god's anger

Have you ever been lied about? In Psalm 7 David has been falsely accused and he brings his case to the righteous God, the God who is angry everyday.

It is important that we learn the distinction between the punishment of God vs the discipline of God: It is important for maintaining the honour and glory of God, and for the peace of mind of the Christian. God’s people can never by any possibility be punished for their sins, because God has already punished Jesus Christ for our sins at the cross. This is a fundamental truth and one that Christians need to be established or rooted or grounded in. So many believers have this idea that when they mess up, that God is ready to strike by punishing them for their sins. That could not be further from the truth. 

Isaiah 53 is the redemptive chapter. It is Isaiah seeing Jesus as He bears the iniquities of the whole world. Jehovah God put all our sins on Jesus and He not only put them on Jesus, He punished Jesus for our sins. He took our place, He died our death and took our negative judgment from God.

Is. 54: 6 For the Lord hath called thee as a woman forsaken and grieved in spirit, and a wife of youth, when thou wast refused, saith thy God. 7 For a small moment have I forsaken thee; but with great mercies will I gather thee. 8 In a little wrath I hid my face from thee for a moment; but with everlasting kindness will I have mercy on thee, saith the Lord thy Redeemer.
Now that right there is how I know that God is talking to me and talking to you. If you are saved, He is your Redeemer, AMEN? He is talking about the people of God. He is going to have mercy and be kind to us with an everlasting kindness as the Lord our Redeemer

9 For this is as the waters of Noah unto me: for as I have sworn that the waters of Noah should no more go over the earth; so have I sworn that I would not be wroth with thee, nor rebuke thee. 10 For the mountains shall depart, and the hills be removed; but my kindness shall not depart from thee, neither shall the covenant of my peace be removed, saith the Lord that hath mercy on thee.

What a promise? Amen! That is something to shout about!
Because of what my Son did for you, because of the cross and this great redemption and me being your redeemer, I will never be wroth with you again. I will never be angry with you, I’ll never punish you again. That verse told us that God's kindness will never depart and His covenant of peace can not be removed because of His mercy. 

Isaiah 54: 14 In righteousness shalt thou be established: thou shalt be far from oppression; for thou shalt not fear: and from terror; for it shall not come near thee. 15 Behold, they shall surely gather together, but not by me: whosoever shall gather together against thee shall fall for thy sake.
God says there are 3 things that are enemies that will come against us. Oppression, fear and terror. We need to know that while these things may come against all of us, God says, it’s not by me.

Verse 13 says, they shall surely gather together….who is they….oppression, fear and terror But God says, not by me.  

No matter what comes around me and against me, it didn’t come from God.  

How many of you know that if you were diagnosed with cancer that would be a great source of fear? It might would even be a great source of terror? Amen? Folks, listen to me tonight…..God isn’t giving us cancer. Did you hear me? God isn’t causing fear. God isn’t causing terror.

I once had a man in one of the churches that God called me to pastor....he told me that he believed that if he messed up today, if he sinned today, then God would get him tomorrow. That somehow, someway, God would punish him for the sin he had committed. What a misunderstanding of the grace and mercy of God! What a misunderstanding of our relationship with God when we come by faith in the person of Jesus Christ! What a misunderstanding of the redemptive work of Jesus on the cross!

Friends listen to me today....if you have to be punished for your sin that you commit, why did Jesus have to go to the cross and die? If you have to suffer the penalty for your sins, then Jesus died in vain. If you have to endure the negative judgment of God for your mistakes, then the cross is of no effect. 

The Lord Jesus, our Blessed Substitute, suffered the full penalty of all our guilt, that is why it is written that “The blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin” (1 John 1:7). Neither the justice nor the love of God will permit Him to again exact payment of what Christ fully discharged. 

You might ask, then if we can never be punished for our sins, why do bad things happen to good Christian people? Why is there suffering? Why are there trials and temptations? Those are great questions. While a believer’s sins cannot be punished, while the Christian cannot be condemned (Rom. 8:3), he/she can be disciplined by God. Once we are saved from His wrath, we now belong to the Family of God. The relationship which now exists between us and God is that of parent and child; and as a son/daughter we are disciplined for wrongdoing. Many times God uses discipline to correct us. 

Keep in mind that the discipline of God and the wrath or judgment of God are not the same thing. Punishment is always given as a payment for sin. Discipline is always for teaching and correction. Punishment is eternal. Discipline is temporal. 

Does that mean that every time we suffer that we are under the discipline of God? Absolutely not! Sometimes suffering is just a result of living in a fallen world. People get sick, loved ones die, we have accidents, and sometimes terrible things happen through no fault of our own. But God does use discipline to correct us and grow us into Christ-likeness. 

Many times even good Christian people will go to Job to show that God causes sickness and death and loss. But what they always fail to see is God did not take away Job’s wealth and position, or his loved ones, health, and wellbeing. That was not God. That was Satan. 

Remember that scripture from earlier that we have an everlasting covenant of peace with God now because of Jesus Christ? According to that scripture, I do not believe that God is in the business of robbing people, killing their loved ones, or taking away their health and wellbeing.  

Some people say, "well God allowed it to happen, so He must have caused it." Absolutely not! God allows everything my friends. Do you think it is God's will for there to be murder, suicide, adultery, fornication, or any other form of wickedness? NO! 

God allows us to live in and suffer through an imperfect world in which we are free to make our own choices that have consequences.

God allowed Job, a good and righteous man, to learn that he had a wee problem with self-righteousness.

God allowed Jacob, the deceiver of his brother and father, to be deceived by his uncle and experience what it was like to be hoodwinked and taken advantage of.

God allowed Joseph to be sold into slavery and pruned of his spoiled selfishness.

God allowed Naomi to lose her sons and experience her daughter-in-law’s great love and loyalty.

God allowed Peter to crumble like sand under pressure and deny Jesus three times before learning about God’s willingness not only to forgive him but give him the grace to become a rock of faith.

God allowed Paul to suffer with a thorn in the flesh that taught him humility.

But listen to me today, God is not killing our children, causing death, giving people cancer, breaking down our cars, or any other trying thing that may happen in our lives. God is for you, not against you! Does He discipline His children, yes, but how? 

1. God arouses our conscience through the presence and power of His Holy Spirit when we do what is wrong, just as David’s aroused conscience took away the joy of his salvation.

We need to pray each and every day, asking God to expose any attitudes and habits that we need to confess and correct. I always like to go through my list of sinful tendencies that I need to confess and make sure I correct each day.

I believe one of the best signs that we have opened up our lives to Christ is when we do wrong, we are convicted of our sin that robs us of peace and joy. Christians cannot “En-Joy” sin. If Christ has become an integral part of our heart, soul, mind, and body – and we can say with Paul, “I no longer live, but Christ lives in me” (Gal. 2:20) – then we will be conscience-stricken whenever we sin. If we are not conscience-stricken, if the Spirit of Christ is not “working within and on us,” then He is not a part of us.

2. We are disciplined through His word. God advises us to open and read the Bible. We need to read our Bible with an openness and eagerness for God to show us what we need to know and do! Many people have been disciplined by God while reading the Bible.

3. God disciplines us through spiritual leaders/teachers. We need to listen to good and godly people with an open mind, people who will not hesitate to tell us the truth about ourselves – and challenge us to be better than we are. Everyone needs a friend who will tell us what we don’t want to hear, but need to hear.

God sent Nathan (II Samuel 12) to confront David with his sins. We then read: “David responded to Nathan, ‘I have sinned against the Lord.’ Then Nathan replied to David, ‘The Lord has taken away your sin; you will not die. However, because you treated the Lord with such contempt in this matter, the son born to you will die’” (II Samuel 12:13-14).

God is the author of life, not death. He is the great physician of healing, not sickness. Can He use sickness to teach us? Yes! Can He use the death of a loved one to show us something? Yes! Can He correct us through trying times that come our way? Yes! But never get confused and think that God is causing death, pain, oppression, fear, and condemnation. We have bee set free from the punishment and wrath of God because of Jesus Christ! What a savior!