6. Kevin Hay | Calvinism and the Wrath of God | Open Air Theology Conference 2024

Well, it is a tremendous honor and privilege to be here with you all this morning I am incredibly grateful for the opportunity to be part of this conference as we are asking the question why?

Calvinism Why Calvinism and already throughout our time together yesterday?

We were able to begin seeing the answer to that question both Coming to us from the pages of Scripture and from church history

And so today as we continue to expound upon the rich doctrine and the robust theology known as Calvinism I have been given the very light topic of Calvinism and the wrath of God and of course

I Jest it is a heavy topic that we will be discussing and I Have wrestled with this for this week and beyond so Calvinism and the wrath of God and so in Contemplating this very sobering subject.

There's one passage of Scripture that continued to come to my mind and that is Romans chapter 9 so I want to invite and encourage you now to turn with me in your

Bibles to the ninth chapter of Paul's letter to the Romans the book of Romans chapter number 9 our primary focus for this morning will eventually be verses 22 through 24

But for the sake of continuity, we will begin reading at verse 14 And so if you are able, please stand with me now as we honor the reading of God's Word from Romans chapter 9 beginning at verse 14 and there

God's Word reads What shall we say then is

There injustice on God's part by no means For he says to Moses.

I will have mercy on whom I have mercy and I will have compassion on whom

I have compassion so then it depends not on human will or exertion but on God Who has mercy?

For the scripture says to Pharaoh For this very purpose I have raised you up that I might show my power in you and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth

So then he has mercy on whomever he wills and he hardens

Whomever he wills You will say to me then Why does he still find fault?

For who can resist his will? But who are you O man to answer back to God Will what is molded say to its molder?

Why have you made me like this? Has the potter no right over the clay to make out of the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for dishonorable use

What if God? Desiring to show his wrath and to make known his power

Has endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction in order

To make known the riches of his glory for vessels of mercy, which he has prepared beforehand for glory

Even us whom he has called Not from the Jews only but also from the

Gentiles And with that you may be seated as we ask God and plead with him to bless the reading and preaching of his word father

Oh Sovereign Lord and Amazing father

We come to you today in the name of Your son and our

Savior Jesus Christ the Lord and we come boldly to your throne of grace

With confidence as you have called us to because and only because of who Christ is and what

Christ has done for us Thank you for this access that we now have to come before you as Those who are in need of your grace

Asking for your help. I pray Oh God above all else today that you

Will be exalted. Oh God. I want nothing more than to Exalt you and To see you revealed in the way that you have revealed yourself to us

So I pray Oh God that you will

Empower us to be attentive to your word Humble us before the truth that you have revealed about yourself and about your salvation

Help us to see you more clearly. I pray that you'll help us to put aside any preconceived ideas or notions that we might have about your character and Simply seek you through the pages of Scripture by the power of your spirit.

I pray that you will move among us during this time Working in us and and causing our affections to rise up and increase for you that we would love you all the more and That we would have an increasing amount of gratitude for who you are and for what you have done for us in and through Christ Oh God, may you be honored and Be with me as I seek to honor you in Christ's name.

I pray Amen, well recently

I came across a quote featured on the website of a well -known anti Calvinist and the quote was written to depict in an effort to disparage

Calvinism a theoretical scene in eternity future I Just want to listen to the way this author depicts the

Calvinist position he says this fast forward to eternity Imagine all the redeemed

Unconditionally elected according to Calvinism are standing on the precipice of hell in which untold billions of people suffer unimaginable unquenchable and unparalleled agony and torment

While the elect gaze into the cauldron of hell one of the unconditionally elect exclaims

God is holy and that proclamation is immediately and worshipfully met by thunderous amens and hallelujahs since whether redeemed or Judged God's perfect and unlimited righteousness and holiness are irrefutably evident to all

Then he writes Another of the unconditionally elect caught up in the moment resoundingly declares that God is love and Eerie Paul's follows this declaration.

He writes a hollow cavern of silence a silence not from or awakening calmness, but a silence invoked by an insurmountable contradiction a

Silence where in an attribute of God is suppressed by the conquest of evidence a silence like never before It is not one of all and glorious wonder

But one of confusion and demoralization of the elect my friends.

I cannot think of a more fitting Introduction to this topic of Calvinism and the wrath of God because it vividly demonstrates the blatant

Misrepresentation and utter mischaracterization of what the Bible clearly teaches about the relationship between God's eternal love and his divine wrath

More than that it robs God of the worship and adoration he so richly deserves

And finally it undermines the praise of his glorious grace

Which is the very purpose for which the entire cosmos have been created? So in seeing the great need to define this doctrine rightly we are

Catapulted as it were into the topic because we understand the gravity of the subject

We understand the severity and the seriousness of what we're talking about And so what

I want us to see this morning is that the Calvinistic? Understanding of the wrath of God is the biblical understanding of the wrath of God.

I Want us to recognize that without a biblical understanding of God's wrath We are failing to grasp the depth of God's grace the power of God's gospel and the extent of God's glory

And furthermore, I want us to realize that this is a weighty topic not primarily

Because it is a sobering truth to us But infinitely more significant because the exaltation of our great

God is at stake After all, it is not the truths of Scripture that are hard But the hearts that refuse to submit to them so with that in mind,

I want us to begin this morning with a biblical theology of God's wrath a biblical theology of God's wrath theologians throughout history have often referred to the book of Romans as the closest thing to a

Systematic theology that we have contained in one volume of Scripture So since our primary text for this morning comes from Romans chapter 9,

I want us to see this concept of God's wrath Exclusively unfolding within and from the book of Romans as Paul works his way to the context of Romans chapter 9

Not only will that help us see how Paul defines and expounds upon the usage of the very idea that he is promoting but it will also help us to keep the

Context of Romans in full view and in the forefront of our minds as we prepare to exegete

The 22nd through the 24th verse of Romans 9 So with that as our goal,

I want you to flip back with me now to Romans chapter 1 Romans chapter 1 and as you do

I want you to look down with me to verse 15 Romans chapter 1 verse 15 following his introduction and his expression of gratitude for the

Roman believers We noticed that Paul lets them know in verse 15 that he is eager to preach to them the gospel

Why because it is not just unbelievers who need to hear the truths of the gospel but we as believers need to be reminded of those glorious gospel truths every single day and Then in verse 16, he says to them for I am not ashamed of the gospel

For it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes to the

Jew first and also to the Greek then in verses 17 and 18

Paul provides us with two fundamental reasons that he is not ashamed of the gospel so first in verse 17

He says he's not ashamed of the gospel because in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith

For faith as it is written quoting from the prophet Habakkuk the righteous shall live by faith

In other words for those who are being saved For those who are brought to saving faith the gospel reveals the righteousness of God It opens our eyes to see it in ways

We've never seen it before and this is actually the very passage that God saw fit to use in the life of Martin Luther and his very conversion

Luther would later write about his conversion talking about how he actually Hated the

God of the Bible and that he wrestled with this passage and then he says this Then finally

God had mercy on me And I began to understand that the righteousness of God is a gift of God by which a righteous man lives namely faith and That sentence he says the righteousness of God is revealed in the gospel is passive Indicating that the merciful

God Justifies us by faith as it is written the righteous shall live by faith

Now he says I felt as though I had been reborn altogether and had entered paradise in The same moment the face of the whole scripture became apparent to me

Just as intensely as I had once hated the expression the righteousness of God I now lovingly praised this most pleasant word

This passage from Paul became to me Luther says the very gate to paradise

So just as it did in the life of Martin Luther Paul says that the first reason he is not ashamed of the gospel is because through it

Genuine believers have the righteousness of God revealed and imputed to them through faith in Christ But then as we look to verse 18, we see the second reason

Paul provides for why he is unashamed of the gospel And he says therefore the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men

Who by their unrighteousness? suppress the truth And that word wrath there is one we want to key in on for this morning

It literally means a movement of deep anger and indignation

So, why is God revealing his deep anger and indignation what is the target of his divine wrath?

It is every human being who transgresses his holy law it's the ungodliness and unrighteousness of sinful humanity who actively and Persistently ignore and rebel against the truth about God that is obvious to them

In the very world in which they live It's every single one of us in our natural fallen condition

Although we see his invisible attributes like his eternal power and his divine nature and his creativity.

We do not naturally within ourselves Acknowledge him or give him praise for who he is and what he's done we see his creativity and the splendor of his majesty and the brilliance of the stars on a

Cloudless night and in the beauty of a sunset that looks like he painted it with his own hand and yet in our natural

Fallen state we refuse to bow the knee and surrender to Christ Lordship we refuse to give him the glory he so richly deserves and Therefore on the one hand

Paul says the gospel reveals to those who are being saved the righteousness that is ours by faith in Christ but on the other hand

For those who persist in unbelief who reject this gospel all that is left for them is the revealing of God's wrath upon them

And Paul builds upon this concept of God's wrath not only progressively throughout chapter 1 which we will return to later

But also as we turn to chapter 2 And so if you look there with me as he speaks of God's righteous judgment towards the unrepentant

Paul goes on to say in chapter 2 verse 5, but because of your hard and impenitent heart

You are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath when

God's righteous judgment will be revealed Jonathan Edwards captures this idea powerfully in his well -known sermon sinners in the hands of an angry

God Providing a vivid illustration for us of God's righteous wrath being stored up and here's what

Edwards said the bow of God's wrath is bent and the arrow made ready on the string and justice bends the arrow at your heart and Strains the bow and it is nothing but the mere pleasure of God and that of an angry

God Without any promise or obligation at all that keeps the arrow one moment from being made drunk with your blood

There is nothing that keeps wicked men at any moment out of hell, but the mere pleasure of God And with that restraining grace of God Toward unbelievers in mind before we come back to chapter 9 turn with me now to chapter 5

Romans Chapter 5 beginning in verse 6 Paul speaks there of God's wrath as it relates to those who are believers

God's wrath as it relates to those who have genuine faith in Christ, and he says this

For while we were still weak At the right time Christ died for the ungodly

For one will scarcely die for a righteous person though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die

But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners

Christ died for us Since therefore we have now been Justified that is to say declared righteous on the basis of what

Christ has done by his blood much more Shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God So in the vindication of his majestic holiness

God the Father poured out the full force of his fury upon his own

Son in our place and Yet Proverbs chapter 17 verse 15 says this he who justifies the wicked and He who condemns the righteous are both like an abomination to the

Lord and So the cross of Christ my friends is the divine answer to that profound question

How can God? be just and the justifier of the wicked

This is precisely what the concept of propitiation means it is the wrath satisfying sacrifice of Christ for the sins of his

People for every person who has ever been saved or who will be saved between now and the final judgment

God's justice is satisfied through the substitutionary atonement of his own son and his people are credited with his righteousness a

Righteousness that is alien to us. That is it belongs to Christ As that great hymn proclaims.

There is a fountain filled with blood drawn from Emmanuel's veins and sinners plunge beneath that flood lose all their guilty stains

My friends what we must understand is that every action of God is always perfectly carried out in accordance with his holy character

This is why in Isaiah 6 the seraphim are crying out one to another

Holy holy holy is the Lord of hosts and the whole earth is full of his glory because everything that God does without exception is

Accomplished in accordance with his holy justice his holy righteousness and his holy love and it is always accomplished for his glory and For the good of those who are called according to his purpose

Unlike sinful humanity who often express outbursts of sinful anger or who are prone to things like Vindictiveness and maliciousness or cruelty

God's wrath is carried out with perfect righteousness and justice every time

The scripture tells us that our God is a consuming fire

But what we must also understand is that when the Lord responds to sin and disobedience and wrath

He does so as a demonstration of his divine love for his own holiness and righteousness

To use a human example if I love children, then I will vehemently hate the murder of unborn children one follows the other and so when

God holds back the full force and fury of his divine wrath and he extends common grace to Unbelievers for any amount of time it is a profound demonstration of his mercy and his grace

And when he placed our sins upon his own son, he did so as a demonstration of his divine love for the elect

As Charles Spurgeon once said there at the cross mercy and truth met together

Righteousness and peace have kissed each other Therefore to bring this theology of God's wrath together then we can define

God's wrath as the holy action of God in which he sovereignly

Exercises divine justice in perfect harmony with all of his divine attributes

Toward those who commit cosmic treason against his majesty to vindicate his holiness for the glory of his great name

God's wrath is the holy action of God in which he sovereignly exercises divine justice in Perfect harmony with all of his divine attributes

Toward those who commit cosmic treason against his majesty to vindicate his holiness for the glory of his great name

And so now that we have established as it were a robust Biblical theology of God's wrath we can carry that understanding with us

Into our text from Romans chapter 9 and as you're turning to Romans 9

I want to make sure that we understand very clearly the immediate context of Paul's words

So leading up to that back in chapter 7 what we see is Paul emphasizing that great struggle all believers face, which is the battle with the sinful flesh and The great dilemma that Paul is wrestling with there is this how can we ever be assured of our salvation?

When we truly understand the soberness and the severity of God's wrath, which we rightly deserve while also

Recognizing the sinful flesh that wages war within us day after day

How can we ever have true assurance of our salvation as we're called to work it out with fear and trembling?

How is that possible? Well in chapter 8 he provides us with the answer

He declares in verse 1 that there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus That our union with Christ sets us free from the bondage of sin

That the same Holy Spirit who raised Jesus Christ from the grave

Conquering death is the spirit who indwells true believers and empowers us to live the

Christian life That we have been adopted into God's family

And that we are now co -heirs with Christ That our future glorification is guaranteed because God chose us for salvation in eternity past and That nothing in all creation and he goes to great length and breadth and width to explain this

And separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord and It is the exaltation of the glorious truths that lead

Paul into chapter 9 As he begins to soberly think about his fellow

Jews These Ethnic Israelites whom he knows are living in active unbelief to the gospel

Who are living in disobedience to God those ethnic Israelites who are standing on the precipice of having that holy wrath from chapter 1 poured out upon them from for all of eternity and so it's with that in mind that we now walk our way through this ninth chapter and Again, as we make our way to verses 22 through 24

The next thing I want us to see this morning is the sovereign purpose of God's wrath the sovereign purpose of God's wrath and so we begin by looking at verses 1 through 5 and It's there that Paul expresses his deep sorrow and the anguish that he has

Genuinely in his heart for his fellow Jews are currently at that moment rejecting the

Savior even though they were the nation that God chose for the covenants and the law and the promises and the sacrificial system and the patriarchs and even the birth and the lineage of the

Messiah himself his Unbelieving Jewish brothers are as far from God as the most lost and darkened

Gentiles on the planet And he's asking himself. How can this be?

in Isaiah 55 verses 10 and 11 the Lord proclaims this For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return there

But water the earth making it bring forth and sprout giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater

So shall my word be that goes out of my mouth It shall not return to me empty

And you might say well Maybe he means that in a general way. We continue reading.

He says but it shall accomplish that which I purpose and Shall succeed in the thing for which

I sent it So in light of that Paul wants to make it abundantly clear in verses 6 through 9 that the

Word of God That Word of God that the prophets declared has not failed

He's upholding the character and the nature and the faithfulness of God The Word of God has not failed but rather the true children of God are those who are saved by his grace not by their

Jewish lineage and To help them see this he provides an illustration of this reality, which we see in verses 10 through 13

And he does it through the example of two brothers well known to those versed in the

Old Testament Jacob and Esau And it's important for us to understand that it was customary and Jewish culture for the firstborn son to receive the double

Blessing of the inheritance of the family and Yet God declared prophetically that in their case the older would actually serve the younger why?

For the express purpose of demonstrating that God is the one who gets to choose

God is the one who elects he says not because of works

Not because of human exertion or effort but because of him who sovereignly calls and in case that wasn't clear enough for us he adds before the boys had even been born and Had done anything good or bad and I will add before the nations that came from them were born

Paul quotes the Lord from Malachi 1 saying Jacob. I loved but Esau I hated

And as we just let that statement marinate in Our hearts for a moment my friends the shock of that statement should not be in the fact that God hated

Esau Instead as we've been considering the reality of God's wrath the shock of the statement should be in the fact that he loved

Jacob Why? Because of what

Paul has already written back in chapter 3 About both the

Jews and the Gentiles Verses 9 through 18 of Romans 3. He said this what or what then are we

Jews any better off? Because we were given the patriarchs we we were given the law.

We were given the sacrificial system Are we better off than the Gentiles and his answer is no

Not at all But we have already charged that all both Jews and Greeks are under sin as it is written

And he could have used any Language here that the

Holy Spirit inspired But listen to the way he describes our fallen condition

None is righteous No, not one No one understands.

No one seeks for God all have turned aside together. They have become Broken Worthless No one does good

And if you're sitting there thinking well, maybe there are some exceptions he adds not even one

And just listen to the description their throat is an open grave

They use their tongues to deceive the venom of asps is under their lips their mouth is full of curses and Bitterness their feet are swift to shed blood my friends.

He's not just talking about the Gentiles He's talking about everyone Jew and Gentile alike

Their feet are swift to shed blood And their paths are ruin and misery in the way of peace.

They have not known there is no fear of God before their eyes And so in light of the righteous wrath of God, which we all justly deserve

What should be the wonder of all wonders is that God would see fit to graciously set his divine love upon any of us

But it is this idea of God not electing all the Jews to salvation or even the majority of the

Jews to salvation with Esau as the example, which which launches Paul into This series of rhetorical questions, which we see beginning in verse 14 of Romans 9

What shall we say then Paul says is there injustice on God's part by no means

For he says to Moses. I will have mercy on whom I have mercy and I will have compassion on whom

I have compassion So then Paul concludes it depends not on human will or exertion but on God who has mercy in other words

Paul is saying that God is not required to demonstrate mercy or compassion

Upon guilty sinners worthy of condemnation far from it. In fact what his righteous character actually requires is justice pure holy righteous justice and We must see ourselves deserved of that today

Furthermore, no one who has committed cosmic treason against the Lord of Glory is entitled to God's mercy or grace

Rather what we justly deserve is his divine displeasure and eternal condemnation why because we have sinned against an eternally majestic God and In verses 17 and 18

Paul provides us with another example this time to illustrate

God's sovereign prerogative to do all that he pleases and That example this time is the life of Pharaoh So Paul quotes here from Exodus chapter 9 verse 16 where God Declares to Pharaoh saying but for this purpose

I have raised you up to show my power in you so that my name may be proclaimed in all the earth and Then flowing from that example

Paul makes this concluding statement So then he has mercy on whomever he wills and he hardens whomever he wills

And so when we think about God's dealings with Pharaoh and Exodus what we notice From the biblical account if you are familiar with it is that there are instances there where it tells us that Pharaoh hardened his own heart and Then there are other instances

Where God is the one hardening Pharaoh's heart. So what can what can we learn from that?

What helps us to understand that this idea of hardening is directly connected to a sinful disposition?

which already exists inside of Pharaoh in Fact scripture tells us that one of the aspects of sins nature is that it is hardening.

It is blinding As the author of Hebrews writes in chapter 3 verse 13, but exhort one another

Every day as long as it is called today That none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin

And so this is actually what we see God doing back in Romans chapter 1 Paul explains there that when

God begins to judge sinful humanity He does so by giving them over to their sinful desires

For example in Romans chapter 1 verse 24. It says therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity

You see the sin is already there because they're fallen Then in verse 26 as humanity persists in sinfulness

It says God same language again gave them up to dishonorable passions

Passions that exist already and that they desire to carry out then in verse 28

Since they did not see fit to acknowledge the Lord. It says God gave them up to a debased or reprobate mind

And so I want to submit to you today that the picture of hardening then is like that of a sponge

In order to harden a sponge, what do you do? well, you can squeeze the sponge and what's already inside of the sponge begins to come out or You can remove any effort on your part to keep the sponge from doing what it's naturally going to do which is to dry out and so although it is an imperfect analogy what is important for us to preserve here is both the sovereignty of God and the will and responsibility of human beings

This is why the authors of the 1689 London Baptist Confession of Faith are so precise in their language saying in chapter 3 paragraph 1

God hath decreed in himself from all eternity by the most wise and holy counsel of his own will

Freely and unchangeably all things whatsoever comes to pass Yet so as thereby is

God neither the author of sin nor hath fellowship with any therein Nor is violence offered to the will of the creature

Nor yet is the liberty or contingency of second causes taken away but rather established in which appears his wisdom in disposing all things and power and faithfulness in accomplishing his decree

And then also perhaps even more pertinent to our topic saying this by the decree of God For the manifestation of his glory some men and angels are predestinated or foreordained to eternal life through Jesus Christ to the praise of his glorious grace others are

Being left to act in their sin and their just condemnation to the praise of his glorious justice

So for God my friends this hardening we must understand is a form of his just and holy judgment

He is not causing these people to sin against him instead He is simply removing the restraining power of his common grace

And he's handing them over to their own sinful desire and rebellion

This is where we all were before coming to faith in Jesus Christ Desiring to please ourselves and to rebel against our

Creator and Yet, please notice with me that in our text Paul says this was part of God's purpose and plan for Pharaoh from the very beginning

He tells Pharaoh that he raised him up for this purpose. In fact in Exodus 4 21 before Moses ever even goes before Pharaoh in Case you're tempted to think this is all reactionary

The Lord says this to him when you go back to Egypt see That you do before Pharaoh all the miracles that I've put in your power

But I will harden his heart so that he will not let the people go

So what does this all mean? What is Paul's purpose and pointing to Pharaoh as this example in illustration?

Well, you would have to be a stubborn Arminian squeezing your eyelids shut not to see it It means that God is

God it means that God does what he pleases and it means that if God wants to Demonstrate mercy upon one sinner and then he wants to harden another sinner

Leaving them to their own sins and devices. He has the absolute right and authority to do so Because he is

God But Paul anticipates the man -centered objections that will come from this truth about God's sovereignty

And he answers them with God -centered explanations Verses 19 and 20.

He says you will say to me Then why does he still find fault?

For who can resist his will and Here's his answer But who are you?

Oh man to answer back to God One of the things that absolutely astounds me again and again about anti -calvinists is that these are literally

The types of arguments that they make about the plain teaching of Scripture and the character of God my friends if your response to God's sovereignty as it is revealed in Scripture sounds more like the

Man -centered objections Paul is refuting then the God -centered explanations Paul is providing you are not in good company

In fact, you are in direct opposition to the truth of God's inspired

Word and Paul's response to that level of human pride and arrogance as we see in verse 20 is

Essentially, who do you think you are? Who do you think you are?

Oh, man, you are dust You are a vapor

Here today and gone tomorrow Yes, you are made in the image of God, but you are the creation and he is the creator

So fall to your knees. Oh, man. Oh woman repent and humble yourself before this

God but from there Paul once more provides an illustration to drive this point home and it is the picture of a potter a

Man whose occupation is working with clay to shape and to mold and to make it into instruments and Utensils that he can use for whatever purposes that he desires honorable dishonorable or in -between

So from the end of verse 20 through verse 21 Paul says this Will what is molded

Say to its motor Why have you made me like this it's a ridiculous question

Has the potter no right over the clay to make out of the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for dishonorable?

use and so to Demonstrate the absolute sovereignty of God and the ridiculousness of the objection

Paul uses a metaphor that is intended to shut the mouth of all objections How much more clear could he be

But the idea being that human beings are like clay pots in the hands of the potter who made them

And just as an inanimate clay pot has no ability or right to question the purpose of the potter

Neither do we? that's the idea and therefore the response of all of humanity should be like that of Job in Job chapter 40 verses 4 and 5 who says behold.

I am of small account What shall I answer you? I? Lay my hand on my mouth

I've spoken once and I will not answer Twice, but I will proceed No further and it's directly after that that the

Lord says gird up your loins. Oh, man It's at that point of mouth stopping

Silence in our text which brings us to verses 22 through 24 and The primary focus of our text and so with that as an introduction joking joking

Paul says this What if God Desiring to show his wrath and to make known his power has endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction in Order to make known the riches of his glory for vessels of mercy, which he has prepared beforehand for glory even us whom he has called not from the

Jews only but also from the Gentiles see the continuity from chapter 1 to chapter 9

My friends in the symphony of God's redemptive plan these three verses represent the crescendo

What we see in these verses is the grand design not just for salvation

But for the entire creation of the cosmos This is why we exist

This is why you are here on planet earth. This is why you will live for all of eternity

And there are three primary reasons Paul provides in these three verses first. It is to demonstrate his righteous wrath

To demonstrate his righteous wrath Paul says what if God Desiring to show his wrath in other words the demonstration of God's wrath was not an unknown by -product and the purpose of God's plan of redemption

No, God desired to demonstrate his righteous wrath from the very beginning

This was part of the divine plan in Redemption and he does that by condemning sinful humanity

Calvin on this point says this God's unblameable justice shines forth.

No less in the perdition of the reprobate than in the salvation of the elect In other words

God is glorified Through the just condemnation of sinners just as he is glorified through the mercy and grace.

He shows to sinners But then as Paul goes on he continues saying and to make known his power

So the second primary reason Paul provides for God's plan of redemption is to declare his sovereign power to declare his

Sovereign power and the great irony, of course is that anti Calvinists are crying out against the very thing that God seeks to declare about himself and The specific way that God declares or demonstrates his sovereignty

Paul says is by enduring with much patience

Vessels of wrath prepared for destruction In other words in all the ways we have been unpacking this morning

God meticulously patiently and powerfully declares just how sovereign he is

I Love the example of Nebuchadnezzar who thought he was somebody from the

Old Testament and specifically in Daniel chapter 4 verse 35 after the

Lord Humiliates Nebuchadnezzar he comes out of that experience praising

God saying this I Blessed the

Most High And Praised and honored him who lives forever for his dominion is an everlasting

Dominion think of the juxtaposition of this former king reigned

Highly supreme in all the world. He now praises the kingdom that lasts forever

And his kingdom endures from generation to generation He says all the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing and he does according to his will

Among the host of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth and none can stay his hand or say to him

What have you done? And again, it's important to note here that God is not the one as we see here in the text actively preparing these vessels of destruction

But rather he is powerfully and patiently enduring them until the time of their ultimate destruction

But it is against that Backdrop of God's soon coming judgment that we see the third and final purpose for God's plan of redemption

Brilliantly shining and that is to display his glorious grace To display his glorious grace

Paul says that God carried out this divine plan of redemption In order to make known the riches of his glory for vessels of mercy

Which he prepared beforehand for glory Even us whom he has called both

Jews and Gentiles my friends the one true and living God Has determined the salvation of his elect these vessels of mercy for this

Ultimate purpose. This is what Ephesians 1 verses 3 through 6 Clearly expounds saying blessed be the

God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world that we should be holy and Blameless before him in love.

He predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ According to the purpose of his will to the praise of his glorious grace

With which he has blessed us in the blood So not just in this life but for all of eternity

God can point to the church and all her splendor and in all her glory and be praised for the infinite magnitude of his glorious grace

The gracious display of his love for a people from every tribe language and people group of the world and yet the only way that can happen is

If our sins are atoned for and so that leads us to the place. I want us to end this morning, which is the divine satisfaction of God's wrath

The divine satisfaction of God's wrath and to see that I'm going to ask that you turn once more to the gospel of Matthew The gospel of Matthew chapter 26 and I specifically want us to read from verse 36

Matthew chapter 26 starting in verse 36 It says there then

Jesus went with them to a place called Gethsemane And he said to his disciples sit here while I go over there and pray and Taking with him

Peter and the two sons of Zebedee. He began to be sorrowful and troubled Then he said to them.

My soul is very Sorrowful even to death remain here and watch with me

And going a little farther he fell on his face and prayed saying my father

If it be possible Let this cup pass from me

Nevertheless Not as I will but as you will

So first of all, it's worth noting here that the name Gethsemane means oil press

And in Jesus's day an oil press was this heavy stone slab that would

Come down to crush olives in order to squeeze out all of the juice inside So the significance of Jesus picking this particular

Garden to come and pray on the night before his crucifixion should not be overlooked

Because it provides us with this vivid picture of his suffering It provides us with the reality of Isaiah chapter 53 verse 10, which says this yet It was the will of the

Lord to crush him He has put him to grief when his soul makes an offering for guilt

And we find that this pressing began even before Friday's cross as Luke 2244 tells us and being in agony

He prayed more earnestly and his sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground

Think of that As we contemplate the agony of Christ what

I want us to think about this morning in particular is the cup And I want us to ask the question.

What was it? That was in that cup. That's the focus of this anguish filled prayer of sorrow after all that Jesus prays

He prays the first time my father if it be possible. Let this cup pass from me So what would be in the cup?

That would cause Christ such anguish and an agony in the garden And as we're considering that we continue reading beginning in verse 40

Because it says there and he came to the disciples and found them sleeping

He said to Peter so could you not watch with me one hour

Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation the spirit indeed is willing but the flesh is weak

Again for the second time he went away and prayed my father if this cannot pass unless I drink it your will be done

And so in the midst of this intense affliction Jesus is wrestling within his soul

He finds the disciples sleeping, but then once again, we see the cup

Explicitly mentions it again and the repetition of course is intentional virtually leaping to our eyes from the page

Beckoning us again to answer the question. What was in the cup that Jesus needed to drink?

according to the will of the Father Just the thought of consuming its contents brought him to this place of intense anguish and suffering

But as miserable as the thought of drinking it was the ultimate priority of Jesus was to honor the sovereign will of the

Father And that brings us to the final portion of the passage verses 43 and 44 and it says there and again

He came and found them sleeping For their eyes were heavy so leaving them again

He went away and prayed for the third time saying the same words again the same words the repeated mention of the cup the reverberation of divine consumption the tension between the dread of drinking it and the

Temptation to forego it in disobedience to his Holy Father But Jesus as we know as the perfect Son of God would carry out that divine mission

Wouldn't he? So my friends I ask you once more what was in the cup

Well reflected in the cries from the garden we find the contents of the cup described in Psalm 78 75 rather verse 8

Saying this For in the hand of the Lord there is a cup with foaming wine well mixed and He pours out from it and all the wicked of the earth shall drain it down to the dregs

So held out before the Lord was the divine cup reserved for the wicked the cup of God's holy

Righteous wrath and the thought of consuming that cup the dread of receiving the divine anger of his father

Brought Christ to such extreme anguish it is impossible for us to fully comprehend we can't even go there in our minds and Yet Jesus the perfectly righteous sinless

Son of God entered into our world for the purpose of receiving this very cup from the hand of the

Father and Drinking it down for his elect to the very last drop

He did not deserve it But in obedience to the Father in accordance to his sovereign and gracious plan of redemption

Determined before the foundation of the world He would drink that cup the cup that belonged to me and the cup that belonged to you and this my friends is why the gospel message is a message of grace and glory and justice and passion

This is why it matters so much why in comparison to anything else that we can possibly know

Jesus Christ and him crucified must be preeminent Because it carries with it eternal significance and so in the midst of the shadows and the darkness of that night because of the great love with which he loved us to the praise of his glorious grace the father made it abundantly clear that there was no other way than the cross and And the

Son in the midst of his cries of agony would resolve to go there for us

He would suffer in our place. He would bear the fullness of God's wrath that we deserve

Swallowing our shame paying the penalty for our sin so that we could be forgiven and at the end of it.

He declared it is finished The work is done.

I've completed the task The mission is accomplished. So this morning

I simply Want us to conclude our time together meditating upon the significance of the cup

Consider the cross Reflect Upon what

God has done in his mercy and grace for his people at the same time

It's also important that we remember that for those whom Christ did not already suffer There is coming a day when the wrath of God will be poured out

His holy and righteous hatred for sin, which is currently being stored up for the sons of disobedience will be poured out in judgment and Those who reject

God's Word those who reject God's Christ will spend eternity in the wrath of God's consuming fire

Therefore my friends we will either repent of our sins Bow the knee to Christ and embrace the salvation that the one true and living

God offers to us through his perfect Son or We will one day be swallowed up by the holiness of his eternal judgment

My prayer for each and every one of you is that you would cast yourselves upon Christ And trust your eternal soul to the only sufficient

Savior bow your knee to this Sovereign God and cry out to him.

Oh God be merciful to me a sinner As Hebrews 2 3 says

How shall we escape if we neglect such a great salvation

Father I thank you for your word.

I thank you. Oh God that you have revealed to us In such

Powerful and specific ways who you are and how you work

Thank you for declaring to us That you are sovereign

And thank you for reminding us that we are not And thank you

Oh God for the cross We praise you for the great plan of redemption

May each and every one of us praise you both in this life and in the life to come for your glorious grace