Lie Number 4- God is more tolerant than He used to be

Lie Number 4 God is more tolerant than He used to be

Text: Hebrews 12:18–29 (AV)

18 For ye are not come unto the mount that might be touched, and that burned with fire, nor unto blackness, and darkness, and tempest, 19 And the sound of a trumpet, and the voice of words; which voice they that heard intreated that the word should not be spoken to them any more: 20 (For they could not endure that which was commanded, And if so much as a beast touch the mountain, it shall be stoned, or thrust through with a dart: 21 And so terrible was the sight, that Moses said, I exceedingly fear and quake:) 22 But ye are come unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels, 23 To the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect, 24 And to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel. 25 See that ye refuse not him that speaketh. For if they escaped not who refused him that spake on earth, much more shall not we escape, if we turn away from him that speaketh from heaven: 26 Whose voice then shook the earth: but now he hath promised, saying, Yet once more I shake not the earth only, but also heaven. 27 And this word, Yet once more, signifieth the removing of those things that are shaken, as of things that are made, that those things which cannot be shaken may remain. 28 Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear: 29 For our God is a consuming fire.

Introduction:

* We have been studying in the book of Leviticus on Wednesday nights.

* Our Text this morning is taken from the book of Hebrews. I brought out the fact in our study that the book of Hebrews is directly related to the Old Testament book of Leviticus.

*On the first night of our study a discussion took place about the severity of the laws, or rules, that God gave the Israelites.

* In the list of rules there were at least 12 rules that, if they were broken, the people were required to stone the guilty party to death.- 12 offences that resulted in capital punishment.

* One person commented “if they were living then, they would already be dead.”

* We read the strict laws of the Old Testament, then take a look around us at the society we live in today, and many come to the conclusion that God has changed the way He feels about sin.

* I read a quote from R. C Sproul this week that said “if the Old Testament penalties for blasphemy were in effect today, every television executive would have been executed long ago.”

* At one time in this country we were considered as strict legalists, who adhered to the “letter of the law.”

* Today is seems we are free to watch dirty movies, to gamble, with the blessing of the state of Tennessee, the lottery, free to have sex with anybody and everybody.

* Today we are now giving “special privileges” to sexual perverts, and teaching our young children in elementary school that they MUST respect these same sexual perverts and their filthy sin.

* Our court system doesn’t even recognize Adultery. Under the Moses Law, Adulters were to be tried and then stoned to death.

* I ask you the question this morning “Are we really free to sin now with no consequences?”

* I ask you the question “Is God more tolerant than He used to be?” Wait until you hear the rest of this sermon before you make your decision.

* Let me ask you the same question in another way. I God now so tolerant that He will not judge the person:

- who rapes your wife,

- who murders one of your children,

- who molests your grandchild,

- who swindles and cheats you out of your retirement and your life savings?

* Why does it appear that God is silent toward the wickedness of the society in which we live? Is this perceived silence to be interpreted that God is just ignoring our sin? Has God changed?

* My friend, Satan would like for you to believe the lie that God is more tolerant of sin than He used to be!

* The God that destroyed the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah for their sexual wickedness is still the same. Society has changed its mind about the way it deals with sin. Our society has embraced sin and blasphemy, but this morning I am here to tell you that God has not changed His attitude toward sin at all.

* My goal this morning is to prove to you, from the Bible, that God is just as intolerant of wickedness and sin today as He ever was in the Bible.

I. God is unchanging.

James 1:17 (KJV 1900)

17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.

Malachi 3:4–6 (KJV 1900)

4 Then shall the offering of Judah and Jerusalem be pleasant unto the Lord, As in the days of old, and as in former years. 5 And I will come near to you to judgment; And I will be a swift witness Against the sorcerers, and against the adulterers, and against false swearers, And against those that oppress the hireling in his wages, The widow, and the fatherless, And that turn aside the stranger from his right, and fear not me, Saith the Lord of hosts.

6 For I am the Lord, I change not…

II. God’s nature does not change.

* God does not grow older.

* God does not learn.

* God does not get stronger.

* God does not change for the better.

III. God’s Truth does not change.

Isaiah 40:8 (AV)

8 The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: but the word of our God shall stand for ever. Psalm 119:89 (AV) 89 For ever, O LORD, thy word is settled in heaven. Psalm 119:150–152 (AV)

151 Thou art near, O LORD; and all thy commandments are truth. 152 Concerning thy testimonies, I have known of old that thou hast founded them for ever.

* God never has to revise or update His opinions.

* God never has to revise His plans.

* God never has to change is schedule.

* Some say “but the Bible says God regretted that He had made man.”

* Now this is something I want you to see, God does not changed his standards concerning sin, but He does change the way that He deals with people based on their behavior.

* This has always been the truth even in the Old Testament. You see, it is a misperception that we have that God was only hard and without mercy in the Old Testament.

Exodus 34:5–7 (KJV 1900)

5 And the Lord descended in the cloud, and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the Lord. 6 And the Lord passed by before him, and proclaimed, The Lord, The Lord God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, 7 Keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty; visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children’s children, unto the third and to the fourth generation.

Ezekiel 33:11 (AV)

As I live, saith the Lord GOD, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live…

Jeremiah 18:8 (KJV 1900)

8 If that nation, against whom I have pronounced, turn from their evil, I will repent of the evil that I thought to do unto them.

Ezekiel 33:14–17 (AV)

14 Again, when I say unto the wicked, Thou shalt surely die; if he turn from his sin, and do that which is lawful and right; 15 If the wicked restore the pledge, give again that he had robbed, walk in the statutes of life, without committing iniquity; he shall surely live, he shall not die. 16 None of his sins that he hath committed shall be mentioned unto him: he hath done that which is lawful and right; he shall surely live.

Exodus 32:7–14 (KJV 1900)

7 And the Lord said unto Moses, Go, get thee down; for thy people, which thou broughtest out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves: 8 They have turned aside quickly out of the way which I commanded them: they have made them a molten calf, and have worshipped it, and have sacrificed thereunto, and said, These be thy gods, O Israel, which have brought thee up out of the land of Egypt. 9 And the Lord said unto Moses, I have seen this people, and, behold, it is a stiffnecked people: 10 Now therefore let me alone, that my wrath may wax hot against them, and that I may consume them: and I will make of thee a great nation. 11 And Moses besought the Lord his God, and said, Lord, why doth thy wrath wax hot against thy people, which thou hast brought forth out of the land of Egypt with great power, and with a mighty hand? 12 Wherefore should the Egyptians speak, and say, For mischief did he bring them out, to slay them in the mountains, and to consume them from the face of the earth? Turn from thy fierce wrath, and repent of this evil against thy people. 13 Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, thy servants, to whom thou swarest by thine own self, and saidst unto them, I will multiply your seed as the stars of heaven, and all this land that I have spoken of will I give unto your seed, and they shall inherit it for ever. 14 And the Lord repented of the evil which he thought to do unto his people.

God does not changed his standards concerning sin, but He does change the way that He deals with people based on their behavior.

IV. God’s standards do not change.

* The 10 commandments are not just a random set of rules. They are a reflection of the character of a Holy God.

* God intended for the 10 commandments to hold a standard before us.

* God’s attributes are perfectly balanced. He perfectly combines his loving compassion with a commitment to strict justice.

Psalm 103:8–18 (AV)

8 The LORD is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and plenteous in mercy. 9 He will not always chide: neither will he keep his anger for ever. 10 He hath not dealt with us after our sins; nor rewarded us according to our iniquities. 11 For as the heaven is high above the earth, so great is his mercy toward them that fear him. 12 As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us. 13 Like as a father pitieth his children, so the LORD pitieth them that fear him. 14 For he knoweth our frame; he remembereth that we are dust. 15 As for man, his days are as grass: as a flower of the field, so he flourisheth. 16 For the wind passeth over it, and it is gone; and the place thereof shall know it no more. 17 But the mercy of the LORD is from everlasting to everlasting upon them that fear him, and his righteousness unto children’s children; 18 To such as keep his covenant, and to those that remember his commandments to do them.

Exodus 34:6–7 (KJV 1900)

6 And the Lord passed by before him, and proclaimed, The Lord, The Lord God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, 7 Keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty; visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children’s children, unto the third and to the fourth generation.

V. God’s methods of dealing with man have changed.

* How do we account for the differences between the consequences of disobedience in the Old Testament and the New Testament?

* Why are the Old Testament penalties for sin not carried out today?

* Why does it appear safe to sin today?

* All of God’s judgments about sin are still true, but His method of managing sin has changed.

* God’s feels the same way about sin as He did when He commanded the Israelites to stone the rebellious child, the adulterer, the fortuneteller, the blasphemer and so on, but the timing and method He uses to deal with our sin has changed.

* Here is an example:

* When a four year old boy steals candy for the store the father gives him a spanking.

* When the same boy is twelve and steals, he will most likely not spank him, but ground him, take away privileges, and make publicly apologize to the store owner, and make him work to pay for what He has stolen.

* When the same boy is twenty and steals, he is not punished right away. There is a court date set and then he waits for the outcome of his judgment.

* The Older boy’s crime is going to be judged much harsher than when he was just a child. There is a careful trial to make sure the more severe punishment is truly deserved.

* Here’s my point; the parent’s view of stealing has never changed, but they choose to deal with this sin differently from one period of time to another.

* God has chosen to deal with our sin differently under the New Testament than He did in the Old Testament, but His anger and hatred for sin has remained the same. God has not changed.

Ecclesiastes 8:11–13 (KJV 1900)

11 Because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil. 12 Though a sinner do evil an hundred times, and his days be prolonged, yet surely I know that it shall be well with them that fear God, which fear before him: 13 But it shall not be well with the wicked, neither shall he prolong his days, which are as a shadow; because he feareth not before God. * The more carefully we look at the Scriptures, the more we become aware of the unwavering consistency of God and His intention to punish sin. * God hates sin just a much today as He did in the Old Testament. * It is the lie of the Devil that God is more tolerant that He used to be. * It is a lie of the Devil that God is more tolerant of our - adultery, - sex outside of marriage, - homosexuality, - the murder of abortion, - robbing the poor with gambling and the lottery, - persecuting those who believe the Bible in the name of Government, - worshiping our false gods of money and social status than He used to be in the Old Testament. VI. The heavenly vs. the Earthly.

* In our text we find a story of two Covenants:

A. An earthly covenant, the Mosaic Covenant:

18 For ye are not come unto the mount that might be touched, and that burned with fire, nor unto blackness, and darkness, and tempest, 19 And the sound of a trumpet, and the voice of words; which voice they that heard intreated that the word should not be spoken to them any more: 20 (For they could not endure that which was commanded, And if so much as a beast touch the mountain, it shall be stoned, or thrust through with a dart: 21 And so terrible was the sight, that Moses said, I exceedingly fear and quake:) B. A Heavenly covenant, the New Covenant:

22 But ye are come unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels, 23 To the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect, 24 And to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel.

* The first covenant was to Israel an earthly Kingdom. * The second covenant is to the Church, a heavenly kingdom, the everlasting Kingdom of God.

C. A Summary of the two covenants.

25 See that ye refuse not him that speaketh. For if they escaped not who refused him that spake on earth, * A solemn warning for those who refuse the second covenant:

much more shall not we escape, if we turn away from him that speaketh from heaven:

26 Whose voice then shook the earth: but now he hath promised, saying, Yet once more I shake not the earth only, but also heaven. 27 And this word,

Yet once more, signifieth the removing of those things that are shaken, as of things that are made, that those things which cannot be shaken may remain. * With the coming of the New Covenant, the old covenant was taken away.

28 Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear: 29 For our God is a consuming fire.

VII .The Old Covenant vs. the New Covenant.

Hebrews 10:16–25 (KJV 1900)

16 This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, saith the Lord, I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them; 17 And their sins and iniquities will I remember no more.

18 Now where remission of these is, there is no more offering for sin.

19 Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus,

20 By a new and living way, which he hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh; 21 And having an high priest over the house of God; 22 Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water. 23 Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering; (for he is faithful that promised;) 24 And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works: 25 Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching. * The first covenant is represented by Mt. Sinai where Moses gave the law and the commandment to the people of Israel.

* The second covenant is represented by Mt. Zion, Calvary where Jesus was sacrificed for the sins of all peoples. * The mediator of the first covenant was Moses a man, a prophet. * The mediator of the second covenant was Jesus, God in the flesh. * The old covenant was a covenant of death. * The new covenant was a covenant of eternal life. * The first covenant represented Man’s approach to God. (Law, Justice, an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth) * The second covenant represented God’s approach to man. (Mercy, forgiveness, compassion)

IIX. God’s wrath on sin in the New Testament is much more severe than that of the Old Testament.

Hebrews 12:25 (KJV 1900)

25 See that ye refuse not him that speaketh. For if they escaped not who refused him that spake on earth, much more shall not we escape, if we turn away from him that speaketh from heaven:

Hebrews 10:26–31 (KJV 1900)

26 For if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins,

27 But a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries. 28 He that despised Moses’ law died without mercy under two or three witnesses: 29 Of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden under foot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the Spirit of grace?

30 For we know him that hath said, Vengeance belongeth unto me, I will recompense, saith the Lord. And again, The Lord shall judge his people. 31 It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.

* Every single unsaved man or woman has already been sentenced by the eternal and unchangeable Word of the Almighty God the great judge of all men.

* Every person who has not called upon the name of Jesus had been bound over by the sentence of God for his judgment to be carried out.

* Oh, you may be enjoying your freedom on this earth for just a little while, but my friend you are only out on bail until you sentence is carried out. * The great preacher of the past, Jonathan Edwards, described the unsaved man’s situation like this:

“The sword of divine justice is every moment brandished over their heads, and it is nothing but the hand of arbitrary mercy, and God's mere will, that holds it back.”

* God’s word on this matter is final. The judgment has been pronounced and cannot ever be changed. There are no appeals, so second chances, no special circumstances, no excuses! Everyone who has not came repented of their sin and accepted the grace and believed on Jesus for salvation is condemned to an everlasting Hell.

* Because of the sentence of God, the unsaved man now is the object of the anger of God.

* How terrible are the words of the great God who you have angered by refusing the Grace of His Son! "I will tread them in mine anger, and will trample them in my fury, and their blood shall be sprinkled upon my garments, and I will stain all my raiment" (Is. 63:3).

* In the day in which we live preachers have over emphasized the love of God because it’s easy to hear. Preaching only the love of God and failing to give the other side of the coin is dishonest to the Word of God!

* God has revealed in the Bible, both how excellent his love is, and also how terrible his wrath is.

* God will put His wrath, on the man who had refused his Grace, on display for all of heaven to behold and remember.

*If you continue to take for grant the grace of God and not come to the Lord Jesus for salvation, you will be tormented in the presence of His holy angels and the Lamb.

Revelation 14:10–11 (AV)

10 The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb: 11 And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night…

* As preachers we and failed to warn people God’s anger against the wicked and unsaved.

* Listen to the word of Isaiah 63:3-5:

Isaiah 63:3–5 (AV)

3 I have trodden the winepress alone; and of the people there was none with me: for I will tread them in mine anger, and trample them in my fury; and their blood shall be sprinkled upon my garments, and I will stain all my raiment. 4 For the day of vengeance is in mine heart, and the year of my redeemed is come. 5 And I looked, and there was none to help…

Isaiah 66:15 (AV)

15 For, behold, the LORD will come with fire, and with his chariots like a whirlwind, to render his anger with fury, and his rebuke with flames of fire.

* My friend consider this; when God judges the unsaved man who has refused his Grace, He will no longer have any pity on that man.

* Nothing will be with held because it is too hard for you to bear!

"Therefore will I also deal in fury: mine eye shall not spare, neither will I have pity; and though they cry in mine ears with a loud voice, yet I will not hear them" (Ezek. 8:18).

Proverbs 1:24–27 (AV)

24 Because I have called, and ye refused; I have stretched out my hand, and no man regarded; 25 But ye have set at nought all my counsel, and would none of my reproof: 26 I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your fear cometh; 27 When your fear cometh as desolation, and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind; when distress and anguish cometh upon you.

* The anger of God is expressed in the torments of Hell.

* Rich man woke up being in torments.

Luke 16:22–24 (AV)

22 And it came to pass, that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels into Abraham’s bosom: the rich man also died, and was buried; 23 And in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom. 24 And he cried and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame.

Matthew 13:40–42 (AV)

40 As therefore the tares are gathered and burned in the fire; so shall it be in the end of this world. 41 The Son of man shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity; 42 And shall cast them into a furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth.

Matthew 5:29–30 (AV)

29 And if thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell. 30 And if thy right hand offend thee, cut it off, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell.

* My Friend, if you have not yet come to the Lord to be saved your are the object of the fierce wrath of God!

Psalm 7:11–13 (AV)

God is angry with the wicked every day. 12 If he turn not, he will whet his sword; he hath bent his bow, and made it ready. 13 He hath also prepared for him the instruments of death…

Jeremiah 46:10 (AV)

10 For this is the day of the Lord GOD of hosts, a day of vengeance, that he may avenge him of his adversaries: and the sword shall devour, and it shall be satiate and made drunk with their blood…

* The bow of God’s fierce wrath is drawn back- - the bow strains with the pressure of the string

- and the arrow is ready on the string

- the arrow is pointed at your soul this morning

- nothing but the mere whim of God, and that of an ANGRY God, from being made drunk with your blood!

* The wrath of God is like a great ocean that is dammed up for the time being. The waters build up more and more and higher and higher. The longer the flow of God’s wrath is dammed up, the more force will be released when the dam breaks.

* The foods of God’s vengeance against your sin have been withheld temporarily. Your guild in the meantime has been constantly increasing.

* You are every day treasuring up more and more if the wrath of God.

* If God were to let go of the flood gate, the fiery floods of the fierceness of God’s wrath would rush forth with terrible furry and would come upon you with all the power that God possesses!

* My friend, who are you to be able to withstand the fierceness of the wrath of God?

Isaiah 13:6–11 (AV)

6 Howl ye; for the day of the LORD is at hand; it shall come as a destruction from the Almighty. 7 Therefore shall all hands be faint, and every man’s heart shall melt: 8 And they shall be afraid: pangs and sorrows shall take hold of them; they shall be in pain as a woman that travaileth: they shall be amazed one at another; their faces shall be as flames. 9 Behold, the day of the LORD cometh, cruel both with wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land desolate: and he shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it. 10 For the stars of heaven and the constellations thereof shall not give their light: the sun shall be darkened in his going forth, and the moon shall not cause her light to shine. 11 And I will punish the world for their evil, and the wicked for their iniquity…

Jeremiah 46:10 (AV)

10 For this is the day of the Lord GOD of hosts, a day of vengeance, that he may avenge him of his adversaries: and the sword shall devour, and it shall be satiate and made drunk with their blood: for the Lord GOD of hosts hath a sacrifice in the north country by the river Euphrates.

* Listen to the words of Jonathan Edwards from the sermon “sinners in the Hands of a angry God”

There are black clouds of God's wrath now hanging directly over your heads, full of the dreadful storm, and big with thunder; and were it not for the restraining hand of God, it would immediately burst forth upon you.

The wrath of God burns against them, their damnation does not slumber; the pit is prepared, the fire is made ready, the furnace is now hot, ready to receive them; the flames do now rage and glow. The glittering sword is whet, and held over them, and the pit hath opened its mouth under them.

That world of misery, that lake of burning brimstone, is extended abroad under you. There is the dreadful pit of the glowing flames of the wrath of God; there is hell's wide gaping mouth open; and you have nothing to stand upon, nor any thing to take hold of; there is nothing between you and hell but the air; it is only the power and mere pleasure of God that holds you up.

James 3:6 (AV)

6 And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity: so is the tongue among our members, that it defileth the whole body, and setteth on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire of hell.

* My friend, weather you realize it or not the fire of Hell already burns in your heart! According to the Bible the sinful nature that you were born with is ready to consume you!

* The ungodly lusts that lurk within the black depths of your wicked heart are ready to consume you like a raging fire! A fire kindled by the very fires of Hell!

* Look at the drunkard! Look at the person destroyed by meth! Look at the people all around you who have destroyed their lives by their ungodly sexual desires!

* You sinful heart is perched like a vulture ready to consume your body with drink and drugs and sex!

* Like with fire, you think you can control your sin. You think you are in charge! You think that you can flirt around with sin, have a little fun.

* The Devil has you deceived into think that you can just nibble around the edges of sin a little bit, but you’re not going to eat the whole thing! You’ve got it under control.

* My friend the Bible warns us that sin in the heart of man like a fire ready to flame up out of control and consume us.

Illustration: My brother and I playing with matches.

* Jonathan Edwards described the false security that men have concerning Hell as a men walking over the pit of Hell on covering full of rotten holes that we cannot see.

* These rotten places cannot be seen, and if we should step on one, it would not be able to bear the weight of our sin.

* We would fall head first into the fiery furnace of Hell, falling into the hands of very Devils that Hell was prepared for!

Jonathan Edwards- “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God”

Your wickedness makes you as it were heavy as lead, and to tend downwards with great weight and pressure towards hell; and if God should let you go, you would immediately sink and swiftly descend and plunge into the bottomless gulf, and your healthy constitution, and your own care and prudence, and best contrivance, and all your righteousness, would have no more influence to uphold you and keep you out of hell, than a spider's web would have to stop a fallen rock.

* God holds you over the pit of Hell like someone holding a ugly spider, hanging on a slender spider web over a fire.

* If you have turned away the grace of God, God abhors you. God is dreadfully provoked by your sin and your pride.

* His wrath toward you burns like a fire!

* You are fore despised in his sight than the most dreadful poisonous snake would be to you!

* By turning away the Grace of God you have offended God more that a rebellious, unthankful, hateful child would offend a loving parent!

* There a thousand ways that God could use to send to your eternal punishment this very day!

* But there is nothing but the mere whim of the God that you have so offended to keep you from falling into the eternal fires of Hell right this very moment!

* You did not drop off into Hell as you slept last night because God’s hand held you up!

*You hang by a slender thread, over the very pit of a fiery Hell, while you hear the screams of dammed souls. Those who have refused the Grace of a loving God!

* The flames of Hell are flashing all around that thread, threatening to singe the thread at any moment!

* My friend death is stalking you every day! Everywhere you go the threat of death is with you! You can’t avoid death, you can’t hide from death, you can delay death or put it off!

Ecclesiastes 2:16 (AV)

16 For there is no remembrance of the wise more than of the fool for ever; seeing that which now is in the days to come shall all be forgotten. And how dieth the wise man? as the fool.

* Who are you to think that you have some kind of protection for security from death? All your hoping and preparing against death will not stop it from coming.

Hebrews 9:27 (AV)

27 And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment:

* Every man has an appointment with Death and you will keep it.

Conclusion:

1.) Have you ever considered the reality that you will cease to exist on the face of this earth.

2). Have you ever considered the agony and misery of remembering the pleasures you were afforded by God’s grace?

* What would the people in Hell give to experience the pleasure of a soft comfortable bed one last time. The touch of a love one? One drop of cool water?

3). What reason could you possibility give to justify not running down this isle as fast as you can to escape the terrible wrath of God?