When Time Runs Out

WEBVTT 1 00:00:01.520 --> 00:00:05.200 The word of the Lord came to me and you, O son of man, 2 00:00:05.440 --> 00:00:10.029 thus says the Lord God, to the land of Israel, an end, 3 00:00:11.189 --> 00:00:15.390 the end has come upon the four corners of the land. Now the 4 00:00:15.550 --> 00:00:19.629 end is upon you, and I will send my anger upon you, I 5 00:00:19.670 --> 00:00:23.019 will judge you according to your ways and I will punish you for all your 6 00:00:23.100 --> 00:00:27.980 abominations, and my eye will not spare you, nor will I have pity. 7 00:00:28.100 --> 00:00:32.700 But I will punish you for your ways while your abominations are in your 8 00:00:32.859 --> 00:00:38.850 midst. Then you will know that I am the Lord, thus says the 9 00:00:38.969 --> 00:00:45.810 Lord God. Disaster after disaster, behold it comes. An end has come. 10 00:00:46.009 --> 00:00:50.679 The end has come, it has awakened against you, behold it comes. 11 00:00:51.479 --> 00:00:55.640 Your doom has come to you, O inhabitants of the land. The 12 00:00:55.840 --> 00:00:59.880 time has come. The day is near, a day of Tumult and not 13 00:01:00.079 --> 00:01:03.670 of joyful shouting on the mountains. Now I will soon pour out my wrath 14 00:01:03.709 --> 00:01:08.109 upon you and spend my anger against you and judge you according to your ways, 15 00:01:08.590 --> 00:01:12.549 and I will punish you for all your abominations, and my eye will 16 00:01:12.590 --> 00:01:18.310 not spare nor will I have pity. I will punish you according to your 17 00:01:18.349 --> 00:01:23.140 ways, while your abominations are in your midst, then you will know that 18 00:01:23.340 --> 00:01:30.420 I am the Lord who strikes. Behold the day, behold it comes. 19 00:01:30.019 --> 00:01:36.489 Your doom has come. The Rod has blossomed, pride has budded violence has 20 00:01:36.609 --> 00:01:40.810 grown up into a rod of wickedness. None of them shall remain, nor 21 00:01:40.849 --> 00:01:45.890 their abundance, nor their wealth. Neither shall there be Pre Eminence among them. 22 00:01:45.969 --> 00:01:51.120 The time has come, the day has arrived, but not the buyer 23 00:01:51.239 --> 00:01:55.480 rejoice, nor the sellar mourn, for wrath is upon all their multitude. 24 00:01:56.079 --> 00:01:59.000 For the sellars shall not return to what he has sold while they live. 25 00:02:00.000 --> 00:02:05.030 For the vision concerns all their multitude. It shall not turn back and because 26 00:02:05.069 --> 00:02:08.710 of his iniquity, none can maintain his life. They have blown the trumpet 27 00:02:08.750 --> 00:02:14.270 and made everything ready, but none goes to battle. For my wrath is 28 00:02:14.310 --> 00:02:19.620 upon their multitude. The sword is without, pestilence and famine are within. 29 00:02:20.340 --> 00:02:23.340 He who is in the field dies by the sword, and him who is 30 00:02:23.419 --> 00:02:28.340 in the city famine and pestilence devour. And if any survivors escape, they 31 00:02:28.379 --> 00:02:31.889 will be on the mountains like doves of the valleys, all of them moaning 32 00:02:32.090 --> 00:02:38.889 each one over his iniquity. All hands are feeble and all knees turned to 33 00:02:38.009 --> 00:02:43.689 water. They put on sackcloth and horror covers them. Shame is on all 34 00:02:43.729 --> 00:02:47.159 their faces and baldness on all their heads. They cast their silver into the 35 00:02:47.199 --> 00:02:52.599 streets and their gold is like an unclean thing. Their silver and gold are 36 00:02:52.639 --> 00:02:54.800 not able to deliver them in the day of the wrath of the Lord. 37 00:02:55.520 --> 00:03:00.870 They cannot satisfy their hunger or fill their stomachs with it, for it was 38 00:03:00.990 --> 00:03:06.750 the stumbling block of their iniquity. His beautiful ornament they used for pride and 39 00:03:06.870 --> 00:03:10.830 they made their abominable in images and their detestable things with of it. Therefore, 40 00:03:10.870 --> 00:03:15.900 I make it an unclean thing to them and I will give it into 41 00:03:15.900 --> 00:03:19.740 the hands of foreigners for prey and the wicked, for the earth, for 42 00:03:19.939 --> 00:03:23.340 spoil, and they shall profane it. I will turn my face from them 43 00:03:23.460 --> 00:03:28.849 and they shall profane my treasured place. Robbers shall enter and Profane it, 44 00:03:30.169 --> 00:03:34.090 forge a chain, for the land is full of bloody crimes and the city 45 00:03:34.250 --> 00:03:37.849 is full of violence. I will bring the worst of the nations to take 46 00:03:37.930 --> 00:03:40.520 possession of their houses. I will put an end to the pride of the 47 00:03:40.639 --> 00:03:46.080 strong, and their holy places shall be profaned. When anguish comes, they 48 00:03:46.120 --> 00:03:50.360 will seek peace, but there shall be none. Disaster comes upon disaster, 49 00:03:50.400 --> 00:03:54.039 rumor falls rumor. They will seek a vision from a prophet, while the 50 00:03:54.080 --> 00:04:00.069 law perishes, from a priest and counsel from the elders, the king mourns, 51 00:04:00.469 --> 00:04:03.949 the princes wrapped in despair and the hands of the people of the land 52 00:04:04.150 --> 00:04:10.020 are paralyzed by terror. According to their way, I will do to them 53 00:04:10.419 --> 00:04:14.500 and according to their judgments, I will judge them, and they shall know 54 00:04:15.460 --> 00:04:40.959 that I am the Lord. He may be seated. Satan is a liar 55 00:04:43.000 --> 00:04:47.079 and he tries to trick us. He tries to deceive us, even as 56 00:04:47.120 --> 00:04:51.439 he's been doing from the very beginning, and he tries to make us think 57 00:04:53.310 --> 00:04:58.389 that sin is not a big deal, it's a little thing, it's a 58 00:04:59.790 --> 00:05:03.829 you can look over it. He tries to make us think, and our 59 00:05:04.029 --> 00:05:10.180 sinful flesh does the same, that the consequences of not getting what we want 60 00:05:10.259 --> 00:05:14.459 are worse than the consequences of judgment for the thing that we're about to do. 61 00:05:15.180 --> 00:05:18.939 We think, well, sure, God doesn't like this, or sure 62 00:05:19.180 --> 00:05:26.610 I might get in trouble, but you know, God is merciful and boy, 63 00:05:26.689 --> 00:05:30.730 I really need this thing. I really want this thing or I don't 64 00:05:30.769 --> 00:05:34.490 want that thing, or whatever it is. But the scriptures tell us to 65 00:05:35.800 --> 00:05:42.879 be sober minded about these things, to be clear headed, to be awake, 66 00:05:44.279 --> 00:05:48.040 to be understanding, to see things as they really are, to no 67 00:05:48.279 --> 00:05:54.389 sin as it really is. Peter tells us your adversary, the devil, 68 00:05:54.509 --> 00:06:00.589 prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to be devoured, seeking someone 69 00:06:00.670 --> 00:06:04.779 to devour. So be watchful, be sober minded, lookout, pay attention. 70 00:06:08.620 --> 00:06:16.259 One of the ways that God helps us do that is through this majestic 71 00:06:18.170 --> 00:06:25.689 and powerful Act of judgment that he brings in time and space, upon his 72 00:06:25.930 --> 00:06:31.730 very own people, the people of Israel. And Psalm Eighty three, we 73 00:06:31.879 --> 00:06:38.079 sang a song in which the people of Israel First Sang calling for protection against 74 00:06:38.120 --> 00:06:44.120 their enemies, protection against these these people that worship false gods, against people 75 00:06:44.199 --> 00:06:48.910 that were seeking to hurt the Lord's treasures, ones steal up his pastures, 76 00:06:49.029 --> 00:06:55.069 take what they wanted. Then, do not be silent, protect us of 77 00:06:55.189 --> 00:07:01.899 God, and indeed he did many times. But he also warned his people, 78 00:07:02.459 --> 00:07:06.579 even before he brought them into the promised land, that if they acted 79 00:07:06.860 --> 00:07:13.420 like the people that he was judging, they too would be judged. He 80 00:07:13.540 --> 00:07:17.209 told them this over and over and over again. He warned them of their 81 00:07:17.329 --> 00:07:25.730 sin over and over and over again, and now it's too late, here 82 00:07:25.810 --> 00:07:30.480 at this moment, when his ekuel is preaching, it's not repent and there's 83 00:07:30.560 --> 00:07:36.240 still time. It's all done. The time is up, doom is at 84 00:07:36.279 --> 00:07:40.879 hand. Behold, the day is near, and there are times that Ezekiel 85 00:07:41.240 --> 00:07:46.829 even speaks in the present tense of things that are happening, even at that 86 00:07:46.069 --> 00:07:50.470 moment, so close is the event. And indeed, even in this book, 87 00:07:50.589 --> 00:07:56.790 we will see that these prophecies of judgment and of doom coming upon Israel 88 00:07:56.910 --> 00:08:05.259 will be fulfilled in is Equel's lifetime. And it's awful, or, to 89 00:08:05.339 --> 00:08:09.860 put it another way, the wages of sin, which is death, is 90 00:08:09.980 --> 00:08:18.689 awful. We read, for example, in verses fifteen through eighteen, a 91 00:08:18.769 --> 00:08:26.480 description of this sword without pestilence and famine within. He who's in the field 92 00:08:26.639 --> 00:08:31.079 dies by the sword, and he who is in the city famine and pestilence 93 00:08:31.199 --> 00:08:37.840 devour as the Lord raises up his own enemies to conquer his people because of 94 00:08:37.960 --> 00:08:41.830 their disobedience, because of their ends, he tells them what's going to happen. 95 00:08:41.909 --> 00:08:48.389 These armies will come down upon them and it will be awful. Those 96 00:08:48.470 --> 00:08:50.470 who die will die by the sword, and if they don't die the by 97 00:08:50.590 --> 00:08:54.429 the sword, they will die of famine and pestilence. And if they don't 98 00:08:54.429 --> 00:08:56.740 die that way and they escape in in the mountains, they will be their 99 00:08:56.940 --> 00:09:03.940 mourning and crying out over their iniquity. It will be awful. And Verses 100 00:09:03.980 --> 00:09:09.129 Twenty One and twenty two, he says, I will give into the hands 101 00:09:09.210 --> 00:09:16.769 of foreigners for prey. Israel will be like a hunted animal and to the 102 00:09:16.850 --> 00:09:18.850 wicked of the Earth for spoil, and they shall profane it. God will 103 00:09:18.929 --> 00:09:24.399 take the things that he has declared to be holy, things that the people 104 00:09:24.440 --> 00:09:28.000 have trusted in, things that the people have have been told where. This 105 00:09:28.039 --> 00:09:31.519 is where God will meet you in these foreigners will come in and they will 106 00:09:31.639 --> 00:09:35.399 ransack it and they will steal things and they will profane the things of God. 107 00:09:39.789 --> 00:09:46.909 Verses Twenty three through twenty six describe this more the the profaning of holy 108 00:09:46.029 --> 00:09:52.740 places, the putting an end of pride of the strong. In Verse Twenty 109 00:09:52.820 --> 00:09:56.419 Five, he says when anguish comes, they will seek peace and there will 110 00:09:56.580 --> 00:10:01.980 be none. They're going to look for help and there won't be helped. 111 00:10:01.019 --> 00:10:07.090 They will look for peace and there won't be peace. Disaster upon disaster, 112 00:10:07.169 --> 00:10:13.769 rumor upon rumor, and all of the places where previously they had been able 113 00:10:13.809 --> 00:10:24.639 to find help, their leaders nothing. They'll seek a vision from the Prophet. 114 00:10:24.480 --> 00:10:28.759 Won't be there. They'll go to the priest to ask him to teach 115 00:10:28.879 --> 00:10:31.559 that. Teach us the law. We're ready now, tell us what it 116 00:10:31.639 --> 00:10:37.389 says. It won't be there. They'll go to the elders for counsel, 117 00:10:37.549 --> 00:10:41.350 for rule. Nothing. They'll go to their king, he's mourning the Prince. 118 00:10:41.470 --> 00:10:45.909 He's clothed in sackcloth. They go to the hey. Then who is 119 00:10:45.909 --> 00:10:50.539 left? The people, and all their hands are shaking in terror as the 120 00:10:50.700 --> 00:10:58.779 Lord's judgment reigns upon his people. One of the things we learn about the 121 00:10:58.820 --> 00:11:03.850 judgments of the Lord, when it comes, is that it's awful and it's 122 00:11:03.889 --> 00:11:09.889 the end. We are also told in his ecial seven that it is fair. 123 00:11:09.809 --> 00:11:15.409 Multiple Times he explains this. For example, in verses eight and nine, 124 00:11:15.490 --> 00:11:18.529 he says soon I will pour out my wrath upon you and spend my 125 00:11:18.679 --> 00:11:22.600 anger against you and judge you according to your ways. I will punish you 126 00:11:24.200 --> 00:11:28.799 for all your abominations in verse nine, he says, my eye will not 127 00:11:28.919 --> 00:11:31.759 spare nor I have pity. I will punish you according to your ways, 128 00:11:33.590 --> 00:11:39.750 while your abominations are in your myths. It's like, while cane is standing 129 00:11:39.950 --> 00:11:45.870 over his brother with blood on his hands, God will come and judgment and 130 00:11:46.230 --> 00:11:50.419 judge him according to his ways, according to the blood that is right there 131 00:11:50.659 --> 00:11:56.259 on his hands, as the abominations are in the midst. There the false 132 00:11:56.419 --> 00:12:01.259 idols, the temples, the priests, everything that they have built up around 133 00:12:01.259 --> 00:12:03.409 them, all the ways in which they have forsaken the Lord. It'll all 134 00:12:03.570 --> 00:12:11.049 be right there, the evidence just strewn across the land of the ways they 135 00:12:11.129 --> 00:12:16.320 had have gone away from God. And it will be fair. And all 136 00:12:16.360 --> 00:12:22.360 the things that they once depended upon, money, the fulfillment of their passions, 137 00:12:22.720 --> 00:12:28.159 the making of fine jewelry and culture and the lifting up of false gods, 138 00:12:28.279 --> 00:12:31.309 all of it will be empty. None of it will save them. 139 00:12:33.190 --> 00:12:35.870 This is all not only fair, but it's described in some ways as a 140 00:12:37.149 --> 00:12:43.149 UN natural kind of progression. It has appeared, the time has come. 141 00:12:43.710 --> 00:12:48.980 It's not random, it's not just happening to them. It's tied very specifically 142 00:12:48.139 --> 00:12:54.220 to their sin, as judgment always is in verse ten, we read the 143 00:12:54.379 --> 00:13:01.490 Rod has blossomed, pride has budded violence has grown up into a rod of 144 00:13:01.529 --> 00:13:07.330 wickedness. Brothers and sisters, this teaches us that sin leads somewhere. We 145 00:13:07.450 --> 00:13:13.440 can say it's fair in terms of judgment and penalties. Right. The wages 146 00:13:13.480 --> 00:13:18.840 of sin, the the fair repayment for sin is death. But it's also 147 00:13:18.919 --> 00:13:24.320 has this this, it is also the natural or an organic outgrowth of these 148 00:13:24.360 --> 00:13:31.710 things. When Pride Buds, it buds into judgment. That's what happens when 149 00:13:31.789 --> 00:13:37.549 people stand in their security of their money and their power on the false gods 150 00:13:37.629 --> 00:13:43.379 and all the ways on which they separate themselves from God and which they flee 151 00:13:43.500 --> 00:13:52.340 from him and which they hate him. This buds into judgment. This Day 152 00:13:52.379 --> 00:13:56.649 is not a surprise. It is what was expected. It was what was 153 00:13:56.769 --> 00:14:01.529 promised and it will be complete. The people will be ready for war, 154 00:14:01.889 --> 00:14:07.090 it says. They will be ready, the the the their swords in their 155 00:14:07.169 --> 00:14:11.200 hands. Here I'm quoting or paraphrasing verse fourteen. They have blown the trumpet 156 00:14:11.200 --> 00:14:18.679 and made everything ready, but none goes the battle. All the armies there, 157 00:14:18.759 --> 00:14:22.960 everybody's ready. Here they come, let's go get them, and nothing 158 00:14:22.039 --> 00:14:31.830 happens, but a slaughter. Why judgment? Because this thing that is happening 159 00:14:31.269 --> 00:14:37.549 is not just some nation rising against some nation, this is God's just punishment 160 00:14:39.340 --> 00:14:52.409 of his people for their sins. And they will turn to solutions, leaders, 161 00:14:52.450 --> 00:14:56.210 as we mentioned one another, things too, and it will be nothing. 162 00:14:56.769 --> 00:15:01.529 They're silver and gold, the scriptures say, will do them no good. 163 00:15:01.610 --> 00:15:07.679 Even will become an unclean thing. Even today, a people put so 164 00:15:09.039 --> 00:15:15.759 much hope their money when they think about the worst things that could happen, 165 00:15:16.360 --> 00:15:22.350 you'll see commercials right by gold, by gold. It'll take care of everything. 166 00:15:22.870 --> 00:15:26.509 Who knows, maybe you'll get your throw a little thing here and there, 167 00:15:26.750 --> 00:15:30.269 but it's not going to take care of this. It's not going to 168 00:15:30.389 --> 00:15:35.899 take care of judgment of God. In Heaven, the streets are paved with 169 00:15:35.059 --> 00:15:41.500 gold. He doesn't care about gold, the money and the things that we 170 00:15:41.700 --> 00:15:45.779 cling to. They are nothing. They will not save us, they will 171 00:15:46.419 --> 00:15:52.450 not help us because nothing is stronger, nothing is more powerful than the Lord. 172 00:15:58.289 --> 00:16:02.769 And, as I said in the beginning, all this that was about 173 00:16:02.769 --> 00:16:04.759 to happen to Israel, all this that did happen to Israel, and you 174 00:16:04.840 --> 00:16:11.440 can read lamentations of what exactly. It sounds like when the judgment of the 175 00:16:11.559 --> 00:16:17.799 Lord has come. You can read in the psalms and read and other places 176 00:16:17.879 --> 00:16:25.110 of how terrible these things are. But these things are given for a very 177 00:16:25.190 --> 00:16:32.029 specific purpose to tell Israel, to teach Israel and the whole world, including 178 00:16:32.110 --> 00:16:40.019 us, exactly what sin deserves and the greater judgment than this that is coming 179 00:16:40.179 --> 00:16:45.259 when the Lord Jesus returns. As awful as this is, it is a 180 00:16:45.700 --> 00:16:53.409 picture. It is just a picture, a small scale model of the cosmic 181 00:16:53.490 --> 00:17:02.120 judgment God will bring on the last day. If this is bad, what 182 00:17:02.360 --> 00:17:07.799 is coming is far worse. Turn with me, if you will, to 183 00:17:07.960 --> 00:17:15.440 Matthew, Chapter Thirteen, where Jesus speaks of this. Matthew Thirteen, verses 184 00:17:15.519 --> 00:17:29.269 thirty six through forty three. Then the crowds. Then he left the crowds 185 00:17:29.309 --> 00:17:33.460 and went into the house and his disciples came to him, saying, explain 186 00:17:33.579 --> 00:17:38.539 to us the parable of the weeds in the field. He answered the one 187 00:17:38.579 --> 00:17:42.380 who sows the good seed is the son of man. The field is this 188 00:17:42.500 --> 00:17:47.529 world and the good seed is the sons of the kingdom. The weeds of 189 00:17:48.250 --> 00:17:52.009 the weeds are the sons of the evil one, and the enemy has who 190 00:17:52.130 --> 00:17:56.009 sowed them. Is the devil these let me pause. Previously he said that 191 00:17:56.130 --> 00:18:02.839 these things in this age are growing up together, these two sons, sons 192 00:18:02.880 --> 00:18:06.039 of the evil one and sons of the Lord, these two plants, the 193 00:18:06.119 --> 00:18:08.799 good seed and the bad seed, growing up together. Continuing on now, 194 00:18:08.839 --> 00:18:15.430 in verse Thirty Nine, Jesus says the harvest is the end of the age 195 00:18:17.549 --> 00:18:23.869 and the reapers are the angels. Just as the weeds are gathered and burned 196 00:18:23.950 --> 00:18:29.940 with fire, so will it be at the end of the age. The 197 00:18:30.140 --> 00:18:33.059 son of Man will send his angels and they will gather out of his kingdom 198 00:18:33.259 --> 00:18:38.859 all causes of sin and all lawbreakers and throw them into the fiery furnace. 199 00:18:40.539 --> 00:18:45.490 In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Then the righteous 200 00:18:45.569 --> 00:18:49.809 will shine like the sun in the Kingdom of their father. He who has 201 00:18:49.970 --> 00:18:57.279 ears, let him hear. So I preach these things to you this evening, 202 00:18:57.440 --> 00:19:02.920 not just to scare you or get a reaction out of you or impress 203 00:19:03.000 --> 00:19:07.960 you in some way. I say to them to you as your pastor and 204 00:19:07.240 --> 00:19:14.390 friend. This is what is coming, this is the word of the Lord, 205 00:19:15.750 --> 00:19:19.910 these lies about sin that we believe, these ways in which we downplay 206 00:19:19.990 --> 00:19:23.029 it, in which we think they're no big deal. They are a big 207 00:19:23.190 --> 00:19:32.380 deal. After all, our Lord Jesus Christ died for them. The Lord 208 00:19:32.539 --> 00:19:37.980 of Heaven and earth took on human flesh and came into the world and died 209 00:19:37.730 --> 00:19:45.609 a horrific death because of these sins. They are not little. They are 210 00:19:45.809 --> 00:19:52.920 not little. The Lord tells us these things so that, as he says, 211 00:19:55.039 --> 00:20:00.400 we shall know that he is the Lord. Hebrews nine twenty seven says 212 00:20:00.440 --> 00:20:06.079 man is destined to die once, and then comes judgment. Paul tells us 213 00:20:06.119 --> 00:20:10.789 that the wages of sin is death and all have fallen short of the glory 214 00:20:10.910 --> 00:20:15.269 of God. And so how we take these passages and these reminders of the 215 00:20:15.349 --> 00:20:21.430 judgment of God all comes down to this one thing. Do you know the 216 00:20:21.539 --> 00:20:27.140 Lord Jesus Christ? In the forgiveness of your sins? Are you one who 217 00:20:27.180 --> 00:20:33.740 can say to the world and in before God himself, there is no judgment 218 00:20:34.019 --> 00:20:41.250 on me because I have been forgiven my sins? Some of you tonight may 219 00:20:41.369 --> 00:20:47.329 not know the Lord. Some of you tonight may still be in your sins, 220 00:20:48.890 --> 00:20:52.720 may still be clinging to them, may still think, well, it's 221 00:20:52.720 --> 00:20:57.200 a way away, I've got time, it's not a problem. Some of 222 00:20:57.240 --> 00:21:00.799 you may be presuming on the mercy of God. He's merciful, he'll just 223 00:21:00.920 --> 00:21:07.789 forgive me. He won't forgive you, not if you wait until the Lord 224 00:21:07.829 --> 00:21:12.910 Jesus returns on the Day of Judgment. He tells us there will be no 225 00:21:14.069 --> 00:21:18.019 more time at that time. He's already showed us in time in history, 226 00:21:18.660 --> 00:21:23.980 that when judgment time comes, it's over, it's done. No more peace, 227 00:21:25.259 --> 00:21:30.380 no more waiting, no more hope, nor more promises. Over, 228 00:21:33.170 --> 00:21:38.049 don't presume that God's just gonna kind of kick it down the road. He 229 00:21:38.130 --> 00:21:42.970 won't. He won't. And so if you are still in your sins, 230 00:21:44.210 --> 00:21:48.319 know that this is where you are heading, and perhaps sooner than you realize. 231 00:21:48.359 --> 00:21:52.960 Jesus says we don't know the hour when he will turn, we don't 232 00:21:52.960 --> 00:21:59.519 know the time when he will come, and so let this be a warning 233 00:21:59.559 --> 00:22:04.869 to you to flee to Jesus Christ. I said God Will Not Be merciful, 234 00:22:04.950 --> 00:22:08.190 and I meant at the end, in the Day of Judgment. But 235 00:22:08.390 --> 00:22:15.859 God is Merciful and he's being merciful right now today. So while it is 236 00:22:15.980 --> 00:22:22.259 still called today, don't harden your hearts here of the judgment of God. 237 00:22:22.779 --> 00:22:27.220 Here. What's coming here what's rightfully due for your sins and clinging with all 238 00:22:27.380 --> 00:22:33.930 your might to Jesus, and know that as you do so, he's clinging 239 00:22:33.170 --> 00:22:38.009 to you in love, that he's holding you fast and he will not let 240 00:22:38.130 --> 00:22:42.369 you go. And that's the thing that some of us, perhaps some others 241 00:22:42.450 --> 00:22:48.160 of us, need to remember. Perhaps some of us who do know the 242 00:22:48.279 --> 00:22:52.480 love of God, who have been rescued out of a dominion of darkness and 243 00:22:52.640 --> 00:22:56.519 Judgment and sin and brought into a kingdom of light and salvation, have kind 244 00:22:56.559 --> 00:23:00.630 of forgotten this a little bit. Perhaps some of us, even those of 245 00:23:00.670 --> 00:23:06.190 us who have been rescued, have been blinded by the things of this world, 246 00:23:06.390 --> 00:23:10.990 a little too familiar with our sins, a little too enraptured by the 247 00:23:11.150 --> 00:23:15.980 things now under the sun, and need to be reminded exactly what we have 248 00:23:15.059 --> 00:23:23.420 been saved from. You have been saved from Hell itself. Give praise to 249 00:23:23.579 --> 00:23:30.569 God and don't walk anymore in the ways of the old man, don't walk 250 00:23:30.609 --> 00:23:33.930 anymore in the ways of sin, don't walk anymore in the ways of that 251 00:23:34.130 --> 00:23:42.960 old wife and that old sinful self. Instead, enjoy your freedom, shine 252 00:23:44.319 --> 00:23:48.200 with the glory of God. Know what it is he has rescued from, 253 00:23:48.759 --> 00:23:57.269 rescued you from, and give him praise. God Has Been Merciful with us, 254 00:23:57.869 --> 00:24:03.109 even to the point of death, even to the point of hymns. 255 00:24:03.230 --> 00:24:10.059 Taking this judgment described in his echil seven, the judgment described in matthew thirteen, 256 00:24:11.059 --> 00:24:15.380 and more than we really, I think, can even imagine, and 257 00:24:15.579 --> 00:24:22.420 he's put it on his own son, and he did it for you because 258 00:24:22.460 --> 00:24:33.329 he loves you. Protect your life and you're going to lose it, but 259 00:24:33.650 --> 00:24:37.599 let it go and the things of this world for the sake of following the 260 00:24:37.720 --> 00:24:45.880 Lord, and you will gain everything. May God be gracious to us here 261 00:24:45.960 --> 00:24:52.390 today. May we cling to him and know him. Let's pray together. 262 00:24:56.630 --> 00:25:00.589 Our Lord God, we know that you are mighty in your wrath. We 263 00:25:00.750 --> 00:25:11.180 know that you do not simply bark and not pretend that when it comes to 264 00:25:11.259 --> 00:25:17.900 those whom you love, those whom you have set your protecting power on, 265 00:25:18.140 --> 00:25:22.450 you do not tolerate sin, you do not tolerate evil even in them, 266 00:25:25.049 --> 00:25:27.009 and you will put it to death, and we thank you for that, 267 00:25:27.210 --> 00:25:33.009 because or it is we consider the sin is in us, as we consider 268 00:25:33.130 --> 00:25:37.599 the flesh that wages war against the spirit, how much we hate it, 269 00:25:37.799 --> 00:25:41.720 how much we hate the way it pulls us away from you, the way 270 00:25:41.759 --> 00:25:48.079 it destroys our lives, the way it tears us apart from your love and 271 00:25:48.279 --> 00:25:52.950 those whom you've called us to love. Oh Lord, put it to death. 272 00:25:52.509 --> 00:25:56.430 Put it to death in US, wage war against the fleshly nature in 273 00:25:56.509 --> 00:26:03.029 us. May It be crucified that we might not know it anymore. Lord, 274 00:26:03.150 --> 00:26:07.140 do this work in us even into the Day of judgment, when we 275 00:26:07.420 --> 00:26:17.660 will become perfect and we will shine like the sun in the Kingdom of you 276 00:26:17.900 --> 00:26:25.809 are father, perfectly protected forever and ever from the evil one, from all 277 00:26:25.930 --> 00:26:30.690 those who would seek to do us and you harm. Lord, we look 278 00:26:30.730 --> 00:26:34.720 forward to that place where there is no weeping, no gnashing of teeth, 279 00:26:34.960 --> 00:26:45.359 where there is no sorrow even, but only joy, everlasting pleasure, fellowship, 280 00:26:45.119 --> 00:26:52.430 love and worship of you, the one true God, Father, son 281 00:26:52.710 --> 00:26:59.710 and Holy Spirit. Give us ears to hear, give us hearts to believe, 282 00:26:59.950 --> 00:27:03.539 and let us lose our lives, and lose them gladly, for the 283 00:27:03.619 --> 00:27:11.579 sake of finding them again in Christ Jesus, Our Lord Lord. We pray 284 00:27:11.700 --> 00:27:18.849 for those who are lost. We pray particularly for Larry's friend, whom he's 285 00:27:18.849 --> 00:27:26.690 here especially to visit to speak, to to call and to call to repentance. 286 00:27:26.730 --> 00:27:26.250 And Lord