Do we really believe the wrath of God is coming?

As you think about what we are actually saved from and why we share the gospel with others John Piper has some interesting thoughts on the coming wrath of God:

"Do We Really Believe the Wrath of God Is Coming? 

A question that presses itself on me here is this: is one of the reasons that we make as little effort as we do in winning others the fact that we don't believe the wrath of God is coming? For many today the good news of Jesus Christ is conceived almost entirely as another strategy to handle psychological needs—depression, grief, abandonment, loneliness, anger, low self-esteem, fear, etc. And the gospel does have an impact on all those things. But that is not what makes it the gospel. If the gospel did not touch any of those things in this life (which is conceivable), it would still be unspeakably good news. Do you believe that?

What makes the gospel good news is that I am already acquitted in the courtroom of heaven. There is no condemnation to those in Christ Jesus. The sentence of infinite, holy wrath has been revoked in my case. Jesus absorbed it for me. Therefore, as 1 Thessalonians 5:9 says, "God has not destined us for wrath, but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ."

But O what a difference there is for those who do not embrace the gospel! Romans 2:5 says, "Because of your stubbornness and unrepentant heart you are storing up wrath for yourself in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God." I wonder if we believe this. Very little in our culture helps us believe this. It is a massive worldview change from what most people think. There is coming a day of wrath and righteous judgment of God. Everyone, Paul says, will give an account of himself to God (Romans 14:12). And there are only two verdicts and two sentences: guilty or not guilty; and eternal life or eternal wrath and punishment (Matthew 25:46).

If this is a minor part of your thought world, if you don't think about this very much, then it will be hard for you to feel the sense of sorrow and urgency that Paul felt for the lost people around him. What we need to do is ponder the wrath of God that is coming—to meditate, think about, reflect on, mull over, turn over in our minds, and dwell on—the reality of the wrath of God. Until this figures as largely in our worldview as it did for Paul, we will not have the passion for evangelism that he had.

To help us do this I have written the STAR article this week about the wrath of God and included numerous texts about it. We need to memorize some of these and expose our minds to them as often as we are exposed to the messages of the media that the big things in life are money and position and coolness. One of the biggest realities in the universe is the wrath of God, and it is coming on all those who do not trust in Jesus, "who delivers us from the wrath to come.""