The Lord Will Repay: Romans 12:19-21

Romans chapter number 12 we are dealing with I put it this way with things we don't like is that the truth in Romans 12 it's been kind of like a knife to the heart because we have been challenged to a high standard of Christian living you know we must always be aware that when it comes to the Christian life the challenge is not for us to be a little better than the world the challenge for us is to be like the Lord that must always be the goal and it must always be in view as we particularly study the practical aspect of a Christian living now we consider Romans 12 and let me read the section that we've been dealing with here in the last few weeks we'll begin verse 17 and read down to the end of the chapter so Romans 12 verse 17 the Bible says recompense to no man evil for evil provide things honest in the sight of all men if it be possible as much as lieth in you live peaceably with all men dearly beloved avenge not yourselves but rather give place unto wrath for it is written vengeance is mine I will repay saith the Lord therefore if thine enemy hunger feed him if he thirst give him drink for in doing for in so doing thou shalt heap coals a fire on his head be not overcome of evil but overcome evil with good I would like to draw your attention to verse number 19 and this will be spending some time this morning the Bible says dearly beloved avenge not yourselves but rather give place unto wrath for it is written vengeance is mine I will repay saith the Lord I want to preach a message this morning that I've entitled the Lord will repay the Lord will repay now in this section here we've observed in this chapter the basis by which we live our Christian life we live the way we do because of the mercies of God and that is what compels us and turns our attention off of ourselves and unto the Lord and we know as we see in this chapter that every believer receives a spiritual gift that is to be exercised within the church and then we are introduced to some practical admonition that we ask Christians as those who associates ourselves with the God of heaven the holy God the God of the Bible there is a standard by which we are to live and the teaching that we find in this chapter is clearly rooted in the teaching of Christ himself in the Sermon on the Mount and we find many parallel verses there that the Apostle Paul is teaching us now we have already determined with great emphasis that this standard that has been presented is so contrary to human nature is it not it goes against everything that we naturally do or want to do and we must never think of these commands as I've been saying as theoretical God is putting forth a standard that is impossible for us of ourselves to keep we have determined three valuable truths from God's Word that gives us confidence to be able to live out these commands we've understood that first of all those who are saved are new creatures in Christ all things are passed away behold all things are become new we've also determined that we have been partakers of his divine nature we have been made partakers of his divine nature so we have an understanding that has been given to us that the world doesn't have and we've also determined thirdly that we have been given through the Spirit of God all things that pertain unto life and godliness though so those admonitions that we read of the Apostle Paul or not things that we must think as theoretical or that are outside of the realm of possibility we understand that with God all things are possible now we have just encouraged but encouraged by the Apostle Paul to never react in an impulsive way towards those who do us evil and by the way we I think we all understand at this point if you've lived a certain amount of time you understand that typically the first reaction is typically the wrong one the what comes out of impulse what comes out of a immediate reaction is typically the wrong one we've observed here that he says recompense to no man evil for evil but yet he says do the opposite provide things honest in the sight of all men and so give give for thought about what you're about to do before you do it and that is the mindset of the Christian the Christian is to never react impulsively he is always to give forethought and always to consider the glory of God now we follow now with verse number 19 and really the the theme continues here because we are dealing with how do we respond to evil how do we respond to those who treat us in a way that is unbecoming how do we deal with that and we dealt with verse 17 and 18 and now we come to verse 19 and we're going to look at this one admonition and consider how this applies to our lives notice again dearly beloved avenge not yourselves but rather give place unto wrath for it is written vengeance is mine I will repay saith the Lord now I want us to consider here that again Paul under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit of God gives a negative command and then he follows it with a positive command you said you say that every week that's because that's what we find in the Moneyball Paul often does that he gives us a negative command and then he turns and gives us a positive command the negative here is avenge not yourself don't do this but then the positive command is rather give place unto wrath so there is something that we are not to do and then there is something that we are to do and so Paul puts it negatively and then he puts it positively says this is what you ought not to do and this is what you ought to do the Christian life is never passive it must never be passive where we are content to say as we've looked through those verses well don't recompense evil for evil okay I won't do evil to those who do evil to be or events not yourselves we are not to stop there we ought to go beyond that because by the way that's what the world does Christ said he says you do nothing better than the publicans if you simply love those who love you what reward have ye that is what the world does but the standard for Christian living is much higher it is never passive now I consider first of all this expression that we find that dearly beloved it's almost like Paul speaks out of affection and concern for the believers here at Rome to live out this important command and he appeals to them with great love and affection and concern almost as if here that this is going to be something that is hard for them to hear and by the way if you come to church and something is hard for you to hear that's a good thing it may not be pleasant but it is certainly needful now as we consider this expression my mind immediately goes to my children avenge not yourselves if my son hits my daughter she will immediately and instinctively hit him back it just happens like that how many of you have been witnesses in children in the nursery I'm sure that happens all the time child hits the other one the other one hits him back the child takes the toy the child returns and takes it back and that is the impulsive nature that we find in children and such as the ammunition here avenge not yourself and so we find here that my child would be avenged yourself and that is the display of human nature but isn't it true that this is not just displayed in children but is also displayed in adults where we like to avenge ourselves someone does something to us and we want to retaliate and here Paul says that we are to never do that never avenge yourselves now that is where it starts it is absolutely necessary for us to consider this negative command because by the way we can never do the positive without first doing the negative not doing the negative you see Paul does not end there he goes on to give us the positive command and so as you've noticed I spent a whole out of time for us spending time on the positive command rather than the negative command because the negative command is common sense the negative command is what we are expected to do but we turn to the positive and we spend spending much time on the positive commands because that is the standard that differentiates Christian living from the world I've said this before that the Christian life ought not to be choosing between the good and the bad that ought to already be settled in our lives the Christian life is not choosing between the good and the bad the Christian life is choosing between the good and the best you see avenge not yourself is good but the best is the positive command you see we often think of ourselves we're doing good and we have the idea that we're doing good enough but that must never be the desire of the Christian just to be a little better than the world our desire is to be like Christ taking the high road and so avenge not yourselves don't do this but now we turn our attention to this positive command but rather and so it is a contrast rather give place unto wrath now the Christian life as I said is never passive we aren't acted in this contrast between avenging yourself and giving place unto wrath now it has been commonly believed that this verse means that the Christian is to give the other person time to cool down give place unto wrath let them do their thing just allow this episode to pass and that's where they've stopped some say that Paul here is simply saying don't avenge yourself don't hit back just allow that person to continue and just do nothing but I believe here this is much more than that I want us to study those words that we find here in this positive command first we consider the expression give place notice he says but rather we are to give place unto wrath now this expression is only found a few times in the New Testament I wants to consider two examples first of all let's go to Ephesians chapter number 4 if you turn with me there to Ephesians chapter number 4 we we find this expression used in a in a different way notice Ephesians 4 if we go with me to verse number 26 and we'll read verse 27 so notice Ephesians 4:26 be angry and sin not let not the Sun go down upon your wrath neither notice give place to the devil so we have those words give place so the expression here to give place what does that mean it simply means this the expression means do not give in or do not give the devil room don't give place do not give him any opportunity okay neither give place to the devil so don't allow the room don't give him the opportunity to do what he wants to do let's look at another example in Luke chapter number 14 if you turn there in the Gospel according to Luke and chapter number 14 we find another way that this these words are used in chapter number 4 notice in Luke 14 we'll read two verses there verse number eight and verse nine let's go to verse seven just for the the paragraphs sake there and verse seven and he put forth a parable to those which were bidden when he Martos out the chief room saying unto them when thou art bidden of any man to a wedding sit not down in the highest room lest a more honourable men than thou be bidden of him and he that baby and him come and say to thee give this man plays there's those words give place give this man place and thou begin with with shame to take the lowest room so here we find here this idea us give this man place give him place give him room given opportunity we must make room for this person who is more honourable than we are and so the expression here simply means when we talk about here give play simply means make room for you could say that the man is to hear in Luke 14 the man is to leave it up to another man leave it up to him don't take that for yourself leave it to somebody else and infusions for 27 don't leave it up to the devil don't give him room don't leave it up to him to do what he wants to do so we are to give place unto wrath now the believer is to give place unto wrath and we ask the question what does this mean what is this wrath well we first there's two things that we find first of all we have the pattern in the book of Romans that helps us in the interpretation of this word wrath let's go back if you would travel through the book of Romans and consider this word wrath first of all it is found in Romans chapter 1 verse 18 Romans 1:18 notice here the Apostle Paul is declaring the gospel in verse 18 he says this for the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness righteousness of men who hold the truth in unrighteousness now verse 18 the wrath is talking about the wrath of who the wrath of God if you go with me to chapter number 2 notice verse number 5 but after thy hardness and impenitent heart rest up into thyself wrath against the day of wrath and the revelation of the righteous judgment of God so the wrath is speaking of the righteous judgment of God we're talking about the wrath of God let's go to chapter number 4 Romans 4 verse number 15 the Bible says here because the law worketh wrath for where no law is there is no transgression now again he's talking about the law the law works what the wrath of God he's not talking about just wrath in general he's talking about specifically the wrath of God notice Romans 5 verse 9 the Bible says much more than being now justified by his blood we shall be saved from wrath through him now when he's talking about in the context whose wrath the wrath of God we will be saved from the wrath of God notice Romans chapter 9 one more reference Romans 9 and verse number 22 what if God willing to show his wrath to make his power known endured with much long-suffering the vessels of Wrath fitted to destruction and so we find again here we are speaking of the wrath of God so up to this point when we read Romans chapter 11 and verse number 19 up to this point in the book of Romans we find that the word wrath is always connected to God Paul is talking about the wrath of God the believer is not to avenge himself but to make room for the wrath of God that's what there is going on here do not indulge in your wrath but rather make room for the wrath of God or leave it up to the wrath of God now the first determination based upon the use of the word wrath in the book but secondly we also have the immediate context that helps us in our interpretation notice Romans 12:19 look at the full verse dearly beloved avenge not yourselves but rather give place unto wrath whose wrath well notice keep reading for it is written vengeance is mine I will repay saith the Lord so the wrath that we're talking about is the wrath of God it's not just a general wrath so understand what Paul is saying here do not avenge yourself but rather give place make room for the wrath of God don't take wrath upon yourself and exercise your own wrath make as the opposite room for the wrath of God now Paul is quoting Deuteronomy 32:35 this is an Old Testament passage the support is teaching he says Deuteronomy 32:35 to me belongeth vengeance and recompense their foot shall slide in due time for the day of their calamity is at hand and the things that shall come upon them may case and so we find here that Paul simply quotes Deuteronomy 32 to me belongeth vengeance so Paul when he's talking about give place unto wrath he's talking about giving place to the wrath of God now what does that all mean well simply this that this vengeance when he says avails not yourself don't do this but rather do this this vengeance belongs to the Lord and no one else now that's important wrath judgment belongs to the Lord and no one else now someone put it this way we must never seek personal vengeance never why not because that is God's work and not ours that is God's prerogative and that is God's business that's what the Bible says isn't it vengeance is mine I'm the only one who has the authority and the righteousness to properly exercise wrath and judgment in a righteous way men cannot do that now to think it is our business to avenge ourselves is to make ourselves God you see we are unable when someone does something to us does evil to us we are unable to bring adequate vengeance because we are sinful and we can easily be unjust in our dealings our judgment would be completely inadequate today if you go in the courtroom and they select different people often before a case they say do you know anybody that's part of this of this case and if you are you are thrown out as one of the jurors why because your judgment might be skewed and so sword is the same with God God says here avenge not yourselves why because we understand that we are incapable of properly exercising proper wrath and judgment someone put it this way we are never a we we we are bad judges of ourselves and of our own position and conditions and of what happens to us as a result of sin we are all self-centered always on the defensive always shielding ourselves we see a Fault in another person and we denounce it but we'll always explain it away the same thing in our own lives so we are not fit to exercise judgment we are biased judges incapable of arriving at a true judgment and it is very dangerous for us to take the punishment into our own hands we're talking about someone who directly harms us or who tries to do evil to us you see God is the judge of all the earth and he alone is the judge God's judgment and wrath is always holy and adequate it is always just it is always righteous and it is always controlled you see our judgment is always too passionate and in control but God is the perfect judge and so this admonition and my own words is this Christians stand aside and let God work avenge not yourselves but rather give place unto wrath you see we must refrain from avenging ourselves in order that the one who has offended you may receive his proper judgment now there's a disclaimer and as we've seen there's often a disclaimer in those animism because people will take that and run off and make the scripture say something is not saying you see we must never wish harm on our fellow man our attitude must never be one of hope that they will suffer in a greater way because it is left to God that is not the proper sentiment of the Christian and when we say well yeah well let God take care of it but our attitude is because we think that God is going to think a greater degree of pain upon the person we would do it ourselves that is not right and that is not what this admonition is saying at all we look once again at our blessed Savior let's go to 1st Peter chapter number 2 here we've looked at this passage quite a bit but here in 1st Peter chapter number 2 if you go with me to verse number 21 we find the example of our blessed Savior in verse 21 the Bible says for even hereunto what he called because Christ also suffered for us leaving us an example that we should follow his steps notice verse 22 who did no sin neither was guile found in his mouth who when he was reviled reviled not again when he suffered he threatened not but notice here the last words but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously there it is in the Lord Jesus Christ himself how can the Christian have a proper balance between not avenging yourself and yet at the same time give place unto the wrath of God let me put it this way we are to never attempt personal retribution we should never seek to personally avenge ourselves and we should never desire for harm to come to another Christ put it this way says love your enemies pray for them that despitefully use you and persecute you bless them that curse you that's what Christ said these are his words and he was the perfect example in doing so now what this verse is saying is that we should always be concerned with this because look when he says avenge not yourselves but rather give place unto wrath he's talking about the wrath of God and equals Deuteronomy chapter 32 where God says vengeance is mine I will repay saith the Lord and so what is it that we're concerned about because we are not to avenge ourselves we are to rather give room for God to work for the wrath of God with this verse is saying is that we should always be concerned with what the righteousness the justice and the glory of God that's what we're concerned with when we're talking about giving place unto wrath we're talking about the wrath of God we are saying here that we are concerned more than our own desire to avenge ourselves we are concerned with the righteousness of God we are concerned with this justice and we are concerned with his glory you see the Christian is always focusing what he needs to be in the sight of God if you turn with me to Matthew chapter number 5 Matthew 5 in the Sermon on the Mount Christ is teaching his disciples and he gives them as he begins in the Sermon on the Mount with the Beatitudes and he encourages the believers to be what they need to be in the sight of God and notice here the Beatitudes from verse 3 he says blessed are the poor in spirit that is contrary to human nature you need to be a spiritual beggar you need to recognize that you need God above all else verse 4 blessed are they that mourn you need to be a person that mourns over your sin but now just your sin over the sin of the world a verse 5 blessed are Myka don't self assert yourself this is having your power and your ability to respond under control verse 6 blessed are they which have to righteousness there it is again what is it that we done Oh what is it that ought to be in our hearts that we ought to desire above anything else we ought to have a hunger and the thirst for righteousness whose the righteousness of God he says verse 7 blessed are the merciful verse 8 blessed are the pure in heart blessed are the peacemakers blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness sake for theirs is the kingdom of heaven blessed are ye when men shall revile you and persecute you and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely for my sake rejoice and be exceeding glad for great is your reward in heaven for so persecuted the prophets which were before you and then he goes on by saying this he are the salt of the earth and then later he are the light of the world you see if we do those things we are the salt we are the light there's not something that we attempt to do of ourselves if we live out those Beatitudes we will be the soul we will be the light of the world and so I am never to avenge personal wrong but I am to have a zeal for the name and the glory of God now some will object and say that there's then a contradiction in the Word of God as they're not on the one hand God tells us in the 10 commandments thou shalt not kill and yet on the other hand God come into the children of Israel to kill all the Amalekites and to spare not one of them and often people see while see there's a contradiction this is inconsistent in the sight of God but not so you see we determine according to God's Word that there is always a difference between personal vengeance and general vengeance the command not to kill is to turn and to turn the other cheek addresses the individual response what someone does to you personally don't respond to that there there are they are not speaking of the state or a society large there is a difference between seeking personal vengeance and believing that it is my duty to uphold the law of God now let me illustrate in Romans chapter number 13 if you go with me in Romans 13 as the Apostle Paul says this he says avenge not yourselves but rather give place unto wrath in the next chapter in Romans 13 notice verse 1 through 4 what Paul says let every soul be subject unto the higher powers for there is no power but of God the powers that be are ordained of God whosoever therefore resisteth the power resisteth the ordinance of God and they that resist shall receive of themselves damnation for rulers are not a terror of good works but to the evil will thou then not be afraid of the power do thou would do that which is good and thou shalt have praise of the same for he is the minister of God to thee for good but if thou do that which is evil be afraid for he beareth not the sword in vain now he's talking obviously here about the institution of government and the Apostle Paul has separated in chapter 12 he says don't make things out of a personal vengeance but there are things that are properly carried out by the state by a God created institution that's why when people have those pickets and they have those soldiers come back from overseas and they have those pickets and you know peace is the answer in that war and they refer to these people as murderer they're not murderers they are carrying out what has been designed by the state or by the government and there's a difference there that we must clearly make let me illustrate this truth in the Old Testament in the life of David could you turn with me to 1st Samuel chapter 24 First Samuel chapter number 24 notice first Samuel 24 we know in the life of David that David could have taken Saul's life on several occasions could he not on several occasions it was in within his power and ability to take the life of salt and in one particular instance his men encouraged him to do so and basically said peg God gave you this God gave you an opportunity and now you can be the next king this must be of God but see David understood something he is not to avenge himself now what was Saul doing Saul was spending all of the resources of the kingdom to chase after David as a matter of fact we know that to be true because sometimes when the Philistines were attacking he had to leave that with his men to stop pursuing David to do what his duties had commanded him to do and so we find that Saul did things out of out of personal vindication in a desire to stamp David out and David although he could have taken many opportunities to destroy the life of Saul he did not choose to do so in 1st Samuel 24 notice verse 12 what David says so David's young men turned their way actually I'm in chapter 25 sorry chapter 24 verse 12 the Lord judge between me and thee and the Lord avenged me of thee but mine hand shall not be upon thee there it is David says I will not avenge myself I am now going to take personal revenge into my own hands I'm going to give place unto wrath I'm going to make room for God to work and would to God that as believers we would learn to do that to give room for God to work instead of just retaliate every time somebody says something to us or does something to us where we impulsively respond David says I'm not going to do that vengeance belongs unto the Lord and so David made that declaration he says I will not personally avenge myself later in 2nd Samuel if you turn with me in 2nd samuel chapter number 4 we know that at the end the 1st samuel saul died you remember david wept with a broken heart over the death of Saul you see David went beyond this I'm not going to avenge myself he wept and had a broken heart for the death of Seoul you would think ah I gave place unto wrath and then God judged him that not that was not his attitude that was on his attitude he went with a broken heart but then we learned something else and second samuel chapter 4 notice verse number 10 through 12 this young man comes to david and think he's bringing good news to david notice what happens verse 9 and david answered red cab and Baena though his brother the sons of rahman and beer fight and said unto them as the Lord liveth who have to be deemed my soul out of all adversity when one told me saying behold Saul is dead thinking to have brought good tidings i took hold of him and slew him in Ziklag who thought that i would have given him a reward for his tidings so you see this young man comes to David and think David wants their revenge and so I'm going to bring him this good news because he's going to say finally God took care of him but that's not what David does notice what David does verse 11 how much more when wicked men have slain a righteous person in his own house upon his bed shall I not there for now enquire his blood of your hand and take you away from the earth and David commanded his young men and they slew them and cut off his hands and their feet and hang them up over the pool of Hebron but they took the head of ish Michelle and buried it in the Sepulcher of Abner in Hebron now what is interesting here is we find that the man did not understand David he thought that David would love the news and he boasted of killing Saul you see David never sought for personal vengeance he simply we find in this chapter desired the Justice of God how do we know that because what does he do next now we know what the report of this young man said was not true but he pretended to be true basically said I killed saw thinking that David out of personal vengeance would be thrilled but you see what David does he turns and what is he interested in if that is true sir then you will be put to death because you took another man's life see David was not interested in personal vengeance and avenging himself he was interested in the Justice of God so he was now going to reward this man who broke the law of God he was going to give him his just reward and see that's the understanding that we must have as believers you see did David did not think well he finally got what he deserved as a personal vindication but he sought to exercise and uphold the law of God you see we'd also find later that David would take out really use his power for personal gain in Bathsheba and killing Bathsheba's husband Uriah but we know that the Justice of God would come swiftly you see we must always make a differentiation between personal vindication and giving place to the wrath of God what is it that we're interested in we have to ask ourselves as as believers what is it what is it that we are interested in are we interested in personal vindication or avenging ourselves or are we truly interested in the glory of God you see when the psalmist for example would write those Psalms and talk about you know the destruction of the wicked he was not saying those things out of personal hatred and vindication he was saying that because he desired the righteousness and the justice of God that's what he desired and we must be very careful as Christians that we never use this sentence give place unto wrath as an opportunity for ourselves to say it's okay to hate sinners it's okay to have ill feeling towards other people it is never okay what we do is we give place to the wrath of God we do not seek to influence we do not pray and tell God while God you judge them no no that's not what we're interested in that's not what the Christian is interested in the Christian is always interested in the glory of God so Christian the VINs not yourself but rather give place make room allow God and his wrath to be displayed because he said vengeance is mine I will repay saith the Lord and as I mentioned earlier if we take upon ourselves and exercise vengeance upon another individual that has wronged us then we have committed idolatry we have become God and we have become the determiners of what justice righteousness holiness is and that's blasphemy and so may the Lord help us never to have such sentiments but to always be interested and the one who deserves the glory in the praise

Channel: First State Baptist Church

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Keywords: Jesus, Bible, Preaching, Gospel, Christ, God, Salvation, Eternal Life, Expository, First State Baptist Church, Wilmington, Delaware, Judgement, Inspirational, Jehovah, discipleship, revival, blessing, wisdom, Son of God, mediator, joy, submission, obedience, exhort, forgiveness, repent, savior, eternal, sacrifice, resurrection, cross, spiritual, preservation, deliverance, church, saved, scripture, bible, Holy Spirit, heaven, eternity, truth, salvation, faith, love, grace, hope

Id: O4CJiOX4FuI

Length: 39min 15sec (2355 seconds)

Published: Fri Nov 29 2019