-
We boldly approach...
-
Father, You promised the Holy Spirit
-
to them that ask.
-
We know that the Spirit has come
-
into this world to glorify Christ.
-
That's what we want.
-
Lord, give us the Spirit, we pray.
-
Give Him. As You've said for us to pray.
-
We ask.
-
And Lord, we pray that we might have the Spirit
-
that we would bring forth greater
-
glory to Christ in the year ahead.
-
Whatever it is.
-
Whether it's in mission, whether it's in evangelism,
-
whether it's in any type of outreach,
-
whether it's in benevolence,
-
whether it's in the love right here among ourselves,
-
whether it's in our worship, whether it's in our singing,
-
whatever it is, we pray that the Spirit of God
-
would be unleashed upon the east side of
-
San Antonio, that Christ might have all the glory.
-
That these old refuges of demons out in these streets,
-
that all these old places, broken down walls,
-
that we may be the repairer of the breach,
-
restorers of streets to be dwelt among.
-
Lord, we pray that Christ would be honored,
-
that He would be magnified.
-
If Christ would not be honored, then tear this church apart.
-
Cast it out to the winds.
-
But Lord, if You would be so pleased to cause
-
that candlestick to burn bright here for one more year,
-
Lord, that it would emanate with the beauties of Christ,
-
with the fragrance of Christ, with the light,
-
the beaming light and fire,
-
may it shine forth, Lord.
-
Father, You have been so good to us.
-
For Christ's sake, You have been good to us.
-
We know it.
-
We would be lying, we would be blind if we said otherwise.
-
Lord, You have been good to us.
-
Please Lord, show Your goodness to us today as well.
-
In Christ's name we pray, Amen.
-
Ok, quickly, on with our text.
-
Romans 10.
-
I want to read five verses to you this morning.
-
Romans 10:9-13
-
Romans 10:9
-
"If you confess with your mouth,
-
that Jesus is Lord."
-
Now remember, Christ says this:
-
What comes out of the mouth is
-
an indication of what is in the heart.
-
Now that's not to say that people
-
can't just say the words, "Jesus is Lord."
-
That's not what confession is.
-
Confession is saying, "Jesus is Lord,"
-
maybe even more so by your actions sometimes.
-
Remember what Scripture says,
-
"by their works," (this is found in Titus)
-
"by their works they deny Him."
-
You can say one thing and by your works
-
deny what you say.
-
So just confessing Jesus as Lord doesn't save you.
-
It's that belief from the heart that wells up
-
in a confession through words, through life.
-
It's when you're in the family,
-
and they are telling you to close your mouth,
-
we don't want to hear that.
-
But you're going to confess Christ as Lord.
-
It's in the workplace, where they say, "we don't want any of that."
-
"Away with your Christ. Away with your Christianity."
-
"Away with your religion. We don't want it."
-
But you confess it there when it's hard.
-
Some of you've heard Paul Washer say
-
it's when those Roman legions came down the street
-
and they said, ok, offer up your little tax,
-
offer up your little worship to Ceasar.
-
And the Christians would say, "Jesus is Lord."
-
Not Ceasar, Jesus.
-
And it would cost them.
-
And that's the idea.
-
It's confessing Him.
-
That's what Christ says,
-
"If you confess Me before men,
-
I will confess you before My Father."
-
That's the idea right there.
-
Confessing Christ.
-
And you know worked into the very fabric of this
-
is they will not be put to shame.
-
You see, that's the temptation.
-
That's what it says there in verse 11,
-
"They'll not be put to shame."
-
Because that's the temptation.
-
When you're before the family, the lost family,
-
the world, the workplace, out there in the school,
-
out there in the other places,
-
that's the temptation.
-
To keep your mouth shut, and to be ashamed.
-
But if you confess Him as Lord,
-
believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead,
-
you will be saved.
-
Make no doubt about it, you will be saved.
-
Hey, I'm not saying you just flippantly spatter off a little words,
-
and you say very flippantly,
-
"Well, I believe Jesus Christ was true, historic fact."
-
That's not what I'm talking about.
-
I'm saying if you believe truthfully in your heart,
-
a faith that is willing to bank all on Christ,
-
all your trust is there, I'm telling you this:
-
you will be saved.
-
Make no qualms about that - no argument there.
-
Scripture verifies it. You will be.
-
It's not an exception. You will be.
-
It's not maybe, you might be.
-
There's a certainty here.
-
For with the heart one believes.
-
Not just with the head.
-
You guys have to understand this.
-
Anybody can rattle off historical facts.
-
Now yes, our faith is based on historical facts.
-
But you can say those facts and not really believe them.
-
It's the person that's willing to cast all.
-
All your money. All your life.
-
All your time. All your family. All your children.
-
Your spouse. Everything. All your material possessions.
-
It's there.
-
Lord, You are Lord. It's all Yours.
-
I've been bought with a price.
-
That, and that alone, is the faith, the belief that justifies.
-
And with the mouth one confesses and is saved.
-
For the Scripture says everyone who believes in Him
-
will not be put to shame.
-
For there's no distinction between Jew and Greek.
-
The same Lord is Lord of all,
-
bestowing His riches on all who call on Him.
-
For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.
-
As you scan these five verses,
-
it ought to be apparent to you right off.
-
This is no discourse about predestination,
-
nothing here about the second coming,
-
this isn't about church order or gifts of the Spirit,
-
nothing here about the Trinity.
-
You know what?
-
If you just search the word "saved"
-
in your New Testaments,
-
you know what you'll find?
-
The word is not used anywhere in the Scriptures
-
in a more condensed fashion
-
than right here in these five verses.
-
There's nowhere in the Scriptures that the word "saved"
-
shows up three times in five verses.
-
Except here.
-
You know what?
-
Paul's dealing with one simple subject here.
-
You know what it is?
-
Being saved.
-
You can see it. Right?
-
You see the word right there at the end of verse 9?
-
You see it again at the end of verse 10.
-
You see it again at the end of the verse 13.
-
Ok, now everybody says, alright, we see it.
-
Now let's move on to something more interesting.
-
But hold on just a second...
-
let me tell you something,
-
the word "saved" -
-
there are few words associated
-
with Christianity more than that word.
-
We hear it all the time, right?
-
I mean how many of you have not heard that
-
quaint, little expression, "Jesus saves"?
-
You've seen it on bumper stickers,
-
you've probably seen it on billboards,
-
you've seen it at ballgames.
-
You don't see it so much anymore at ballgames.
-
You don't see John 3:16 in the end zone anymore.
-
What happened to that?
-
I guess people going to football games
-
are more pagan now than ever, right?
-
The beer drinkers probably threw a few bottles,
-
and they realized they weren't welcome there.
-
Let me tell you something,
-
people love to talk that way.
-
"Oh, I'm saved!"
-
"I got saved when I was three."
-
"I was baptized. I got saved."
-
People love to throw that term around.
-
Saved, saved, saved.
-
We hear it a lot.
-
People walk in here, "Are you saved?"
-
"Oh yeah, I'm saved."
-
They're not saved, but they say they are.
-
Because they haven't bowed the knee to Christ.
-
There's no confession of His Lordship in their life.
-
Not by their works.
-
Oh, they might say, "do you believe Jesus is Lord?"
-
"Oh yeah, I believe He's Lord."
-
Then they walk right out and they're slaves to sin.
-
They're not obeying Him.
-
Don't you realize what it says?
-
Why call ye Me, 'Lord, Lord,'
-
and then you don't do the will of My Father in heaven?
-
It's not those who say, "Lord, Lord."
-
It's those who do the will of the Father.
-
You say you've got to be doing something to get saved?
-
I'm saying this, if you're truly saved,
-
if you truly have that faith that saves,
-
you're going to submit to Christ.
-
Because that's what happens.
-
God says under the new covenant,
-
I'm going to write My laws on their heart.
-
I'm going to break their heart.
-
I'm going to take that old stony thing out.
-
I'm going to put a heart of flesh in.
-
My laws will not be grievous.
-
And if you say that you are a Christian,
-
1 John 2 says, "but you don't keep His commandments,
-
you're a liar. The truth isn't in you."
-
Oh, I hope that just rings in our heads.
-
I'm trying to lay down,
-
true Christianity is that which submits
-
to the Lordship of Christ.
-
It's that one thing.
-
People banter around this idea of being saved
-
all the time, "I'm saved."
-
And people come along, "yeah, I've been saved five times."
-
"Six times."
-
Well, that's not a salvation that I want!
-
If you can lose it, it's no good.
-
That's not being saved.
-
What are you saved from?
-
You're certainly not saved if you can lose it.
-
So here's what we're dealing with: saved.
-
Greek word: sozo
-
Of the 110 times it's found in our New Testaments,
-
93 times (that's about 85% of the time)
-
it's translated "save" or some form of that (saved).
-
Now listen, as I began studying this
-
you know a lot of times I don't know where I'm going.
-
I sit down and I open up my Bible
-
and I start reading the next section of Scripture.
-
I don't often know how far I'm going,
-
what I'm going to deal with,
-
I just begin reading.
-
Sometimes I know ahead of time.
-
Sometimes I can see out two or three weeks.
-
But this week, I opened up
-
and I began reading these five verses
-
over and over and over.
-
And this word "saved."
-
And I really began to think about,
-
what does it mean?
-
And I'll tell you something that really probably pushed me off
-
in the direction that I want to go this morning.
-
I have Bible software that allows me to look at other translations.
-
Let me tell you something.
-
There is an English word
-
that is usually used to define the word "save."
-
Linguistically, in the English language,
-
it's almost spelled the same except one letter is swapped.
-
And they're actually swapped for a letter that's very similar.
-
You know what, it's the word "safe."
-
William Tyndale, 16th century martyr,
-
burned at the stake by the Roman Catholic church.
-
What did he do?
-
Must have been some pretty terrible crimes
-
to take a man and burn him at the stake.
-
What did he do? Rape a bunch of little children?
-
Was he a serial killer?
-
Roman Catholic church
-
That's what God saved me out of.
-
Leddy, where are you at?
-
You got saved out of that.
-
What did the guy do?
-
He translated and published the New Testament Scriptures.
-
Let me tell you something.
-
In his translation of the New Testament published in 1525,
-
he actually translated Romans 10:10 this way,
-
"For the belief of the heart justifieth,
-
and to knowledge with the mouth, (that's confession)
-
maketh a man safe."
-
Romans 10:13 he translates this way.
-
Now listen, Tyndale is largely the source
-
from which the translators of all of the English
-
translations come from.
-
The King James was taken largely from Tyndale's work.
-
And all subsequent translations as well
-
owe much to Tyndale's work.
-
Listen to what he does with Romans 10:13,
-
"For whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord,
-
shall be safe."
-
As I got looking at that,
-
I suddenly began to feel
-
this fear rise up in me.
-
Men are not safe.
-
When we start talking about "saved,"
-
the gut level meaning of saved,
-
it carries the idea of making safe.
-
If men need to be saved, they are not safe.
-
You don't talk about being saved,
-
unless there is peril.
-
Unless there is danger.
-
People, the human race, is not safe.
-
Think about that.
-
The very concept demands a scary reality.
-
It demands that there is something here.
-
There is something around us.
-
There is something out there,
-
that is constantly looming.
-
That is constantly reaching.
-
That is constantly coming for man.
-
That is endangering him with some type of harm,
-
with some sort of death, with some sort of calamity.
-
Something is out there. Something is there.
-
Now, if somebody says, well, of course,
-
hell's out there.
-
That makes us afraid.
-
After all, hell can burn us. Hell can harm us.
-
Hell can trap us.
-
Hell - it's thirsty for the souls of wicked men,
-
and that makes us afraid.
-
Because we are such men.
-
But what is it?
-
What is hell?
-
Hell is a place. That's all it is.
-
It's just a place.
-
Yes, it may be a scary place, but it's nothing more than that.
-
And you know what, on top of that?
-
It's a place none of you currently are.
-
So why do you fear it?
-
You say well I fear it because, I might go there one day.
-
And that's right.
-
That's right.
-
But listen to me, it's not like hell
-
comes and gets us where we are.
-
Look folks, hell is not the reason why men are not safe.
-
There's something out there is that is far more terrifying
-
than hell that men need protection from.
-
You know what makes it so unsafe for us to
-
walk about in this world?
-
For sinful men to even walk down this sidewalk?
-
What is it that makes it so unsafe?
-
It certainly isn't hell. It certainly isn't the devil.
-
Folks, it's something far, far more dangerous
-
than those things.
-
It's man's worst nightmare.
-
What you and I need to be saved from...
-
That thing in this world that is not safe...
-
is God Himself.
-
You know what? Jesus knew this.
-
When He came to the earth and He walked among us,
-
He warned us.
-
He said, men, don't be foolish. Open your eyes.
-
The thing that you've got to fear is not
-
what you so typically fear.
-
It is something else.
-
Men walk about - I'll guarantee you go out on these streets,
-
what do they fear?
-
They fear the police.
-
They fear finding out they've got AIDS.
-
Yes, they may fear hell, but you say, "do you fear God?"
-
No, they don't fear God.
-
Why? Because in their mind He's
-
just this big old fat Santa Claus old man up in the sky
-
sitting there smiling at them.
-
If they realized what God was, if they could see
-
the way He's looking at them right now,
-
they would be terrified beyond description.
-
And Christ comes to this earth,
-
and He says I will warn you.
-
He warned us.
-
I will warn you Whom you should fear.
-
Luke 12:5, "You should fear Him Who after He has killed,
-
has authority to cast into hell. Yes, I tell you..."
-
Not fear hell, not fear death, not fear the devil,
-
Christ says fear Him.
-
Fear Him Who has that authority.
-
In Matthew 10:28, "Fear Him Who can destroy
-
both soul and body in hell."
-
So many people say, "My god is not like that."
-
"My god wouldn't do that."
-
Let me tell you something, your god is not
-
the God of the Scriptures.
-
One of the most terrifying texts in the Bible,
-
Psalm 50:22, you know what the Lord
-
threatens to do to sinners?
-
Our ESV says "tear them apart."
-
All other translations,
-
God is threatening to tear sinners to pieces.
-
The Lord is the One Who we looked at last week
-
in Luke 19, Who says bring My enemies before Me
-
and slaughter them
-
before Me.
-
This is the God of Scripture.
-
All of you guys turn back in your Bibles right now
-
to Romans 5. It's not far away.
-
I want you to see this. Romans 5:9
-
The Apostle Paul, he's preaching the Gospel.
-
In one of the most extended, intricate fashions
-
that you can find in the Scriptures.
-
Powerful.
-
And in Romans 5:9, you tell me - you guys read that.
-
Let your eyes go through that verse right there.
-
You tell me what that verse tells us we need to be saved from.
-
The wrath of God.
-
Now listen, wrath is not like this detached,
-
separate thing from God.
-
It is God's wrath.
-
It is God Himself that has the wrath.
-
It's not like wrath is some separated thing,
-
out there down the street,
-
away from Him.
-
It's God's wrath.
-
He's saying you've got to be saved from God.
-
How easily and flippantly men talk of being saved.
-
But they have no idea what it is that they truly
-
need to be saved from.
-
My friend, God is not this pushover old man
-
up in the sky somewhere.
-
He is the Lord God Almighty.
-
The whole earth is full of His glory.
-
He is fearful.
-
He is your greatest need of salvation.
-
What you need to be saved from is from Him.
-
That's what men need to be saved from.
-
Sinners are not safe.
-
Because God is out there.
-
Because God is not safe.
-
Oh how men should fear.
-
And I'm telling you, some of you sit in this room right now,
-
you've got false professions.
-
They aren't worth the money you've got in your pocket.
-
You've never truly submitted to Christ.
-
You walk around with this foggy deception
-
about being saved.
-
You like to calm your fears
-
and tell yourself all is going to be well.
-
This God is out there.
-
And He's coming for you.
-
And I'll tell you, all your false profession does
-
is add to the wickedness, and add to the wrath,
-
and add to what God is going to bring on your head
-
very soon if you do not seek refuge in His Son.
-
There's only one place of safetly, folks.
-
You are not safe where you are outside of Christ.
-
You can have the greatest profession in the world,
-
but if you are outside of Christ,
-
if you're deceived, you better fear.
-
Christ Himself the Savior warned you.
-
Fear Him.
-
Do you know what? I know how this was.
-
I was living in all sorts of sin.
-
You go back 20 years, there I am,
-
head over heels immersed in the muck
-
and the filth of my sin.
-
And you know what I thought?
-
I thought God was smiling on me.
-
Have you guys been there?
-
I don't doubt we've got some lost people
-
in this place right now.
-
That's your perception.
-
Wicked men typically think God is pleased with them,
-
not really too concerned about their sin.
-
Many have this concept in their mind,
-
that He just sort of winks at their sin.
-
Kicks it under the rug.
-
Not a big deal.
-
Many people imagine God up there in heaven,
-
you know kind of weak, wringing his hands,
-
"oh, you know I'm doing everything I can
-
for those poor sinners down there.
-
There's nothing left for me to do,
-
it's all left in their hands now.
-
Oh, I want them to be saved so bad.
-
I just have all these good purposes,
-
and I'm smiling at them. I'm crying for them.
-
And everything in me, I just wish there was more I could do."
-
People have this idea that God is like that.
-
I'll tell you what, that's a misguided notion.
-
People running around with this idea:
-
God never puts anybody in hell.
-
Your own sins take you there.
-
Oh, you have misread your Bibles if you think that.
-
Christ says you better fear Him Who
-
has the authority to cast into hell.
-
Bank on it.
-
It will be God.
-
If you go to hell in this room,
-
it will be God who cast you there.
-
And He wil do it.
-
And He will do it for certain.
-
He is not safe.
-
If you are walking in your sins,
-
you are not safe.
-
You imagine there's any reluctance?
-
There's any weakness with God to cast wicked men
-
into hell this very moment?
-
I'll tell you when God rises up,
-
who's going to resist Him?
-
Who's going to stand in His way?
-
If He put men in hell, I'll tell you what,
-
they're going in there right now.
-
Multitudes are going in there right now.
-
Do you think God's got any reluctance
-
to throw sinners into hell?
-
He does not.
-
Hell is filling up even this very moment.
-
Just because some guy's off in India
-
somewhere or Africa, living in his wickedness,
-
beholding what he can of the glory of God
-
in the creation, and he refuses it,
-
he denies it, he suppresses it.
-
I'm telling you what, there's no reluctance with God
-
to take somebody like that and cast them into hell.
-
They're going in there by the millions.
-
Absolutely.
-
Listen to this, Nahum 1:6,
-
"Who can stand before His indignation?
-
Who can endure the heat of His anger?
-
His wrath is poured out like fire,
-
and the rocks are broken into pieces by Him."
-
You say I don't like this.
-
This is not what I wanted to hear today.
-
I'll tell you what. You can get in front of smooth-mouthed,
-
slippery fellows that will tickle your ears
-
and tell you what you want to hear.
-
I know a lot of people aren't saying this,
-
but this is what our Scriptures tell us.
-
Look, when the whole earth trembles at His voice,
-
and rocks break into pieces before Him,
-
do you think you will be able to stand before Him?
-
Can you feel it, sinner?
-
You're not safe.
-
Let me ask you this:
-
What do you think there is to keep God from
-
coming upon you this very hour?
-
Do you think there's something standing in the way?
-
Listen, you say justice.
-
Justice.
-
I've heard people say that.
-
"All I want when I get there is what I deserve."
-
Justice does not stand in the way of God throwing
-
you into hell right now.
-
Scripture.
-
Scripture talks about "God so loved."
-
Let me tell you this.
-
Scripture says that everyone
-
who is not obeying the Son,
-
John 3:36, the wrath of God is upon you already
-
and you face, what is it, John 3:16, 17, 18?
-
Yes, God so loved the world,
-
but I'll tell you this,
-
it says that if you have not believed,
-
God's condemnation is upon you.
-
It's amazing how everybody wants to quote verse 16.
-
What about verse 17? 18? 36?
-
People don't like to go there.
-
There's wrath, folks.
-
There is wrath. There is condemnation.
-
You know what?
-
You say, what about the law?
-
Let me tell you this. The law says this:
-
Everyone who does not keep all things written
-
in the book of the law, to do them, is cursed.
-
You know what? Don't make any appeal to justice.
-
Don't make any appeal to Scripture.
-
Don't make any appeal to God's law.
-
Because all three are standing against you.
-
All three are urging God right now,
-
"Cast them away!"
-
They demand your head. They demand your blood.
-
Justice demands it.
-
Scripture demands it.
-
The Law demands it.
-
I'm telling you, you don't have a cheering section there with God,
-
egging Him on.
-
As someone has said before,
-
when man first sinned, those angels were
-
reaching for the hilt of their sword.
-
They were looking to execute judgment.
-
There's only one thing standing between
-
the sinner and hell flames right this second.
-
I'll tell you what, last night as I was out
-
under that cloud, under the sky,
-
I was looking at the horizon all the way around,
-
the vastness of the sky.
-
I was imagining all that I could see
-
to be one massive floodgate.
-
A sinner stands underneath that.
-
And that thing begins to bulge.
-
The wrath of God held back.
-
It bulges and it creaks.
-
It's about to give way.
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All the wrath of God stored up.
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Listen to me!
-
Scripture does not call the sinner a child of wrath for nothing.
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It means there is wrath against you right now.
-
People have this idea,
-
"Oh, God is fiercely angry with those people in hell."
-
Let me tell you this:
-
There are some of you sitting in this room right now
-
that God is more fiercely angry with than some
-
he's already tormenting in hell.
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You say, "Well, why am I still here?"
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Only because your time has not run out yet.
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Theirs has.
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Some of you have committed much more
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grievous sins against God than some in hell.
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There are Africans, there are Indians in that fire right now
-
that have not heard the truth that some of you
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lost folks in this room have heard.
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God's wrath against you is storing up,
-
that floodgate is bulging, it is creaking,
-
it is ready to come in.
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There's only one thing holding it back right now.
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It's not justice, it's not Scripture, it's not the Law of God.
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It's God's sovereign pleasure to hold it back this moment.
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That's it.
-
Let me tell you something.
-
There are few Scriptures that give us a glimpse.
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One of them is found back in Genesis.
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Let me tell you something.
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God comes along, He's speaking to Abraham.
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He says Abraham, let Me tell you something,
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I'm going to take your offspring,
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I'm going to take them into Egypt.
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I'm going to leave them there 400 years.
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4 generations, I'm going to leave them there.
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Why?
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Why not two generations?
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You know why?
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Because when they come out,
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they're going to kill the Amorites.
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When they come out, they are
-
going to subdue seven nations in Canaan.
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You know what God says to Abraham?
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The iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full.
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You know what Daniel the prophet said?
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He speaks about transgressors not yet
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reaching their limit.
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Paul to the Thessalonians
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talks about the Jews
-
filling up the measure of their sin.
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Let me tell you something,
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Sinners only sin so far.
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You cannot hide beneath a false profession.
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That floodgate is going to bulge so far.
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That measure is going to come up.
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Your time is numbered.
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You say, "Oh, I'm healthy."
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People have this idea, don't they?
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Oh, you know, the sun's shining...
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I got sick - God healed me.
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I was in this car wreck - God spared me.
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And they think because they've seen these
-
little glimmers of God's mercy to preserve them
-
from that pit of fire already, they suppose,
-
that must mean God's wrath
-
does not hang over my head.
-
That must mean everything is ok.
-
I've made my peace with Him upstairs.
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Don't buy into that deception.
-
That floodgate is ready to unleash on your heads,
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if you have not a place of safety.
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Man is not safe.
-
Let me tell you something,
-
there's a time when those Israelites,
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they're out there and they began to complain,
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and they began to grumble,
-
and it's like spontaneous combustion took place.
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If you've never read about it, folks, it happened.
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Numbers 11:1 - you read about it sometime.
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I'll tell you what happened.
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There was sin in the camp.
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God dwelling in that camp.
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And it's like this sin - when people have sin
-
that is seething and breeding in the heart,
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you know what the natural course of things is?
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It's for God to break out in fury and fire and wrath.
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Spontaneous combustion began to consume people
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in the outer vestiges of that camp.
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Oh, we feel so secure. Our feet our planted.
-
Let me tell you something,
-
you may feel like your feet are planted
-
on the ground right now.
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You may feel like you're pretty healthy right now.
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But I'm telling you, if you're outside of Christ,
-
you are on a very rocky foundation.
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That great big massive as-far-as-the-sky
-
the limits of it who can measure?
-
The wrath of God.
-
Who can measure the wrath
-
against a lifetime of sin?
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When God's wrath against one sin of Adam and Eve
-
cost them paradise, cost them their life.
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One sin.
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Who can imagine the wrath?
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When Scripture calls the lost "children of wrath,"
-
you've got to understand, thunderclouds are black,
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it is ready to rain torrents of wrath.
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There is only that one thing that holds it back.
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God only forebears so long.
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Let me tell you...
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I was at my step-dad's side.
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He refused Christ.
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He went to church when he found out he had terminal cancer.
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But anytime I talked to him about Christ,
-
he didn't want to hear it.
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Anytime I talked to him about sin,
-
he didn't want to hear it.
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He rejected Christ to his dying day.
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I was at his bedside as I watched him
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pass off into eternity.
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I'll tell you this, it's not even possible
-
for us to conceive the colossal wave of the floods
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of the fierceness and wrath of God
-
that rushed upon him with inconceivable fury
-
and omnipotent power that moment he passed off.
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We don't see it happen, so we can become blinded to it.
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We become senseless to it.
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We can fall asleep.
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Children of wrath.
-
I found this ridiculous quote on the Internet yesterday.
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Somebody makes the claim,
-
"God does not send anyone to hell - they send themselves."
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One very well known televangelist,
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you'd all know his name if I said it.
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He says this, this is his quote:
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"God doesn't send anyone to hell.
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Anyone who goes to hell will be there
-
because of decisions they've made.
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I'm not going to deny that people end up in hell
-
because of decisions they've made."
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But he comes to this conclusion:
-
"you send yourself there."
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Oh, don't be deceived.
-
God casts men there.
-
I'll tell you this.
-
When a child of Adam, a son of Adam, a daughter of Adam,
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they walk around out in this world,
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tainted with sin,
-
they are not safe.
-
They may feel it.
-
They may feel young. They may feel healthy.
-
They may feel good. They may feel happy.
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But they are not safe.
-
The very ground they walk on
-
is made of such material,
-
it is ready to cave in.
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Let me tell you something,
-
can you imagine if you guys were right now
-
walking on this decaying, rotting fabric
-
out over some great chasm?
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And you're walking upon it.
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And every time you sin, bang,
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there's another weight on top of you.
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And you sin again, bang, there's another weight.
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And it's pressing you, pressing you,
-
down through that rotten fabric.
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There is the mouth gaping wide open for hell.
-
And every time you sin, God presses,
-
that weight is coming down.
-
That great big door of God's floodgate of wrath,
-
bulging, ready to come forth.
-
And you tempt it.
-
The very hand that holds it back -
-
you kick against it, you kick against it.
-
With every sin, you hate God, hate His people,
-
hate His Word.
-
You say, that's not me - I don't hate it.
-
You're talking awful graphic.
-
I'm telling you this,
-
if you have not bowed the knee to Jesus Christ,
-
you can maybe have some concept of God in your mind.
-
You can have some deception you're going to heaven.
-
But you're not.
-
It's not those who call Him, "Lord, Lord."
-
It's those who do the will of the Father in heaven.
-
You kick against His Lordship.
-
Listen.
-
Why it is so important there in Romans 10:9?
-
That Christ came out of the grave.
-
Let me tell you why it's important.
-
In this epistle to the Romans,
-
the one thing that Paul wants us to see
-
about the resurrection from the dead
-
back in Romans 1:4 is this:
-
Christ coming out of the grave proved Him
-
to be the Son of God in power.
-
When Christ declared Himself to be the Son;
-
When He said, "God is my Father."
-
What did they do?
-
They picked up stones.
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I'll tell you why,
-
because that title "Son of God" means deity.
-
It means He's equal with God.
-
I'll tell you this,
-
that great floodgate that is just bending
-
under the weight of the wrath toward sinners,
-
you realize what it means when it says,
-
"He Who knew no sin became sin."
-
That's not safe to become sin.
-
He willingly walked out underneath that floodgate.
-
He said, "Father, I'll stand in the place of My people."
-
And bang!
-
That floodgate came open.
-
Every bit of the wrath rolled across Him.
-
He drank it.
-
It crushed Him.
-
It wasn't a day in the park.
-
It crushed Him. Every bit of it.
-
He drank it dry.
-
Him coming up out of that grave
-
proved Him to be the Son of God with power.
-
That's what you need.
-
That's the only place of safety.
-
This isn't a mere man we're talking about.
-
He's Lord. But He's more than Lord.
-
He is the Son of God.
-
"My Lord and my God," is what Thomas proclaimed.
-
That's what you need.
-
That's your only place of safety.
-
There is no other place.
-
And I'll tell you this,
-
everyone who calls on the name of the Lord,
-
as old Tyndale said, will be safe.
-
Oh, we've got to find a place of safety.
-
This is why in the Old Testament,
-
they came up under the priesthood
-
and they're establishing the Mosaic covenant,
-
they had these cities of refuge.
-
What were they a picture of?
-
Christ.
-
You need refuge.
-
You're not safe.
-
You're out on the plain.
-
Flee! The wrath of God is coming!
-
You're out there in Sodom and Gomorrah.
-
You're in the City of Destruction.
-
You've got to flee. You've got to run.
-
You say, "but does that include me?"
-
Everyone who calls.
-
It includes you if you call.
-
You say, "you don't know my sin."
-
Everyone who calls.
-
Christ says, "Him that comes to Me,
-
I will in no way cast out."
-
Look.
-
We're in a day,
-
God has moved some,
-
you've got your Jonathan Diaz,
-
pulled into the Kingdom.
-
Lauren Griffin, pulled in.
-
Stacy Bell, pulled in.
-
Why would you stay where it's not safe
-
when others are coming in?
-
Why stay there?
-
Repent.
-
And turn from it all.
-
Let it all go.
-
Bow the knee to Christ.
-
Come to Him.
-
I mean, He has proved Himself worthy.
-
He has proved Himself to be the Son of God.
-
And I'll tell you this,
-
you come to Him, and do you know what verse 12 says?
-
He'll bestow on you all the riches...
-
you know how I've described this,
-
and you go out to the very horizons
-
all the way around.
-
You see this great big floodgate.
-
It's just bulging under the wrath of God.
-
I'll tell you, you come to Christ,
-
and now all of a sudden,
-
you've got a floodgate - it's bulging.
-
It's bulging with the riches of Christ,
-
with the inheritance, with the love of God,
-
and in Christ it's ready to burst upon your head.
-
All for good.
-
Folks, you're not safe.
-
Or you've got a false profession and you know it.
-
You know the thing is not solid.
-
Call. Call fervently. Call earnestly.
-
Call now.
-
Call upon Him until your salvation is certain.
-
Call till you find Christ.
-
Call.
-
Sinner, you are not safe.
-
Amen.