Good morning and welcome in. Today we’re going to take a look at a passage of scripture from the book of Romans but before we do that I wanted to ask you a question.
How many times in your life can you remember that someone did something wrong to you, so you decided to get back at them because of it? Somebody hurt you in some way so you decided to hurt them back in return.
For example, maybe you had a brother who took one of your favorite toys, threw it on the ground and broke it completely. The next morning when he was sleeping, you took his favorite toy and stomped on it to avenge what he had done to you.
To avenge yourself means to inflict harm in return for an injury or wrong done to oneself, or to harm or punish the person responsible for something bad done to you in order to achieve a fair situation.
As a Christian, the Lord Jesus does not want us to avenge the wrongs that are committed against us. He does not want us to retaliate or to return evil for evil. God sees everything, and He promises in the scriptures that he will repay and exact vengeance on behalf of His own children.
For example, this is what He did for the children of Israel who were in bondage in Egypt. It is God who took vengeance upon the hard heart of pharaoh on numerous occasions. God punished Pharaoh and his country by turning the water into blood. They had plagues of frogs, lice, flies, livestock pestilence, boils, hail, locusts and the killing of Egypt first born. Pharaoh finally came to the point that he released the Israelites. Even when they were trapped against the Red Sea, God fought for them once again, destroying Egypt’s military in the process. God fought their battles for them, just as He continues to do today. He fights against those who cause His own children to suffer. The battle truly belongs to the Lord Jesus.
Romans 12:19 – Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord.
To “give place” means to pass over or to withdraw. Wrath is vengeance or punishment. God wants us to refrain from inflicting punishment upon others who have wronged us.
Vengeance is the act of doing something to hurt someone because that person did something that hurt you or someone else. It’s retaliation against or punishment of someone for some kind of harm that they caused or wrongdoing that they did. It’s the infliction of punishment in return for a wrong committed, hence: retribution.
Rom 12:17 Recompense to no man evil for evil….
God is perfectly just and righteous and he sees everything that goes on in this world today. There is nothing hidden from his eyes. When people cause His followers to suffer, He will return suffering and tribulation into them.
2 Thessalonians 1:6 – Seeing it is a righteous thing with God to recompense tribulation to them that trouble you….
The suffering can happen in many different ways. Just like Pharaoh, it can result in plagues, disease, sickness and even death. When the children of the Lord cry out to Him day and night for justice, God is going to quickly fight the battle for them and punish those who rightly deserve it.
Luke 18. 7 And shall not God avenge his own elect, which cry day and night unto him, though he bear long with them?
8 I tell you that he will avenge them speedily……..
The battle is not ours to fight, God will fight it for us.
Jeremiah 20:11-13 – But the LORD is with me as a mighty terrible one: therefore my persecutors shall stumble, and they shall not prevail: they shall be greatly ashamed; for they shall not prosper: their everlasting confusion shall never be forgotten. But, O LORD of hosts, that triest the righteous, and seest the reins and the heart, let me see thy vengeance on them: for unto thee have I opened my cause. Sing unto the LORD, praise ye the LORD: for he hath delivered the soul of the poor from the hand of evildoers.
It will be the Lord Jesus who brings true justice to pass, here on Earth and in the world to come.
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 make haste.
Deuteronomy 32:43
Rejoice, O ye nations, [with] his people: for he will avenge the blood of his servants, and will render vengeance to his adversaries, and will be merciful unto his land, [and] to his people.
When we have to suffer at the wrongs that people commit towards us, the Bible teaches us to be strong because God will save us in due time. They will only find themselves fighting against the Almighty.
Isaiah 35:4 Say to them [that are] of a fearful heart, Be strong, fear not: behold, your God will come [with] vengeance, [even] God [with] a recompense; he will come and save you.
Heb 10:30-31 For we know him that hath said, Vengeance belongeth unto me, I will recompense, saith the Lord. And again, The Lord shall judge his people. It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.
Noah and his family were saved while the rest of the Earth was destroyed in the flood. Lot was delivered from Sodom and Gomorrah when God destroyed it with fire and brimstone. God punished Pharaoh for not heeding His Word and releasing the Israelites.
God has not changed because He is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow. His Justice is everlasting to everlasting and I guarantee you that He will avenge his elect because His Justice is not mocked.
Ezekiel 25:17
And I will execute great vengeance upon them with furious rebukes; and they shall know that I [am] the LORD, when I shall lay my vengeance upon them.
2 Thessalonians 1:8
In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ:
Like Pharaoh resisted , there was a man who was greatly resisting the Gospel that was being preached by the Apostle Paul. His name was Alexander the coppersmith. The Apostle didn’t avenge himself, but waited for God to reward the coppersmith according to his works.
Don’t avenge yourself, because vengeance belongs to God and He will plentifully reward the proud doer.
Watch, and wait on the Lord’s fury.
Nahum 1:2
God [is] jealous, and the LORD revengeth; the LORD revengeth, and [is] furious; the LORD will take vengeance on his adversaries, and he reserveth [wrath] for his enemies
Praise God for His justice.
Let’s think about those things for today, and Lord willing we will talk some more tomorrow. Till then, bye-bye everybody.❤️
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