Enemies of God

again this evening as we have for the last few sundays we come to the word of god and have the opportunity to proclaim this glorious revelation not to the normal congregation in the church but to a congregation spread all over the globe last sunday there were people who were part of our service from 85 nations incalculable numbers of people joined us each time we've done this and that would be true again tonight and the word of god is being translated into multiple languages including american sign language and we are receiving responses from around the world that's a sobering thought for the preacher to understand the responsibility that lies at his feet to speak in a way that perhaps will make this particular message exactly the clear truth that could capture the hearts of some who don't know the savior as a society globally we are living through [Music] a kind of dangerous threat that has come upon us with a virus our society is very aware of that danger and many many other dangers that pervade our lives we are not forgetful of all kinds of diseases all kinds of potential corruptions pollutions toxins we're not forgetful of terrorists criminals that could do damage to us and regularly do across the world we worry about all kinds of things because death can come in so many ways we actually feel overexposed to things that we can see and things that we can't see that can take away our lives we worry about life to the point that we're circumspect about what we eat and concerned about supplements and nutritious aspects of food that can maybe lengthen our life and add greater physical endurance because we basically have a fear of death and that's normal because life is full and rich with meaningful relationships for most of us and we want to hang on it's also true because we're not sure in many cases what lies ahead so i want to be very honest with you speak to you from the word of god as a messenger from the lord and i want to pose a question what do you fear most what do you fear most and i want to add another question what should you fear most or to put it another way what is the greatest threat to your life at what point should you do whatever can be done to secure yourself from that greatest of all threats what is your greatest threat or to put another way who is your greatest enemy who is the most dangerous person you will ever encounter now the greatest enemy you will ever encounter is not human that narrows the choice and some of you no doubt are thinking well he must be talking about the devil let's be talking about satan no satan is not your greatest enemy not at all are you surprised to hear that it's true your greatest enemy deadliest enemy most destructive enemy is actually god the demons know that satan knows that that's why they said to the lord jesus have you come to destroy us even the demons know that god is the final judge and executioner with regard to us matthew 10 28 records the words of jesus listen to his words do not fear those who kill the body but are not able to kill the soul but rather fear him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell fear the one who can send you to hell and that is god himself that is god himself god is the greatest threat to your life the life of any human being you shouldn't fear anything in an ultimate sense that is limited to physical harm or even physical death because those things that can harm your body are not the things that bring about final destruction of your soul be terrified of the one who can destroy both soul and body in hell and that is not satan satan is not the sovereign of hell he is among those in the lake of fire himself being eternally punished by the sovereign over hell who is god himself honestly in our country we believe that god is our friend not our enemy we constantly call on god and we say very frequently god bless this country god bless america that is not new back in 1918 there was a conflagration of nations that was identified as world war one and in that same year 1918 we also had the spanish flu which killed as many as a hundred million people it was during that year i suppose under the stresses of those disastrous realities that songwriter by the name of irving berlin wrote a song called god bless america he called on god to bless our country we still sing that song it's been revised a few times through the decades but we still sing that song and we sort of think that you know we deserve it we think god likes america we think we're worthy of blessing because we love freedom we we love justice there's a certain sort of collective goodness philanthropy charity care compassion that marks our people there is a desire for equality we're concerned about welfare we're concerned about protecting people from harm not only our own people but through the years we've sent our troops all over the world to protect other people we're careful to be at the leading edge as much as we can of all scientific advancement that can make life better medical advancement we spend our wealth on the people who need it here and all around the world and so we think that with all this goodness surely we could call on god to bless us and i think even personally most people think that god is friendly toward them they think that god will perhaps be the source of good fortune you hear people who win the lottery even say thank the lord we think that there's a sense in which our goodness brings us victory somebody might thank the lord for winning a boxing match or a super bowl and when something goes good in life we we think this is the blessing from god and it's kind of deserved and when things go well for us it kind of firms up the idea that god is our friend and he's looking kindly on us and by the way this notion is aided and abetted by many christians and many christian preachers who say very often these days that god loves everyone and he loves everyone unconditionally and he wants to be the friend of everyone and sometimes it sounds like especially people in our country after all we have his name on our coins and in our flag salute let me reign on that parade a little bit let me bring some truth into the sentimental imagination of such thinking the truth is this god is our worst enemy our ever present deadly danger our eternal judge and executioner who will destroy both body and soul in hell so the bible makes it very clear that wisdom begins with fearing god proverbs 9 10 says the fear of the lord is the beginning of wisdom that's where wisdom starts with a recognition of the role that god plays in the universe and that is the role of judge in the eighth chapter of proverbs and verse 13 we read this the fear of the lord is to hate evil so the fear of the lord is the beginning of wisdom what does it mean to fear the lord it means to hate evil to hate evil because you understand not just the nature of evil that it is destructive in a temporal sense but the result of evil it is destructive in an eternal sense if you're going to fear anything fear god don't fear what can only destroy your body fear the one who can destroy both soul and body in hell and that's what the bible teaches he is exactly the one the world would tell you not to fear and many preachers would tell you not to fear him he's your friend he is not your friend he is your enemy you have the most to fear from god listen to what the bible says for the lord your god is a consuming fire god is angry with the wicked every day god said i also will act in fury my eye will not spare nor will i have pity and though they cry in my ears with a loud voice i will not hear them and then this an amazing self-description by god in the 63rd chapter of isaiah i have trodden the winepress alone i have trodden them in my anger and trampled them in my fury their blood is sprinkled upon my garments and i have stained all my robes for the day of vengeance is in my heart that's the first person declaration by god himself jonathan edwards maybe the greatest theologian in american history preached a sermon called sinners in the hands of an angry god [Music] in it he said this if you cry to god to pity you he will be so far from pitying you or showing you the least favor that instead of that he will only tread you under foot and though he will know that you cannot bear the weight of omnipotence treading upon you yet he will not regard it but will crush you under his feet without mercy he will crush out your blood and make it fly and it shall be sprinkled on his garment so as to stain all his clothing he will not only hate you but he will hold you in utmost contempt when jonathan edwards preached that sermon in early america people cried out for mercy book of revelation comes near to the conclusion with these words 20th chapter i saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it earth and sky fled from his presence and there was no place for them and i saw the dead great and small standing before the throne and the books were opened and another book was opened which is the book of life the dead were judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books if anyone's name was not found written in the book of life he was thrown into the lake of fire they will be tormented day and night for ever and ever isaiah said see the lord is coming with fire and his chariots are like a whirlwind he will bring down his anger with fury and his rebuke with flames of fire picture there is the picture of the chariots of god approaching like an army driven furiously kicking up dust god will come in judgment like a whirlwind and all his enemies will feel the fury of his wrath there's a universal indictment in the book of romans chapter 1 verse 18 for the wrath of god is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness the wrath of god is revealed from heaven against all unrighteousness and ungodliness which is essentially the suppression of the truth and the biblical record the biblical history of god's dealings with men supports that god is the greatest enemy that humanity has adam and eve disobeyed him and were cursed so was their son cain the whole world was bound up in evil and only evil continually and god drowned the entire world in the universal flood millions of people the post-flood world disobeyed and he scattered them confounding their language and giving birth to deadly national conflicts throughout all of human history in egypt he killed all the firstborn among the egyptians he destroyed the entire army of egypt drowning them in the red sea he killed many israelites who worshipped the golden calf he consumed with fire those who displeased him and named the place graves of the greedy he killed with snake bites those who were disobedient he killed 24 000 in a plague he destroyed 70 000 in a plague that's all recorded in the old testament and though most of humanity historically up to the very present has been spared such kind of death there have been such holocausts through history we're familiar with them but most of humanity has been spared that we all deserve to die and occasionally we see those kinds of massive deaths as a reminder of what we all deserve but god in mercy for most of us holds back even in the new testament 70 a.d the romans came to jerusalem and as far as we know hundreds of thousands were killed by the roman sword human history is is the history of death if you read the fifth chapter of genesis you find the first genealogy in the bible and the genealogy of genesis 5 reads exactly the same for every person and he died and he died and he died and he died and he died and by the time you get to the end of the fifth chapter of genesis you know that everyone dies and in hebrews 9 27 scripture says it's appointed unto man once to die and after that the judgment now how widespread is this death sentence we'll all die because we're all sinners and the wages of sin is death and all have sinned we all die the fact that we all die is the proof that we are all sinners and that also indicates that the judgment of god is a just judgment the bible describes the nature of man in the third chapter of romans pulling together a whole lot of statements from the old testament the apostle paul lists these statements from the old testament that sum up the sinful nature of all of us there is none righteous not even one there is none who understands there is none who seeks for god all have turned aside together they have become useless there is none who does good not even one their throat is an open grave with their tongues they keep deceiving the poison of asps is under their lips whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness their feet are swift to shed blood destruction and misery are in their paths and the path of peace they have not known and then this final indictment there is no fear of god before their eyes that is the essential problem with man the beginning of wisdom is to fear the lord the fear of the lord is the beginning of wisdom but there is no fear of god before the eyes of the natural man and woman why am i saying all this because you cannot understand what christ did on that good friday you cannot understand the point of his death unless you understand why he died the gospel is good news about the forgiveness of sin and jesus from the cross said father forgive them for they don't know what they're doing and he could offer that forgiveness and provide that forgiveness because he would make the sacrifice that made that forgiveness possible look the gospel christianity is not about a happier life it's not about a better social life it's not about a better marriage it's not about fulfilling your potential or your desires or being everything you could be would want to be it's not about ending your dissatisfaction it's really not about getting rid of your shame and feelings of guilt we all have a conscience all of us and there are times when that conscience works on us pretty hard accusing us it's a god-given gift to have a conscience just like pain in your body is a god-given gift so you don't keep hurting yourself to the point of death conscience screams at you and says stop behaving in that immoral way because you're doing damage to your soul but the message of the gospel and the message of christianity isn't to somehow overcome your guilt silence your active conscience it's not about to say well you're really not what you want to be but but jesus wants to make you everything you can be no that is not even the essence of sin the essence of sin is not defined by my failures my bad relationships my bad behaviors the definition of sin is not how it offends some other person or how it harms some other person that is not the essence of sin the very idea of sin is that it is an offense against holy god it violates his law and it disrupts the person's relationship with him the gospel is not about fixing your relationship to yourself feeling better about yourself it's not about fixing your relationship to some other people it is about remedying your relationship to holy god when david sinned as we remember in the scripture he sinned against bathsheba in an adulterous way he sinned against her husband by having him killed he sinned against everybody who was part of the complicit operation to bring it to pass but when he poured out his heart in psalm 51 he said this against you and you only have i sinned he saw sin not for what it did to him producing guilt and remorse he saw sin not for what it did to other people but for what it did to god as a result of all sin offending god violating god's law we are all under divine judgment we have to see our shortcomings our failures our disobedience our iniquities transgressions and sins in light of the holiness of god and if you don't see them in light of that you don't see them for what they really are sin is not a social concept it's not some kind of a personal failure sin is an assault on god you never know what sin is until you think of it in terms of god and to measure it not by human standards but by the yardstick of god's total holiness and his demands on your life so what we have to grasp is that the bad conscience that convicts you may not even be the conviction of sin may just be a bad feeling because things didn't work out it's not that you need to feel like a failure that's that's not coming to grips with your sin or feel miserable about your misdeeds now you need to understand that every sin is an open act of rebellion against an infinitely holy god and because you sin you are under his condemnation jesus doesn't come along as some kind of super psychiatrist to try to fix your relationship to yourself and the people around you he comes to fix your relationship with holy god to be convinced of sin and convicted of sin means to measure your life by the very holy law of god and realize you have basically rebelled against his authority you have offended him you have defied him you've even blasphemed him we all have the sinner needs to be terrified i don't see a lot of that today sinner needs to be terrified not made to feel that god is a friend when the fact is god is the most deadly dangerous enemy the sinner has for a sinner to be brought to god should be a terrifying reality so that's the condition of all of us what do we do about that we can't do anything about it because by the deeds of the law no flesh will be justified before god we can't be reconciled by being good because we can't be good enough jesus said be perfect as your father in heaven is perfect short of that you can't attain salvation on your own so what's the answer how can we be reconciled to the god we constantly offend the answer to that comes in the work of jesus christ now we know from what he said on the cross father forgive them that that is essentially why he came and why he was dying to provide forgiveness of sins but just exactly what do we need to understand well let's go back over what we said the beginning of wisdom is to fear god but romans 3 says people don't fear god they fear just about everything else but god they fear the things that destroy the body but not the one who destroys both soul and body and eternal hell so we cry for god to bless us and we ignore the truth of say psalm 115 13 in which the psalmist says the lord will bless those who fear him the lord will bless those who fear him we have to change our perspective the path of blessing starts with holy dread holy terror holy fear of god the one who casts sinners into eternal punishment let me sum up why we must see god as our enemy and fear what he can and will do to us first of all he's the sovereign ruler of all who live he possesses in himself complete and universal authority and has established absolute moral law reflecting his holy perfection to which he requires flawless obedience and if you don't obey you are under his judgment sin is any in every violation of his holy law rendering all of us guilty and the punishment is just so god is the lawgiver sovereign lawgiver secondly he is the warden he's the prison keeper who has prepared an inescapable prison of suffering a lake of fire the bible says place of sorrow and wretchedness forever to be occupied by the guilty here is the place where he the warden keeps the violators forever god then thirdly is the executioner he brings the just judgment of both body and soul he is the dangerous one be afraid of him all that is critical essential to understanding the meaning of the death of christ not until you grasp what i've said to you up to this point can you capture the value of christ's death for us i want you to look at first peter 3 18 if you have a bible if not just listen listen to what first peter 3 18 says just this one verse for christ also died for sins once for all the just for the unjust so that he might bring us to god having been put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit that is so profound so far-reaching that there's at least a 10-week sermon series in that one verse but let's break it down this is profound revelation first christ also died for sins christ died for sins that's the greatest most hopeful most wonderful good news that could ever be given to a world of sinners he died for sins whose sins weren't his own he was holy harmless undefiled and separate from sinners he was the holy one of god what sins the sins of all who would believe in him look at his suffering it was ultimate he died some people might suffer some pain to benefit someone else but not necessarily give up their life some people might volunteer some deprivation to meet someone else's need but not necessarily give up their life greater love hath no man than this than that a man laid down his life for his friends so it was an ultimate sacrifice it was related to sins he died four sins not his own he had none look back at chapter 2 verse 22 where it says concerning christ who committed no sin nor was any deceit found in his mouth so verse 24 says he himself bore our sins in his body on the cross he died for sins he had none of his own he died for our sins so it was the ultimate sacrifice it was targeted to deal with sins thirdly it was unique christ also died for sins once hop ox one time only with perpetual validity stretching across history never needing to be repeated once that is very different than the old testament sacrificial system where animals were slaughtered every morning and every evening every day for centuries and no animal sacrifice could take away sin one death he by the ones offering of himself sanctified his people forever one offering that exposes by the way the error of the mass which is some kind of symbolic re-crucifixion of jesus so his dying was the ultimate sacrifice it was targeted to sins it was unique in that it was once and it was comprehensive he died once for all he died once for all all who would ever enter heaven were basically gathered together in that one death listen to second corinthians 5 14 for the love of christ controls us having concluded this the one died for all verse 15 and he died for all he died for all his people he died for all who would believe one death for sin was all that was required comprehensively for all his people all over the world through all [Music] of human history sacrifice in the old testament was repeated and repeated and repeated and repeated the sacrifice that was offered in the old testament when people brought their sacrifice to the temple was for a certain person one person or a family no sacrifice ever was for the world first john 2 says he is the propitiation for our sins and not for ours only but for the sins of the whole world and of course the goal of the gospel and the goal of the death of christ is to secure reconciliation for sinners with god because their sins are paid for and that is the next thing in this verse verse 18. he died vicariously in the place of the just for the unjust another way to translate it the righteous for the unrighteous better yet the righteous one for the unrighteous ones the righteous one dying for the unrighteous ones god punished him for the sins of all who would ever believe hebrews 9 28 puts it this way he suffered once to bear the sins of many that's why good friday is good in his sermon in acts 3 peter [Music] calls jesus the holy and righteous one the perfect one the sinless one bore our sins in his body on the cross took the full fury of the wrath of god took hell for us say how could jesus absorb all of that for all the sinners who would ever believe in him through all of human history and the answer is because he's an infinite person he could take on an infinite amount of the fury of god and god was satisfied how do you know god was satisfied because god raised him from the dead validating the efficacy of his sacrifice the son of god stepped from eternity into time to die in our place he gathered up all of our sins god made him the target for fury eternal wrath against those sins and as we read in isaiah the iniquity of us all fell on him and so did god's judgment that's why it was dark from the sixth hour to the ninth hour as he absorbed divine fury his suffering then was the ultimate one he died it was the targeted one it was related to sins it was unique only once it was comprehensive for all it was vicarious the just for the unjust and then it was effective go back to verse 18 so that he might bring us to god reconciliation that he might bring us to god here is stated the purpose of the death of christ to bring us to god the verb here is to introduce or provide access for or bring someone into a relationship literally you could translate it to introduce us to god or better yet to give us access to god jesus is the official divinely appointed door keeper who throws open the doors to the throne room by his sacrifice and sin bearing and brings us to god in fact in hebrews 2 10 it says in his death he was bringing many sons to glory this is what was going on on the cross amazingly peter sums it up in this one verse he concludes having been put to death in the flesh by being put to death in the flesh he died for sins once for all the just for the unjust to bring us to god he suffered to bring reconciliation oh by the way he was put to death in the flesh but the verse ends but made alive in the spirit his body was dead his spirit was alive and as we all know came out of the grave on the third day on that glorious sunday this is the significance of the cross this is what makes god our friend but apart from faith in christ apart from believing in him as lord and savior god is your enemy and he is by far the worst enemy that you could ever have because his judgment is forever so jesus came sent from god so that jesus by the love of god sent saves us from the wrath of god god so loved the world the world that was under his wrath he loved that he sent his only begotten son that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life that is why this is good friday the best our father we come to you now thanksgiving the profound realities of our savior's death on the cross escape most people [Music] some look at it as some kind of sentimental experience by a well-intentioned good teacher some look at it as if jesus was a bit misguided and got on the wrong side of the establishment and lost his life and died as a martyr but we know [Music] that christ died for sins once for all the just for the unjust that he might bring us to you reconcile us so that once enemies we now become friends and not just friends jesus said to his disciples you are my friends but it's more than that friends who become sons of god friends who become joint heirs with christ friends for whom there is a place being prepared in heaven for everlasting bliss and joy satisfaction and fulfillment may this truth by the power of your holy spirit move on the hearts of all who hear and may you be glorified and honored in our response and will thank you in the name of our savior whom we love amen

Channel: Grace to You

Views: 187,977

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Keywords: John MacArthur, Bible, Preaching, Christianity, Expository, Exposition, Sermon, Jesus, Christ, Grace to You

Id: VGP5UG3vTiA

Length: 46min 51sec (2811 seconds)

Published: Mon Apr 20 2020