Alrighty, welcome to those of
you who joined us in the last few minutes. I'd like to ask
you to go ahead and turn to your Bibles to Matthew chapter 23. We'll be looking at the last
section of 23, verses 33 through 39. But before we do that, I
want to put an introduction out here for you. Let's begin with
our handouts and about page 3 we'll turn to the Scriptures and read
our text. But for now in the handout, I
want you to see the title for tonight's message. This is important. I thought about... I've got to
be honest with you. Remember I asked you last week
to pray for me and what the Lord might give me? I was praying
for it right up until yesterday. Yesterday afternoon, all of a
sudden, the Lord opened my eyes to something about these verses
that we're going to read that aren't in those verses, but are
in contrast to them. The title is love, not fear. And listen to these words from
Jeremiah 31. You're familiar with these. I
use this verse often. The Lord hath appeared of old
unto me, yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love. Therefore,
and I highlighted this because I want this to stand out in your
heart, I want you to understand, with loving kindness have I drawn
me. Love, not fear, is how the Lord
draws his people to himself. Love, not fear, is the message
that God sends His preachers to preach that His people would
hear about the Lord Jesus Christ who died for them. That's love. That's not fear. That's not the
fear of hell. We fear a reverential fear of
the Lord as He is the Majesty. Of all that is, there is nothing.
Brother Donny Bell said it best, best I've ever heard of it. There's
nothing that compares to Him. There's nothing equal to Him.
He's God. What a blessing it is that this
One who rules all things, loves a people, and with loving kindness
has He drawn His people. Second paragraph, page one. I
recently received a request to look at some literature from
a couple of different writers. And in doing so, I was, again,
very disappointed. I don't know why I even agree
to do it anymore, but I do. Just call me foolish. But I was
very disappointed what I read. Let me give you the titles of
these pamphlets. And they should have told me.
They should have thrown up a red flag for John saying, I don't
have anything to read with those. The terrors of hell was one of
them. And another one was the sinners
in the hands of an angry god. Another one is a scriptural explanation
of Matthew 24. Now, I want to stop there in
our handout for just a moment. We're coming to Matthew 24 next. Matthew 24 is a prophecy mostly
of the end times, and parts of 25 are as well. I was just talking
about this a moment ago. I don't know that I'm going to
bring lessons through that chapter. We may just read the chapter
next Friday, and that might be all we do without any explanation
I don't know you pray for me on that one as well if you would
The first one that I mentioned there a moment ago the terrors
of hell that writer came right out without shame and Stated
that he desired to scare people to Christ the other two did not
come right out and say that but their whole statement was the
dread of judgment and I bring this before you because of our
text in Matthew, and you'll know what I'm talking about when we
read that in a moment. Again, back in the handout, third
paragraph. Chapters 23, 24, and 25 are about
the woes of man's religions. Remember what we read last week?
For those of you who weren't able to attend with us, I encourage
you to go back and read them if you haven't. But they were
the woes of man's religions and judgment to men and women who
go through that doormark death, who have not the truth. The worldly
religions use these words to scare men and women into making
a decision for some form of religion. Our brother Pastor Greg Elmquist
wrote an article and I wish to share it with you. It was interesting
how I got up this morning and this article was in the Facebook
scroll. It's a great article, and it
just so happens it goes exactly with what the Lord had brought
to my heart to preach on tonight. Look at his article. It says,
things to be afraid of. We should be afraid of ourselves. Our hearts are deceitful. Our
flesh is weak. In me, that is, in my flesh dwelleth
no good thing, as it says in Romans 7, verse 18. Secondly,
we should be afraid of being left to ourselves. Lord, keep
me, restrain me, and forsake me not. Without the Lord as our
shepherd, we are prey to every wild beast. Page two. Three,
we should be afraid of standing before God by ourselves. Isn't that three good points? Those are three good points for
a believer to be afraid of. The Lord tells us to examine
ourselves. Are we in the faith? Brother
Greg closes with this. He says, to not have our Lord
Jesus Christ as our substitute, our sin bearer, our advocate,
and our righteousness before God would leave us in our sins
and under the eternal wrath of God. Folks, the Lord does not
draw his people unto him through fear. Is the great commission
Christ gave us to go into all the world and scare men unto
me? No, that's not the great commission
at all, is it? No, the great commission is this,
and he said unto them, go ye into the world and preach the
gospel. Now let me ask you something,
if you're preaching Judgment and all of that stuff, the bowels
of hell and sinners before an angry God, where is the good
news in that? I looked through those pamphlets.
I didn't see any good news in any of them. Oh, he mentioned
Jesus. He mentioned a few things. But
he never came around to Christ and Him crucified. Not one of
those writers did. They were very thorough in what
hell is and how the Bible describes hell. They were very thorough
of what's going to happen to those who go through that doormark
death in the hands of an angry God. They were very thorough
in what the prophecies of Matthew 24 are talking about. But not
one of those three writers of those books said anything about
the gospel. Christ and His love for His people
that He would allow Himself to be crucified as their substitute. That's the gospel to every creature. And that's in Mark 16, 15, the
good news. Back in our handout, mid-page
2. That was the message of Christ
Himself. Listen to these words from Matthew 4, verse 23. And
Jesus went about all Galilee teaching in their synagogues. and preaching the gospel of the
kingdom and healing all manner of sickness and all manner of
disease among the people. Here's another one for you, Matthew
11 verse 4 through 6. Jesus answered and said unto
them, Go and show John again those things which you do here,
and see This is speaking of the disciples of John the Baptist.
John the Baptist was in prison. And he had sent his two disciples,
go and see if this is the one that I've been telling you about.
And when they asked him plainly, he said these words. He said,
go and show John again those things that you do here and see.
The blind receive their sight, and the lame walk. The lepers
are cleansed, and the deaf hear. The dead are raised up, and the
poor have the gospel preached to them. And blessed is he whosoever
shall not be offended in me." Matthew 11, 4-6. Here's one more,
if you would. 1 Timothy 1, verse 15. This is
a faithful saying and worthy of all expectation, teaching
that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. Now, tell me how these words
would scare you into coming to Christ. That sounds like words
of love, does it not? Well, listen to this, these last
two paragraphs of page two. How many lame or blind need to
be told of the dread of being lame or blind? If you were blind,
how would you feel if somebody came up and said, I heard blind
people just can't see. You'd kind of laugh at it a little
bit, wouldn't you? Yeah, duh, tell me all about
it. I hear lame people can't walk down to the store and get
a cold soda or anything. Yeah, I mean, tell me all about
it. How many lame, how many blind,
how many afflicted with the dreaded disease need to be told how dreadful
it is? Telling the dead how dreadful
their death will be does not affect those who do not believe
they are dead. Did the warnings of God brought
before Pharaoh scare him to Christ? I'm talking about the warnings
that Moses brought If you don't let my people go, if you don't
let my people worship me the way I want them to worship me,
I'll bring this plague against you. Did that scare Pharaoh into
coming to Christ? As we go through this part, this
last part of Matthew 23, and on through 24 and 25, Lord, keep
us in remembrance of your grace. This is my prayer. As we finish
out 23 and we start 24, Lord, keep us in remembrance of your
grace and mercy. to us, the chief of sinners. Page three. Now let's look at
our Bibles, if you would. I'll give you those of you who
didn't have yours ready in a moment. We'll be looking at Matthew 23,
and we'll finish out the chapter from 32 through 39. Fill ye up
then the measure of your fathers. Now remember, he's talking about
these people that he mentions next here in verse 33. Ye serpents.
Ye generation of vipers, this is the Pharisees, the Sadducees,
the scribes, the elders of the church that he spoke all these
woes unto, fill ye up the measure of your fathers. Ye serpents,
ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of
hell? Wherefore, behold, I send unto
you prophets and wise men and scribes. In some of them ye shall
kill and crucify. In some of them ye shall scourge
in your synagogues and persecute them from city to city, that
upon you may come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth from
the blood of righteous Abel unto the blood of Zacharias, son of
Berechias, whom ye slew between the temple and the altar. Verily
I say unto you, all these things shall come upon this generation. O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou
that killest the prophets and stonest them which are sent unto
thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together,
even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would
not. Behold, your house is left unto
you deathless. For I say unto you, ye shall
not see me henceforth, till ye shall say, blessed is he that
cometh in the name of the Lord." Folks, that's all judgment. Every
bit of that is speaking to men and women who will go through
that doormark death in unbelief. And we would be right there in
that boat of judgment. if it weren't for the grace of
God. Let's go back to our handout now and we'll spend the rest
of our time there. I begin with a quote from our brother Don
Fortner. He says, this passage of scripture so often twisted
and perverted by Armenians in their vain attempts to disprove
the gospel of God's free grace in Christ. is in fact not a passage
showing that salvation is by man's will, but rather a passage
declaring that man's ruin and everlasting destruction is by
his will. In these verses, our Lord declares
to the scribes and Pharisees and the Jewish people that the
basis of God's judgment and the cause of their spiritual ruin
was their obstinate, willful unbelief. Our Lord is speaking
concerning the nation of Israel then, but this is equally true
of men today. There is nothing that keeps a
man out of heaven but his own unwillingness to bow to Christ,
to receive Him and believe on Him as Lord and Savior. Listen to these words from John
5, verse 46. For He wrote of me." Oh, then
there's this. That was John 5, 46. Here's another
one. All that the Father giveth me
shall come to me, and him that cometh to me I will in no wise
cast out. For I came down from heaven not
to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me. And
this is the Father's will, which hath sent me, that of all which
he hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it
up again at the last day. And this is the will of him that
sent me, that everyone which seeth the Son, and believeth
on him, may have everlasting life, and I will raise Him up
the last day." That's John 6, 37-40. Here's one more as well. In the last day, that great day
of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst,
let him come unto Me to drink. He that believeth on Me, as the
Scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living
water. John 7, 37 and 38. Last paragraph
of page 3, Israel did not enter into the land of promise for
only one reason, and we are given that reason in Hebrews chapter
4, unbelief. The nation perished. Not because
God would not be gracious to them, but because they would
not trust Him. This is important. This is what
these words that we read here in this final part of chapter
23 is telling us. It's telling us that because
of unbelief, because of us, is our reason for going to hell.
Because of what we are. Sinners. Aren't you thankful
for grace? Aren't you thankful for mercy?
That's the good news. Let's go on. The nation perished
not because God would not be gracious to them, but because
they would not trust him. Listen to what he says in Isaiah
48, 18 through 19. All that thou hast hearkened
to my commandments. If you would have just listened
to me, I've given you every reason every notification of who to
believe and you still won't do it. That's what that's saying. If ye would have just listened
to my commandments, then had thy peace been as a river, and
thy righteousness as the waves of the sea. Thy seed also had
been as the sand, and the offspring of thy bowels like the gravel
thereof. His name should not have been
cut off nor destroyed from before me." Isaiah 48. 18 and 19, page
four. If you or I miss heaven, it will
be because of our own willful unbelief. There is nothing that
keeps a man out of heaven but his own will. Listen to these
words from Luke 23, 25. And he, Pilate, released unto
them that for sedation and murder, speaking of Barabbas, was cast
into prison whom they had desired, but again he, Pilate, delivered
Jesus to their will. Can it get any more plain than
that? Pilate turned Christ over to the will of the people. What
was the will of the people? Crucify him, crucify him. I've
heard people say this, oh, if I knew the Lord as I know him
now, I would have never done that. My foot. Folks, I did. I did say that. All of his people come out of
that miry clay of sin that we once walked in, crying out, crucify
him, crucify him. I will not have that man rule
over me. Every single one of us. Oh, we
may not have said those words exactly, but I can tell you this,
you know, just saying that one is not real, one is not here,
just, oh, blown away is the same thing as killing someone. Nothing,
back in our handout, first paragraph midway, nothing magnifies the
grace of God more than man's free will. The truth that if
left to our own will, our heart's desires, we will fall in degradation. We will commit evil. It is only
by His gracious hand of love that any come to personally know
His love. And there is nothing that keeps
a man out of hell but God's will. Listen to these words from John
6, 39-40. And it is the Father's will which He hath sent me, and
this is the Father's will which He hath sent me, that all of
which He hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise
it up again the last day. And this is the will of Him that
sent me, that everyone which seeth the Son and believeth on
Him may have everlasting life, and I will raise Him up the last
day. Again, I quote from Brother Don He says, the decree of God
opens the door of heaven for a great innumerable multitude
of sinners. But the decree of God does not
shut the doors of heaven against anyone. Be sure you understand
this. Eternal life is by God's will,
God's gift, and God's work. And he refers to three different
places in Romans. And you can read those at your
own time. But eternal death. is the result of man's will,
man's work, and man's merit. The wages of sin is death. And you can read about that in
Romans 6, Romans 1, and Romans 10 as well in your own time.
In verse 34 of our text, it says, the prophets and wise men and
scribes. These are gifts to his church. Here he declared the kind of
reception his servants would have among the Jews. And some
of them you shall kill and crucify, and some of them you shall scourge
in your own, in your synagogues, and persecute them from city
to city. Pastor Henry Manhattan wrote
this, he said, God's mercy forgives sin. His grace bestows favor. His longsuffering and patience
gives space for repentance and faith. As God sent His servants
to the Jews and gave them repeated warnings, message after message
after message, so He does today. God does not allow men to sin
without rebuke. He does not allow iniquity to
go unchecked. Page five. With every transgression,
with every breach of God's law, man must trample under his feet
the hedge of warnings God has planted about him. Our conscience
is God's law written on our hearts. by which God speaks to those
who have had their conscience researed. Listen to Romans 2,
14-15, For when the Gentiles, which have not the law, do by
nature the things contained in the law, these, having not the
law, are a law unto themselves. which show the work of the law
written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness,
and their thoughts the mean while accusing or else excusing one
another. The Lord God is, as it were,
knocks at the door of our conscience. and gets a person's attention
by sickness, afflictions, bereavement, and fearful brushes with death. But rebels harden their hearts
and persist in their defiance of the Almighty God. And God
opens the grave under their eyes, destroys their idols, and stirs
their souls. But they soon ignore His warnings,
just like Pharaoh. You know who else's name could
be put there? For 40 years, just like John
Reeves. My stepdad was a gospel preacher. Calvin Samuel Ellis preached
the truth. I know, I heard him. After he
died, we found a cassette tape of one of his messages, and he
clearly, without spoke of all five points that Calvin wrote
about, election, total depravity, everything. And he spoke against
the free will of men. Yet I never once heard any of
his messages. Living with him for all those
years, it never fazed me. I was just like Pharaoh. I ignored
the warnings. How often, mid-page five, how
often the Lord gives summons to sinners by the preaching of
the Word? Frequently men and women experience
soul trouble but do not know what is happening. Blind, deaf,
and dead, they do not understand the Lord's ways, so they harden
their hearts as Pharaoh of old. But soon, everyone will see and
understand Listen to Job 33.14, God speaketh once, yea, twice,
yet man perceiveth it not. In the day of judgment, when
it's too late, everyone will realize that there is a voice in every event of providence
saying, turn ye, turn ye. Why shall ye yet die? Ezekiel
33.11. God's service today put the prophet's
question before eternity-bound sinners, crying to perishing
men, why will you die? Justice has been satisfied by
Christ. Why will you die? Righteousness
has been brought in by His Son, by the Son of God. Why will you
die? All who trust the Lord Jesus
are saved by Him. Why will you die? Listen to these
words of John 6.40. And this is the will of Him that
sent me, that everyone who would see the Son and believe on Him
may have everlasting life, and I will raise Him up the last
day. Why will you die? Or how about these words from
Hebrews 7.25. Wherefore He is able also to save them to the
uttermost that come unto God by Him. Why? Why will you die? Page 6. Still, unless the Lord
Jesus Himself grants the rebel sinner repentance by His almighty
grace, none will obey the Gospel. Lastly, these words from the
Master teach us that all who are lost are lost and ruined
forever. because of their own willful
rebellion and unbelief. Look with me again here, I've
got it in the handout, Matthew 23, 37 through 39. O Jerusalem,
Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets and stonest them
which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy
children together, even as a hen gathers her chickens under her
wings, and ye would not. Do you hear the warnings? Do
you hear the warnings of woe going out? Those are not warnings
to those who are in Christ. Folks, Christ has taken every
bit of God's wrath that you and I have earned, that His people
have earned. He took it as His own and died
our death on the cross. It goes on to say after that,
he says, Behold, your house is left unto you desolate. For I
say unto you, you shall not see me henceforth till you shall
say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord. It is
written in Hosea 13.9, O Israel, thou hast destroyed thyself,
but in me is thine help. If we are saved, We will be saved
by grace alone. If we are destroyed, we must
destroy ourselves. The judgment of God is always
just. Three things are clearly established
in these last three verses of Luke chapter 23. The cause of
man's ruin is his own will. J.C. Ryle wrote this. Impotent
as man is by nature, unable to think a good thought of himself,
without the power to turn himself to faith and call upon God, he
still appears to have a mighty ability to ruin his own soul. I say amen. Secondly, often eternal
ruin begins in this world with judicial reprobation. That's
a statement that Don Fortner shared with me. As we have read
in Matthew 23, 38, listen to these words in Hosea 4, 17. Ephraim
is joined to idols. Let him alone. God is just saying,
leave them go. Leave them to themselves. Leave
them to their own will, as Pilate did with the Lord Jesus. Thirdly,
there is a day coming when all men shall see and acknowledge
who Christ is and what He has done. That's what we just read
in Matthew 23, 39. But listen to these words in
Philippians 2, verses 9 through 11. Wherefore God also hath highly
exalted Him, and given him a name which is above every name, that
the name of Jesus every knee should bow of things in heaven
and things in earth and things under the earth, and that every
tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of
God the Father. Even those, even those for whom
God did not shine his love in, and a go to hell, spending an
eternity gnashing with teeth will know that Jesus Christ is
Lord of all. That's what we just read. Page
7. In the last day, in that great day of judgment, He will be completely
vindicated and honored even by those who perish under His wrath. That's what we just read. He's
Lord of all. Behold, your house is left unto
you desolate, is what we read in our text. This is what I would have chosen.
But for the grace of my Savior, I would have forever eaten the
fruit of my ways. But for the love God has for
a people, the God I despised and forsook would have justly
despised and forsaken me forever. Their city, their houses, and
their temple would be abandoned and destroyed forever. And they
would be forever cast into hell. 70 years after Christ died, Babylon
came in and destroyed Israel, destroyed Jerusalem. All the
way down, not a stone was unturned. In fact, I've heard historians
say that the gold in all the city... Remember, Jerusalem was
filled with gold. It was just, there was gold coverings
of everything. And all the gold melted and seeped
into the rocks. And they would turn over every
rock to get every piece of gold they could. Mid page seven. I say unto you, you shall not
see me henceforth till ye shall say, blessed is he that cometh
in the name of the Lord. You shall see me no more, is
what he's saying, until you see me glorified by all as the Christ
of God in my glorious second advent, when you shall say, here
is the blessed one who comes in the name of the Lord. Revelation
1, verse 7, it says, Behold, he cometh with clouds, and every
eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him. And all kindreds
of the earth shall wail because of him, even so. Amen. Listen
to Philippians 2, 9-11, Wherefore God also hath highly exalted
him, and given him a name which is above every name, that at
the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven,
things in earth, and things under the earth, and every tongue should
confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the
Father. Isaiah 45, 22-25, The Lord says,
Look unto me, and be ye saved. all the ends of the earth for
I am God and there is none else. I have sworn by myself the word
has gone out of my mouth in righteousness and it shall not return that
unto me every knee should bow, every tongue shall swear. Surely,
shall one say, in the Lord have I righteousness and strength.
Even to him shall men come, and all that are incensed against
him shall be ashamed. In the Lord shall all the seed
of Israel be justified, and shall glory." Page 8. Brother Don wrote
a prayer, a poem. Lord give me the ability to read
it as he had written it, obviously one from his own heart. Ye sinners,
seek his grace, whose wrath ye cannot bear. Fly to the shelter
of his cross and find salvation there. So shall the curse remove
by which the Savior bled, and that last awful day shall pour
his blessings on your head. If we are saved, go to heaven,
enjoy eternal life and glory in the bliss of God's presence.
It will be by God's will and God's work alone. If we are lost
and perish under the wrath of God and go to a dark, Christless,
eternal hell, it will be altogether our fault alone. Because of our
will, our unbelief, and our sin. Amen.