God's Powerful Judgment

The Bible speaks of God as a powerful God. For instance, the prophet Jeremiah says in Jeremiah 32, Ah, sovereign Lord, you have made the heavens in the earth by your great power and outstretched arm. Nothing is too hard for you. Paul describes in Ephesians chapter 1 that we should know, praise that we would know the greatness of his power, the same power that raised Jesus from the dead. And so God is a God who has all power. And we see that in glimpses of his power in the Old Testament, throughout the New Testament, creation, the resurrection of Christ, the parting of the Red Sea, the miracles of Christ during his ministry. Tremendous evidences of God's power, but there is another side of God's power, a side that is demonstrated in his judgment. So you see, God is holy and must judge sin. And we see glimpses of that side of God's power throughout the Bible as well, a worldwide flood that was used to judge a rebellious world and only Noah and his family survived that. The angel of the Lord slaying 185,000 Assyrian soldiers. The Tribulation Judgments, which are still future that will come upon the surface series of 21 judgments during a time period of seven years, where God reigns down his judgment upon the earth. And so sometimes God's judgment takes a negative side, a negative turn, and there is that side of his power as well. Today we're going to look at another time in the Bible, where God's power was demonstrated in judgment. It is quite frankly a time very similar to the Tribulation time, although it was isolated to the nation of Egypt, but there were a series of judgments that God poured out upon that land. We call the Ten Plagues. If you've been tracking with us on Sunday mornings, you know that we're in a series on the life of Moses, we're following his life through the book of Exodus. Today we find ourselves in chapter seven. And actually we're going to take glimpses of chapters seven through 10, as we look at a series of judgments poured out upon the nation of Egypt by God that are very similar to the ones that will happen in the Tribulation time. As God prepares to deliver his people, He judges Egypt with ten legs. God is ready to deliver his people out of the bondage in Egypt, but in order to do that, He judges the nation of Egypt and particularly their leader, Pharaoh, with a series of ten plagues. We're only going to look at the first nine today. We're going to look at them kind of for a bird's eye view. I want to begin by introducing God's judgment with some practical themes or truths that help us to gain perspective. And then we'll actually very quickly, briefly, look at the series of nine judgments before we close our time together this morning with some principles that we can find that apply to us about God's judgment. But first of all, let's introduce God's judgment through the plagues. There are some basic truths about the plagues in general that help us get the proper perspective on the plagues. Otherwise, they can be easily misunderstood. So let's look at six truths that kind of frame how we view the plagues on Egypt. First of all, the plagues were a part of God's strategy. The plagues were not an afterthought. They were not a knee jerk reaction to Pharaoh's stubbornness. And God said, well, I'll show you. I mean, there's some of that happening. But the plagues were God's intent all along. The plagues had been predicted by the Lord as He first began dealing with Moses in chapter three, He said in verse 19, I know the king of Egypt will not let you go unless a mighty hand compels him. So I will stretch out my hand and strike the Egyptians with all the wonders that I will perform among them. After that, He will let you go. That was predicted by the Lord before Moses even went to Egypt to deliver the people. And then in chapter four, He also predicted the tenth plague, which would be the taking of the life of the first born son of Pharaoh and as well as other Egyptians. So God knew Pharaoh's heart and God knew how He would respond. So the plagues were a part of God's plan all along to judge Egypt and their leader, Pharaoh. Important to keep that in mind. The second truth that helps us frame our understanding of the plagues is Pharaoh's nature required the plagues. Pharaoh was a very stubborn ruler. Nothing else would persuade him to release the people of Israel. We saw it when Moses first spoke to him in chapter five and Pharaoh's response in chapter five and verse two that we saw last week was, I don't know this God you're talking about. I don't know the Lord. And I'm not going to do what he says. I'm not going to listen to you, say what your God says. I don't know who he is. That evidence of a stubborn heart resisting God. When I read that I find myself thinking, watch out Pharaoh, you don't know who you're dealing with. I don't know this God and I will not listen to him. Pharaoh, you are in way over your head. God will show you who he is. Sometimes with a person that stubborn God has to work very directly to get their attention. Not so with someone who has a sensitive heart in mind that is open to the truth of God's word with a stubborn heart, with a resistant nature. God sometimes must speak and work very directly in judgment. And that's what happened with Pharaoh. Pharaoh's nature required the plagues. A third truth about the plagues that help us understand them better is that it was Moses' question that prompted the plagues. Now, it wasn't Moses' question to God that caused the plagues, but prompted the timing of them. Back in chapter 6, remember last week we saw Moses really bad day where everything seemed to be going south. He goes to Egypt, he announces God judgment. The Pharaoh says, forget it, that's not happening. I'm not going to let the people go. He increases the workload on the Israelites. And so the Israelites get mad at Moses. Everything is going wrong. And then God says to Moses in chapter 6 and verse 10, go tell Pharaoh, again, go tell him to let the Israelites go out of his country. But Moses said to the Lord, if the Israelites will not listen to me, why would Pharaoh listen to me? Good question. Why would Pharaoh listen to me? And that prompts the plagues, the plagues are God's answer to Moses' question. Don't worry, Moses. I have ways of getting his attention. I have ways of getting through to Pharaoh. And so in reality it was Moses' question that prompted the timing of the plagues. The truth about the plagues overall is that the plagues affected all Egyptians. Time and time again in the description of the plagues in chapters 7 through 10. You find the word all. All livestock affected. All people affected. All the nation affected. All animals affected. All the land affected. I mean over and over again, the whole nation suffers. God's judgment swept across the whole land except on the last seven plagues. Israel was exempt from the consequences of that judgment. Sometimes a resistant rebellious wicked leader can tragically affect his whole country, as was true with Adolf Hitler and Germany. Saddam Hussein and Iraq, Moamar Qaddafi and Libya. Sometimes an evil leader can affect his whole country and pull his whole people into judgment or tragic effects. And that's true in this case tragically so. The fifth truth about the plagues and this is extremely important to see when you understand what God is doing. The plagues struck at the core of Egypt's gods. You might not get this just by reading through the plagues. You need to understand a little bit of the history, culture of the nation of Egypt and their religious system. One of my former professors in seminary John Davis wrote a book. He's an archaeologist. He's done a lot of work in Egypt. And he wrote a book entitled Moses and the Gods of Egypt. And he very brilliantly pointed out that every one of the ten plagues was directed at one of the major gods that Egypt worshipped to show God's superiority and power over them. And their absolute utility and weakness in the face of God's judgment. Every flag was directed at a god that Egypt worshipped and proclaimed the being in control of that particular element of nature or of their culture. And God shows his power struck at the very core of Egypt's religious system. The sixth truth about the plagues it helps us frame them and understand them is that none of the plagues softened Pharaoh's heart. Tragically none of the plagues soften Pharaoh's heart. Finally under pressure from his advisors he will agree to let the people of Israel go after the tenth and most devastating plague. But he even reconsideres that and pulls his army together and goes after them once they're gone. So in reality ultimately none of the plagues softened Pharaoh's heart. Now with that general understanding of the plagues and what God is doing through them and why let's look at them individually. Briefly I want to summarize the first nine plagues let's look at this summary of God's judgment. In chapter seven in the first thirteen verses we find that God reminds Moses of what he's going to do. He reminds Moses that he will judge Pharaoh and judge Egypt with a series of plagues. And then Moses goes in before Pharaoh casts his rod down his staff which becomes a serpent and he picks it back up and that was one of the signs the Pharaoh of who God is. Well Pharaoh wouldn't listen to that, rejected that. In fact his magicians pulled off a trick that looked the same as what Moses was doing. And so Pharaoh would not accept that so plague number one comes. The plague of blood. In chapter seven verses fourteen through twenty-four it's described the river Nile and other bodies of water were turned to blood at the touch of Moses' staff. And because the river itself and other bodies of water turned to blood the fish die. It's difficult for us to realize how devastating that would be to this nation. The river Nile was the life blood of that nation. It was the arteries that cut straight through the center of Egypt and provided everything for them. When it would flood in the spring it would leave silt and moist soil on the plains where Egypt grew most of her crops. And then they depended upon the fish that were in the river Nile for the staple of their diet. Fish was absolutely critical to their diet. It's hard for us to grasp that we have such a varied diet in our culture. But it's much like in Asia the staple of the diet is rice in eastern Europe it's potatoes. In Italy it's pasta in the United States it's chocolate. But you know every country has its own staple of its diet and Egypt's staple is fish. And so when all the fish die all the water turns to blood it's devastating to this country. But notice if you will verses 22 and 23 of chapter 7. But the Egyptian musicians did the same things by their secret arts nobbed out demonically induced. And they rose heart became hard. He would not listen to Moses and Aaron just as the Lord had said. Instead he turned and went into his palace and did not even take this to heart. Just kind of brushed it off. Didn't pay it any mind. So plague number two comes. And the second plague is a plague of frogs. Chapter 8 verses 1 through 15 describe it. Look at verse 3. The Nile will team with frogs. They will come up into your palace and your bedroom and onto your bed into the houses of your officials and on your people and into your ovens and kneading crops. Now just imagine the description of it. You wake up in the morning you try to throw your covers off but they're covered with frogs. They're frogs on your bed. You step out of your bed squished. There goes a frog. You stepped on a frog. You go to your dresser drawer pull out your dresser drawer. Frogs you're jumping out as you try to get your clothes. You put your shoes on. There's a couple of frogs in each one. You got to get out before you can put your shoe on. You walk into the kitchen open the cupboard. Frogs are dumping out of the cupboard. You get a pan to cook with and frogs are in that and you don't even like frog legs. And so you're trying to cook some breakfast. And then you get a bowl to put your cereal in. You got to clean the frogs out. It's absolutely amazing. This plague of frogs everywhere. Imagine thing about this plague is God goes to, through Moses goes to Pharaoh and says, when do you want God to lift it? And Pharaoh says tomorrow. Really? Tomorrow I heard a sermon one time preach one last night with the frogs. Really tomorrow? Why not right now? But on the next day God lifts the plague but look at verse 15. But when Pharaoh saw that there was relief he hardened his heart and would not listen to Moses and Aaron just as the Lord had said, the Lord knew what he would do. So plague number three comes. A plague of nats. Chapter eight verses 16 to 18. Aren't nats obnoxious? They're just all over you. Aren't they? You can't seem to get away from them. But the word for nats here is not our typical nats. It's a similar insect. But in Egypt it would be a biting, stinging insect that would act the same way. Penetrate your nostrils and your ears. And nats are all over the place. In fact the Bible says here in verses 16, 17 that every speck of dust turned into a nap. Can you imagine? Have you ever sat in your room in your home and you've seen a shaft of sunlight coming through a window and you amazed in your clean house how much dust was floating through the air? Imagine every speck of dust turning into a nap and they are all over you. They are in your hair. They are on your neck. They're trying to go up your nose, trying to get in your mouth. They're bothering your eyes. They're crawling in your ears. I mean we'd have to put some of you away if this was happening right now here. But notice they rose response. Verse 19, the magician said to Pharaoh when they could not duplicate this plague, the magician said to Pharaoh this is the finger of God. But Pharaoh's heart was hard and he would not listen just as the Lord had said. So along comes plague number four. The plague applies. Verse 20 to 32, chapter 8 described that plague. Verse 21 says, if you do not let my people go, I will send swarms of flies on you and your officials on your people and into your houses. The houses of the Egyptians will be full of flies even the ground will be covered with them. The Hebrew word swarm actually means a variety, a mixture. So this is not just your standard house fly. This is a lot of different kinds of flies, a mixture of flies, and some Bible scholars even believe a mixture of different kinds of insects. So maybe beetles and spiders are dropping down off the ceilings and please are all over you and ticks and bees and it's just stinging, biting insects all over the place. Again some of you would have to be taken off somewhere, put in a straight jacket with this kind of stuff going on. But notice again, verse 32, Pharaoh's response. But this time also Pharaoh hardened his heart and would not let the people go. So this one doesn't get through to him either. So plague number five comes on which is a plague on the livestock. Chapter nine verses one through seven describe it. Look at verse three. The hand of the Lord will bring a terrible plague on your livestock in the field. In other words, any livestock left out in the field, unprotected will suffer from this plague. He says on your horses and donkeys and camels and on your cattle, sheep and goats. Can you imagine dead carcasses all over the nation of all of these different kinds of animals? But again, verse seven, Pharaoh investigated and found that not even one of the animals of the Israelites had died, yet his heart was unyielding and he would not let the people go. So this one doesn't reach him either. So plague number six comes. It's a plague of boils. In chapter nine verses eight through twelve, Moses and Aaron picked up some soup, throw it into the air, it begins to multiply and spread throughout the nation and all people and animals break out in boils. Now, if you ever had a boil, I'm not asking for a personal testimony, but you ever had a boil? I'm not talking about a temple or a zit here. I'm talking about a boil. I'm talking about the Hebrew word literally means an open ulcer that gets infected and oozes pus. Do I need to explain any further? This is tough stuff and they've got it all over their bodies. These boils. In fact, it is so bad, look at verse eleven, the magicians could not stand before Moses because of the boils that were on them and on all the Egyptians. But the Lord hardened Pharaoh's heart and he would not listen to Moses and Aaron just as the Lord had said to Moses. So this one doesn't get through to him either. So, plague number seven comes, which is a plague of hail. Chapter nine verses 13 to 35 describe the worst storm ever to hit Egypt, thunder, lightning, rain and hail. The people of Egypt were warned, Pharaoh was warned, yet everything inside and protected. All your livestock that are left that had been protected from the plague on the livestock, you better get them inside because they will be killed if they aren't protected. Get everyone inside but look at verses 25 and 26. Throughout Egypt, hail struck everything in the fields. Both people and animals, it beat down everything, growing in the fields and stripped every tree. The only place it did not hail was the land of Goshen where the Israelites were. Well, this one kind of calls us Pharaoh to waver a bit and he insincerely offers to let the people of Israel go but quickly his heart hardens again, verse 34. When Pharaoh saw that the rain and hail and thunder had stopped, he sinned again. He and his officials hardened their hearts. So Pharaoh's heart was hard and he would not let the Israelites go just as the Lord had said through Moses. So plague number eight comes. A plague of locusts. Locusts were the scourge of the ancient world. Great swarms of them could come over a land and basically rip it to shreds of any vegetation. That's what happens verses 13 to 15. So Moses stretched out his staff over Egypt and the Lord made an east wind blow across the land all that day and all that night. By morning the wind had brought the locusts. They invaded all Egypt and settled down in every area of the country and great numbers. Never before had there been such a plague of locusts nor will there ever be again. They covered all the ground until it was black. They devoured all that was left after the hail, everything growing in the fields and the fruit on the trees. Nothing green remained on tree or plant in all the land of Egypt. Wow. Do you remember a few years back when we had the cicadas come? Happens every 17 years. I think it was 2004 because we were in a search mode for a youth pastor at the time. And we had a candidate here who was actually candidating that weekend. He was a student at Moody Bible Institute and his fiancee that were getting married that summer. She was from Los Angeles and I remember they come to West Virginia and we've got the cicadas here. And they're all over the place. They're flying through the air and you can hear the hum through the woods. And I remember walking across the parking lot out here going over to the parsnage with them for a meal and they're all over us. They're landing on us and this poor girl from Los Angeles which is freaking out. I mean she could I think that's why they never decided to come to West Virginia. They didn't want any part of that but it was horrible. I can't imagine the description of what we're seeing here. All over the ground so much so that it was black and all over people, all over everything. The plague of locusts. But that doesn't do the job either. Look at verse 20. But the Lord hardened Pharaoh's heart and he would not let the Israelites go. And so the ninth plague which is a plague of darkness descends on the land. Chapter 10 verses 21 to 29. Look at verse 21. The Lord said to Moses, stretch out your hand toward the sky so that darkness spreads over Egypt. Darkness that can be felt. So Moses stretched out his hand toward the sky and total darkness covered all Egypt for three days. No one could see anything else or move about which for three days which indicates that not even the light of a lantern would penetrate this darkness. It was a darkness that just smothered all light, even artificial light. No one could see anyone else or move about for three days yet all the Israelites had light in the places where they lived. This is a devastating oppressive darkness which strikes at the major god of Egypt, the sun god ra. And so God says, I will show you that the sun god will not rule in Egypt. I am the true god. Maddening, maddening series of judgments but in verse 27, the Lord hardened Pharaoh's heart and he was not willing to let them go. Pharaoh said to Moses, get out of my sight, make sure you do not appear before me again. The day you see my face you will die. In other words, get out of here. If I ever see you again, I will kill you. Get out. Pharaoh is fed up with these plagues. There is one last one to come that will not deal with today. That will come later. But I want us to stop now and see what is it about these plagues that we can learn from. The New Testament says in Romans 15 that all the scriptures, everything that happened to the Israelites was written for our benefit, for our instruction. So what can we learn from this? What can we, this is obviously God's judgment? So what can we learn about God's judgment from this story? I think there are three clear principles that we must learn. What is this? Hardening your heart against God brings judgment. Hardening your heart against God brings judgment. Pharaoh hardened his heart and then God judicially hardened it. His judgment settled on Pharaoh because of the bent and direction of Pharaoh's own heart and life. And here is what I mean by the hardening of the heart. You see clear evidence of God's hand. You hear the voice of God. Maybe not audibly, but you know he's speaking to you from his word. And he may be speaking to you about your need of being saved, of being right with God, or maybe as a believer he's speaking with you about some sin in your life, or about following him as your life's course and doing what he's burdening your heart to do. But you're refusing to listen. You're refusing to submit. You will not give in. You push him away. And each time you do that, you are getting another callus on your heart. Just like working with hand tools over and over again will bring rough calluses on your hands. The same thing can happen to your heart. When you push God away, when you will not submit to him, when you will not give in to him as he speaks to you, as he leads you, as he works in your heart, but you keep pushing him away. And resist him. You will not hear his voice. That can bring God's judgment. Now a lot of ink has been spilt about how was his heart hardened? Did he harden his heart? I did God harden. What came first? It's impossible to determine that with any sense of finality from this description, because there are about 20 times the Bible describes his heart being hardened. Ten of those, God did it. Ten of those, He did it. It does seem to be the emphasis in the first five plagues that Pharaoh hardened his heart. Was resistant, would not submit, would not believe. And in the last five plagues, the emphasis is that God hardened his heart. That to me follows the pattern that is laid out in Romans chapter 1, where the perfect balance between our responsibility or our resistance against God, and God's sovereign hardening of our hearts, that perfect balance is described for us in Romans 1. Without taking the time to go there, let me just briefly remind you that Romans 1 says, it talks about a culture that can see God, the evidence of God, even in creation. God makes it plain and clear that there is at least someone with great power who is beyond us, who is above us, at least that much can be seen from the creation around us, the grandeur of the creation, and the minimal part of creation in the cell itself. We can see the grandeur of God, but the Bible says in Romans 1, 18 that people suppressed, suppressed the truth. Pushed it down. Did not want to hear it. Did not want to listen. Did not want to see. And so of their own free will, they pushed God aside. They suppressed his truth. And the Bible says the next step was they exchanged the glory of God for the worship of the creation, and began to worship both themselves and the creation, the work of God, rather than God himself. And once you begin to substitute that, your heart's getting a little harder and a little harder, and then it says they did not, they were not thankful to God for his good gifts. They saw it all, fruit of their own work, or just happen chance, time and chance, brought it all into existence. And when you go that far, and then you begin to go into sin following your own way, Romans 1 says, eventually, three times, God gave them over to their own sin. So first of all, they suppressed the truth, would not believe. One of the substitutes, something else for God, and just went headlong into a life of sin, and living their own way, and eventually, God gave them over to the results of their own choices. And that God giving over means God moves back. Your heart is hardened, so you no longer hear the voice of God. You no longer feel the pull of God on your soul and on your heart. That is a very dangerous place to be. If God's been speaking to you, if God's been tugging at your heart, whether or not it's to be saved, to submit to Him as your Lord and Savior, or whether or not it's to follow Him with your life, if you continue to resist God, that is a very dangerous place to be. Eventually, God will confirm your own choices with His judicial hardening. He'll take His hand off. He'll quit working and let you go your own way. That's very dangerous. Proverbs 29, 1 says it this way, Whoever remains stiff-knit. You get the idea. Don't you the resistance, the pulling away. I will not yield. Whoever remains stiff-knit after many rebukes will suddenly be destroyed without remedy. No hope once that point comes. This is very dangerous, my friend, for you to be in that position and keep resisting God. Hardness of heart against God brings judgment. Our first ministry was in North Carolina. Back in the 70s, even more so than today, there were a lot of chicken farmers down there. The kind of chicken farmers that raised broilers, 40, 50,000, 60,000 in the large chicken houses, they get them as one day old chicks and they raise them for nine weeks and fatten them up and send them off the Tyson to give us our lunch for chicken. I don't know if you've ever been in a chicken house. I actually helped clean one out one time with one of our farmers, a bunch of us guys in the church did. Those places don't smell very good. That's putting it mildly. The stench is horrendous. But down in North Carolina, in those days, at least, they would use chicken droppings for fertilizer on their fields. Man, that's terrible. I still have flashbacks today. When I drive down 77 towards Charlotte, you get around Dobson, look to the right and there's a series of chicken houses over there. I can smell them from the interstate. Right across the road from where our church was, Leedham's Grove Church was a farm, dot-garner grew corn in the field right across from the church. And he used the droppings from his chickens as fertilizer on that field. I don't know again if you've lived in North Carolina in the summer and we didn't have air conditioning in our house, it'd get up to 100 degrees in August. And the heat is just stifling. The heat and humidity is just stifling. And for some reason, that smell never goes away. It stays with you all summer. And I can remember walking outside the church in the early days of our ministry there and a gentle summer breeze would be coming across that field toward the church. And it was the worst stench. It was awful. We were there seven years and I can remember near the end of our time there. I can remember a Sunday night. I remember it very well. Beautiful summer Sunday evening hot. We had been at church that evening. We got a missionary speaker with us. We walked out the front doors of the church onto the large front porch and right across the field is dot, or right across the road is dot-garner's field. And the missionary looked at me and said, what is that smell? And honestly, I looked at him and honestly said, what smell? I really didn't smell it. And then it hit me. Oh, he's smelling the field, the chicken droppings on the field. That's what it is. I mean, my sinuses had been burned to a crisp by that point. There wasn't anything left. I couldn't smell anything. Why? I couldn't use to it. I couldn't use to it. You see, you can get used to the voice of God too. But it's not your nose that suffers. It's your heart that suffers. And your heart becomes calloused, unfielding, uncaring, to where you no longer hear the voice of God anymore. You no longer feel his pull, his tug, the speaking of his spirit. That's an incredibly dangerous place to be. You don't want to go there. Because that can lead to the solidifying of God's judgment on your heart and life. Hardening your heart against God brings judgment. The second principle we must learn, and this is a hard one. I'll admit it's hard. God's judgment is terribly fearful. Hebrews 10, 31 says it this way. Very plainly, it is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. And in that context, he's talking about judgment. It's a fearful thing, dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. These plagues are evidence of the fact that God's judgment can be terribly fearful. God's ultimate judgment, if you reject his gift of Christ as your Savior, if you go on your own way and harden your heart, ultimately God's judgment is the lake of fire. It is a place, I believe the Bible describes literally, of torment, physical torment, in fire, mental torment of the memories of the opportunities you had, but would not take spiritual torment of separation from God. I mean, the one description that we have of it in Luke 16, the unsaved man who is suffering in torment in hell, which is kind of a temporary holding place before all unsafe people are cast into the final eternal place of judgment called the lake of fire. But the man who's described there doesn't want his brothers to come to that place. And he's earnestly pleading that God will send someone to warn his brothers. And God's response through Abraham, who's carrying on the conversation, is they have the word of God. That's the warning that I've given everybody. It's a place of incredible torment. And I know people struggle with that. People struggle with the fact, how could God send people to hell? That seems like an unfair judgment. Two famous actors, many more, I'm sure, but two famous actors have spoken out very clearly on that recently. One of them is Brad Pitt, the other is Hugh Jackman, both of them grew up in Christian homes with parents who knew and loved the Lord. Here's Brad Pitt's story. He's telling it his own words in an interview in a magazine. He said, I found my Christian upbringing very stifling. I always had a lot of questions about the world, even in kindergarten. The big question to me was fairness. If I'd grown up in some other religion, would I get the same shot at heaven as a Christian has? He turned against the Christian faith because he couldn't in his own mind resolve that question. He says, when I got, here's his own words, when I got untethered from the comfort of religion, it wasn't a loss of faith for me. It was a discovery of self. I had faith that I'm capable enough to handle any situation. There's peace and understanding that I have only one life here and now, and I'm responsible. Boy, that just sounds exactly like the lie of Satan to Eve in the garden. God's unjust. He's being unkind to you. Surely he wouldn't judge you the way he said he would. What he's afraid of is that you really discover yourself and you'll be wise. That's been Satan's lie all through the ages. Hugh Jackman said it this way, grew up in a deeply religious family. He says, my parents having been in his words converted to conservative Protestantism by Billy Graham. His parents had come to know the Lord under the preaching of Billy Graham. But he said in this 2013 interview, I was involved with so many things in the church. It was my social group. It was where I met girls. It was part of my life out of school. It was sort of my life out of school. Then around 16 or 17, I started questioning, how come all those non-believers are going to hell? And he turned us back on the faith. I understand that hell is a tough topic. I understand that. But the word of God warns us very plainly about that ultimate place of dreadful judgment. You say, is it right for God to judge people that way? Let me illustrate it this way. Let's suppose you're a middle school student. For some of you, that's going to be a stretch of imagination. You're a middle school student and you punch another student in the nose. You know what you're going to get from that probably detention. But let's say you're fuming there in detention and you go out and punch the teacher in the nose. Well, you're probably going to get expelled from school. Well, let's say life goes on a little bit and one day you're upset at a police officer and you punch the policeman in the nose. You're probably going to be looking at juvenile detention or maybe prison. Let's say a little time goes by and you're an adult now and you're in a gathering one day of crowd that's waiting to see the president of the United States. And as the president walks off the platform and goes right by where you're standing, you lunge at him suddenly and punch the president in the nose. What's going to happen then? Well, if the secret service doesn't shoot you right on the spot, you'll probably be arrested and be in prison the rest of your life. Same crime. But everyone recognizes the person against whom it's committed determines the severity of the punishment. Now the president of the United States cannot hold a candle to the god of the universe. You reject his loving, gracious, merciful provision of life. When you've heard about it, you know it. You reject that. The punishment fits the crime. Against a holy, loving and gracious god to reject the only provision he's made for your sins to be forgiven. Then the punishment of hell fits the crime against an Almighty God. One other principle quickly and this is where the good news comes in, my friend. Yes, yes, judgment can happen if you harden your heart against God. Judgment can be terribly dreadful, but faith in Christ cancels God's judgment. You see, God does love you so much. He loves all of us so much that he decided to make a way for us to be forgiven and not have to experience the punishment for our own sin. He sent his own son who willingly came with no sin of his own to pay for and be judged for. Jesus, the holy, spotless son of God was willing to be punished for your sin and my sin. He became a substitute. He took our punishment when he died on the cross. God's wrath against our sin was poured out on him. And if you will trust him and what he did for you on the cross, if you will surrender your life to him, then your judgment will be canceled. You will be completely infreed me for given. You will be given a righteous standing before God that can never change and thus you will spend eternity with him in heaven. Here's how the scripture speak of that 2 Corinthians 5, 21. God made him who had no sin. That's Christ. To be sin or to become sin, a sin offering for us. In other words, he had no sin of his own. So God's wrath could not legitimately come on him. But he took our sin. And when he took our sin on himself, God judged him in our place. So that in him in Christ, we might become the righteousness of God. Paul says it this way in Galatians 3. Christ redeemed us. In other words, bought us and set us free from the curse of the law. It was the law that condemned us and showed us the punishment for sin. So Christ set us free from all that. How by becoming a curse for us, he took all the punishment that the law said should come on us for our sin. He became that curse for us. For it is written, cursors, everyone who's hung on a pole. When Jesus hung on that cross, he bore God's curse for you and for me. In 1 Peter 3, 18, Peter says it this way, for Christ also suffered once, for sins, the righteous for or in place of, instead of as a substitute for, the unrighteous to bring you to God. You see, it is Jesus who died for you that makes it possible for all of God's wrath to be satisfied. God is a holy God. He can't just sweep sin under the rug and say it really doesn't matter. It must be with a holy God. It must be judged, but he's made a way for it to be judged by someone who took your place. And if you receive Christ as your Savior, you can escape the judgment of God. My question to you this morning is, are you willing to come to Him today? Today, are you willing to come to Him today? Don't wait and further harden your heart. Come to Him today. In my friend, it is as simple as receiving God's free gift offer of salvation through Christ. There was one pastor in a small church at Christmas time who was wanting to illustrate that freedom of the gift of God. And so he announced before he started into his message, whoever wants this beautiful Christmas point set up may have it. He pointed to the beautiful, large point set up the base of the platform. Whoever wants that inhabit, all you have to do is come take it. He said, people just stared at him. So he waited. He just waited. Finally, a mother timidly raised her hand and said, I'll take it. Great, it's yours. And that's what he wanted. He wanted to illustrate that freedom of just taking the gift. And he was ready to launch into his sermon when he noticed her punch, her son by her side and say, go get it for me. I knew that would ruin the illustration. So he said, no, no, no, no, whoever, whoever gets this gift must come and get it personally. You can't send someone else to get it for you. It's free to you, but you've got to come receive it yourself. So she shook her head, not willing to risk any embarrassment. So pastor waited again, explained the beauty of the flower, the freedom of the offer that it's yours for the taking, someone from the back snickered, what's the catch? No catch, the pastor said. It's free. Still nobody moved. A college student piked up and said, is it good to the author? No, it's not glued to the author, the pastor said. He was tempted to give in at this point. A teenager piked up and said, well, kind of take it after the service. He was willing to almost ready to give up at that point and give in. Okay, yeah, just take it after the service. No, he wanted to get across this point. No, you need to come now. The offer is right now. Don't pass it out. Don't wait. The offer is now to get saved. Find the a lady who had never seen in church, before stood up, walked up to the front, picked up the point, said it and walked back. He said, great, finally, someone understood what I was offering and he launched into his sermon, Romans 623, wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. After the service, he was up front getting a couple things that he'd left up there. He looked up and noticed this woman walking toward him with the point set up. Here, she said, she held out her hand. This flower is too pretty to take home for free. I couldn't do that with a clear conscience. And he opened a wadded piece of paper at his hand as a ten dollar bill. She still didn't get it. It was a free gift. Why is that so hard to grasp? Because in our own stubborn resistance and independence, we feel like we've got to help God out in getting ourselves to heaven. And God is pleading with you, my friend. I've already done all the work. Jesus took your punishment on the cross. The offer of salvation is free to you. All you have to do is receive it, take it by faith that it is a free gift I offered you. It's as simple as that, my friend. And that will cancel out God's judgment against you if you'll simply receive the gift the offers. That's bow and prayer. Father, I pray that as you speak to hearts here today, there would not be anyone that would resist or further harden their heart. But I pray that anyone who's being moved and touched by your spirit this morning would be willing to respond and open up their hearts to the free gift of your Son, Jesus as their Savior. It's in His name we ask it. Amen.