Spared Not

2 Peter 2:4-5, 9 Romans 8:32, Romans 11:17-22             OW 2016 We have read together the little expression “spared not”.  I just want to preach on these 2 words at the close of the meeting.  We read God spared not the angels that sinned, we read He spared not the old world but saved Noah, and then we read the words in Romans 8 He that spared not His own Son but delivered Him up for us all.  And finally, we read in Romans 11 If God spared not the natural branches (Israel), take heed lest he also spare not thee. 

We are living in a world that believes no matter how they live or what they believe God will spare them in the day of judgment.  I meet people who know God is love and the belief is that God is so loving that he would never send anyone to hell.  I want to make it clear that God is love and that God is good.   We read of the goodness of God, we read of the extent of God’s love a God that spared not His own son.  

Because God is good, he cannot not overlook sin.  God is righteous.  God is just.  The Bible tells us that God is of purer eyes than to behold evil.  When it comes to sin God is intolerant.  God will not allow sin in his presence.  But its more than that, God actually hates sin.  God hates sin because he himself is Holy. 

Because God is good he will punish sin.  God will not spare sinners in the day of judgment.  In our country we have a new supreme court nominee Neil Goar(such).  One of the things that even the media said about him is that “his record is impeccable”.   He is a good judge.  He is a judge and his record is impeccable.  That simply means that the judgments he makes are fair and we can see are right. 

Now just imagine if a judge was nominated whose record has flaws.  A judge that likes to let criminals go.  A murderer stands before him, who is guilty, and he lets him go.  This judge says I don’t like to see people go to jail, I wouldn’t want to put anyone through that, I want to spare people that are guilty.  What kind of judge would you call that.  A good judge?  A just judge? No, we would call that judge evil, unjust, unrighteous.

God is good and it’s because of his goodness He will not overlook sin.  Sin will be punished.  God will not let sinners go.   

God is patient and God is being patient with sinners but there comes a time of reckoning, a day of judgment when God deals with sin and the way he deals with sin is severe.   We are to behold not only the goodness of God but we are to behold the severity of God. 

This is the God with whom you have to do, this is the God that you are answerable to.  This is the God that you are responsible to. 

The problem is by nature, by birth, by practice the way you and I came into this world-  we are unholy, we are unrighteous, we are unjust.  We read in Romans there is no difference for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.  Not one of us without forgiveness from God can ever expect to stand in his presence. We preach the character of God, A God whose wrath is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men.  Why? 

So that each one here who is without Christ and in their sins might come like the Publican in Luke 18 and cry out from a broken heart, "God be merciful to me a sinner." When Isaiah saw the holiness of God high and lifted up and his train filled the temple and the seraphim, angelic beings veiling their faces and feet in the presence of god and he saw his glory he said woe is me for I am a man of unclean lips (I am helpless). When Peter walked and as he looked upon Christ he said, "I am a sinful man O Lord." We have read two examples of what God thinks about sin. One of the examples takes us back to the earliest times in the Bible.  Our minds are taken to a scene in heaven with angelic beings.  Angels are created beings, we don’t know how long they were there, we don’t know of all their roll in heaven but there came a time when sin founds its way into the ranks of angels. There were angelic beings that sinned. Some have suggested their sin might have been the sin of rebellion but whatever type of sin it was if they thought that God would overlook their sin they soon made a sad and tragic discovery.

I read these solemn words from the Bible. God spared not the angles that sinned. He spared not angels that sinned. What did he do with them? He cast them down to hell. While I preach here this evening there are angels in hell and they are awaiting their final judgment. They were once were in the presence of the Lord but tonight they are bound and chains of darkness and reserved for eternal fire. They will never be saved. It’s a solemn thing to think that a God of mercy and a God of grace would pass those angels by. He provided no savior for angels. We can’t understand it, we do not have an answer for it. The Son was not sent to save angels. He took not unto Himself the nature of angels. No he became a man to die for us sinners. For our redemption. Angels never heard a gospel message. They had no alternative, they had no options, and they had no choice. Was God right in doing this? He was perfectly right. As citizens of the United States we have rights.  Our constitution tells us we have the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.  We have rights as citizens of this great nation.  We hear about Human rights.  The United Nations made a universal declaration of human rights.  All people have the right to freedom, we have the right to religion, and the list goes on.  We enjoy many rights in our nation in our world that we live. 

We want to say when it comes to God we have no rights. We have no claims upon God.  I’ve been saved for almost 40 years. When I was a boy of 11 I realized if I got what I deserved I would end up in hell. Sometimes we hear and I‘ve said it that we are undeserving sinners and that is true. But it’s more than that, we are not just undeserving sinners we are all hell deserving sinners. That's all I deserve.  That’s all anyone deserves. 

I’ve often thought about the angels that sinned.  Without a savior, without hope, without a choice.  God spared not the angels that sinned but cast them down to hell. 

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But then we read another demonstration of Gods holiness. This time it was in the world. I read these words, "God spared not the old world." Our Bible opens with a story how at the beginning of this world sin had had become such a problem that when God looked down at his creation it grieved him at his heart. And it repented Him that he had made man. He said I will destroy man from the face of the earth. I will do the same thing I did with angels. I will rid the world of mankind with a flood. But as his eye looked down into that world he saw 1 man. His heart went after that man. “Thee only have I seen righteous in this generation”. There was 1 man that brought delight to the heart of God. In a sinful world he was the only man that God found pleasure in.

Noah is a picture of the Lord Jesus.  We know he was a sinful man but he hadn't gone to the degree of iniquity of the antediluvian. Those around Noah said to God, "Depart from us for we desire not the knowledge of thy ways." As God looked on one man he would provide a savior a salvation in an ark that that man would prepare. God spared not the old world but he saved Noah. It’s a picture of what He is going to do. He is going to save man out of the world of lost sinners. God spared not the world but saved Noah. But I want you to think of the fact that all of us were condemned by nature. He that believeth not the Son is condemned already. When we came into the world the sentence of death was upon us. All of us entered the world on common ground. The sad thing is many leave the world the way they came. Most perish in every generation. When the Lord Jesus spoke of the Narrow way to heaven He said few there be that find it.

__________________________________________________________________ God spared not the angles that sinned, God spared not the old world but we read another verse: God spared not his own son. That word if we look back in Genesis 22, is found in the story of Abraham and Isaac.  God said to Abraham "thou hast not withheld thine only son from me." God spared not his own son means, he didn't withhold Him.

He had only one Son and His great plan of salvation that his Son would leave His home in heaven leave heaven, and leaving for us the splendor of heaven he and descend into a scene where He would be delivered into the hands  of men.  What did man do to him?  What did man do to their creator?  They despised and rejected him.  He came to his own creatures and they would spit in his face and nail him to a cross. The gospel that we preach is about a Savior dying in our place. He took my place on the cross. God spared not his own son but delivered him up for us all. Not one here left out as far as the provision of God is concerned. For God so loved the world, the whole world. Not a person that God did not provide for. Tonight God has provided for you.  But you know because God has provided for you.  Because God spared not his son for you.  You are responsible to God. God has given each person a responsibility and that responsibility is a choice.

You must make a choice.  What shall I do then with Jesus which is called Christ.  No one will ever go to the great white throne and say I was destined to be here. No one could ever say I'm here because there was no savior for me. You'll never be able to say on that day I'm here because God didn’t give his son for me. God spared not his own Son, but gave him up for us all. You tonight are included in that all.  How shall he not also with them freely give us all things. He has given us the greatest of all gifts; he'll give us all the other gifts. How shall he not also with him also give us all things? Times change, things change, people change but there is one who never changes. The unchanging Christ. He is the same yesterday, today and forever. While he hung on the cross and bore our sins and suffered exactly what sins had merited, He himself was absolutely spotless. God looked upon Christ and laid all our iniquities on His son. God made him to be sin for us that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him.  He laid the exact judgment that we had merited. He bore at Calvary what none could know. We want to ask you tonight, Have you received him as your personal savior? Tonight could be your night when you are saved. You must receive the Lord Jesus as your Savior. To as many as received him to them gave he power to become the sons of God. Is there one here tonight who would bow their heart, in light of a Holy God, facing an endless eternity, would you come to the Savior tonight. I believed all my life that Christ died for sinners but the night I was saved I believed he died for a sinner like me. Would you rest on the the Lord Jesus for salvation. Would you do that? What shall I do then with Jesus which is called Christ? God spared not his own son but delivered him up for us all. You’re not like the angels that had no choice. You have a choice tonight. You are responsible to God. ______________________________________________________________ But we read a solemn verse it has to do with the present condition of this earth. Israel is an olive tree. A fruitful tree. Israel changed and turned away from God and God broke off those branches that were in the olive tree and he took wild branches and he put them into the olive tree. The picture is this that when Israel changed and turned away from the Lord and rejected his way then he brought Gentiles like us and he brought us into a favored place. But he said be not high minded but fear for the time is coming when he going to do a miracle, he is going to take the old branches and restore them. We read that God spared not the natural branches take heed lest he spare not thee. If God spared not angels that sinned, If God spared not the old world, if God spared not the natural branches, if God spared not his only Son.  What shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God. 

Listen to the final warning again from Romans chapter 11 verse 21.

Take heed he also spare not thee.