The verses we have been looking at over the last few weeks dealt with the subject of the need of the Christian to remain separated from the ways of the ungodly. This takes the matter a stage further.
The pupils of Christ cannot fellowship with those who remain in ignorance.
Rather, a great contrast should be observable.
I. THE CHRISTIAN IS A GRADUATE OF CHRIST’S SCHOOL
1. Christ runs a school. What an education He gives! The call of the gospel is one to attend upon learning. It requires an acknowledgement of our ignorance and inability to discover the knowledge of God for ourselves. Zophar the Naamathite said: “Canst thou by searching find out God? canst thou find out the Almighty unto perfection?” Job 11:7. No man can.
2. Christ is the teacher in His school. One of the offices of Christ is that of Prophet. SC. Q24: Christ executeth the office of a prophet in revealing to us, by his word and Spirit, the will of God for our salvation. “No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him,” John 1:18, K. “These are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name,” John 20:31. “The Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things,” John 14:26. John 6:45.
3. The chief instrument of instruction is hearing His Word. Verse 21. God the Father’s charge to mankind is to HEAR His Son. Matt 17:5. It is not enough to hear ABOUT Christ, we must hear HIM, His voice. “Out of heaven he made thee to hear his voice, that he might instruct thee: and upon earth he shewed thee his great fire; and thou heardest his words out of the midst of the fire, ” Deuteronomy 4:36. “For he is our God; and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand. To day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your heart, as in the provocation, and as in the day of temptation in the wilderness,” Psalm 95:7-8. “Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls,” Matthew 11:29.
4. Conversion is the consequence of being taught by Christ. SC. Effectual calling is the work of Gods Spirit, whereby, convincing us of our sin and misery, enlightening our minds in the knowledge of Christ, and renewing our wills, he doth persuade and enable us to embrace Jesus Christ, freely offered to us in the gospel. Acts 26:18; Eze 36:26; John 6:44-45.
We have considered the patient tolerance of God toward man’s wickedness in order that He may gather in His elect. But such patience will not last for ever!
I. JUST AS DAVID RESPONDED TO THE MOCKING CHALLENGE OF GOLIATH AFTER ‘FORTY DAYS’ OF SHOUTING OUT DEFIANCE, MORNING AND EVENING, EVEN SO WILL THE LORD IN LIKE MANNER ANSWER MAN’S MOCKING AND JEERING TAUNTS ONE DAY!
1. Does it not speak of God’s mercy that He shows men that their rebellion cannot succeed! I am sure it does. God has clearly told mankind where sin will bring it. “And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die,” Genesis 2:16-17. Adam did not believe God and so “by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned,” Romans 5:12. That is how the futile rebellion began. The Lord has since that time repeatedly warned of sin’s consequences. “The soul that sinneth, it shall die,” Ezekiel 18:20. That is a central gospel declaration.
2. Further than that, the Lord has shown mercy in providing salvation for a people. “Even as the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many,” Matthew 20:28. There you have the number of the elect! ‘Many’. Hear His words on another occasion. “And I say unto you, That many shall come from the east and west, and shall sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven. But the children of the kingdom shall be cast out into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth,” Matthew 8:11-12. The purpose of God is to save many, many undeserving, hell-deserving sinners and bring them to glory.
3. The means of salvation He provides displays His mercy to the full. “For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die. But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him,” Romans 5:7-9. Christ died to save sinners. Upon Him was the sentence of a broken law carried out on behalf of those He would save! That is how the sinner escapes hell.
How is this salvation appropriated? The answer is simple – FAITH. As I obtain deliverance from a disease by believing and obeying a doctor, so when I believe and obey the gospel I obtain salvation. “Sirs, what must I do to be saved? And they (Paul and Silas) said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house.” Acts 16:30-31.
II. BUT THERE IS A DAY WHEN SUCH MERCIFUL RESTRAINT WILL END AND WRATH WILL FALL
Rev 6:12-17. Note the words: “For the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?” Verse 17.
1. That day is certain. “And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men every where to repent: because he hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead,” Acts 17:30-31. “But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only,” Matthew 24:36.
2. It will come upon a world totally unprepared. “For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark, and knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be,” Matthew 24:38-39.
This is the price of unbelief! Unpreparedness for the oft-warned of judgment of God upon sin!
3. I have often pondered in distress of soul what it must be like for those thus overtaken by God’s wrath. Daily we hear of those who are hurled out into eternity in an instance, often as a result of their own folly. Think of those 158 (at least) in Beirut who died in that explosion!
III. THE DAY OF WRATH FOR SINFUL MAN IS ONE OF JOY AND PEACE FOR THE REDEEMED
As it was for Israel at the Exodus, so it will be when Christ returns. Destruction upon the enemies of God but deliverance and joy for those under the blood.
Revelation 19 ends with the slaughter of the armies and supporters of Antichrist but the next chapter commences with the beginnings of a blessed time for the saints of God and of the earth generally, verses 1-6. It is that period spoken of so often by the prophets. Here is a sample. Isaiah 2:1-4; 11:1-16; Jeremiah 31:31-40. These are but a small number of the wonderful verses which speak of that day referred to in Revelation 20:1-6.
1. There is a total curbing of the devil during Christ’s reign. Vs 1-3.
2. There is a delivering of the nations of the earth from his deceivings. Verse 3.
3. There is the beginning of the exaltation of the redeemed to reign over the earth with Christ. Verses 4-6. I mentioned Rev 5:10 this morning. “We shall reign on the earth.”
Consider these verses please.
“For yet a little while, and the wicked shall not be: yea, thou shalt diligently consider his place, and it shall not be. But the meek shall inherit the earth; and shall delight themselves in the abundance of peace. The wicked plotteth against the just, and gnasheth upon him with his teeth. The Lord shall laugh at him: for he seeth that his day is coming,” Psalm 37:10-13.
“Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth,” Matthew 5:5. This ‘inheritance’ is of the earth and can only take place after Christ returns!
“Do ye not know that the saints shall judge the world? and if the world shall be judged by you, are ye unworthy to judge the smallest matters?” 1 Corinthians 6:2. Again, such power can only be exercised after Christ returns!
Little wonder John said after seeing such a wonderful vision of the future of God’s people, “Even so, come, Lord Jesus,” Rev 22:20.
May we have similar prayerful longing and desire!
“And Jacob called unto his sons, and said, Gather yourselves together, that I may tell you that which shall befall you in the last days,” Genesis 49:1.
The preacher is meant to be an ‘explainer’ of God’s will and purpose amongst men, Revelation 1:1-3.
Mankind is at war with God. “Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be,” Romans 8:7. It is a war which can only have one outcome – VICTORY for the Lord. I believe that the final stages of that conflict are very near.
This is a truth which amazingly man is in ignorance of!
This world is a war zone and all the prophets of the Bible are ‘war correspondents’ giving us reports of the ongoing conflict.
It is a war that mankind cannot and will not win. There may be occasions when it might appear that man is winning and that the Lord is on the retreat but that is to totally misread what is actually taking place. God has been pleased throughout the ages to sovereignly advance His cause and purpose by the actions of the devil and wicked men. This is aptly stated for us in Acts 2:23, 36 and 4:10, 28. Calvary, as ever, proves to be the display upon which God sets forth His eternal truth. Nothing the devil and evil man has done has hindered God’s purpose, rather it has ever advanced it! Rom 8:28. See Romans 9:17.
The Lord could have destroyed man and his rebellion at any time. As Jeremiah said, after the overthrow of Jerusalem and the scattering of the nation of Judah by the forces of Babylon, “It is of the LORD’S mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness,” Lamentations 3:22-23.
God’s mercy spares this world from immediate destruction! Why?
Well, the Lord is gathering out a people in mercy and love and saving them for His own glory. As James says in Acts 15:14: “God at the first did visit the Gentiles, to take out of them a people for his name.” While that ‘gathering’ is going on, the Lord withholds judgement. It is as it was in Sodom. There was no fire fell until Lot, the righteous man, had left the city. Here is what Peter says – 2 Peter 3:8-9
This is a much misunderstood statement. It is read by many as a revelation that ‘God is not willing that any sinner perish.’ That, very obviously, is not the case. The Lord is never frustrated in His will and if it was His purpose that none should perish, then hell would be empty. But it is not so. Therefore that is not what the verse says. What it does say is that the Lord is “longsuffering to us–ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.“ The ‘us-ward’ is the key. He is not willing that any of His elect ‘should perish’ whom He has loved with an ‘everlasting love’ and whom he “hath chosen —-before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love: having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, to the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved,” Ephesians 1:4-6.
It is His purpose to call out this beloved elect and until the last one is gathered in the Lord will not end the war that is being waged against Him by sinful mankind.
I. THERE IS MUCH REVEALED IN THE BIBLE OF THAT DAY WHEN THE LORD WILL TAKE THE FIELD AGAINST HIS ENEMIES.
1. The Bible is a book of WARNINGS! We are warned of sin and its consequences. We are warned of the activities of the devil and his agents. We are warned of the approach of eternal wrath that will overtake the ungodly. God has placed these warning signs in plain view and in great numbers. With regards the TROUBLE about which I wish to speak this morning, we are told to watch out for its approach and take avoiding action!
2. One reference will illustrate this for us. “So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors. Verily I say unto you, this generation (nation) shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled,” Matthew 24:33-34. An elementary Bible truth is here stated! The Bible contains advance warnings of the approach of the evil times to come at the end of this age and the Saviour expects believers to take note of the warnings. Genesis 49:1 is the first reference to the ‘last days’. They are especially significant times. The Lord has indicated that throughout the Bible. “And Jacob called unto his sons, and said, Gather yourselves together, that I may tell you that which shall befall you in the last days,” Genesis 49:1. Likewise, Abraham was warned of the evil times that would come on his descendants, Gen 15:13.
3. In recent days, we have seen events that have burst upon the world like the eruption of a volcano. I believe what we are seeing is the beginning of that FORESHADOWED, FORETOLD and now FORETASTED!
The Coronavirus has brought widespread physical, financial, political and spiritual confusion! Governments are bankrupting themselves to prop up their citizens in the face of the financial disaster that has followed the restrictions imposed as a means of deterring the spread of the virus. That has never happened before. Up until recent times, the citizen was left to his own devices as to how to avoid death.
But in order to avoid civil disorder, which would have further spread the disease with even more disastrous results, governments have initiated various social/financial schemes to support people in the face of the difficulties which are costing £billions and which will take many years to recover from, if ever.
4. What we have seen is a foretaste of even greater disasters! A large portion of the book of the Revelation is taken up with a revealing of the troubles that the Lord will send upon those nations engaged in rebellion against Him. From chapter 5 through until chapter 19, where is revealed the return of Christ, there are revelations of the impact of the seven seals being opened and the seven trumpets being blown and the seven plagues poured out. The catastrophes catalogued are chiefly within the territories of the Antichrist’s kingdom and Babylon, the seat of the ‘Beast’ in particular, Revelation 16:10-11.
The sudden, universal and catastrophic impact of the coronavirus illustrates just how God can overturn the affairs of man in a short time and He will do so, in keeping with what the Bible says is coming in the days before Christ’s return!
