the things which are written in the books, and whosoever is not found written in the book of life will be cast into the lake of fire, and that raging lake will be continually fueled by the wrath of a sin-avenging God.

Repentance and Faith Before Judgment

How about you, friend? Are you on a false foundation of carnal security? Are you trusting on your money to get you by, or is your trust in the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior? He offers himself now as a sin-substitute for sinners, he beckons now with, let him that is the thirst come, and whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely, repent of your sins, and place your trust in the Lord Jesus Christ as your Redeemer, before he becomes your executioner.

Let us pray.