Angry with the wicked
“God judgeth the righteous, and God is angry with the wicked every day.
If he turn not, he will whet his sword; he hath bent his bow, and made it ready.” Psalms 7:11-12
“Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.”
2 Timothy 2:15
The question is: Can it still be said, now under the New Covenant of Grace, is God still angry with the wicked every day?
When I consider, what is the most wicked sin I was guilty of before He saved me?
Even though I had my share of sins just like most everyone else. But the most wicked sin in the entire scriptures that I was guilty of, is the only sin that will send anyone to hell. Even the wicked sins of Romans chapter one are not as bad as this sin.
I was guilty of this sin, especially the two and one half years before I was saved. Someone would say, well, what wicked sin was this?
Well, it was the continual sin of rejecting The Lord Jesus, even being under conviction so many times. With two churches praying for me. The one in Demorest, Ga. Where my older sister was a member and the other was, the Baptist Church where my mom was a member.
I remember, while on the job, logging, arguing with God, why I don’t want to be saved. I even went so far to as listen to voices in my head and mind: when Jesus comes, we will kill him. What could be more wicked?
So the question is, was God angry with me. Well, I am sure He was angry with my sin, but this is what sinners do, we sin. But to me, there is no worse sin than rejecting the one who died for me.
So in this age of grace, can it still be said, God is angry with the wicked every day? To a legalistic, who will not rightly divide the word of truth, the answer will always be yes. I was fed a steady diet in this direction for several years.
I’m not a legalistic nor am I a liberal, one who believes come as you are but remain the same. Our Lord will save His people from their sins, whether they be Jew or Gentile.
Taken a little further, seems to me to say yes to the question, is God still angry with the wicked every day, the below are just a few verses we will need to strip from the New Testament.
“But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” Romans 5:8
“For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” Romans 6:23
“For God so “loved” the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.” John 3:16-17
“The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.” 2 Peter 3:9
“All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out.” John 6:37
And this list will go on indefinitely in the New Testament.
The whole point is, under the law, everything ended with, Malachi 4:6. The very last word in the Old Testament is, “Curse.”
“And “he” shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse.” Malachi 4:6
Everything under the law apart from the death of the substitution of another, pointed to and ended up under the curse of the law.
The which lot fell on Christ at Calvary.
Apart from the New Testament, The Testator, Christ Jesus, all would still be under the curse, where God would always be angry with the wicked every day.
Today, He separates the wicked form his sin in the way He looks at sinners. He of course is still angry with sin, as He has and always will be, while at the same time, He loves the sinner.
Jesus took a lot heat from the legalistic Pharisees for eating with the publicans and sinners. The same is true today for those who do not understand the true meaning of the Grace of God.
Below is the passage where Jesus stood and looked out over Jerusalem and spoke these words. Here we see the two sides. Is He angry with their sins? Yes, but does He care? Does He still love them?
“O Jerusalem, Jerusalem….” “how often would I have gathered thy children together,….” “even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings,…..” “and ye would not!”
Below is the rest of the passage, from the wickedness of His people, then onto the cry for them to come to repentance. It is clearly seen, He is angry with their sin, while at the same time, separates them from their sin in the plea. ““how often would I have gathered thy children together,…..”
“Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell?
Wherefore, behold, I send unto you prophets, and wise men, and scribes: and some of them ye shall kill and crucify; and some of them shall ye scourge in your synagogues, and persecute them from city to city:
That upon you may come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel unto the blood of Zacharias son of Barachias, whom ye slew between the temple and the altar.
Verily I say unto you, All these things shall come upon this generation. O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not!
Behold, your house is left unto you desolate.
For I say unto you, Ye shall not see me henceforth, till ye shall say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord.”
Matthew 24: 33-39
“The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.” II Peter 3:9
If God was still angry with the wicked in the same respect He was in the Old Testament under the law. I would never have been saved. It was the cross that showed me my lost condition and His love, in dying for me, in my place and in my stead.
And if God was still angry with the wicked today as in the Old Testament, then this verse would be of no avail.
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” John 3:16
How can God love the wicked and hate the wicked at the same time unless He separates the “wicked” the “person” from their “sins?”
I, just as the thief on the right side of Jesus:
Came by way of the cross, and it still brings tears from my heart, to my eyes, even as I type this.