05 August 2012
Geoff Hohneck
Romans 1:18-20
“The fact is that the subject of divine wrath has become taboo in modern society, and Christians by and large have accepted the taboo and conditioned themselves never to raise the matter". (JI Packer, ‘Knowing God’)
How true this is. Today the good news of the gospel is preached without the backdrop of the bad news of God’s righteous wrath. No wonder it is weak because it is perceived as irrelevant and unnecessary. But an accurate knowledge of the wrath of God is essential to understanding the true message of the gospel.
In his commentary on the book of Romans, John MacArthur writes, “A person cannot appreciate the wonder of God’s grace until he knows about the perfect demands of God’s law, and he cannot appreciate the fullness of God’s love for him until he knows something about the fierceness of God’s anger against his sinful failure to perfectly obey that law. He cannot appreciate God’s forgiveness until he knows about the eternal consequences of the sins that require a penalty and need forgiving.”
In today’s message Geoff speaks to just two verses which are loaded with a reality that we cannot afford to gloss over. Because it refers to aspects of God’s character - His holiness and righteous anger - which are essential to salvation.