In these two verses you have a deliverer and a deliverance. There had been a living person presented in the gospel which the Apostle Paul had preached to these Thessalonians, who had attracted their hearts; it was no question with them of giving up their idols, but they had another object which occupied and controlled them, even Jesus, who had delivered them from the wrath to come.
There is something which has come, and there is something coming. What has come? Salvation for the vilest! What is coming? Wrath! wrath, sure, certain, divine, and eternal, the wrath of God!
Paul says, in this tenth verse, “Which delivered us,” not delivered me, Paul, but us.
Who are the us of whom he speaks? Every single soul that trusts Jesus. It is not will deliver in the Day of Judgment, in the day of wrath, but every soul that trusts Jesus is delivered now.
Turn for a moment to the 36th chapter of Job, which speaks of this coming wrath. (Elihu really is a type of Christ,) and he says, “I have got to speak on God’s behalf.” There is where the evangelist conies out. Elihu speaks for God, and the evangelist speaks for God, and to whom? To men, for their souls’ eternal welfare, that they may listen, and be warned to flee from the coming wrath.
“But the hypocrites in heart heap up wrath.”
The hypocrite heaps up wrath! What a thought! But, you may ask, What is a hypocrite? A hypocrite is a person who does not look things in the face, who keeps up an appearance outwardly which is not quite a reality, and he heaps up wrath. “Because there is wrath, beware lest he take thee away with his stroke; then a great ransom cannot deliver thee.” Now there is a ransom that can deliver. You have heard of this blessed Jesus who has given Himself a ransom for all; you have heard the precious tidings that God, knowing your need, sent His own Son down to meet that need, to be the Saviour.
It is blessed tidings that Jesus has given Himself a ransom for all, there is no limitation, it is for all! Are you, dear reader, an unsaved sinner, are you a troubled, an anxious soul? To you I say, He gave Himself a ransom for all.
Jesus has gone to the treasury of God, and has deposited there a price that is more than sufficient to ransom every single soul that trusts His name, and He sends forth the tidings of this ransom. The moment then, the glad tidings come to you, what does God expect?
That you should bow down at once, accept them at once, trust Him at once.
You know you are a sinner! It is no use to try and escape the conviction that you have sinned! You know you have, and there are two consequences of sin: first there is death, and then there is judgment. You must be blessed under His favor, or crushed under His judgment; you must know His love, or taste His wrath.
“Because there is wrath,” beware oh careless, oh undecided soul! Do you seek to stop your ears now to the warning of judgment coming?
You will not be able to stop your ears when God speaks to you in the day of His wrath.
“Because there is wrath, beware lest he take thee away with his stroke.” One moment, and God might take you away. Perhaps you say, “I am young and have plenty of time before me.” Let me ask you. Have you a lease of your life? You know you have not! Before another sun rises upon this earth, you may be gone into eternity. God is saying to you now, Beware! “Beware lest he take thee away with his stroke.” Then, what then? “Then a great ransom cannot deliver thee.” No ransom can meet your case then. Could there be a greater ransom than the blood of Christ? “No,” you say. Well then, the more reason that you should bow down your soul now and get blessed by that Lord Jesus Christ while there is a ransom that can deliver you.
If you die in your sins you are out of the pale of Christ’s arm; His mercy cannot reach you there. If you ax to taste His grace, you must taste it now. When will He save you? Now! When will He bring you to God? Now! You say, “When I die He’ll be merciful.” My friend, when you die you will be damned! It is now He will be merciful, now He will save you. “Now is the accepted time, now is the day of salvation.”
The devil whispers to you, “There is no such hurry, put it off.” The devil too would tell you, no doubt, “It is quite true there is wrath coming, quite true God is going to judge the world, quite true you must be a Christian or come under judgment,” but he always finishes off his sermons with this, “you need not be in a hurry about it, put it off.”
Satan puts himself in company with scripture ofttimes to suit his own purpose. He will tell you that “You are a sinner, and it is quite true the blood of Christ is the only way of salvation,” but then he adds, “there is plenty of time, you must think about it, you must have time for reflection, you cannot get it all at once.” That is Satan’s most successful trap nowadays; he would give you time to think about it, time for reflection, and you put it off, and die in your sins and are damned, and there is plenty of time for reflection then.
Oh my unsaved reader, God says to you, Beware! you who are trifling with your soul’s salvation, you who are tampering with your lusts, wanting to give the rein to them for a while longer, wanting to keep the pleasures of this life, the pleasures of sin, “beware lest he take thee away with his stroke, then a great ransom cannot deliver thee.”
Why will there be no great enough ransom then to deliver a soul? Because the greatest of all prices has been paid already, and you have rejected it, and there is none other, none greater.
Do you still say “I will think about it, I will take a little time?” “Beware lest he take thee away.” One word from God and that silver cord of life is forever snapped; one word from God and that heart of yours throbbing high with hope now, ceases to beat, and you have gone from time into eternity forever.
The words of the poet are true, “All men think all men mortal but themselves.” Have you not often taken up a newspaper, and seen among the list of deaths the name of someone whom you have known? And you have said, “Poor fellow, how sudden!” but you have not thought that tomorrow your name might be in the paper too, and someone else might be saying the same words about you.
Again I warn you, “Beware lest he take thee,” unpardoned, unblessed, unrepentant, unsaved, unconverted sinner, thee! “Then a great ransom cannot deliver thee.” Oh! what folly to risk thy soul, what folly!
Your folly reminds me of an account I heard the other day of a vessel coming up channel.
In some way she got out of her course, and, a storm rising, the wind drove her on to a reef of rocks, where for a while she stuck fast. The crew, however, succeeded in getting her off the rocks, and she proceeded on her way without, as they thought, having sustained any very serious damage. But they were mistaken in their thought, they soon found that the vessel had sprung a leak, and the ever-increasing severity of the storm made their danger imminent. The captain hoisted signals of distress, and sought to lighten the vessel, but amongst the valuable cargo was a great quantity of spirits; the crew got at the spirits, the captain likewise partook freely, and after doing so, the pumps were neglected and the vessel began to fill rapidly.
There remained still, however, a hope of safety for that ill-fated crew. The signals of distress had been seen from the shore, and the lifeboat put out to their relief. But as the lifeboat drew near the sinking vessel, the captain, maddened by the effects of drink, came to the side and swore he would shoot the first man who left the ship, and would fire on the lifeboat if she attempted to come alongside.
“Madman,” you say! Yes, madman he certainly was, but he stuck to his purpose. Again the men in the lifeboat hailed; “You are sinking, let us save you.” Above the wind and storm came the captain’s answer back, “My ship is a good one, she has weathered many a storm and she will weather this one, we will not desert her, we do not want your help.” “You are filling fast,” shouted the men from the lifeboat. “The vessel is right enough,” shouted the intoxicated captain, and with his pistol drove the lifeboat off. What was the result?
The storm raged on, the lifeboat put back to shore, the night wore away, and when morning broke what was to be seen? No vessel, struggling and fighting with the tempest, but pieces of a wreck floating here and there, and on the shore lifeless corpses thrown up by the waves, the witnesses of the folly of those who had perished because they would not accept deliverance.
You say, “They were fools.” I agree with you, but is your folly less than was theirs?
God offers you pardon, blessing, salvation, eternal life now, and you put them all from you; you do not want to be saved yet; is not this greater madness than theirs, for your danger is imminent and eternal.
Awake, my dear friend— “Because there is wrath.” You may say, “I do not believe it!”
Did the folly of the captain make the storm less violent, or their danger less great? No! no! and your disbelief does not make the word of God less true. There is wrath, there is danger, and you had better turn to Jesus now, you had better get the salvation of your soul now.
Is there judgment coming? Yes! Will it overtake the Christian? No! because it overtook Christ instead of him, and He bore it all, so that the apostle can say, “Who hath delivered us from the wrath to come.”
Faith in Christ Jesus is what God calls you to have, as we get in Col. 1:44Since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus, and of the love which ye have to all the saints, (Colossians 1:4). “Since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus.” You must have simple faith in Jesus. What is the next thing?
“Giving thanks unto the Father which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light; who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son; In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins.” It is not, “who will deliver us,” but who “hath delivered us.” Not only too is the believing soul delivered from the coming wrath of God, but he is delivered now from Satan’s power. What does God do the moment a soul trusts Jesus? Why, He takes him out of Satan’s kingdom and puts him into the kingdom of His dear Son; takes him out of death and puts him into life; takes him out of darkness and puts him into light.
What have we got now? “In whom, (Christ) we have redemption;” the ransom is paid, the prisoner is set free. Suppose you had a slave, and put 5000 dollars on that slave, and I go and pay that down; why do I pay it? it is not that I want to keep slaves, but I want to turn that slave into a free man. Satan’s slaves become God’s free men. You are no longer Satan’s slave, you are bought with a price, you are God’s free man.
“And may we go and do as we like?” You ask. Surely you would like to please the one who has bought you with such a price, the one who has done all this for you!
What do you do for a friend you love on earth? Why, you like to please him! That is it! The person I love I like to please.
Christ has brought me out of darkness into light, and I know where I am going and what is before me. The man who is in the dark, does not see where he is going, for Satan never lets his people see where they are going, lest they should be warned, discover their danger, and turn back, but when a man is in the light, he knows where he is going and stumbles not.
“In whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.” We have it, not, hope we shall have it. This is what the sinner gets who believes in the Lord Jesus Christ. “Blessed are they who have not seen, and yet have believed.”
If you have trusted Jesus, the deliverer, you can go and thank your Father that you have the knowledge of redemption, the company of Jesus, the forgiveness of all your sins, eternal life, and an inheritance above.
Are you halting still, still undecided? To you then I say, “Beware lest he take thee away with his stroke, then a great ransom cannot deliver thee.” Let that ransom deliver you now. Why let 1878 run out and leave you still undelivered? Be persuaded! Seeing that wrath is coming, turn now to Jesus, trust Him simply, cast yourself upon Him unreservedly, and then you, like Paul, will be able to happily speak of Him as “Jesus, who delivered us from the wrath to come.” God grant it to you my reader, for His Son’s sake.—Amen
W. T. P. W.