The Lord's Patient Anger (Nahum 1:3)

Venture with us as we confront the full spectrum of God's character, exploring the depths of His wrath and the complexities of His patience. The oft-ignored passages of Nahum serve as our guide to these less discussed, yet equally integral, facets of the divine nature. As we journey through the biblical narrative, we grapple with the stark contrast between the widely accepted image of God's love and mercy, and the unsettling truths of His jealousy, vengeance, and righteous anger. It's not just a theological discussion; it's an invitation to see God's divine restraint and the hope He extends to all of humanity in a new light.

Wrestling with current events and historical contexts, we bring the ancient scriptures to bear on today's world, including the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, examining how the preservation of life aligns with Christian belief. We ponder the weight of Christ's delayed return, the renewal of heaven and earth, and the difficult fate of the wicked. This episode is an open door to understanding how God's incredible power coexists with His desire for none to perish, highlighting the urgency for all to seek reconciliation and the profound hope that believers hold onto.

Finally, we address the sobering destiny of unbelievers, the theological paradox of Jesus' foreknowledge, and the implications for personal salvation. We pull back the curtain on the Lamb's Book of Life and the stark reality that faces those who are not written within its pages. With a heartfelt plea, we encourage introspection — an examination of one's own spiritual journey. For those teetering on the edge of commitment, let this be the nudge toward seeking Christ for salvation, as we underscore the importance of being prepared for the afterlife with wisdom and conviction.

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

Christians. I'm going to be in the book of Nahum, a book some people probably don't even realize is in the Bible. But I'm in the book of Nahum. I want to read two verses, three verses, and I'm going to focus on one part of verse three. So I'm in Nahum, chapter one, verse one, and it says the burden against Nineveh, the book of the vision of Nahum, verse 2,. God is jealous and the Lord avenges. The Lord avenges and is furious. The Lord will take vengeance on his adversaries and he reserves wrath for his enemies and he reserves wrath for his enemies. The Lord is slow to anger and great in power and will not acquit the wicked.

Speaker 1: 1:20

A subject that is not nearly spoken of enough when you consider how much is spoken concerning the love of God and the benevolence of God. Of God and the benevolence of God, we often speak of how loving he is. We speak of how kind he is. We like to speak of his compassion. We like to speak of all these. We like to speak of God with all of these adjectives that are framed around his goodness and his kindness and those positive things that we all want to believe about God. So we don't. Most people do not find these things hard to embrace. In fact, even the unbeliever, even the unbeliever, will like to extol the benevolent virtues and aspects about God. They love it and they're quick to remind Christians that they need to remember God's love and his benevolence, especially when we talk about the need for people to come to Christ. When unbelievers are told why they must come to Christ, the reasons why they must come to Christ, it is very often when they will tell us about the virtues of God in order to get us to leave off of dealing with the confrontation that a sinner must subject himself to God and turn to Christ in faith. So, that being said, everyone loves the loving part of God. But here we see, god is jealous, he avenges, he's furious, he takes vengeance on his adversaries, he reserves wrath for his enemies. But then it says the Lord is slow to anger and great in power, and he will not acquit the wicked. And it is these three aspects of God that I want to talk about today. So it's in three parts the Lord being slow to anger, number one. The Lord being great in power, number two and number three. And lastly, and God will not acquit the wicked, he will not acquit the wicked. So first off, let's deal with the fact that it says the Lord is slow to anger. Notice what it says the Lord, god, is slow to anger. Now, before I go on, I want to talk about two aspects of of god and the way we need to see him. Hey, brother joshua, how you doing good to see you here. So let's talk about this for a minute.

Speaker 1: 5:00

God is often described when we talk about things he does. The scripture will tell us he has wings, he has hands. We are in his hands. He walks amongst us, things of this nature. Well, these are called anthropomorphisms, meaning that it is not that God has actual hands, those who interpret Revelation strictly literal. Well, if you're going to be literal there, then why not be literal everywhere? So, when it says that God has hands, he must have hands. If he has wings, he must have wings. If he walks amongst us, he must have feet and legs and kneecaps and ankles and toes, but he does not.

Speaker 1: 5:48

These are what is referred to as anthropomorphisms. When we assign to God physical attributes. When we read God in the Bible as having physical attributes, he speaks with his mouth, these kinds of things, his eyes, his ears. God does not have physical ears. God does not have physical attributes whatsoever. He is an immaterial being. So when we speak of him having attributes that are are that match what men have, these are referred to as anthropomorphisms. In other words, it is spoken of this way so that we understand how God wants us to see his actions, but in a more superior way. But anthropomorphisms is basically talking about how we are to view God if he's walking, if he's flying with wings. If he says he has wings, he's talking about his speed of movement. If he's walking, he's taking his time, he's surveying things. Perhaps he has hands that he holds us in his hands and we cannot be taken out of his hands. These are referred to as anthropomorphisms, and there are a lot of people, especially in the theological, academic area, who know what this is. So it's not that important to understand it, other than to see it in context and to know what is God is speaking of.

Speaker 1: 7:20

However, when the Bible talks about God's love, or when it talks about his anger, when it talks about God having emotional attributes, when we see God having emotional attributes, these are called anthropopathisms, anthropopathisms. And anthro, by the way, is man. That's where we get our word anthropology. So anthropopathisms are descriptors of God in terms of him having emotion, although God is not emotional. Now, I know that many of us would like to believe that he is. Many people would love to believe and need to believe. He is an emotional God, but he cannot be emotional because if God is emotional, that would imply he changes and God cannot change. This is one of his principal attributes. He cannot and does not change. It is an absolute impossible. Emotions fluctuate up and down. Somebody today can love somebody today and hate that same person tomorrow. That's not the way it is with God. He can't love today and then not love tomorrow. So whoever it is God loves, he has always loved and always will love. Whoever God hates, he has always hated and always will hate.

Speaker 1: 9:03

So when we talk about God's emotional, emotional in an emotional context or expressed as having, as having attributes that men have, such as depression or hatred or love or things like this, it's important to understand when it refers to God. These are anthropopathisms. God does not hate. God does not love. God does not. God does not, he's not angry, he is. When we read this in the scripture, that's what we are to understand him as being. This is what we can understand from our perspective. So these things are ways for him to make us understand him from the perspective that we have as finite creatures as humans. So he uses human language to convey to us what he wants us to understand about himself.

Speaker 1: 10:06

So I labored on that a little bit longer because I wanted to just set that backdrop. But I don't want anybody going and saying that God doesn't love anybody. God does love and God does hate, and God does have wrath and God does have anger, etc. So in Nahum, the book of Nahum, the minor prophet, in verse 3, the first thing that it says here is that the Lord is slow to anger. The Lord is slow to anger.

Speaker 1: 10:34

So what does this tell us? At the outset? That God does get angry. The Bible tells us that God is angry with the wicked. Every day he's angry. God gets angry and his anger is justified. His anger is justified.

Speaker 1: 10:58

But in order for God to be to have anger or to express anger, it also implies that there are objects of his anger. There are objects of his anger. Who are the objects of his anger? Us sinners. We are the objects of God's anger. But why? Why are we the objects of God's anger? Because we are lawbreakers, we're disobedient, we sin against heaven, we sin against God's law, we sin against God's people, men. Men are always doing things that anger the Lord. He gets angry, and this is something that we should not take lightly.

Speaker 1: 11:57

Imagine the creator of the universe being angry with you, with you, with me. Imagine the magnitude of such a weight and a burden for a soul to know, if he's able to, that God is angry with them. Now, most of us have no idea, most of humanity has no idea that God is angry, and even us believers, we don't know until we are made to see that God is angry with us, and this is what starts us on the road to repentance, a road that I hope that, when anybody is confronted with or stands before, does not hesitate to embark upon. It is important that repentance is observed by as many humans as as are made willing In order to repent, because if they don't, they have to deal With God's anger Now.

Speaker 1: 13:15

God Is the almighty sovereign Of the universe. He's omnipotent, he's omniscient, he's omnipresent. God is always, ever present, everyone, in all things that we all do. He sees all things and men who are prone to sin and who are prone to sin primarily in their lives, in every aspect of their lives. God sees their rebellion and our rebellion is what makes God angry. It makes him angry and what we see here in Nahum, in verse three of chapter one, it says that, yes, god becomes angry, but it says he is slow to get there. God is slow to anger meaning that he's reluctant to carry out the actions that attend his being angry. He's reluctant, he is slow to anger, he doesn't rush it, he doesn't condemn us all at once. He allows us opportunity for remedial responses to him. He is like my brother says he is long suffering, he is patient, but he is still nonetheless angry. And he's angry with the wicked every day and all day. And this is very often, I should say more often than not.

Speaker 1: 15:05

What is left out? What is left out of the gospel message? It is important that people, sinners, unbelievers it is important that they understand that God is angry with the wicked every day. It is not enough for us to just run up on people and tell them that Jesus loves them and has a wonderful plan for their life, because that is not motivating to a sinner. Very few sinners are motivated by God's love and are therefore going like oh wow, he loves me. Ok, that's it. That settles it. I'm Christian, I'm going to believe. No One of the things that make it chief in the minds of people who come to Christ is they have to be made to see that they are guilty of offending the thrice holy God.

Speaker 1: 16:02

They are guilty of offending the thrice holy God, they are guilty of this, and that guilt, they begin to understand, warrants God's anger, that it begins to warrant God's wrath. And it is incumbent upon them to act in kind, to recognize that he is angry with the wicked and that they see themselves as sinners and deserving of God's wrath. But thankfully, god is slow to anger. He is slow to anger because he is long suffering to usward, to usward, to usward, not willing that any of us should perish. Who am I talking about? His children? Are all men his children? No, they're not. The reason why God is slow to anger is because the time of his patience is the period in which all of those who belong to him shall come to him in faith and they will be made to come to him by the spirit of the living God who comes in to dwell, in, to make his residence in the souls of his people, and this is not something that everyone can understand, this is not something that everyone can embrace. So that's why you get people like my friend here, munger, who says, oh no, your imaginary friend, whatever. Yeah, they can't understand.

Speaker 1: 17:38

Because the Bible teaches us that the carnal man is enmity against God. A lot of people read that verse and say the carnal man is at enmity with God. But that's not what it says. What it says is the carnal man is enmity against God. His whole being is enmity with God, his nature, he himself. We as sinners unconverted are enmity with God, his nature, he himself. We as sinners unconverted are enmity against God and that is why it is impossible for those of us who are outside of Christ, it is impossible for them to come to Christ. It is an impossibility. Christ himself said without me you can do nothing. And nothing, being not able to do nothing, means there is nothing you can do to obtain God's favor, absolutely nothing. It is an utter impossibility because the carnal man is enmity against God. And notice this In that passage.

Speaker 1: 18:47

When Paul says this, that the carnal man is enmity against God, the carnal man, it says Paul puts the emphasis that he is at enmity against God Against God. In other words against God, against God, In other words against him. It's like there is no one else that God refers to, these men, the carnal men, the carnal humanity. He doesn't address that he is at enmity with anyone else. He doesn't talk about it in the context of man being at enmity against man, or that man is at enmity against angels, or man being at enmity against the myriad. Principally, the carnal man is principally at enmity against God. Man's problem is man's problem overall in this earth. He has a problem with God. He has a problem with God. All of the controversy that takes place on this earth is man acting out against God, because men want to be God. They do not want God taking the place, they don't want God owning them. So they resist him and they fight against him and they rebel against him.

Speaker 1: 20:29

Every person who worships a false god is trying to provoke the true God. That is what they're doing. Provoking the true God. That is what they're doing. Provoking the true God. The worshipers or false gods are provoking the one and only true God. And you know what it makes God angry? It makes him anger, turn to anger, and his anger is justified. It's justified. No man will say that god is a sinner because he gets angry. Because when god is anger, it is with a perfect. It is a perfect anger. It is a justified anger.

Speaker 1: 21:16

When christ went into the temple and saw men there changing money and turning the synagogue into a marketplace, christ was angered and he began to turn over the tables in the sanctuary and he began to chase people out with whips. And I don't know how many of you know this, but Christ was not a small man. He wasn't the small dainty man that people put in these portraits. He was a big man. And how do I know? Well, if you understand the culture and history of that day, if you understand the culture and the history of that day, when they put the spices and the myrrh and everything that they put in Christ's tomb, it was always half your weight. I can't remember what it was. I want to say it was 35. I forget what it was. I want to say it was 35. I don't know, I forget what it was. But anyway, if you go, look at the weight of the amount of the spices that were put in his tomb and double that, that is how you understand the person's weight. So if you understand that, then you'll know that Christ was somewhere around the neighborhood of 200 pounds. So he was a big man and he was a carpenter. So, anyway, I digress.

Speaker 1: 22:41

So, christ or God, both slow to anger, slow to anger. Now here's the funny thing you have many people. You have many people. When we tell people, they have the same response when we tell them that Christ is coming, and they're like well, you know what Christians? You've been saying that for years. You've been saying that for years. You're always saying that Christ is coming and he's not coming. You're always talking about he's on his way or it seems like he's. You know he's going to be. And then they say to us well, you know, you guys have always been saying this Christ is not coming back. And they say because everything has been going on the way it's been going on for centuries and whatnot. So you know, we don't really expect. You know that he's going to come and he's never going to come. Whatever they say is what they say.

Speaker 1: 23:44

But here's what I want to say and that is this there's a reason, a reason why Christ hasn't hurried here, even though in his time, in his, in his way of viewing things, in his perspective, he's coming quickly, but for us. It's taking a long time, but the fact of the matter is. The fact of the matter is the reason why he takes his time is because he is slow to anger. He takes his time, like my sister says. He takes his time because he's merciful. He takes his time because he's patient and he doesn't want any of his people to perish, and none of them will.

Speaker 1: 24:47

You know, in the news we have all this talk about the Palestinians and Israel and how the Israel, how they are doing what they're doing, which I believe is awful and evil and wicked, and you would think that, above all people, you would think that that nation would be singularly the most merciful people on earth, considering what they have gone through. But we see that that doesn't matter. The depravity of man, the depravity of man has no boundaries, it has no limits, and I think it's right for people to be concerned about the, about the thousands, tens of thousands of these people that are being murdered, that are being killed. And I'll tell you the reason why and why it should be important to a Christian Because dead people can't be converted. Dead people cannot be converted.

Speaker 1: 25:33

We should always be on the side of anything that preserves life, because life is what God has put in motion and it is that which he has given us, which we are to be adamant and vehement about protecting, preserving life. It should be the principal objective of all men to preserve and protect life, and that means the unborn child, that means the Palestinians, that means the Japanese, that means the Israelis, that means everyone. Life should be the chief goal, and preservation of it, of all of us. But, as we all know from experience, this is not true. This is not true. Men despise one another and men will do whatever they can to make themselves better, especially if it means making money or gaining power.

Speaker 1: 26:28

But the reason that the lord god has delayed his coming is simply because he is patient and he is slow to anger. Slow to anger Now, but, as I said, we must remember and never forget that God does exercise anger. He gets angry and he exercises his anger. So that's point number one. The Lord is slow to anger. And then it goes on to say the next point that he is great in power. That he is great in power. And I think that the fact that God is great in power, the fact that that follows that he is slow to anger, I think is very poignant. I think it is a good follow-up because his great power the whole idea is that is that he's slow to anger and but we know he gets angry. But it's important to know that he has great power because we begin to see what exactly is being restrained. In other words, when we know that God is angry, when we know that he's angry and we also know the height and the grandeur of his power, we begin to understand also that God is so big and so powerful and he is restraining his responses to his anger, which is directed at us for our disobedience and for our rebellion against him.

Speaker 1: 28:23

So it's important to understand, like if somebody that we felt was weak and impotent, if they were angry with us, we wouldn't care. We wouldn't care why, because they can't hurt us, there's nothing they can do. They can't harm us in any kind of way. Anyone who's fragile, small or weak or impotent in any kind of way, health-wise, whatever they may get angry with us. But very often we don't get angry. We don't care about someone else or other people who can't really hurt us when they get angry.

Speaker 1: 29:02

But we are told here that the Lord is slow to anger but we have to be, he reminds us, but he's great in power, and so the whole point is we need to fear that power when we realize that the Lord, god, is angry with us, that he's angry with us and we should fear, and we should do whatever is necessary in order to appease God, because he is holy, he's righteous, he is pure, and we need to understand that. When that, when he is angry with us, it is because he sees us attempting to smear his glory, to reject his glory, to disobey his commands, to approach him with humility. And when this doesn't happen with men, those of whom this does not happen, god is angry, and those who don't know Christ, those who don't know God, need to understand that if you don't know him, he is angry with you. Today, he's angry, he's angry. Does that mean that he doesn't love you? No, it doesn't. It doesn't mean that he does either, and this is the situation that men face.

Speaker 1: 30:42

It is we need to understand that that God loves us. We need to understand that, and only way that we can understand that God loves us is when we reciprocate love to him, because the Bible tells us clearly that we love God, those of us who are believers. We love him because he first loved us. We loved him because he first loved us. Now you have to understand that connection. The love that we have is the result of the cause. Or I should say, if God loves us, that is the cause, our love for him is the effect. But when God loves anyone, their love toward him is effectual, meaning that they will love him at some point. They that they will love him at some point. They will learn to love him at some point. They will come to him in faith at some point, repent from their sins and live by faith because they love him. So all of those, everyone and think about this or what I'm about to say everyone that God loves will love him. Every single person that God loves will love him.

Speaker 1: 32:14

But we have to always remember, in keeping with the context of what we're talking about, that God is slow to anger, but he is great in power. So that suggests this. It suggests that we should not provoke him to anger. Why? Because of his great power. Well, why does that matter? Because of what he can do with that great power, and it is. You know, with the blink of an eye, god could break this earth into pieces, just with the blink of an eye, just with a thought, just with a snap of his fingers, if you will, he could destroy us all, and the destruction of us all is what we all do actually deserve. It's what we deserve Now. He could do that, but he hasn't.

Speaker 1: 33:21

But he has appointed a time. He has appointed a time where he's going to come back and to destroy this earth and the heavens with a fervent heat, and all the elements will be melted. When he returns, he's going to give this earth and give the heavens a makeover, because the heavens and the earth were all corrupted by sin. And when Christ returns, he's going to renew everything and restore everything and make all things all new, and then there will be a new heavens and a new earth. And we long for that day when he returns. And that will be done because of his great power as well. When Christ returns, he will be exercising his great power, the attributes that Christ restrained himself from using when he put on human flesh, when he humbled himself by coming down to earth and being adorned in human flesh when he did that, having given up his prerogatives as God. When he returns, he will come exercising all those prerogatives that he gave up while he was here on earth, and we're going to see what great power really looks like.

Speaker 1: 34:48

So when we read here in Naaman 1, verse 3, god is slow to anger, but he is great in power. Great in power, and it's interesting that the context has to tie these two elements together him being great in power but also being slow to anger, because it shows God being able to restrain his great power when his wrath is ready to flow against those who provoke his anger and those who warrant his anger. So this message is not a typical message that I normally do, but it struck me the other day that sometimes it's often these little things that we don't pay attention to, or we glaze over in our readings and we really don't give it much attention. But when you think about it, this is really a very serious subject and it forms a base, a launch pad if you will, for being able to embrace the gospel, knowing that God avenges and is furious, knowing that God will take vengeance on his adversaries, knowing that God reserves his wrath for his enemies. And then here it says he's slow to anger, he's waiting. He's giving you a window of opportunity to set the record straight with him, to close the gap, if you will. The thing is, he wants to be reconciled to man and he wants man to be reconciled to him. But the provocations that tend to provoke him to anger, they have to be removed. They have to be removed because they set a barrier between God and man that must be removed before there can be a reconciled relationship. The Lord is slow to anger, but he is great in power.

Speaker 1: 36:59

The last point here it says that he will not at all acquit the wicked. He's slow to anger, he's great in power, but he will not acquit the wicked. And look what it says. It says he will not at all acquit the wicked. And look what it says. It says he will not at all acquit the wicked, meaning God will never, he cannot, acquit the wicked. He cannot. Now, this is significant Because for God not to quit the wicked, that means that every soul, every human soul that has ever lived, god says that every wicked being and every single person who's been born was born wicked. Adam was made and became wicked, but everyone else after that were born wicked. And God says here that the Lord will not at all acquit the wicked, meaning he will never acquit the wicked.

Speaker 1: 38:22

Now, when you think about it. That could sound pretty scary if you read that in a very strict way, because what this is saying is that there is no one who's going to be acquitted no one. Now we know that there are going to be. Now we know that there are going to be An innumerable number of people who are going into heaven. If you're a believer, that would be you, it's me, it's anyone who's a believer. We cannot go to heaven. We cannot go to heaven Unless we have been acquitted Acquitted of our crimes against heaven, acquitted of our crimes against Christ, acquitted of our crimes against God's holy law.

Speaker 1: 39:11

But what we see here is that in no case, in no way, not ever, will God acquit the wicked, will not happen. So the natural question is the first question should be is well then, how can anybody go to heaven? Because aren't those, aren't those believers who are in heaven, weren't they? Aren't they going to heaven? Because they were acquitted of their sins against god, because they were acquitted and then their guilt was removed. So how can that verse square with? How can, how can the verse that says God will never acquit the wicked, how can that square when people go to heaven, which means they had to have been acquitted. And here's the difference they are not actually acquitted. What happens is the anger, the outcome of God's anger that ought to be leveled against them was not leveled against them, but God leveled them, leveled his anger and his wrath on Christ.

Speaker 1: 40:27

What we deserved the penalty for sin that we deserve those of us who believe was laid upon Christ, and all the sins of God's people were laid upon Christ and all the sins of God's people were laid upon Christ, and they suffered his wrath. Christ suffered God's wrath in the place of God's people. Christ became their substitute. Our sin was laid upon him, was laid upon him, and he took, took on God's wrath for us, and God was the one who determined that he was a suitable substitute for us and to pay for our remission and for our sins. Christ made expiation for us. He was our Redeemer, but that's because God found him suitable. God found Christ suitable to be our substitute, and he is the only person that has ever lived on this earth, the only person who ever lived on this earth who was not wicked, who had never committed any sin. He did not know sin. There was no sin in him. He did not know sin. There was no sin in him, he could do no sin, he could not be tempted to sin.

Speaker 1: 42:06

So the thing is God, god, god, having his son, who was a perfect and spotless lamb of God, who was set before the foundation of the world, to come to earth, to be born of a virgin, to provide salvation for us through his death and resurrection. So the wrath of God, the wrath of God that is due to consume us all, can only be thwarted by us if we put our faith in the one of whom of who suffered God's wrath in our stead. All we have to do is look to Christ and we will be saved from the wrath of God, because Christ paid for the sins of all of us who believe. And that is how, and that is how we, as believers, are not acquitted. We are forensically acquitted, but that's only because the wrath of God that was due to us, christ bore it in his own person. He is the one that took on God's wrath in our stead. So we, as being those who were wicked before coming to faith, we paid for our sins in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. He took our sins upon him and he was punished for them in our place.

Speaker 1: 44:04

But then that leaves the ungodly soul. The ungodly soul, the person, the soul that is still living in rebellion against God, the wicked, the sinners, those who reject Christ. They will not be acquitted. They who remain in their wickedness remain in their unrepentant state. These souls will not be acquitted. Christ has nothing for them. His blood that was shed at Calvary was sufficient to save them, but it was not efficient to save them. The blood of Christ was applied to all those whom the Father gave him from eternity past to believe. He predestined them, he elected them, he chose them before the foundation of the world to believe. I don't know who they all are. There's no identifying marks on their bodies that lets us know that they were his chosen, elect people.

Speaker 1: 45:19

So we preach to all men because we don't know. But God knows those who are his, god knows those who are his, and every one of his will come. They shall be made, they shall be compelled, they will be changed. The old heart that they have, the old stony heart that they have, will be removed by the spirit of God and they will be given a new heart of flesh that is able to believe, that is able to trust Christ, that is able to live by faith. But there has to be a work of God first, because before we come to Christ, god is angry with us. Before we come to Christ, he is angry with us. And when we come to Christ, we realize and we find out and we learn that we were able to come because God loved us, because he loves us, he loves his children and, as unfortunate as this may seem to so many souls out there, his children. There is a finite number of his children. All men are not his children, because if they were, he would have acquitted them. The same way, he brought those of us who believe to faith.

Speaker 1: 46:46

We come to faith because of the work, the first work that God does in us and when God starts a work with us, we're told in Philippians, whenever God begins a work with us, he will complete it and bring it to fruition or bring it to completion. He will and he always does. He doesn't start anything with us that fails. If he starts with us, it is impossible for him to fail, which means that anyone. It is impossible for him to fail, which means that anyone, anyone to whom God presents himself to reveal himself to, whoever that person may be, they will come to Christ and they will endure until the end. Those who do not were never his.

Speaker 1: 47:42

And Christ will tell them at that last day I never knew you, I never knew you. And when you think about it and I say this all the time those are the four scariest words that any man or woman is ever going to hear. At the day of judgment, when Christ tells those whom have been designated in his word as the goats, when we get to heaven, they will be separated from the sheep and they will be set aside to his left. And he will tell them depart from me, you, workers of iniquity, because I never knew you. And this, right here to me, is the most frightening expression in the Bible, describing what God is going to say to those goats, to the tares, to the unjust. He's going to tell them I never knew you.

Speaker 1: 48:47

Now he created all of us, all of us are his creation Mankind, the beast of the field, the angelic host, heaven and earth. God made it all and he made it all for us. And he has given us so much. And yet so many of us reject him still, reject him still. But on the resurrection morning there's going to be a great accounting, and men who turned on God, who laughed at you when you preached the gospel to them, who laugh at us, who tell us we're crazy for believing what we believe, like one guy earlier was going oh, you believe in your invisible friend, and all this kind of stuff.

Speaker 1: 49:49

People say this and it doesn't bother me at all and I hope and trust that it doesn't bother you. You should count it all joy when these things happen to you, because worse happened to our Lord, who went before us and who now sits at the right hand of God advocating for his people. So continue to trust in him, continue to have faith in the lord jesus christ, and be thankful that he is slow to anger, yet having great power. But it's important for us to understand that he can in no way clear the guilty. He can no, he can in no way acquit the wicked and he says there's no possibility. So there are going to be so many. There are going to be many people.

Speaker 1: 50:39

The greater part of mankind, as I understand the Bible teaches, the greater part of mankind who lived on the earth are going to stand before him and to be told I never knew you, the man who, in his pre-incarnate state, created all things and without him nothing that was created was created. It was him who was with God and yet was God. How can he say on the day of judgment I never knew you? Think about it. How does Jesus Christ, the creator of all things? Colossians tells us he created everything. Hebrews tells us he created everything and without him nothing was made and everything was made by him and for him. And he said himself when he was on earth that that he know, he knew what was in all men. He knew what was in all men.

Speaker 1: 51:51

Think about it. You have people that tell us, they want to tell us like the like the like Islam. They want to tell us oh, christ was just a man, he was just a regular, average man. Then how do you explain Christ saying he knew what was in all men? The only way he could know what's in all men is to be God, because only God can know what's in all men. Only God can know what's in all men. Knowing what's in all men means that not only is he omniscient, but he is also omnipotent and he's also omnipresent. Christ must be everywhere, at all times, in order for him to know what's in all men. And he said he knew what's in all men. So think about it.

Speaker 1: 52:48

The one who tells us that he knows what's in all men he is the same one on the day of judgment is going to tell the greater part of mankind I never knew you. Depart from me, you, workers of iniquity. I never knew you. What does that mean? I made you. I know everything about you. I know what's in all men.

Speaker 1: 53:23

But on the day of judgment, he's going to tell these people I never knew you, I never knew you. And that is the precursor to him responding to them with his holy anger, holy anger. But he says I never knew you. And what he is saying is is that I never set my affections upon you. Notice what he's how he says it. He says I never knew you. These people are going to be condemned to eternity in the lake of fire. They're going to hear these four words I, I never knew you. And then the angels of God are going to take these souls hand and foot and toss them into the lake of fire alive, where they will endure eternity for sitting against the eternal God.

Speaker 1: 54:33

But notice what Christ says.

Speaker 1: 54:36

Christ says he says he says I never knew you. Now, this is what he didn't say. He didn't say Depart from me, you, workers of iniquity, because you didn't know me. He tells them to depart because he never knew them. And he said he never knew them, which means there was never any encounter with him, there was no relationship between them and Christ, between Christ and them. When Christ says on the day of judgment, when he says I never knew you, this is contrary to how most people interpret John 3.16. Because how can you love someone you don't know? How can you love someone you don't know? How can you know, how can you love someone that you do not know? And yet Christ tells these souls depart from me because I never knew you. And he didn't say because you didn't know me. He's not telling you on the day of judgment that you didn't use your, you didn't exercise your free will to come to me. You didn't come to me. You didn't come to. You, didn't come to come to me, you didn't come to me, you didn't come to come to me. He didn't say depart because you didn't know me. He said depart because I, not only do I not know you, I never knew you, we haven't even been introduced. My affections have never, have never gone towards you? I don't know you.

Speaker 1: 56:46

Christ is telling us what it's going to be like on the other side. There will be no more of this soft peddling everything that we talk, that people soft pedal. Now Christians don't even like the sovereignty of God. Most Christians can't handle the real truth about what the Bible says about God. We talk so much, like I said at the beginning, we talk so much about his love and his benevolence and his compassion and his mercy, about his love and his benevolence and his compassion and his mercy, and we do this at the expense of talking about something that really motivates us to come to Christ, knowing that he is a wrathful, vengeful, furious God. That's what it says. That's what it says.

Speaker 1: 57:40

Read the first three verses of the first chapter of Nahum. It presents God in a very serious way. So when Christ says, depart from me, I never knew you, you have to ask yourself what kind of relationship did he have with them? What was the difference between a relationship that he had with them versus the one he has with us? Because, obviously, if he tells the wicked, depart from me because I never knew you, then he tells his people welcome into my kingdom, because you, I know, you are my people. You are my people, you are the people of my love. You were written in my father's book, my book, the Lamb's Book of Life, before the foundation of the world.

Speaker 1: 58:32

So what does that tell us about the wicked? They were not written in the Lamb's Book of life before the foundation of the world. They were not contemplated in God's will as coming to him by faith and believing. They were allowed to continue Exercising the quote, unquote freedom of their own will to do what it is they want to do and to do all those things that are determined by God to be inconvenient, to be ungodly. There's two kinds of people in this world those whom Jesus knows and those whom he doesn't, and those whom he doesn't and those whom he doesn't know. He never knew, and they're going to find out, on that great day of judgment, what it feels like to feel the sting of being heard by the Lord of glory that I never knew you, I never knew you, I never knew you. They will be thrown into the lake of fire and throughout hell's eternity they will always hear those words reverberating over and over and over again I never knew you, I never knew you. And you know what else, not one of them is going to change. Let me explain what I mean before I close. Those sinners who die in unbelief are going into eternal punishment, eternal torment, forever. That's what they're going to do. That's what's going to happen. That's what God is going to do.

Speaker 1: 1:00:31

Now I want to you know I'm always the strong advocate of believers, trying to understand the bondage of the will, that man's will is in bondage to sin, and that's all men want to do is sin. All the choices they will make are sinful choices. They will despise God and go against God at all times. And yet these very same souls, and even and Christians, support them on this idea that they do have a free will. But I got to tell you something, and I'm always saying that no man doesn't. Man's unregenerate men, do not have free will. They will never choose righteousness and holiness. They never will. They'll never repent. They'll never repent with a genuine repentance or a lasting repentance. The unregenerate man can't do it. If they're not saved, even if they pretend to be saved, they will be the pig that returns to wallowing in the mire or the dog that returns to his vomit.

Speaker 1: 1:01:45

But what I want to say about this is that think about this for a second, because an unbeliever, the will that they have, the free will that they believe they have, and the free will that so many Christians give them comfort in believing that they have, think about it. Whatever will they have when they die, does not go away. It does not go away and my point is this away. And my point is this when they're told by Christ, depart from me, you workers of iniquity, because I never knew you. We're not told, but we can assume, I think, that not one of these people is going to drop down and beg to be saved, even when they die in the afterlife. They're not going to change, they're still going to be the same people. They're going to be unwilling and unable to change, and they're going to be unwilling because they are unable. And that's the same thing with people, and these same people who are alive now, who will die in their sin. They will never change because they don't want to. They're incapable of wanting to, completely incapable of wanting to, completely incapable. But had Christ known them, they would have changed.

Speaker 1: 1:03:27

So, those of us who know Christ, we know Christ because he came to us and brought us to himself, in spite of how we see it from the human perspective, we see ourselves making a choice or decision, but what we're not seeing is that the choice was made for us already and it was only made effectual to us inwardly, and then our expression of what we need to do comes out. It comes out from what was done in us by the Spirit of God and then it comes out in us in our choices, in making different choices for Christ. So, christians, we understand that God is long-suffering and we understand that he has great power, but we also understand that he will, that he will will not acquit the wicked. Every one of these centers, these unbelievers, who refuses to reject the only way that God has provided for them to obtain salvation, which is through his, the death of his son, and believing in him. They, if they don't do this, as many most won't they themselves will stand before God and take his wrath on themselves.

Speaker 1: 1:04:55

Now, men like to argue about the fairness. Men like to argue about the fairness. Men like to argue about the fairness. It's crazy how many men judge God, claiming that in certain instances that God is not fair. God is not fair. God is perfectly fair, and what I mean by that? I mean, like his fairness is perfect. It is an absolute. It's absolute, perfect justice. God cannot clear the guilty. God cannot acquit the wicked. He can't do it. It's inconsistent with his nature. He cannot countenance sin at all from anyone, not even once. He cannot look to it, he can't entertain it, he can't let it slide.

Speaker 1: 1:05:53

God is going to do what our governments don't do. He's going to exact justice, and it will be perfect justice. And remember, because the crimes that are committed against God, or because the crimes that men commit against God, they will be forced to pay for an eternity, because the crimes that they committed against God, they committed against a God who is eternal. God can never look upon sin and if he does not remove your sin, then your sin will always be fuel for the flames of the lake of fire.

Speaker 1: 1:06:45

I just got to tell you the way that it is, and this is something that men have to pay attention to motivate us to be anxious about seeing those that we love, seeing those who we love, come to Christ, because we know, like the book, like Nahum, says, that God will not at all acquit the wicked. No one is going to get acquitted. All acquit the wicked, no one is going to get acquitted. So God Is not trying to be fair. He's not trying to be fair, excuse me, he is being just. And so we are either justified by Christ or we go on trial before God's tribunal and seek to be justified through our own efforts, and the outcome of that is Christ telling you depart from me, you workers of iniquity, because I never knew you the worst four words that are ever going to be said to a human being.

Speaker 1: 1:08:10

So like I always ask people before I close, why will you die if you don't know Christ now? Why not submit to him now? And if not, what is holding you back? What is restraining you? What is so important that you need to do that?

Speaker 1: 1:08:29

Christ, his time is not worth your time is not worth giving to him. Time is not worth giving to him. What keeps you from submission to him in all humility? He is our creator, he is our great prophet, our great apostle, our great priest. He's the only one that life. So why will you die when all it takes is a look to Christ, a glance to Christ, to seek him in faith? And yet so many people, no matter how hard you try to call, no matter how often you call, they continue to reject. But Christ is ready and willing to save anyone, to save anyone who will flee to him and to seek his salvation. And it is my hope that anybody who's listening now who is not Christian, that you may take time to get yourself alone somewhere and to ask the Lord, Jesus Christ, to reveal himself to you, because the last thing you want to have happen to you is that, when you shut your eyes on this earth, you wake up to the words I never knew. You Be provoked and be persuaded.