This morning we talked to you
at great lengths about the fierceness of the anger of God
and that great compassion of the Lord toward his only beloved
son, and tried to insist that the sin of sins is the rejection
for the want of a better word, the rejection of the Lord Jesus,
the Savior. I used to say all the time that
man doesn't go to hell because he doesn't believe in the Lord
Jesus. He goes to hell because he's a sinner. Now, that's not
the whole truth. Man does go to hell because he
doesn't believe in the Lord Jesus. That's the sin of sins. That's
the crime of the ages. throughout the Old Testament
as well as the New, particularly the New Testament because it's
so evident in story form that it's clearly seen, the love of
God toward his son. God sent his son into this world. This is my beloved son. I'm well
pleased in him. The Father always hears him. The Father always honors the
Son. He that honoreth the Son honoreth
the Father also. God loves his Son with a compassion
and love that defies description, even defies our own imagination. God loves the Lord Jesus Christ,
his only begotten Son. And he sent him into this world.
And he came into a world that was strange in a sense. He came
into his own, but his own received him not. But it was a strange
world. A cold and dismal world of hatred
and bitterness. A world where he had no friends. after much manipulations and
schemes, the Pharisees and the scribes and the religious people
of his day, the very elite of Israel, concocted together a
scheme, a story, a pack of lies in order that he might be caught
up. to show and demonstrate their
awful, awful hatred towards the Lord's Son. They gathered Him
together and crucified Him on Calvary's brow. God charges every
member of the human race with a part in that crucifixion. And
He's fiercely mad and angry with everyone this evening who is
not in love with His Lord. with the Lord Jesus, His Son.
I tried to tell you that this morning, and I want to tell you
a few other things here this evening. If you'll turn with
me to the 12th chapter of the book of Luke, I believe it is,
Luke chapter 12. I want you to know that it's
no light thing. It's no light thing to think lightly of Him, the Lord
Jesus. We certainly ought to prize Him
over and above everything else in this world. If we don't love
Him, we ought to cry out unto God that He might begin that
love in our hearts for him. I said Luke chapter 12, did I?
Is that what I said? Well, I think I'm wrong. Maybe
I won't have a new Bible, and I generally do a little marketing
in them Bibles, and I know where I'm at, maybe, sometimes. In this twelfth chapter, let's
begin reading there at the first verse. It says, In the meantime,
when there were gathered together an innumerable multitude of people,
insomuch that they trod one upon another. He began to say unto
his disciples first of all, Beware ye of the leaven of the Pharisees,
which is hypocrisy, for there is nothing covered that shall
not be revealed, neither hid that shall not be known. Therefore
whatsoever ye have spoken in darkness shall be heard in the
light, and that which ye have spoken in the ear in closets
shall be proclaimed upon the housetops. And I say unto you, my friends,
be not afraid of them that kill the body, and after that have
no more that they can do. But I will forewarn you, whom
ye shall fear, fear him which after he hath killed hath power
to cast into hell. Yea, I say unto you, fear him. Let me read those two verses
again. But I say unto you, my friends, Be not afraid of them
that kill the body. Don't be afraid of them, he said.
After that, have no more that they can do. That's their best. That's all they can do. But I
will forewarn you whom ye shall fear. Fear him, that's God. Which after he hath killed, have
power to cast into hell. Yea, I say unto you, fear him." Well, he's talking about the
wrath of God. Let me tell you a little bit
about the wrath of God, just for a few seconds, and I'm going
to tell you about some good things. Let me tell you about the wrath
of God. It's the wrath of an infinite
God. If it was only the wrath of man,
if that's what was indicated from these warnings in the Bible
that we had to do with why we could disregard, probably, or
at least take them light, if it was the wrath of man that we had to stand before or endure. It's not the wrath of man, it's
the wrath of an infinite God. You know, the greatest earthly
potentates in their greatest majesty and glory and splendor
and strength, and clothed in their greatest terror, are but
feeble worms. They are but helpless grasshoppers
and worms in the dust. in comparison to the infinite
God. All the kings of the earth before
God are, as grasshoppers, nothing, and the Bible says less than
nothing, as they are compared to the power and might and the
wrath of an infinite God. Now, this wrath of God, that John's talking about here. He's
talking about the wrath of God. He's talking about don't be bothered
so much about this potentate or this king or this prince or
this principality who all he can do is kill the body. When he's killed the body, he
can't go any farther. The best he can do is take you
to the graveyard. That's all he can do. That's
all he can do is kill you, take you to the graveyard. He said,
I forewarn you, I forewarn you. Fear Him, fear Him when He hath
killed the body. Fear Him when He has killed the
body and cast a man into hell. Fear Him. It's the fierceness of the wrath
of God that a man's exposed to who's not made righteous through
the imputed righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. It's the
fierceness of that wrath that he's exposed to. Listen, over
here in Isaiah chapter, in Ezekiel chapter, I said 18, I meant 8, and verse 18. Listen to what
he says now. That's Ezekiel chapter 8 and
verse 18. He says, Therefore will I also
deal in fury. That means wrath. God says, I
also will deal in wrath. And mine eye shall not spare,
neither will I have pity, though they cry in mine ears with a
loud voice, yet will I not hear them." He's talking about the
fierceness of his wrath that we're exposed to. That is, he
will, as we've said many times, that God will at that day when
men have finally reached the climax of their lifetime and
experience, and have flatly denied and rejected the counsel and
the love and the mercy and the longsuffering of God, and God's
forbearance and longsuffering has finally come to an end. When
God has run out of patience, in other words, and He takes
His hand off of the individual, then He will be exposed. He will be exposed then to the
fierceness of the wrath of God. And I've tried to say here that
if it was just the fierceness of the wrath of man, we could
maybe disregard it. Maybe we could muster up enough
strength to withstand the wrath of man. But we're dealing with
an infinite God, and we're not able to rise up when He sets
down. We're not able to do that. And
when he inflicts, now listen, when he inflicts his fury and
his wrath upon whoever he might be, whoever he might be, if he
be outside of Christ, God will inflict wrath upon him and he
will not spare him and neither will he have pity. And that's one of the most saddest
things in all the Bible, that God one day, will execute punishment
and wrath upon men who do not love his Son. And he'll do so
without pity. And I've told you this morning,
they deserve it. A man, woman, or boy or girl
who does not love the Lord Jesus Christ, doesn't love the Lord
Jesus Christ, he deserves the infinite wrath of an infinite
God without pity. He deserves it. I wouldn't want
it. I wouldn't want it. Certainly
I wouldn't want it. But if I got it, I would deserve
it. I would deserve it. But it will
be inflicted without pity. God will not spare the rod. He will inflict punishment. And
I mean punishment. I'm not talking about smacking
our fingers. I'm not talking about standing
in a corner. That's not what I'm talking about.
I'm not talking about being deprived of watching the television. I'm
not talking about being penalized from work for a few days. I'm
not talking about having your operator's card taken away from
you. That's not what I'm talking about. I'm talking about punishment. I'm talking about pain. I'm talking
about torment. I'm talking about torment. T-O-R-M-E-N-T,
torment. God will inflict punishment pain
and torment and they'll not be an ounce of pity. No pity. No pity. No pity. Many times you who are parents
inflict punishment upon your children, but there's always
pity. There's always pity. There's
always that reluctance. There's always that reluctance
to punish. Always hate to do. But there
will come a time when God lets go, when God takes His hand off,
and we fly through that thin air that separates us from eternity. God will inflict punishment without
pity. He said, Neither will I have
pity, though they cry in mine ears with a loud voice, yet will
I not hear them. Isn't that sad? Isn't that sad?
Oh, I thank God this evening. I thank Him. If I know anything
of my soul this evening, I thank Him and I praise Him. But I'll never have anything
to do with that verse. He's not talking to me. He's not talking
to me. He's talking to those that doesn't
love His Son. And then if you'll turn over
with me to to Isaiah chapter 66 verse 15. He says, For behold,
the Lord will come with fire, and with his chariots like a
whirlwind, to render his anger with fury, that's his wrath,
and his rebuke with flames of fire. For by fire And by his
sword shall the Lord plead with all flesh, and the slain of the
Lord shall be many. Then turn to chapter sixty-three
of this same book, and verse number two and three. Wherefore art thou red in thine
apparel, and thy garments like him that treadeth in the I have
trodden the winepress alone, and the people there was none
with me, for I will tread them in my anger, my wrath, my fury,
and trample them in my fury, and their blood shall be sprinkled
upon my garments, and I will stain all of my raiment." Well,
I'll tell you what that means. That means that he'll execute
the fierceness of his wrath and anger and inflict that anger
and that wrath without pity. In fact, what he'll do, he'll
crush that man without compassion. Whoever the person is, man, woman,
boy or girl, who has heard, well, it doesn't make a difference
how many times he's heard, but I do feel concerned, and my heart's
heavy, Because there's many, even here this evening, that
you've heard. You've heard about the Lord Jesus
Christ. Make no mistake about that. You've
heard about Him. You've heard about Him. But you've
said no in your heart. You've said no in your heart.
Don't tell me that you've embraced the Lord Jesus and no one knows
about it. There's no such thing as that. If you've embraced Him
in your heart as your Lord and your Savior, you're going to
let someone know about it. It'll leak out on you. You'll identify
with Him. You'll be glad to. You'll rejoice
in that God has made you His favorite. And you'll delight
in the love and grace of God that delivered you from the wrath
to come and have forgiven you your sins freely for Christ's
sake. You'll let someone know about
it. You'll identify with it. You sure will. So I say this. If something would
happen, if something would happen, and I told you this morning that
there are many unseen and unheard of ways that God can take a man
from the scenes of time so quick it will make his head swim. And
if that would happen, if that would happen, I speak it in love
and compassion and tenderness, God would crush the blood out
of you. He would crush you like a worm. He would crush you until
your blood stained his garments and stained his vestments. That's what he says. He said, I will tread them in
my anger and trample them in my fury and their blood shall
be sprinkled upon my garments. See, there will be no moderation. There will be no moderation or
mercy, and he will not stay the rough wind of his wrath and his
anger. But you see, brethren, this is
a fierce wrath, a fierce, fierce, fierce wrath of God. I couldn't
tell you how fierce it is. I sure couldn't. And I also know
it's an everlasting wrath. It doesn't just last for a day.
I know it would be hell to suffer in the fierceness of his wrath
if it was just for a moment, if it was just for a minute.
That would be terrible, wouldn't it? Just to be exposed and be
the recipient of the wrath of God for twenty seconds, or for
one minute, or for a moment. But to suffer the wrath of God,
the wrath of an infinite God throughout the Eternity to come
will be more than the mind can comprehend. The Bible indicates
that it will be a boundless duration. It will swallow up your thoughts
and bring about an absolute despair in your heart and mind. My soul,
you don't want that, do you? You don't want that. I don't.
You think about that. a boundless duration. Swallow
up your thoughts. You'll not think of anything
but pain and torment. Oh, I said all that to say this. I said all that, combined with
what I said this morning. I said it all. To arrive at this
point, to arrive at this point, that this, tonight, October the
28th, 1978, that this is a day of mercy. This is a day in which
God pities men! He pities them. Now He pities
them. You've got opportunities, see?
You've got the Gospel preached to you. You've got Bibles. You've
got this building to come to. It doesn't cost nobody a penny
if they don't want to pay. They don't have to pay for the
lights. They don't have to pay for the heat. All they have to do is come.
All they have to do is come and hear. Listen, if you haven't
got a Bible, there's one laying around. You can pick it up. Or
someone would buy you a Bible. It's free. There's no charge
to it. You've got opportunity. This is a day of God's mercy. I'm telling you that there will
be a day of the fierceness of the wrath of God when He lets
go of man. When He lets him go, He's got
him now hanging, suspended over the devil's hell. And the devil's waiting and the
demon's ready to pounce upon you. When God lets you go, you're
going to drop and wake up in this awful place of torment. But now, but now, Now the long-suffering
of God, the mercy of God restrains God from letting you go. He's
given you ample time and opportunity. And that's what the Bible means
when it says, now is the day of salvation. Now is the time. Now it's a day of mercy, it's
a day of pity. There'll come a time when God
will inflict punishment without pity, but now it's a day of pity,
a day of mercy. Oh, my soul. God stands ready
to pity you. This is the day of mercy. This
is the day of mercy. God stands ready to pity you.
Can you understand now, in light of that, if that's true? If that's
true, and it's true, it's true. Can you understand then, if men
will continue to go through this life, hearing day after day,
week after week, hearing the good news of the Lord Jesus Christ
that He died for poor, helpless, hopeless, mortals, sinners, worms
of the dust like you and I, and we go through this life with
the gospel falling upon us just like water on a duck's back.
We're not concerned, not interested, not interested. I heard a fellow
say recently, he said, well, he said, I've been I've been
in the way for 25 years." And he said, if someone or if God
somehow said, I know it'll not happen, he said, it's far-fetched
because he's trying to make a point, but he said, if something would
take place right now and say, well, there's no God, there's
no heaven, and there's no hell, he said, I wouldn't trade that
25 years that I've had. He said, I'd still go on like
I've been going on. Still go on. I'd still go on
trying to be kind and nice and generous and lovely and all that. I'd still be doing it. I'd still
follow this same life. So it's not like, you know, you
talk to people about the gospel and you try to get them to close
with Christ. You try to get them to embrace
the Lord Jesus Christ and you'd think you was asking them to
do something that was terrible. But this is the only way of life.
There's no other way of life than the life of a Christian.
No other way. This is the life of contentment
and satisfaction and purpose and happiness, the life of a
Christian. Why anyone would even contemplate
and think otherwise, I don't know. You're not being deprived
of nothing. So why couldn't I be a Christian?
You're not being deprived of nothing. God's given you everything. He's given it to you. But men,
just as sure as I'm standing here before you, there's men
and women and boys and girls who will pay no attention to
what I've said, no attention to what other men say amen to,
and they will continue to bow their back and stiffen their
neck and go to hell as fast as their legs will carry them. Oh,
if you do, if you do, God help you. God help you, but He won't. God pity you, but He won't. If you go to hell, God help you,
but He won't. If you go to hell rejecting God's
only Son, God pity you, but God won't pity you. He won't pity
you. He won't pity you. He won't show no pity to you.
Oh, I'm amazed. I told you this morning that
every time I think about it, I'm amazed. I'm amazed that He
saved me. Aren't you amazed that He saved
you? You never deserve to be saved. You didn't deserve it.
Ah, you're guilty. Everything that they said about
you is true. In fact, a half hadn't been told. If they'd told,
they'd tell it all about you. I used to think, well, they're
telling things here about me. Oh, I just don't know about that. But after I got into the grace
of God and began to see my own heart, well, I said, well, man,
I thank God they didn't tell it all. I thank God that they
didn't look down into my heart and unlock that safe there that
contains all of that evil and corruption and wickedness in
my heart. The half hadn't been told. You
never deserved it. Oh, this is a day of mercy, a
day of pity, a day of pity. God will pity you now if you
come to His Son, the Lord Jesus. That's right. I bid you to come. There's no other way. I haven't
got anything else to say to you. Come to Jesus. Come to Him. Come
to Jesus just like you are. Don't bring anything. He doesn't
need anything. He doesn't need anything. Don't
come offering Him the wealth of China. The gold in a thousand
hills belongs to Him. The cattle in a thousand hills
belongs to Him. If I was hungry, He said, I wouldn't
ask you for it. If I was thirsty, I wouldn't ask you for a drink.
I have everything. Don't bring anything. Just come
like you are. Just come. Guilty, guilty, I'm
guilty. I'm guilty. I'm a guilty sinner
before God. I haven't loved the Lord Jesus,
but I see, I see. God's given me eyes to see and
a heart to understand what He's talking about. I bow before Him. I fall prostrate before His feet
and I embrace Him. He's mine and I'm His. I come
to Jesus just like I am. Turn with me to Ephesians chapter,
what is it? Chapter 1, Ephesians chapter
1. Chapter 1, verse number 6, let
me read this to you. It says, "...to the praise of
the glory of His grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the
Beloved." Oh, when a man comes to the Lord Jesus, God makes
him accepted in the Beloved. What a state of privilege! It includes, certainly, justification
before God. When we are accepted, as this
verse says, accepted in the Beloved, that includes justification before
God. justified before God. But it means more than that.
It means this. It means that we are the objects
of divine delight. That's what it means. I read
one time where a Greek scholar said that's what that meant.
The object of divine delight. The objects of divine love. God's delighted in us. The man
that comes to the Lord Jesus You see, that poor sinner, that
poor sinner, helpless, hopeless, that worm in the dust, that grasshopper,
he comes to the Lord Jesus. God makes him accepted and a
beloved. He becomes his delight. God delights
in him. He delights in him for Christ's
sake. But notice this. Isn't it wonderful, Lo, that
we're worms, mortal sinners, and we be the objects of God's
divine love? But notice this. Don't miss this.
Don't miss this. It's only in the beloved. Notice
that. We're accepted. How? Where are
we accepted? In Christ. You can't get around
Christ. You can't do it. You can't evade
the Lord Jesus Christ and get to heaven. I mean, He's there.
He's the door. I'm the door. If any enter in, I'll give Him
rest. He'll go in and out and find
pasture for His soul. I'm the door. I'm the door. Can't
get in any other way. I'm the door. It's in Christ. You're accepted. In the Beloved. Accepted. You're the object of
divine delight and mercy and love. But it's all in Him. It's
all in Christ. Accepted in the Beloved. You
know, there's lots of folks this way. Maybe I can help somebody
tonight, I hope. But there's a lot of people that
seem to be, they seem to be, and they want to be accepted
in their own experience. If they're heavenly minded for
a day or two, or a week or two, or a month or two, or an hour
or two, when their hopes are bright and they feel good, they
think that God accepts them. I'm talking about men and women
who profess faith in the Lord Jesus. They think, well, I'm
heavenly minded. I've been studying the Bible
here for three or four weeks, and I've had an interest in the
Bible, And it doesn't look like it's temporary. It looks like
it's genuine. It looks like it's real. And
I'm just kind of zealous for the cause and the claims of the
Lord Jesus Christ. Now, they seem to think that
they'll be accepted according to their experience, according
to their feelings. When they feel good, they think
God will accept them. But when they're down and they
have backslidden When they've lost this holy zeal
and this holy love, and when it becomes, for a time, just
periodical, habitual in their experience, they're down, and
they're kind of in the dust. They're victims of that fear
then that they have not been accepted. Well, they said, well,
I don't feel like it now. I'm down. I'm not like, I'm not
zealous, I'm kind of cold and dismal and well, I believe I'm,
surely I'm not accepted in the beloved now. Oh listen brethren,
if we could see and understand whether we're high or whether
we're low, that we stand accepted in one who never alters. We're
accepted in the Lord Jesus Christ. We're accepted in Him. Can you
see that, Bob? I can see that. We're accepted
in Christ. He never changes. He doesn't
go up and He doesn't go down. He never changes. We're accepted
in Christ! Jesus the Lord. Not accepted
according to your experience, whether it rises or lowers, you're
accepted in Christ. In Christ. Oh, what a privilege! A man comes to Jesus, God makes
him accepted in the Beloved. lest at which we stand accepted
in Him, in one who never alters, always perfect, always without
spot, and always without wrinkle. The Lord Jesus. I'm so glad that
I love Him this evening. I love Him because He first loved
me, but I'm glad that I love Him. It may not appear at times
like I do. And I'm sure that even some of
my closest friends might say, well, there's times that I just
wonder about him. He doesn't act like he loves
him. It doesn't look like he's accepted
in the Beloved, but boy, it doesn't depend on me, on him who never
alters. I'm accepted in Christ, accepted
in the Beloved. Listen, you may look and study
and weigh. But Jesus Christ is a greater
Savior than you may think Him to be when your thoughts are
the highest. He's greater than you think.
He's more ready to pardon, listen now, He's more ready to pardon
than you are to sin. He's more ready and eager and
willing to pardon the poor sinner than you are to sin. And my soul,
we sin, and we sin and sin and love to sin as a dog lappeth
water. But He's more willing, He's more
ready to pardon than you and I are to sin. He's more ready
to forgive, more able, more able to forgive then you and I are
to transgress. There's no love like His. There's
no music like the music that comes from His instrument. Oh,
He makes you lie down in green pastures. He leads you beside
the still waters. He'll dry your tears. He'll dry
your eyes and wipe away your tears. There's no Savior like
my Savior. There's no Lord like my Lord.
I bid you to flee to him this evening, ere it's too late, before
it's too late. Flee to him, flee to him. I certainly
don't want to have to stand up here sometime and say, well,
there he or she lays. I don't know, I'm not, I have
no confidence, no assurance. I know they heard all these years,
they heard, they listened, they respected me, they respected
the officers of this church, and they done that. But they
come to church, and some of them even gave their money. They didn't
curse, and they didn't lie, and they were morally, but I don't
know whether they ever closed with my Lord or not. I don't
know whether they ever believed on my Lord Jesus Christ or not.
If they did, they never said anything about it. If they did,
they never identified themselves. And our Lord said, he that believeth
on me and is baptized, the same shall be saved. Doesn't mean
that baptism is a means of saving you, but says baptism is a means
of confessing. That's what it says. That's what
it says. Confessing. Well, I hope that's
been of some help to you. It has me. It has me. Because
I see, I see more now than I ever have in my life. of the mercy
and the compassion of God Almighty and the love of God toward His
Son. I see that. I see how God loves His Son.
God loves Him. He loves the Lord Jesus Christ.
Words can't describe His love to His Son. And you reject His
Son, then you offended Him, you offended God. God's offended. He's offended and He's mad and
He's angry. See? He holds you. But now is the day of pity, the
day of mercy.