I think most of you have seen the tragedy that occurred
in my home state of Arkansas this week. That's a popular place, Albert
Pike. I have lots of friends that went
there when I was growing up. They said that in just a short
space of time, between 3 a.m. and 5 a.m., the Little Missouri
rose from 3 feet to over 23 feet. And in the dark of night, campers
that were there, men and women, young and old, were swept away
by the floodwaters. I think the last I saw, there
were 16 dead, and they really don't know how many are yet unaccounted
for. I spoke with My mother and she
told me of a family that they know that has nine members of
their family still unaccounted for. And what struck me when I heard
the story was how that the weather report zeroed in and they showed
how that the rain, the most the largest part of the rain, the
most of the rain fell literally between the two ridges and that
campground line in the middle there. What should we learn from something
like that? What do we learn from a tragedy like that when people
just suddenly die? A great number of folks. The
Lord tells us in Luke chapter 13. Turn there with me. Luke
chapter 13. These were current events that
our Lord is about to speak of and they were as meaningful to
the people in that day as the current events in our day. I
pray God will give us grace to hear what He says through these
events. Luke 13 verse 1. There were present
at that season some that told him of the Galileans, whose blood
Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. And Jesus answering
said unto them, Suppose ye that these Galileans were sinners
above all the Galileans, because they suffered such things? I
tell you, nay. But except ye repent, ye shall
all likewise perish. Or those eighteen upon whom the
tower in Siloam fell and slew them, think ye that they were
sinners above all men that dwelt in Jerusalem? I tell you nay,
but except you repent, you shall all likewise perish." Now the
first thing our Lord tells us here is to be cautious about
assuming. Be cautious about assuming. He
says, do you suppose, do you assume that those Galileans were
sinners above all others? Or that those on whom the tower
fell were sinners above all men that dwelt in Jerusalem? The
Lord knew the hearts of these folks who were giving Him these
reports. And apparently, they had a self-righteous
air about them as they told the Lord of these two accounts, as
if the folks who died in those two accounts deserved what they
got. They were sinners above all else. And the Lord tells
us here, we must never assume that those who suffer in tragedy
do so because they're sinners above all others. You know, the
Lord said here in both of these examples, He said, I tell you,
no. Our Lord God does judge men,
and He does judge whole nations, but Scripture declares that many
saints have died and suffered a tragic death. The Hebrew writer
said, some had trial of cruel mockings and scourgings, yea,
moreover, of bonds and imprisonment. They were stoned to death. They
were sawn asunder. They were tempted. They were
slain with the sword. They wandered about in sheepskins
and goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, and tormented, of
whom the world was not worthy. And God often brings death to
His people in a sudden way. But it's a great act of mercy,
a great act of mercy. Isaiah said in Isaiah 57 1, the
righteous perisheth and no man layeth it to heart. Merciful
men are taken away, none considering that the righteous is taken away
from the evil to come. It's good for them, those who
are righteous in Christ. It's good for them. He shall
enter into peace, Isaiah said. They shall rest in their beds,
each one walking in his uprightness. Think not that those who died
in that flood were more greater sinners than anybody sitting
right here in this room. Everyone here is in need of God
to save us. We're in need of salvation by
God's grace. When Adam sinned in the garden,
sin passed upon all men and death passed upon all men because all
have sinned. Death is the wages of sin. Some of you sitting here under
the sound of my voice right now are spiritually dead in trespasses
and in sins. And everybody under the sound
of my voice is dying physically. And this is the wage, the wages
of sin, death, death. Noah's day, when God destroyed
the world with a flood, in that day, the whole world with a flood,
it was just in that day as it is in our day. This is what the
Lord said, God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth
and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart get
these three words now, was only evil continually. Jew or Gentile, rich or poor,
male or female, young or old, this is what God says of us.
We have all sinned and come short of the glory of God. You know, we hear of somebody
being a child abuser. It's an awful, awful thing, being
guilty of child abuse. And we think to ourselves, how
could they do that? I'm just giving you this as an
example. I have a place where I can bring my children to hear
the gospel. If I don't seek to it there in
this place, every opportunity to hear that gospel, Is that
not the greatest child abuse of all? You see what I'm saying? Anytime that we see what somebody
else does and we look at them and think, oh, how could they
do that? We need to consider ourselves what we are. You hear
of somebody who's an adulterer, who's sinned against his wife
and he's sinned against his children. He's an adulterer and we think
that is horrible. I'll tell you something, living
for this world, playing the harlot with this world is the greatest
adultery there is. The oppressive man will fly in
and he'll come before somebody that's been caught in their sin. And he'll be harsh and condemning
and lay down the law to that person. as if they're sinners above Himself. That's self-righteousness. That's
utter self-righteousness. Self-assumption that God poured
out judgment on somebody because they were greater sinners than
you are. That's self-righteous assumption.
We must never do that. That's the first thing the Lord
teaches us. Here's the second thing. And this is the lesson
to heed from these tragedies, this sudden death. Every time
you hear of a tragic event, every time you turn, and we're not
without plenty of them, are we? When we turn on the news, that's
all that is in this world. It's a world cursed by sin. And
when you turn on the news, or you pick up the newspaper, or
you turn on the radio, and you hear the next report of tragedy,
of a multitude of folks dying in some, whether it be at the
hand of evil men, or through some storms, or whatever it is,
when you hear of that, brethren, let this be our very first preeminent
thought, and meditate on it. Stay with it. This right here,
what our Lord said, verse 3, Except ye repent, ye shall all
likewise perish. That's a good thing to remember
continually. Continually. What is repentance? What is that? It's a gift of
the triune God, just as faith is a gift of God. It's by His
grace. God the Father said in Ezekiel
36, 24, He said, I will take you from among the heathen. I'll
take you from them. And those heathens sometimes
are in temples. He spoke of them in Judah being
in His court. I'll take you from among the
heathen and gather you out of all countries and I'll bring
you into your own land, He said. And I'll sprinkle clean water
upon you, and you shall be clean from all your filthiness, from
all your idols will I cleanse you, and a new heart also will
I give you. A new spirit will I put within
you. And I'll take out that heart of flesh, and I'll give you a
heart of flesh, that stony heart of your flesh, and I'll give
you a heart of flesh, and I'll put my spirit within you, and
I will cause you to walk in my statutes, and you shall keep
my judgments and do them. First, this repentance is God
turning us. It's of God the Son, Christ Jesus. Acts 5.31 says, Him hath God
exalted to His right hand to be a prince and a savior for
to give repentance and remission of sin. And this is of the Holy
Spirit. The Lord said when He comes,
He will convict, convince, convict the world The world of His elect
is who He's going to convict this of. Of sin, of righteousness,
and of judgment. Of sin, because they believe
not on Me. We have to be convicted in our
heart to realize, I've never believed on the Lord Jesus Christ.
He said, of righteousness, because I go to the Father. We have to
be convicted and convinced, brethren, that Christ Jesus the Lord is
all our righteousness. And proof is, God's satisfied
with Him. God raised Him to His right hand
and He sat down. The work is done. And we have
to be convicted and convinced of judgment, the Lord said, because
the Prince of this world is judged. You have to be convinced and
convicted that your judgment was at Calvary when God poured
out His judgment upon His Son. And that God will by no means
lay your sin to your account anymore. You've got to be convicted
and convinced of that. So first of all, repentance.
Repentance is from God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy
Spirit through Christ Jesus. It is a work of our God. And
where He's worked this work of repentance, there's going to
be some things that's going to happen. First of all, there's
going to be a change of mind. A change of mind. Whereas once you would see tragedies
like that happen, and you'd think, boy, they must have really done
something awful. Those folks must be notorious sinners above
everybody else. Now the Lord's going to convince
you in your own mind, you're the chief of sinners. You're
the chief. Nobody's done anything. If God
poured out His wrath simply because they were the chief of sinners,
He would have poured it out at 7 Birch Street already. And I know this, that whereas
before you despised Christ, and you rejected Christ, and you
would have none of Christ, He says, when I pour out My Spirit
upon you, you're going to mourn over Him whom you have pierced
as one mourns over his only Son. It's a change of mind. It's a
change of heart. It's a new direction. Whereas
all the things we were ashamed of and we hated before, now we
love. And those things that we love,
now we're ashamed of those things. Ashamed that we ever even loved
those things. There's going to be a change
of masters. A change of masters. No man can serve two masters.
And if you're going to serve God, Christ is going to have
to enter in and He's going to have to become your master. And
that's what happens. That's how this repentance comes
about. He enters in. Paul was going down, when he
was Saul of Tarsus, he was going down the road to Damascus, he
was doing everything his way, like he wanted to do, serving
the God of his imagination in the way that he thought that
God was to be served. And when Christ arrested him,
he said, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? He came under
a new master. And you won't be under the dominion.
Sin will be there. Sin will be present. That's why
we continually repent. We never stop turning and coming
to Christ. Unto whom coming? That's faith.
That's faith and repentance. We're constantly turning and
coming to Him. Constantly asking God, Lord turn us from ourselves. And we'll be turned. But now
sin, it won't have dominion over you. It won't be the driving
force where you're just running after the lust of your flesh
and desiring to serve yourself and desiring to have just for
yourself. That won't be the preeminent
concern anymore. But you'll hear a word behind you telling you,
this is the way when you try to turn to the left or to the
right. There'll be a new master. And there will be a change of
manners, a change of manners. Isaiah said, it's what the Lord
said through Isaiah, "...Ye also shall defile the covering of
your graven images of silver, and the ornament of your molten
images of gold, and thou shalt cast them away as a mistress'
cloth. Thou shalt say unto it, Get thee
hence." What you thought was righteousness, you'll realize
was an abomination in the sight of God. What you thought was
pleasing to God, you'll realize was just you calling bitter,
that which is bitter, sweet, and calling that which is sweet,
bitter. And you shall defile those images. You'll say, I don't
want those images anymore. I don't want to have anything
to do with my former righteousnesses anymore. I renounce the hidden
things of dishonesty. I don't want to have anything
to do with it anymore. And you'll have a new desire
to walk in a manner that's becoming adorning the doctrine of Christ. Look over Titus chapter 2. Titus
chapter 2. Look at verse 7. In all things showing thyself
a pattern of good works, in doctrine showing uncorruptness. You notice he includes doctrine
in these good works. In doctrine showing uncorruptness. That which you speak. Gravity,
sincerity, sound speech that cannot be condemned. that he
that is of the contrary part may be ashamed, having no evil
thing to say of you. Exhort servants to be obedient
unto their own masters, and to please them well in all things,
not answering again, not gainsaying." In other words, when your employer
tells you, this was a servant, a master, when your employer
tells you to do something, do it. Please him. Be pleasing to
him. Not purloining, but showing all
good fidelity. Not sloughing off and just doing
something when the boss is around and when he's gone you go back
to piddling around. Not purloining, but showing all
good fidelity that they may adorn the doctrine of God our Savior
in all things. For the grace of God that bringeth
salvation hath appeared to all men, teaching us that denying
ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously,
and godly in this present world, looking for that blessed hope
and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Savior,
Jesus Christ. And this is always the motivation,
look, who gave himself for us that he might redeem us from
all iniquity and purify unto himself a peculiar people zealous
of good works. And Paul told Titus, he said,
you speak these things and exhort and rebuke with all authority
and let no man despise you for saying them. And you go back
and read all of chapter 2 at your leisure, and there's stuff
said to everybody there. But this is what's going to happen.
It's going to be a change of manners in what we say concerning
the gospel. in what we thought was righteousness
and in our walk. We're going to desire now to
honor Him, to adorn Him, that there be no way that someone
can blame us and lay charge against us, which would be laying charge
against our Savior, our Redeemer. And then there's going to be
a change of motive. You saw there that motive He
gave because Christ came and laid down His life for us. There's
going to be a change of motive in the heart. Whereas before,
all you were looking for was the praise of men. You were just
longing for applause, craving somebody to praise you in all
of your endeavors to get somebody to walk honorably in a way you
thought they ought to walk. At the root of every bit of it
was, I want to be patted on the back. I want to glory in what
I got them to do. But now your motive is not unto
us, not unto us Lord, but unto thy name be glory forever. There's
a whole nother motive because now you behold Christ Jesus.
You behold what he's accomplished and that your salvation is complete
and that you're accepted of God. You know, salvation is not you
accepting God. Salvation is God accepting you.
That's salvation. There'll be a new man. And repentance, now, it doesn't
bring us into a savable state. That's not what it is. It's the
effect, the fruit that we've been brought by God. Fully brought
by God. You might ask me, why then does
God call on us to repent If we can't do it unless He works this
work of grace in our heart and gives us this gift of repentance.
Because it's through the message that declares your utter, absolute,
total inability that God grants repentance and causes you to
turn from yourself to God. That's why it's so utterly important,
brethren, for our speech be sound doctrine. Because if men aren't
shut up, if men's mouths aren't shut, if they aren't put in the
dust, then everybody's gonna think that what they've done
has made the difference. And that's not repentance. That's
repentance to be repented of. Somebody said that W.C. Fields was an agnostic. He didn't
believe the Gospel. He didn't believe the Word of
God was true. And somebody walked into his dressing room one time
and he was reading the Bible. And they said, why are you reading
the Bible? And he said, I'm looking for a loophole. And that's what
most men are doing in religion. And when they go to this book,
they're looking for a loophole. That loophole's got to be sent
shut, so that there is no loophole. It's come to Christ, or die in
your sins. It's turned from every other
false way to Christ the way, or perish forever. Now I want you to realize, I
know that it doesn't strike you. I guess maybe it was because
it was so close to my home. That's only a couple of hours
from where I grew up. My heart was broken this week
about that. But you're standing on the brink
of eternity. Everybody here is standing on
the brink of eternity. Paul said we must all give account
at the judgment seat of God. And he said, knowing the terror
of the Lord, we persuade men. Turn to God. Turn to Him now. I was telling the kids this week,
I had a friend, Ronnie Springfield. And I was at school with him
one day. Next day I come in, where's Ronnie? His seat was empty. He rode his
bicycle out into the street and a car ran over him and killed
him. That fast, he was gone. Those folks went up to that place
and they camped out and they were expecting a nice, peaceful,
tranquil week with their families. And in the night, in a sudden,
in an instance, they came into eternity. The time you've been given on
this earth is the time for repentance. That's what it's for. That's
why you've been given it. In Noah's day, Peter said that
the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah while the
ark was being prepared. The longsuffering of God is God
granting you space to repent. He's granting you space to repent
through this preaching of the Gospel, to hear Him, and to heed
the warning. But this is what He said in Noah's
day. He said in Genesis 6-3, My spirit shall not always strive
with man, for that he also is flesh. His days shall be a hundred
and twenty years. They're appointed. There's a
day set. There's a bound set. And He said,
and I'm not going to strive with you forever. the Gospels God's
called to repentance, but He's not always going to call. The day's coming when God's going
to shut the door of mercy for you, for every one of you here
in need of repentance. The day's coming when He's going
to shut that door of mercy. Look over with me at Luke 13.
You know, Noah preached that Gospel to his generation all
those years that Ark was preparing. And men went about their business,
they went about their affairs, they had better things to do.
If they had time, they might listen to Noah a little bit,
but they really didn't hear him. They went about their business.
And you know those eight souls that entered the ark? They entered
into the ark before the first drop of rain ever fell. And it
had never rained. They believed God. They repented
from their false way and they entered into the ark. The time
to enter in is before judgment time, before judgment comes.
Watch this, what the Lord says here, Luke 13, 23. Then said
one unto him, Lord, are there few that be saved? And he said
unto them, strive to enter in at the straight gate. For many,
I say unto you, will seek to enter in and shall not be able. When? When are they going to
do that? When once the master of the house is risen up and
has shut to the door, and you begin to stand without and to
knock at the door saying, Lord, Lord, open unto us. And he shall
answer and say unto you, I know you not whence ye are. Then shall
you begin to say, we've eaten and drunk in thy presence. Thou
hast taught in our streets. Oh, I heard you preach over at
Sovereign Grace Baptist Church over on Washington Street. You
know who I am. I heard you. I went there and
heard you preached. I lived after the world all my
life and served this world to the lust of my flesh all my days,
but I gave you my extra time. I went to you when I had the
opportunity, when I could, when I could fit you in. But he shall
say, I tell you, I know you not whence you are. Depart from me,
all ye workers of iniquity. There shall be weeping and gnashing
of teeth when you shall see Abraham. and Isaac, and Jacob, and all
the prophets in the kingdom of God, and ye yourselves throw
us down." That ought to cause us some alarm. You know, I know
that people in our day hear a message like this and you think, you're
just trying to scare people. Listen to me. I wish I had the
power, and you hear me good, to scare the hell out of you. Because hell is what's raining
in you. And until God, cast yourself on His mercy. Call on Him now
while He may be found. Beg God, God have mercy on me,
the sinner. You know what? Not one soul that
ever came to Him with a heart of repentance, begging Him for
mercy, was ever turned away from Him. You think of those in the ark
when that flood began to come down and all those that had just
tarried and waited and took their time and went about their business
and served the lust of their flesh that whole day and hadn't
given themselves to God, hadn't given themselves to Christ. You
think about them, how much they desired to get in that ark then. But it's too late then. It's
too late then. Look, one more Scripture. Proverbs
1.23. This is the Word of God. Proverbs 1.23. Let's read verse 22. How long, ye simple
ones, will ye love simplicity, and the scorners delight in their
scorning, and fools hate knowledge? Turn ye at my reproof. Behold,
I will pour out My Spirit unto you, I will make known My words
unto you. Because I have called, and ye
refused. I have stretched out my hand,
and no man regarded. But ye have said it not all my
counsel, and would none of my reproof. I also will laugh at
your calamity. I will mock when your fear cometh.
When your fear cometh as desolation, and your destruction cometh as
a whirlwind, when distress and anguish cometh upon you, then
shall they call upon me, but I will not answer. They shall
seek me early, but they shall not find me. for that they hated
knowledge, and did not choose the fear of the Lord, they would
none of my counsel, they despised all my reproof, therefore shall
they eat of the fruit of their own way, and be filled with their
own devices." That's sad. That's so sad. But that's God
speaking. This is who we're dealing with. I'll tell you something too.
This is scriptural. Brethren, it's better for you to sit here. It's better for you to have never
heard this gospel than to hear it and reject it. That's right. That's what the Lord said. He's
told those that heard Him under the sound of His voice, it'll
be more tolerable for Solomon Gomorrah than it will be for
you." This is serious business. This is what our Lord said. Rather
than looking at something like that and saying, well, they must
have really been sinners. Realize, I'm in need of repentance. The Lord said, except ye repent,
ye shall all likewise perish. As tragic as that flood was,
and as unforgiving as that flood water was that came through,
That's nothing compared to the wrath of God upon those who reject
His Son, refuse His Gospel, and would have none of His reproof.
Well, here's the truth, brethren. How we die is of very little
significance. Those folks that died those cruel
deaths in the Hebrew letter that we read there that died, God
gave them grace. God gave them grace to bear that
sort of death. And He'll give us grace to bear
the death we die. But here's what's important,
not how we die, in whom we die. That's what's important. John
said in Revelation, blessed are the dead which die in the Lord. That's what's important, in whom
we die. Those who die in the Lord have
been turned and have turned from all else to faith in Christ the
Lord and have entered into the ark. And God has shut you up
in Christ so that no judgment, no flood of wrath can come upon
you because Christ Jesus the Lord has borne it in your room
instead. You've been justified from all
sin by God the Father and God the Son. washed in the blood
of the Lamb. He said, your sins and iniquities
I will remember no more. God who can't forget says, I
won't remember your sin and iniquity anymore. They'd never be brought up again.
That's the word of comfort to these saints here that He's called
by His grace and He's drawn in His everlasting love, who He's
granted repentance and faith, who have turned to Him and cast
themselves upon Him and continue to turn to Him and beg His mercy
and flee to Him and believe on Him. This is the promise He's
made to them. This is the reproof He sends
out as a general call to all. Do you hear it? Do you hear it? Do you hear it? And herein is love made perfect,
what Art just read. Herein is our love made perfect
that we may have boldness in the day of judgment as Christ
is. He's a Son of God. So are we. He's free from all sin. So are
we. He's not under the law anymore.
Neither are we. He's seated at the right hand of God. So are
we who believe Him, who trust Him. He's holy, so are we. He's accepted, so are we. He's
complete, so are we. And this is our boldness in the
day of judgment, brethren, when we come before His presence.
What do you plea? What's your plea? The blood of
the Lamb. The blood of the Lamb. I picture, I picture, this is
foolish, I know. I just picture Christ standing
there before God the Father, and you not be able to see anybody
else but Him. And if you just look around just
a little bit, there's just a line behind Him of folks that He represents. All complete in Him. He's answering
for all of us. And those who have repented and
believe on Him, death's not the enemy anymore. Look over at 2
Corinthians 5. We'll close with this. 2 Corinthians
5. Look at verse 1. For we know,
this is believers, brethren, this is those who have repented
and cast their care on Christ. Listen now, for we know that
if our earthly house of this tabernacle, this flesh, this
body, were dissolved, we have a building of God, a house not
made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For in this we groan,
earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is
from heaven. If so, that being clothed, we shall not be found
naked. For we that are in this tabernacle
do groan, being burdened, not for that we would be unclothed,
but clothed upon, that mortality might be swallowed up of life.
Now he that hath wrought us for the self, the same thing is God,
who also hath given unto us the earnest of the Spirit. That's
what causes us to repent, and to believe, and to yearn, and
to crave Him. What was that Emma said yesterday?
I brought home some milk. She wanted some cereal. I brought
home some milk and she said, What was that? My cereal yearn
has been answered. This is our, this is our everlasting
life yearn. And we've got a foretaste of
it. He's given us a taste of it in the inner man, in the Spirit.
And this is our yearning. This is what we crave. And in
that day, death won't be the enemy. We'll be able to say our
eternal yearning has been answered. Therefore, we're always confident,
knowing that whilst we're at home in the body, we're absent
from the Lord, for we walk by faith, not by sight. confident
because we walk by faith and not by sight. Oh, I wouldn't
have any confidence if if I was walking by sight, if I was looking
at myself and the things I do and don't do and say and don't
say and think and don't think, I wouldn't have any confidence
whatsoever. But I'm looking at him by faith.
We're confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the
body and to be present with the Lord. Wherefore, we labor, we
endeavor, we strive. What did He say before? Strive
to enter in. That whether present or absent,
we may be accepted of Him. Look back a few pages there to
1 Corinthians 15, 55. O death, where is thy sting?
O grave, where is thy victory? The sting of death is sin, and
the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, which giveth
us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my beloved
brethren, be ye steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work
of the Lord, forasmuch as you know that your labor is not in
vain. I pray that maybe the Lord will
be pleased to use something of that. When you go home and you're
going to see these reports on that particular instance, you're
going to see these for quite a few days to come, I imagine.
Unless some greater tragedy happens. But as you look at those things
and you look at those reports on the news, I pray the Lord
to give you grace to really, really hear the word of the Lord. Accept ye repent. Ye shall all
likewise perish. And may he grant you repentance.
That's my prayer for you. Amen.