ALL sinners have cause to fear God, because all have sinned. But thank God for Calvary! Thank God for the redeeming sacrifice of Jesus Christ, for mercy, grace, and the New Covenant. Calvary has given us hope where there was no hope, salvation from certain damnation for our sins.
Yet, the very concepts of mercy, grace, and love have been twisted by many to justify their laxity in dealing with sin and repentance, and to presume on the grace of God.
God's grace will not be trampled upon by the insincere. Rather his grace is for the sincere. His grace brings wonderful mercy at repentance and baptism. His grace guides us in growth, holiness, and service. His grace protects us and strengthens us in temptation, but his grace never takes the power of choice away from us. Man can still choose to sin.
God's grace is not a license to sin. It is a way out of sin, deliverance from sin. Grace will bring you out of sin, not leave you in it. Yes, God will pick up a Christian that falls, and even be longsuffering with failure, but he does expect an honest effort to live for him, a sincere desire and striving to resist temptation. Be not deceived God is not mocked, whatsoever you sow that you shall also reap.
What does it mean to fear? Fear is dread, terror, horror, expectation of harm, pain exposure, or unpleasantness. It is the instinctive emotion aroused by impending or seeming danger, pain, or evil.
Fear will make a person take precautions; defensive action; protect themselves; avoid harm; change course, attitude, and conduct. Fear will make you repent
The Bible says to fear God, but many do not fear Him. Their words, their lives, actions, deeds, and decisions show clearly their lack of fear. They won't repent. They continue to rebel. They want their sin, the gratification of the flesh, and the world.
Some would try to join God to their sin. They want God and their sin. They want their cake and be able to eat it too, but God is a holy God. God will not fellowship sin.
Some chaff under authority and thrill to the defiance of it. They have heard the Gospel a hundred times. They have heard Calvary, mercy, grace, the blood, and the love of God preached, but have rejected His salvation and deliverance. They did not fear God enough to embrace the Savior and his word.
Some twist, warp, and mock the meaning of repentance until it is a mere acknowledgement of ongoing mistakes and weakness. Repentance is a turning away from sin to God, and you cannot turn to God without turning away from sin. Sin is evil, vile, wicked, depraved, rebellion. It is corruption. rottenness, dirty perversion of all that is holy and righteous. Repentance will put it under the blood were mercy and grace can avail for you.
Some boldly declare, "I am not afraid of God." That is a fool's statement. It is phony, false, and foolish. It is whistling in the dark, a brag to partners in sin.
If you are not afraid of God while there is sin in your life, you should be. Do not deceive yourself God's wrath is unimaginable. Remember that the Bible says that "God is angry with the sinner every day." Hell is worse than the most horrible thing that you have ever heard or experienced. Hell is ultra extreme eternal torment. It is exquisite pain and anguish. It is horror beyond comprehension, a roaring inferno, a raging fire.
"The fool has said in his heart, there is no God." If there is no God, there is no judgment, no hell, no eternity. This is the hope of a fool, but it is a futile hope. There is a God and we shall face Him in the Judgment Day.
The scoffers and skeptics say, "Where is His coming?" they strive to convince themselves that they won't have to pay for their sins. The skeptics shut out the thought of judgment and hell.
The compromiser thinks that God will be slack and loose in judgment, easy going, lenient, or indifferent; but his justice will not be tempered by mercy. It will be unbending justice.
Justice deferred has made many bold to sin, but judgment is coming as sure and certain as the daily rising of the sun. You are used to getting away with things, with sliding by. It has happened a thousand times. Your conscience gets seared, because you keep denying its nagging appeal. You are confident that in the Judgment Day that you will slide by, but God will not be mocked. His justice and wrath will be swift and sure.
Jesus spoke of the city of Capernaum saying that it would be worse on Judgment Day for that city because of all the miracles that had been done there. Jesus said that Capernaum would have a worse judgment than the city of Sodom. What shall Judgment Day be for you that have been on holy ground in God's presence a hundred times, you who know who Jesus is, and have experienced the glory of new birth, but maintain your harbored unrepented sin? You shall have the greatest of all possible damnations. For you, God's wrath shall be the hottest and most violent. Hell's most horrible torment will be reserved for you. Your torment shall be worse that the very devils and demons, because they never had you chance at mercy or grace. Think of flaming flesh, bursting, agonizing, screaming, melting, consuming yet not consuming.
You know that your sin is ever with you. You love it more than you love God. You have no intention of leaving it. You don't even try. You don't want to repent. You want your sin and God, too, but it won't work. Go ahead and go to hell. Go ahead and snub your nose at God. Turn you back on Calvary's sacrifice and walk into hell.
Judgment Day is coming. There will be no hiding place, no more lame excuses, no defiant attitude, no indifferent so-what attitude. What a horrible shock it will be to some to hear His sentence pronounced—lost, forever lost; hell is never ending. Harsh, cold, exacting judgment. Unbending justice. No mercy. No grace. You rejected those. You wanted sin.
Today, I have put before you life and death, mercy or justice, heaven or hell. The choice is yours today. Tomorrow will be too late.
