Latest / Pastor John Piper's answers / I Want God’s Wrath on My Enemy

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I Want God’s Wrath on My Enemy · Pastor John Piper's answers

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  Speaker 1: Well, there are some very dark stories of people who
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  Speaker 1: get taken advantage of in this world and who want
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  Speaker 1: to take revenge or see God's vengeance pour down on
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  Speaker 1: those enemies. That's the case today in this email from
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  Speaker 1: a listener named Jemma who lives in Australia. This is
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  Speaker 1: all we have for email and is short and it's dark.
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  Speaker 1: Pastor John, how do I pray for my enemies who
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  Speaker 1: have abused me, taken advantage of me, left me homeless
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  Speaker 1: and bankrupt. I want revenge in God's wrath to overcome
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  Speaker 1: them right now, help me find my balance in Christ.
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  Speaker 2: I am so glad that Jemma has asked for help
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  Speaker 2: to find balance in Christ, because that's the only place
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  Speaker 2: to be at this moment for her, for all of
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  Speaker 2: us in Christ. There's no Christian solution to this kind
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  Speaker 2: of situation unless we are in Christ. That is, unless
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  Speaker 2: we are truly Christians. We have been born again. We
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  Speaker 2: are trusting Christ for the forgiveness of our sins and
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  Speaker 2: the hope of eternal life. And the Word of Christ
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  Speaker 2: is our law and our joy. That's where we can
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  Speaker 2: find some resolution. So let me give a biblical word
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  Speaker 2: to Jemma about your God, your soul, your reward, your prayer,
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  Speaker 2: your witness, and your church. Those six realities. First, a
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  Speaker 2: word about your God. Don't take into your hands what
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  Speaker 2: belongs in God's hands. Let God be God, let God
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  Speaker 2: be judge Romans twelve nineteen. Beloved, never avenge yoursel. Leave
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  Speaker 2: it to the wrath of God. For it is written,
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  Speaker 2: vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord. So
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  Speaker 2: vengeance and wrath are God's right and honor. Don't take
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  Speaker 2: from his hand what belongs to him. This is very freeing.
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  Speaker 2: You can know. You can know beyond the shadow of
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  Speaker 2: a doubt. Since God is God, no wrong against you
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  Speaker 2: will go unrighted. Justice will be done now or in
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  Speaker 2: hell for all who do not repent, and if they
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  Speaker 2: do repent, justice is done on the cross. You can't
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  Speaker 2: improve on hell or the cross as proper payments for
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  Speaker 2: the wrongs done against you. Second, a word about your soul.
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  Speaker 2: A bitter and unforgiving soul is self destructive. It feels
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  Speaker 2: like you're getting back at others, but in fact you
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  Speaker 2: are making matters worse for yourself. Ephesians four twenty six
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  Speaker 2: says be angry and do not sin. Do not let
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  Speaker 2: the sun go down on your anger and give no
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  Speaker 2: opportunity to the devil. This means that if you hold
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  Speaker 2: a grudge and go to bed night after night with anger,
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  Speaker 2: you open the door to the soul destroying work of
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  Speaker 2: the devil. The devil specializes in using unforgiveness and bitterness
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  Speaker 2: to destroy our souls. Paul calls this lack of forgiveness
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  Speaker 2: one of Satan's schemes in Second Corinthians two ten third.
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  Speaker 2: A word about your reward, Jesus said in Matthew five
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  Speaker 2: to eleven, blessed are you when others revile you and
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  Speaker 2: persecute you, and utter all kinds of evil against you
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  Speaker 2: falsely on my account, Rejoice and be glad, for your
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  Speaker 2: reward in heaven is great, for so they persecuted the
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  Speaker 2: prophets who were before you. The Christian life of joy
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  Speaker 2: in the face of abuse and loss only makes sense
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  Speaker 2: in view of eternity. In Hebrew ten thirty four, the Christians,
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  Speaker 2: it says, joyfully accepted the plundering of their property because
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  Speaker 2: they knew they had a better possession and an abiding
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  Speaker 2: one a great reward in heaven. We need to cultivate
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  Speaker 2: a strong heavenly mindedness to live like this, the Christian
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  Speaker 2: life is simply impossible if our portion is in this life.
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  Speaker 2: Fourth A word about your prayer, that is your prayer
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  Speaker 2: for your enemy Luke six twenty seven. Jesus said, love
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  Speaker 2: your enemies, Do good to those who hate you, Bless
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  Speaker 2: those who curse you, Pray for those who abuse you.
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  Speaker 2: What do we pray? And I think the answer is
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  Speaker 2: given in the word bless. When he says bless, that
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  Speaker 2: means we're not praying for their destruction. We're praying for
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  Speaker 2: their blessing that is their salvation. We do not pray
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  Speaker 2: for their prosperity in evil. The blessing we pray for
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  Speaker 2: is their deliverance from evil. We're not sentimental as if
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  Speaker 2: we want their life of sin and injustice to prosper
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  Speaker 2: we don't. We want them to be broken hearted for
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  Speaker 2: their sin and humbled and brought to repentance and faith
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  Speaker 2: and holiness, and that's what we pray for. Fifth A
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  Speaker 2: word about your witness. We want our lives as Christians
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  Speaker 2: to bear witness to the worth of Jesus as are
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  Speaker 2: all satisfying treasure. That's what we want our lives to communicate.
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  Speaker 2: Jesus is so great he's all satisfying. If we treat
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  Speaker 2: this world like our supreme treasure, we look just like
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  Speaker 2: non Christians. But if our treasure is in heaven, and
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  Speaker 2: we show that by our attitudes, he's the treasure, then
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  Speaker 2: we show Christ to be great. We magnify him. In
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  Speaker 2: First christin six Paul was upset with the believers because
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  Speaker 2: they were suing each other before unbelieving judges. It was
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  Speaker 2: a terrible witness. He said, why not rather be defrauded?
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  Speaker 2: In other words, that would be a better witness to
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  Speaker 2: the world about the true value of Christ. And finally,
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  Speaker 2: a word about your church. If you're not part of
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  Speaker 2: a healthy church, Jemma, you're cutting yourself off from one
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  Speaker 2: of the most important ways that God has provided for
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  Speaker 2: his people. In this kind of situation, the elders or
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  Speaker 2: pastors and deacons of the church should show a special
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  Speaker 2: jealousy to protect the women of the church. And I'm
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  Speaker 2: thinking especially of single women and widows, protect them from
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  Speaker 2: being taken advantage of through the unjust practices of others.
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  Speaker 2: And I'm thinking of two kinds of biblical responses that
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  Speaker 2: the church has been the leaders of the church should exercise.
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  Speaker 2: The first is the most immediate pressing emergency care so
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  Speaker 2: that if a person has been defrauded or abused, made
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  Speaker 2: homeless destitute, she received immediate shelter and protection from her church.
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  Speaker 2: The leaders of the church should take a special initiative
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  Speaker 2: in providing this kind of care. In the look of Acts,
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  Speaker 2: we see that no Christian was lacking in any basic
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  Speaker 2: need in the early Church, while the other Christians had plenty.
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  Speaker 2: And the other initiative is that the leaders of the
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  Speaker 2: church should step in to an unjust situation and seek
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  Speaker 2: to bring justice for those who have been wronged. They
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  Speaker 2: can do this directly by the intervention with those who
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  Speaker 2: have wronged, and where appropriate and where the laws require it,
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  Speaker 2: involving the civil authorities, which God himself as well ordain
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  Speaker 2: for this kind of protection. Involving them that kind of
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  Speaker 2: corporate counterpart to the individual's non retaliation is crucial. The
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  Speaker 2: individual bears witness to the mercies of Christ by non retaliation,
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  Speaker 2: and the church bears witness to the justice of Christ
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  Speaker 2: by standing up for the innocent. So I pray, Jemma,
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  Speaker 2: that God will glorify himself and his honor in fighting
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  Speaker 2: for you, and that your soul will be protected from
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  Speaker 2: the self destructive disease of bitterness, and that your enjoyment
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  Speaker 2: of the hope of great reward would be sweet, and
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  Speaker 2: that your prayer for your enemies would be effective, and
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  Speaker 2: that the witness of your life to Christ's grace would
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  Speaker 2: be powerful, and that you would find yourself protected and
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  Speaker 2: defended by a healthy church.
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  Speaker 1: Hey man, thank you, pastor John for those six responses.
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  Speaker 1: Each of them are very important. We're thinking about and
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  Speaker 1: speaking of dark pain. How do we respond when God
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  Speaker 1: takes from us a beloved spouse in death. It's one
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  Speaker 1: of the sharpest losses and darkest pains that we can
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  Speaker 1: face in this life. And it's up next time looking
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  Speaker 1: at a faithful man in ministry whose wife was taken
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  Speaker 1: from him. I'm Tony Rank. We'll see you on Thursday.