======================================================================== GODS WRATH SATISFIED by Keith Malcomson ======================================================================== Summary: This sermon emphasizes the importance of not being ashamed of the gospel, highlighting the completion and satisfaction of God's wrath through the work of the cross. It urges believers to boldly proclaim the message of Christ's sacrifice as the only means of salvation, persuading sinners to flee from the wrath to come and be reconciled to God through faith in Jesus Christ. Topics: "Boldness in Proclaiming the Gospel", "Salvation through Christ's Sacrifice" Scripture References: Romans 1:16, Romans 5:8, Romans 3:25, 2 Corinthians 5:10, 2 Corinthians 5:20, 1 John 2:1, 1 John 4:10 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ DESCRIPTION ------------------------------------------------------------------------ This sermon emphasizes the importance of not being ashamed of the gospel, highlighting the completion and satisfaction of God's wrath through the work of the cross. It urges believers to boldly proclaim the message of Christ's sacrifice as the only means of salvation, persuading sinners to flee from the wrath to come and be reconciled to God through faith in Jesus Christ. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ CONTENT ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Please turn with me to Romans chapter 1, then we're going to Romans chapter 3, and then Romans chapter 5 here tonight in our Bibles. My message tonight, this part 8 of our series on penal substitution or the work of the cross, I'm only dealing with this, the specific messages we're dealing with because it has been attacked. I have known and encountered prominent leaders who've attacked this, therefore I rise up to defend it. I'm a preacher. I am a shepherd. I'm a man who loves the Word of God. I'm a teacher of the written Word of God, and I want to show you I have a loyalty to this book. I've got a loyalty to Jesus Christ. I've got a loyalty to the cross of Jesus where the blood was shed, and so I cannot be in ministry without responding to things when they arise because I believe that Bible has an answer to every heretical teaching. It has an answer to every question. It has an answer to every accusation, and I believe I've searched many of these answers out carefully, slowly, diligently over the years, and so when I hear those challenges, and I know they're built on sand, I listen and I want to understand, but I go, this is dangerous. It is poison. I would never let you drink a cup that I knew there was poison in it, guaranteed to kill you. You know what? I will tear the place apart. I'll jump over a table. Normally I'd never jump over a table, but if I saw you go to drink a cup with poison in it, I would shout. I would scream. I would knock it out of your hand. I'll turn the table over. You may for a second say, what is this man doing? I'm trying to help you. I want to save you. Nehemiah is one of the calmest men in the Bible. I personally identify with him. I could be totally wrong, but somehow I perceive myself in Nehemiah. The character traits of Nehemiah, a calm man, a methodical man, a careful man. I believe I see myself in Nehemiah, but get later in the book of Nehemiah, and he comes back, and corruption and compromise comes in. Do you know what calm, controlled Nehemiah does? He rises up and begins to pluck beards. He gets so angry. He's not a peace-loving man anymore. He's dealing with things that are very dangerous coming into God's city, and he'll literally pull the beard out. I want to tell you there's a right time for a Nehemiah to become a man of war. There really is. I'm not aggressive. I'm not angry. I'm preaching because we've dealt with this. It's beautiful what we're dealing with. It's the truth of God, and so we're coming to this message, and I part 8, God's wrath satisfied. Reading from Romans chapter 1 verse 16, and it says there, for I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For therein, listen to what it's saying here in the gospel, for therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith. As it is written, the just shall live by faith, for the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who hold the truth in unrighteousness. Then jump with me to chapter 3, reading from verse 21, verse 21. But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets, even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe. For there is no difference, for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God, being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God has set forth to be a propitiation through faith in the blood to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are passed through the forbearance of God. To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness that he might be just and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus. And then lastly, I just want you to go to chapter 5, chapter 5, reading from verse 8. But God commendeth his love towards us, and that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more than being now justified by the blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him. Let's pray together. Father, I thank you for the precious blood of the Lamb. I thank you for the power of this gospel. Lord God, we're not ashamed of the gospel here tonight. We're not ashamed of the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, of what happened there, of what Christ accomplished, of what God the Father did. Lord God, we are not ashamed of the truth of the gospel. We're not ashamed that you're a God of wrath and a God of love. We're not ashamed, O God, that you dealt with our sin, my sin there at a place called Calvary. And Lord God, we do thank you for the righteousness of God that is being revealed. Lord God, to all those that believe on Christ and his finished work. Lord God, the power of this gospel to make us righteous, to lift us out of our sin, and to bring us into Christ. We pray, O God, that you show us the virtue of the blood, that we have been delivered from the wrath of God, from the wrath to come, from your indignation against us personally. Lord God, we've been saved by the precious blood of the Lamb, and we've got a place of safety and refuge, and a place to run to in the Lord Jesus Christ. Bless your word tonight, in Jesus' mighty name. Amen. There's this hymn that we have sang many times in this church, and we dealt with this in an early message in this series. It's the hymn, In Christ Alone. It's a modern hymn, written in a modern time, and I don't have much time for modern songs. But this song is outstanding, written in my day, my generation. Yet it is powerful, it is dynamic, it is biblical, it is sound, it is soul-stirring, it is faith-inspiring. I believe it is anointed of the Holy Spirit, and it was given to the church, and it sang widely, In Christ Alone. There's a line in it which says this, the wrath of God was satisfied. My message tonight, God's wrath satisfied. That hymn stirred up so much controversy across the church. It ought not to have, but it did. In 2013, the Presbyterian Church of the USA, a liberal denomination with over a million members within its churches, voted to drop this song under their hymn books because of that one line, the wrath of God was satisfied. They didn't like it, so they asked the author of the song, could we legally remove that line, change it, and keep it in our hymn books? The author of the song said no, that those words have to stay because they're biblically correct. And so that entire denomination dropped it from their hymn books. But also many prominent leaders, heretics, false teachers have attacked this song. They don't like it. They don't like that sentence. They'll throw out an entire song because of that one sentence. They don't remove all their heretical songs. They don't remove their heresies. They don't remove their videos that are filled with false teaching from YouTube, but they want to remove this song because of one sentence and literally one word. It offends them. It gets them angry. They detest it. They can't handle it. They have mountains of heresy that they teach, but they attack this poor little biblical song because they hate this one line. Can you imagine that it stirs up such controversy? Not their heresies, but this one singular line. Also Steve Chalk, that heretic who hates the teaching of penal substitution. I believe he called this song or this sentence or this teaching grotesque. Bishop Tom Wright, another heretic. And I don't apologize for calling these men heretics. They are heretics. They're on dangerous ground. Well, Bishop Tom Wright said that, listen to what he says, why not change the sentence from the wrath of God was satisfied to till on the cross when Jesus died, the love of God was satisfied. Because we don't believe the wrath of God was satisfied. So let's just change it to the love of God and say his love was satisfied. All these men detest this one line. Listen to the verse that it actually says, and we sing it many times, and I hope it becomes more and more precious to you. This gift of love and righteousness scorned by the men he came to save till on the cross as Jesus died, the wrath of God was satisfied for every sin on him was laid here in the death of Christ I live. Beautiful words. This is my gospel. This is my salvation. And I want to tell you, I'm not ashamed of a song that says the wrath of God was satisfied when all my sins were laid upon him at Calvary and he bled and he died and he loved me. I'm not ashamed of that. This is my gospel. This is the true gospel. I've got three points here for you tonight that I want to deal with. And I believe this truth of God's wrath satisfied on the cross as he bled and died bearing my sin, I believe this teaching actually demands three statements of me tonight. First of all, I am not ashamed. That's my first point. Second of all, God is satisfied. And third of all, sinners are persuaded to flee. So we're going to look at us, me, I. We're going to look at God's perspective and we're also going to look at our message to sinners here tonight. And so we're dealing with God's wrath satisfied. Don't separate this message from last week. This is a continuation. It's vital you remember what we dealt with last week. God's wrath on the cross of Christ. We looked closely at the wrath of God in connection with the cross. But I want to go further here. God's wrath satisfied. What happened to God's wrath? Why are you not scared of God's wrath tonight? Why is it you could sit here as a friend of God and not an enemy of God? Why is that? It's because God's wrath has been satisfied. And so my first point, I am not ashamed. Can I tell you that tonight? Can I say it again? I am not ashamed. Look at Romans chapter 1 and verse 16. And this is Paul writing here. He says, for I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ. Paul is saying here he is not ashamed of the gospel. That means that in his day, certain men were talking about the gospel saying, if what you're saying is true, you ought to be ashamed of that. Paul is also saying there are certain men in the church who are claiming to be Christians who are ashamed of the gospel. There are certain Christians who are ashamed of the gospel. What is the gospel? Paul elsewhere defines the gospel. Jesus died, was buried, was resurrected again on the third day. Some men try to make the gospel the resurrection rather than his death. They try to pitch one against the other and say, you shouldn't just emphasize the death. Let's emphasize the resurrection. Hold on. The gospel is that he died, he was buried, and he rose again. Don't separate it. This is our gospel message. I don't need to pitch one truth against the other. I believe it all, that he died as the central truth of the gospel. But I don't deny that he rose again. I know he rose again. But Paul here says his own confession, I am not ashamed. The word ashamed there means to be embarrassed, to go red-cheeked. You're not confident to say, I believe the gospel that Paul is preaching. You are embarrassed. Contained within the Greek word ashamed is another meaning. It means to change or to distort or to disfigure or to twist out of shape. You know what Paul is saying? I'm not ashamed of the gospel. I am not ashamed. I'm not changing it. I'm not embarrassed of the real gospel. I don't feel I have to hide certain things or not mention certain things. I'm not embarrassed about talking about sin or the wrath of God or repentance or about the bleeding lamb. I'm not embarrassed. I don't have to create cunning ideas to explain and justify that I believe this is the gospel, that the lamb of God hung on a cross and bled and died because of my sin. I just believe it as it is written. And Paul says, I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ. Listen to what it says in Luke chapter 9, 26, and this is Jesus speaking. Whosoever shall be ashamed. It's the same word. Who's embarrassed and so begins to change things. Whosoever should be ashamed of me and of my words. Notice that carefully. Jesus has given a warning. Are you embarrassed of me? Something about me or my words, my teachings, my message. Are you ashamed? Are you embarrassed? So you begin to disfigure it or change it, add to it or take away from it. Are you embarrassed of the gospel? Jesus tells you what happens to those who are ashamed of the gospel, ashamed of my words. Of him shall the son of man be ashamed when he shall come into his glory and in his fathers and of the holy angels. So here's Jesus saying, if you're ashamed of my words, of me, I'll be ashamed of you on that day. I won't want to have any identity with you. If you stand off going, I don't want to be identified with some truth of the gospel. I don't like to talk about judgment or wrath or hell or repentance. You know what Christ says? I'll be ashamed of you. I won't want to identify with you on that day. You don't want to identify with my words. Now you're ashamed of me. Now I'll be ashamed of you. You know what? I'll be embarrassed to be identified with you on that day. Do you realize Christ is, that's his heart. You're ashamed of me. We've got cowards in the church of our day, cowards. And you know what Christ says? I will be ashamed of you. I don't want to be identified with cowards who can't stand up and say, I am not ashamed of the gospel. If you're actually embarrassed of the gospel, he'll be embarrassed of you. If you say, I don't want to be identified publicly. I don't want people making fun of me or attacking me or accusing me. So I'll just stay quiet. He says, I'll be ashamed of you in that day. I'll go. I don't know them. Father, I don't know them. Father will say, do you know this one? Haven't got a clue who they are. But Lord, Lord, sure I prophesied in your name. I used to sit around the Lord's table. I used to love the teaching on Sunday mornings. Son, do you know him? Nope. Don't have a clue who he is. I never at any time or in any way had any intimate fellowship with them. Come on, Lord, you know me. I don't know you. You're a stranger to me. And so we see here, this is the first thing I'm dealing with about the cross and all that we have said about the cross, what Christ done there, bearing our sin, that the father actually laid our sin upon him and actually punished him instead of us. I'm not ashamed of that. I'm not justifying it. I am not ashamed of the gospel. This is the gospel of Christ died for sinners of whom I was chief. I want to tell you. And so Christ gives this serious warning. Look again in Romans chapter one, verse 18, there's a very important verse in the latter part of it. It talks about certain people who hold the truth in unrighteousness. It's talking about certain men in the church who hold the truth. They hold the truth. They have the truth. They know the truth, but it says they hold the truth in unrighteousness, in a wrong way. Do you know certain men have the truth, they're preachers, they're teachers, but how they hold the truth is an unrighteous way. Do you know the word hold there doesn't mean just to hold in the hand. The word hold there means to suppress, to hold down, to press down, to hide. It's the same men who Paul is talking about. There's some who are ashamed of the gospel. And then he goes on to explain this, who hold the truth in unrighteousness. They suppress it. They conceal it. They cover it. They're holding the truth in unrighteousness. You know, one of the great mysteries I can't comprehend, and I'm sure you're the same. I can't understand men who are preachers, reverence, pastors, leaders in the church, and yet they don't believe the Bible. They don't believe in eternity. They don't believe in heaven and hell. They don't believe Jesus is coming again, but they have the uniforms on, the titles. They preach about Jesus. They can't claim to believe in him, but they destroy the truth of the Bible. I do not understand them. I would rather be in a barstool. I would rather be in a cesspit of sin. But what would make a man stand in the house of God who doesn't believe this, but under the veil of righteousness to hold God's word. And so Paul's saying there are men concerning the work of the cross, what Jesus done on the cross. They are ashamed of it. They distort it. They're so embarrassed about it. They have to change it. They don't like how it's written. They don't like what Jesus done on the cross. They don't like what the father done to the son. So they distort it. They hold the truth in unrighteousness, with wicked moods, with ideas in their mind. They are embarrassed of Jesus. You know what's going to happen to them one of these days? Christ is going to be embarrassed of them. Paul gives three reasons why he's not ashamed of the gospel here. Three clear reasons why he doesn't change it. Three very good reasons why he holds it in righteousness. He holds it forth. He holds it publicly. He proclaims it openly. He doesn't suppress it or hide it. He doesn't distort it or change it. He doesn't hinder it. Remember what he said? He said, if your gospel be hidden, it's hidden to those that are perishing. If you keep your gospel hidden, men are dying without the answer. So he gives three reasons here why he's not ashamed. He's not going to change the gospel. Number one is in verse 16. For it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth, to the Jew first and then to the Greek. So that's the first great reason he's not ashamed. The real gospel of what God the Father and what Christ done on the cross, what happened there, it is the power of God. If you believe the truth, that's why Paul says, I'll never change this. I want to tell you exactly about the bleeding lamb. I want to tell you the blood was shed there. I want to preach to you, put faith in the blood that Christ bear your sin on the cross, that he took your place. You know why? I don't want to change that simple message because when you believe it, there is a power in it to change your life. It's the power of God unto salvation. The word power there is the word dunamis used in Acts 1. Dunamis, it means supernatural life change and miraculous power. It's not natural power. It's not the strength of man. This is a power of God. Dunamis comes from God. And so he's saying here, the real message of the cross is the power of God. Those who believe the real message, you may say, oh, but does it matter if you get all your facts right about the cross? Well, you tell me, does it matter if you get all the electrics right in your house? Does it matter if you get all the mechanics right in your car? Does it matter if all the guy flying your plane knows what he's doing? You know what? Any one of those areas from small things to big things, we'll go, don't you get anything wrong here? Make sure it's right. Then we get to the gospel and go, oh, sure, you know, as long as you just believe that Jesus died vaguely, doesn't matter if you understand that. I want to tell you, it is the power of God on the salvation. It does matter. It does matter whether he took my place or not. It does matter if my, if he bore my personal sins, it does matter if God poured out his wrath on the cross instead of upon me. It does matter. My eternity's state on this. And so Paul doesn't change the gospel because it is the power of God. Second of all, you have in verse 17, for therein, in that gospel, in the real gospel, the true gospel of what happened to Christ on the cross, therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith. And so you need to get the gospel right because in the real gospel, it's got the power of God to change your life. Second of all, in the real gospel, the righteousness of God is revealed, not of his character, not that he is righteous, not that he does righteous things, but his free gift of righteousness that he gives to you to make you righteous, to make you justified, to make you forgiven, to make you perfectly holy before him. The real gospel carries within it the gift of righteousness, which is given unto you freely, that becomes your possession. Saints of God, this is the real gospel. That's why I want to preach the cross correctly. I want to understand it correctly because when you understand the cross, you suddenly realize the gift of God's perfect, absolute righteousness becomes your gift, your robe of righteousness. It becomes yours. But notice thirdly, verse 18, there's a third reason why Paul does not change the gospel or is not ashamed or embarrassed about proclaiming it openly. In verse 18, it says, for the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who hold the truth in unrighteousness. Do you see that he's saying here, this is a third reason he doesn't change the gospel. He'll not fiddle with the gospel. He'll preach it even if men think he's a fool. He doesn't allow his own learning and wisdom to begin to change the words of the gospel because Christ said, you better not be ashamed of my words and how I define the gospel. You see, this is something very important. I am not ashamed of the gospel. I will not change it. You know why? Because there is the wrath of God. This is why I dare not get the gospel wrong. This is why I must preach it as it's given to me. This is why I've got to preach Christ crucified upon the cross, the bleeding lamb, and that God's wrath is satisfied on the cross. Why? Because there is such a thing as the wrath of God. It's going to be revealed from, it's the wrath of God here. That's what he's talking about, the wrath of God. It's the wrath that God is going to pour out. And it actually says it's going to be revealed from heaven. It's in heaven now. That's going to come from heaven, from God himself against who? It's going to be revealed against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who hold the truth and unrighteousness. Any Christian claiming to believe this gospel, who suppresses the gospel, adds to it, takes away from it, you're in serious trouble. Do you know there's three warnings in the Bible at the beginning, in the middle, and at the end saying, if you add to this word, or if you take away from this word, I don't want to play. It says you're damned. You're in serious trouble. Saints of God, we need the fear of God upon us that we don't change anything. And so these three things, Paul is not ashamed of the gospel. He will not change it. He's not embarrassed about any aspect of the real gospel, because it is the power of God. The righteousness of God is revealed through it. And because the wrath of God is going to be revealed against anyone who plays around with this gospel. And so Paul says, I'm just preaching the gospel. I don't care if you think I'm intelligent or not, or wise and intellectual. I don't care. But I've got to preach the truth of it simply, boldly, publicly, because there's power in it to change your life. It says in 1 Corinthians 1, verse 18, for the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness. Now the preaching of the cross there, that word preaching means the message of the cross. Of what happened on the cross, the message, the preaching, the word, the teaching of the cross, the message of what Jesus done on the cross. Paul said it in his day, for the message of the cross is foolishness to them that perish. Those that are perishing in their sin, those who don't believe in what Jesus done on the cross. When you give them the real clear message of the cross, they say that's foolish. It's illogical. We don't see it. We don't get it. It makes no sense. It's stupid. Do you know what I've heard with these men in the church who attack penal substitution? Christ bleeding, dying for me, a sinner. These are preachers and pastors and prophets in the church with reputations. Do you know what they do? They hold a penal substitution and go, we don't understand it. It's illogical. We don't like it. They're ashamed of it. They stand aghast at it. They say it's foolish to say that Christ died in our place. It's foolish to say that he suffered the wrath of God at Calvary. They say it's horrible. We detest it. What a horrible thing. See, Paul was dealing with this 2,000 years ago, but he says, but unto us which are saved, it is the power of God. So the message of what Christ done on the cross, they are saying it's foolish. Paul is saying, but to us that have experienced it, it is the power of God. When you know what Jesus has done for you on the cross, it is the power of God. There's dunamis there. There's life-changing power. I'm a different person because I believe he bled for me and he died for me on a tree at Golgotha. It also says just a couple of verses later in verse 21 of 1 Corinthians 1, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. It actually pleased God. It satisfied God to choose the simple message, the teaching of what Jesus done on the cross. That's the only way for a man or woman to get saved, and it pleased God to do that. So God chose not just the act of preaching, the message of the cross. He chose the simple, vile, ridiculed, foolish message as the only means of salvation of his son hanging between heaven and earth, bleeding and dying for the sins of the world. God chose that. He knew it pleased him, but men think it's foolish. Again, it says in verse 23, but we preach Christ crucified unto the Jews a stumbling block and unto the Greeks foolishness. Now look at it. The Jews who were all around Paul, this is his culture. They were experts in the scriptures and the word of God and the prophecies of the Bible. But they said this message of Christ crucified, preaching about Christ being crucified on the cross of what actually happened there. It actually says here, Paul says, it's a stumbling block to them. It's the Greek word scandalon or scandal. Do you know what he's saying to the Jews? When you preach about Jesus dying on the cross, it's a scandal to the Jew. They're scandalized by it. I don't want to touch it. I'll be scandalized. I'll be trapped by it. I'll be caught up in something that I consider a trap. So I've got to stay far away from it. And also the Greeks think it's foolishness. It's silly. It's absurd. It's dull. Have you ever talked to a sinner and you're trying to share the gospel? They don't understand simple facts. They go, I don't know what you're talking about. It's silly. It's absurd. It makes no sense to me. See when a man's mind is veiled, Christ bleeding, dying for them. But it seems that God preached the gospel clearly because don't add to it. Don't try to justify it. Instead of explaining with all your arguments about creation science and all, all of your scientific facts and all of your defense and all your YouTube videos and all your research and you go, I've got all these answers. Why not just preach the gospel like Paul did? Paul didn't add all of the arguments. He said Christ died for your sins. I don't believe that. Well, there's no other way. You need to be very careful that you don't add your wisdom and you nullify the power of the gospel. There's power that Jesus died for sinners. Preach it. Don't get involved in trying to argue men around and justify it. You need to be very careful. You're not so ashamed of the simple message of the gospel that you add. What's all the defense of the gospel called? Apologetics. That's the word I was trying to think of. So, so you become an expert on apologetics. God didn't call you to preach apologetics. I believe in research and apologetics. I listen to men. I read their books, but I'm not called to preach that. It's good where it comes in handy. I am called to preach the cross. That will save a man. Not apologetics. Why do you think we've got the best apologetics in world history? Why do you think the church is filled with apologetics and now the church is filled with tears, with compromised Christians, with half-baked Christians, with heretics, with people who don't care about Christ. They've been academically persuaded, but was their sin dealt with? And so saints of God, we need to see here so clearly. That guy, Steve Chalk again, listen to what he said in 2018. I love to quote these guys. You know why? You need to understand that this is under attack on every side. We've seen that over these few messages. Listen to what he says. The death of Jesus is not about God's anger and the misguided idea that divine justice comes via retribution. This strange view robs the cross of its moral power and its day-to-day relevance to our lives. None more so than pastorally. Do you see how these men, they begin to laugh and mock at these things and they say, God isn't angry. He's not doing all of these things on the cross. Listen to me, my first point. I am not ashamed of the gospel. Neither should you be. Preach it without apology. Preach it without shame. Witness it without defense. Spurgeon says, why would I try to defend the gospel? He said, it's like a lion. Open the cage, let it out, it'll defend itself. You'd have to be a fool to take on a lion and you'd have to be a fool to take on this God who comes with the preaching of the gospel. Why not regain a confidence in the gospel? There's power in this. It's not academic that you're dealing with. Preach the truth to see a man's heart saved. You're a sinner. You need Christ. The only way to avoid the wrath of God is to believe in him. I don't believe that. Keep preaching it. Keep preaching it. Don't lose confidence. You say, oh, it's not having any power. Who says? Don't you dare lose confidence in the sword of the spirit. Point two, God is satisfied. Not only am I not ashamed, but God is satisfied. It says in Romans chapter five, verse eight, where we read, but God commendeth or holds forth his love towards us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Now you need to understand he didn't die for you because you loved him. You're a sinner. You are lost. You can't be in a worse state when he looked upon you and chose to die for you. You can't get in a worse condition. This is the love of God. What is the love of God? That when you're at your lowest point, your darkest point, your most sinful point, and Christ is looking at you in your worst condition, he so loves you that he died on a cross for you. He didn't die for you because he saw you raised up on the finished product. He died for you, seeing you fully in your worst condition as a rebel, as a lover of sin, as someone who ran after wickedness. And he looked on you and he died for you conscious of that condition. But it doesn't stop there. It goes further in verse nine, much more than. Now I want you to get this. If he died for you, suffered for you when you were in your worst condition, then he says, how much more? What he's going to say now far outstretches that. How much more than now being justified by his blood, his blood shed on the cross justified you just as if I had never sinned, made perfectly righteous, accepted in the beloved that when God looks on you, he no longer sees your sin. And your sin is real even as a Christian, but he no longer sees that sin. He sees his son. He sees perfect righteousness. And so how much more being now justified by his blood, you're saved, you're justified, you're made clean. So how much more shall we not be saved from wrath through him? Are you scared of the wrath of God tonight? Are you conscious? Didn't he die for you while you're a sinner? When you're in your lowest, most tragic condition, how much more? You know, sometimes some of you here, whether online or here in this gathering, you're actually more fearful of condemnation than you were out in that world. I did not world. You said, I'm okay. I'm fine. I'll be all right. And you're a gross, desperate sinner with the wrath of God hanging over your head. Then you're in Christ. No, you're justified. You're saved. You're trusting to him. And some sin comes in or you fail them or you wrestle over some issue. I know you fear in the wrath of God. Do you hear what I'm saying here? You need to be very careful. You see, this verse actually says that now as a justified Christian, justified by the blood, have an experience what Jesus done on the cross. Where did he shed his blood? On the cross. How were you justified? By faith in what he done on the cross. Now being justified, forgiven, washed in the blood. You are much more, much abundantly more saved from the wrath of God. Do you realize how much you're saved from the wrath of God? You're not only, it's not only that Christ died for you while you're a sinner. No, he is much more saved you from his wrath and his wrath is real. But you've been saved by the blood. It's the blood that was shed on the cross that saved you. Not God deciding to forgive you. Oh, I'm going to let you off the hook. He never done that. It was the message of the cross. It was the work of the cross. It was the blood of the cross. It's what Christ done on the cross in those three hours. It's what happened on that day, 2000 years ago. See, my second point is God satisfied. How could it be that you were such an enemy of God? How could it be that you were a child of wrath? How could it be that your destiny was to have the wrath of God poured out on you? God's anger poured out on you without quenching for all eternity. Do you realize how close some of you's got to that, to an eternity of God's wrath and judgment and it's righteous judgment? Righteous judgment. Do you realize that you are on the edge and the brink of that? And if you'd breathed your last breath, do you realize how close some of you got to that? And yet here God is satisfied. How could it be that you are once a child of wrath and now you're a child of pleasure? How could it be God's wrath hung over your head and now his mercy abundantly hangs over your head? How did you go from a child of wrath to a child of grace? How is that possible? It's what happened on the cross. It's not God making a decision along the way or thinking, wow, what repentance I'm so impressed. Wow, what a wonderful person you've turned yourself around. Wow, what a trophy of a Christian. I'm so impressed that I'm no longer angry. It's because of what Jesus done on the cross. It was his blood shed on the mercy seat that vindicated the wrath of God. See God can't just excuse sin. He is righteous and he's got to make you righteous. He cannot excuse sin. He cannot do that. Listen to what we said last week in Romans 3.25, whom God has set forth to be a propitiation, a mercy seat, the place where the blood was shed in the Old Testament. Propitiation through faith in his blood. When you put faith in the blood of Jesus, what happened on the cross? When you come and see that the blood shed on the cross, you put your faith there. You know there's some people who say, as long as you believe in Christ, you don't need to believe in the blood. That is heresy. That is false. What does it mean to put faith in Christ? You put faith in his blood. Some say, well, as long as you just believe the message of the cross. Some preachers actually downplay the blood. I'm going to tell you the blood is very important. This verse says your faith has to be in the blood. What did the blood accomplish for you? What did the blood get you? Was it a side issue that, well, Jesus' blood was shed? It was central to the work of the cross. Without the shedding of blood, there's no forgiveness, no covenant, no reconciliation, no grace. There's no mercy. If his blood hadn't have been shed, this is what we have seen all through these messages. Through faith in his blood, Christ becomes your propitiation, your mercy seat, your place of grace, your place of forgiveness. When you put faith in the blood, Christ becomes your propitiation. Listen also to what it says in Romans chapter 3 and verse 10. As it is written, there's none righteous, no not one. There's some who teach in the church that you could be innately righteous. You only become a sinner when you begin to grow up and begin to sin against God, but you're born righteous. What a lie. Abel, the first of two children, two twins, he's the first child of Adam and Eve, yet he had to go the way of blood shedding. He wasn't innately righteous. See, there is no one who is righteous before God or who has reached God's standard of righteousness. No one, absolutely no one. You're an enemy of God. You're born an enemy of God. It says in Romans chapter 5, 12, wherefore as by one man, that is Adam, sin entered into the world by Adam and death by sin, and so death passed upon all men for that all have sinned. You know, someone who tells you all men are not born sinners, you need to take them to the Word of God. The Bible says we're all born sinners. No one was innately righteous. You see, when Adam fell, not only did he get a sinful nature, and he did, he broke a covenant. Even if you weren't born with a sinful nature, you're born under a broken covenant. Both things happened in the fall of Adam. It's not just that he became sinful and passed on a sinful nature to you. There's a broken relationship with heaven between mankind and God. There's a broken relationship. It's been broken. It can't be fixed unless you go to Calvary, unless you find another man. And of course, the Bible speaks about this other man, much more the grace of God and the gift by grace, which is by one man, Christ Jesus, Adam. In Adam, all of us were lost. In Christ, all those who believe in Christ, all are made righteous and receive the grace of God. What you got in Adam was sin. What you get in Christ is perfect righteousness. See, this is how God satisfied. How was God's anger quenched? His wrath, his judgment. See, he said, you're an enemy. We like to think, no, no, no. I was never an enemy of God. You were an enemy by your works, your deeds, your thoughts. Again, listen to this. Whom God set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood. Or let's go to 1 John and hear what it says about this propitiation. My little children, these things I write onto you, 1 John chapter 2, verse 1. These things I write onto you, that he's sin not. He's speaking to Christians in the church, believers. They're justified. They're born again. And so he says, I'm writing onto you, do not sin. But if you sin, if you sin, we have an advocate with the father. Who is that? That's Jesus. Do you sin? You've got someone to go to. This is a legal term. You've got an advocate, one to speak for you, one to represent you, one who you can go and plead with. Have you sinned against God as a Christian? You've got an advocate. If you sin, do you know, we think our world falls apart if we sin. What am I going to do? How am I going to put this right? You have an advocate with the father. Then it goes further. Jesus Christ, the righteous. Notice he's saying your advocate is perfectly righteous. No sin in him. Then verse 2, and he is the propitiation of our sins. And not ours only, but also the sins of the whole world. So he's saying, even as a Christian, if you sin, go to your advocate. He is perfectly righteous. He is your propitiation. He's your mercy seeker. That's where you find mercy. That's where you find the blood. That's where you find cleansing and forgiveness. Go to him. And you know what? He's the propitiation for our sins, Christians. But not for ours only, the entire world. Look at Jesus Christ. He is the propitiation. And you know what? Anyone can go to him to be forgiven. Saint or sinner, go to Jesus. Go to the one who's perfectly righteous. Again, it says in 1 John chapter 4 and 10, herein is love. Not that we love God, but that he loved us. This is love. It's not all about you loving him. You only love him because he loved you. His love is the source of any love in our hearts. And he says, he loved us and sent his son to be the propitiation for our sins. Do you see how important this teaching of Christ being your propitiation? How important in Romans and in 1 John? You've got to realize God so loved you. He made Christ your propitiation. This is how he showed you his love. Christ died for you. He become your propitiation so that if you ever sin, you come there. This is the only place in the world. God never just forgives sin. He'll only forgive it at a place called Calvary because of Christ's death. Because of what happened there, that's the only way. Do you remember what John the Baptist preached concerning Christ? Behold the lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world. Do you know before that he preached the wrath of God? Who's warned you to flee from the wrath to come? He went preaching repentance. A judgment day is coming. God's going to lay the axe to every tree, every sinner, every rebel, every wayward person. God's going to lay the axe and then cast you into hell. He preached repentance. Who told you to flee from? All you religious ones coming out. Who told you to flee? You vipers, you snakes, you serpents. Who told you to flee from the wrath of God? Because the only ones out here listening to me are those who are fleeing from the wrath to come. There are sinners. The only sinners who come to me, they're harlots, they're drunkards, they're the worst in your community and they're running out here to be baptized in the Jordan. Why is that? It's because they're fleeing from the wrath to come. You know what John's message was? Behold the lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world. Baptism didn't take your sin away. Repentance didn't. The lamb of God, he is the fulfillment of all of the Old Testament types and shadow. You only need to look at what we've already covered. Abel in Genesis 4, it says in Hebrews 11 that he was justified by faith, by the sacrifice, the bleeding lamb that he offered up. He was justified. John is encompassing all this. Exodus chapter 12, the Passover lamb. Leviticus 16, the goat with the hands being laid on the goat, transferring all of the sin onto the goat. And Aaron shall lay his hands upon the head of the live goat and confess over him all the iniquities of the children of Israel and all their transgressions and all their sins, putting them upon the head of the goat and shall send away that goat by the hand of a man into the wilderness. And the goat shall bear upon him all the iniquities onto a land not inhabited. It says in John chapter 19, verse 30, when Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he's hanging on the cross. Notice it tells you a fact after when therefore he'd received vinegar, he said, it is finished. What's so important about him receiving vinegar before he says it's finished? And he bowed his head and gave up the ghost. Do you know Christ's death wasn't natural? He had two men either side of him. Jesus is a strong man, a young man, 33 years old. He is being crucified. Do you know the guards were shocked? That's why they stuck a spear in his side. He shouldn't have died that quickly. It's not normal. This is a slow, lingering death. You don't want a man to die after three hours. Why is it they sent the soldiers out and say, break their legs? Done it on the other two. And as soon as they broke their legs, their legs are broken. They suffocate immediately. They're going to die within moments. They didn't do that with Jesus. They went out, said, no, he's dead. He's gone. He can't be. Stick a spear in his side. Stuck a spear in his side. What came out? Blood and water. Do you realize his death wasn't normal? He died too quickly. Do you see? He committed his spirit into the hands of the father. Here he is. They give him vinegar. And then he says, no, it's finished. But not until that small point, he'd taken the vinegar, was given the vinegar. He said, it's finished. He bows his head. Then gives up the ghost. He dies. What does it mean when he said it is finished on the cross? So I'm saying God is satisfied. Not only am I not ashamed. God is satisfied. God was satisfied. The work was complete. Do you know what it's saying? Those three hours on the cross, it's finished. The word teleo means to end, complete. It's been executed. It's now concluded. I have just discharged everything. I've done everything. I've accomplished it. I've performed it. I've finished the task given to me. It's over. It's done. Do you realize that little statement after he had received the vinegar, then he said it's finished. Do you realize that's a prophecy from Psalm 69, 21? When the Messiah comes, they'll give him vinegar. Do you realize what he's saying? He's saying it's not finished. All the old Testament prophecies are fulfilled. Even the given of vinegar. It's one of a hundred prophecies to prove that I'm the Messiah. Do you know what he said? Even in that small act, it's now finished. I have finished the work. Every prophecy, every shadow, every type, every picture, all those lambs look forward to me. It's finished. God had always planned this. The work is finished. I have atoned for sin. I have made provision for every sinner. I have shed my blood. I have done the will of God. God is well pleased in me. He has poured out his wrath. His wrath is satisfied. Now all those who believe in me will no longer be children of wrath, will no longer have to face the wrath of God. When they believe in my blood, they are free. They are forgiven. They are set free. They're now children of grace. What a remarkable thing. But let me finish third and finally. Sinners are now persuaded to flee. I am not ashamed. God is satisfied. It is a finished work. It is a complete work on the cross. Nothing was accidental about it. But third and finally, sinners are persuaded to flee, all because of what happened on the cross. That's why Paul said, I will not disfigure the gospel. I am not ashamed of it. I won't add to it. I won't take away. I'm proclaiming it openly. I'm not adding man's wisdom to it. Sinners are persuaded to flee. In Romans 1.16, for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth. Paul over in 2 Corinthians 5-10, this is what he says. For we must all, you and I, talking about Christians, we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ. All of you. Do you know there's a judgment seat where every Christian is going to appear? It's not a judgment under wrath. It's not to see if you're saved. This judgment seat is a place of reward. At that judgment seat, all of your works, your words, your motives are tested by fire. And if anything is left over from God's fire that tests everything you've done as a Christian, if anything's left over, then he gives you a reward. There's five crowns you can get. It all happens here. So Paul writing here says, we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ. That everyone may receive the things done in the body according to that he has done, whether it be good or whether it be bad. And I want you to notice the next sentence. Knowing therefore the terror of God, we persuade men, talking about sinners, don't separate it from the judgment seat. Paul here is saying, do you realize in the light of this, one day we're going to stand, all of us, all of us Christians, no sinner is going to be there. Only those justified by the blood, saved by the work of the cross, you're going to be at the judgment seat. And it says, therefore, knowing that, that we're going to be judged by God, having our works judged. It says, knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men. The word to persuade means to convince them by arguments. We're speaking to sinners, we're evangelizing, we're witnessing, we're persuading them, we're begging them, we're calling them to come to Jesus Christ. We're asking them to believe in the work of the cross. Do you know what Paul says? Knowing the terror of God, we persuade men. That can mean the fear of God. There's one of two things this either means. It means either knowing that we're going to stand in judgment, at the judgment seat of Christ, we persuade men. Could mean that. Or it could mean knowing the terror of God, we persuade men, knowing God's not going to have mercy on sinners if they're not saved. So knowing that God will judge sinners, knowing his terror, knowing the fear of God, we want to persuade men and show them there's a way of deliverance from the wrath of God. Let me finish in that same chapter where he warns saying, knowing therefore the terror of God, we persuade men, we win men. Listen very carefully and I'm closing on this. In that same chapter, 2 Corinthians chapter 5, where he talks about this being aware of the terror of God and persuading men, knowing there's a day of terror or a terror of the Lord, we want to win them to Christ. That's verse 10 and 11. But in verse 20, we're going back to our first message and this penal substitution that I preached the very first night. Listen carefully as we close. Now then, we are ambassadors of Christ. We're ambassadors. We're representatives. We have been sent with a message from Christ to sinners. You are God's ambassador in this earth. He's not going to send an angel to evangelize anyone in this city. He's not going to do that. It's very rare that an angel's visited a Muslim. Very rare. I haven't heard of one person receiving the gospel through an angel in Limerick, not one. So he says, no, we are ambassadors as though God did beseech you by us. Look at this. When you become God's ambassador, you're reaching out to persuade sinners. You now represent God. He sent you. He's made you an ambassador of this message of the cross. And he says, when you beg men, it's like me begging men. That's what it's saying. We pray you in Christ's stead, be reconciled to God. That's what you're begging men. You know what you're doing with sinners? You're begging them, beseeching them, pleading with them to be reconciled to God. That's your message. You remember what the word reconcile means there? Listen carefully. I'm going to be finished in two minutes. The word reconcile is used five times here. It means to be restored. You're talking to a sinner. You're a Christian representing God. You're preaching the message of the cross and you're begging them to be reconciled to God. It means to be restored, to exchange. That's what the word reconcile means. To change mutually or in agreement together, to change places. You're preaching what Jesus done on the cross and you're begging them, why not exchange your position with Jesus Christ? Where he bears your wrath, your sin, your judgment, and you take up his position of perfect righteousness. Why not exchange? That's what the gospel you preach does. You're presenting Christ's position to them and saying, Christ bear your sin on the cross. And so it says, you're to do that with sinners. You ought to be begging them, beseeching them, be reconciled, exchange places with God himself. For he has, and this is it, this is your message of reconciliation. For he, that is God, has made him, Christ, to be sin for us who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. Do you realize what I've just said here? This is why I'm not ashamed of the gospel. God is satisfied with the work of Christ. There's nothing else to present to a sinner than what Christ done on the cross. You've got nothing else to preach to them, but what Christ done as a penal substitute, the sinner's substitute, the bleed and lamb, the only sacrifice. You present him, you beg men, will you not change places before it's too late? You beg them, flee from the wrath to come, run to the mercy seat. There is forgiveness, there's mercy. Run while you can, because you know what? You're a child of wrath and God's judgment will come on you and hell is real and the wrath of God being outpoured is real. And it says there in verse 19, to wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them, and has committed unto us the word of reconciliation. Never preach the gospel without preaching the bleed and lamb. You have no gospel apart from Jesus dying in the place of sinners. It is the power of God. This is God's only answer. God is satisfied with it. I am not ashamed of it. And you know what? This is our message and it's a powerful message to persuade sinners to flee from the wrath to come, run from your sin, flee the wrath of God, flee the tears of hell, flee the judgment, run to the bleed and lamb, run to Calvary, and you will find forgiveness. You'll find mercy, you'll find reconciliation, and you're going to find that Christ exchanges with you and you're made perfectly righteous. You're made right in the sight of God, since this is the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. And you know what? This is why I can call this message tonight, God's wrath satisfied. Anyone who laughs and says, we don't believe the wrath of God was poured out in Calvary, then I want to tell you God's wrath one day will be poured out upon you because I know only one means of being saved from the wrath of God and it's on the cross and it's what happened in those three hours through the blood of Jesus being shed. Will you pray with me tonight? Father, we thank you for the finished work of the cross. It wasn't our work, nor God. I thank you. It's so real that the righteous judgment of God was satisfied. We are not ashamed of the gospel. We're not disfiguring the gospel. We're not adding to the gospel. We're not suppressing the gospel. We're not changing the gospel. We're not obscuring the gospel with all our wise arguments and debates and answers, but we preach Christ and him crucified. It is foolishness to some, nor God. They laugh at it. They mock it. My God, it's a stumbling block that many trip over because they consider it so obscure, so strange, but my God, it is your only means of salvation and there is a power in it. We've seen a change, nor God, the worst of sinners, the vilest of sinners, atheists, evolutionists, new agers, drug takers, and God, they find it was the power of God to change their life. Thank you for Jesus. Thank you for satisfying your wrath at Calvary. Thank you, God, that your righteousness was satisfied there, that we could be free, reconciled to God, made righteous, made just in your sight, and nor God, we bless you tonight in Jesus' mighty name. ======================================================================== Video: https://sermonindex2.b-cdn.net/kEMk8Q2VLqA.mp4 Source: https://sermonindex.net/speakers/keith-malcomson/gods-wrath-satisfied/ ========================================================================