Transcript

Take your Bibles and let’s go to Acts 2. Would you do that? Acts 2. If you’re beginning some great new enterprise, you want to make very certain you get things right from the beginning. Well, Acts records the beginning of the church, that is, at least the church as an institution in the earth and so we see some things here that the preacher, the first preacher in the first church, got right and it’s a theme that occurs throughout the message of the New Testament.

Let’s look at it together, one verse, as there’s a summary of what he was preaching as the church is beginning it’s new mission on the earth, Acts 2:40,

40 And with many other words he solemnly testified and kept on exhorting them, saying, “Be saved from this perverse generation!”

Be saved from this perverse generation. Now, I’ve entitled this message, “The First Sermon in the First Church.” Now, this is an amazing event. It’s just amazing in so many ways. We’ll elaborate on that in just a moment, but one of the most amazing things about the whole event is what Peter says here as he’s filled with the Holy Spirit and begins to preach. So we have Peter, the lead pastor, I guess you would say, of the other pastors in the church there in Acts, and he’s taking the floor, if you will, actually out on the street and preaching this. Let’s look together now at this first sermon in the first church.

Notice, first of all, again, this is I. A momentous event. It is a momentous event on several fronts. First of all, this is the Jewish feast of Pentecost. Jewish pilgrims have come from all over the known world and they’ve gathered there for this great feast that th came to be called Pentecost. It was held on the 50 day after the barley harvest and the reason for that was that the people were abstained from work and come to this festival very humbly before God and thank God for the harvest he brought in for their sustenance that fall or that harvest season. It was a time of giving sacrifices and great thanksgiving to God. It was a time in the Jewish calendar where there would be good cheer and great joy and the people would even go above and beyond the required offerings. During the week of Pentecost or the observance of Pentecost, I should say, they would even bring free will offerings. They would go above and beyond just to say, “God, we’re thankful. We’re so thankful for your blessings that you have given the nation of Israel.” It was a day marked by generosity. The people of Israel would go out of their way especially at this time to be generous to strangers, to orphans and to widows.

So just nationally in the context of national Israel, this is a momentous event, but secondly, for those of us who are Christians, we see something else here also: it’s momentous because it’s the church’s kickoff. This is the kickoff day, if you will, of the church as an institution in the earth. Jesus has already died. He was buried. He rose again and appeared to many. Then he ascended back up into heaven. And just as he promised, he said, “You disciples go in Jerusalem and you pray,” and they’ve been in Jerusalem, they’ve been praying and seeking the Lord and then the Holy Spirit of God suddenly falls upon them with a mighty power and a mighty anointing and many tremendous and miraculous things begin to happen, but the most important and foundational thing that the Spirit did was infuse the pastors with the power to preach the word of God. That’s why you have such a lengthy section here in Acts 2 of Peter’s first sermon.

Now, the Holy Spirit does a lot of things. He can do signs and wonders and miracles, but the primary foundational ministry of the Spirit is to enable the preacher of the word to preach the word with power because you can’t necessarily get converted by a miracle or a sign or a wonder or a healing, though God may do that. Only the word that contains the Gospel can save an eternal soul. So here we have Peter with this spiritual power on him and he stands up and begins to preach and we have here in the record of sacred text what I believe is the second most important event in world history or in human history, second only to the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ and that was the foundation of the church in the earth.

Now, this whole experience of the Spirit falling with great signs and wonders and miracles, this unique outpouring that enabled the church to get started right, was a one time, never to be repeated event. Now, the Spirit may fall and do some wonderful things and I pray he falls and does some wonderful things here, but there will never be another Pentecostal type event. I mean, the kinds of things that happened were just mindblowing. Phenomenal. This is a momentous event.

You know, you might remember, if you’re an old guy like me, when you had your first child and what a momentous event that was. And then if you’re really old like me, you might remember your first grandchild. And if you’re really, really old like Clifford, you remember when you had your first greatgrandchild. I’m telling you, that’s a special event. Well, you see, God is birthing his child. The church being established in the earth is God gathering his children into his assembly or his body, if you will, to be his people for his glory in the earth and one day he’ll take those people from the earth, purify them all up and have them with him forever and ever and ever in eternity. So this is momentous and this is very special.

So we have jumping out to us as the church is beginning, the primary work God’s Spirit wants to do and that is through the preaching of the word of God which God has ordained as the primary means of the growth and maturity of the word of God. So here we have the first sermon in the first church. It’s momentous. It was momentous because it was just the Jewish Pentecost. It’s momentous because it’s the kickoff of the church age in the earth, but it’s also momentous because here we have the record of the first sermon preached in the first church.

Let’s talk about that a little bit. II. Not only is this a memorable event, momentous event, this was a mesmerizing sermon. What Peter says here is, quite frankly, radically shocking. If you were a Jewish man of this day, you would find this very shocking and, I might add, you would find it quite offensive. But let’s not leave the Gentiles, the Greeks and the Romans out, what he says applies to everyone. Not only would the Jews be probably shocked and convicted about what he’s saying but the Gentiles, the Roman and Greek culture, would also be very struck by what he’s saying.

Now, of course, we do not have the entire word-for-word sermon that Peter preached in Acts 2. We know this is something of a summary of his sermon, but when you get to Acts 2:40 which is our text, it’s a summary of the summary. Look at it again there, Acts 2:40, “And with many other words he solemnly testified,” now notice this, “and kept on exhorting them.” In other words, this was his theme; he kept bringing it out over and over and over. What is that quote? “Be saved from this perverse generation!” That’s the core of the first preacher’s first sermon in the first church message, “Be saved from this perverse generation!”

Now, first of all, this sermon is mesmerizing because of the inclusiveness of the condemnation. The inclusiveness of the condemnation. He tells them, “You need to be saved from your perversity,” and he has cast it out to the whole generation. He didn’t say just to the Jews. He didn’t say just to the Romans. Or just to the Greeks. Or to you really bad, down and out folks. He said the whole generation needs salvation. Now, that’s pretty…one thing that does, it puts us all on equal ground, amen? You may be the most devout religious man of the day or the most heinous rebel and sinner of the day, you all fit “perverse generation” according to God’s truth and God’s message from God’s preacher.

So everyone, the Bible points out to us here, needs saving. That means we are all presently under God’s displeasure and God’s wrath. Now, I know you don’t hear this a lot from preachers anymore and that’s because preachers are enslaved to the fear of man and that’s because preachers are afraid you won’t get a crowd if you preach the whole counsel of God. But listen, my friend, if there is truth that is bad news, you need the truth of the bad news so you can appreciate the truth of the good news.

Romans 3:9-19, the Apostle Paul, this is a different man now writing to a different group of people and he says basically the same thing but he elaborates a lot. Look at it there with me on the screen. “9 What then? Are we better than they? Not at all; for we have already charged,” notice this, “that both Jews and Greeks are all under sin.” They all need saving. Then he elaborates further, verse 10, “as it is written, ‘There is none righteous, not even one; there is none who understands, there is none who seeks for God; all have turned aside, together,'” that means every single one, “‘they have become useless; there is none who does good, there is not even one.'” He starts describing not what every single person is doing but what characterizes this perverse generation.

Verse 13, “‘Their throat is an open grave, with their tongues they keep deceiving, the poison of asps is under their lips; whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness.'” So from their mouth they expose the evil in their hearts, is what he’s saying.

Verse 15, “‘Their feet are swift to shed blood.'” You say, “Well, I’m glad that’s not our generation.” My friend, any culture that murders a million unborn babies a year is swift to shed blood. We can hail ourselves as better than the ancient pagan religions who would sacrifice their children to their gods on altars, but what is the difference? We abort our babies so we can have a blessed and better life. Isn’t that what they did when they sacrificed to their gods their children? We’re no better. These truths stand forever. It’s inclusive in its condemnation of every generation.

Verse 17, “‘And the path of peace they have not know. There is no fear of God before their eyes.'” In other words, there aren’t very many people in the culture who wake up in the morning with an awesome reverence and devotion to want to honor God. We just don’t wake up that way in the morning usually. Do you know why? Because we’re a perverse generation and I am a part of it and you are a part of it.

Verse 19, “Now we know that whatever the Law says, it speaks to those who are under the Law, so that every mouth may be closed.” Do you know what God is saying here? “Shut your mouth. Shut your mouth.” You know this is true, what God is saying. Let all your philosophers and all your politicians help you sin all they can. I’m going to tell you, just because something is legal doesn’t mean it’s righteous. Just because something is legal doesn’t mean it’s holy. God says, “Shut your mouth!” We’re all under this inclusive condemnation. That’s why Peter is standing up and repeatedly saying, “Be saved from this perverse generation!” So many, many other texts. The apostle writes to the church at Ephesus and says the same basic thing in Ephesians 2:1-3. We’ll not read it for time, but oh, what a state we are in. So this central and prominent doctrine that’s all through the New Testament is that we cannot save ourselves and we are owing to a holy God that we have offended because we are sinners.

So Peter, first of all, starts out mesmerizing his listeners. Now, again, the Jewish folks of this day would have thought, “We’re okay with God. We’re doing the right things. We are Abraham’s children and following the law of Moses.” And many of them were sincere and devout but Peter lumps them in with everyone else. We’re all condemned before this one true and holy God.

Well, a second reason this sermon is mesmerizing because it’s awful in its condemnation. It’s awful in its condemnation. He says, “Not only is the whole generation of you in such a state you need to be saved, you’re all perverse.” Now, this is an awful thing to hear from somebody. It’s awful that the entire generation is labeled, the New American Standard translation, perverse. Now, it’s not awful in the sense that Peter was being mean or that Peter was being hateful or judgmental by telling them they were perverse. No, the reason it’s awful is because it’s true. It’s an awful realization to understand that we are all perverse in the eyes of a holy God.

Now, that word “perverse” is an interesting Greek word. It literally means “untoward.” Untoward. Now, the point is: we are all supposed to be toward God in our devotion. We’re supposed to be looking to God for his rules and his law and his precepts for our life, but every single one of us has turned aside and we’re perverse. We crook off. We’re crooked. We’re not anchored to God. That includes Jeff Noblit and it includes every one of you. He said, “You’re all an untoward, a perverse generation, not focused on God or pleasing God from your heart of hearts.” Romans 3:23 sums it up another way, “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” That word “fall short” is “God designed you to do certain things to honor your parents and never tell lies; to love your neighbor as yourself; to love God and his word supremely in your life.” And we all fall short. We’re all perverse. We’re all defective, if you will. Deuteronomy 32:5, the prophet wrote to ancient Israel and he said, “”They have acted corruptly toward Him, They are not His children, because of their defect.” The same idea as perverse. “They have a defect. They are a perverse and crooked generation.”

Now, the interesting context was that in this day, the idolaters would tattoo their bodies with marks that identified with the idols that they chose to worship and honor and God said, “I look down at my people who are to be holy unto me and they’ve gone awhoring after all the idols of the lands. They have tattoos and marks on them.” He said, “I look at you and you don’t look marked like my people. You don’t have the right mark on you,” and that’s true spiritually of every single one of us.

Think about the broad perversity of our culture. The Jewish folks, many very sincere and many very devoted to their religion and yet the whole central theme of the Jewish religion was the promised Messiah and he came and they missed him. That’s a perversity. I don’t know…have you…you might not have heard about it, but did you know the pope’s in America? Have you missed that? My goodness, you’d think Jesus showed up or something. Now look, there’s a proper honor to a world leader. The Bible says you’re to show great honor to your pastors but what I’m seeing is I observed the pope is not proper biblical honor but worship. That there is some kind of magical power saving effect if we get close or if he might touch us. Do you know what that is? That’s a perversion. There is truth to honoring a religious leader but they go too far, but that’s the way we are. We warp everything we get ahold of. Some of you may, indeed, worship Jeff Noblit, God forbid. That’s a perversion. I’m only a sinner who’s an instrument God may use. I would adjure the Catholic church to announce to everyone, “Stop this silly superstition. I’m just another sinner. Quit worshiping me.”

It goes on and one. You may have seen something about the Miss America pageant recently, how they asked Vanessa Williams to come back to the pageant and they stood her up on the stage and they, in effect, said we were wrong by asking you to give up your crown back when you posed in Penthouse Magazine in pornographic images, displaying lesbian sexuality. And everybody just applauded and thought that was wonderful. What a perversion. Now look, it’s wonderful and good to commend somebody who has done so much good with her life like Vanessa Williams. She has achieved wonderful things. That ought to be commended, but to say the pageant was wrong for having moral standards is not right. You see, we put a twist on stuff. It looks like the right thing but then we warp it. They could have just left out her past. That would have been fine, but to go and say when we enforced the moral standards of this pageant, we were wrong, that was wrong. The Bible says, “Woe to those who call evil good and good evil.”

On and on and on and on and on and on we could go. My friend, when you dishonor your parents, that’s perverse in God’s eyes. When you tell a little white lie, that’s perverse in God’s eyes. When you don’t love your neighbor as yourself, that’s perverse in God’s eyes. Every day we show our perversity. Peter stands up, the first sermon in the first church and over and over and over the text says he’s saying, “Don’t you see this world has gone wrong? In the eyes of a true holy God, we’re all perverse.” It’s an awful characterization that is true of every single one of us. I’ve got good news: God is a holy God – now you listen to your pastor – God is a just God. God is a God who will render divine retribution and wrath on all sin and sinners, but listen to me: judgment and wrath, they’re never God’s last word. God’s last word is always grace and mercy.

So notice thirdly and we’ll close here: the merciful invitation. The merciful invitation. You know, when we use the word “mercy,” in the broadest sense mercy means God gives you what you could no way deserve. He holds back from you what you rightfully ought to receive. God is merciful. Now, when Peter stands up and begins preaching to these people 2,000 years ago, he could preach the exact same thing to us today and it would be accurate and applicable and he says, “You’re all perverse.” Now, listen to me: God would be perfectly and holy and just if he judged every one of us immediately, but God not only is just – listen to me – God is also love. Now, here’s how you’ll know if you’re hearing true preaching: you hear both of those in balance. If you’re sitting under a pastor and he’s real, real weak on wrath and love, love, love, love all the time, he’s probably out of balance. The Scripture makes us deal with both, but aren’t you glad that although he’s perfectly just, he is full of love? What a God.

Notice, first of all, God’s great reach in his mercy. His great reach. Peter says to this whole generation, “Not just that you’re perverse,” he says, “be saved from this perverse generation.” The implication is, “All of you. All of you can be saved. Every single one of you. Every Jew can receive Christ and be saved from the consequence of being perverse in a perverse generation. Every Roman, every Greek, every southerner, every person in the world. Every white person, red person, yellow person, black person, you can be saved. Oh, the reach of God’s mercy. Every rich person, every poor person.” I grew up on the wrong side of the tracks in Lawrenceburg, Tennessee and God saved me and I’ve got friends who are members of this church, they grew up on the right side of the tracks in Lawrenceburg, Tennessee and God saved them. It just reaches to everyone.

One of our favorite verses, Revelation 5:9, as we’re talking about all these types of people that God will save if they’ll just turn to him, “And they sang a new song, saying, ‘Worthy are You to take the book and to break its seals; for You were slain, and purchased for God with Your blood,'” listen, “‘men from every tribe and tongue and people and nation.'” God will reach to you if you will let him in mercy and forgiveness.

Then the depths. He says, “You’re a perverse generation but every one of you, no matter how deep your perversity, you can be saved.” I read again the testimony of a man who th was growing up in England in the middle of the 18 century. He had a godly, godly mom but she was very sick. His dad was an unbeliever and a sailor and sailors in that day lived notoriously vile lives, typically speaking. His mother passed away and he was 11 years old and he joined his daddy on a ship and becomes one of the most corrupt and vile men you could ever imagine being confronted with. So corrupt and vile was he that one of the captains he served with put him on an isolated island off the coast of Africa just to get rid of him. He didn’t care if he lived or died and he lived there for a long time as a slave to the natives on that island. Somehow one day an English ship happened to stop at the island and rescued him from his situation and through a series of events, a vicious and terrible storm where he thought he would perish, he remembered his godly mother’s teaching and he came to brokenness over his sin but by this time he was already become the captain of a slave ship and he realized the deep, wicked evil of enslaving other men. He was broken deeply over…I mean, this man was the depths of wickedness.

He had to have overseen the deaths of many, but God radically saved him. He came to awareness of his sin and he came to faith in Jesus Christ and he hadn’t had any education so he self-taught himself and later in England he became a pastor and he began working with the legislature, the senator in parliament, William Wilberforce, and I think I’m accurate it took him over 20 years but finally they got slavery outlawed in Great Britain. His name is John Newton and John Newton wrote the hymn,

“Amazing grace! How sweet the sound That saved a wretch like me! I once was lost, but now am found; Was blind, but now I see.”

Oh, the depths God’s mercy will go to. If God will save John Newton, he will save you and you and you and you and you and you and me and everyone who will come on his terms trusting in his Son, Jesus Christ.

Well, not only the great reach, notice the great redemption. He says, “Not only you, all of you can be saved,” he says, “Be saved.” The word “saved” has the idea of – listen, here’s what God is saying – “I want to pluck you out of your present status. I want to pluck you out of the present place you’re in and I want to put you in a wonderfully better place.” That’s what saved means. You’re getting out of this place and I’m going to put you in a better place. Now listen, are you listening this morning? You cannot pluck yourself out and put yourself there, but God can pluck you out and place you in a better place. That’s what he’s saying, “Let God pluck you out of the perverse generation and all the evil and bad that is coming on the perverse generation and let God put you in a blessed congregation where you belong to him forever and ever and ever.” You know, two things that come up when I think about redemption, first of all, he wants to redeem you from ruin in this life. If you keep living without Christ, you may think you’re going to do well but it always leads to ruin. Now, sometimes it’s manifested more visibly, outwardly than others and in some lives you see it more than others, but ruin comes from living in harmony with – now listen to your pastor – from living in harmony with this perverse generation. Proverbs 13:15 says, “the way of the treacherous is hard.” Hard. It may not seem hard at first. Some of you young people, college students, young singles, you may be sinning and enjoying the perversities of a perverse generation and you’re doing great. It’s not over yet. The way of the treacherous is hard.

Proverbs 5:22 promises, “His own iniquities will capture the wicked, And he will be held with the cords of his sin.” Notice that, sin itself will hold you. What this means is if you’re perverse, remember “perverse” means “crooked.” You’re supposed to be anchored on God and honoring God but we all turn aside. What happens, if you’re perverse and you’re crooked, you’re like a boomerang. You can throw a boomerang out there and if that boomerang could talk it would say, “Woo, I’m free! Look at me, I’m sailing and I’m free!” then a moment later, it turns right around and crashes right at your feet and the boomerang says, “I didn’t get anywhere.” That’s what this verse means. Sin has it’s way of coming back on you. When you live in harmony, now we are all sinners but in your heart and mind if you embrace this present generation and don’t turn to Jesus Christ, eventually it’s going to come back on you and ruin you.

2 Peter 2:19 powerfully illustrates this, “promising them freedom,” wow, don’t we have a lot of people talking about, “I’m free. I’m free. I can live the way I want to. I can follow every lust that comes across my perverse heart and the whole culture is supposed to congratulate me and celebrate it. I’m free.” Promising freedom, what happens? “While they themselves are slaves of corruption; for by what a man is overcome, by this he is enslaved.” Folks, when you watch this perverse generation celebrate all these things that God has always called evil, they’re not free, they’re enslaved. They’re enslaved. They wouldn’t do it if they could stop doing it. Only Christ can give you the power to overcome those things and not let the ruin of sin come back on you.

When I was early converted, as many of you know, I grew up in an agnostic home. Now, there were years when it wasn’t so agnostic and I thank God my mom’s heart turned toward the Lord in her latter years, but there was a lot of hatred and bitterness toward religion and the things of God and, by the way, I understand that because when I was converted at age 19, I went to churches and I found a lot of stuff that didn’t look like Christianity. A lot of compromise. A lot of hypocrisy. I mean, we all struggle with sin, amen? But it’s one thing to wallow in it, amen? There’s a difference between struggling with sin and just laying in it. But anyway, that was my background and I was listening to a sermon driving to college one night on the radio, I can’t explain it, it was as if God just shined through the top of my 72 Cutlass Oldsmobile and his great love just filled my heart and I became deeply, deeply aware of how sinful and perverse I was, but equally deeply aware of how forgiving Jesus was. Both of those became so real to me.

Now listen, if you had had a vote in Lawrence County High School in Lawrenceburg, Tennessee, who’s the most unlikely guy to ever be a preacher? I stood up in Social Studies class and debated that the Bible was a joke and was not the word of God. I did that until God knocked me off my horse driving back to school and showed me my sin and showed me that in love I didn’t deserve mercy, his Son, Jesus, died to forgive me. And God that night in my car, saved me out of a perverse generation.

I hadn’t been converted to Christ and, by the way, I didn’t really know what happened. I just knew it was wonderful and I knew God’s love and I knew my sin and I had more zeal than I had common sense. Now, it still may be true to some extent, but I was so excited about the change that happened in my life and I began preaching and teaching all that I could anywhere and anybody who would have me and God have mercy on those poor churches that let me preach in those early days. But there was a family friend who was a very successful businessman but he had given his life over to lust and indulgence. He became a drunkard and he lost his wife; he lost his kids; he lost his home; he lost his business. Somewhere toward the end of that ruin, he came to our house one night intoxicated and I went out to his car. I’m a brand new Christian and I spent all night sitting in his car pleading with him to turn to Christ. Pleading with him to see his sin and receive Jesus Christ. As far as I know, he never did. He never came to faith in Christ and the last record I heard of this man was he was living in the bedroom of a family in the housing projects in Lawrenceburg, Tennessee with absolutely nothing.

Now, not every ruin turns out that way, but trust me, sin comes back on you with force and ruin and when Peter stands up and preaches this classic numerously reproduced sermon we find all through the New Testament, words are different but that message is all through there, “Be saved from this perverse generation!” one of the things he’s saying is, “Don’t ruin your life! Sure, it looks like it’s working now but don’t do it. Save yourself from the ruin sin will bring.”

Then lastly, he means: be saved from eternal ruin. Eternal ruin. The wrath of God that you will be exposed to for all eternity. Can I let you in on an interesting point? Hell is a real place. Now, do you know why a place of eternal torment is so real? Now, listen to me: because the God you sin against is so wonderful and holy and punishment is based on the magnitude of the one you offend. For example, now, you folks know I’m a deer hunter and sometimes when we’re deer hunting, us guys, we act like junior high numbskulls. We just pick at each other; just rib each other; just aggravate each other. It’s what I do for recreation and I can text one of those guys, one of them made fun of my hunting ability the other day and I texted, no I actually said it, I said, “I’ll beat you to death with my arrows.” Nothing happened. Nothing happened. What would happen if I put a text out that said, “I’m going to beat Barack Obama to death”? The FBI, the CIA, would be all over me and they should. Why? Because I offended a different person than David Young. David. Barack. He’s president. You don’t mess with him.

Listen to me, friend. That is humorous but this is so serious, you’ve got to get this: God is infinitely holy. You can’t sin against him and think the results will be light. That’s why we need the Bible. It forces us back to the truth. You’ve got to wean yourself off of Joel Osteen and get some Bible truth in your preaching. Peter says, Peter, the first preacher of the first church, preaching the first sermon, you’d expect him to get it right, wouldn’t you? He says, “Be saved from,” what? “The wrath that is going to come against this perverse generation.” Romans 2:5, boy, we could use a thousand verses almost, “But because of your stubbornness and unrepentant heart you are storing up,” now, notice that, “storing up wrath for yourself in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God.” In other words, every time we do a perverse thing as a part of this perverse generation, God in heaven is not in….some of you think, “Well, God’s not doing anything.” Oh, yes he is. He’s building a case against you that will justify the wrath he’s going to bring against you if you don’t come to Christ. Storing up wrath. Storing up wrath. You say, “Well, I’ve never done anything that bad.” Oh, you may not be a mass murderer but Jesus said, “If you hate in your heart, you’re a murderer,” storing up wrath. Jealousy in your heart, storing up wrath. Dishonoring parents, storing up wrath. Sexual immorality, storing up wrath. My friend, the case against you is overwhelming. So Peter with love for the people says, “Be saved from that eternal wrath that is coming against you.”

Now, another perverse viewpoint that we’re hearing too much today is that God sent Jesus primarily to help us with life’s difficulties and life’s problems. Now, if you come to faith in Christ, it is true he will help you with life’s difficulties and with life’s problems but understand Jesus could have come taught us psychology to help us with difficulties and problems and never died on a cross. But he died on the cross because we have a much, much, much greater problem than life’s difficulties and here’s the problem, are you read? God is your problem because he’s holy and he’s just. Cancer is not your problem. Your lust is not your final problem. Your sin is not your problem. Your wife is not your problem. Your husband is not your problem. Your financial insecurity is not your problem. An infinitely holy God who is just is storing up wrath and judgment against you. John 3:18, “Those who have not believed are judged,” what’s the word? “Already.” Already. Why? Because we’re all perverse and we’ve sinned against this great, great God and his justice demands us.

God is the one we disregard. God is the one whose law we break. God is our Creator to whom we owe all allegiance and we ignore him and even despise him at times and it is God’s wrath in judgment that stands against us. In Luke 13, I regularly preach through a book of the Bible verse by verse, chapter by chapter, and back in Luke 13, some people came to Jesus and said, “Jesus, some terrible things have happened, a tower fell on some people and crushed them to death. And another terrible thing happened, some people were giving their sacrifices at the altar and Pilate had soldiers come in and slay them and mingle their blood with their sacrifices.” They said, “Jesus, these people must have done very bad things for God to have allowed that to happen to them.” That was the Jewish understanding of the day that evil things happened to you because God was punishing you and Jesus looked at all those people and, again, he lumped them all together and do you know what his response was? “Unless you repent, you will likewise perish.” Unless you repent. In other words, there is wrath and judgment coming to all men if you don’t find forgiveness for being a sinner and a part of a perverse generation. John 3:36, ” He who believes in the Son has eternal life; but he who does not obey the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God abides,” it’s not just coming one day, it’s there. “Abides on him.”

Now, the most radical, perverse notion that has ever occurred on the earth is this: that you can have your sins forgiven and be right with God apart from God’s provision, his Son, Jesus Christ. You can go around the world. I have traveled the world many, many, many times over and I have seen people so devoted to their religions and my heart of pity goes out to them. There is a guy in India who tries to please his gods by showing his devotion, he’s determined he’ll never walk again and he rolls everywhere he goes. I’ve never seen anybody more devoted than that, but it doesn’t matter. He’s going to roll right on into hell because he has the notion, “There is something other than trusting in Christ that will forgive my sins.” Listen to me, listen to me: there is only one person who has ever walked the earth who was qualified and willing to hang on a cross and take your wrath for you and that is Jesus Christ.

In the final analysis, though men carried out the driving of the nails in his hands and the driving of the stakes in his feet and hung him on that tree, in the final analysis, God killed Jesus because he loved you. He said, “I’m going to put on Jesus what I ought to be storing up to put on you.” Friends, that’s love. That’s grace. That’s a gift beyond comprehension. Beyond comprehension.

Galatians 1:4-5 and I’m done, “Who,” that’s Jesus, “Jesus gave Himself for our sins so that He might rescue us,” that’s being saved out of again, “rescue us from this present evil age,” or Peter would have said “perverse generation.” Same thing, though. “According to the will of our God and Father.” Here’s what the apostle is saying: it’s God’s will that you be saved from ruin and eternal wrath by receiving Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior.

Now, we don’t believe in hoop jumps at Grace Life Church. Your flesh would love it if I gave you something to do right now that you could feel good about yourself. I’m not going to do that. I’m going to leave you stranded on Jesus. I’m going to leave you stranded with Jesus because the Bible says, “With the heart men believe resulting in salvation. For by grace are you saved through faith and that not of yourselves.” You can’t do a religious work to make it happen. It’s not in yourselves. “Not of works, it’s the gift of God.” The gift. “Not of works lest any man should boast.”

Let’s bow our heads in prayer this morning. Every head bowed and every eye closed.