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Turn in your Bibles if you would

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to John 3.

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You know, balance -

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we heard about it in the first hour.

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Balance.

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You know what we tend to do;

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we tend to define balance by ourselves.

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Because the truth is,

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we do tend to look at 
ourselves as being balanced.

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Because the thing is if 
you were really convinced

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you were out of balance,

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you would move that pendulum

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to where you thought it was balanced.

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We all have a tendency 
to think we're right.

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And because that's the case,

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we all tend to evaluate 
balance by ourselves.

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And if you've ever said to somebody,

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"They're imbalanced,"

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what you were doing probably

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was you were using yourself 
as a reference point

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when you said that

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because you were using your own thought

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about what balance is.

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Now the key, we know that of a truth -

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this is balanced.

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This really is the only 
infallible reference point

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to what balance is.

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So what we have to make sure

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is that we're constantly fine tuning

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our own thinking by this book.

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But you know, balance is a funny thing.

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For instance, if you listen to Della -

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I'm going to put you on the spot -

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all she talks about 
is the crisis pregnancy.

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I don't hear her talk 
about other ministries.

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But then if you hear James 
talk about I'll Be Honest,

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it's like, "get balanced, man!"

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Why do you not talk like Della talks?

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Well, because one of the things

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is that we have diversity in the church.

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We have diversity of gift

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and diversity of strengths

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and diversity of personality.

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And so we need to be careful

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that we don't take this concept of balance

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and misapply it.

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The other thing is,

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balance is something that you see

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in the big picture of things.

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If you want to ask,

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well, is the church balanced?

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You don't look just at Della

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or just at James,

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you look at the big picture.

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The same thing could 
be said for preaching.

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Can you imagine if you walked

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into Jonathan Edwards' church

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the day he preached

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"Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God"?

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Now, maybe you've never read that message,

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but if you have, you would say,

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this guy's not balanced.

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Well, that would be an unfair assessment.

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You really need to hear
Jonathan Edwards preach

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for a year probably.

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I'm not saying that expositional preaching

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is the only way to preach.

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I certainly would not say

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that a man cannot preach topical messages.

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But, expositional preaching does help

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to foster balance.

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At least, it requires us to not pass over

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parts of Scripture.

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Now how a man preaches a 
certain portion of Scripture,

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that may be right or it may not be right.

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It depends on how much he's 
preaching his own opinion

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or he's preaching exactly what God intends

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to be taught by that passage.

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I'm saying all this because 
I'm justifying the fact

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that I'm going to preach to you

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a very imbalanced message today.

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And if I didn't say anything,

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after hearing James you'd say,

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now that wasn't balanced.

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But you see, one of the things is,

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it was like Martin Luther actually

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made a comment about

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you can preach all the truth in the world,

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but you know, if you 
neglect that one truth

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that's most under attack 
in your generation,

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you're being unfaithful.

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And the thing is,

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if a preacher's being faithful

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and he's dealing with the very point

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of Satanic attack in his day,

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it may seem imbalanced.

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Especially if you were to 
read it 100 years from now.

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You know sometimes, when we go back

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and we read some of the guys from the past

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we don't really recognize

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why they're emphasizing 
what they're emphasizing.

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Now a lot of times it had to do with 
the attacks that they were facing.

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And it could seem imbalanced

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till you recognized that the 
pendulum in their day

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had swung way over here,

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and a balanced message was not

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what their day needed.

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They needed that pendulum hit

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with a good crack

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to send it back centerward.

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Yes, I know, the message 
that I want to bring today

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is imbalanced.

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But it is because it's 
meant to be corrective.

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John 3:16.

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Let's look at it.

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You see, we live in a day -

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I don't know what comes to your mind

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when you hear John 3:16.

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I can tell you as a young believer,

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if I would have sat down and somebody said

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please open your Bibles to John 3:16,

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I'd think I'm going to get a shallow,

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typical evangelistic message today.

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I would have cringed if I heard

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John 3:16 was the text.

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Maybe you don't respond that way.

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But it has to do with the way

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that I perceive the text is used.

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Unquestionably,

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this is the most well-known 
biblical passage.

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And I don't even mean to spend

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the majority of my time here on it,

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but let's read it.

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"For God so loved the world

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that He gave His only-begotten Son

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that whoever believes in Him

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should not perish,

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but have eternal life."

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I would challenge you,

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go to your colleges;

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go to your workplaces;

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go up and down your street.

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Quote John 3:16 to people.

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You know what the truth is?

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Most of the world yawns at that text.

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I mean, it encapsulates the gospel

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and the truth.

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If it was even possible

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that people in hell could be

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partakers of that promise,

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and you took that to them right now,

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they would find that to be the greatest

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imaginable news possible.

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God redeeming sinners.

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It doesn't seem to shock us.

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America expects God to be merciful.

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Have you ever noticed

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when good things happen?

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The media is not looking 
for some explanation.

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It's when a hurricane comes

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and a bunch of people die,

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or there's a tsunami in 
another part of the world

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and a bunch of people are drowned.

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And then it's like the world

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wants an explanation.

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How could a loving God do this?

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How can this be permitted?

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This is how our world is.

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You know it is.

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We expect God to so love the world.

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It's expected.

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Oh yeah, well, that's nice.

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God so loved the world.

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But see, that doesn't 
shake anybody's worldview.

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Because typically, it's expected.

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We're shocked and outraged

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when God does the opposite.

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And it does - it outrages people.

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"How could God let this happen?"

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How often do people in this world

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talk that way?

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What are they saying?

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I'll tell you what, that's massive,

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massive amounts of ignorance behind that.

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I remember telling a family member -

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because you know, after I was saved,

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I came to recognize my Catholic

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(horribly nominal Catholic)

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pagan family -

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I recognized my family members

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who had died,

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they perished.

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And it's like I had family members say,

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"Grandma in hell??"

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You can have that God.

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My god's not like that.

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No, I remember a preacher friend saying

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one time he was sitting in a Dairy Queen,

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and he got to telling a woman

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about the gospel,

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and this woman was outraged.

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She said, "My god is not like that."

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And he said, "You're right, ma'am.

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Your god is not like that."

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See, that's the problem.

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Our world expects John 3:16.

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(Incomplete thought)

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Listen to what's promised.

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Whoever believes in Christ

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should not perish, but have eternal life.

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Eternal life.

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It's precisely because we don't have -

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this world around us 
doesn't have eternal life

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that's promised in this verse

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that they miss it.

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You say, what do you mean?

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Look, if I took a survey;

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if I took a survey here,

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passed out a piece of paper -

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but more than that,

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up and down these streets

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throughout San Antonio to take a survey.

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Define for me what eternal life is.

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Well, many would respond with the obvious.

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To live forever.

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But perhaps that begs another question.

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Let me ask you this.

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Do you those in hell live forever?

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Sort of.

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They exist forever.

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They're conscious forever.

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But an eternity of destruction,

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an eternity of judgment,

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an eternity of punishment,

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an eternity of fire - all four,

236
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which are plainly stated in Scripture,

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eternally are the lot of the damned.

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See, that's hardly "life."

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The reality is eternal life 
is not just existing

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no matter what else is 
true of our existence.

241
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But here's the question,

242
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what is it that really defines life?

243
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What is it that really 
defines eternal life?

244
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And here's the thing,

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we know the answer

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if we know our Bibles.

247
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But the thing is even knowing it,

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because you know John 17:3,

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it's incomprehensible 
to the world at large.

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You say, what does it say 
over there in John 17:3?

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Well, "this is eternal life."

252
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This is eternal life. And what is it?

253
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What is it?

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Right.

255
00:12:31,902 --> 00:12:38,140
It is to know You - God is being 
prayed to by His Son.

256
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Christ is looking to His Father,

257
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and He's speaking to Him.

258
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"This is eternal life,

259
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that they know You, the only true God,

260
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and Jesus Christ whom You have sent."

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But the truth is, think about that.

262
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To the lost world, 
that's incomprehensible.

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What?

264
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Knowing God is life?

265
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That's not the way the world thinks.

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I mean, look, do you want

267
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a deer in the headlights stare?

268
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Just go up and down the street here

269
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and tell men and women this reality.

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Eternal life is knowing God.

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It doesn't register.

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Would it have registered with 
you when you were lost?

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If somebody would have 
come and told you that?

274
00:13:43,019 --> 00:13:44,961
This is what eternal life is all about.

275
00:13:44,961 --> 00:13:46,857
You want to know what it's all about?

276
00:13:46,857 --> 00:13:50,744
It's right here. It's knowing God.

277
00:13:50,744 --> 00:13:55,324
You see what the apostle said?

278
00:13:55,324 --> 00:13:57,823
"Without God in the world..."

279
00:13:57,823 --> 00:13:59,186
Remember that from Ephesus?

280
00:13:59,186 --> 00:14:01,180
We're going to get back to Ephesians

281
00:14:01,180 --> 00:14:03,690
in a few weeks.

282
00:14:03,690 --> 00:14:08,718
"Without God in the world..."

283
00:14:08,718 --> 00:14:10,034
We like that.

284
00:14:10,034 --> 00:14:12,163
You know, the apostle says the same thing

285
00:14:12,163 --> 00:14:13,381
about the Galatians.

286
00:14:13,381 --> 00:14:20,897
"Formerly, when you did not know God."

287
00:14:20,897 --> 00:14:23,235
That's what lost people are like.

288
00:14:23,235 --> 00:14:25,535
But you know what - we like that.

289
00:14:25,535 --> 00:14:28,384
To us, any concept of living

290
00:14:28,384 --> 00:14:29,782
when we're lost -

291
00:14:29,782 --> 00:14:32,854
ah, that's living!

292
00:14:32,854 --> 00:14:34,917
The further we could get away from God.

293
00:14:34,917 --> 00:14:37,887
Which one of you when 
you were lost thought:

294
00:14:37,887 --> 00:14:41,017
"Going to church! Ah, that's living!"

295
00:14:41,017 --> 00:14:44,435
It's like if somebody asked you to go,

296
00:14:44,435 --> 00:14:48,596
it's like ugh... what excuse 
can I come up with?

297
00:14:48,596 --> 00:14:51,754
Because anything is better than that!

298
00:14:51,754 --> 00:14:52,825
That's how we think.

299
00:14:52,825 --> 00:14:54,413
That's how we were.

300
00:14:54,413 --> 00:14:55,940
And you know the thing is,

301
00:14:55,940 --> 00:14:59,057
that's life - knowing God.

302
00:14:59,057 --> 00:15:01,011
Death - it's the opposite.

303
00:15:01,011 --> 00:15:03,235
It's not knowing Him.
Isn't that interesting?

304
00:15:03,235 --> 00:15:06,242
The apostle says both about 
the condition of the lost.

305
00:15:06,242 --> 00:15:08,018
Formerly when you did not know God;

306
00:15:08,018 --> 00:15:11,348
also formerly, again, the 
letter to the Ephesians,

307
00:15:11,348 --> 00:15:16,469
he said, you were dead 
in trespasses and sins.

308
00:15:16,469 --> 00:15:17,516
This is the thing,

309
00:15:17,516 --> 00:15:21,034
people who have not been saved

310
00:15:21,034 --> 00:15:25,970
by the grace of Christ,

311
00:15:25,970 --> 00:15:28,446
they don't live.

312
00:15:28,446 --> 00:15:30,737
And the issue is they don't know God.

313
00:15:30,737 --> 00:15:31,572
That's it.

314
00:15:31,572 --> 00:15:33,407
Death is not annihilation.

315
00:15:33,407 --> 00:15:35,725
Death is not ceasing to exist.

316
00:15:35,725 --> 00:15:39,348
Death is simply living without God.

317
00:15:39,348 --> 00:15:41,478
That's it.

318
00:15:41,478 --> 00:15:42,838
Without God.

319
00:15:42,838 --> 00:15:44,932
Listen to Paul.

320
00:15:44,932 --> 00:15:47,773
He says this to the Corinthians.

321
00:15:47,773 --> 00:15:50,078
"Some have no knowledge of God.

322
00:15:50,078 --> 00:15:51,484
I say this to your shame."

323
00:15:51,484 --> 00:15:53,595
And you know what's 
interesting about that?

324
00:15:53,595 --> 00:15:56,542
He's not talking about 
the pagans out there.

325
00:15:56,542 --> 00:15:59,201
He's talking about people in the church,

326
00:15:59,201 --> 00:16:02,144
and he says, "Some of you don't know God."

327
00:16:02,144 --> 00:16:06,267
Now, look, if you would 
have tagged those people

328
00:16:06,267 --> 00:16:07,959
that he's talking about,

329
00:16:07,959 --> 00:16:14,015
they'd have had plenty 
to tell you about God.

330
00:16:14,015 --> 00:16:16,017
You recognize that.

331
00:16:16,017 --> 00:16:18,477
Just because you've got 
a lot to say about God,

332
00:16:18,477 --> 00:16:22,504
doesn't mean that you know God.

333
00:16:22,504 --> 00:16:26,472
I find that, again, take the survey.

334
00:16:26,472 --> 00:16:28,058
Go up and down the streets,

335
00:16:28,058 --> 00:16:30,603
which a lot of us have.

336
00:16:30,603 --> 00:16:32,831
Everybody's got their theories on God,

337
00:16:32,831 --> 00:16:35,271
and that doesn't change in the church.

338
00:16:35,271 --> 00:16:38,090
You've got people thinking 
all sorts of things.

339
00:16:38,090 --> 00:16:40,606
These people that he's talking to -

340
00:16:40,606 --> 00:16:41,796
there's some among you -

341
00:16:41,796 --> 00:16:45,898
they were denying the resurrection.

342
00:16:45,898 --> 00:16:47,955
Very authoritatively could tell you

343
00:16:47,955 --> 00:16:52,604
things about God, but they were wrong.

344
00:16:52,604 --> 00:16:56,278
So the question is this: who is God?

345
00:16:56,278 --> 00:16:57,319
Do we know Him?

346
00:16:57,319 --> 00:16:59,671
I mean, when it says, 
"God so loved the world..."

347
00:16:59,671 --> 00:17:02,031
one of the problems is we 
don't really even know

348
00:17:02,031 --> 00:17:03,734
who that God is.

349
00:17:03,734 --> 00:17:06,244
You know, if you understand

350
00:17:06,244 --> 00:17:09,099
more thoroughly who that God is,

351
00:17:09,099 --> 00:17:11,858
then all of a sudden John 3:16

352
00:17:11,858 --> 00:17:15,251
becomes marvelous.

353
00:17:15,251 --> 00:17:16,652
But the world doesn't know.

354
00:17:16,652 --> 00:17:17,878
And the scary thing is

355
00:17:17,878 --> 00:17:19,844
that we don't know in the church.

356
00:17:19,844 --> 00:17:21,284
You talk about being balanced.

357
00:17:21,284 --> 00:17:23,602
One of the most balanced realities

358
00:17:23,602 --> 00:17:25,340
that we need to have in Scripture,

359
00:17:25,340 --> 00:17:27,886
and I don't know if it's even balance,

360
00:17:27,886 --> 00:17:29,481
is just we need to know God.

361
00:17:29,481 --> 00:17:31,607
That's eternal life. We need to know God.

362
00:17:31,607 --> 00:17:33,616
We need to delve in and dive in.

363
00:17:33,616 --> 00:17:35,936
We need to know Him.
We need to realize Him.

364
00:17:35,936 --> 00:17:37,767
We need the Spirit of wisdom

365
00:17:37,767 --> 00:17:39,876
and of revelation in the knowledge of Him.

366
00:17:39,876 --> 00:17:41,157
We need to grow in that -

367
00:17:41,157 --> 00:17:43,936
this Spirit working in us.

368
00:17:43,936 --> 00:17:48,252
A greater, greater, 
and greater perception.

369
00:17:48,252 --> 00:17:50,038
This is why it's so important

370
00:17:50,038 --> 00:17:53,469
to read all of the Bible.

371
00:17:53,469 --> 00:17:55,398
Listen, if you've been in the Lord

372
00:17:55,398 --> 00:17:57,240
for a number of years and you have not

373
00:17:57,240 --> 00:17:58,701
read this book cover to cover,

374
00:17:58,701 --> 00:17:59,937
no excuse.

375
00:17:59,937 --> 00:18:01,985
Because you know what's going to happen

376
00:18:01,985 --> 00:18:04,209
if you don't read it cover to cover?

377
00:18:04,209 --> 00:18:06,097
It's kind of like if you walk in here

378
00:18:06,097 --> 00:18:08,434
and you listen to one 
sermon that's preached.

379
00:18:08,434 --> 00:18:10,002
And you say, that's imbalanced.

380
00:18:10,002 --> 00:18:11,823
That's right. You're going to end up

381
00:18:11,823 --> 00:18:12,978
with an imbalanced view

382
00:18:12,978 --> 00:18:15,401
of reality, truth, who God is.

383
00:18:15,401 --> 00:18:17,735
Read all of your Bible.

384
00:18:17,735 --> 00:18:21,752
Because it's all speaking to us about Him.

385
00:18:21,752 --> 00:18:24,275
Who is this God?

386
00:18:24,275 --> 00:18:26,581
Man thinks he knows.

387
00:18:26,581 --> 00:18:28,932
You want to know why we need

388
00:18:28,932 --> 00:18:30,872
to be soaked in this Word so much?

389
00:18:30,872 --> 00:18:33,685
Because we have an image 
of God in our minds,

390
00:18:33,685 --> 00:18:37,354
and we need it corrected;

391
00:18:37,354 --> 00:18:41,181
we need to see more accurately

392
00:18:41,181 --> 00:18:44,976
who He is and dispel our own false notions

393
00:18:44,976 --> 00:18:47,106
of who He is.

394
00:18:47,106 --> 00:18:49,185
This is critical. Critical.

395
00:18:49,185 --> 00:18:51,310
Scripture just tears away

396
00:18:51,310 --> 00:18:53,457
these distorted images.

397
00:18:53,457 --> 00:18:55,063
And I'll tell you this,

398
00:18:55,063 --> 00:18:57,751
it reveals a God to us who is very much

399
00:18:57,751 --> 00:19:01,193
bigger and greater and more fearful

400
00:19:01,193 --> 00:19:03,964
than ever imagined.

401
00:19:03,964 --> 00:19:06,029
And kind,

402
00:19:06,029 --> 00:19:08,722
and compassionate.

403
00:19:08,722 --> 00:19:10,455
I can remember one time years ago

404
00:19:10,455 --> 00:19:17,207
reading Charles Spurgeon on John 3:16.

405
00:19:17,207 --> 00:19:22,889
And he said when this verse is taken -

406
00:19:22,889 --> 00:19:24,545
it's kind of like the rainbow,

407
00:19:24,545 --> 00:19:27,617
against the dark storm clouds.

408
00:19:27,617 --> 00:19:29,260
It's very vivid.

409
00:19:29,260 --> 00:19:31,649
He was emphasizing John 3:16

410
00:19:31,649 --> 00:19:32,884
is like that rainbow.

411
00:19:32,884 --> 00:19:35,511
Very beautiful.

412
00:19:35,511 --> 00:19:36,981
But it's when it's viewed

413
00:19:36,981 --> 00:19:41,919
against this dark, stormy backdrop

414
00:19:41,919 --> 00:19:44,360
that it becomes most vivid

415
00:19:44,360 --> 00:19:47,161
and most beautiful.

416
00:19:47,161 --> 00:19:49,249
See, I was all the more reminded of this

417
00:19:49,249 --> 00:19:52,646
just in the last couple of weeks.

418
00:19:52,646 --> 00:19:55,767
I've been moving through the Pentateuch.

419
00:19:55,767 --> 00:19:58,049
I'm in Joshua now,

420
00:19:58,049 --> 00:19:59,900
but just coming through -

421
00:19:59,900 --> 00:20:03,750
especially through the book of Numbers.

422
00:20:03,750 --> 00:20:05,543
That's where the Hebrew children

423
00:20:05,543 --> 00:20:08,433
are in the wilderness.

424
00:20:08,433 --> 00:20:09,652
I want you to turn there.

425
00:20:09,652 --> 00:20:37,372
Numbers 11:1.

426
00:20:37,372 --> 00:20:40,877
"And the people complained

427
00:20:40,877 --> 00:20:42,698
in the hearing of the Lord

428
00:20:42,698 --> 00:20:46,474
about their misfortunes."

429
00:20:46,474 --> 00:20:48,664
I know if you've got the 
King James Version,

430
00:20:48,664 --> 00:20:51,058
it doesn't say "about their misfortunes,"

431
00:20:51,058 --> 00:20:54,069
but I did see that in the Hebrew,

432
00:20:54,069 --> 00:20:59,154
it's actually there.

433
00:20:59,154 --> 00:21:01,786
"The people complained in 
the hearing of the Lord

434
00:21:01,786 --> 00:21:03,449
about their misfortunes."

435
00:21:03,449 --> 00:21:05,120
The New American Standard says,

436
00:21:05,120 --> 00:21:08,794
"about their adversities."

437
00:21:08,794 --> 00:21:11,838
"And when the Lord heard it,

438
00:21:11,838 --> 00:21:17,202
His anger was kindled,

439
00:21:17,202 --> 00:21:20,254
and the fire of the Lord burned among them

440
00:21:20,254 --> 00:21:23,991
and consumed some outlying parts

441
00:21:23,991 --> 00:21:27,981
of the camp."

442
00:21:27,981 --> 00:21:30,858
You know you read,

443
00:21:30,858 --> 00:21:35,822
but sometimes you stop.

444
00:21:35,822 --> 00:21:37,816
Sometimes you read parts of the Bible

445
00:21:37,816 --> 00:21:40,048
and it's like, you know, 
you're taking it in.

446
00:21:40,048 --> 00:21:41,035
You're hearing it.

447
00:21:41,035 --> 00:21:43,210
But then there's other 
times where you stop

448
00:21:43,210 --> 00:21:47,721
and some reality hits you.

449
00:21:47,721 --> 00:21:51,404
And the reality of this hit me.

450
00:21:51,404 --> 00:21:54,412
And I began to think,

451
00:21:54,412 --> 00:21:57,425
what if your tent had been

452
00:21:57,425 --> 00:22:02,544
in the outlying part of the camp?

453
00:22:02,544 --> 00:22:07,687
What was that like?

454
00:22:07,687 --> 00:22:11,456
It says (verse 2), "Then the 
people cried out to Moses,

455
00:22:11,456 --> 00:22:13,090
and Moses prayed to the Lord

456
00:22:13,090 --> 00:22:18,332
and the fire died down.

457
00:22:18,332 --> 00:22:21,377
So the name of that place

458
00:22:21,377 --> 00:22:24,382
was called Taberah,

459
00:22:24,382 --> 00:22:27,658
because the fire of the 
Lord burned among them."

460
00:22:27,658 --> 00:22:29,562
Taberah.

461
00:22:29,562 --> 00:22:31,302
You have a place called Taberah.

462
00:22:31,302 --> 00:22:32,314
Can you imagine?

463
00:22:32,314 --> 00:22:33,984
You're driving down the interstate,

464
00:22:33,984 --> 00:22:37,750
there's the sign: Taberah, next exit.

465
00:22:37,750 --> 00:22:42,973
Dad, what's that mean?

466
00:22:42,973 --> 00:22:45,679
Burning.

467
00:22:45,679 --> 00:22:50,893
It was Calvin or Gill - one of them -

468
00:22:50,893 --> 00:22:55,411
it means combustion.

469
00:22:55,411 --> 00:23:00,027
Yeah, children, that's combustion.

470
00:23:00,027 --> 00:23:02,725
Why?

471
00:23:02,725 --> 00:23:10,023
Well, here's why.

472
00:23:10,023 --> 00:23:12,354
Spontaneous combustion.

473
00:23:12,354 --> 00:23:16,407
Now think about that.

474
00:23:16,407 --> 00:23:18,424
Why?

475
00:23:18,424 --> 00:23:20,749
They were complaining.

476
00:23:20,749 --> 00:23:23,361
We'll talk more about that in a second.

477
00:23:23,361 --> 00:23:25,323
You know, it doesn't say,

478
00:23:25,323 --> 00:23:28,200
"the fire of the Lord fell."

479
00:23:28,200 --> 00:23:31,835
It says that in some places.

480
00:23:31,835 --> 00:23:33,477
At Sodom and Gomorrah,

481
00:23:33,477 --> 00:23:36,918
fire fell from heaven.

482
00:23:36,918 --> 00:23:40,353
It doesn't say lightning,

483
00:23:40,353 --> 00:23:43,508
thunderbolt.

484
00:23:43,508 --> 00:23:46,711
Just spontaneous combustion.

485
00:23:46,711 --> 00:23:55,620
Sinners exploded in flames.

486
00:23:55,620 --> 00:23:57,116
And you know, here's the thing,

487
00:23:57,116 --> 00:24:00,512
God's anger -

488
00:24:00,512 --> 00:24:04,144
we don't sense it.

489
00:24:04,144 --> 00:24:07,792
We don't feel it.

490
00:24:07,792 --> 00:24:11,428
Do you know

491
00:24:11,428 --> 00:24:16,490
men and women and children in this room

492
00:24:16,490 --> 00:24:19,271
who have heard the truth of the gospel

493
00:24:19,271 --> 00:24:26,493
and still are not bowing 
the knee to the Lord -

494
00:24:26,493 --> 00:24:29,807
have not repented -

495
00:24:29,807 --> 00:24:34,069
do you know God's anger with you is such

496
00:24:34,069 --> 00:24:35,728
that Scripture specifically says

497
00:24:35,728 --> 00:24:38,439
it's going to be more tolerable 
for Sodom and Gomorrah

498
00:24:38,439 --> 00:24:42,102
in the day of judgment than for you?

499
00:24:42,102 --> 00:24:45,810
His anger burns against you

500
00:24:45,810 --> 00:24:50,284
greater than it burned against them.

501
00:24:50,284 --> 00:24:53,238
But you know what? We don't feel it.

502
00:24:53,238 --> 00:24:58,468
There's no low rumble of thunder.

503
00:24:58,468 --> 00:25:04,639
We don't feel it.

504
00:25:04,639 --> 00:25:07,299
I mean, it's like that wind 
isn't blowing in here.

505
00:25:07,299 --> 00:25:09,891
There's no wind of vengeance.

506
00:25:09,891 --> 00:25:12,083
I can't feel it.

507
00:25:12,083 --> 00:25:15,792
I can't hear it.

508
00:25:15,792 --> 00:25:19,260
And you know, because people don't,

509
00:25:19,260 --> 00:25:22,024
and because they sin,

510
00:25:22,024 --> 00:25:24,693
and the sentence against that sin

511
00:25:24,693 --> 00:25:28,077
is not exacted immediately,

512
00:25:28,077 --> 00:25:30,183
they just become real confident.

513
00:25:30,183 --> 00:25:32,014
You know, there's a verse in the Bible

514
00:25:32,014 --> 00:25:34,002
that says that?

515
00:25:34,002 --> 00:25:36,690
Ecclesiastes 8.

516
00:25:36,690 --> 00:25:38,901
The sentence is not 
carried out immediately

517
00:25:38,901 --> 00:25:40,235
against people's sin,

518
00:25:40,235 --> 00:25:41,382
and what do they do?

519
00:25:41,382 --> 00:25:43,127
They become all the more confident.

520
00:25:43,127 --> 00:25:46,251
There's no sense of this judgment;

521
00:25:46,251 --> 00:25:50,836
this anger, this wrath.

522
00:25:50,836 --> 00:25:52,577
But you know what?

523
00:25:52,577 --> 00:25:57,075
Here's a glimpse at a time

524
00:25:57,075 --> 00:26:00,901
when sinners are doing what sinners do.

525
00:26:00,901 --> 00:26:03,827
They weren't raping and killing children.

526
00:26:03,827 --> 00:26:08,162
They weren't cannibals.

527
00:26:08,162 --> 00:26:10,288
You know what they were doing?

528
00:26:10,288 --> 00:26:11,798
Murmuring.

529
00:26:11,798 --> 00:26:15,373
They weren't even 
complaining directly to God.

530
00:26:15,373 --> 00:26:18,093
Listen to how it reads:

531
00:26:18,093 --> 00:26:21,808
It says, "the people complained

532
00:26:21,808 --> 00:26:28,219
in the hearing of the Lord."

533
00:26:28,219 --> 00:26:30,717
Complaining. What's that?

534
00:26:30,717 --> 00:26:34,535
Certainly a small sin.

535
00:26:34,535 --> 00:26:36,463
Not murder, not rape, not kidnapping.

536
00:26:36,463 --> 00:26:39,768
None of that stuff.

537
00:26:39,768 --> 00:26:41,596
What was causing the complaining?

538
00:26:41,596 --> 00:26:43,573
We're told: misfortunes.

539
00:26:43,573 --> 00:26:44,972
Their adversities.

540
00:26:44,972 --> 00:26:47,001
Things didn't go just the way

541
00:26:47,001 --> 00:26:50,534
that they wanted them to go.

542
00:26:50,534 --> 00:26:52,955
After all, I mean, living 
in that wilderness -

543
00:26:52,955 --> 00:26:55,096
listen, living out in the wilderness

544
00:26:55,096 --> 00:26:56,369
would not be nice.

545
00:26:56,369 --> 00:26:57,203
No water.

546
00:26:57,203 --> 00:26:59,388
I mean, the idea I get 
about that wilderness

547
00:26:59,388 --> 00:27:01,934
is that it was pretty much desert.

548
00:27:01,934 --> 00:27:03,450
You're out there for 40 years,

549
00:27:03,450 --> 00:27:05,721
you're probably not going 
to be overly happy.

550
00:27:05,721 --> 00:27:10,276
Didn't they have some 
things to complain about?

551
00:27:10,276 --> 00:27:13,049
God was listening,

552
00:27:13,049 --> 00:27:17,619
and He incinerated a number of them

553
00:27:17,619 --> 00:27:20,435
on the spot.

554
00:27:20,435 --> 00:27:22,065
Can you imagine?

555
00:27:22,065 --> 00:27:25,068
A sinner just exploding in flames.

556
00:27:25,068 --> 00:27:27,056
You can't.

557
00:27:27,056 --> 00:27:28,946
And because the reality of that

558
00:27:28,946 --> 00:27:30,875
is so far removed from us,

559
00:27:30,875 --> 00:27:34,398
and because sinners get 
away with sinning so often

560
00:27:34,398 --> 00:27:37,625
and they don't burst into flames,

561
00:27:37,625 --> 00:27:40,494
we can get very casual about sin.

562
00:27:40,494 --> 00:27:43,089
We can get very casual about grace.

563
00:27:43,089 --> 00:27:47,029
We can get very casual about John 3:16.

564
00:27:47,029 --> 00:27:49,456
But I'll tell you what you 
get a glimpse of here.

565
00:27:49,456 --> 00:27:50,898
You get a glimpse of the way

566
00:27:50,898 --> 00:27:53,592
God feels towards sinners.

567
00:27:53,592 --> 00:27:57,078
And it bursts forth.

568
00:27:57,078 --> 00:27:59,955
They were dead on the spot.

569
00:27:59,955 --> 00:28:03,824
Do you know the God of Scripture?

570
00:28:03,824 --> 00:28:06,063
Do you really know Him?

571
00:28:06,063 --> 00:28:07,790
Do you know that God is like this?

572
00:28:07,790 --> 00:28:09,990
You say, like what? Like this!

573
00:28:09,990 --> 00:28:11,884
Like we find here in this passage.

574
00:28:11,884 --> 00:28:15,068
Provoked, angry, and ready

575
00:28:15,068 --> 00:28:17,049
to break forth against sinners.

576
00:28:17,049 --> 00:28:19,639
Do you know?

577
00:28:19,639 --> 00:28:21,400
You can come across these things

578
00:28:21,400 --> 00:28:22,619
in the New Testament.

579
00:28:22,619 --> 00:28:25,107
You just kind of pass over them.

580
00:28:25,107 --> 00:28:29,978
Like, "storing up wrath

581
00:28:29,978 --> 00:28:32,646
for the day of wrath."

582
00:28:32,646 --> 00:28:34,881
Do you recognize that 
that's what's happening?

583
00:28:34,881 --> 00:28:38,582
God is getting angrier and angrier

584
00:28:38,582 --> 00:28:42,097
and His wrath is storing, it's building,

585
00:28:42,097 --> 00:28:44,549
it's becoming greater.

586
00:28:44,549 --> 00:28:46,365
That's what's happening to sinners.

587
00:28:46,365 --> 00:28:47,483
That's what's happening

588
00:28:47,483 --> 00:28:49,018
to men and women and children

589
00:28:49,018 --> 00:28:51,392
who do not surrender to Christ.

590
00:28:51,392 --> 00:28:52,672
It's just increasing.

591
00:28:52,672 --> 00:28:53,754
It's getting bigger.

592
00:28:53,754 --> 00:28:56,708
We find this very truth in John 3

593
00:28:56,708 --> 00:28:58,358
where John 3:16 is.

594
00:28:58,358 --> 00:29:01,557
You find this reality.

595
00:29:01,557 --> 00:29:03,856
That "those who believe in the Son

596
00:29:03,856 --> 00:29:06,163
have eternal life," but 
if you do not believe

597
00:29:06,163 --> 00:29:07,725
or you do not obey the Son,

598
00:29:07,725 --> 00:29:09,233
"you shall not see life,

599
00:29:09,233 --> 00:29:12,916
but the wrath of God remains on you."

600
00:29:12,916 --> 00:29:14,746
It's on you!

601
00:29:14,746 --> 00:29:18,511
If you're not saved here, it's on you.

602
00:29:18,511 --> 00:29:21,169
The only thing that prevents you

603
00:29:21,169 --> 00:29:24,344
from exploding into 
flames like these people

604
00:29:24,344 --> 00:29:27,335
is nothing other than God's kindness.

605
00:29:27,335 --> 00:29:30,148
That's it.

606
00:29:30,148 --> 00:29:32,872
Your sins deserve every bit and more

607
00:29:32,872 --> 00:29:34,729
what happened to them.

608
00:29:34,729 --> 00:29:36,852
And you think about this.

609
00:29:36,852 --> 00:29:39,036
Just stop and think.

610
00:29:39,036 --> 00:29:41,544
Because if you really 
take yourself back there,

611
00:29:41,544 --> 00:29:43,987
these were real people.

612
00:29:43,987 --> 00:29:47,633
They had names.

613
00:29:47,633 --> 00:29:50,540
They had faces.

614
00:29:50,540 --> 00:29:53,216
They had feelings.

615
00:29:53,216 --> 00:29:57,092
They had emotions.

616
00:29:57,092 --> 00:29:59,606
They had families.

617
00:29:59,606 --> 00:30:01,073
I mean, you get the feeling,

618
00:30:01,073 --> 00:30:03,075
they burst into flames right along with

619
00:30:03,075 --> 00:30:05,160
the rest of their family.

620
00:30:05,160 --> 00:30:07,355
You can't do anything.

621
00:30:07,355 --> 00:30:08,495
You burst into flames -

622
00:30:08,495 --> 00:30:10,667
your husband, your 
wife bursts into flame;

623
00:30:10,667 --> 00:30:13,371
your children bursts into flame -

624
00:30:13,371 --> 00:30:14,604
you can't protect them.

625
00:30:14,604 --> 00:30:16,782
Have you ever seen 
anything thrown in a fire?

626
00:30:16,782 --> 00:30:18,426
It's not thinking about protecting

627
00:30:18,426 --> 00:30:20,052
anything else in the fire.

628
00:30:20,052 --> 00:30:21,937
It just yields to it.

629
00:30:21,937 --> 00:30:23,893
It's gone.

630
00:30:23,893 --> 00:30:28,090
Fire.

631
00:30:28,090 --> 00:30:29,619
And I don't know where I saw it,

632
00:30:29,619 --> 00:30:33,530
but some news clip or YouTube clip

633
00:30:33,530 --> 00:30:36,030
or something -

634
00:30:36,030 --> 00:30:42,110
some guy accidentally got fire on himself.

635
00:30:42,110 --> 00:30:44,894
When you get fire on yourself,

636
00:30:44,894 --> 00:30:48,666
you don't think about other things.

637
00:30:48,666 --> 00:30:52,240
It's not: oh, I need to mow the lawn.

638
00:30:52,240 --> 00:30:55,596
You've got fire on your leg!

639
00:30:55,596 --> 00:30:57,208
Using starter fluid on the motor

640
00:30:57,208 --> 00:30:58,594
and all of a sudden "poof!"

641
00:30:58,594 --> 00:31:00,504
And your pants are on fire.

642
00:31:00,504 --> 00:31:04,373
You're not thinking about lunch.

643
00:31:04,373 --> 00:31:07,702
You don't think about anything else.

644
00:31:07,702 --> 00:31:11,042
These are real people.

645
00:31:11,042 --> 00:31:13,409
And the wilderness was 
not a very friendly place.

646
00:31:13,409 --> 00:31:15,054
They were unhappy. They voiced it.

647
00:31:15,054 --> 00:31:17,628
They died.

648
00:31:17,628 --> 00:31:20,051
It wasn't a peaceful passing.

649
00:31:20,051 --> 00:31:23,644
Fire.

650
00:31:23,644 --> 00:31:25,600
We don't live in the days of Smithsfield

651
00:31:25,600 --> 00:31:29,221
when they burned Christians at the stake.

652
00:31:29,221 --> 00:31:32,180
Can you imagine watching a person burn?

653
00:31:32,180 --> 00:31:35,232
You know what happens.

654
00:31:35,232 --> 00:31:41,787
It burns their hair off.

655
00:31:41,787 --> 00:31:45,285
Burns their flesh. 
Burns their clothing off.

656
00:31:45,285 --> 00:31:49,300
God did this to sinners. Why?

657
00:31:49,300 --> 00:31:51,444
Righteous judgment.

658
00:31:51,444 --> 00:31:53,150
Righteous judgment.

659
00:31:53,150 --> 00:31:55,096
This is not God overreacting.

660
00:31:55,096 --> 00:31:57,760
These people were not innocent.

661
00:31:57,760 --> 00:31:59,272
You know what they were doing?

662
00:31:59,272 --> 00:32:00,915
They were openly manifesting

663
00:32:00,915 --> 00:32:02,998
their hatred for God.

664
00:32:02,998 --> 00:32:05,139
And you know what? 
We don't want to admit it,

665
00:32:05,139 --> 00:32:07,472
because if we admit that's 
what they were doing,

666
00:32:07,472 --> 00:32:09,484
we have to admit our own complaining

667
00:32:09,484 --> 00:32:11,113
is just as wicked.

668
00:32:11,113 --> 00:32:13,451
And it is.

669
00:32:13,451 --> 00:32:17,715
Because when you complain,

670
00:32:17,715 --> 00:32:20,318
you're saying to this God of Scripture -

671
00:32:20,318 --> 00:32:22,260
who is holy, who is perfect,

672
00:32:22,260 --> 00:32:26,650
who is righteous, who is good -

673
00:32:26,650 --> 00:32:29,102
you're saying to Him,

674
00:32:29,102 --> 00:32:31,535
"I want my own way!"

675
00:32:31,535 --> 00:32:34,603
"I don't like Your ways!"

676
00:32:34,603 --> 00:32:36,482
"And I don't like what You're doing!"

677
00:32:36,482 --> 00:32:38,469
And you know you get somebody that says,

678
00:32:38,469 --> 00:32:39,920
"I don't like how you act

679
00:32:39,920 --> 00:32:41,332
and I don't like what you do

680
00:32:41,332 --> 00:32:42,696
and I don't like your laws."

681
00:32:42,696 --> 00:32:44,505
You know what you're basically saying,

682
00:32:44,505 --> 00:32:46,072
"I don't like you."

683
00:32:46,072 --> 00:32:47,650
And that's what they're saying.

684
00:32:47,650 --> 00:32:49,231
And more than that,

685
00:32:49,231 --> 00:32:51,453
if there was ever a 
people not to complain,

686
00:32:51,453 --> 00:32:52,767
here God comes along

687
00:32:52,767 --> 00:32:55,493
and He's done so many kindnesses for them,

688
00:32:55,493 --> 00:32:57,347
so many miracles on their behalf.

689
00:32:57,347 --> 00:32:58,600
He's delivered them.

690
00:32:58,600 --> 00:33:00,223
Listen, God is holy,

691
00:33:00,223 --> 00:33:02,057
and there is nothing strange

692
00:33:02,057 --> 00:33:06,150
about Him punishing sinners for their sin.

693
00:33:06,150 --> 00:33:08,989
Nothing is strange about that.

694
00:33:08,989 --> 00:33:11,076
But the reality is, what shocks

695
00:33:11,076 --> 00:33:14,297
and offends us is the suddenness

696
00:33:14,297 --> 00:33:15,816
and the violence of it.

697
00:33:15,816 --> 00:33:17,739
We don't like it.

698
00:33:17,739 --> 00:33:18,763
We don't like it.

699
00:33:18,763 --> 00:33:21,250
And when we find these 
kind of things in Scripture,

700
00:33:21,250 --> 00:33:23,483
you know - people are always 
looking for an explanation:

701
00:33:23,483 --> 00:33:25,669
"Oh, that's the God of the Old Testament."

702
00:33:25,669 --> 00:33:27,698
Listen, the God of the Old Testament

703
00:33:27,698 --> 00:33:30,130
is the God of John 3:16.

704
00:33:30,130 --> 00:33:32,328
It is the God who so loved the world.

705
00:33:32,328 --> 00:33:34,456
It's the same God.

706
00:33:34,456 --> 00:33:36,097
Sodom and Gomorrah.

707
00:33:36,097 --> 00:33:39,171
Let's think about Sodom and Gomorrah.

708
00:33:39,171 --> 00:33:40,706
Okay, that's Old Testament.

709
00:33:40,706 --> 00:33:42,264
Yes, it is.

710
00:33:42,264 --> 00:33:45,297
It is precisely that.

711
00:33:45,297 --> 00:33:47,243
You know what we read?

712
00:33:47,243 --> 00:33:50,177
You don't need to turn here.

713
00:33:50,177 --> 00:33:52,744
It says, "The Lord rained 
on Sodom and Gomorrah

714
00:33:52,744 --> 00:33:55,391
sulfur and fire...

715
00:33:55,391 --> 00:34:00,500
from the Lord out of Heaven."

716
00:34:00,500 --> 00:34:03,742
It says this, "Abraham went 
early in the morning

717
00:34:03,742 --> 00:34:06,196
to the place where he had 
stood before the Lord..."

718
00:34:06,196 --> 00:34:07,863
Where he had pleaded with the Lord

719
00:34:07,863 --> 00:34:08,920
not to destroy them

720
00:34:08,920 --> 00:34:14,726
if righteous could be found there.

721
00:34:14,726 --> 00:34:17,824
"And he looked down towards 
Sodom and Gomorrah

722
00:34:17,824 --> 00:34:20,135
and toward all the land of the valley,

723
00:34:20,135 --> 00:34:21,345
and he looked and behold,

724
00:34:21,345 --> 00:34:24,093
the smoke of the land went up

725
00:34:24,093 --> 00:34:27,610
like the smoke of a furnace."

726
00:34:27,610 --> 00:34:30,540
Again, this is not fiction.

727
00:34:30,540 --> 00:34:32,647
Oh, the world would have us think so.

728
00:34:32,647 --> 00:34:33,992
It's not a fairy tale.

729
00:34:33,992 --> 00:34:36,079
And let me tell you something,

730
00:34:36,079 --> 00:34:37,337
we have this idea:

731
00:34:37,337 --> 00:34:40,270
oh, they're super sinners.

732
00:34:40,270 --> 00:34:44,177
Yeah, you just remember what Jesus said.

733
00:34:44,177 --> 00:34:46,800
He said if you heard this gospel -

734
00:34:46,800 --> 00:34:48,316
my disciples go out,

735
00:34:48,316 --> 00:34:50,638
they proclaim this gospel to you

736
00:34:50,638 --> 00:34:52,268
and you refuse to hear it,

737
00:34:52,268 --> 00:34:55,222
more tolerable for Sodom in that day

738
00:34:55,222 --> 00:34:59,123
than for you.

739
00:34:59,123 --> 00:35:01,278
Super sinners?

740
00:35:01,278 --> 00:35:03,358
You know what Scripture says as well

741
00:35:03,358 --> 00:35:04,520
in the New Testament?

742
00:35:04,520 --> 00:35:05,827
You've got it in 2 Peter

743
00:35:05,827 --> 00:35:07,448
and you've also got it in Jude.

744
00:35:07,448 --> 00:35:10,283
You've got this reality.

745
00:35:10,283 --> 00:35:14,982
"God by turning the cities of 
Sodom and Gomorrah to ashes,

746
00:35:14,982 --> 00:35:17,197
He condemned them to extinction."

747
00:35:17,197 --> 00:35:18,797
Now listen to this:

748
00:35:18,797 --> 00:35:21,767
"...Making them an example

749
00:35:21,767 --> 00:35:28,490
of what is going to 
happen to the ungodly."

750
00:35:28,490 --> 00:35:30,359
Do you realize

751
00:35:30,359 --> 00:35:32,543
you can go to a hospital -

752
00:35:32,543 --> 00:35:35,918
it might seem relatively quiet.

753
00:35:35,918 --> 00:35:37,813
Our brother Kenny Lee might -

754
00:35:37,813 --> 00:35:39,629
you work as a nurse?

755
00:35:39,629 --> 00:35:41,796
People die.

756
00:35:41,796 --> 00:35:43,782
It may be peaceful.

757
00:35:43,782 --> 00:35:46,501
That body is now still.

758
00:35:46,501 --> 00:35:49,022
No more heavy breathing; 
labored breathing.

759
00:35:49,022 --> 00:35:50,405
No more groans.

760
00:35:50,405 --> 00:35:54,161
No more sighs.

761
00:35:54,161 --> 00:35:55,771
From our vantage point,

762
00:35:55,771 --> 00:35:58,024
the moment they pass away,

763
00:35:58,024 --> 00:36:02,127
there's silence.

764
00:36:02,127 --> 00:36:03,616
If you were in their shoes,

765
00:36:03,616 --> 00:36:07,039
the moment they pass away,

766
00:36:07,039 --> 00:36:08,942
they're met by the same thing

767
00:36:08,942 --> 00:36:11,572
Sodom and Gomorrah 
were met with in this life:

768
00:36:11,572 --> 00:36:15,835
fire and brimstone.

769
00:36:15,835 --> 00:36:18,388
It just bursts forth on them.

770
00:36:18,388 --> 00:36:22,917
You see, when God brings 
it this side of death

771
00:36:22,917 --> 00:36:25,448
so that the fire actually falls

772
00:36:25,448 --> 00:36:28,903
or the vengeance falls here,

773
00:36:28,903 --> 00:36:31,038
we want an explanation.

774
00:36:31,038 --> 00:36:32,627
Explain that hurricane!

775
00:36:32,627 --> 00:36:35,573
Explain that earthquake that 
took those people out!

776
00:36:35,573 --> 00:36:37,850
We want God to explain Himself!

777
00:36:37,850 --> 00:36:42,315
How could He be so brutal?

778
00:36:42,315 --> 00:36:44,555
Listen, all God is doing in those cases

779
00:36:44,555 --> 00:36:46,202
is He's backing this thing up

780
00:36:46,202 --> 00:36:48,285
into this world

781
00:36:48,285 --> 00:36:51,286
by just a few moments.

782
00:36:51,286 --> 00:36:53,383
Because this is precisely what's happening

783
00:36:53,383 --> 00:36:56,127
to the wicked the moment 
they pass out of this world.

784
00:36:56,127 --> 00:36:58,031
And it's what will happen to you

785
00:36:58,031 --> 00:36:59,760
if you pass out of this world

786
00:36:59,760 --> 00:37:03,414
without embracing 
the reality of John 3:16.

787
00:37:03,414 --> 00:37:05,588
Listen, the God of Scripture does not

788
00:37:05,588 --> 00:37:08,320
mess around with unrepentant sinners.

789
00:37:08,320 --> 00:37:10,604
There may be kindness.

790
00:37:10,604 --> 00:37:13,701
Your death sentence 
might be stayed for a time.

791
00:37:13,701 --> 00:37:18,055
but your wrath is building up.

792
00:37:18,055 --> 00:37:20,012
Do you know it is the New Testament,

793
00:37:20,012 --> 00:37:21,943
not the Old Testament,

794
00:37:21,943 --> 00:37:23,799
that says it is a fearful thing

795
00:37:23,799 --> 00:37:26,710
to fall into the hands of the living God?

796
00:37:26,710 --> 00:37:29,043
It is the New Testament, not the Old,

797
00:37:29,043 --> 00:37:33,206
that says our God is a consuming fire.

798
00:37:33,206 --> 00:37:36,099
Beware of the God of Scripture.

799
00:37:36,099 --> 00:37:38,720
You do not want to play with Scripture

800
00:37:38,720 --> 00:37:40,577
and get to the place where you can

801
00:37:40,577 --> 00:37:42,642
yawn at John 3:16.

802
00:37:42,642 --> 00:37:45,804
You do so to your own peril.

803
00:37:45,804 --> 00:37:47,690
You do well to remember

804
00:37:47,690 --> 00:37:49,467
that the term "perish"

805
00:37:49,467 --> 00:37:51,285
is found in that verse.

806
00:37:51,285 --> 00:37:53,656
(incomplete thought)

807
00:37:53,656 --> 00:37:55,474
Listen, brethren, I can still remember

808
00:37:55,474 --> 00:37:56,821
my own experience

809
00:37:56,821 --> 00:37:58,007
as a young Christian,

810
00:37:58,007 --> 00:38:00,345
first time through the Old Testament.

811
00:38:00,345 --> 00:38:02,665
I came across such things

812
00:38:02,665 --> 00:38:05,410
as I did not expect to find.

813
00:38:05,410 --> 00:38:07,105
I came face to face

814
00:38:07,105 --> 00:38:10,611
with the God I had not 
known prior to that,

815
00:38:10,611 --> 00:38:12,988
and I'll tell you, I was shaken.

816
00:38:12,988 --> 00:38:14,648
I remember it still vividly.

817
00:38:14,648 --> 00:38:15,882
I was in awe.

818
00:38:15,882 --> 00:38:19,797
I kept asking:

819
00:38:19,797 --> 00:38:23,124
Who is this God?

820
00:38:23,124 --> 00:38:25,867
He was not what I expected.

821
00:38:25,867 --> 00:38:28,479
Look, I'm not saying it was a bad thing.

822
00:38:28,479 --> 00:38:33,586
I'm just saying it rocked my little world.

823
00:38:33,586 --> 00:38:35,788
It rocked my small views of God.

824
00:38:35,788 --> 00:38:38,722
God's bigness, His terribleness,

825
00:38:38,722 --> 00:38:40,567
His holiness.

826
00:38:40,567 --> 00:38:43,526
It broke forth in the pages of Scripture.

827
00:38:43,526 --> 00:38:45,024
I was filled with fear.

828
00:38:45,024 --> 00:38:47,224
The thing was, I wasn't repulsed;

829
00:38:47,224 --> 00:38:48,597
I wasn't turned away.

830
00:38:48,597 --> 00:38:50,839
I was drawn to it.

831
00:38:50,839 --> 00:38:52,906
It made me afraid.

832
00:38:52,906 --> 00:38:54,020
But you know what?

833
00:38:54,020 --> 00:38:56,329
Over and over and over again,

834
00:38:56,329 --> 00:38:58,618
I found that the God of Scripture -

835
00:38:58,618 --> 00:39:02,696
this holy, holy, holy God of Scripture -

836
00:39:02,696 --> 00:39:08,856
He does violent things to sinful men.

837
00:39:08,856 --> 00:39:13,211
Violent things.

838
00:39:13,211 --> 00:39:14,592
And it doesn't change today.

839
00:39:14,592 --> 00:39:17,254
He has not changed today.

840
00:39:17,254 --> 00:39:21,209
He is the same God.

841
00:39:21,209 --> 00:39:23,036
Think of the flood.

842
00:39:23,036 --> 00:39:25,479
Just think of the flood.

843
00:39:25,479 --> 00:39:29,423
Again, we can get to 
almost fairy tale status

844
00:39:29,423 --> 00:39:33,071
on this thing.

845
00:39:33,071 --> 00:39:34,998
God looked at mankind.

846
00:39:34,998 --> 00:39:37,599
He saw that every imagination

847
00:39:37,599 --> 00:39:39,679
of the thoughts of their hearts

848
00:39:39,679 --> 00:39:41,226
is only evil continuously.

849
00:39:41,226 --> 00:39:43,231
Now let me just remind you of something.

850
00:39:43,231 --> 00:39:47,595
That is exactly the way He sees 
unbelievers today as well.

851
00:39:47,595 --> 00:39:52,528
Dead in trespasses and sins.

852
00:39:52,528 --> 00:39:55,749
There is nothing in man 
to comply with God's law.

853
00:39:55,749 --> 00:39:58,029
He is just as embittered against God

854
00:39:58,029 --> 00:39:59,480
and hostile to God

855
00:39:59,480 --> 00:40:00,789
and fighting against God -

856
00:40:00,789 --> 00:40:03,737
not the god of his imagination.

857
00:40:03,737 --> 00:40:05,790
All you have to do -

858
00:40:05,790 --> 00:40:07,456
go up and down the street again.

859
00:40:07,456 --> 00:40:10,074
Describe the God of Scripture.

860
00:40:10,074 --> 00:40:12,350
Describe what I'm saying to you.

861
00:40:12,350 --> 00:40:15,241
See how well it's received.

862
00:40:15,241 --> 00:40:17,626
People hate this God of Scripture.

863
00:40:17,626 --> 00:40:19,601
They hate it.

864
00:40:19,601 --> 00:40:20,984
They hate that there is a God

865
00:40:20,984 --> 00:40:25,040
that is going to hold them 
accountable for their sins.

866
00:40:25,040 --> 00:40:28,303
The flood.

867
00:40:28,303 --> 00:40:30,412
God sees the condition of man

868
00:40:30,412 --> 00:40:34,129
and He says, "I'm grieved."

869
00:40:34,129 --> 00:40:35,942
It says, "The Lord regretted

870
00:40:35,942 --> 00:40:37,624
that He had made man on the earth.

871
00:40:37,624 --> 00:40:39,300
It grieved Him to His heart.

872
00:40:39,300 --> 00:40:40,773
So the Lord said,

873
00:40:40,773 --> 00:40:44,684
'I will blot out man who I have created

874
00:40:44,684 --> 00:40:51,674
from the face of the land.'"

875
00:40:51,674 --> 00:40:58,588
All those people.

876
00:40:58,588 --> 00:41:01,522
What about their feelings?

877
00:41:01,522 --> 00:41:03,721
Do you realize if you wipe that family out

878
00:41:03,721 --> 00:41:05,662
the children will not graduate

879
00:41:05,662 --> 00:41:08,819
from high school and college?

880
00:41:08,819 --> 00:41:11,306
They'll never get to be married?

881
00:41:11,306 --> 00:41:16,149
I'm never going to get 
to enjoy my grandkids.

882
00:41:16,149 --> 00:41:17,603
See, that's how we think,

883
00:41:17,603 --> 00:41:20,461
like we're entitled to these things.

884
00:41:20,461 --> 00:41:22,668
And when God doesn't 
let us have those things,

885
00:41:22,668 --> 00:41:27,238
it's like, "Explain Yourself, God!"

886
00:41:27,238 --> 00:41:30,207
"I want an explanation!"

887
00:41:30,207 --> 00:41:33,285
There is such an entitlement mindset

888
00:41:33,285 --> 00:41:35,129
in this country.

889
00:41:35,129 --> 00:41:42,009
We think we are entitled to everything.

890
00:41:42,009 --> 00:41:46,226
The flood.

891
00:41:46,226 --> 00:41:49,867
You know, man just imagines,

892
00:41:49,867 --> 00:41:52,961
God just wants me to be happy.

893
00:41:52,961 --> 00:41:54,788
He'd never cast me in hell.

894
00:41:54,788 --> 00:41:57,462
One of my close family 
members told me that recently.

895
00:41:57,462 --> 00:41:58,580
I told him,

896
00:41:58,580 --> 00:42:00,367
you do not have the biblical grounds

897
00:42:00,367 --> 00:42:02,335
to divorce your wife.

898
00:42:02,335 --> 00:42:13,228
He said, "Tim, I think God just 
wants me to be happy."

899
00:42:13,228 --> 00:42:15,225
Do you know, we like to ignore

900
00:42:15,225 --> 00:42:16,997
certain verses in Scripture.

901
00:42:16,997 --> 00:42:21,949
But mark this:

902
00:42:21,949 --> 00:42:23,512
those aren't my words;

903
00:42:23,512 --> 00:42:24,691
those are God's words:

904
00:42:24,691 --> 00:42:27,941
"Mark this,

905
00:42:27,941 --> 00:42:29,564
you who forget God,

906
00:42:29,564 --> 00:42:33,385
lest I tear you apart."

907
00:42:33,385 --> 00:42:36,176
Wow.

908
00:42:36,176 --> 00:42:38,798
God speaks like that?

909
00:42:38,798 --> 00:42:41,308
Yeah. Psalm 50.

910
00:42:41,308 --> 00:42:45,027
You want something from the New Testament?

911
00:42:45,027 --> 00:42:47,108
Luke 19: "But as for 
these enemies of mine

912
00:42:47,108 --> 00:42:49,020
who did not want 
Me to reign over them,

913
00:42:49,020 --> 00:42:55,897
bring them here and 
slaughter them before Me."

914
00:42:55,897 --> 00:42:57,621
I can remember my first time

915
00:42:57,621 --> 00:42:59,180
going through the Old Testament,

916
00:42:59,180 --> 00:43:00,804
it's like you're going along,

917
00:43:00,804 --> 00:43:04,202
and it's all new.

918
00:43:04,202 --> 00:43:06,030
Here's Aaron.

919
00:43:06,030 --> 00:43:10,064
God's got all the garments

920
00:43:10,064 --> 00:43:14,625
and their vesture.

921
00:43:14,625 --> 00:43:18,437
The sons - they have their assignments

922
00:43:18,437 --> 00:43:20,375
and the offerings they need to make.

923
00:43:20,375 --> 00:43:23,726
And they're going along and whoof!

924
00:43:23,726 --> 00:43:24,825
Fire comes out,

925
00:43:24,825 --> 00:43:29,069
and Aaron's two oldest sons are gone.

926
00:43:29,069 --> 00:43:31,502
Can you imagine?

927
00:43:31,502 --> 00:43:33,074
Can you imagine if you're Aaron

928
00:43:33,074 --> 00:43:34,858
and you're looking

929
00:43:34,858 --> 00:43:38,194
at what probably his two sons looked like?

930
00:43:38,194 --> 00:43:40,241
I mean, you imagine enough fire

931
00:43:40,241 --> 00:43:43,484
to come out from God to kill them.

932
00:43:43,484 --> 00:43:47,361
How much fire does 
it take to kill a person?

933
00:43:47,361 --> 00:43:50,133
They got that dose and probably more.

934
00:43:50,133 --> 00:43:51,793
And that's what they looked like.

935
00:43:51,793 --> 00:43:57,459
Have you ever seen somebody burned?

936
00:43:57,459 --> 00:44:00,664
Not just anybody.

937
00:44:00,664 --> 00:44:02,275
This isn't a paramedic showing up

938
00:44:02,275 --> 00:44:04,796
at a car accident.

939
00:44:04,796 --> 00:44:08,496
These are your two oldest sons.

940
00:44:08,496 --> 00:44:11,648
Do you know what it says?

941
00:44:11,648 --> 00:44:18,923
It says that Aaron held his peace.

942
00:44:18,923 --> 00:44:20,187
Why?

943
00:44:20,187 --> 00:44:22,412
Because His sons were not innocent,

944
00:44:22,412 --> 00:44:23,903
and that's the problem.

945
00:44:23,903 --> 00:44:28,929
None of the sons of Adam ever are.

946
00:44:28,929 --> 00:44:32,976
We act as though we have 
a right to something.

947
00:44:32,976 --> 00:44:35,054
Do we not remember?

948
00:44:35,054 --> 00:44:39,627
"The soul that sinneth must die."

949
00:44:39,627 --> 00:44:41,222
The first time we sinned,

950
00:44:41,222 --> 00:44:43,762
we lost the right to everything.

951
00:44:43,762 --> 00:44:45,630
We lost rights to mercy,

952
00:44:45,630 --> 00:44:46,756
to grace,

953
00:44:46,756 --> 00:44:47,836
to compassion,

954
00:44:47,836 --> 00:44:49,071
to God's kindness.

955
00:44:49,071 --> 00:44:52,423
We forfeited it all.

956
00:44:52,423 --> 00:44:55,278
And yet we forget that.

957
00:44:55,278 --> 00:44:57,075
And so when violent things happen;

958
00:44:57,075 --> 00:44:58,354
when God breaks out;

959
00:44:58,354 --> 00:45:01,694
when His providence takes -

960
00:45:01,694 --> 00:45:04,003
we get shocked!

961
00:45:04,003 --> 00:45:09,514
And sinners get offended.

962
00:45:09,514 --> 00:45:12,126
That's what happens.

963
00:45:12,126 --> 00:45:15,469
Do you know what Nadab and Abihu did?

964
00:45:15,469 --> 00:45:21,533
They offered strange fire 
in their censers.

965
00:45:21,533 --> 00:45:24,041
Unauthorized.

966
00:45:24,041 --> 00:45:25,822
They just simply offered something

967
00:45:25,822 --> 00:45:28,701
that God hadn't told them to offer.

968
00:45:28,701 --> 00:45:30,372
You say, ah, they were young,

969
00:45:30,372 --> 00:45:32,860
they were being creative.

970
00:45:32,860 --> 00:45:34,559
It's not like they were sacrificing

971
00:45:34,559 --> 00:45:40,179
humans on the altar or anything.

972
00:45:40,179 --> 00:45:41,083
You know what?

973
00:45:41,083 --> 00:45:42,951
You know what the problem with sin is?

974
00:45:42,951 --> 00:45:45,721
It falls short of the glory of God.

975
00:45:45,721 --> 00:45:47,767
And what God said there

976
00:45:47,767 --> 00:45:51,952
was, "I will be honored."

977
00:45:51,952 --> 00:45:53,657
You see, sin dishonors Him.

978
00:45:53,657 --> 00:45:58,555
Because sin says, "No, God! No!"

979
00:45:58,555 --> 00:46:00,376
"It doesn't matter that You told me

980
00:46:00,376 --> 00:46:02,162
that I should love my wife

981
00:46:02,162 --> 00:46:03,733
and that I should not separate

982
00:46:03,733 --> 00:46:05,504
what God has joined together.

983
00:46:05,504 --> 00:46:06,461
You know what?

984
00:46:06,461 --> 00:46:09,841
I want a God that I think just 
wants me to be happy.

985
00:46:09,841 --> 00:46:12,241
And I really don't care that God told me

986
00:46:12,241 --> 00:46:16,140
that He hates divorce."

987
00:46:16,140 --> 00:46:18,275
See, that's how man is.

988
00:46:18,275 --> 00:46:20,933
You just create this god -

989
00:46:20,933 --> 00:46:23,174
create this god...

990
00:46:23,174 --> 00:46:28,581
God says, "I will be honored."

991
00:46:28,581 --> 00:46:30,313
Such a measure of punishment -

992
00:46:30,313 --> 00:46:31,415
it shakes us!

993
00:46:31,415 --> 00:46:32,811
Really? God killed them?

994
00:46:32,811 --> 00:46:36,807
God killed them on the spot!

995
00:46:36,807 --> 00:46:38,235
But the case was clear,

996
00:46:38,235 --> 00:46:40,905
and that's why Aaron was silent.

997
00:46:40,905 --> 00:46:42,639
And I'll tell you,

998
00:46:42,639 --> 00:46:46,404
I cannot tell you how many times

999
00:46:46,404 --> 00:46:48,301
going door to door,

1000
00:46:48,301 --> 00:46:51,790
evangelizing on the streets,

1001
00:46:51,790 --> 00:46:55,627
probably even sometimes 
people who visit this church -

1002
00:46:55,627 --> 00:46:57,780
they so boldly say,

1003
00:46:57,780 --> 00:47:00,458
"Well, when I stand before 
God on judgment day,

1004
00:47:00,458 --> 00:47:02,652
I'm going to tell Him..."

1005
00:47:02,652 --> 00:47:07,344
Yeah.

1006
00:47:07,344 --> 00:47:09,649
All you have to do go read these accounts

1007
00:47:09,649 --> 00:47:12,314
and you know that's not going to happen.

1008
00:47:12,314 --> 00:47:16,628
They're going to be just like Aaron.

1009
00:47:16,628 --> 00:47:20,100
Because they're going to know.

1010
00:47:20,100 --> 00:47:22,458
That's judgment day.

1011
00:47:22,458 --> 00:47:24,198
Silence.

1012
00:47:24,198 --> 00:47:26,447
All these braggarts and boastfuls

1013
00:47:26,447 --> 00:47:28,660
who think they're going to talk.

1014
00:47:28,660 --> 00:47:30,886
They don't know.

1015
00:47:30,886 --> 00:47:35,507
Sinners are not going to have an answer.

1016
00:47:35,507 --> 00:47:39,506
You remember Korah?

1017
00:47:39,506 --> 00:47:41,452
Korah.

1018
00:47:41,452 --> 00:47:45,041
He had Dathan and Abiram.

1019
00:47:45,041 --> 00:47:47,057
Remember the 250 people?

1020
00:47:47,057 --> 00:47:48,392
250 men.

1021
00:47:48,392 --> 00:47:50,849
Prominent men.

1022
00:47:50,849 --> 00:47:52,315
They're saying, "Moses, Aaron,

1023
00:47:52,315 --> 00:47:54,343
who are you guys?"

1024
00:47:54,343 --> 00:47:57,648
These guys were of the Levitical line

1025
00:47:57,648 --> 00:48:00,352
saying, "We're holy too."

1026
00:48:00,352 --> 00:48:03,908
The ground opened up and 
swallowed some of them.

1027
00:48:03,908 --> 00:48:07,773
Fire came out and consumed 250 of them.

1028
00:48:07,773 --> 00:48:09,749
But you know what, more than that?

1029
00:48:09,749 --> 00:48:11,977
You know what God said?

1030
00:48:11,977 --> 00:48:14,648
God said, "Moses, Aaron,

1031
00:48:14,648 --> 00:48:19,087
step aside from the whole congregation.

1032
00:48:19,087 --> 00:48:20,537
I'm taking them all out."

1033
00:48:20,537 --> 00:48:23,270
Have you ever noticed how many times

1034
00:48:23,270 --> 00:48:27,066
in Exodus and Numbers especially,

1035
00:48:27,066 --> 00:48:31,807
that God said, "Moses, aside.

1036
00:48:31,807 --> 00:48:37,154
I'm taking out all of them."

1037
00:48:37,154 --> 00:48:45,296
Moses played the intercessor.

1038
00:48:45,296 --> 00:48:49,847
Of course, there's Uzzah.

1039
00:48:49,847 --> 00:48:52,355
I know about Uzzah now.

1040
00:48:52,355 --> 00:48:54,374
Of course, I read R.C. Sproul's book

1041
00:48:54,374 --> 00:48:56,821
on the holiness of God 
and he talks all about that.

1042
00:48:56,821 --> 00:48:59,472
But the first time I was 
reading through my Bible,

1043
00:48:59,472 --> 00:49:01,156
I didn't know about Sproul's book.

1044
00:49:01,156 --> 00:49:02,872
I didn't know about that account.

1045
00:49:02,872 --> 00:49:05,865
And you're reading along - 
everything's great!

1046
00:49:05,865 --> 00:49:07,502
They're bringing the ark back in

1047
00:49:07,502 --> 00:49:11,047
and David is coming to the throne.

1048
00:49:11,047 --> 00:49:13,815
The ark has been recovered,

1049
00:49:13,815 --> 00:49:16,613
and everything is good.

1050
00:49:16,613 --> 00:49:19,067
They're dancing and they're playing

1051
00:49:19,067 --> 00:49:24,001
all the instruments.

1052
00:49:24,001 --> 00:49:25,267
What happened?

1053
00:49:25,267 --> 00:49:26,625
I'll tell you what happened,

1054
00:49:26,625 --> 00:49:28,427
that ark was on an ox cart

1055
00:49:28,427 --> 00:49:31,478
and the ox stumbled.

1056
00:49:31,478 --> 00:49:35,004
The Ark of the Covenant

1057
00:49:35,004 --> 00:49:38,035
was in danger of coming off

1058
00:49:38,035 --> 00:49:39,834
or upsetting.

1059
00:49:39,834 --> 00:49:41,233
Something.

1060
00:49:41,233 --> 00:49:43,860
Something that caused 
a knee-jerk reaction

1061
00:49:43,860 --> 00:49:46,333
on the part of Uzzah.

1062
00:49:46,333 --> 00:49:48,148
He put out his hand

1063
00:49:48,148 --> 00:49:49,524
and steadied the ark,

1064
00:49:49,524 --> 00:49:54,238
and God killed him on the spot.

1065
00:49:54,238 --> 00:50:03,565
What do you think? Overreaction?

1066
00:50:03,565 --> 00:50:09,334
The reality was

1067
00:50:09,334 --> 00:50:13,069
it was a death penalty

1068
00:50:13,069 --> 00:50:17,775
to even look upon the ark.

1069
00:50:17,775 --> 00:50:21,358
The ark was never supposed to be

1070
00:50:21,358 --> 00:50:23,440
transported uncovered.

1071
00:50:23,440 --> 00:50:27,069
It was never supposed to be transported

1072
00:50:27,069 --> 00:50:32,757
in an ox cart - only by hand

1073
00:50:32,757 --> 00:50:36,644
with poles through the rings.

1074
00:50:36,644 --> 00:50:38,090
The real miracle is

1075
00:50:38,090 --> 00:50:43,127
that God did not kill them all.

1076
00:50:43,127 --> 00:50:47,987
Because they all were guilty

1077
00:50:47,987 --> 00:50:50,358
of capital crimes.

1078
00:50:50,358 --> 00:50:52,181
But you see, it's Uzzah

1079
00:50:52,181 --> 00:50:53,651
that gets our attention.

1080
00:50:53,651 --> 00:50:54,929
That's how it is.

1081
00:50:54,929 --> 00:50:57,116
We read: "Jacob have I loved,

1082
00:50:57,116 --> 00:50:58,434
Esau have I hated."

1083
00:50:58,434 --> 00:51:02,619
"Ahh! God hates Esau!

1084
00:51:02,619 --> 00:51:04,477
I'm offended!

1085
00:51:04,477 --> 00:51:07,218
How could He do that?"

1086
00:51:07,218 --> 00:51:10,213
That's how we are.

1087
00:51:10,213 --> 00:51:13,127
It doesn't blow us away

1088
00:51:13,127 --> 00:51:18,297
that God would actually love a sinner.

1089
00:51:18,297 --> 00:51:20,516
If you really start thinking what sin is -

1090
00:51:20,516 --> 00:51:21,699
the crime that it is,

1091
00:51:21,699 --> 00:51:23,064
the wickedness that it is,

1092
00:51:23,064 --> 00:51:26,871
and how it insults this holy God.

1093
00:51:26,871 --> 00:51:33,701
Listen, God is not in debt to us.

1094
00:51:33,701 --> 00:51:35,756
Not to a single one of us.

1095
00:51:35,756 --> 00:51:39,432
Our right to life was forfeited

1096
00:51:39,432 --> 00:51:42,820
the moment we sinned.

1097
00:51:42,820 --> 00:51:47,354
We have a right to one thing: fire.

1098
00:51:47,354 --> 00:51:49,430
Destruction.

1099
00:51:49,430 --> 00:51:54,735
That's our right.

1100
00:51:54,735 --> 00:51:55,923
You see, the problem is,

1101
00:51:55,923 --> 00:51:57,558
we live in a climate today

1102
00:51:57,558 --> 00:52:01,103
where people demand a god

1103
00:52:01,103 --> 00:52:04,698
who is all love and all kindness.

1104
00:52:04,698 --> 00:52:07,019
That's the truth. You know it is.

1105
00:52:07,019 --> 00:52:12,638
And it affects us too in the church.

1106
00:52:12,638 --> 00:52:16,339
Now, the glory is

1107
00:52:16,339 --> 00:52:21,237
this God -

1108
00:52:21,237 --> 00:52:24,587
He does have such a love

1109
00:52:24,587 --> 00:52:28,657
that He would look at 
the plight of sinners

1110
00:52:28,657 --> 00:52:31,077
and say, "I'm willing

1111
00:52:31,077 --> 00:52:36,157
at the price and the cost of My own Son

1112
00:52:36,157 --> 00:52:40,741
to save sinners."

1113
00:52:40,741 --> 00:52:42,954
But you see, that becomes so precious

1114
00:52:42,954 --> 00:52:48,106
against this black backdrop

1115
00:52:48,106 --> 00:52:52,136
of these storm clouds.

1116
00:52:52,136 --> 00:52:53,610
If you've ever taken a hose

1117
00:52:53,610 --> 00:52:55,367
and you know you spray it in the air

1118
00:52:55,367 --> 00:52:56,716
and you get the rainbow...

1119
00:52:56,716 --> 00:52:58,034
that's a clear blue sky.

1120
00:52:58,034 --> 00:52:59,605
And you try to look at that

1121
00:52:59,605 --> 00:53:00,934
against that backdrop.

1122
00:53:00,934 --> 00:53:03,532
It's not as impressive.

1123
00:53:03,532 --> 00:53:05,477
There's beauty there.

1124
00:53:05,477 --> 00:53:07,666
But when you look up

1125
00:53:07,666 --> 00:53:13,292
and the sky is black,

1126
00:53:13,292 --> 00:53:17,798
and there's this rainbow.

1127
00:53:17,798 --> 00:53:28,609
See, the beauty just becomes so vivid.

1128
00:53:28,609 --> 00:53:30,706
God killed Nadab.

1129
00:53:30,706 --> 00:53:32,053
He killed Abihu.

1130
00:53:32,053 --> 00:53:33,400
He killed Uzzah.

1131
00:53:33,400 --> 00:53:35,462
He killed Sodom. He killed Gomorrah.

1132
00:53:35,462 --> 00:53:39,472
He killed those people 
in the outlying parts.

1133
00:53:39,472 --> 00:53:41,336
When they didn't trust Him,

1134
00:53:41,336 --> 00:53:42,576
He said every one of you,

1135
00:53:42,576 --> 00:53:43,864
20 years old and up

1136
00:53:43,864 --> 00:53:45,631
except Caleb and Joshua,

1137
00:53:45,631 --> 00:53:46,524
you're dead.

1138
00:53:46,524 --> 00:53:49,167
Your bodies are going to 
fall dead in this wilderness.

1139
00:53:49,167 --> 00:53:50,414
And they did.

1140
00:53:50,414 --> 00:53:52,538
They did.

1141
00:53:52,538 --> 00:53:57,222
God punishes sin.

1142
00:53:57,222 --> 00:53:59,538
We are on death row.

1143
00:53:59,538 --> 00:54:03,924
Our time here - short.

1144
00:54:03,924 --> 00:54:08,045
What you need to remember is this:

1145
00:54:08,045 --> 00:54:09,632
The very fact you can sin

1146
00:54:09,632 --> 00:54:12,299
and you're not consumed by a ball of fire,

1147
00:54:12,299 --> 00:54:14,103
it's God's kindness.

1148
00:54:14,103 --> 00:54:16,884
But you need to read that kindness right.

1149
00:54:16,884 --> 00:54:20,527
That kindness is not meant to tell you

1150
00:54:20,527 --> 00:54:22,991
that God has forgotten your sin.

1151
00:54:22,991 --> 00:54:26,915
Or that He doesn't mean to deal with it.

1152
00:54:26,915 --> 00:54:31,109
That kindness is for one reason.

1153
00:54:31,109 --> 00:54:34,186
It is meant to lead you to repentance.

1154
00:54:34,186 --> 00:54:37,229
It is meant for you to look and say:

1155
00:54:37,229 --> 00:54:42,192
"Oh... God has spared me

1156
00:54:42,192 --> 00:54:45,125
when I don't deserve to be spared.

1157
00:54:45,125 --> 00:54:47,642
That is a good indication

1158
00:54:47,642 --> 00:54:49,100
that He will receive me

1159
00:54:49,100 --> 00:54:51,726
and forgive all of my sin

1160
00:54:51,726 --> 00:54:55,542
if I embrace this Christ - His own Son,

1161
00:54:55,542 --> 00:54:58,575
the Son of God, who He didn't spare,

1162
00:54:58,575 --> 00:55:03,119
but He offered Him up."

1163
00:55:03,119 --> 00:55:05,241
Listen,

1164
00:55:05,241 --> 00:55:07,488
God did it.

1165
00:55:07,488 --> 00:55:11,543
God killed these people.

1166
00:55:11,543 --> 00:55:14,889
And God will kill us.

1167
00:55:14,889 --> 00:55:17,162
We look at ourselves and we feel like -

1168
00:55:17,162 --> 00:55:18,549
we love ourselves.

1169
00:55:18,549 --> 00:55:20,174
We want to preserve ourselves.

1170
00:55:20,174 --> 00:55:23,091
We want to protect ourselves.

1171
00:55:23,091 --> 00:55:24,630
We don't like to imagine

1172
00:55:24,630 --> 00:55:29,675
that God is going to do 
terrible harm to us.

1173
00:55:29,675 --> 00:55:33,769
We tend to like to imagine that He won't.

1174
00:55:33,769 --> 00:55:37,526
Somehow He must like us.

1175
00:55:37,526 --> 00:55:40,577
There's only one way 
of acceptance with God,

1176
00:55:40,577 --> 00:55:42,721
and that is under the blood

1177
00:55:42,721 --> 00:55:44,798
of His Son Jesus Christ.

1178
00:55:44,798 --> 00:55:46,311
It's embracing Christ.

1179
00:55:46,311 --> 00:55:48,286
No confidence in anything else.

1180
00:55:48,286 --> 00:55:49,881
It's embracing Him.

1181
00:55:49,881 --> 00:55:53,804
God so loved... but listen.

1182
00:55:53,804 --> 00:55:55,748
Perishing is in that verse.

1183
00:55:55,748 --> 00:55:59,046
And if you do not believe in Jesus Christ,

1184
00:55:59,046 --> 00:56:02,387
you perish.

1185
00:56:02,387 --> 00:56:03,420
That's the reality.

1186
00:56:03,420 --> 00:56:05,137
There's one way of escape.

1187
00:56:05,137 --> 00:56:08,813
Only one.

1188
00:56:08,813 --> 00:56:13,569
I'll tell you, grace should surprise us.

1189
00:56:13,569 --> 00:56:17,288
And one of the things,

1190
00:56:17,288 --> 00:56:19,442
when we think about the wrath of God,

1191
00:56:19,442 --> 00:56:24,426
the fury of God just exploding,

1192
00:56:24,426 --> 00:56:25,990
don't miss it

1193
00:56:25,990 --> 00:56:27,427
that there at the cross,

1194
00:56:27,427 --> 00:56:30,691
we see the most violent expression

1195
00:56:30,691 --> 00:56:32,901
of God's fury ever known.

1196
00:56:32,901 --> 00:56:35,979
Listen, it shouldn't stagger us

1197
00:56:35,979 --> 00:56:38,851
that Uzzah reaches out, touches that ark,

1198
00:56:38,851 --> 00:56:40,476
and drops dead.

1199
00:56:40,476 --> 00:56:42,083
What should stagger us

1200
00:56:42,083 --> 00:56:48,104
is that an innocent Man -

1201
00:56:48,104 --> 00:56:50,775
do you know what happened with Him?

1202
00:56:50,775 --> 00:56:53,715
God's wrath exploded on Him.

1203
00:56:53,715 --> 00:56:57,309
An innocent Man.

1204
00:56:57,309 --> 00:56:59,609
He was accursed

1205
00:56:59,609 --> 00:57:02,095
because He became sin;

1206
00:57:02,095 --> 00:57:04,324
because He became sin.

1207
00:57:04,324 --> 00:57:07,685
Sin. Sin. Think with me.

1208
00:57:07,685 --> 00:57:11,363
It causes God to incinerate sinners

1209
00:57:11,363 --> 00:57:13,733
on the spot.

1210
00:57:13,733 --> 00:57:15,431
What do you think happens to Christ

1211
00:57:15,431 --> 00:57:19,652
when He becomes sin?

1212
00:57:19,652 --> 00:57:24,933
God incinerated Him on the spot.

1213
00:57:24,933 --> 00:57:27,554
You read Psalm 22.

1214
00:57:27,554 --> 00:57:31,582
He melted. Melted.

1215
00:57:31,582 --> 00:57:34,927
Isaiah 53.

1216
00:57:34,927 --> 00:57:38,251
God laid into Him. Struck Him.

1217
00:57:38,251 --> 00:57:40,600
Smote Him.

1218
00:57:40,600 --> 00:57:44,064
An innocent Man. Why?

1219
00:57:44,064 --> 00:57:46,580
God's justice must be satisfied.

1220
00:57:46,580 --> 00:57:49,283
There was no mercy on the cross.

1221
00:57:49,283 --> 00:57:51,317
No mercy.

1222
00:57:51,317 --> 00:57:52,806
That's how hell is.

1223
00:57:52,806 --> 00:57:54,670
There is no mercy.

1224
00:57:54,670 --> 00:57:56,738
That's what sin deserves.

1225
00:57:56,738 --> 00:58:00,522
Hell is going to be a brutal awakening

1226
00:58:00,522 --> 00:58:02,575
for millions and millions

1227
00:58:02,575 --> 00:58:04,504
of human beings

1228
00:58:04,504 --> 00:58:08,906
who are going to be 
unspeakably wretched forever.

1229
00:58:08,906 --> 00:58:15,961
Hell - we are so humanistic;

1230
00:58:15,961 --> 00:58:19,579
so man-centered.

1231
00:58:19,579 --> 00:58:21,783
Hell tells us there is a holy God

1232
00:58:21,783 --> 00:58:26,281
in whose eyes we are dreadfully guilty.

1233
00:58:26,281 --> 00:58:27,764
And we do forget.

1234
00:58:27,764 --> 00:58:31,812
We so easily forget

1235
00:58:31,812 --> 00:58:34,934
that when we committed our first sin,

1236
00:58:34,934 --> 00:58:40,226
we just forfeited every right to anything.

1237
00:58:40,226 --> 00:58:42,655
Listen.

1238
00:58:42,655 --> 00:58:45,027
God is saying to us:

1239
00:58:45,027 --> 00:58:51,308
"Don't take My grace for granted.

1240
00:58:51,308 --> 00:58:56,428
Don't take My Son for granted.

1241
00:58:56,428 --> 00:59:01,703
I have such a love

1242
00:59:01,703 --> 00:59:06,011
that I crushed My own Son.

1243
00:59:06,011 --> 00:59:09,842
I was willing to do that for sinners.

1244
00:59:09,842 --> 00:59:13,888
But if you despise Him,

1245
00:59:13,888 --> 00:59:23,392
oh, it will not go well with you."

1246
00:59:23,392 --> 00:59:24,458
Listen.

1247
00:59:24,458 --> 00:59:26,511
"God so loved the world

1248
00:59:26,511 --> 00:59:28,485
that He gave His only begotten Son,

1249
00:59:28,485 --> 00:59:32,537
that whoever believes in 
Him should not perish,

1250
00:59:32,537 --> 00:59:34,358
but have eternal life."

1251
00:59:34,358 --> 00:59:37,852
Just cast yourself wholly on Christ.

1252
00:59:37,852 --> 00:59:39,703
If you're not saved,

1253
00:59:39,703 --> 00:59:43,357
this verse - this whole book is a lie

1254
00:59:43,357 --> 00:59:44,862
and God is a liar.

1255
00:59:44,862 --> 00:59:47,485
But that can never be.

1256
00:59:47,485 --> 00:59:49,000
God is no liar.

1257
00:59:49,000 --> 00:59:51,739
The reality is God is kind

1258
00:59:51,739 --> 00:59:54,206
and He is willing to save.

1259
00:59:54,206 --> 00:59:57,192
He is willing to not spare His own Son.

1260
00:59:57,192 --> 01:00:00,021
This is the sort of God that we have.

1261
01:00:00,021 --> 01:00:03,160
This is the sort of God

1262
01:00:03,160 --> 01:00:05,179
who though His anger burns

1263
01:00:05,179 --> 01:00:08,003
ever so fiercely,

1264
01:00:08,003 --> 01:00:11,549
there's also a love that designs

1265
01:00:11,549 --> 01:00:15,366
a way for that wrath to be satisfied

1266
01:00:15,366 --> 01:00:17,973
in just fashion.

1267
01:00:17,973 --> 01:00:22,742
For God to be just and yet justify you.

1268
01:00:22,742 --> 01:00:26,681
And everything is good.

1269
01:00:26,681 --> 01:00:29,090
Whoever. That's what it says.

1270
01:00:29,090 --> 01:00:30,901
Whoever believes.

1271
01:00:30,901 --> 01:00:33,130
You can't be too old.
You can't be too young.

1272
01:00:33,130 --> 01:00:35,974
You can't be too wretched.
You can't be too sinful.

1273
01:00:35,974 --> 01:00:38,029
You can't have sinned for too long.

1274
01:00:38,029 --> 01:00:42,919
Whoever believes

1275
01:00:42,919 --> 01:00:49,399
should not perish.

1276
01:00:49,399 --> 01:00:52,441
It's all gone.

1277
01:00:52,441 --> 01:00:55,244
But, have eternal life.

1278
01:00:55,244 --> 01:00:57,568
Not just to live forever,

1279
01:00:57,568 --> 01:01:02,307
it's to be swept into

1280
01:01:02,307 --> 01:01:08,402
the very intimacy of God.

1281
01:01:08,402 --> 01:01:12,624
Knowing God.

1282
01:01:12,624 --> 01:01:14,702
Beholding His face.

1283
01:01:14,702 --> 01:01:17,043
All the tears wiped away.

1284
01:01:17,043 --> 01:01:20,655
All the sins wiped away.

1285
01:01:20,655 --> 01:01:22,100
And coming to know Him

1286
01:01:22,100 --> 01:01:25,019
through all these coming ages.

1287
01:01:25,019 --> 01:01:26,782
You think about it.

1288
01:01:26,782 --> 01:01:28,367
That truth there.

1289
01:01:28,367 --> 01:01:29,506
Do you remember it?

1290
01:01:29,506 --> 01:01:31,745
Ephesians 1.

1291
01:01:31,745 --> 01:01:33,556
"That through all the coming ages,

1292
01:01:33,556 --> 01:01:36,235
He might show

1293
01:01:36,235 --> 01:01:38,611
the unsearchable riches of His grace

1294
01:01:38,611 --> 01:01:43,880
in kindness to those in Christ Jesus."

1295
01:01:43,880 --> 01:01:48,356
Father, that You would do 
such a thing for sinners.

1296
01:01:48,356 --> 01:01:52,438
Just think with the songwriter,

1297
01:01:52,438 --> 01:01:57,651
what language shall we borrow

1298
01:01:57,651 --> 01:02:00,475
to thank Thee dearest Friend.

1299
01:02:00,475 --> 01:02:02,631
Thank You.

1300
01:02:02,631 --> 01:02:04,434
In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ,

1301
01:02:04,434 --> 01:02:06,749
we thank You. Amen.