Why do moral, upstanding, religious
people go to hell? Most do. Most do. I don't want to and
I don't dare try to determine who's saved and who's lost. That's
not my business. But I can't tell you how many
times over the years, both from this place of worship and other
places where I preach the gospel of God's grace, I've had men
and women and young people angry, angry, so angry they'd shot me
if they thought they'd get by with it, go out the door and
say, I won't listen to a man who tells me my mama's lost.
I won't listen to somebody who tells me I'm lost. I didn't tell
them they were. They concluded from what I had
preached that they were, and that enraged them. I've had the
sad, heavy burden and responsibility of burying several folks very
dear to me, religious people. They'd been religious all their
lives, not enough to bother the way they lived much, but religious
all their lives, made a profession of faith, when they were youngsters
and hung on to it until they died and they're in hell. Why do moral, upstanding religious
people go to hell? Open your Bible to Isaiah chapter
15 and I'll show you. Hear the burden of Moab and you'll
find out why religious people go to hell. My subject tonight
is the burden of Moab. My text will be chapters 15 and
16 of Isaiah. In these two chapters, God's
prophet announces God's judgment upon Moab. He does so as a faithful
man, a faithful prophet, a faithful preacher of the gospel must.
He does so with a broken, weeping heart, calling the people whose
judgment he announces to repentance toward God. But he speaks faithfully
as God's messenger to a people who steadfastly refuse to hear
him. I suggest that after the message
tonight, while it's still fresh on your mind soon, that you read
the 48th chapter of the book of Jeremiah. In that chapter,
Jeremiah deals with the same thing. Only there the Lord God
tells us of Moab's specific sins. You see, there are specific reasons
for divine judgment. There are always specific reasons.
Judgment is never an arbitrary thing. These are sins by which
the people of Moab earned the wrath and judgment of God. Judgment,
judgment is always earned. Grace is free. Salvation is free. Life is free. Forgiveness is
free. Redemption is free. Justification
is free. But judgment is earned. Wrath
must be earned. Damnation must be earned. Folks go to hell only because
they deserve to go to hell. As we read the 48th chapter of
Jeremiah and these two chapters of Isaiah's prophecy, it becomes
obvious that Moab is held before us by the Spirit of God as a
beacon of warning. A warning to stubborn, obstinate
sinners who refuse to trust the Lord Jesus Christ. The judgment
of God, I repeat, is always just. Judgment is always God's just
retribution upon men and women who have fully earned it. Here
are the reasons given by God for his judgment on Moab. All
that is said about Moab both by Jeremiah and by Isaiah, is
spoken concerning this specific ancient nation. But it is written
for you. It is written for me, for our
learning. All that is written in the book of God is written
to give us spiritual instruction. Be wise then and hear the voice
of God in his word. The Moabites were a people who
claimed to be worshipers of God But in their great pride, they
worshiped the works of their own hands and refused to worship
God. Everything spoken against Moab
is spoken against all who follow their example of will worship,
pride, presumption, idolatry, and unbelief. Jeremiah said,
Moab shall be destroyed from being a people because he hath
magnified himself against the Lord. Why? What was it the Moab did? Why
was Moab destroyed by the Lord God? What did they do that so
greatly provoked God's anger and wrath? How did the Moabites
earn God's judgment? Moab followed the way and practiced
the religion of Antichrist. They followed the counsel of
Balaam. Free will works religion. And Moab, following the counsel
of Balaam in his religion, magnified himself against the Lord. Moab magnified himself against
the Lord. He set himself up as God himself
and worshiped and adored himself. Let me just read to you a portion
of Jeremiah 48. You can look at it later. Moab
is destroyed. because thou hast trusted in
thy works. Cursed be he that doeth the work
of the Lord deceitfully. Moab, worshiping at the altar
of idols, pretended to do the work of the Lord, but he did
it deceitfully. Moab hath been at ease from his
youth. been settled on his lease. I've
got everything taken care of. I made my decision when I was
a boy. I professed to be a believer
when I was just a young teenager. I got baptized and joined church.
Everything's all right. Don't bother me. I'm at ease. I'm perfectly comfortable. How say ye, we are mighty and
strong. He magnified himself against
the Lord. We've heard of the pride of Moab. He is exceeding proud. His loftiness and his arrogancy
and his pride and the haughtiness of his heart. Therefore, I have
broken Moab like a vessel wherein is no pleasure, saith the Lord. Now let's read the burden of
Moab given in Isaiah 15 and 16. This is a prophecy about the
utter, complete destruction of God's implacable enemies. Isaiah
15, verse one. The burden of Moab, because in
the night hour of Moab is laid waste and brought to silence. Because in the night care of
Moab is laid waste and brought to silence. He is going up to
Bejith and to Dibbon, the high places, Moab, in the time when
judgment has come, going up to his high places, to his idolatrous
altars. To weep, Moab shall howl over
Nebo and over Mediba. And all their heads shall be
baldness, and every beard cut off, expressions of great shame
and sorrow, expressions of great lamentation. In their streets,
they shall gird themselves with sackcloth, usually mourning. Sorrow is expressed in private,
but they're in great grief, so they parade the streets in sackcloth. on the tops of their houses and
in their streets. Everyone shall howl, weeping
abundantly, and Heshban shall cry, and Elilah, their violence
shall be heard, even to Jehez. Therefore the armed soldiers
of Moab shall cry out. His life shall be grievous unto
him, so grievous are these upon whom God rains judgment and destroys
the refuge of lies that they're suicidal. My heart shall cry
out for Moab. His fugitives shall flee to Zor. That's where men always go when
they're pricked in conscience and troubled. They go back to
where they began. Moab began in Zor. Moab began
with Lot's incest with his daughter in Zor. That's where it was born,
and that's where they go. They flee to Zor. Religious people
always flee back to the place where their religion began. That's
all the comfort they have. back to when they were baptized,
back when they made their decision, back when they walked the aisle,
back when they decided to accept Jesus as their Savior. And listen
to me, if you've gotta go back to yesterday to find hope, you
have no hope. Did you hear me? If you've gotta
go back to yesterday to find hope, you have no hope. Years
ago, Roth Barnard told a story, a
true story, A lady teaching Sunday school, teaching some young children.
And the young child asked the teacher, said, teacher, do you
reckon Adolf Hitler was saved? This was the teacher's response.
We can only hope that when he was a little boy, he made his
decision for Jesus. We can only hope. If you've got
to go back to yesterday, let alone back to your childhood,
back to a time and a place, you have no hope. They shall flee
to Zor. An heifer of three years old,
that is bawling loud like the lowing of a young heifer. For
by the mounting up of Luhith, with weeping shall they go it
up. For in the way of Horenim, they
shall raise up the cry of destruction. For the waters of Nimrim shall
be desolate, for the hay is withered away. The grass faileth, there
is no green thing. Therefore the abundance they
have gotten and that which they have laid up shall they carry
away to the book of the willows. That is, they won't have anything
to carry away. For the cry is going round about
the borders of Moab, the howling thereof to Iglam, and the howling
thereof to bereal him, for the waters of Dimron shall be full
of blood. For I will bring more upon Dimmon,
lions upon him that escapeth of Moab, and upon the remnant
of the land. Chapter 16, the same subject,
no break. Send ye the lamb to the ruler
of the land, from Sila to the wilderness, unto the mouth of
the daughter of Zion, For it shall be that as a wandering
bird cast out of the nest, so the daughters of Moab shall be
at the fords of Arnon. Take counsel, execute judgment,
make thy shadow as the night in the midst of the noonday.
Hide the outcast, berate not him that wandereth. Let mine
outcast dwell with thee, Moab, the outcast of Israel. The refugees
of God's elect. You who have been oppressing
my people, embrace my people. Put away your enmity against
God and his people. Be thou a cover to them from
the face of the spoiler, for the extortioner is at an end.
The spoiler ceaseth. The oppressors are consumed out
of the land. And in mercy shall the throne
be established. and he shall sit upon it in truth
in the tabernacle of David, judging and seeking judgment and hasting
righteousness. We have heard of the pride of
Moab. He is very proud, even of his haughtiness and his pride
and his wrath, but his lies, religious lies, the fables of
religion shall not be so. Therefore shall Moab howl for
Moab. Everyone shall howl, for the
foundations of Kirhesheth shall ye mourn. Surely they are stricken,
for the fields of Heshbon languish, and the vine of Sibmeh, the lords
of the heathen have broken down the principal plants thereof.
They are come even unto Jazer. They wandered through the wilderness.
Her branches are stretched out. They are gone over the sea. Therefore,
oh God, make me such a prophet. Therefore, I will bewail with
weeping, the weeping of Jazer, the vine of Simba. I will water
thee with my tears, O Heshbon and Elia, for the shouting of
the summer fruits, and for thy harvest is fallen. And gladness
is taken away and joy out of the plentiful field. And in the
vineyards there shall be no singing. Neither shall there be shouting.
The treaders shall tread out no wine in their presses. I made
their vintage shouting to cease. Wherefore my bowels shall sound
like an harp for Moab, and mine inward parts for Kirharesh, and
it shall come to pass when it is seen that Moab is weary on
the high places, weary at the altars of her idols. And he shall
come to his sanctuary, come to pray to gods that cannot save,
but he shall not prevail. This is the word that the Lord
has spoken concerning Moab since that time. But now the Lord has
spoken, saying, Within three years, at a set time, fixed,
appointed, a time you shall not pass, within three years as the
years of an hireling, and the glory of Moab shall be contemned. All that Moab boasted of and
all that men boasted of concerning Moab, all the glory of Moab,
his haughtiness, his pride, his riches, his wealth, his experience,
his religion shall be utterly despised with all that great
multitude and the remnant shall be very small and feeble. Like Moab, Every vessel of wrath
is fitted for destruction, fitted for destruction by his own hands. Vessels of mercy prepared by
God for glory, but every vessel of wrath fitted for destruction
by his own hands. This is what the scriptures teach.
If you go to hell, if you go to hell, if your sons
and daughters go to hell, if mine go to hell. If your brothers
and sisters go to hell, if mine go to hell. If your parents go
to hell, if mine go to hell. You must earn your way there. You must do so with deliberate
effort, determined not to bow to Christ. Determined to have
your own way. Determined to be your own God. It will be your own fault, your
own doing. The wages of sin is death. Eternal, everlasting death. Isaiah's counsel is given here.
The prophet called upon Moab in her distresses, to look to
him who alone could save her, the Lord Jesus Christ, that one
whom he identifies as the king, who must sit as king upon the
throne of David. If she refused to do so, her
refusal must be her everlasting ruin. Isaiah said to Moab, come,
offer up the lamb. The lamb for an offering and
sacrifice to God. Offering the lamb, confess your
sin to God, looking to Christ, the one represented in that lamb.
Seek peace and pardon through his blood. Oh, hear God speak. If we confess our sin. If we
confess our sin, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sin
and to cleanse us by the blood of His Lamb from all unrighteousness. Isaiah said, Christ Jesus, the
seed of David will erect His throne in mercy and the Gentiles
as well as the Jews. Yes, Moabites as well as Jews. Folks in the four corners of
the earth, as well as Jews, shall partake of the blessings which
will issue from his throne. Therefore seek the favor of this
almighty king. After all, it is certain that
God will save. God will save his elect. God
will save all who look to him. God will save all who trust his
son. Come then, come to the throne
of grace. God's throne, the throne on which
this Lamb, the Lamb of God sits and reigns is a throne of grace.
Come to the throne of grace that you may obtain mercy and find
grace to help in time of need. For myself, I find much reproof
and much instruction in the fact that both Jeremiah and Isaiah,
as they faithfully denounced the sins of Moab, and faithfully
warned them of God's certain and impending judgment. Those
faithful prophets wept for the perishing Moabites. They wept
for them. We read Isaiah's words, look
at it again, verse nine. Therefore will I bewail with
the weeping of Jazer. Jeremiah said, therefore will
I howl for Moab. I will cry for Moab. My heart
shall mourn for the men of Cheres. Moab is but a picture of all
people, all in this world who are without God. without Christ,
aliens from the Commonwealth of Israel, strangers to the covenant
of God's mercy, love, and grace in Christ. When you behold the
peoples of this world, when we behold the peoples of
this world, how our hearts ought to be moved for them. What a
miserable life. The life of a poor lost sinner
is a life without hope. A life without hope. Without
hope. Oh, the peoples of this world
live for what they can get. And we prepare our children hoping
their lives can be a little bit better than ours. And we teach
them to seek after the things of the world. All the hope they
have is a little advancement here. What a sad thing. What a sad thing. Oh, how miserable
must be the life of that man, that woman, who has no hope of
life everlasting. No hope of acceptance with God. No hope of peace with God. Our Lord Jesus gave us such an
example. Oh, 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, but ye would
not. Behold, your house is left unto
you desolate, because you chose not the fear of the Lord. Because
you chose not to believe me. Now let me give you five statements
about Moab, and I'll be done. These five things are true of
all who are yet without Christ. multitudes are. I know the tendency
is, Brother Lynch and I have been talking about this a good
bit in the religious world, we've been talking about it, the tendency
is to presume that everybody knows God and everybody's saved. That's just the way the religious
world acts today. And if you indicate that you
don't, they'll very quickly talk you into saying you love God
and you're born of God and you're a Christian. The fact is, Nobody
will ever try to convince a lost sinner that he's saved except
another lost sinner. I'm not here to convince you
you're saved. I'm here to convince you of your
sin and convince you to trust the Savior. I'm not here to try
to make for you a refuge. I'm here to point you to the
only refuge there is, Christ Jesus the Lord. Oh, may God be
pleased to send these five sharp arrows directly to the heart
of every soul that hears my voice. Number one, Moab's origin was
sin. Sin. Moab came into being by
the incestuous acts of Lot and his daughter. Moab was born. and Moab being born was from
its birth a cursed nation. That's true concerning all who
hear my voice and the one talking to you. Our origin is sin. We came forth from the garden,
sinners. We came forth from our mother's
womb, speaking lies, sinners. We came forth from the womb,
going astray from God, sinners. Born children of wrath, even
as others, with a consciousness of the curse of God upon us. From their beginning, God said,
Moab is cursed! Moab is cursed! Moab is cursed! And Moab could never escape God's
curse, no matter how she practiced religion. She could never find
any ease before God. She was cursed. Number two. Moab's prophet was a deceiver. Read Numbers 22 through 25 and
you'll find out about Moab's prophet. His name was Balaam. Balaam was the prophet. All the
prophets of Moab followed. Balaam taught all who would hear
his voice to worship the works of their own hands and called
it the worship of God. You come and here, what do you
think God looks like? You think he looks kind of like
a stopwatch? Here, make your God like that and call him Jehovah.
Now worship God. You think God looks like a great,
tall, big, golden statue of a man? Make your big, gold God and call
it Jehovah and worship God. You think God looks like a calf
or a lamb or a lion? Make you one and call it worshiping
God. Worship the works of your hands,
your doings, your might, your power, and call it the worship
of God. But his lies, we're told in verse
six, shall not be so. The lies of Balaam are lies concerning
God, his way and his grace. Lies that would have you to believe
that somehow God is in your hands and salvation is by your will
and by your works. Whereas the scriptures declare
plainly you're in God's hands. Salvation by His grace, by the
blood of His Son, by the power of His Spirit. Number three,
Moab's only hope was a lamb. Send a lamb to the ruler, the
prophet says. Lord Jesus Christ, the Lamb of
God, is the only hope sinners have. He's the only hope sinners
have before God. He alone taketh away the sins
of the world. He alone by his blood atonement
has taken away all the sin charged to him and made his. And it is
he alone who by his grace takes away the sins of the world consciously
when he calls sinners by his grace, sprinkling them with his
blood. He is a lamb in the midst of
the throne, sitting upon the throne, dispensing justice and
righteousness and truth. Oh, for grace to come boldly
to the throne upon which the Lamb sits, that we may obtain
mercy and find grace to help in time of need. Not only is
Christ the hope for Moabite sinners, as he is the hope for us all,
the only hope there is. There is encouragement for poor
Moabites Moabites who were cursed. God said, you're cursed. God
said, you're cursed. You're cursed. You're cursed!
The nation is cursed! But there's hope for them. I
know there's hope because there was a woman by the name of Ruth
of Moabites who obtained the favor of the Lord. There was
a man by the name of David whose grandmother was a Moabitess,
who was made the friend of God. If one more about us has obtained
mercy, maybe another, come then, come then to the throne. Come
humble sinner in whose breast a thousand thoughts revolve.
Come with all your guilt and fear oppressed and make this
last resolve. I'll go to Jesus, though my sins
like mountains round me close, I know his courts. I'll enter
in whatever may oppose. prostrate I'll lie before his
throne, and there my guilt confess, I'll tell him I'm a wretch undone
without your sovereign grace. I'll to the gracious king approach,
who scepter pardon gives. Perhaps he may command my touch,
and then the sinner lives. Perhaps he will admit my plea.
Perhaps will hear my pray. But if I perish, I will pray,
and perish only there. I can but perish if I go. I am resolved to try, for if
I stay away, I know I must forever die. Oh, but if I die with mercy
sought, when I, the king, have tried, this were to die, delightful
thought, as sinner never died. Number four, Moab's choice. Moab's determined
choice. Moab's stiff-necked choice. Moab's hard-hearted choice was
unbelief. Faith in Christ is a gift. Unbelief
is a choice. Faith in Christ, God must perform
in you. Unbelief is your choice. Moab
refused to bow to Christ. Moab refused to believe God rather
we read in verse 12 that she chose to pray unto a God that
cannot save. Moab despised the goodness of
God's forbearance that should have led her to repentance. There's
a remarkable statement found in Deuteronomy chapter 2 of all
the nations that Israel was surrounded by. Nations Israel spoiled. Nations Israel took captive.
God said to Moses, distress not Moab. Lindsay, Moab was preserved by
the special direction of God. Preserved! when God commanded
the destruction of other nations just like Moab. But Moab despised
the goodness of God that should have led Moab to repentance. I know a good many who like myself
in their youth toyed with death and destruction. A good many
like myself, you look at them and you say, God miraculously
preserved his life. It's obvious that God miraculously
preserved her life. And the fact of that ought to
lead them to repentance, but not without grace. They just
bow. their head and bow their shoulders
and say, no, I will not believe. That was Moab. Moab would not
hear and believe God's gospel, trust in God's love, but chose
another way and another sacrifice. Moab, being instructed by false
prophets following Baal, brought God the works of her own hands. Moab brought God themselves. Moab worshipped at an altar and
prayed to a God who cannot save. Moab followed the path of Antichrist. Number five. Moab's end was destruction, everlasting
destruction from the presence of the Lord. Now the Lord hath spoken, verse
14, within three years as the years of an hireling at this
appointed time. When your period of hiring as
my servant is over, at this exact time, as the years of inhaling
in the glory of Moab shall be despised, contemned, with all
that great multitude, and the remnant shall be very small in
people. When the years are done that
God's appointed for you, you're gonna meet God in judgment. And
everybody has a refuge like Moab did. Turn over a few pages to
Isaiah 28. Let's read about it. I make it my business. I know
it makes people uncomfortable, but that's all right. makes both
the living and the dying uncomfortable, but that's all right. I don't
mind making you uncomfortable if it'll make you seek the Lord.
I talk to people about their refuge, about their hope. Talk to people about the fact
they're about to meet God. Here in Isaiah 28, Isaiah tells
us what I have often seen. Everybody I know, has some kind
of refuge that gives them a little peace and a little hope. Verse
14, wherefore hear the word of the Lord, ye scornful men, that
rule this people which is in Jerusalem. Because you have said,
we have made a covenant with death, and with hell are we at
agreement. Don't bother me, I'm ready to
die. when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, it shall
not come unto us, for we've made lies our refuge, and under falsehood
have we hid ourselves. That is, that which you tell
us we don't believe, we chose to believe something else. Therefore
thus saith the Lord God, I lay in Zion for a foundation stone,
a tried stone, a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation. He that believeth
shall not make haste. Christ is that foundation stone. Believe on him, and you're safe. But God says concerning your
refuge of lies, and this the refuge he has made. Judgment
also will I lay to the line, and righteousness to the plummet.
You fellows who do some building know just what he's saying. I'll
see if this thing squares up. I'll lay judgment to the lion,
righteousness to the plummet, and the hail shall sweep away
the refuge of lies, and the waters shall overflow the hiding place,
and your covenant with death shall be disannulled, and your
agreement with hell shall not stand. Verse 20, for the bed is shorter, than
that a man can stretch himself on it. He'll go and he'll pray
to his gods, but he shall not prevail. And the covering narrower
than that he can wrap himself in it. So the Lord God says,
look unto me and be you saved all the ends of the earth. for
I am God and there is none else. Hear me, behold God's Son, the
Lamb, and understand that God is willing to be gracious. And
God is able to be gracious because His justice is satisfied, His
righteousness is satisfied in the sacrifice of His Son. Are
you willing willing to be saved by the God
of all grace through the merits of His Son, the sinner's substitute,
doing nothing. Doing nothing. Doing nothing. Not many folks are. Listen to me now. I'm perfectly
willing. God has made me willing in the
day of his power to go to heaven on the merits of Christ by free
grace without doing anything. That's called faith in Christ. Oh, may God give it to you for
Christ's sake. Amen.