I read the whole of Romans 12. Romans 12. I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, if you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service, and be not conformed to this world, but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith. For as we have many members in one body, and all members have not the same office, so we, being many, are one body in Christ, and everyone members one of another. Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, whether prophecy, let us prophesy according to the proportion of faith, or ministry, that is service, Let us wait on our ministering, or he that teacheth on teaching, or he that exhorteth on exhortation. He that giveth, let him do it with simplicity, or singleness of mind, purity of motive. He that ruleth with diligence, he that showeth mercy with cheerfulness. Let love be without dissimulation, and bore that which is evil, cleave to that which is good. Be kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly love, in honour preferring one another, not slothful in business, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord. Rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation, continuing instant in prayer, distributing to the necessity of saints, given to hospitality. Bless them which persecute you, bless and curse not. Rejoice with them that do rejoice, and weep with them that weep. Be of the same mind one toward another. Mind not high things, but condescend to men of low estate. Be not wise in your own conceits. 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 so doing, thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head. Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good. Amen. Let's read again our text, verse 19. Beloved, Romans 12 is a strategic chapter in the Bible. comes after Scripture's fullest, most detailed and systematic treatment of the Gospel of Grace. These chapters cover man's sin and total depravity, justification by faith alone, sanctification by the Spirit, assurance, double predestination, election and reprobation, preaching, Romans 10, how God saves elect Jews and Gentiles through the ages in Romans 11. And then comes Romans 12, which begins, I beseech you therefore, that is in the light of everything you've read and all these great gospel truths, I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God of which you've been reading This is how you live. Romans 12. Romans 12 sets forth four major areas of godliness. In short, if you want a summary chapter which teaches the Christian life, gospel living, Romans 12 is that chapter. And notice these four sections. The first two verses, the first component, deals with the Christian life in terms of the two parts of our humanity. What is the Christian to do with his or her body? To present it to God continually as a living sacrifice. That's the Christian life. What are we to do with our minds? Renew them by scripture alone. so that we know what is God's good, acceptable, and perfect will. The first two verses. The second component of the gospel life deals with our role in Christ's church. Verses three through eight. Every Christian must know himself as a member of Christ's body. This is a vital part of your self-identity. The world speaks a load of utter rubbish regarding identity. Here's your identity. I'm a part of the body of Christ. Know that about yourself, and then use all of your gifts to serve that body. There's Christian living. Not psychobabble, clear biblical principles. I'm body and soul, use them for the Lord, use them in the church with all my gifts. The third section of this epistle, it's chapter 12, speaks of various virtuous behaviors, verses 9 through 16, setting forth the Christian's attitudes and activities, his relationships and his reactions. That's what it is to be a Christian. Read those verses, take them to heart. And then fourth and finally, getting nearer to our text, we have our response to those who wrong us, verses 17 through 21. Five verses, that's quite a lot, on the Christian life gospel living that deal with non-retaliation, no vengeance. I found that surprising when I preached through this book. I hadn't thought much about vengeance before. Maybe you haven't either. And in this great chapter on the Christian life, a quarter of it is given to this theme. That must mean that it's important. That it's something that the people of God, or at least some of us, or at least all of us some of the time, have to struggle with. This subject, vengeance, is as old as fallen humanity. It's there on the opening pages of the Bible in Genesis 4 with Cain's killing Abel. That was revenge. How dare God accept his sacrifice and not mine? I'm going to pay him back. And yet there are many forms of vengeance which are also particularly relatively new, at least to us. right up to date in our Western world, Islamic honor killings. That's about vengeance. Or revenge pornography. I'm not going to explain what that is. That's vengeance. That's payback. The subject of vengeance is a theme in art and in literature all read books that deal with vengeance. It's a theme all around the world and in all ages. Let me quote you a couple of proverbs on vengeance. The first one you will know. Vengeance is sweet. Maybe, maybe it is sweet, but it's a sinful sweetness. And God punishes vengeance bitterly. Here's another proverb, probably not familiar to you. Quote, before you embark on a journey of revenge, dig two graves. One of them is for yourself. The point of the proverb is you'd better not embark on a journey of revenge. That's a true proverb. There's wisdom in that one. And there are many people who have had their lives destroyed by taking vengeance. Maybe you know a few of them, including Christians who have ruined their lives. And we ought to take warning from that. Our subject tonight is vengeance. First, it's crucial prohibition And second, it's proper place, because there is a place for vengeance. It's prohibited, and yet it has a place. We'll see that in due time. If we want a simple word that explains vengeance, we could do perhaps no better than the word payback. Vengeance is paying back in kind. I'm going to develop that with three points. Vengeance, first of all, presupposes that we have been wronged. Someone has done ill to us or to our spouse, our children, our family, or our friends, or we think we have been wronged when actually we haven't. Herodias believed wrongly that John the Baptist had done her ill. He rebuked her for her adultery and incest. And so she sought to pay him back. But we know that John actually witnessed to the truth, hoping that he may correct her. Second, we move from this presupposition of vengeance that we've been wronged or think we have to the party who exercises vengeance. There are divinely authorized parties who do have the right of judgment. Romans 13 verses 1 through 7 is going to deal with the state. God gives authority to the state to punish evildoers. Parents have the God-given right to correct their children. When we're dealing with vengeance, we're speaking of a private party without the God-given right to punish. You may remember Absalom's murder of Amnon because Amnon raped Absalom's sister Tamar. That was vengeance. Absalom had no right as a private individual to do this. If he wanted punitive justice for his sister Tamar, he should have brought it to the law courts. Vengeance, we've been wronged. And then we, as a private party, without proper authority, take it into our own hands. Which brings us to the third element in vengeance. It's the motive. It's done out of spite or to gain inner satisfaction. That's what revenge pornography is about, spite. Two people fornicate, do all sorts of stupid things in the world. It's payback, an evil inclination in the heart. When Herodias looked gleefully at John the Baptist's severed head on the platter, she was dealing with spite. And related to that is the issue of inner satisfaction. That'll sort him out. Or I got even with her. He got what he deserved. That's the language of spite. and wicked satisfaction that bespeaks vengeance. Which indicates that there is a certain measure of sinful pleasure in vengeance as reflected in the proverb, vengeance is sweet, which is what the devil tells us. Vengeance then is payback. It presupposes we've been wronged or we think we have. that is performed by a private party without the right to do it, and that is even, in a twisted sense, enjoyed. And vengeance appeals to man's sinful flesh and then dresses itself up as great virtue. And we ought to be aware of this, perhaps especially men, because men Stronger men, outdoor men, men's men, are the ones perhaps especially given to this vice. Vengeance parades as justice. He did it first, Mom. So I'm perfectly justified in punching him back. It's an amazing sense of justice that our children have. Here's another one. If I hadn't sorted her out, she'd only have gone and done it again. You see, it's justice, justice to take vengeance. There's no way that he could be allowed to get away with it, so I took it upon myself to straighten him out. Here's another one. After what I did to her, she'll not do that again in a hurry. Vengeance parades as justice in that it seems or appears to the deceived avenging one to be putting things to right. And that would have been in part Absalom's defense. He raped my sister. Two years have gone by. Somebody had to deal with him justly and it was me. This is in part two, the argument of terrorists. We see them as murderers, but they portray themselves as agents of justice and freedom fighters. Vengeance dresses up not only as justice, but also honor. My honor. He damaged my dignity, my reputation. I lost face. I'll make him pay for it. The honor of my wife was involved. Look what he did to my daughter. How much pain has he caused to my family? It's the honorable thing to sort him out. This is even found in the name honor killings or honor beatings. Vengeance portraying itself as honorable. Justice, honor. And thirdly, vengeance portrays itself as appropriate. Appropriate in terms of who. Well, there was nobody else willing or able to do it, so I'll have to sort it out. If I go through the lawful channels to deal with this problem, it will take ages. Therefore, I personally can sort out this problem a whole lot quicker. If something's been done to me and I think that the state will take too long to address it or that the state will not punish it enough, well, then I reckon to myself that I could measure out a more fitting, a more appropriate, a more severe punishment, and I'll do it. So understanding what vengeance is and its rationale, we come now to the words of our text. Listen to the prohibition. Avenge not yourselves. Avenge, revenge, essentially the same thing. Do not take vengeance because it is forbidden by God, because it is sinful, and because it is terribly destructive. It destroys other people and it will destroy yourself and your loved ones too and probably in ways you would never have thought of and ways that you certainly did not think of before and during your taking of vengeance. Because vengeance typically sets off a whole chain of wretched events. This prohibition comes prefaced with the tender address, dearly beloved. Dearly beloved. Avenge not yourselves. Beloved, and especially now dearly beloved, I dare say, is even warmer and more tender than brother. Dearly beloved. dearly beloved of me, Paul, I being the one who panned this prohibition by the inspiration of God, because you're dearly beloved of him, eternally beloved, eternally loved of God in Jesus Christ. So when I, this is what the Spirit is saying of the apostle, When I forbid you to take vengeance, I'm not doing this out of hatred for you, but out of love. It's the love of God that goes with this prohibition, and the love of the divine messenger who seeks your good. Avenge not yourselves, ever. And if you ask, how are we to obey this prohibition, Verse 17 gives us some pointers. Recompense to no man evil for evil, another way of saying don't take vengeance, and then this, provide things honest in the sight of all men. The word provide means literally, first of all, think, think. And it means secondly, think before. There is some wisdom to the count to ten that even the world speaks of. Think before you act. Don't act hastily or out of anger. Control it by the Holy Spirit. Instead, be long-suffering and forbearing so that you do not take revenge. Pray as you think before when you're provoked. for grace and for wisdom. Think before about scripture like tonight's text. Recall the context, Romans 12, Christian living, which flows out of and which only flows out of the gospel of grace in Romans 1 through 11, which we believe and hold dear. Think of vengeance in terms of the major components of the chapter. We heard them at the start of the sermon. If you can take vengeance and yet present your body to God as a living sacrifice, you have his full permission to do so, but you can't. Our minds are to be renewed, and vengeance is certainly not the activity of a renewed mind. So you can't use your body or your mind to take vengeance. There's another way of prohibiting it. Romans 12 verse 2 says that we must renew our mind to know the good, acceptable, and perfect will of God. And here it is, avenge not yourselves. And you say, well, everybody around me tells me that I'm not a man if I don't hit him back. And if I don't do to his house what he just did to mine. Romans 12 verse 2 says, be not conformed to the world. but be ye transformed and changed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may know what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God. Here's another way of looking at it. If I take vengeance, would that be a good way to show that I live as a member of Christ's body, the church? Now we've moved to verses three through eight. Would exercising vengeance be my life as a Christian using my gifts for the upbuilding of the congregation? Or would I instead be playing the part of a foolish hothead and bringing reproach upon the congregation of Jesus Christ? Verse 9 says, let love be without dissimulation or hypocrisy. Treat your neighbor with spite and then quote that verse to him. Here I am, a good Christian. I'm letting my love be without hypocrisy. Do you feel the love? No, it doesn't work, does it? Verse 11 says, serving the Lord. That's our calling. We don't serve the Lord when we avenge ourselves. Verse 12 says, rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation, continuing instant in prayer. You can't do that, filled with wrath, taking vengeance. Verse 14 says, bless them which persecute you. That rules out vengeance too. Bless and curse not in case you miss the first command. Verse 17, recompense to no man evil for evil, even if he's the biggest sicker and most irritating person in the world. Recompense to no man, evil for evil. Think before about doing things honest in the sight of all men. Verse 18, if it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men. That too rules out vengeance. And even the more subtle, knife-in-the-back sort of vengeance. Word of spite, you speak ill of someone viciously, that too, that's ruled out. And if someone, after hearing this, entered church with a vengeful spirit and is still thinking of carrying out this twisted behavior, I trust there's nobody here like this, then you ought to know that you're going to break a whole host of scriptures and trample them into the dust. I want to persuade you not to do this, never to do this. This is completely forbidden, like committing fornication or killing. It's outlawed forever in your heart and mind. And now our text gives especially one powerful argument against taking vengeance. And it is probably an argument that you would never have thought of. The Bible has a way of doing that. It comes up with really good arguments that wouldn't have occurred to us. Verse 19 reads, Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, we've looked at that, but rather give place unto wrath. The first question is, whose wrath is it speaking of? Give place onto our wrath? Does that mean we're to sort of allow our wrath to dissipate? If that idea is a good one, it still doesn't fit with the idea of the Greek word place here. It's not dealing with our wrath. When it says give place onto wrath, it's not saying give place onto your enemy's wrath either. I don't even, haven't even been able to come up with anything coherent, any way of making sense of that view at all. It can't be saying give place to the state's wrath either, because that subject only begins with chapter 13, verse 1. The wrath in view in our text is God's wrath. It is that, not merely by process of elimination, ruling out all the other hypothetical possibilities, but also for other solid reasons. In the Bible, for instance, When you have the word wrath prefixed by the article the, the wrath, that's saying something definite. And it's a reference unless specifically told otherwise in the context to the wrath of the Almighty. But it's even clearer on this because verse 19 continues, give place unto wrath that is God's wrath, for it is written, vengeance is mine. I will repay, saith the Lord. And the idea here is that we give the place of wrath and the vengeance which comes out of wrath, we give that place of wrath wholly over to God. We give him full scope to work out his own ways and purposes. We allow him all the room that he needs. We don't get in the way, because that's what we're doing, and we take vengeance. We step aside and say, Lord, the wrath here, the vengeance is wholly thine. That's your work. It belongs to you. And I'm backing away from it. It's not my calling. Have it. It's all thine, Lord. Vengeance is mine. In the Bible, we are told of various things that especially belong to God. It's his own peculiar possession. We sang Psalm 24 earlier. All the earth is mine, says the Lord. That refers to all the animals too, because we sang in Psalm 50, every beast of the forest is mine, and the cattle upon a thousand hills. All of the precious metals on the world don't belong to the Federal Bank. The silver is mine, the gold is mine. Haggai 2. Regarding the land of Canaan in Leviticus 25, the Lord says, the land is mine. You may even remember the words of Psalm 60 and Psalm 108 regarding the various tribal allotments within Canaan. Gilead is mine. Manasseh is mine. And God says of his people in Isaiah 43 verse 1, Thou art mine. That's the first Lord's Day of our Heidelberg Catechism. I don't belong to myself, but to my faithful Savior, Jesus Christ. Even real, infinite understanding, counsel is mine, and sound wisdom, says the Lord in Proverbs 8. And our text mentions another thing that is peculiarly, distinctively, and totally God's. Vengeance. Vengeance is mine. I will repay, saith the Lord. This peculiar divine prerogative so that the only one allowed to take vengeance is God. Vengeance belongs to Him. Vengeance doesn't belong to us. Even if we're six foot three, even if we're built with muscles that look like bricks, even if we've been annoyed repeatedly by someone incredibly irritating, even if everyone would clap if we give him what we think he deserves, it doesn't actually belong to us to do this. It's stealing. It's breaking the eighth commandment. It's stealing from God. Vengeance is theft. Grabbing the rights of the most high. It's always important to talk about God's rights because all we hear about in our depressing humanistic age is man's rights. Man has a right to this and a right to the other. God's rights. Here's one right out of many that he claims for himself, vengeance. It's mine. I will repay. So in this area too, the answer to vengeance is actually faith. Faith is the answer. Faith is the answer to everything or almost everything. It's always the trial of our faith. And our faith is tested when we're angry and tempted to pay someone back in kind. It's faith, you see, in the absolute sovereignty of God. I believe, says the Christian, that vengeance belongs to God. He is the king ruling over all things. He claims this is his right. And I'm not a weakling and I'm not a chicken. I'm a believer to leave it with him. It's faith also with regard to God's justice, not ours. Surely, as Calvinists and Reformed believers, we accept joyfully the absolute sovereignty of God with respect to His justice to punish whom He wills in righteousness, to punish appropriately, to punish in His good time, and not ours, surely we have faith in the wisdom of God who adopts all things in the very best way and to the highest end, His own glory, in punishing the impenitent wicked appropriately in His good time and the way He chooses. Surely, too, we have faith in the power of Almighty God. so that nobody will ever escape, even though it might look like they do for a time, and that no one will be able to fight back against Him. And this true Christian faith wrought in us by the Holy Spirit that believes in God's most sovereign, most just, most wise, and most powerful retribution and vengeance We believe that he does this in Providence, that he catches the wise in their own craftiness, that he did this with Absalom who got caught one day in the tree by his head, that he did this with Haman whose head was caught in the noose of the gallows that he'd built for Mordecai, that vengeance was what God did in Judas, and that God, the God of vengeance, has ways to punish, even in this world, wicked people by causing them to smart awfully in their conscience so that they can't sleep at night, by taking away their health as in a moment, by affecting their families, by giving them over to spiritual blindness, by destroying their business, by all sorts of accidents. Vengeance is mine, I will repay, give place to wrath. God deals with that in time. And even if our experience in viewing the ungodly And even the ungodly who've done wicked things to us is that of Asaph in the opening verses of Psalm 73, so that we cannot tell in a single way in which God took vengeance upon them in this life. We believe that God will meet out the appropriate punishment on the last day. And then every man will have praise of God who didn't show vengeance. And the Lord will shine his light on us and say, well done, good and faithful servant. You weren't a coward, you gave place to wrath. You honored me in not taking vengeance. And then the Christian thinks also of the really, really long game. There is a hell. There is a hell for those who do not repent of their sins and who live in wrath and enmity and who retaliate. Eternal, never-ending agony under the wrath of God forever. And anything that we could do to the people who annoy us, slash their tires, slander them, steal their favorite possession, smash their toys, anything that we could do, the worst that we could do, is only child's play. What can we do? Back away, give place to wrath, vengeance is mine. And then if you think about what waits them in everlasting hell, you actually feel sorry for them. That's an awful punishment. I don't need to do anything at all, but pray for that person that maybe God will have mercy. And if God is going to have mercy, the best way to do that, along with our prayers, is not to retaliate. the amazing work of grace whereby the Christian yields, whereby the Christian acts the way Christ tells us in his word. This victorious faith brings repose and peace to the wronged child of God. I believe in God, the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth, that he will punish the impenitent wicked, certainly, appropriately. in His good time. Therefore, I can rest in this. And I can worship Him. And I will wait. And I won't take vengeance, for not only is it forbidden, I don't need to do it. God will do it. He will deal with it in a far better way and make a much better job of it than I ever could. Even by lying in bed thinking of the most delicious ways of getting Him. If He's going to take care of it, I don't need to help Him. I don't need to help Him as much as I didn't need to help Him when He created the world. And I didn't need to help Jesus Christ die on the cross for my sins. Even so, I don't need to help God with His vengeance. Give, please, back away. This teaching in Romans 12, verse 19, our text, has always been the faith and calling of the church of God. Here's an example even from the book of Genesis. Father Jacob has died. The 10 sons are scared. Maybe now, with father dead, Joseph is going to take vengeance upon us. And what did he say? He had the same faith as Paul in our text. Am I in the place of God? Give place unto wrath, vengeance is mine. It's not my place. Joseph understood that. That's why he wasn't bitter against his brothers. Here's Leviticus 19 verse 18. Thou shalt not avenge or take vengeance, nor bear any grudge against the children of thy people, a more subtle way of taking vengeance. Get bitter in your heart and harbor it. Don't do that. But thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. I am the Lord, that is, believe in me, Jehovah, the sovereign God, and don't take vengeance. The same argument as that in our text. And then there's Deuteronomy 32, the great song of Moses, which Paul actually is quoting in our text. For he writes, for it is written in Deuteronomy 32, vengeance is mine. I will repay, saith the Lord. Here's Deuteronomy 32, verse 35. To me belongeth vengeance and recompense. And then he brings up, says our Lord, the time aspect. Their foot shall slide in due time. I'll deal with it when I will. For the day of their calamity is at hand, and the things that shall come upon them make haste. Leave it with me." This passage is even dealing with professing church members who are hypocrites and who apostatize. For the next verse continues, for the Lord shall judge his people. just as we sang in Psalm 50. This chapter continues, God speaking, verse 40. I lift up my hand to heaven and say, I live forever. If I wet my glittering sword and mine hand take hold on vengeance, I will render vengeance to mine enemies and will reward them that hate me. We don't have to do anything. Can you compare with his sword? I will make mine arrows drunk with blood and my sword shall devour flesh and with the blood of the slain and of the captives from the beginning of revenge is upon the enemy. And the next verse speaks of this in terms of our salvation. Rejoice, O ye nations, with his people. Rejoice, O Gentiles. God's taking vengeance on apostate Israel means, as Romans 11 explains, that he turns to the nations and brings us in to the covenant of grace. This is the thinking which kept holy David from killing Saul especially on two occasions, this truth about vengeance taught in our text, though he was very badly provoked. David said to Saul in 1 Samuel 24, the Lord judged between me and thee, and the Lord avenged me of thee, but mine hand shall not be upon thee. It's not up to me. The Lord takes vengeance. It's his place, his prerogative. And here we have the Apostle Paul dealing with this issue of vengeance in 2 Timothy 4 verse 14. Some of the last canonical words penned by the Apostle before his martyrdom. Alexander the coppersmith did me much evil. And I'll add here, I didn't take vengeance upon him. The Lord reward him according to his works. And finally, I want to read some verses from 1 Peter 2. Words penned by Peter, the very disciple who was most inclined to vengeance. Think of his cutting off the servant of the high priest's ear. 1 Peter 2, verse 21, speaking of suffering, the suffering of Christians. For even hereunto were ye called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example that we should follow his steps, who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth. And then we look at verse 23. How badly was he treated? How unjustly? And he was sinless. He didn't merit in any shape or form. How nasty and wicked. How much pain did they inflict upon him, his enemies? And then we read, who, regarding to Jesus, when he was reviled, when they said wicked things to him, he reviled not again. When he suffered, he threatened not, but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously. Faith, he believed that God would vindicate him. Verse 24 goes on to say, who his own self bear our sins in his own body on the tree, so that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness by whose stripes ye were healed. And these verses teach us that our salvation comes only in the way of Jesus Christ not taking vengeance. He didn't respond in kind. He didn't retaliate. And in this way, he kept himself sinless and was the spotless Lamb of God to whom our sins were imputed and the one who bore away our iniquities on the tree and obtained for us everlasting salvation. Our forgiveness and place in heaven lies in his virtuous non-taking vengeance. And our sins, because we have all, we've all avenged ourselves, at one time or another, even if it's just when we were children, or when we lost our temper, it's all forgiven because the shepherd, the good shepherd of the sheep, gave place to wrath, committed himself to God in faith. And our calling, therefore, is to believe, to believe, to trust in Jesus for the forgiveness of all iniquities. And he's gracious. And therefore, not to avenge ourselves. Amen. Let us pray. Our Father in heaven, blessed to us thy word, help us to control our tempers. Remind us when we are severely provoked that it takes more spiritual strength to control our own spirits, to believe, to give place unto wrath, to acknowledge it to be thy divine prerogative. than it takes power to capture a city or a country or to conquer the whole world. Grant us this grace and forgive our iniquities for the sake of Jesus Christ, thy son. Amen.