-
I mean, if there's not a love for Christ,
-
if He isn't your all in all,
-
if He isn't what drives your life,
-
if He isn't the center and the core
-
and the main movement of your whole life,
-
if your life isn't just
revolving around Him,
-
you're going to get
thrown away in the end.
-
Can I tell you something?
-
The wicked and the righteous -
-
they're here in this room.
-
We're here together.
-
We're in the same net right now.
-
We can't tell,
-
but the day's coming.
-
Right now, we're in close
proximity with each other.
-
So much so, sometimes even
the most discerning of us,
-
we can't tell.
-
But the day's coming
-
when a separation's going to be made
-
and it's going to be final.
-
We'll never be together
-
ever again.
-
Because you know what?
In that Kingdom of Heaven,
-
no liar is there.
-
No coward is there.
No adulterer is there.
-
All the dogs,
-
all the sorcerers,
-
all those cowards, they're on the outside
-
forevermore.
-
The separation is final.
-
The separation is absolutely right.
-
It is absolutely perfect.
-
In professing Christianity,
-
there is the true and the false,
-
but a day is coming when both
-
will be clearly distinguished
-
and separated forever.
-
Ladies and gentlemen, this is us.
-
I'm not talking about a fairy tale
-
or some Hollywood creation,
-
and I'm not talking about something
-
that happened a long time ago
-
or in a far away place.
-
I'm talking about us.
-
We have all been drug along
-
and are being pulled along
-
by the Gospel net.
-
I'm in here right now
because of the Gospel.
-
And for one reason or another,
-
I suspect you are too,
-
even if you're a child of somebody
-
that came for that reason,
-
and you didn't want to be here.
-
Or your friend dragged you in or whatever.
-
You've gotten pulled by this thing
-
one way or another.
-
This is us.
-
Those angels are going to separate us.
-
This is real.
-
This is true.
-
Jesus Christ came -
-
do you know what He told Pilate
-
about why He came into the world?
-
To bear witness to the truth.
-
And I'll guarantee you if He says
-
the Kingdom of Heaven is like this,
-
it's because it is.
-
And this day is coming
-
and this separation is going to happen.
-
Both are right now in the net:
-
wicked and righteous.
-
Though there's many kinds,
-
bottom line, there's only two.
-
He says there is the evil or the wicked,
-
and He says there is the righteous.
-
Look, there is not a third category.
-
There is not.
-
You have people today:
-
"I don't go to church."
-
"I don't bow to Christ."
-
"I don't pray to Christ."
-
"But... you know, I don't go
-
persecute His people either."
-
Listen, Jesus says,
-
"If you're not for Me, you're against Me."
-
Lay it down.
-
You're for Him or you're against Him.
-
I'm not talking about whether you
-
come to church or not.
-
This says there's many in the net
-
that are going to be tossed out.
-
It doesn't have to do with whether
-
you say, "Lord, Lord."
-
He says it's not everybody
-
that uses My name,
-
that says to Me, "Lord, Lord,"
-
that's going to enter the
Kingdom of Heaven.
-
You know who it is?
-
It's those who have been
genuinely born again.
-
That's somebody - a new
creation in Christ,
-
who now, out of a transformed reality,
-
they do the will of the Father.
-
They practice righteousness.
-
Is that not the description?
-
My wife was hitting 1 John.
-
1 John 3:9-10 - you see
that kind of reality.
-
If you're born of God,
you practice righteousness.
-
(Incomplete thought)
-
You know the thing about this?
-
You know the fact about this
-
is that when we talk about the evil
-
and the righteous,
-
nobody ever thinks they're the evil.
-
We have them in this room,
-
but you don't think you are.
-
The thing is, it's not even just those
-
that are caught in the net.
-
It's those that are out in the sea still
-
that aren't in the net.
-
You go around to these homes out here,
-
people think they're pretty
good people, don't they?
-
I mean, you go out and ask, it's amazing.
-
You can go to a prison
-
where people are armed robbers,
-
murderers, and rapists,
-
and they're pretty good people.
-
They think they're pretty good.
-
You know, who is wicked?
-
Hitler. Right?
-
Everybody says Hitler. Hitler is wicked.
-
You know anybody else that's wicked?
-
You know what Scripture says?
-
In 2 Thessalonians 2:12,
-
when Jesus comes,
-
He is going to condemn -
-
now check this out -
-
He is going to condemn
-
all who had pleasure in unrighteousness.
-
You say, "I went to church."
-
A profession of faith
-
is no guarantee you're saved.
-
The fact that you sing the songs
-
and even feel good feelings over the songs
-
and say "Lord, Lord" in the songs,
-
and cast out demons,
-
and do many mighty works,
-
and all those things -
-
the Scripture says there
are no guarantees there.
-
No guarantees.
-
Think with me here.
-
They had pleasure in unrighteousness.
-
That's what you need to ask yourself.
-
Can you sit back and watch a filthy movie
-
and take good pleasure in that?
-
Can you hear a guy tell
a dirty joke at work
-
and you laugh at that?
-
I mean, you're just going through life,
-
and you're just taking pleasure
-
in unrighteousness.
-
You take pleasure in gaining money.
-
You take pleasure in the things
-
that the world takes pleasure in.
-
You take pleasure in sports
-
or in sewing or gardening
-
or whatever it is
-
over and above Christ.
-
Christ is not first.
Christ is not chief.
-
Christ is not loved.
-
(incomplete thought)
-
How about Romans 2?
-
"But for those who are self-seeking
-
and do not obey the truth,
-
but obey unrighteousness,
-
there will be wrath and fury."
-
All you have to do is be self-seeking.
-
Look, you don't have to go through life
-
living in the gutter;
-
living the life of a prostitute
or a drug addict
-
or living in all sorts of heinous sin.
-
You can just be a moral person.
-
You just want to do life your way.
-
You're self-seeking.
-
You know, you'll look pretty good,
-
pretty respectable.
-
You'll even go to church,
-
but God forbid Jesus Christ
-
command your life totally,
-
and you forsake all and bow at His cross.
-
Just self-seeking.
-
Taking pleasure in unrighteousness.
-
These are the people in the end
-
who are these bad fish.
-
And they're separated from the good.
-
They're separated.
-
They're tossed out.
-
The test is not whether
you make a profession.
-
It is the fruit of your life.
-
That's why in the end,
-
we're going to be judged
-
based on our works.
-
You say, aren't we saved by faith?
-
Well, yes. Then why are
we judged by works?
-
Because true faith always produces
-
love for Christ.
-
It always produces a love for His ways,
-
a love to be ruled by Him,
-
a love for His commandments.
-
That's always the case.
-
The love of Christ.
-
Brethren, you have the other parable.
-
The man's walking along
through the field
-
and finds the treasure.
-
He goes and sells all that he has
-
so that he can have the treasure.
-
I'll tell you what, that's forsaking all.
-
Why? Why will a man forsake everything?
-
Because he's found something
-
that's a greater treasure.
-
And when people's eyes are truly opened
-
to behold the glory of God
in the face of Jesus Christ,
-
they will abandon everything.
-
They will abandon. And you know what?
-
You don't have to be
around people too long.
-
you can tell people who
are religious church-goers
-
versus somebody who loves Christ.
-
I mean, you can tell.
You can tell the difference.
-
I was just reading about
-
one of those first Great Awakenings -
-
Daniel Rowland - he was a key
-
Great Awakening figure out of Wales.
-
And he said this: lost men love doctrine.
-
I'm not saying saved
men don't like it too,
-
but his very point was
lost men love doctrine.
-
Saved men love Christ.
-
Oh, you can get somebody
-
that wants to argue all the
five points of Calvinism
-
and they want to argue
the supralapsarianism
-
Sam was talking about before.
-
They want to argue election.
-
They want to argue about all these things.
-
Bottom line, you can
tell the true Christian
-
despite what his theology might look like.
-
They can be Arminian to the core,
-
but you can tell people
when you're around them,
-
they are surrendered to Christ
-
and they love Him.
-
And they walk in the light
-
of the glory of Him.
-
Let me tell you this.
-
Men and women are thrown into hell.
-
They're not just put there.
-
They're thrown there.
-
It is like a repulsive thing.
-
It's these holy angels.
-
(incomplete thought)
-
It's like, even a man like Paul could say,
-
right there as he's
wrapping up 1 Corinthians
-
at the end of chapter 16,
-
he says let everybody be cursed
-
who does not love the Lord Jesus Christ.
-
It's that kind of thing.
-
They find these fish
-
who they were in the church,
-
they were among God's people.
-
They got pulled in.
-
They're like that one that's found
-
at the wedding without the garment on.
-
They're naked. They're filthy.
-
They're nasty. They're vile.
-
And these angels,
-
it's like they're so repulsive
-
they're just cast.
-
They're thrown. They're rejected.
-
Men are thrown into hell.
-
It is a fearful thing.
-
You know, one thing that's just true
-
of every one of us?
-
You know how the Scripture says
-
God is no respecter of men.
-
We are respecters of men.
-
The truth is everyone of us
in this room respects ourself.
-
I mean, there are things we
just would not want done.
-
Somebody throwing us into hell.
-
People will say, "My God's not like that."
-
But let me tell you something,
-
the God of the Scriptures is like that.
-
And the problem is
-
it doesn't have so much to do with
-
what God's like -
well, it does in a great way,
-
but it has a lot to do
with what you're like.
-
You see, people have a very
high view of themselves.
-
You know what it takes
-
for a holy God to cast sinners
-
into hell like that?
-
In such a detestable fashion?
-
It has to do with how filthy
-
and how ugly and how useless
-
and how wicked and how sinful
-
you truly are.
-
See, we're respecters of self,
-
so we generally have
-
much higher views of ourselves
-
than what we ought to have.
-
Even as Christians, that's true.
-
But God is no respecter.
-
And if He finds you in that net
-
in that day by way of His angels,
-
if you're found in that net,
-
and you're found there in that condition,
-
you are going to be thrown away.
-
It is going to be violent.
-
It is going to be on purpose.
-
And God is going to
be no respecter of you.
-
And in that time, the
age of the net is done.
-
Men typically look in this life
-
for a second chance.
-
You know, we get sick.
-
We have this idea we're
going to get well again.
-
You lose a job, you have an idea
-
that you're going to get
another job again.
-
And this life is full of second chances,
-
but I'll tell you in that day,
-
there will be no more casting of the net.
-
There will be no more offer of mercy.
-
There will be no more offer of grace.
-
No more offer of God's compassion.
-
You know what happens?
-
They're thrown out there
-
and there is weeping
and gnashing of teeth.
-
And I'll tell you one of the things
-
that will induce weeping in the damned
-
if they were in the net -
-
think with me here -
-
think with me if you're
like one of the demons.
-
The demons fell into sin.
-
The lake of fire has been created
-
for Satan and for his demons.
-
You sinned. You got what you deserved.
-
Justice came.
-
You're in the lake of fire.
-
It's horrible.
-
It's horrible beyond imagination
-
because the punishment is horrid.
-
But can you imagine
-
to be in the lake of fire
-
and to be a man or a woman?
-
To belong to a race
-
to whom a Savior was sent?
-
But you know what,
-
we support missions in Papua New Guinea.
-
What if you're one of those cannibals
-
and you died before
the missionary ever came?
-
That's miserable.
-
That's miserable being in hell
-
and to know you deserved it.
-
But how much will it intensify it to know
-
that a Savior was sent to your race,
-
but you never heard?
-
But in creation, there was light.
-
You realized there was a God
-
and you rejected it.
-
But I'll tell you this,
-
to not be like a devil,
-
to not be like the cannibal,
-
but to be like you -
-
to have sat in the church;
-
to have sat under the Gospel;
-
to have had Christ offered
-
right before you,
-
the cross set up in your sight,
-
Christ publicly portrayed as crucified.
-
If any one of you in this room
-
ends up cast away, thrown away,
-
your weeping will be the most intolerable.
-
To know that you had Christ set
-
right there before you;
-
right there.
-
And you chose your sin.
-
You would not bow your knee.
-
You would rather take
pleasure in unrighteousness.
-
There was some idol in your life
-
that you held on to.
-
You will weep.
-
It will be the most distressing thing
-
to suffer punishment rightfully,
-
justly like the demons.
-
It's horrible!
-
But to know,
-
I had eternal life -
-
not only did I have an escape
-
out of this place I find myself in,
-
but it wouldn't just to have
been brought to nothing,
-
or annihilated,
-
or just to have been
relieved from the pain.
-
There was a Heaven.
-
There was a glory.
-
There was a Paradise to be had
-
and I despised it.
-
It was eternal, and
I rather forsook Christ.
-
I turned my back on Him.
-
I didn't listen to the preacher.
-
I thought more about the football game.
-
I thought more about the work.
-
I thought more about money.
-
I thought more about sex
-
and all the gods of this world.
-
I thought more about drinking and drugs
-
and partying and pleasure and fun
-
and being with my friends,
-
and I chose that over Christ.
-
And I sat there in the church.
-
I heard Sam and others
-
stand in that pulpit,
-
and week after week, I heard it,
-
and I rejected it.
-
I went out and I shook myself
-
like Samson did,
-
and I just blew it off.
-
I wanted those demons to come like birds
-
and pick the seed away.
-
I wanted it.
-
I tried to douse my conscience.
-
I didn't want to feel it.
-
And it says not only do they weep,
-
it says they gnash with their teeth.
-
Christ is altogether lovely.
-
He is altogether glorious.
-
And there isn't a thing in this world
-
that is worth holding on to
-
because you know what?
-
There isn't a thing in this world
-
that you're going to
be able to hold on to.
-
It's all going to be taken away.
-
I mean, what a fool that person is
-
to hold on to something
-
and reject Christ,
-
that they're going to
lose in the end anyway.
-
Absolutely foolish.
-
Jesus Christ was nailed to that cross
-
and He bore the wrath of God Almighty.
-
He drank that cup.
-
Even in anticipation of it,
-
He said, "I sorrow unto death."
-
Even the contemplation by the Son of God,
-
the mighty Son of God even contemplating
-
what horrors lie in wait for the damned,
-
that He must drink on
behalf of His people.
-
The Son of God - it brought Him
-
to the point of death.
-
He sorrowed unto death.
-
He sweat great drops of blood.
-
And He went to that cross,
-
and the sun forbeared to shine
-
and the wrath of God Almighty
-
fell upon Him.
-
The weeping and gnashing of teeth is real.
-
He bore my weeping
-
and my gnashing of teeth.
-
He bore it.
-
Full, poured on His head.
-
I am free.