GRACE FOR TODAY Radio Message #419
ARE YOU COURTING THE
WRATH OF GOD?
Pastor
Don Fortner
Grace Baptist Church of Danville
2734 Old Stanford Road
Danville,
Kentucky 40422-9438
Are
you courting the wrath and judgment of God? Without a doubt, some of you are.
Those who wilfully neglect and despise the gospel of God’s free and sovereign
grace in Christ court his wrath and judgment. Be warned, my friend, God
Alimghty will not trifle with those who trifle with his Son. This is what our
Lord Jesus Christ taught us in the parable of the marriage feast in Matthew
22:1-14.
This is the third in a trilogy of judgment parables
by which our Lord describes the basis of God’s judgment upon those who despise
the blessings and privileges of grace. In the parables of the two sons
(20:28-32), the husbandman (20:33-46), and in this parable of the marriage
feast, our Savior shows us why God cast off the nation of Israel and sent the
gospel to the Gentiles.
Without question, it was
God’s purpose from eternity to save his elect among the Gentiles. Indeed, he
predestinated the fall of the Jews as the very means by which he would save his
elect among the Gentiles (Rom. 11:11,25,26). There are no accidents in God’s
universe (Rom. 11:33-36). Yet, the cause of divine judgment upon that nation
was not God’s predestination, but their unbelief.
The
gospel was first revealed to the Jews, the nation of Israel, in the types and
shadows of the Mosaic economy. To Israel alone God gave his law, the
priesthood, the tabernacle, and his prophets. When Christ came, he preached the
gospel to none but the lost sheep of the house of Israel. Yet, that nation,
being blinded by their religious leaders, despised the opportunities of grace
God gave them, the gospel of his grace, and his dear Son.
Though they feverishly
adhered to the rites and ceremonies of the law, they had long rejected the
message of God’s prophets. When John the Baptist came preparing the way of the
Lord, they ignored him. When God’s own Son came, they hung him up on the cursed
tree to die. When God sent the apostles and disciples of Christ to proclaim the
message of Christ the risen Lord and King, they rejected their message,
imprisoned them, beat them, and murdered them.
Therefore,
in 70 AD the Lord God sent the Roman army, under the command of Titus, into
Jerusalem. By the hand of Titus, God destroyed both Jerusalem and the nation of
Israel.
At the end of Daniel’s 70th
week, the house of Israel was left desolate. Their light was turned into
darkness. Never again would that nation have a word from God or a visitation of
his grace. God said to his servants,
Israel will not hear. Leave her alone. Go ye therefore into the highways of the
world, and as many as you find, whether Jew or Gentile, bid them come.
Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.
Israel rejected God; therefore God rejected
Israel. Israel despised the light God had given her; therefore God withdrew the
light. Israel despised and rejected God’s Son; therefore God cast her off
forever.
God’s judgment upon the
nation of Israel stands as a beacon to warn us. God will not trifle with those
who trifle with his Son and the gospel of his grace. An awesome weight of
responsibility lies upon the shoulders of all who hear the gospel of Christ faithfully
preached unto them. It will not be heard without consequence. It will either be
to you a savor of life unto life or of death unto death (II Cor. 2:15-17; Rom.
11:21; Pro. 1:23-33). The same sun that melts the candle hardens the clay. And
the same message that melts the believer’s heart before God hardens the
unbeliever’s heart to judgment.
AMEN.