Alright, let's turn to Jeremiah
chapter 18. Jeremiah chapter 18. I'm going
to read a portion from Jeremiah chapter 11 tonight too, in the
introduction. I've entitled this message, and
we're going to begin in verse 18 of chapter 18. I've entitled
this message, Another Conspiracy of Evil. another conspiracy of
evil and I say another conspiracy because we had read about a conspiracy
back in chapter 11 and it's really the same issue basically the
same people those who stand in opposition in their darkness
and self-righteousness against God's prophet who preaches the
gospel God's free and sovereign grace in Christ. Jeremiah the
prophet had been given a message by the Lord, the God of Israel. And in that message, he exposed
Judah's rebellion, abject rebellion. He pronounced God's judgment
upon them. And as is common with all of
us by nature, That's a message that we don't want to hear. That's
a message that we, by nature, hate. And that's all of us, without
exception, apart from the Spirit of God giving us a new heart
to love Christ, to love the truth, and to see our sinfulness. Now
that hatred may come out in different ways, but here in chapter 18
and back in chapter 11, let me just read you a portion from
chapter 11 here. This is how it came out in these people as
the Lord told Jeremiah to go and preach the truth, proclaim
the covenant and the fact that they had broken the covenant.
And it says in verse 8, after he commanded them to obey the
voice of the Lord, it says in verse 8 of chapter 11, it says,
Yet they obeyed not, nor inclined their ear. Not only did they
not obey what they heard, they didn't want to hear it anymore
but they walked everyone in the imagination of their evil heart
and that word imagination you may have this in your concordance
there in chapter 11 it's stubbornness that's pride and self-righteousness
and he says therefore I will bring upon them all the words
of this covenant talking about the curses of the covenant which
I commanded them to do, but they did them not. And verse 9 says,
And the Lord said unto me, A conspiracy is found among the men of Judah,
and among the inhabitants of Jerusalem. This is a concerted
group conspiracy. And it says, They are turned
back to the iniquities of their forefathers, which refuse to
hear my words. And they went after other gods
to serve them. And the house of Israel and the
house of Judah have broken my covenant which I made with their
fathers. That's the conspiracy. Well,
here in chapter 18, let's look over there. We see another conspiracy
of evil. And here's how it goes. Now,
this verse 18 lays the foundation for what Jeremiah is going to
say up to the end of this chapter. And this verse 18 shows us a
conspiracy against the Lord. Now listen to what it says though.
In verse 18, then said they, now this is after Jeremiah had
spoken to them of the potter and the clay, the sovereignty
of God, when he had shown them their responsibility to seek
the Lord and believe God, and they didn't do it, and it says,
then said they, come and let us devise devices against Jeremiah. Against Jeremiah now. Here's
the point and the reason I put this first point this way This
is a conspiracy against the Lord is we need to see it this way
Whenever men attack one who preaches God's Word They need to understand
that their attack is against the Lord himself And that listen
that would do us all well to keep that in mind whenever they
attack one who is preaching God's word, they're not just attacking
that man, that prophet, they're attacking God, if he's preaching
God's word. That's what these unbelievers
didn't like, that's what they hated, what God said. Now they
may have said, well we're standing against Jeremiah, they may have
said we're disagreeing with Jeremiah, but their argument was with the
Lord. I remember Brother Mahan telling
the story about when when he first come in to see the reality
of passages of scripture like Romans chapter 9 and he stood
in a Sunday school class where those truths had never been preached
before never been believed and he just started reading through
Romans 9 and one of the men in the Congregation I don't know
if he stood up or what but he kept arguing with him said we
don't believe that or I don't believe that You know, you're
not, you know, you're not speaking the truth and all he was doing
was just reading Romans 9 It's all he was doing. He's wouldn't
even he told us he said he wouldn't making any comment Wasn't given
any commentary just reading the bare Word of God And that's what
happens you see Now we preach the Word of God And whatever
men do to God's children, think about this, I think this is worth
noting. Over in the book of Matthew,
chapter 25, the Lord brought out this point. Here he's talking
about judgment. Matthew 25 and the last part
of it. Talking about how he's going to separate the sheep from
the goats. And his point here is this, that whatever men do
to God's children, Christ himself takes it personally. or whatever
they fail to do to help and support God's children, Christ himself
takes it personally. Remember what he said to the
sheep on his right hand, look at verse 34 of Matthew 25, Then
shall the king say unto them on his right hand, that's his
sheep, that's the elect of God, that's the redeemed of the Lord,
that's the justified, those who are washed in the blood of Christ.
justified by his right he said come ye blessed of my father
inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of
the world listen what he says in verse 35 I was hungry and
you gave me meat I was thirsty and you gave me drink I was a
stranger and you took me in naked and you clothed me I was sick
and you visited me I was in prison and you came unto me and then
shall the righteous the justified answer him saying Lord when saw
we thee hungry and fed thee or thirsting gave thee drink. When
saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in, or naked, and clothed
thee? Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee?
And the king shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto
you, inasmuch as you have done it unto one of the least of these
my brethren, you've done it unto me. On the opposite side, remember,
the ones on his left, the goats, the non-elect, the unredeemed,
He said, you didn't visit me when I was in prison. You didn't
feed me when I was hungry. And then in verse 44 it says,
Then shall they also answer, saying, Lord, when saw we thee
in hunger, or a thirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison,
and did not minister unto thee, did not serve thee? And he said
in verse 45, Barely I say unto you, inasmuch as you did it not
to one of the least of these, you did it not to me. You see
that? You know, that's a sobering thought,
isn't it? In other words, how I treat my brothers and sisters
in Christ, Christ takes it personally. That's something to think about.
Well, over here in Jeremiah 18, that's what they needed to understand.
They're not attacking Jeremiah, actually. They are attacking
him, but their ultimate attack is upon God Almighty and His
truth. That's the problem. And back
here, look back at verse 18 of chapter 18, they said, let us
devise devices. What does that mean? That's a
well thought out calculated plan. That's what he's, let's get together,
let's put our heads together and let's devise a plan against
Jeremiah. A well thought out, this is not
a gut reaction. This is not some emotional response. This is a group cooking up a
plot. And you know how that goes, don't
you? Somebody gets dissatisfied or somebody doesn't like what
they're hearing, and then they go find somebody else, and then
they go find somebody else. You know how they do it. You've
seen it done, haven't you? Find out who's behind them, who
they can get with them. You see, that's devising devices. And it's against Jeremiah. They're
going to shoot the messenger. That's what they're going to
do. You've heard of that. Don't shoot the messenger. Well, that's
what they're going to do. Plotting to stop his preaching and even
to take his life. You remember even his hometown
folks back in Anathol. Those priests said, we're going
to stop you from speaking. We'll kill you. We'll kill you. The Lord told his disciples that
when they go out to preach, he said, you'll go into the synagogues.
He said, they'll cast you out of the synagogue. They'll even
murder you thinking they're doing God's work. That's how skewed
men's minds are on this thing. And why is this? Why are they
devising devices here against Jeremiah, against the world?
Because proud, self-righteous sinners do not like hearing about
God's sovereignty. That's one thing they hate. The
potter and the clay. They just heard that message.
God is in control. God is sovereign. None can stay his hand or say
to him, what doest thou? God, listen, it's not of him
that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that shall...
God told Moses, I'll have mercy on whom I'll have mercy, and
I'll be compassionate to whom I'll be compassionate. Salvation
is of the Lord. And they don't like to hear about
their sin. I know, I was there, you were
too, weren't you? I didn't like to hear about the
fact that that God could not be pleased with me and save me
or bless me based upon my best. Now I didn't have any trouble
some preacher telling me that God couldn't do any of those
things based on my worst. I didn't have any problem with
that. I knew that those great perverted
sinners were going to hell and that deservedly, but not me. Not me. I was on the cradle row,
man. I was brought up on it, you know.
I made my profession. I got baptized. I did all that.
And you're telling me that I'm totally depraved? That even my
righteousnesses are as filthy rags? I used to hate to hear
that verse. I didn't even believe it was in the Bible when I first
heard it. I said, that's not in the Bible. It is. Isaiah 64,
6. They don't like to hear about
their sinfulness and their depravity and the fact that we have no
righteousness of our own and can't work one and can't earn
one. And then natural, self-righteous,
proud men and women do not want to hear about God's judgment
against sin. That God is going to punish all
sin. And that's what we deserve and
that's what we've earned. Especially when God's word exposes
the reality of sin how many times we read going through these scriptures
John chapter 3 verses 19 and 20 This is the lot This is the
condemnation that light is coming to the world and men love darkness
and hate the light because their deeds were evil my deeds and
Here's their argument look at verse 18. They've got three arguments
or they they they bring up three points in their argument And
here's what they say, they're devising devices against Jeremiah
and they say, for the law shall not perish from the priest. So
they invoke their priest first of all. And the priest who were
the enactors and interpreters of the law. You know, it was
the priest who were supposed to teach the people of the covenant
law. The prophets, they had the word
from God, the revelations from God. But the priest on a daily
basis, were to teach the people the law. So they're saying here,
our priests are following and preaching the law of God. The
answer to that is absolutely not. Their priests are perverting
the law. They were perverting the law.
Paul sums it up in Romans chapter 9, what the perversion, you know,
there was a lot of perversions in Judah at this time. A lot of perversions. A lot of
different things going on that were just so far removed from
the righteousness of the law. I mean there was lying and cheating
and stealing, there was whoremongering, there was idolatry, all of that
was going on. But you know how it all started?
It all started, and Paul sums it up by inspiration of the Spirit
in Romans 9 and verse 31 following when he talked about Israel followed
after the law of righteousness, but they did not attain unto
that righteousness. Because they sought it not by
faith, they sought it by works. And I want to tell you something,
works religion actually, ultimately leads to every sin. We won't go into all that, I
don't have time, but that's where it starts. Listen, you preach
works oriented religion and free willism, you'll go into idolatry,
because that's not the God of the Bible. So they said, well
our priest, the law will not perish from the priest. Oh yes
it would, it has already. Because the priest were preaching
righteousness by works and that's a denial of the law. That's using
the law unlawfully. Why was the law given? To expose
their sin and drive them to Christ for righteousness. To submit
to him, for Christ is the end of the law for righteousness.
And then they said that they're wise men. Look here. It says,
nor the counsel from the wise. In other words, our elders, that's
who they're talking about, our wise elders are giving good counsel. And the answer to that is no,
they're not. They're preaching and speaking foolishness. Listen,
any message that you hear that does not tell the truth about
who we are, And leave us with absolutely no where to go, no
place to go, no hope, no assurance, but in Christ and Him crucified
and risen is a foolish message given by a fool. Now that's exactly
right. There's no other way to put it.
That's not wisdom, that's foolishness. Foolishness. And then they said,
here in verse 18, they said, nor the word from the prophet.
They invoked their prophets, their priests, their elders,
their prophets. And they said, our prophets are
telling us the truth. No, the prophets were telling
them a lie. The prophets were saying, peace, peace, when there
was no peace. Jeremiah was telling them the
wrath of God is coming for sin and for uncleanness. And they're
saying, their reasoning was, our leaders would not lie to
us and they're telling us what we want to hear. They're like
those that Paul described in 2 Timothy chapter 4 and verse
3, they got itching ears. And so they find them a preacher,
a priest, a wise man or a prophet who, one they think is wise,
or a prophet who will scratch that itch. Just tell me what
I want to hear. So look at what they say. Now
here's their conspiracy. Look at verse 18 and the last
part of it says, let us smite him Jeremiah with the tongue
you see that the most dangerous weapon that man has the tongue
and he says and let us not give heed to any of his words let's
not let's not listen to him let's smite him with the tongue let's
kill him with the tongue. That's what that smite means.
That's killing. That's murdering with the tongue. We'll murder
his reputation. You know somebody who murders
a reputation? You know what they are? You know a person who murders
another person's reputation? Do you want to know what they
are? They're murderers. You believe that? You say, well,
they didn't shoot you with a gun. They didn't cut off your head.
Still murder. in God's sight. Isn't that right? Let's smite him with the tongue.
Now some translations of this say for the tongue, indicating
that they would do this evil because of what Jeremiah was
saying with his tongue. But the better translation, and
I'll tell you, I went at this every way that I could, the better
translation is right here in your King James Version, with
the tongue. Yes, they wanted to kill Jeremiah
because of what Jeremiah was preaching. But their conspiracy,
here's what they're saying. Let's smite him, let's kill him
with our words. Indicating, indicating that they're
going to slander Jeremiah. Slander him. How do you slander
somebody? Accusations and rumors. There you go. There's the satanic
arrows. Accusations and rumors. God's word has a lot to say about
the tongue. Turn over to James chapter 1. I'll tell you, it's more dangerous
than an atomic bomb. Atomic bomb goes off, that's
it, you're wiped out. But boy, when you smite with
the tongue, that keeps going. That's the gift that keeps on
giving and giving and giving, isn't it? Gift of evil. Look at James chapter 1. Look
here in verse 26. He says, If a man among you seem
to be religious, and bridleth not his tongue, watcheth what
he says, be careful, but deceiveth his own heart, this man's religion
is vain. That's how important this is.
And then look over at chapter 3. Look at verse 5. Here he's talking about the tongue.
Verse five, he says, even so the tongue is a little member
and boasteth great things. Behold, how great a matter a
little fire kindling. And the tongue is a fire, a world
of iniquity. You know, this is not just poetry. This is not just what they call
hyperbole. You think about it. How fast
does it take a rumor to spread? You all know this. And he says,
so is the tongue among our members that it defileth the whole body,
and setteth on fire the course of nature, and is set on fire
of hell. And then he goes on, he says,
you can tame every kind of beast, verse 8, but the tongue can no
man tame. It is an unruly evil full of
deadly poison. You see that? That's a conspiracy
of evil. The devil's main weapon. Turn
to Revelation 12. I always like to go to this verse. I told somebody one time, I said,
you know, anytime you accuse a brother
or sister in Christ without going through the biblical process
of the two or three witnesses, and that's eyewitnesses by the
way, not just two or three who agree with you. And without going
through the biblical process and confronting that person privately,
to see if the matter can be settled between... And anytime you spread
a rumor, you are doing Satan's bidding. Do you believe that? What's Satan's main weapon? Look
at verse 9 of Revelation 12. The great dragon. That's Satan.
He was cast out, that old serpent called the devil. Satan which
deceiveth the whole world he was cast out into the earth and
his angels were cast out with him and I heard a loud voice
saying in heaven now has come salvation and strength and the
kingdom of our God and the power of his Christ for thee what now
this is this is the devil the accuser of our brethren is cast
Satan is the accuser of our brethren now do I want to align myself
with Satan and be an accuser of my brethren Because that's exactly what happens
when you bring false accusation or unfounded accusation without
the biblical process that Christ gave to his disciples. You remember
what that is. If any man does something like
that, you go to that man or that woman personally, privately.
If that doesn't work, you take two or three eyewitnesses. If
that doesn't work, you bring it before the church. Now, anything
less than that or anything more than that is what? Aligning yourself
with Satan. He's the accuser of the brethren.
He's cast down. And so, which accused them before
our God, Dana, and I love this verse 11. How'd they overcome
the accuser of the brethren? They overcame him by the blood
of the Lamb. That's it. By the word of their testimony.
What is the word of our testimony? Worthy is the Lamb. And they
loved not their lives unto death. Now that's what's happening to
Jeremiah back here. They plotted a smear campaign
consisting of lies about Jeremiah. Now, what happens here is Jeremiah
begins to lament. And we'll see that in just a
moment. We'll just read through these. But faithful servants of God
do not enjoy opposition, but we learn to expect it, don't
we? Christ told his disciples, John 16, 33, he says, in the
world you'll have trouble, tribulation. He said, be of good cheer, I
have overcome the world. He told them, blessed are you
when men shall persecute you and say all manner of evil against
you. That's how they dealt with the
prophets. That's what they're doing to Jeremiah right here.
He said, but rejoice and be exceedingly glad. Your reward's in heaven. And then they said here in verse
18 of Jeremiah 18, let us not give heed to any of his words.
Let's not listen to what he says at all. Now that's concerted
unbelief. They imagined that they were
rejecting Jeremiah's words, but it was God's word they were...
Who were they rejecting? They were rejecting Christ. That's
who they're rejecting. That's who Jeremiah's preaching.
Every word that he says concerning the gospel of hope for Israel
is wrapped up in one person and based upon one ground, the finished
work of Christ, who was the promised Messiah, and that's who they're
ultimately rejecting, the Lord our righteousness. So what happens? Well, here's Jeremiah's lament.
Here's the weeping prophet. Listen to it. In his first part
of his lament here, He weeps over the sinful state of natural
man. Look at verse 19. It says, Give
heed to me, O Lord, hearken to the voice of them that contend
with me. What Jeremiah is doing, he is praying. And he said, Listen
to me, O Lord, give heed to me, and listen to the words of those
who are in opposition. Listen to what they are saying.
And then he says in verse 20, Shall evil be recompensed for
good? For they have digged a pit for
my soul. Remember that I stood before
thee to speak good for them and to turn away thy wrath from them. Well, first of all, shall evil
be recompensed for good? Well, in man's sinful world and
man's sinful mind and in man's sinful judgment, the answer to
that is yes. Evil will be recompensed for
good. You see, man doesn't even know
by nature, doesn't even know what good is, doesn't even really
know what evil is. Isaiah chapter 5 and verse 18,
he told his generation in view of their trying to establish
their own righteousness before God, God calls it evil and he
says, woe be unto them that call good evil and evil good. Those
false preachers in Matthew chapter 7 who said, Lord, Lord, haven't
we prophesied in your name? Haven't we cast out demons? Haven't
we done many wonderful works? Christ said, depart from me,
ye that work iniquity. They didn't think it was iniquity.
They called it good. But you see, shall evil be recompensed
for good? Well, not in God's world, not
in God's mind, not in God's judgment. God will never pervert judgment. He'll never call good evil and
evil good. He works all things together
for good to them that love God, who are the called according
to His power. But He'll never call good evil and evil good.
His judgments are always according to truth. He will not recompense
evil for good or good for evil. Why do you think Christ was made
sin? And why do you think that we
who are in Christ have been made the righteousness of God in Him?
Because God will not, He will not recompense evil with good
or vice versa. He justifies the ungodly. Christ
was made sin so that He might justly be punished for our sin
imputed to Him. And where made the righteousness
of God in Him that we might justly be saved and justified and sanctified
and brought into fellowship with God based upon Christ's righteousness
imputed to us. God will not pervert it. And
then Jeremiah said here, he said, I stood before thee to speak
good for them. Jeremiah spoke good for them
and they didn't recognize it as good. Remember he said earlier,
he said, they don't see when good cometh. Like when Christ
came into the world, man by nature didn't see him. John said, we
beheld him as of the only begotten of the father, but that was by
revelation from God. That was right after he had said
they were born of God, born of the will of God. You see, to preach good for sinners
is to preach Christ. It's to preach God's grace in
salvation. And man by nature doesn't want
that. He wants to be told how good he is, how dedicated he
is, and how we ought to thank God for him. And then he brings forth in his lament,
look here at verse 21, the judgment of God against sin. He says,
therefore deliver up their children to the famine, And pour out their
blood by the force of the sword. Now listen to Jeremiah's words
here. Let their wives be bereaved of their children and be widows.
Let their men be put to death. Let their young men be slain
by the sword in battle. Let a cry be heard from their
houses when thou shalt bring a troop. That's an army. Suddenly
upon them for they have digged a pit to take me and hid snares
from my feet. Now I know that this is sometimes
very difficult for us to understand. For example, aren't we supposed
to love our enemies and pray for our enemies? Didn't Christ
say that over here in Matthew, in the Sermon on the Mount? Incidentally,
here he's preaching to them under the law. Remember he said here
in Matthew chapter 5, he said, verse 43, you've heard it said,
that it hath been said, thou shalt love thy neighbor and hate
thine enemy, but I say unto you, love your enemies, bless them
that curse you, do good to them that hate you, pray for them
which despitefully use you and persecute you, Well, that's the
standard of love in God's sight, isn't it? That's the standard
of righteousness. If you're going to plead your
love before a holy God as your right and title to enter into
glory with Him, that's what your love's got to be. Perfect. Be you therefore perfect as your
Father in heaven. What does that tell me? Tells
me I need a Savior. I need mercy. It tells me I need
a righteousness I can't produce. That's what it says. But the
bottom line is this. Yes, we're supposed to love our
enemies and pray for those who despitefully use us. And then
look over at Psalm 139. I want you to turn over there.
This is one of those psalms I mentioned at the beginning when I read
Psalm 64. There's many of these psalms where God's servant, the
psalmist, prays for the destruction of his enemies. Verse 17. Psalm 139. Listen, this is just
one of many. In fact, one of those Psalms
is quoted more in the New Testament than any other Psalm. But look
at verse 17. He says, How precious also are
thy thoughts unto me, O God! How great is the sum of them!
If I should count them, they are more in number than the sand.
When I awake, I am still with thee. Surely thou wilt slay the
wicked, O God! Depart from me therefore, you
bloody men. That is the wicked. For they
speak against thee wickedly, and thine enemies take thy name
in vain. Do not I hate them, O Lord, that
hate thee?" Now a lot of preachers cop out on that. They say, well,
he merely means don't hate the sinner, just hate the sin. That's
not what he means here. Yes, we hate the sin. We hate
the sin in ourselves. But you know, sometimes we hate
ourselves. Didn't old Job say, I heard of thee by the hearing
of the air, but now mine eyes seeth thee, and I what? Abhor
myself? And repent and sackcloth that?
That's when the flesh got hold of him? I abhor myself? I despise myself? Didn't old
Paul say, O wretched man that I am? That's there. No, he says, Do not I hate them,
O Lord, that hate thee? And am I not greed with those
that rise up against thee? Now look at verse 22 of Psalm
139. He says, I hate them with perfect
hatred. What is perfect hatred? He said,
I count them mine enemies. Search me, O God, and know my
heart. Try me. What is that perfect
hatred? Well, that's what Jeremiah is expressing over here in Jeremiah
18. It's a hatred. That is totally
wrapped up. And this is not claiming sinless
perfection in himself. You remember that word perfect
now. We think of it as sinless perfection. That's not what he's
talking about. But what he's saying here is not personal vengeance. That's forbidden. That's forbidden. It's not personal hatred or vengeance
arising from sinful self. But it's a hatred of anyone and
anything that stands in opposition to Christ. It's wrapped up totally in the
glory of God. Somebody said this, listen to
this. To love all men with benevolence is our duty. But to love any
wicked man with complacency would be a crime. To hate a man for
his own sake or evil done to us would be wrong. But to hate
a man because he's the foe or enemy of all goodness and the
enemy of all righteousness is nothing more or less than an
obligation of God's children. And the more we love God, the
more indignant shall we grow with those who refuse their affection.
Refuse it to him, that is. You see, the fear of the Lord,
Proverbs 8, 13, is to hate evil. Pride and arrogancy and the evil
way and the froward mouth, do I hate? David said, do not I
hate every false way? What this is, is an expression
of enmity that exists between the seed of woman and the seed
of Satan. Genesis 3.15 It's a reflection of the righteousness of God and
a desire for His glory and the good of His elect in Christ.
It's an expression of a desire for God's justice against all
sin and unrighteousness. It's also a resignation to the
end of God's long suffering. God is not always going to suffer
long. Now our ultimate prayer is that
God will save sinners. But we know from his testimony
that he's not going to save everyone and therefore we recognize his
sovereignty, the potter and the clay, and his right as God. And the prayer of Jeremiah in
this passage is one in spirit with the slain martyrs as recorded
in Revelation 6. You see, when men express their
abject hatred of us and our Lord and the gospel, we can pray without
reservation. Look at verse 23. Yet, Lord,
thou knowest all their counsel against me to slay me. Now, how
are they going to slay? With the tongue. That's how it
starts. Forgive not their iniquity. That
word forgive there is atonement. It means to coat or to cover
in a sense of purging away, cleansing away. It's the exact same word
that the Lord used when he was commanding Noah to cover the
ark with in and without with pitch. Covered with in and without.
That's the blood of Christ. That's his atoning work. And
he says, forgive not their iniquity. Why? They've rejected Christ.
Without Christ, there is no atonement. Without Christ, there is no forgiveness. And then he says, neither blot
out their sin from thy sight. Blotted out means to wipe it
out. What's he talking about? He's talking about imputation
of guilt there. In other words, David said, blessed
is the man to whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity. My friend, without
Christ, there's no alternative but for God to impute iniquity. Without a righteousness that
answers the demands of God's law and justice, which we by
nature reject. And we know this now, but for
the grace of God, we'd be right with them. We know that. But he says, but let them be
overthrown before thee. Deal thus with them in the time
of thine anger. That is, God's wrath is coming.
God has that right. God's justice will be there. This emotional, romantic, syrupy
idea of love and hate that people have will not do in that day.
It's purely the justice and holiness of God and the mercy of God in
Christ. And without Him, without Him
there's no forgiveness. Without Him, there's no righteousness.
Without Him, there's no salvation. All right, let's sing hymn number
393 as our closing hymn. Take my life and let it be. 393.