Their Foot Shall Slide In Due Time

You may think this is a strange
way for me to begin a sermon, but I'm going to begin this sermon
today by announcing a fact. And this is the fact. This will
not be a pleasant sermon for me to preach or for you to hear. I'm going to speak on final punishment. I'm going to speak on the condemnation
of unbelievers. I'm going to speak from a text
in Deuteronomy, chapter 32, verse 35, which says, Their foot shall
slide in due time. Their foot shall slide in due
time. Now, my friends, the man who
enjoys preaching a sermon on God's wrath, now listen to me,
the man who enjoys preaching God's wrath and the condemnation
of evil men does not have a heart of love for sinners He has no
compassion for sinners. He has no understanding of the
wrath of God and a man who delights and enjoys hearing now you listen
a man who enjoys hearing enjoys hearing a sermon on judgment
and Eternal wrath is filled with presumption He's filled with
self-righteousness, and he really has no genuine fear of God in
his heart. So I'm not going to enjoy preaching
this sermon, not like some I preach, on the mercy and love of God
and the grace of God in Christ Jesus. And you're not going to
enjoy hearing it, but you've got to hear it, and I've got
to preach it. I must preach it. I must, as Paul said, keep back
nothing profitable unto you. I must not shun to declare unto
you the whole counsel of God. Men may not like it and enjoy
it, but I must preach it. Woe is unto me if I preach not
the gospel." Well, really there are three reasons for preaching
this message. One is the example of my Lord.
That's the first reason for preaching, the example of Christ Jesus.
Christ, our beloved Master, our beloved Savior, warned men to
flee the wrath to come. He warned the sinners. Listen
to him. He says, Don't be afraid of them
which kill the body, and after that have no more that they can
do. But I say unto you, fear him who is able to cast you,
body and soul, into hell. Christ said that. And our Lord
said, if your right hand offends you, cut it off. It's better
to go through life with one hand than to go into hell with two,
where the worm dies not and the fire is not quenched. In Matthew,
he said, talking about those unbelievers who will stand on
the left hand at the judgment, our Lord said, these shall go
away into everlasting punishment. Someone said, our Lord, said
more about hell than he did about heaven. That may be so, because
he had a lot to say about eternal condemnation and eternal punishment. I haven't had a lot to say about
it, but we must say something about it. We must from the example
of our Lord, and then we must from the command of our Lord.
He said, listen to this, in Ezekiel, when I say unto the wicked man,
O wicked man, Thou shalt surely die. Now, if you do not speak
to warn the wicked from his way, that wicked man shall die in
his iniquity, but his blood will I require at your hands." My
Lord commanded me to preach on this subject, condemnation. I'm
not only to preach the love of God, I'm to preach the wrath
of God. Not only the mercy of God, but the righteousness of
God. Not only the grace of God, but the truth of God. eternal
condemnation. And then the third reason why
I preach it is this, not only from the example of our Lord
and the command of our Lord, but the possibility that someone
will be awakened, that someone will be disturbed, that someone
will be brought to a genuine fear of sin and a genuine desire
for salvation, a genuine fear of judgment and condemnation
and a genuine need of grace And someone would be awakened to
seek the Lord. Nineveh was awakened to seek
the Lord under the preaching of Jonah. That's right. And the Gentiles were awakened
to seek the Lord under the preaching of Paul. And it may be that someone
out there listening to me will listen not just with the ears,
but with the heart. And will not listen as to a man
only. but to God, speaking through
his word. For we are ambassadors of Christ
and for Christ. As though God did beseech you
himself, we cry, Be ye reconciled to God. Please, from the wrath
that comes. Maybe there's a dying thief out
there that'll see something today, or hear something today, or be
awakened by God's Spirit. But listen to the text. It ought
to be marked in your Bible. Deuteronomy 32, verse 35. Listen
to it. God says to me, the longest vengeance
and recompense. Their foot shall slide in due
time, for the day of their calamity is at hand, and the things that
shall come upon them may taste. Their foot shall slide in due
time. Now my message will be divided
into six parts. And I'll give you each part clearly,
plainly, if you'd like to, write it down and study it. That's
what I'd like for you to do. I don't want your faith to stand
in the wisdom of men, the persuasive power of some man, the logic
of a man, but in the word of God, in the power of God. This booklet shall judge you,
not my words. It's Christ to whom you must
give an account, not me. So you listen. Now, first of
all, God has the power to cast men into hell. Now, God has that
power. We see a little man standing
on the street corner. He's got him a soapbox, and he's
leading an atheistic rally of men who deny the existence of
God. He feels real brave and real
good, and he steps up on the box, and he raises his fist to
heaven and shakes his fist, and he says, If there be a God up
there, let him strike me dead. If there be a God up there, I
dare him to strike me dead. And then he laughs, and everybody
claps and laughs, and he steps down off the box and walks his
way unharmed, and men say, Well, why doesn't God do something?
Why doesn't God do something? He will. He will. He says, their foot shall slide
in due time. He will. God always pays his
bill. The wages of sin is death. God
always pays those who earn those wages. God always recompenses
to every transgression a just reward. He says that to me, the
long it's been. to me belongeth recompense, their
foot shall slide in my own time." David lamented. If you read the
73rd Psalm, this would be a good assignment for you today, read
the 73rd Psalm, and you'll find that David there is lamenting
the trials of believers. It talks about how believers
We're under heavy trials, and suffering, and persecution, and
the prosperity of the wicked. Wicked men just seem to prosper. David talking about the wicked,
the unbelievers, the rebels, he said, well, they're not in
trouble. Why, he says, they're not plagued. He says, they have
everything they want, all they want. They're corrupt, they speak
against heaven, and yet they prosper. And when I thought on
this, he said it was too painful for me. I couldn't understand.
Here was the righteous believer persecuted in need under heavy
trials. Just seemed like God's hand was
so heavy upon him. Like Naomi, when she came back
to Bethlehem, they said, well, here comes Naomi. She said, call
me not Naomi, call me Mara, which is bitter. God has dealt severely
with me. God dealt severely with all of
his children. Heavy trials. David couldn't
understand that, and then he says, I went down to the sanctuary,
to the house of God, and God showed me. I was looking at the
prosperity of the wicked, the plentiful. God showed me their
end. Their foot shall slide in due
time. What shall it profit a man if
he gain the whole world and lose his soul? Why, this life is but
a It's but a vestibule that leads into the great hall of eternity.
It's like one snowflake in a blizzard. It's like one drop of rain in
a flood. This life is nothing. It's just
a fleeting shadow. It's just a temporary blooming
flower. It's just a vapor. What is your
life? It is but a vapor. Nothing, compared
to eternity. And David said, God showed me
their end. God does everything in his own
time. Scripture says in due time God sent forth his son made of
a woman in due time Christ died for the ungodly In due time God
will exalt you and here he says concerning the unbeliever the
rebel the wicked Their foot shall slide In due time they have no
rock for it to rest upon they have no foundation to build upon
They have no refuge to hide it And their foot shall be set in
slippery places, and it'll fly, it'll fly in God's own hand. He's got the power. Secondly,
and the sinner has no power to resist God, who can say his hand
or say unto him what doeth thou? Why, God doeth according to his
will in the armies of heaven and among the inhabitants of
this earth. That's what he called and showed Nebuchadnezzar. who
can say his hand or say unto him what doest thou? God has
the power and the right to cast men into hell. Why? Because men deserve to be condemned. Now, I know this is not going
to be popular, but it's so whether we like it or not. Men deserve
to be cast into hell. Men deserve to be separated from
God. Men deserve to be condemned. Suppose you're standing at the
Last Judgment. You're standing there before
God. And the books have been opened. And God keeps good books. Accurate books. God keeps immaculate
books. God keeps minute books. Every detail, every secret deed,
every idle word, every imagination, every thought, every Attitude,
it's all written. God says everything's right there.
Men shall be judged out of those things written in the books and
you stand there and God sees your record God says bind him
hand and foot and cast him in the hay And you object And you
say now wait a minute and you look around for someone to speak
for you and someone to plead your cause and you look around
hoping someone will say something but nobody does Nobody does. Now, the believer, Christ will
be there to speak for him. Christ is our High Priest. Christ
is our Mediator. That's one who speaks for another.
That's one who represents another, our Advocate, our Lawyer, who
pleads our case. Christ is the believer's Advocate.
As you may understand, we have an Advocate with the Father.
Christ is our advocate, and he's going to plead not our works,
but his. Not our merit, but his. Not our
righteousness, but his. His wounds in his hands and feet.
His blood. He's going to plead that for
us. But you look around, you don't have an advocate. You stand
before the judgment of God and the books are open, and God says,
bind him hand and foot and cast him into hell, and you say, hold
on there, wait just a minute. Now somebody speak for me. And
no one answers. So God turns to the law and he
says, Law, do you object to this man being condemned? Do you object? And the law answers back and
says, No, I do not. He is a transgressor of the law.
He has broken the law. He has broken the law into In
many ways, in many words, in many evil thoughts, in many evil
actions, in many evil imaginations. He's broken every law. To offend
in one point is to be guilty of the whole law. I don't object. I vote to condemn him. He's a
lawbreaker. He's a transgressor. He has violated
the righteousness and the holiness of God. And God says, all right, justice,
do you object to this man being condemned? And justice replies,
no, I do not. He has sinned, and the soul that
sinneth, it shall die. Isn't that what you said, Lord?
Isn't that what's written? Every soul that sinneth shall
surely die. The soul that sinneth must surely
die. God will know I was clearly guilty.
God must be just. He must punish sin. Isn't that
what you said, Lord? This man's a sinner, this man's
a criminal, this man's a traitor, this man has violated your righteous
commandments. Justice says, away with him. The Lord turns to the great high
priest, Jesus Christ, and he says, my son, do you object to
this man being condemned? Did you object to this man being
cast into hell? And the Lord Jesus replies, no,
I do not. I never knew him. He never came
to me for mercy. He never came to me for grace.
It was said over and over again in the scripture, if we confess
our sins, he's faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to
cleanse us from all unrighteousness. He never confessed his sins.
There are many examples in the scripture, the publican cried,
Lord be merciful to me a sinner and I showed him mercy. This
man never cried for mercy. This man talked about how many
times he'd fasted and how many times he'd been to church and
how many times he'd prayed and how many times he'd tithed and
how many times he'd done good work. No, Father, he never called
on me. Yes, it was said in the word
and he heard it, whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord
shall be saved, but he never called. Yes, it was said in the
Word, he that believeth on the Son hath life, but he never believed.
Yes, it was said in the Word, if thou shalt confess without
Jesus to be Lord, but Father, he never confessed me to be Lord.
He never looked to me. He looked to everything else
but me. Father, I do not object. I do
not plead for him. He never asked me to. He never
looked to me. And then God the Father turns
to the redeemed people of God, and he says to them, do you object
to this man being condemned? The law doesn't object. Justice
does not object. My son does not object. What
about you people? Moses, Elijah, Jeremiah, John
the Baptist, Paul, Peter, James, John, you redeemed people, do
you object? And they reply, we don't object. for true and righteous are his
judgment. And when he shall cast the great religious professor
and the great religious hypocrite into hell and the smoke of their
torment ascendeth up forever, the redeemed of all ages shall
shout hallelujah, glory to God, just and righteous are his judgment."
I'm sorry, my friend. There's no one to plead your
cause. Justice says, I've not found a ransom. There's been
no redemptive price paid to me for that fellow. I have not in
my book anywhere any record of his sins being paid for. They're
still on him. He's got to pay for it. And then listen to this. Sinners
are now. Now watch this. This is something we don't understand
in this generation, at least we don't preach it. Sinners are
right now under the wrath of God. So to be under the wrath
of God at judgment will be no new thing. Sinners are all... I know preachers don't preach
this now, but you listen to me for the next two or three minutes.
Sinners, unbelievers, Christ-rejecters are right now under the wrath
of God. It's not a coming thing. It's
not a future thing. It's a present condition. Now
listen. Psalm 7, verse 11, God is angry
with the wicked every day. Listen to John 3, 36. He that
believeth not on the Son, the wrath of God the wrath of God
abideth on him. God didn't choose by the foolishness
of bumper stickers to save people, but by the preaching of his word.
Faith goes by hearing and hearing, not by bumper stickers, but by
the word of God. And not by testimonies and experiences,
but by the word of God. And God says, he that believeth
not on the Son, the wrath of God right now abides on him. God's angry. Unbelievers are
not on trial. The trial's over. The trial was
held in the Garden of Eden. We were there. We were there
in our father Adam. We were in the loins of Adam.
When he stood, we stood. When he sinned, we sinned. When
he fell, we fell. When he died, we died. We were
in Adam. The trial's over. We're not on
trial. Unbelievers are not on probation. The sentence is passed.
The trial's over. All of the evidence has been
presented. The sentence has been passed.
Guilty. And the judgment has been set.
Eternal hell. It's already over. You're not
on probation. God never says in his book you're on probation.
We're on death's road where we are. We need to be rescued. We need to be lifted from certain
ruins, from darkness and death and dungeon. Christ came to set
the prisoners free. If men were on probation, they
wouldn't be in prison. Men who are on probation are
out. Not in, but we're in, by nature, not out. And then unbelievers
are not friends with God, they're enemies of God. Christ said,
the world hates me. Now what does that mean? The
natural mind is enmity against God. It is not subject to the
law of God, neither indeed can be. So what I'm saying, when
God sends men to hell, there's not going to be any change. They're
already under the wrath of God. In Revelation 22, 11 says, he
that's unjust, let him be unjust still. He that's filthy, let
him be filthy still. He that's a transgressor, a transgressor
still. He that's a lover of evil, a
lover of evil still. There's no change. He that's
under the wrath of God, under the wrath of God still. Then notice the fourth thing.
Unbelievers are controlled. Now watch this. By evil principles,
they would find no happiness in heaven. An unbeliever would not find
any happiness in heaven if God let him go there. Now he doesn't
love Christ now. What makes you think he'd love
him then? He doesn't enjoy fellowship with God now. Why do you think
he would want to have fellowship with God forever? You can't get
him to sit and listen to a message from God's Word for 30 minutes.
How in the world could he stand eternity in the presence of God? You can't rope, hogtie, buttonhole,
pull, persuade, or bribe him to go to the house of God. What
makes you think he'd want to go to the house of God and live
forever? Dominated by evil principles
if men do not believe God's Word now Why would they believe it
then if men do not enjoy holiness now? Why would they enjoy it
then? Someone said well preacher it
won't do a man any good to send him to hell It won't do a man
any good to send him to hell now listen to me God's not sending
men to hell to do him good That's not how God does men good. Christ
came to do men good. Christ said, I'm come that they
might have life and have it more abundantly. And when men refuse
and reject God's way of life, they must bear God's wrath. And
God's not sending men to hell to do them good. He's sending
men to hell to punish them for sin and to remove them from his
universe where they can do no more harm. God is going to remove
every enemy. The natural mind is an enemy
of God. I just read that from Romans
8.7. God's going to remove every enemy. He said every enemy shall
be destroyed. The last enemy that shall be
destroyed is death. God's going to rid this universe,
heaven, earth, and the universe of every rebel, of every unbeliever,
of every devil, Every enemy till he gets the last one which is
death and then gonna have a kingdom of righteousness and perfect
over which Christ will reign That's right That's right All
right in the fifth place the fact that men are right now in
good health and prosperity Will not deliver them from God's wrath.
He says their foot shall slide forward in due time, in due time. You may live to be 40, 50, 70,
80, 90, maybe even 100, but it is appointed unto men once to
die. And let me tell you, my friend,
you boast of your strength and your good health. Almighty God
is able to remove it just like that. Oh, how powerless men are
against earthquakes and floods and snowstorms and acts of God
And I'll tell you all God has to do is just touch your backbone
and you're paralyzed. All God has to do is just touch
one nerve in your body and you're dead. Just touch your heart and
it ceases to beat, your lungs and they cease to breathe. You're
in the hands of God. Pilate said to our Lord, don't
you, you refuse to answer me knowing I've got the power to
crucify you or let you go. And Christ said, you could have
no power over me at all, except it was given you from above.
All power is of God. Yes, sir, their foot will slide
in due time. God's the one that has the calendar
marked. The instrument of death is already
prepared. God's wants at these dates. He
says the number of man's months are with the Lord God has set
his bounds. He cannot pass. Job 14, read
it. You read the first part of it.
Man that is born a woman is full of days, a few days and full
of trouble, but read the rest of it. God has set his bounds. He cannot pass. Now, the sixth
thing, there is a way of deliverance. There is a ransom. Job said in
Job 33, 24, listen, he is gracious unto him and he said, deliver
him from going down into the pit, for I have found a ransom. Wouldn't that be good? Wouldn't
that be good? Oh, when I think of my sins and
the broken law and the justice of God and eternal judgment,
And I think, oh, if I could just find a ransom. Well, you won't
find it in the church. You won't find it in religion.
You'll find it in Christ. He is that ransom. He came to
ransom sinners. He was numbered with the transgressors.
And by his knowledge shall my servant justify me." The ransom
is Christ. Just like paying a ransom for
a kidnapped victim. They send a note and say, if
you don't pay so much, we're going to kill him. And Christ
provided a ransom. He met the law's demands and
honored them. He met justice's demands and
satisfied them. He met all that God the Father
required and fully paid the price. Paid it all, all the debt I owe.
Then left the crimson stain that he washed it white as snow.

Their Foot Shall Slide In Due Time

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Their Foot Shall Slide In Due Time

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