The Wrath of God - Pastor Daniel Batarseh (Ephesians Series)

Join me in standing as we read God's word in the book of Ephesians chapter five, beginning in verse five. Ephesians five verse five, the word of the living God. For you may be sure of this, that everyone who is sexually immoral or impure or who is covetous, that is an idolater, has no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God. Let no one deceive you with empty words. For because of these things, the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience.

Pray with me. Lord, we pray that you would take these words for the saints in this house and sanctify us. But Lord, at the same time, we pray that you would take these words for the sinner and save them. We pray that your holy spirit would make the eternal so real and that we would be sobered by the reality of what is to come. We begin by saying thank you for the cross.

We ask, Lord, that you would lead us into truth, into deeper truth of what that cross means for us. In the precious name of Jesus, we pray. Amen. You may be seated. Last Friday, we discussed the amazing love of God.

The love of God expressed through his desire to dwell and be amongst his people. And that was expressed through the tabernacle in the Old Testament, how god pursues man, how the purpose of his deliverance is to bring us into a relationship with him, and we saw that through the ark of the covenant. But the tabernacle is not the only thing that expresses God's desire to be with us. There are so many facets, so many dimensions to the love of God. First John three one tells us, see what kind of love the father has given to us that we should be called children of God.

And so we are. Ephesians five twenty five tells us, husband, love your wives as Christ loves the church. John fifteen thirteen, Greater love has no one than this, that one should lay down his life for his friends. And so his love is expressed as a father. His love is demonstrated as a bridegroom towards his bride, and his love is shown as a friend who is willing to lay down his life for his friends.

So zealous is his love. So zealous is the love of Christ that it provoked Christ, according to Ephesians five one, to give himself up for us. See, we're familiar with John three sixteen. For God so loved the world that he gave his only son. But Ephesians five one tells us that the son, Christ, gave himself up.

So in that triune Godhead that we worship, there was a total agreement, three persons yet one agreeing that in love, that Christ would give himself up for us willingly, and the father sending him. It was the very motive of the godhead for the mission of the salvation of mankind. But as overwhelming as overwhelming as the love of Christ is to the soul that truly meditates upon it, there is one vital truth that cannot be ignored in relationship to it. This rule actually anchors us from allowing our own imagination of the love of God to wander into areas and theories and philosophies that do not belong to the love of God. It anchors us.

In fact, the masses the masses, because of their abandonment of this one rule, have found themselves not only believing, but preaching a love of God that is not found in the Bible. And so it is vital for us to understand this truth, lest we pervert something that is so beautiful, the love of God. What is that truth? What is that vital element that cannot be divorced from the love of God? It is this, that as intense as intense and as overwhelming as the love of Christ is, it will never ever extinguish the realities of his other attributes.

No matter how intense and ferocious the love of Christ is, It will never extinguish the realities of the other attributes of God. The love of Christ is blazing. It is brilliant. It is overwhelming. Yes.

But it should never ever blind you or eclipse the other elements that describe the character of God. If you find yourself in a place in which you are so consumed with the idea of God's love that it blinds you from the other elements that describe his character, you are in danger. You are in danger. God is just as much judge as he is father. God and his holiness is just as powerful as his love is.

And you and I must consider the warnings of God just as much as we do his blessings. That's why Paul, who penned that glorious letter, the book of Romans, concerning our faith, himself said in Romans eleven twenty two, note, believers, note then the kindness just the kindness? Note then the kindness of God? No. Note then the kindness and the severity of God.

Don't just note the kindness of God, believers, and don't just note his severity. Balance yourself by understanding that he is a kind God, but he is also a consuming fire. Note then the kindness and the severity of God. The cross itself, which is the emblem of God's love for us, is not limited to just his love. The cross itself is the demonstration of God's love, but a holy love, A love in which God did not compromise his justice in demonstrating.

The cross, yes, is the love of God, but you better understand it's the wisdom of God. It is where God's justice and wrath meets his mercy and love. And so in the same breath, the same breath that we sing with, and we acknowledge and preach to the world, saying, see the love of Christ for humanity. We must also in the very same breath say, behold how this God abhors the sins of mankind. You cannot separate those truths.

Paul here, in his ongoing appeal to Christians as we've been going through Ephesians, in his ongoing appeal to persuade believers to live in accordance with the gospel of Jesus Christ, urges them as believers not to participate in the sins that plague this world. In doing so, he reminds them in the verses that we just read. He reminds them even in the prior verses, not just how God feels about sin, but he also now comes to a place of how one day God will deal with man's sins. And he comes to believers and he says, for you may be sure of this, you may be sure of this, that everyone who is sexually immoral or impure, who is covetous, that is an idolater has no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God. Why is Paul telling this to believers?

Why is he writing this warning? Why why is he sounding the alarm amongst Christians, in which he just explained in the first three chapters of the fact that they are in, and they are a part of the kingdom of God, and they have been grafted all those wonderful truths. Well, it's because just like the Israelites had a mixed multitude in their midst, so it is with the church of Jesus Christ. And Paul here, by giving this warning, is doing so with the intention to cause some to examine themselves and to evaluate their own hearts, and specifically, if there is an attitude of unrepentant, unconcerned, lack of remorse, and lack of desire to change type of attitude toward their sin to realize that they are in great danger. That if that is the attitude that they have towards sexual immorality and towards covetousness, if if there is that sin in their life and they are unmoved, unconcerned, unrepentant, no desire to change, Paul says, you better be sure of this.

You better be sure of this. That if you have made a practice of sinning, you should ask yourself some various serious questions concerning where you are at with Jesus Christ. He continues though. He continues with a powerful word that I believe is so relevant to 2018, especially amongst Christians in America. Verse six, let no one deceive you.

Let no one deceive you. Don't let anyone convince you of something that is in contradiction with this truth. Don't be persuaded by the apparent logic and philosophies that so many have bought into concerning this, the wrath of God. Says, let no one. Let no one.

Don't let those outside the church, as second Peter three tells us that there will be, in the last days, scoffers and mockers concerning the idea of the second coming of Christ. Don't let those scoffers and mockers persuade you. Don't let those philosophies persuade you. Don't let the attitude of those who are so careless with their lives because they think that this idea of God's wrath is some medieval idea that it was presented to the people at the day to to bring him into fear and subjection. Right?

All these philosophies that are out there. But I believe that the danger is not just outside, but more so in the church. Let no one deceive you because it's in the church. It has found its way in the church and it is growing. It is increasing.

This deception concerning the wrath of God has found its way in many pulpits, many seminaries. So Paul warns the distortion and the manipulation about the truth that one day God will judge sinners. That there is a day appointed by God in which he will unleash his wrath upon every person who has rejected Christ. Don't let anyone twist that. Don't let anyone present a different idea concerning that.

And he says here specifically that it will come upon the sons of disobedience. That's a specific target. Who are the sons of disobedience? Well, the very same letter tells us in Ephesians two one to five. And you who are dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, Following the prince of the power of the air.

The spirit that is not work in the sons of disobedience. Among whom, we all once lived in the passions of our flesh. Carrying out the desires of the body and the mind. And we're by nature, we were by nature children of wrath like the rest of mankind. Who are the sons of disobedience?

Those who have rebelled against God. Those whom we in this place once were living in the passions of our flesh, living in the sins, living under the control of Satan, living under the influence of this world. Those are the ones that will expect the wrath of God to fall upon them. What is God's wrath? When you hear God's wrath, what do you understand?

Because I want to tell you this. The deception is not just on the idea that God will pour out his wrath upon sinners. The deception has become greater than that. It's now influenced the idea of God's wrath in general. Not not just God's wrath towards sinners, but God's wrath in general has been distorted.

And there seems to be a growing discomfort in this generation of informing and warning people of the day when God's wrath will be activated. A growing discomfort. A lack of warning. And so let's understand God's wrath. Number one, we cannot understand God's wrath as some spontaneous, uncontrollable response concerning God and his lack of self control because of his moody days and his mood swings, like the ancient deities that some of these people worshiped amongst the pagans.

They worship gods that had bad days and good days and didn't know when to find God, their God on a good day or bad day. God's wrath, the God of the Bible, his wrath is not the same as that kind of wrath. His judgment is not expressed in the same manner. Instead, we see here in this verse that is because of these things, Ephesians five six, because of verse five, the wrath of God will come. Because of these things.

And so there's a purpose. There's a reason. And we know that if you were familiar with the bible, God's wrath has been expressed in real time. It has been manifested towards the enemies of God and towards sinners in this lifetime, in this world. But that is not what the wrath of God is in this context.

That is not what Paul is talking about here when he's talking about God's judgment and discipline in this life or in the life of another generation. No. No. No. No.

No. No. He's talking about the day appointed by God. The day appointed by God in which he will unleash his divine retribution towards all those who have broken God's law and towards all those who have rejected the Lord Jesus Christ. Not in a way that will be executed in a moment.

Very important. Not in a way that will be executed in a moment, but one that will be expressed throughout eternity. He's talking about a day. He's talking about an appointment. He's talking about something that has been set before the foundations of the world, in which God will unleash his divine retribution, not in a moment, but in a way that is expressed throughout eternity.

Notice that Paul tells us that the wrath comes upon the sons of disobedience. That's present tense. Why is he using that tense? In other words, you can take this verse and read it like this. Because of these things, the wrath of God comes replace it with this.

The wrath of God is on its way as we speak. Is on its way towards the sons of disobedience. Last year, there was a news report. There was a news report about a man who had slipped off the platform of a train station, and he fell unconscious onto the train tracks in the middle of winter. There he is lying in the snow looking like he's really sleeping.

And the news report had the video footage of a woman who was recording this man, and there seems to be no danger at first, but she implores that this man would wake up from the platform, saying, sir, wake up. Sir, wake up. And there was no response. And you can see in the video that the people begin to realize that there's something coming along the distance, the train. So then the urgency begins to increase and she begins to tremble in her voice.

Sir, wake up. Sir, wake up. Sir, wake up. No response. Now would you stand on that platform and look at such a woman and say, would you stop condemning that man?

Is there anything in your mind that would look at that woman and say, you're condemning. You shouldn't use such a tone. And so others, because they have some common sense, begin to join her and plead with the man to wake up. Sir, get up. The train is coming.

Realizing there's no response. And so while this woman with her phone is pleading with this man to get up, others ran towards that train begging for that driver to put the foot on the brakes because there's somebody on the tracks. And as they wave him down, sure enough, that train comes to a halt. And all those people jump off that platform and they grab this man, wake him up, and throw him back on. Oh, that there would be people today behind pulpits of America that would have the love in their hearts to tell people in this generation, sir, wake up.

Woman, wake up. The train of God's wrath is on its way. Well, here's the difference between that story and the reality of the scriptures. Here's the reality with that story and the doctrine of God's wrath. This is it.

That unlike those people, you and I cannot stop God's wrath. You and I cannot run up to God and say, God change your mind. God change the day. God have mercy and just just accept everyone. No.

Can't do it. The bible tells us in acts seventeen thirty thirty one, and he commands all men everywhere to repent. And he commands all You know that word, repent. Right? He commands all men everywhere to repent.

Why? For he has fixed a day by which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed. He has fixed a day. There's a day fixed. There's a day set.

There's an appointment already established by which the world will be judged by righteousness and by a man whom he has appointed. Who is that man? Jesus Christ. And so I implore you that instead of spending your energy trying to convince yourself that the wrath of God doesn't exist, you would use that very same energy by God's grace and wisdom and power on your life to actually win some souls from the wrath of God. Because no matter how much you bury your head in the sand, oh, you can turn up the volume on your headset, and you can drown out the sound of that train horn coming for anything in its path.

It does not dismiss the reality that it's still coming. Let no one deceive you. Let no one deceive you with empty words. There are many deceptions today, many deceptions today concerning the wrath of God. Let me present you with one, universalism.

Universalism. What is universalism? Universalism is the belief that every human being that God has created or will create will ultimately enter into everlasting eternal life because God promised that he would restore all things to himself. Now there is an understanding of universalism in which it doesn't matter what religion you hold till you believe that all people will end up in heaven. Because God is so loving that if you grew up in a specific nation that holds a specific religion and you're not exposed to Jesus Christ, then God will have mercy on you because you have whatever revelation you work with.

I'm not talking about that general universalism. I'm talking about this new idea of Christian universalism. That's a thing. Christian universalism is the belief that Jesus Christ, when he died, he died for all mankind to be saved whether they repent and believe or not. Christian universalism is the idea that when Jesus said, if I be lifted up, I will draw all men to myself, that means that all people will eventually come into heaven because he paid the price for the whole world.

And even within Christian universalism, you have different beliefs about what the wrath of God means. And for a majority of them, they believe that if you do not accept Christ in this lifetime, you enter into eternal the eternal state. And if you did not have him as Lord, then you go through some kind of a punishment, but that punishment is just a purifying work so that you could enter into the presence of God. The idea of hell, the idea of torment, the idea of a lake of fire does not exist to the universalist. And there are many terms to describe this philosophy.

Ultimate reconciliation, universal salvation, the larger hope, the doctrine of inclusion, biblical universalism. I have one more to recommend in that list. Heresy. Put that one on the list. Because the Bible tells us something different.

The Bible tells us in Hebrews nine twenty seven that it is appointed unto man to die once. None of this reincarnation stuff. To die once and then come to judgment. There is no second chance. This one life, this lifetime that you have is the only opportunity to respond to the mercy and the grace of God.

This one life is the only opportunity for you to run to the foot of the cross and receive forgiveness of sin, just this life. There's no chance after. There's no purifying work. So those who hold to Christian universalism, that even say that they believe in salvation by faith, that believe that the cross is the only way for man to be saved, really don't believe that because if you die without the cross, you can still be purified to get into the presence of God. That dismisses the cross completely.

That dismisses the fact that there is only one way. So they contradict themselves with the very statement there. And all of this idea, which is growing, understand that this is a growing thought. Understand and don't be surprised. Don't be surprised if you even hear big name preachers that when they are cornered with this question, will come up with something like this.

Don't be surprised. They argue this idea based on the fact that God's love. God's love outweighs his justice. But I would like to talk to the Christian universalist and ask, is it really God's love? Does your idea really promote God's love?

That God would force people into his presence for all eternity. Does that sound like God's love? That he would take you by force into his presence and to be with him when people don't want to be with him? Is that God's love? You say all men will be saved eventually.

You say all men will come into the presence of God. By force or by choice, you have a different kind of love. The God of this bible gives man a choice. And so even your idea of compassion and understanding does not line up with God's. Universalism.

There's another one called annihilationism. You know, you put a term on it so it's easier to swallow. Sounds fancy. Annihilationism is the belief that God's wrath is not eternal. That judgment does not equal eternal punishment, but God's ultimate wrath is expressed by man ceasing to exist for all eternity, that he would be annihilated, that he would be destroyed ceasing to live.

And annihilationism believes that that could be the immediate judgment or that you go through a little bit of punishment, and then you're annihilated forever. Again, this is another philosophy built on this idea of how can God judge man for all eternity for sins that they have committed in a sphere of life of fifty, sixty, seventy years. And so their argument is, God is not just to take a man, to take a woman, to throw that person into eternity for something that was just so a lifetime of sin. But what's amazing is Jesus, who talked about hell more than anybody else in the Bible. Jesus, when he gives description of a man named Lazarus, alongside a rich man in Luke 16, talking about two different people that had two different destinations when they died.

And the rich man found himself in a holding place for hell, a place of torment still. And what you find in Luke 16 is that this man is able to communicate with father Abraham, and he is calling out to him. And he is asking that Lazarus, the poor man that he rejected, that he he ignored throughout his life, to dip cool water and to put it on his tongue because he was being tormented by the flames. And he says, you can't. Father Abraham says, you can't.

There's there's a chasm between you and us. There's no way. And what does Lazarus say? He says, then send them to my household. There's there's five brothers of mine.

They will see him and they will repent and they won't have to come to the place that I'm in. Father Aaron says, no. They have Moses and the prophets. They have the word of God. And he says, no.

No. No. No. No. If they see somebody rise from the dead, they'll believe.

You know what's amazing? Not too long after that, in Jesus's ministry, there was a man named Lazarus who died and rose from the grave. And guess what? The Pharisees wanted to kill him because he was bringing people to Christ. Why do I bring up that story?

Because in the midst of the conversation between Lazarus, rather the rich man and father Abraham, he says many things, but there's not one statement made by the rich man who was in torment. Not one statement such as, this is unfair. How could you let me come into a place like this? God is unjust. God lacks mercy.

God lacks He doesn't complain once. Because those who go to hell, will realize that they deserve it. And they will realize how ferocious his holiness is. And so the complaints that those who hold to annihilationism are complaints that those in hell are not even giving to God. How do you deal with verses such as Revelation twenty ten?

The devil, the beast, and the false prophet were thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever. They will be tormented day and night forever and ever. Revelation fourteen ten, the smoke of their torment, those who believed in the beast, who took the mark of the beast during the tribulation, The smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever, and they have no rest day or night. That doesn't sound like annihilationism to me. That doesn't sound like somebody ceases to exist.

That sounds like somebody who is very conscious, very aware, and is in this state for eternity. I'm not here this morning presenting this truth as though I am comfortable with it. I believe it, 100%. But this truth has implications for us and there are negative implications when you begin to tamper with the truth of God's wrath. There are negative consequences to those who hold to different doctrines concerning the eternal judgment of God.

And one of them is this, would you be surprised if I said that when you tamper with God's wrath, you actually dilute his love? That you when you drain out the idea that God is an eternal judge, you actually you actually tamper with the vastness of his love. What is the gospel brothers and sisters without understanding the wrath of God? What gospel are we left with when we don't understand that God is a righteous judge? Even today, many present the gospel with the absence of the reality of the wrath of God and it gives us to the thinking mind, to the to the one who really, really pays attention to what's being said.

When a gospel is preached without the understanding of God's wrath, you're left with more questions than answers. Why did he die on the cross then? Jesus Christ died on the cross for your sins. Why? Why did he go up there?

Oh, the Romans and the Pharisees, they they partnered together. Why? It doesn't make sense. I'm left with more questions. But when you present the gospel in such a manner, in which you say that Jesus Christ died on the cross for your sins and took your place and received on your behalf the wrath of almighty God, you have a gospel.

And you understand the price that he paid on your behalf. And you realize in your own heart the hellish punishment that Christ experienced for you and me. And we're taken back, I hope, by that kind of a love. How do we reconcile that God loves but God is just? I remember pondering this question and following upon a story that helps so much.

That there was a highway in one of the states here in America in which when you speed and you're caught, you have to go to the judge immediately and you have to plead your case or pay for it or whatever. And so here's this young girl that goes over the limit, she gets pulled over. She finds herself in court and she's standing there and she pleads guilty and is willing to pay the ticket. And the judge is there and he affirms the guilt and he affirms her statement, But surprisingly, he pushes himself back. He comes down to her.

He removes his gown. He pulls out his wallet and begins to pay the fine for her. Why? Because the judge was actually her father. And so he loved his daughter, but he did not compromise his justice.

God did the same thing on the cross. He wants to show his love but he could not compromise his justice. Where is the gospel without the wrath of God? Let me read these verses to you. First Thessalonians one nine and ten.

For they themselves report concerning us the kind of reception we had among you. And how you, Thessalonica, how you, Thessalonians, turn to God from idols to serve the living and true God, verse 10, And to wait for his son. You turn from idols, and you turn to the living God. You turn from sin, and you face towards his mercy. To what?

Wait for his son from heaven, whom he has raised from the dead. Jesus, who what? Delivers us from the wrath to come. Why did Christ go on that cross? Many reasons.

But let me tell you this simple truth, to save you from hell. To save you and we have this idea. And it helps remove the sting of understanding God's wrath, that hell is separation from God for all eternity, that hell is what you choose when you don't choose God, that hell is just this chasm between you and God's presence, Partly true but not the full truth. You have to understand that God throws people into hell. That God sends people to hell.

Romans five nine, since therefore we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. Somebody were to ask you, what did God save you from when he entered into your life? You would probably talk about so many things that he's delivered you from. And you would probably even say, God saved me from hell and rightfully so. But have you ever heard an answer such as this?

What did God save you from? Have you ever heard somebody say this? God saved me from himself. Because it's true. God sends his son to save humanity from God.

God's love is diluted when you dilute the wrath of God. But secondly, for the believer, our evangelistic urgency is deflated. Our evangelistic urgency is deflated. We as Christians pay attention, especially in the West, are already battling distractions. We are already battling apathy.

We're battling the fear of man. We're battling temptation that come against our purpose of sharing our faith. The last thing we need is a false doctrine that would all the more tranquilize you and I from having any sense of urgency to go out to the world and tell them about Christ. That's the last thing we need. We already have other hurdles to overcome.

The last thing we need now is some altered truth that would keep us in our seats. It deflates our urgency to preach the gospel. Don't condemn me this morning. But the apostle Peter himself said when he was preaching to the household of Cornelius in Acts ten forty two. In his gospel presentation, he says, and he being Jesus, and he commanded us he, Jesus, the one who calls me friend, The one who gave himself up for me.

He commanded us to preach and to testify to the people that he, being Jesus, is the one appointed by God to be the judge of the living and the dead. Don't condemn me this morning. That this Christ of love is the same Christ that commissioned his apostles and commissions preachers today to have a soft heart, but to have a backbone of steel to declare to a world that he is the one appointed by God to judge the living and the dead. Condemn me this morning, and condemn any man, and criticize him if he preaches the wrath of God, if he preaches about the judgment to come, but does not preach the hope that is the escape door from the wrath of God. Because the Saint Peter who said that in acts ten forty two, in the next very verse says this, to him all the prophets, in verse 43, bear witness that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.

Note then the kindness and the severity of God. Not just the severity, and there are many who love to just preach on the severity of God. There are many who love to condemn. Listen. This doctrine should not preach with a voice of condemnation but with brokenness.

A man who is not broken and preaches hell is in danger of doing more damage than good. I have a question for anyone in here that is deleted from their mind. The idea of God's wrath because it's just more comfortable to digest. Spending instead of spending all that time trying to convince yourself and write books and do seminars like so many people are and having debates about how God's wrath doesn't really mean God's wrath and how eternal doesn't really mean eternal in the Greek, instead of spending all that time on such things, why don't you let that truth stir you to win souls? Because if you are such a person that has deleted in your mind the idea of God's wrath, you are like that lady on that platform, on that train station, but instead of saying, sir, wake up, you're singing a lullaby loud enough for that person to stay asleep, to not realize that there is something coming that will destroy every person that lays on the tracks of judgment.

That's what you are. You sing lullabies to those that need to be woken up. You might be wondering, are you afraid of hell? You might be wondering, aren't you terrified of this truth? Brother, doesn't this make you tremble?

No. Why? Because there's a difference between fear and burden. As believers, we should not fear such a thing. We should be burdened by it because there is a glorious truth for those who have clung to the mercy of God in Christ Jesus.

First Thessalonians five, it tells us, for God has not destined us to wrath, but to attain salvation through our lord Jesus Christ. I'm not destined to wrath. If you're in Christ, you're not destined to wrath. If you have put your faith and trust in his saving work, you're destined to be like Christ according to Romans eight twenty eight twenty nine. You're not destined for wrath, but all this truth must be a burden in our hearts in order to go out and to rescue those who do not believe it.

Be sober this morning by this reality, that by the time you woke up this morning, got in your car, and came to church, and by the time you go to bed and lay your head on your pillow, a 151,000 people will die today. That around six thousand three hundred and sixteen people die each hour. By the time you go out for lunch, six thousand people died. An estimated hundred and five people die each minute. Each minute.

Not a day, each minute. And it is estimated that one to two people die every second. Two souls in eternity. Two souls in eternity. One soul in eternity.

Two souls in eternity. Where are they going? Because it's sealed forever. So you know what we do? There's no hell.

There's no judgment. God is too merciful. All the while, hell is filling up. Dismiss it all you want. What does this require of you and me?

It requires not just a revelation of his wrath and his love, but it requires a wisdom from heaven. Wisdom to know how to deal with this truth in our day to day affairs. Wisdom to know how to express this truth to different people that we know. We have to be very wise with this because many have taken this to an extreme and have delivered it in such a manner in which people don't even wanna hear about it. But we need a wisdom from heaven.

And if there's one thing that it can do for sure, it could intensify our intercession. And if there's one thing that you can do as well, is pray for the preachers of America that have been intoxicated with philosophy for the sake of winning approval and winning the pat on the back, forget it. I would be your greatest enemy if I did not preach this truth. I would be your greatest enemy. And any preacher that doesn't preach this truth is an enemy, because they fail to realize the eternal the eternal consequences that are upon their shoulders as Ezekiel, as so many, there's a great responsibility.

And once in a while, we need to be sober by the truth of this. And so I end with this, let no one deceive you with empty words. Be careful. It sounds really convincing. It sounds really good.

In fact, they use scripture too. But let no one deceive you with empty words. Instead, let those truths stir your heart for your family, for your friends, for this generation. That's why this, brothers and sisters, this moment right here is not a joke. As one preacher said it, I smell hell before every sermon I preach.

Are you on the train tracks of God's judgment this morning because I see some people that I don't recognize? Have you clung to Christ for mercy? Do you realize the extent of his love that on that cross, it was way more than nails and feet and hands? It was the judgment and the wrath of the father. Did you put your trust and put on Christ So that when God sees you, he sees the perfect righteousness of Jesus.

Or are you counting on your own righteousness? Because I'll tell you this, it's not just lawbreakers that will be in hell. It will be those who try to attain their own righteousness and have despised the mercy of God and the blood of Jesus Christ. So what will happen is that there will be those in hell for living in unspeakable sin, But there will be those who are religious that have not put their trust in Jesus Christ. I'm not asking if you do good works.

I'm asking if you've surrendered to the grace of Jesus. And that your confidence in salvation, your confidence for eternal life is based upon the only escape route, which is Christ and Christ alone. What do you do? I can't do anything for you. No man can do anything, but that same Christ who died is the same Christ who raised.

And the Bible tells us, seek the Lord while he may be found. Seek the Lord while he may be found, and call on him while he is near. Don't call on a preacher. Call on the Lord. He's here.

He hears. You can be in this place. You can be in your car. You can call upon the Lord at any place at any time. But let me tell you something.

Don't wait too long. A train is coming. And here's your warning. Sir, wake up. Ma'am, wake up.

Let's pray. Father, in this place, we are sobered by the reality and we choose not to be deceived by understanding your holiness. And Lord, we love you all the same because you are deserving For we, as sons and daughters of Adam, have sinned against you, have defiled you, have trampled on your grace so many times, yet you still extend your mercy in Christ. And, Lord, we pray for anybody that might have trouble with this. It is troubling to some degree, but it is still true nonetheless.

And so instead of trying to explain it away, we choose to embrace it and allow it to stir our urgency. And we allow it by your grace and wisdom understanding that it is something that enhances the reality of the cross, the magnitude of your love, of the suffering that Christ went through on our behalf. We dare not despise what Christ has done by eliminating this truth. So Lord, touch our families, touch our friends, touch this generation, Lord. Raise up prophets that will go forth fearlessly to declare not just the kindness nor just the severity of God, but both with brokenness.

Not with condemnation and hate, but with brokenness. Or raise up people that would intercede. And, Lord, for this church, may we continually be sobered by the reality of eternity, that if there's any great motivation to be bold, it's with this truth. So, Lord, we pray that eternity would continually be set before us, not just heaven, but hell itself. And that we would be in your wisdom, in your wisdom, in your great wisdom to know how to persuade men to Christ.

So Lord, not only are we taken back by the wrath of God, we are taken back by the love that rescued us from it, and we choose to sing to you for any person here that does not believe on Jesus Christ for their salvation. Father, we pray by the power of the Holy Spirit. You would open their eyes to see that you are extending your hand to say, come away with me. I wanna rescue you from such a place. I want you not to just have some fire insurance.

I want you to walk with me day by day. I wanna have life with you, and I wanna bring you into a place in which we have communion forever. Thank you, Lord, that you've made that available to us. We give you praise and glory and honor as we sing unto your name. In Jesus' name, we pray.

Amen.