"Are You Still Angry with Us?"
Bernie L. Gillespie
November 5, 1998 All Rights Reserved

You, O LORD, reign forever; your throne endures from generation to generation. Why do you always forget us? Why do you forsake us so long? Restore us to yourself, O LORD, that we may return; renew our days as of old  unless you have utterly rejected us and are angry with us beyond measure. Lam. 5:19-22 NIV

I. Is God Happy With Me?

A. One of the most common concerns of people that I have heard throughout my life is, "Is God happy with me?" "Does He even like me?"
B. Some are crippled in their faith and life because they are convinced that God could not like them.
C. In this, they live under God's frown all the time.
D. Even Jeremiah questioned just how long God would remain angry with His people.

II. God's Anger

A. Lam. 5:22 comes out of the Laments of Jeremiah over the destruction of Jerusalem.

1. Who destroyed Jerusalem?
2. God meted out a terrible judgment on the people of Israel because of their terrible sins.

Jer. 25:15 This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, said to me: "Take from my hand this cup filled with the wine of my wrath and make all the nations to whom I send you drink it. 16 When they drink it, they will stagger and go mad because of the sword I will send among them." 17 So I took the cup from the LORD's hand and made all the nations to whom he sent me drink it: 18 Jerusalem and the towns of Judah, its kings and officials, to make them a ruin and an object of horror and scorn and cursing, as they are today;. . . 29 See, I am beginning to bring disaster on the city that bears my Name, and will you indeed go unpunished? You will not go unpunished, for I am calling down a sword upon all who live on the earth, declares the LORD Almighty.' 30 "Now prophesy all these words against them and say to them: "'The LORD will roar from on high; he will thunder from his holy dwelling and roar mightily against his land. He will shout like those who tread the grapes, shout against all who live on the earth. 31 The tumult will resound to the ends of the earth, for the LORD will bring charges against the nations; he will bring judgment on all mankind and put the wicked to the sword,'" declares the LORD. 32 This is what the LORD Almighty says: "Look! Disaster is spreading from nation to nation; a mighty storm is rising from the ends of the earth." 33 At that time those slain by the LORD will be everywhere-- from one end of the earth to the other. They will not be mourned or gathered up or buried, but will be like refuse lying on the ground. 34 Weep and wail, you shepherds; roll in the dust, you leaders of the flock. For your time to be slaughtered has come; you will fall and be shattered like fine pottery. 35 The shepherds will have nowhere to flee, the leaders of the flock no place to escape. 36 Hear the cry of the shepherds, the wailing of the leaders of the flock, for the LORD is destroying their pasture. 37 The peaceful meadows will be laid waste because of the fierce anger of the LORD. 38 Like a lion he will leave his lair, and their land will become desolate because of the sword of the oppressor and because of the LORD's fierce anger. NIV

B. This question about God's anger was a question that haunted Abraham's descendants right up to the time of Christ.

C. What about God's anger today?

Rom. 1:18 The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness,

Rom. 2:5 But because of your stubbornness and your unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath against yourself for the day of God's wrath, when his righteous judgment will be revealed. 6 God "will give to each person according to what he has done." 7 To those who by persistence in doing good seek glory, honor and immortality, he will give eternal life. 8 But for those who are self-seeking and who reject the truth and follow evil, there will be wrath and anger. 9 There will be trouble and distress for every human being who does evil: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile;

Eph. 2:3 All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath.

1 Thess. 1:9 . . . They tell how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God, 10 and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead-- Jesus, who rescues us from the coming wrath.

Rev. 6:15 Then the kings of the earth, the princes, the generals, the rich, the mighty, and every slave and every free man hid in caves and among the rocks of the mountains. 16 They called to the mountains and the rocks, "Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb! 17 For the great day of their wrath has come, and who can stand?"

D. The wrath of God is not an antiquated relic of out dated theology, but is right at the center of the teaching of the apostles in the N.T.

1. The greatest threat to our existence is not World War, crime, aids, or economic disaster.
2. It is not sickness, loneliness, or lack of self-esteem.
3. It is not demons, death or Hell.
4. It is the anger of God for the sins we have committed.

III. Peace With God Through Christ

A. Jesus death on the Cross was a making peace with God for us.

Romans 5:1 Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2 through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. 3 Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; 4 perseverance, character; and character, hope. 5 And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us. 6 You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. 7 Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. 8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. 9 Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God's wrath through him! NIV

Eph. 2:14 For he himself is our peace, who has made the two one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, 15 by abolishing in his flesh the law with its commandments and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new man out of the two, thus making peace, 16 and in this one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility. 17 He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near.

B. The anger of God was appeased by Jesus bearing it.

1. Because of this, we do not need to wonder if God is still angry.
2. HE IS PLEASED WITH US THROUGH JESUS.

C. Important: The only human whom God is at peace with on his own merit is Jesus.

1. We have peace with God only as long as we are in Christ by faith.
2. Those who do not trust in Christ suffer the wrath of God.

John 3:35 The Father loves the Son and has placed everything in his hands. 36 Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God's wrath remains on him."

IV. Are You Still Angry With God?

A. Luther's pre-conversion struggle was "How do I find a gracious God?"

** Luther discovered that at its root, his sin was that he hated God.

B. Our sin is best characterized by our hatred for God.

1. We have deep, unconscious resentments about the way certain things turned.
2. We harbor powerful feelings of anger that God would let our situation continue the way that it has.
3. We even blatantly blame God for all the bad, negative situations which rob us of peace and happiness.
4. If we are radically honest with ourselves it is God that we

C. The Cross is the place where we are saved from our anger and God's anger.

D. Today you have peace with God

1. You do not have to worry about whether God is angry with you.
2. In Christ, the anger is gone and the full acceptance, love and peace our yours through Jesus.