Gospel—Stephen Rule
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On Tuesday of this week.
Or put something in my heart. My initial reaction to it was Oh no.
But I want to tell you why it's important because the next day, Wednesday of this week, I was driving home from work and it's a busy Rd. There's six lanes, three each direction. It's usually jammed with traffic at the time I'm heading home from work. And I was jammed this evening. And up ahead of me in another lane a little far away, there was a semi. And the semi I happened to notice I was stopped at a light. He was already through that light and I noticed.
That his one of the two back doors on the semi was wide open and as he was pulling forward toward the next light the thing was flopping back and forth flops all the way out into the oncoming lane that would have been next to him, lane that was next to him and saw it was loaded all the way to the back.
What I wanted was for somebody.
To go tell them his door was open.
I wasn't interested. I was several cars back from the light, but nobody turned and went to tell them his door was open. So when the light went green and I pulled through that my lanes were clear. For some reason the Lord allowed it and I pulled over a couple of lanes, got right up next to him and honked my horn. I hope that would do it. Didn't get his attention. I pulled forward a little bit, got all the way up to work as far as I could, and I honked and I waved and I pointed towards the back.
He looks at me a little strangely. I rolled down my window.
Yes, it was rolled down the window.
And pointed back toward the back and yelled your doors open.
He paused. He reached up towards the dashboard. I'm sure he was turning off his music. He lowered his window.
And looked expectantly and I yelled again. Your rear door is open.
His eyebrows hit his hairline.
His eyes popped wide open, pupils dilated, his mouth fell completely open, and I figured he got the message. So I pulled forward. But I was watching in my rearview mirror. In fact, I was looking back over my shoulder. He was in a turn lane to get on the Interstate and he didn't get moving. All the cars in front of him went, all the cars next to him went. So I knew he was back there, closing his rear door before he got on the Interstate.
And that's the burden of my message for you this evening. I don't want to pull up next to you and.
Shout to you that there's an eternity ahead of you that's different from what you've been listening to all afternoon. All afternoon you've been listening to an alternative that's ahead for someone who knows the Lord Jesus Christ as their Savior. But I'm here tonight to tell you that if you do not know that person, the Lord Jesus Christ is your personal Savior. There's another eternity ahead.
I'm not going to dangle you over Hellfire. I couldn't do that. I'm not going to do what some parents do when they have a child and they want to modify the behavior of that child without touching the heart. And so the child's causing problems and making noise and the volume is going up and the parent in a sharp voice says to them, quiet down or you're going to whatever the threat is.
With the purpose of the threat being the change, immediate behavior. I'm not here to threaten you. God is not here to threaten you. But it's my solemn responsibility this evening to tell you that there is a hell and that hell involves eternal punishment.
It says eternal as eternal life. We'll look at the verse a little bit later on, but I'm going to say that again. There is a hell. God's holiness demands a hell.
God's holiness demands the hell, and eternal punishment is as real as eternal life.
To turn with me to Luke's Gospel chapter 16.
We're not going to go through the whole chapter.
I wanna draw some things from here this evening.
First one, he said unto his disciples, the Lord Jesus Christ speaking, There was a certain rich man which had a steward. The same was accused unto him, that he had wasted his goods. And he called them, and said unto him, How is it that I hear this of thee?
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There are two certain rich men in this chapter. This is the first of the two. Certain rich men will spend more time on the other certain rich men. I just want to call your attention to this one thing here. There's another certain rich man in this chapter and he has goods and he's entrusted those goods. We won't go through the application of this to Israel. I want to apply it simply and clearly to you and your condition tonight as someone that doesn't know the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior.
And in applying it in that way, there's a certain rich man. That certain rich man is given to you, is given to you as goods.
I'm gonna tell you about another certain rich man.
Man died.
Within the last couple weeks, I don't know exactly when.
That man was incredibly, as I see it, incredibly wealthy. Not in the funds of this world, although I believe he was a wealthy man in the funds of this world. But that man's name was Stephen Hawking.
My background is in physics. I had an interest in a little bit of interest in his life back when he's a theoretical physicist and he was a man who.
Gained a lot of fame, notoriety. His name is well known in a popular way because he was a good communicator. Wrote a popular book bestseller with Stephen Hawking. Was an atheist for all practical purposes. I don't know for sure if he called himself strictly an atheist, but his wife called him an atheist. He was an atheist, he denied the existence of God, and he fought against him.
He was an incredibly wealthy man and the goodness that God showed to him, and I fear there's someone in this room that's very similar to him. God shown you tremendous goodness, shown you tremendous goodness in the bringing you here to this place this evening.
Steven's wife actually. He was diagnosed with ALS in 1963. He was engaged in 1964 to a woman named Jane. Jane knew the Lord Jesus Christ as their Savior from all accounts.
She got engaged to Steven.
They got married in 1965.
They were married together for 25 years. Another five years they were separated.
Let me tell you this because Jane gave testimony. She said It was ironic.
As her husband's ALS progressed, as his care became a bigger and bigger burden, she said it was ironic and the difficulties that she faced. But I was sustained by my face and God to give care for that man who's an atheist.
I was sustained in my faith in God to show love and care to that man who rejected God.
That man is now an eternity. I haven't heard a single thing about him repenting, but the Lord knows the heart. Perhaps there was something there at the end. I can't stand this judge on where he is at the moment, but I know this.
He was shown incredible goodness. He was shown incredible patience.
He was diagnosed with ALS, as I said a moment ago, in 1963. He passed away just a couple of weeks ago or within the last couple weeks approximately. He was shown incredible goodness, and you've been shown incredible goodness. Let's read the verse directly related to that. We'll come back to Luke 16 if you want to keep your finger there.
But in Romans chapter 2.
Listen carefully to this verse, Romans chapter 2 and verse 4.
Or despiseth thou the riches of his goodness, and notice what is coupled with.
Forbearance.
And long-suffering.
And forbearance and long-suffering turn with me to Second Peter, chapter 3.
Second Peter chapter 3 and verse 9.
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Says the Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness, but is the reason why.
He's held off on judgments, he's held off on the day of the Lord. Here's the reason. Here's the reason he's held off in your life. It says here as some men can't slackness, but his long-suffering to us were not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.
I'm not here tonight to threaten you with hell. I'm here to warn you that there is a hell. I'm here to tell you that God, in his long-suffering and love for your soul, has given you until tonight.
Until tonight to hear this message. I don't know how much longer he'll wait. I'm not going to give you a day that couldn't do that. I know he's waited in long-suffering until tonight. You have until this moment. You have until this moment because it's the goodness of God and His long-suffering that's waiting for your soul to turn to Him.
Turn back to Luke chapter 16.
It was a steward that wasted the goods.
Further down in the chapter verse 15 and he said unto them here they which justify yourselves.
Before men.
But God.
Knoweth your hearts.
You're they which justify yourselves before men.
But God knoweth your hearts.
The man just down the street from us.
My wife and son got to know them walking back and forth years ago when Paul was quite a bit younger and that man.
Parkinson's sometimes carries an oxygen tank with them. He's in his 80s, his wife similar. Out in front of their house sits a vehicle, belongs to his daughter. On a license plate are these letters.
CONTL i.e.
They own a lie detector business.
He's been and spent his whole life, still works for the business, still very proud of working for the business.
He's in his mid 80s or something like that. Maybe it's his late 80s now. Still works for the business as often as he can. He spent the majority of his life testing for people that lie. But this is another Steve. His name is Steve.
And Steve?
Is ready to take up his case with God. He's ready to appear in the presence of God and let God know what a good person he is.
He's traveled the world, he knows languages, he's nice to people, he's friendly.
And when he gets in the presence of God, he's going to explain to God.
That he's a good person. I'm not quoting him exactly, but I'm giving it to you as closely as I remember. But you know Steve's lie detector test, They look on symbols, things he can measure on the outside. Not just the words, but the response to the skin. When a person begins to sweat, when they get nervous, it looks on the outside. I'm looking on your outside tonight.
You know, there are marketers now that are gradually, well, actually very rapidly at the moment, developing new software and they bring people into a room. They bring a small group of five or ten people into a room. They train a bunch of cameras on them and they show them an ad.
And they video their response and then they use their artificially intelligent program with its gradually and in fact rapidly improving algorithm to decide what that person thinks of the ad.
And they've done away with the surveys afterwards. Why? Because in their tests they've decided that these are 75%. At least in the one case I read some months ago, 75% more accurate than when people write down on the piece of paper.
Watching the way they react just on their faces, what their eyes do, what their body language says is far more accurate than what the person says. Maybe later on they're trying to be nice and they say a few nice words on the survey because they met the person that handed it out. I don't know, but I know this, that people lie and so they've gone to a different method. But I want to go back to that verse that we just read. It says God knoweth.
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Your hearts.
That's my burden tonight, that there's somebody here that's an excellent person in front of their parents, an excellent person in front of your neighbors, an excellent person and sitting in the row in the meeting room and an excellent person with your words.
Let me read to you those words again from the lips of the Lord Jesus Christ. God knoweth your hearts.
You're not going to enter the presence of a holy God as Steve Theodore, my neighbor, thinks that he will, and announce to him his own goodness.
You're not going to enter the presence of a holy God and present your excellence before man.
God knoweth your hearts.
He was speaking to people who were covetous.
Want to emphasize that I'm not here.
Once again, I want to emphasize that I'm not here to lay a guilt trip on you. I'm here to warn you. I'm not here to tell you that I have a different heart than you have.
I'm not here to tell you that I know your heart, but I'm here to read the words of the Lord Jesus Christ that says God knoweth your heart.
I'm gonna give you a little Peace of Mind, something I didn't know. Not Peace of Mind. A trust that comes later.
Currently we're in the process.
Of looking for a new house, place where we can live closer to Bible truth publishers, where I work, place closer to my parents to be a greater help to them and other reasons. And so in looking, I've been to every single house in Addison, so for about a half dozen. And in going through those houses, I saw one.
This was 5-6 years ago. I saw one that I said.
If I ever.
I'm looking for a new house. I hope that one goes up for sale.
We started looking for a home, didn't say anything.
My parents at first.
If I mentioned it to my dad and being who he is, he looking for things to do with mom. He began driving around in the evenings doing something with her and looking at the houses that had something for sale and within about two weeks.
He came into my office in the morning before work started and he said I saw a house. You're gonna like it or something to that line.
And he began to describe what it was and where it was. And he said, well, I said, I know that house out of the I'm going to estimate the 5000 houses in Addison. That's the one that I saw that I wanted.
If it ever went up for sale, there's a for sale sign in the yard.
There was a pending sale in the house.
I looked at all the pictures worked out exactly from the pictures where each room was. And I could finally after working from the exterior views of the house and there's this kind of window here and then from the interior view of the bathroom and that, Yep, that's the window worked out. The floor plan decided, Yep, that looks like a good place.
Oh, it was wonderful. You know, the backyard has two picnic tables and there's a little Bay window on the and so on. It's beautiful, peaceful, not that expensive, quite reasonable, amazing. close to BCP, 4 minutes away.
Belongs to somebody else.
A pending sale went ahead and had knocked on the door a little while later because they hadn't taken it off off market online or anything and met the new owners and they owned the house. And as I reflected on it, you know, there was something in my heart the Lord wanted to talk to me about and the thing he wanted to talk to me about.
Was simply this.
In my heart I coveted something. Not a fancy house. This wasn't a fancy house. It had character and it had quietness.
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Well, my heart was coveting was character and quietness.
Rather than going first to the Lord and saying here's what?
I'm here. What do you have for me?
We can cover a lot more than money. That's what I'm trying to illustrate to you. And our hearts are subtle. We can covet a whole lot more than money. Let's turn to another person that coveted a whole lot more than money. Let's turn back to Genesis.
Chapter 3.
And verse one.
Now the serpent was more subtle than any piece to the field which the Lord God had made.
And he said unto the woman, Yeah, half God said, You shall not eat of every tree of the garden.
Just wanna pause here.
Says in this verse.
Any beasts of the field which the Lord God had made.
Did you notice in what we read that little subtle approach that Satan made?
Satan doesn't arrive on your doorstep with the stereotypical horns and a tail.
If you've grown up in a Christian home and you've been kept from the outward evil of the world.
Satan, I wouldn't say normally would show up at your door.
With some gross evil and present it to you.
We were at the zoo a while back and in the section where they have a bunch of snakes. I don't like snakes at all. As long as they're behind glass, they're interesting. And these are behind nice thick glass. And this was the cage of a Python. And from off out outside my vision, someone threw in a dead rabbit. And I thought, oh, this will be interesting. I expected the Python, which was awake, its head was up to come shooting over and grab at dinner. But the Python.
Which was awake, flickered its tongue, and it flickered its tongue and it moved a little bit more. And you know what? It was a long process. That Python came out of its curl and it made a complete loop, probably a foot or more away from that dead rabbit all the way around. And it stopped and it flickered its tongue again and again and again and again, and it circles and it circles until finally it was in close.
And that clamped down.
And then for a long time, it worked the rabbit down and into its body.
Satan is not going to approach you with the grossest evil. If you've grown up in a Christian home straight off the bat, you may be far down that road already, but it didn't begin with this. It began right here. And I would suggest to you that the first little thing, there's the word yay, bringing in a doubt. But I would suggest here, there's something else here extremely subtle.
He says, Hath God said?
But God says by his Spirit, the Lord God.
There's a sense of a relationship in that term. The Lord God, Lord God, God created you with a desire to have you in his presence as his son or his daughter forever. God's heart was towards you. You were made in the image of God with the delight of God would have been is.
In so many cases here in this room have been to give so many of us.
As a love gift to His Son. And that's the Lord God at the beginning of the verse. But Satan comes in and he creates just a little bit of distance there. He moves God back to a distance. As wonderful as it is, as it is that God is a majestic person, Satan would push him back a little bit.
And insert a small amount of doubt with that word yay. And then he says.
You shall not eat of every tree of the garden. He finishes with that question, finishes inserting that first little wedge. And you know how the woman responded. But I want to impress this on you.
The article I read on marketers, they were extremely impressed with themselves at their great progress and I was done reading the article.
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I thought of these verses.
Satan's had 6000 years.
The glorious created being.
To do his sentiment analysis.
You think you're going to present, appear in his presence and spot someone with metaphorically or figuratively, I should say, horns in a tail and resist?
It's not going to happen. They're not going to appear before him and resist. Eve did not. Let's return back to Luke chapter 16.
Let's go down to verse 20.
19 verse 19.
There was a certain rich man. Here's the second certain rich man in the chapter.
But this is a different person.
The first certain rich man had, and he gave.
First certain rich man had, and he gave.
God had and he gave. God sent his Son the Lord Jesus Christ to this earth, and love to my soul, and in love to your soul. The first certain rich man had, and he gave.
Says of this certain rich man.
Which was clothes and purple and fine linen, and fared sumptuously every day.
What did he give?
The second certain rich man had and he took.
A certain rich man was given, and he used for himself.
You have been given life. You have been given enough health to come here this evening. You've been given the ability to understand these words. You've been given people in your life that have shown you love, just like Stephen Hawking was given a wife who used the strength directly from God to be strengthened to help him in his condition.
You may not have been given everything that you want. You may not be wearing the clothing that you've coveted.
You may not be living in the house that you've coveted. You may not be driving the car.
That you saw on your way here that you want.
But you are a certain rich man, and you have been given by God.
Everything that you have.
Whose is it? Whose are you?
And there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, which was laid at his gate full of sores, and desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man's table. Moreover, the dogs came and licked his sores.
There's somebody at the hotel last night.
Got blood all over their hand. Cracked.
Skin bleeding went to the front desk and they kindly gave them a Band-Aid. Simply handed them a Band-Aid. It was kindness to patch up their sore.
Lazarus sat at this rich man's gate.
The dogs show them kindness.
No worries the the rich man did.
A word that the rich man did.
You say, well, that's not me. I show kindness. I've been trained in it. I held the door for someone coming in this evening.
I made sure that they had an umbrella when they walked off in the rain for dinner. That's not me.
That's not me.
I want you to recognize with me my heart's no different than yours.
If we take from God and we use it because of any other motive than returning praise and honor to Him, using it as entrusted by Him as the steward at the beginning of the chapter teaches us, if it was taken and used for self in any way, for honor from the person you held the door for, or whatever other reason might be hidden in the heart, God knoweth your hearts. If it was for any other reason, it was spent on yourself.
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And not on others. And it came to pass that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels into Abraham's bosom. No word that he was buried.
Rich man was.
No word that the beggar was. We won't go through it, but you'll find it a fascinating thing if you know the Lord is your Savior, to go back and find the context of where burial came in in the word of God. There's a fascinating little extra in there for you, but let's move on. The rich man also died and was buried.
And in hell. He lift up his eyes.
If you're going to a university somewhere.
And you've gone through these verses with somebody and they've given you explanations of it.
I don't believe these verses are talking directly in their context here about eternal punishment. We'll look at a verse from Matthew on that you could have backed up from the portions we were reading in the reading meeting to Revelation 20 and look at that. But I want you to notice a simple fact, not get into quibbling over words here. The word here is Hades. It's not the lake of fire, it says, and in hell, he lifts up his eyes.
Being in torment, I want to remind you of something.
The person speaking these words is the Lord Jesus Christ in this chapter. The person speaking the words to your heart this evening is the Spirit of God and their want and their message to you, that on the other side of a death without Christ is torment immediately on the other side of a death without Christ.
His torment? I hope so. We'll look at it. We'll get a chance to look at it a little bit later.
But the holiness of God demands judgment against sin. And you if you reject God.
If you reject God's offer of mercy in His, Son will be called to answer before the holiness of God.
For your lack of holiness.
I mentioned that we were.
Painting our house or and we're preparing our house for sale as well as looking for a house. And so the painter finished. We did some of the painting and it was clear we would be there for many months if we did all of the painting. So we found an inexpensive painter and he managed to do the job in about 3 1/2 days and he left on Wednesday. You know, I don't live in my house quite the way I did before the painter came.
Because we're moving furniture out of room so he can paint them and then moving.
Furniture back into the room that's beautifully painted boy, you don't want to scuff the wall. Hey, before it didn't matter, you know, it was, it was a clean house. It was a clean house. It wasn't run down. There wasn't, uh, ceiling tiles or chunks of the ceiling falling on the on the bed. It wasn't like the back porch was roof was caving in. That was a nice house.
The walls weren't all dirty.
But when you got up close, there's a scuff here, there's a scuff there, and now that there aren't, I move around when I take the corner with a piece of furniture in a very different way than I did before.
The masonry person came out, we have some half brick, it's called on just a little section on the front of the house and the bottom couple rows looked a bit ragged. And so we called the person that knew how to do masonry out to take a look at it, see what it would cost to repair it, and he was standing there.
Before I do, I want to make it clear why I'm telling you this. Not to entertain you, but to make an important point. And that is when we get in the presence of a person that makes us feel just a little bit uncomfortable because of their standard of holiness, we begin to look for somebody that's a little messier.
Brian Penrod of Penrod Masonry came out and he and I were standing from the house, nice guy. And I pointed out to him the bottom two rows there that had some pieces falling off and another point over there that had some pieces falling off. And he was looking over my wall. He glanced at them and commented. And while he's talking to me about those, he oh, yeah, up over there. And there was another little row while that was up on the corner and I hadn't noticed that.
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And he kept looking at my wall and he, oh, and he with his finger, he rubbed a nail that was stuck in to the brick.
And they found another cup. There's a hole in a hole in a hole where somebody had had some nails in the brick before, and now that water could infiltrate and get in behind the brick. And he found those and then he looked at there's two long white streaks. I've lived in the house 12 1/2 years and never seen them.
They're too long white streaks. Do you want me to do something about those? Oh, no. I was getting nervous because he kept finding one thing after another. You know, his standard was not my standard. I was comfortable. I noticed a little bit that needed fixing up over here. But Brian had an eye for that kind of thing. And he found this and he found that and he found the other over here and.
It was a relief because right about that point he turned his eye towards the next door neighbor.
That's not good because the next door neighbor's house, their daughter saw a couple six weeks ago, nice cold Chicago temperature can't work on brick. She confused the brake for the accelerator and nailed the brick pillar next to the garage. And it's kind of really WAVY and they have it braced until it's time for setting mortar in the hot. That was that was nice.
And what do you have? What? What happened over there? All I could tell him, he's not looking at my wall anymore.
Is looking at the neighbor's masonry and then that triggered a story in his mind because the night before this was last Saturday the night before last Friday he had.
Cares for a there's a friend of the family, he helped them out and, umm, they have several daughters. And he told me that those, those several daughters, they had a problem with the car, one of them in particular. So they called them out And can you look at the car? There's a problem. Looked it over for a little bit. Yeah, we need to put some gas in here. I'll help you put some gas in and then your car will work.
But the night before he came to my house, he got a call from that same daughter and that same daughter, uh, wanted to umm, that same daughter had gone out for the evening in the car and she called him and said, I have a flat tire. Can you come and help me fix my flat? And he said, sure, let me finish eating dinner with my family and I'll come help you fix.
That flat tire, I'll do it for you. And so he finished up eating real quick, got in his car, went out to where she was, and as he's approaching, there's three police cars with their lights flashing.
Surrounding her vehicle, it gets up to the vehicle and she had a flat tire. It was flat on the ground like this and her axle was snapped off. I said to her, did did you? Did you think that was a flat tire? Well, yeah. Can't you just kind of put it back on?
Now I'm feeling really good. He's forgotten about my wall, he's forgotten about the neighbor's wall. And he's telling me about somebody else who has a quote, flat tire. And he asked her, So what happened here? Oh, I, I don't know. It just just happened. Couldn't give him any explanation. It just happened.
The week before she wrecked her grandma's car and that just happened too. She couldn't give any explanation of that one either.
Now I feel comfortable.
But you know what?
You don't appear before Brian Penrod, and you don't appear before me, and you don't appear before anyone other.
And a holy God, you don't appear before anyone other than the one whose holiness demanded what we're about to read. We're saying about it at the beginning, but if you're going to, in fact, I'm going to, I'm going to wait just a moment before I turn there.
I'm going to turn to Matthew chapter 25 first.
Matthew 25.
And verse.
4046.
And these shall go away into everlasting punishment.
But the righteous into life eternal.
Can't pronounce the word in Greek. I can see it in my mind's eye transliterated in English, but I'll just tell you this, the last thing punishment, everlasting of everlasting, punishment and eternal of eternal life are exactly the same word.
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They're the exactly the same word in that verse.
You can go back and you can tell me after the meeting and tell somebody else after the meeting your thoughts on all the figurative languages you wish to look at it about that a certain rich man.
But I want to remind you that the moment that certain rich man exited this world, he was in torment.
And I want to remind you that in this verse right here, right next to the words, eternal life are what could be translated just as easily, eternal punishment. It's the same eternal. It's the same eternal. And here's why.
You turn with me.
In Luke's Gospel chapter 22.
Luke's Gospel, chapter 22.
Verse 41 Speaking of the Lord Jesus.
And it was withdrawn from them by the stones cast.
And kneeled down and prayed, saying Father.
If thou be willing, remove this cup from me, nevertheless not my will but thine be done. There appeared an Angel unto him from heaven, strengthening him, and being in an agony, he prayed more earnestly.
The sweat was, as it were, great drops of blood falling down to the ground.
In the history of time, you could say this is just moments ahead of those hours of darkness.
Within the 24 hours of that time. And here's the Lord Jesus.
The day the 24 hour period has come.
And he's looking forward ahead to that cross.
As they looked ahead to that cross.
His holy soul.
Soul that hated sin, A soul that wanted nothing but his Father's will.
It's looking forward to those moments, looking ahead to those moments when God will lay on him the punishment for my sins.
He has made him to be sin for us who knew no sin.
But we might be made the righteousness of God in him. God hates sin. The Lord Jesus Christ hates sin. And as He looked ahead to that cross, as He looked ahead to that moment when He would be made sin for me, there was nothing in His holy soul that would delight in being made sin, and there was nothing in His perfect person.
That would refuse to move forward in obedience to His Father's will. There was nothing that attracted him to that moment as the one who hated sin, but there was nothing in this person that would refuse to be made sin. For me, God is a holy God. Let's hear the words from His lips in Matthew.
Matthews Gospel.
Chapter 27.
Verse 43. Verse 4045.
Now the 6th hour. Now from the 6th hour there was darkness over all the land until the 9th hour and about the 9th hour Jesus Christ with a loud voice saying.
Saying this at the beginning.
We're reading it now, toward the end.
These words were uttered from that cross so valued by God, they're put as they were spoken.
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And he cries.
Eli Eli Lama Sabachthani, and it's translated into Greek and from there the English that we read.
That is to say, my God, my God.
Why hast thou forsaken me?
For three hours.
By his holy person.
A feeling the wrath of God against sin.
Three hours when you have poor the eternity of that judgment, that eternal punishment that my sins deserved, and God took it on the cross.
Is there anyone here that would dare?
In their own thoughts.
Like my neighbor Steve Theodore has said to me repeatedly.
He's going to appear before that God.
And explain his own righteousness.
If you dare to appear before a holy God that would punish sin in this way and love for your soul, and say.
Here's my righteousness.
The holiness of God demanded this for my sin. The holiness of God demanded it for the sin of many here. And God in love has opened the way so that you can bow the knee to him this evening and receive him, the Lord Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior because of this moment that we've just read about.
But there is wrath.
But there is wrath against sin, and if you don't stand on the righteousness that comes from this moment.
You'll stand in the unrighteousness of your position before God. There will be no neighbors bricks to point to. There will be no.
Foolish person and their idea of a flat tire to laugh at.
There'll be no neighbor that you could point to and say this person is so much worse than I am.
You will send an answer for yourself.
When a buyer comes to my house someday and they walk up, they're not going to be looking at the brick of the neighbor's house. They're going to be looking at the brick on the front of my house. And when you appear before God in your sins.
When you appear before God because you rejected the love of His Son, because you were refused His offer of mercy given to you this evening, you will have nobody to point to.
Your mouth will be stopped.
There will be nowhere to stand.
There'll be nothing to cover you.
I trust that these words won't echo in your mind.
But I want to turn back to Luke.
Luke, chapter 16.
Verse 25.
In this context, there's many things directly applied to the Jew, and so it's Abraham in verse 25.
But I want to fantasize this, Abraham said. Son, remember?
Abraham said. Son, remember.
Son, remember.
The prayer of every single person here tonight that knows Jesus Christ as their Savior.
So you're never going to hear those words lifting up your eyes in torment. There's not the desire of a single redeemed heart here that wants to see you suffer.
But the Lord Jesus Christ.
The one.
Who, people wondered at the gracious words that proceeded out of his mouth?
The one who lifted up children in his arms and blessed them.
Those lips spoke these words.
And the Spirit of God is speaking among your ear this evening, and they are spoken to you in love, because the goodness of God is long-suffering is waiting for your soul.
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Because the Lord Jesus Christ is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. That's His heart of love towards you, but His Holiness demands.
But sin be punished.
There's one more lie of that subtle serpent Satan that I want to just mention before we close in verse 26.
The lie isn't in verse 26. The answer to it is. And beside all this, between US and you there is a great gulf 6.
You know, in our society today.
I've emphasized Satan's subtle.
Like that Python at the Brookfield Zoo, It measures the prey, circles the prey, approaches the prey, takes the prey.
Satan doesn't begin with the worst. It begins with.
A subtle crack and he begins with something simple that you would accept.
It begins with the idea that tolerance and care for your neighbor is a good thing. And who would argue that it's not good to be a bigot?
He would argue that you have a God of love.
There's a book written that denies the truth taught in this verse and its title is Love Wins.
The title of the book is meant to convey that God is a loving God.
Who wouldn't do what Jesus Christ spoke in these verses?
But God's holiness demanded the death of His Son in satisfaction for my sins. And God's holiness will not Passover your unpaid for sin.
There is a great golf fixed when you leave this life between those with faith and those without. You can try to go through this passage and you can try to think about what a drop might mean, and you can try to think about lifting up the eyes and you can try to think about these conversations. But I want you to think about something very simple, several very simple things.
It says torment. What do you say about that word torment? It says remember. What will you say about that word remember?
And it says there's a great golf fix.
And in the verse we read in Matthew 25, it says that there is eternal punishment.
It says eternal has eternal life.
Yes.
God would have His love win your soul this evening.
Yes, God would have you as part of His family. Yes, the Lord Jesus Christ has long-suffering, and His long-suffering and His goodness have waited for you this evening. But if you refuse, the Lord Jesus Christ is your personal Savior. If you say to him no, and with Steve, I will stand on my own righteousness in His presence, every mouth.
Will be stopped. Every knee will bow.
You will not have a neighbor to point to. You will stand alone. You will be alone before the Great White Throne.