Warning

For the past eight years, Kim McClain, has been a research scientist at the Cooperative Institute for Mesoscale Meteorological Studies. She has traveled to hard-hit cities and towns to understand why people got killed in storms that she says "really should be survivable as long as people can get to the right shelter."

In an interview with NPR, McClain was asked to explain why people failed to heed weather warnings:

We give people days of alert that their general region may be threatened. But people are really savvy about this. They know that even if a region in general is at risk, that doesn't necessarily mean there will be a tornado that hits their house. So people wait until things get quite close until they make those calls. For tornadoes, they typically wait until they're under a warning and then there are just a couple of minutes. Then all they can really do is shelter in place.

People are doing what we call "confirming the threat." And they do this … on a continuous basis. They'll be watching, and maybe they'll go get their children. But they won't necessarily take shelter until things get a little bit closer.

Funny how warnings work today. We got periodic tsunami warnings in Hawaii and it was not uncommon for people to still be in the water. Shark signs, Jelly fish signs all kinds and people are still in the water. What is the story when it comes to warnings? Why is it that we wait till its too late to do anything?

Here is the deal. Nobody tells me what to do. Can it really be that bad? Is our rejection of authority today become that extreme. We would our lives and the lives of the family because we don’t like people telling us what to do. Have we bought into the existential ideal that doing things by our own desires and impulses is the only meaningful thing we have in life?

Is it because its inconvenient. So many times they have been wrong so i’ll wait it’s real. Its such a hassle to do all that we gotta do to be safe and at times it was just a waste of time. All that effort for nothing. I wonder what it is that is so important for us to do and or to watch on tv that would be more important than keeping our family safe? Or at least ensuring it. Oh the finer things in life, the things that kill boredom. All the wonderful things in this world that keep us distracted.

So when it comes to the warning we receive concerning the judgement of God these are two of the serious obstacles people will find even those within the church community. We don’t like people telling us what to do. And we like our self-centered distracted lives with no inconveniences so much so that we will risk our very lives for it. But it still remains. Judgement is coming, judgement is real, and judgement will be terrible. But is there still hope? Yup and I’ll show you.

Psalm 119:118–120 NLT

But you have rejected all who stray from your decrees. They are only fooling themselves. You skim off the wicked of the earth like scum; no wonder I love to obey your laws! I tremble in fear of you; I stand in awe of your regulations.

The grass withers the flower fades but the Word of our God stands forever

Rejected

Skimmed

Awestruck

The first thing we will look at today is the reality of how sees and characterizes those who have no regard for God and His Word. Second, We will look at the reality of the judgement that is coming and the judgement that is real. And Finally, we will witness the awe striking reality of the divine salvation that comes from the work of Christ to bring safety from the judgement that is coming, that is real, and that will be terrible.

Thesis: Though sin and the patten of this world causes us to lose confidence in the reality of the Word of God, it is the power of the Holy Spirit and the truth of the scriptures that will cause us to see the life and salvation brought to us by Christ and His loving sacrifice.

I. Rejected

- Judgement is coming.

A. Spurgeon writes, “Sooner or later, God will set His foot on those who turn their foot from His commands. It has always been so, and it will always be so to the end.”

B. God has Sallah … he has rejected with contempt. And with the added treating them as if they are worthless. The idea of this is beautifully illustrated in Matthew.

Matthew 5:13 NLT

“You are the salt of the earth. But what good is salt if it has lost its flavor? Can you make it salty again? It will be thrown out and trampled underfoot as worthless.

B. Judgement is coming and He will put down those who do not regard the very Word of the living God. Think about it. All of those who who have no regard for God and His Word will indeed be judged swiftly and treated as if they carry no worth at all. It does not matter how much worth we might think we have here on earth, you will be treated and judged by the living God as nothing more than just something to be trampled on. it does not matter who you are in the world. You will be nothing nothing absolutely nothing… at Judgement day. There will be no escape and there will be no excuse.

C. The idea of those who shagah and shequer is that they stray from your decrees and their foolishness is not just for those reject God and His word, but also for those who peddle and deceive with false teaching. This is why you gotta hear me on this… false teaching and false believing is a bad bad deal. This is why I am so amped up about this… you don’t realize whats coming. Not just for them but for all of us who believe it. 2 John, you are partners with them. Not just the peddlers, but the supporters.

Spurgeon again, “People who go astray from the right road invent nice excuses with which to deceive themselves and others, and so attempt to quiet their conscience and maintain their respect; but their mask of falsehood is too transparent. God treads down falsehoods. They are only fit to be trampled by His feet and crushed into the dust. How horrified will those be who have spent all their lives in fabricating a made-up religion when they see it all trodden on by God as a sham which He cannot endure!”

D. Family this is all bad. It is driving me crazy all the falsehood thats out there and how deep it is in the church. And the reality is… the Judgement of God is coming. And the judgement is real. And all we are doing is fooling ourselves if we think there will not be consequences to this. This is the second part of this verse.

E. All of this disobedience is just… like my friend says, “acting the fool”. All of the effort, cunning, and disobedience will all be in vain in the end. They all may have fooled others. They all may have fooled themselves. And they all may think that they are fine, but it is not the case. They all think that there will not be consequences.

Romans 1:22 NLT

Claiming to be wise, they instead became utter fools.

F. Judgement is coming. And Judgement is real.

II. Skimmed

- Judgement is real.

A. So idea here in verse 119 is that these people will be skimmed like dross. A more imaginative way … is that God is getting rid of those who disregard Him and His word as if they are the scum of the earth. Hello… if you disregard God and if you disregard His word… He see you as the scum of the earth to be removed and trampled as if you are worthless.

B. The image here is that of dross. When metal goes molten it is the stuff that floats to the top… all the impurities, junk and scum. When metal is purified, it is the worthless stuff that made the metal not pure. Its not kept, its not saved, it is not stored, it is cast aside and trampled. God is gonna skim the world and rid it of the dross, the filth, the scum. Judgement is real.

C. Which means the living God who created the universe is gonna bring judgement and He wont think nothing of it. Because that is what they are. Why should He think something of it? Those who disregard the Lord and His Word are dross, scum, rubbish. So think about it? Do we hold people in high regard who Christ sees as the scum of the earth? We want to commune, fellowship, partner, celebrate, and support those who the Lord see as absolute rubbish. We want to not offend those whom the Lord says are so worthless they serve no purpose but to be trampled on under foot.

D. If there is one thing we see in the scriptures… God does not threaten. When He says judgement is coming, it is coming. It came every time. It was real. Its was terrible. So why do we think that there will be reckoning this time? Oh but Shane God spared Nineveh. Yeah, but they repented. Do you see our society and some of the people we know repenting? Judgement is coming and judgement is real. For all those who disregard God and His Word Its coming, but maybe you don’t believe it?

E. Maybe the issue is that we don’t believe that judgement is coming. The reason why they don’t come in from the water is because there is no sharks, no jellyfish, no tsunami, no tornado, no hurricane. Sorry but there is no judgement coming. But even worse… is the reason why we are not warning those who disregard Christ and His word because we don’t believe it either? Are we warning unbelievers that judgement is coming? Are we engaging? Are we trying?

F. Suppose you were exploring an unknown glacier in the north of Greenland in the dead of winter. Just as you reach a sheer cliff with a spectacular view of miles and miles of jagged ice and snow mountains, a terrible storm breaks in. The wind is so strong that the fear rises that it might blow you and your party right over the cliff. But in the midst of it you discover a cleft in the ice where you can hide. Here you feel secure, but the awesome might of the storm rages on and you watch it with a kind of trembling pleasure as it surges out across the distant glaciers.

G. And there was room with you in the cleft. Enough room for everyone around. Are we not gonna say anything? But Shane I’m gonna get made fun of. I’ll be persecuted. Yes yes that’s how it goes. But do we not still need to let them know?

III. Awestruck

- Judgement will be terrible.

A. And it remains… hell will not be a party with the devil rockstars and moviestars. It is the place of weeping and gnashing of teeth. It is the place of eternal fire and eternal darkness. It is the place reserved for the devil and his angels. This is the place were we are faced with the wrath of God. The word of God declares what a terrible thing it is to fall into the hands of the living God.

B. So here it is… the reality of the judgement. The coming judgement. Can we be saved from it? You bet we can. It comes from the Word of the living God. Its called the gospel. All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. No one is righteous no not one. There is no one on earth who always does good and never sins.

C. But there is salvation today because. Jesus died for our sins according to the scriptures and he was buried and he was raised on the third day according to the scriptures. The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance that Christ Jesus came into this world to save sinners. Jesus came to seek and to save that which was lost.

D. And our awesome God gives us promises. All who call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead you will be saved.

E. Salvation is here. There is a cure for what ails us. Everyone is starving and you know where the bread is. Are you gonna tell them? By the power of the Holy Spirt it is my prayer that we all shout it from the rooftops. Let us not be ashamed of the gospel. It is the power of God for salvation.