Deuteronomy chapter 29. We begin, especially in the 28th
chapter, if you remember that, Moses was issuing many warnings. He kept using the word cursed. Cursed will you be when you go
out, and cursed you'll be when you come in, and when you lay
down and when you get up. And he began there, especially
in the 28th chapter, issuing these warnings to Israel. And
one of the warnings was and is in this chapter to not depart
from the living God. Do not depart from His Word.
Make sure His Word is your rule of faith and practice. And here
in the twenty-ninth chapter in verse eighteen, look what he
says, verse eighteen and nineteen, Deuteronomy twenty-ninth, Lest
there be among you man or woman or family or tribe whose heart
turneth away this day from the Lord our God, and go and serve
the gods of these nations, lest there should be among you a root
that beareth gall and wormwood. And it come to pass, when he
heareth the words of this curse, that he bless himself in his
heart, saying, I shall have peace though I walk in the imagination
of my heart to add drunkenness to thirst." And one of the reasons
that Moses stressed this over and over again, you find it in
all of Moses' writings from Leviticus on through Deuteronomy, is because
he knew, the Lord revealed it to him and the nation of Israel,
what they would do when Moses was gone. And I want you to read
that in chapter 30 or chapter 31. Look in chapter 31. Look
here in verse 16. This is why these warnings were
necessary. In chapter 31 in verse 16. And the Lord said unto Moses,
Behold, thou shalt sleep with thy fathers, and this people
will rise up and go a whoring after the gods of the strangers
of the land, whether they go to be among them, and will forsake
me, and break my covenant which I have made with them, Then my
anger shall be kindled against them in that day. I will forsake
them, and will hide my face from them. And they shall be devoured,
and many evils and troubles shall befall them, so that they will
say in that day, Are not these evils come upon us, because our
God is not among us?" So these warnings here were necessary.
And as you begin to read, not so much in the book of Joshua,
but in the book of Judges, over and over again, they would forsake
the Lord. They would cast His Word behind
their back. And the Lord would raise up a
judge, a deliverer. He would deliver them and bring
them back to the Lord. They'd have a revival. And when
the judge died, back they would go again. And this happened several
times in the book of Judges. Sometimes, as he tells them here
in verse 18 in our text, it may just be a man or sometimes it
was a group of men that left the Lord and influenced others
to do it. Remember Korah and his friend
Dathan and Abiram, three men that tried to overthrow Moses
there in the wilderness. the Lord opened up the ground
and swallowed them up. So sometimes it was just a group
of men. Remember after this it was a
man by the name of Achan that departed from the Lord in his
heart. And of course he and his whole family was stoned to death. But he says here it may be one
man, it may be a family, it may be a tribe, a whole tribe that
does this in their hearts. It came to my mind when I was
studying this, and you probably remember the tribe of Ephraim
in the last few chapters of the book of Judges. They had some
men in their tribe that was given to open and profane sins, and
Ephraim not only endured their open and profaneness, but they
supported them in it. And God sent the other 11 tribes
against them, and in one day they killed 25,000 warriors among
Ephraim or among Benjamin, the tribe of Benjamin. Ephraim was
another tribe that left God and went off into idolatry. Remember
what God told them to do? Leave Ephraim alone. He is joined
unto idols. So sometimes it was not only
a man or a group of men or a family, but sometimes it was a whole
tribe and sometimes the nation. the whole nation forsook the
Lord. They turned from God many times
to their idols. Remember Elijah's day? It got so bad in Elijah's day
he thought he was the only one that was left. Remember that?
How bad it got in his day! And the Lord reminded him, I've
got seven thousand men who have not bowed the knee to the image
of Baal. And remember when the Lord Jesus
came? What a spiritually Desolate time it was when He came. He
came unto His own and what happened? Were they waiting for Him? Did
they receive Him? His own received Him not. In the temple they despised Him
and tried to drive Him out. He is preaching to one group
of people, one day thousands. There was 5,000 people that left
Him at one time. So it got bad, didn't it? These
warnings were needful in Moses' day because they knew, the Lord
knew what the children of Israel would do. And finally the Apostle
Paul said this, A remnant, a remnant shall be saved. And Isaiah said,
Though the number of the children of Israel be as the sands of
the sea, a remnant shall be saved. And you know they weren't saved
because they were children of Abraham. They weren't saved because
they were Jews. They were born Jews. The only
Jews that were saved were those who lived and died in the faith
of the Son of God. That's the way it's always been.
And Paul prayed for them in his day, didn't he? He said, I pray
for them that they might be saved because they're lost. Israel
is lost. And only a remnant was saved
in Moses' day. And it's always been like that.
Always been like that. Just a remnant has been saved. But he warns them here, and boy,
you find out why they had so many of these warnings. Because
the Lord knew what they were going to do. and He rebuild it
to Moses and rebuild it to them. And He mentions here in verse
20 and through verse 28, He mentions, we can go on and read this, but
He mentions these four things in regards to God's judgment.
Look here how awful these things are just to read about them.
If you'll begin in verse 20. And the Lord, if the man does
what He says in verse 19, the Lord will not spare him. But
then the anger of the Lord and his jealousy shall smoke against
that man, and all the curses that are written in this book
shall lie upon him. And the Lord shall blot out his
name from under heaven. And the Lord shall separate him
unto evil out of all the tribes of Israel, according to all the
curses of the covenant that is written in this book of the law.
So that the generation to come of your children that shall rise
up after you, and the stranger that shall come from afore land
shall say, when they see the plagues of that land, and the
sicknesses which the Lord hath laid upon it, and that the whole
land thereof is brimstone, and salt, and burning, that it is
not sown, nor barren, nor any grass groweth therein, is like
the overthrow of Sodom, and Gomorrah, and Admah, and Zebeon, which
the Lord overthrew in His anger and His wrath. Even all nations
shall say, Wherefore hath the Lord done thus unto this land? What meaneth the heat of this
great anger? Then men shall say, Because they
have forsaken the covenant of the Lord God of their fathers,
which he hath made with them, when he brought them forth out
of the land of Egypt. For they went and served other
gods, and worshipped them, gods whom they knew not, and whom
he hath not given unto them. And the anger of the Lord was
kindled against this land, to bring upon it all the curses
that are written in this book. Now you notice four things here
he describes in regards to God's judgment. He describes it in
four ways. He says His anger, His wrath,
His jealousy, and His indignation. These first two words, anger
and wrath, That describes God's hatred of sin. He hates sin. How do we know? Because He's
angry with it. His wrath is upon sinners. And He uses this word, jealousy,
and that indicates that He takes it personally. It's just like
a husband jealous of his wife. He takes sin against him personally. And this word indignation, you
see it in the Old Testament quite often, and it describes the extent
of God's anger and His wrath upon sin. This word indignation
means to foam due to agitation. Now, sometimes God's anger, it's
adjusted, you could say. by his long-suffering. Why doesn't he be so angry or
his wrath so fall immediately? Because he's long-suffering.
But this word indignation says that he's so agitated with it
that he's reached the boiling point. And therefore His wrath
and His anger vents against sin. That's what this word of indignation
means. He foams until there's a vent. All of you ladies have run a
load for your clothes to put your clothes in and you forgot
to put your detergent in it or something. You've got your clear
water. So you pour your detergent in there and it's still clear
water until you turn that agitator on. Then what happens when you
do that? It begins to foam, doesn't it?
That's what indignation means. It's the foaming up and that's
what God's indignation, His wrath and His anger has reached the
point where it vents against sin. Now you note this, Moses
gives three examples of God's judgment upon sinners. Here in
verse 16, look at verse 16 of our text. He gives three examples. Verse 16, For you know how you
have dwelt in the land of Egypt, and how you came through the
nations which you passed by, and you have seen their abominations
and their idols, wood and stone, silver and gold, which were among
them." He gives them three examples here of God's judgment. Boy,
he gives them all kinds of warnings, all kinds of instructions not
to depart from the living God. And here, first one, he gives
Egypt. He said, you lived in Egypt. I brought you out of Egypt. You know what happened to the
Egyptian. Listen to Exodus chapter 12 and
verse 12. You remember where they took
the blood and put it over the doorpost and the Lord said, I
am going to pass through this night. We often call it the death
angel when He passed through. Listen to verse 12 of that same
chapter. I will pass through the land of Egypt this night.
I will smite the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and
beast, and against the gods of Egypt will I execute judgment,
I am the LORD." He told him that he was going to execute judgment
against all the idols of Egypt. When the children of Israel crossed
the Red Sea, they got on the other side, they sang for the
first time. Here is one line of their song. He hath sent forth His wrath,
and hath consumed them as stubble. So they knew, didn't they? They
knew that God's judgment was upon them. He reminds them of
that here in our text. And then He reminds them in verse
17 of the other nations. You have seen their abominations,
their idols, and their stone, their silver, and their gold,
which were among them. Now look back over here in chapter
9. of Deuteronomy. We studied this.
But look back here in chapter 9. And look in verse 1. Verse 1
and verse 3 through 5. Here, O Israel, Deuteronomy 9.1. Here, O Israel, thou art to pass
over Jordan this day. to go in to possess nations greater
and mightier than thyself. Seed is great and fenced up to
heaven. And verse 3, Understand therefore this day, that the
Lord thy God is He which goeth over before thee as a consuming
fire. He shall destroy them, and He
shall bring them down before your face. so shall thou drive
them out and destroy them quickly as the Lord thy God hath said
unto thee. Speak not thou in thine heart
after that the Lord thy God hath cast them out from before thee,
saying, For my righteousness the Lord hath brought me in to
possess this land. But for the wickedness of these
nations the Lord doeth drive them out from before thee, not
for your righteousness or the uprightness of your heart, doest
thou go in to possess this land. But for the wickedness of these
nations, the Lord thy God doest drive them out from before thee,
and that he may perform the word which he swore unto Abraham,
unto Isaac, and to Jacob." So He gives them that example. Egypt,
His judgment fell upon sinners. These seven nations, He said,
My judgment has fallen upon them. And look back in our text. He
gives them one more example. Look in verse 23. Deuteronomy
29 verse 23. And that the whole land thereof
is brimstone and salt and burning, that it is not sown, nor birth,
nor any grass groweth therein. It is like the overthrow of Sodom
and Gomorrah. He reminds them of the judgment
upon those wicked men. those ungodly men. So He not
only tells them what they are going to do in the future, He
warns them about forsaking the Lord their God in their hearts,
and now He gives them these three examples of His judgment upon
the ungodly. Now let's look at this. What's
the criteria? What's the standard for His judgment?
Well, He tells them in different places. I read it to you there
in verse 20. All the curses written in this
book. And then verse 21, all the curses
of the covenant that are written in the book of the law. And he
repeats it in verse 27 again. All the curses that are written
in this book. And here in chapter 28, I want
you to notice this. One chapter back and look in
verse 60 and 61. Chapter 28 and look in verse
60. Not only does He say all the curses that you've known,
that you've read in this book, but He can't even describe all
the curses. He can't describe all the horrible
things that's going to come upon them in this book. So look what
He says in verse 60. Moreover, He will bring upon
thee all the diseases of Egypt which thou wast afraid of, and
they shall cleave unto thee also every sickness and every plague
which is not written in the book of the law, them the Lord will
bring upon thee until thou be destroyed." So, it can't be described. Again, the judgments of God upon
sinners, unrepentant, unbelieving sinners is so horrible that it
can't be described. So many of them, So various are
the judgments of God upon sin that He can't even name them
all in this book. When the Lord Jesus said the
rich man lifted up his eyes being in torment, who can describe
the nature of those torments? Who can describe how various
they are? We just can't explain it, can
we? And you know upon the cross, this is what makes the cross
so glorious, and this is what makes the cross so mysterious
that we can hardly enter into it. What did the Son of God suffer
in our place, in our stead under the judgment of God? I think
that's one of the reasons that it got so dark there that day. The Lord was telling us, you
can't enter into what's happened here. You can't enter into the
depth of it. of what I'm bearing in your place,
the judgment of God upon sin. We can't grasp it, can we? It's
too horrible when we think about the judgment of God. He said
not only the things that's written in this book, but even the things
that's not written, the things that God even has not put in
His book. Now, if someone asks why we believe
that God is holy, why God is just. And why do we believe that
God will punish a man or He'll punish a family or He'll punish
a tribe or He'll punish a nation or He'll punish the world because
of sin? And that's one of the issues
in our day, isn't it? Will God punish sinners? Is God
not a good God? Is God not a God of love? Will
He punish sinners? That's an issue in our day and
you and I believe it, don't we? We believe that God is holy and
He's just and He must punish sin. Why do we believe that? Well, let me give you three quick
reasons why we believe that. First of all, this, because His
Word says He will. God's Word says He will. From the book of Genesis to Revelation,
The book of God warns men that judgment is coming upon this
world to punish the inhabitants of this world because of sin.
Now, somebody is going to say, and this is something that we
hear quite often, Bruce, you need to get out of the Old Testament
and come into the New Testament. They are different gods, I guess
people think. Well, let's get out of the Old
Testament and go to the New Testament. I want you to run through some
Scripture with me right quickly, okay? Take your Bibles quickly.
Look over in Romans Chapter 1. Put your little marker at Deuteronomy
29 and look over in Romans Chapter 1, but go with me quickly. Find
it quickly. Romans Chapter 1 and look at
the very last verse of Romans Chapter 1. He mentions God's
judgment upon sinners, God giving them up through the lust of their
own hearts and so on. And verse 32. who knowing the
judgment of God, the righteous judgment of God, that they which
commit such things are worthy of death." Now, wait a minute.
The New Testament, Paul, the inspired apostle, just put his
okay on God's judgment upon these sinners in the Old Testament,
didn't he? He just verified that it's the
righteous judgment of God. He didn't say, now wait a minute,
that's wrong. Now wait a minute, we don't represent this kind
of God. No. He said this was a righteous
judgment of God upon them. They're worthy of death, not
only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them. Therefore,
thou art inexcusable, O man, whosoever thou art that judges.
For wherein thou judgest another, thou condemnest thyself. For
thou that judgest doeth the same thing, but we are sure that the
judgment of God is according to truth against them which commit
such things. And thinkest thou this, O man,
that judgeth them which do such things, and doeth the same, that
thou shalt escape the judgment of God? That's one place. Look at another place with me.
Look over in Ephesians. Look at Ephesians chapter 5 and
look in verse 3. Ephesians chapter 5 and verse
3. But fornication, and all uncleanness,
and covetousness, let it not be once named among you as becometh
saints, neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor jesting,
which are not convenient, but rather giving of thanks. For
this you know, that no whoremonger, nor unclean person, nor covetous
man, who is not an idolater, has any inheritance in the kingdom
of Christ and of God. Let no man deceive you with vain
words. For because of these things cometh
the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience." The wrath of
God is still revealed against sinful man, isn't it? Look in
another place. Look in the book of Jude. Right
quickly, look on to your right, look in the book of Jude. Just
read some there. Right on the first, second, third
John, then the book of Jude. Look in verse 3. Just let these
things soak in. He was telling there in verse
3 that He gave all diligence to write unto them, earnestly
contend for the faith, and He begins to tell them why. Verse
4, For there are certain men crept in unaware, unnoticed,
who were before ordained, set aside to this condemnation."
What kind of men are they? Ungodly men. What do they do? Turning the grace of our God
into lasciviousness, denying the only Lord God in our Lord
Jesus Christ. I will therefore put you in remembrance,
though you once knew this, how that the Lord having saved the
people out of the land of Egypt, afterwards destroyed who? Them that believe not. They weren't
saved because they were Jews or Abraham's natural seed. They
were destroyed because they believed not. And the angels which kept
not their first estate left their own habitation he hath reserved
in everlasting change under darkness unto the judgment of the great
day. And look at this. As Sodom and Gomorrah and the
cities about them in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication,
going after strange flesh, are set forth for an example, suffering
the vengeance of eternal fire." Suffering the vengeance of eternal
fire. Likewise, these filthy dreamers,
they defile the flesh, speak evil, they despise dominion,
speak evil of dignities, yet Michael the archangel, when contending
with the devil, disputed about the body of Moses, does not bring
against him a relent accusation, but said, The Lord rebuke thee.
But these speak evil of those things that they know not, but
what they know naturally, as brute beasts, and whose In those
things they corrupt themselves. Woe to them! They have gone in
the way of Cain, ran greedily after the Arab Balaam, and perished
in the gangsan of Korah. These are spots in your feasts
of charity when they feast with you, feeding themselves without
fear. clouds they are without water, carried about of winds,
trees whose fruit withereth, without fruit, twice dead, plucked
up by the roots, raging waves of the sea, foaming out their
own shame, wandering stars." And look at this, "...to whom
is reserved the blackness of darkness forever." He doesn't
pull any punches, does He? He doesn't say, we don't know
anything about a God that hates sin and sinners because of it. And Enoch also, the seventh from
Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with
ten thousands of his saints to execute judgment upon all, and
to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly
deeds which they have ungodly committed, and all their hard
speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him." One
more place. Look over in the very last book
of the Bible. Look over in Revelation chapter 20. And look in verse
10, Revelation chapter 20 and verse 10. We don't know the end of humanity,
don't we? It's been written to us. God
has set aside a day in which He'll judge the world in righteousness.
We know that, don't we? Look in verse 10. The devil that
deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where
the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day
and night forever and ever. I saw a great white throne, and
him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven
fled away, there was found no place for them. I saw the dead,
small and great, stand before God, and the books were opened,
and another book was opened, which is the book of life, and
the dead were judged out of those things which were written in
the books according to their works. And the sea gave up the
dead that were in it, and death and hell delivered up the dead
which were in them. And they were judged every man
according to their works, and death and hell were cast into
the lake of fire. That is the second death, and
whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast
into the lake of fire." Now you find all kinds of threatenings
in the Old Testament, but you find them in the New Testament.
And sometimes in the New Testament they're more exaggerated than
they are in the Old Testament. Sometimes you find such words
as this in the New Testament. If they that despise Moses' law
died without mercy, of how much sore punishment. You find that. So the God of the New Testament
is the same God in the Old Testament. They're one God. and the things
that He threatens to judge and punish everlastingly in the Old
Testament, He does the same in the New Testament. And a man
who lives and dies in his sins, that man will suffer under God's
wrath for all eternity. Now that's tough, ain't it? That's
tough when you face this world and it's tough even us to accept
it. And without His Word, we would not believe it, would we?
I would never hold to eternal punishment. if it wasn't in God's
Word. But what's the standard of judgment? The things that's written in
this book. We don't even know there is a
heaven apart from this book. We don't know there's a hell
or sin or a God apart from this book. So what's the criteria
for such punishment upon sinners? It's God's Word. It's God's Word.
How do we know then? Why do we believe that God will
punish sin? the cause of His Word. The second
reason we know is this. I said I'd give you three reasons.
The second reason we know is this. We've got 6,000 years to
look back on. We've got example after example
set before us that God has punished sin. Wayne's been teaching us
about the fall of Adam and Eve. We believe that, don't we? It'd be hard to explain that
away, wouldn't it? What's going on in this world? Why is everybody
without exception just like they are? One of the reasons we believe
the Bible because it answers the question, what's wrong with
society? Why is everybody just alike?
Why isn't there a few exceptions? Why isn't there somebody that's
good and their mind is not corrupt and they never sin? Because God's
judgment fell upon our first parents. That's example, isn't
it? The angels that sinned, what
happened to them? That's what's going on in the
air today. He judged them and cast them down. The old world
that this world is trying to deny even perished in water. Until they go out on the mountains
and find those seashells, they can't deny it. I mean, throughout
history, The beginning up to this very day, the nations after
nations after nations that God has judged and nothing is left
of them but dust piles and heaps of nothing. And why? Sin. God judges sin, doesn't
He? He judges sinners. That's why
we believe it. That's why we believe it. Somebody said, If God doesn't
judge this nation, then He's going to have to apologize to
Sodom and Gomorrah. And God don't issue any apologies.
If He judged them for their sin, He'll judge this nation. And
the man that says, I just don't believe it, is just denying reality. He's denying how God's always
worked by finally bringing forth judgment. And the third reason
that we believe that God will judge sin and sinners because
of it is by our conscience. Boy, conscience is a powerful
thing, ain't it? Greg talked about his friend, his conscience.
Conscience bothered him. Somebody sent me an email not
long ago and had all the prominent atheists on it and their deathbed
confessions. And man, it was awakening. You
talk about awakening. They spoke very boldly against
God when they were healthy. That boy on their deathbed, they
were crying out. And why? A tormented conscience. Men have a conscience that God
has left them, and when they get along, or when they get in
trouble, one of the things that bothers them about death and
facing eternity is the judgment to come. Because their conscience
says, God will judge me. God will punish my sins. It is
a conscious faith. Back over here in our text one
more time, one more time. In Deuteronomy chapter 29, and look in verse 19, how in
the world could this even happen, what He said here in verse 19?
Look what He said, And it come to pass, when he hears the words
of this curse, he hears them, he reads them, they are preached
to him. And yet he blesses himself in his heart saying, I shall
have peace though I walk in the imagination of my heart to add
drunkenness to thirst. How could he say that? How could
he do that? He's got all of these examples.
He's got the Word. He's got all these predictions
of what God's going to do to him when they leave him. And
yet he says here, I know I'm living in sin. I don't care. I'm going to have peace. How could a man say that? Well,
here's one reason. Because the heart's deceitful
above all things, and desperately wicked, he blesses himself in
his heart, saying, I shall have. No, you won't. God said you would. Oh, I shall have. I was watching
TV last night and this young man, he looks to be about, I
call him young man, he looks to be about 30. He's a conservative
Republican and he's gay. And they were interviewing him.
He's such a, I mean, you'd like this guy. I mean, you'd like
this guy. He's so proper and he's got conservative
in his financial realm and so on. But here's what he said. He said, I am gay and I'm Christian. I am gay and I'm a Christian.
And I thought, I'll take your word that you're gay. You should
take God's word that you're not a Christian. You might as well just say, I'm
a murderer and I'm a Christian. I'm a fornicator and I'm a Christian.
I'm a wicked man and I'm a Christian. You can't be that. Why does he
say that? A deceived heart has turned him
aside. It's turned him aside from the
truth. He's turned him aside from the way of salvation that's
in Christ. It's turned him from the whole
concept of holiness. I'm gay and I'm a Christian.
No, you're not. No, you're not. Oh, yes, I am. Okay, go ahead and think that.
But who told you that? My heart tells me that. God tells
you the truth. Your heart's lying to you, and
your heart's lying to you. God will tell you the truth.
That's the first thing. That's the first thing. A lot
of deceitful things in this world. The Bible says the heart's deceitful
above all things. Above everything, the heart's
deceitful. The Bible says sin is deceitful, doesn't it? Paul
said, Exhort in one another daily, while it's called today, lest
any be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. Sin is a deceitful thing. It will harden a man's heart
and deceive him. Satan is a deceiver, isn't he? The Bible says he deceived
the whole world. The only ones that aren't deceived
by Satan are those who God in mercy has delivered from His
power and translated them into the kingdom of His dear Son.
If you're here tonight and God has never opened your eyes and
brought you to the light, then Satan has deceived you. You say,
I just can't believe that. I rest my case. I rest my case. You don't see the world going
around saying, I'm deceived, I'm deceived. It don't do it.
Why? Because it's deceived. A man deceived don't know it,
does he? Why would a man bless himself in his heart? Why does
the world go on like it's going? Why isn't it awakened? Why isn't
it concerned? I'll tell you why it's deceived.
It's deceived. Here's another reason. Here's
another reason. Why would this man say this?
Why would he go on in his sins against God, leave the living
God in his heart and begin to worship idols and still say,
I'm going to be blessed? Well, seldom, very, very seldom
does judgment fall immediately upon anybody when they've committed
a sin. Very few times in the Bible do
you see that God immediately struck a person because of their
sin. He did that to Lot's wife, didn't He? When she looked back,
immediately He struck her down. David's friend, Usa, when he
reached in to hold the ark, God smote him immediately. But you
know that usually don't happen. Usually men sin, even open and
profane sins, and nothing happens. They just go on. And after a
while, they begin to think. Well, God ain't going to judge
my sin. I'm okay. That's what this man here thought.
Solomon said because judgment upon an evil work is not executed
speedily at once, the hearts of men are fully set in them
to do evil. So they just add one sin upon
another and God is silent. Nothing ever happens. And they
go on and on and on. And the third and final, and
we'll close with this. How could such a man throw the
Word of God and the commandments of God behind his back and say,
I'm going to live with the imagination of my heart and still have peace?
How could a man do that? Well, just blatant unbelief. Just blatant unbelief. He does
not believe the Word of God. That is just it. He does not
believe what God says. The chief cause of damnation
is unbelief. That is the chief cause of damnation. That is the crowning sin. That
is the root of the matter is unbelief. Those tribes of New
Guinea, I was talking to Lance Heller, about those tribes. And
there's places there that never heard of Jesus Christ. Never
had a Bible. But you know they've got nature.
And the Bible teaches, and I don't understand this, but we don't
have to understand all these things. We just believe it's
so. And the Bible declares when men look up and they see God's
creation, there's something about it that says God made this. There
is a God and He is a holy God and just God and His wrath is
revealed against the unrighteousness of man. You know what? If those
heathen that never heard the name of Jesus Christ, if they
believed God's testimony in creation, you know what they would do?
They would humble themselves and seek for mercy and for light. Oh God, give me light! that I
may know you, that I may know the way to be right with you.
But you know why instead of doing that they make silly idols? And
go visit witch doctors and all that silly stuff? They don't
believe. They don't believe the life they have. And then when
we come to land like ours, in a gospel where the gospel is
preached, thankfully week after week, and you've got somebody
sitting in the congregation that don't believe the gospel. They won't seek for mercy. They
won't seek for forgiveness of their sins. Why is that? Just
one answer. Unbelief. It's unbelief. It's too plain, ain't it? It's
too plain. You and I, all of us complain
about we went for years and read over the Gospel. How many of
us in here did that? Read over the Gospel. All of
us have. Was it because it wasn't plain? It was plain. It's plain now,
isn't it? What was the problem? Our blind
unbelief. That was the problem. Our blind
unbelief. I think there ought to be a banner
over heaven's door and a banner over the gate of hell. And maybe
there is. Maybe there is. Maybe over the gate of heaven
is a huge banner. that says believers. And over
the gate of hell, unbelievers. The gate of heaven, those who
trusted God. Those who believed His testimony
concerning His Son. Over the gate of hell, those
who trusted their own hearts. Those who walked after their
own imaginations. That would be a good sign to
have over them, wouldn't it? Because that's the way it is ultimately. And if a man is damned, he'll
go there in spite of all the evidence, all the examples, all
the warnings that the Bible and all around him gives him. He
just won't believe it, will he? He don't believe it. May God
bless this Word. Thank you for your patience.
Lord bless you.