Judgment: God's Last Resort

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0><tr> <td valign="top" colspan=2 height=50 BGCOLOR="#333366" TEXT="#080000"> <div> <B>Judgment: God's Last Resort</B></div> <div> </div> </td> </tr><tr> <td valign="top" width=165 BGCOLOR="#CCCC99" TEXT="#080000"> <div> <B> <TABLE BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="2" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="132" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="VOID" RULES="NONE" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 35 ><NOBR><div> <A HREF="id368.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Living For God In A MixedUp World"><U><B><IMG SRC="007151d0.gif" border=0 width="21" height="29" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></U></A></div> </NOBR></tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP><NOBR><div> <A HREF="id372.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Getting A Fresh Start With God"><U><B><IMG SRC="008151d0.gif" border=0 width="21" height="29" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></U></A></div> </NOBR></tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP WIDTH="20"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="35" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="20" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP><NOBR><div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="29" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" WIDTH="13"></div> </NOBR></tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP><NOBR><div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="29" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" WIDTH="27"></div> </NOBR></tD> </tR> </TABLE></B></div> <div> Previous/Next Sermon</div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="www.stanbaker.org"><U><B>Home</B></U></A></div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="id2.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Biblical and Theological Studies"><U><B>Biblical and Theological Studies</B></U></A></div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="id3.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Church Ministry"><U><B>Church Ministry</B></U></A></div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="id15.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Sermon Notes"><U>Sermon Notes</U></A></div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="id4.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Links"><U><B>Links</B></U></A></div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="id5.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Personal"><U><B>Personal</B></U></A></div> <bR> <div> www.stanbaker.org</div> <div> <A HREF="mailto:stan@stanbaker.org" TARGET="_top" TITLE="mailto:stan@stanbaker.org"><U>stan@stanbaker.org</U></A></div> </td> <td valign="top" height=430 BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#080000"> <div> <B>"Judgment: God's Last Resort" </B></div> <div> <B>Berean Bible Church, Genesis 6, April 27, 2003am</B></div> <bR> <div>      "Longing to leave her poor Brazilian neighborhood, Christina wanted to see the world. Discontent with a home having only a pallet on the floor, a washbasin, and a wood-burning stove, she dreamed of a better life in the city. One morning she slipped away, breaking her mother's heart. Knowing what life on the streets would be like for her young, attractive daughter, Maria hurriedly packed to go find her. On her way to the bus stop she entered a drugstore to get one last thing. Pictures. She sat in the photograph booth, closed the curtain, and spent all she could on pictures of herself. With her purse full of small black-and-white photos, she boarded the next bus to Rio de Janiero. Maria knew Christina had no way of earning money. She also knew that her daughter was too stubborn to give up. When pride meets hunger, a human will do things that were before unthinkable. Knowing this, Maria began her search. Bars, hotels, nightclubs, any place with the reputation for street walkers or prostitutes. She went to them all. And at each place she left her picture-taped on a bathroom mirror, tacked to a hotel bulletin board, fastened to a corner phone booth. And on the back of each photo she wrote a note. It wasn't too long before both the money and the pictures ran out, and Maria had to go home. The weary mother wept as the bus began its long journey back to her small village. It was a few weeks later that young Christina descended the hotel stairs. Her young face was tired. Her brown eyes no longer danced with youth but spoke of pain and fear. Her laughter was broken. Her dream had become a nightmare. A thousand times over she had longed to trade these countless beds for her secure pallet. Yet the little village was, in too many ways, too far away. As she reached the bottom of the stairs, her eyes noticed a familiar face. She looked again, and there on the lobby mirror was a small picture of her mother. Christina's eyes burned and her throat tightened as she walked across the room and removed the small photo. Written on the back was this compelling invitation. "Whatever you have done, whatever you have become, it doesn't matter. Please come home.'" She did. (Max Lucado, <I>No Wonder They Call Him the Savior</I>, Bible.org, "Grace")</div> <div>      God will bring judgment, but he first and foremost longs to show mercy to those who will accept it. No matter what you have done. No matter what you have become. </div> <bR> <div> <B>I. Evil grows on the earth and God responds (</B><A HREF="http://www.biblegateway.com/bible?passage=Gen+6:1-7" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.biblegateway.com/bible?passag"><U><B>Genesis 6:1-7</B></U></A><B>).</B></div> <div> A. Genesis 6:1-4 - Three basic issues:</div> <div> 1. They were overstepping the boundaries of marriage. When we set aside God's standard, our own standards don't carry any weight for anyone else but us. Everyone can do what is right in their own eyes, apart from God. Adultery, divorce, homosexual acts, premarital sex and co-habitation are still wrong in God's eyes.</div> <div> 2. They were asserting independence from God. It is like breathing in oxygen while declaring your independence from it. Our very existence at every moment depends on God's work.</div> <div> 3. They were trying to achieve immortality apart from God. Woody Allen said, "I don't want to achieve immortality through my work, I want to achieve it through not dying." The best that the human race could offer still could not overcome the curse. Only God offers immortality through his mercy.</div> <div> B. Genesis 6:3, 5-7 - God's response.</div> <div> 1. God's (life-giving) spirit would not be with humans forever; humans are mortal (prone to death because of the curse; vs. 3).</div> <div> 2. God noticed ("saw") the wickedness and corruption on earth (vss. 5, 12). </div> <div> 3. His heart was filled with pain because of the wickedness of humans (vs. 6).</div> <div> 4. He determined to bring judgment on humankind (vss. 7, 12-13). It it his right, but it is not his pleasure.</div> <bR> <div> <B>II. God's salvation is offered to those who will accept it (</B><A HREF="http://www.biblegateway.com/bible?passage=Gen+6:8-22" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.biblegateway.com/bible?passag"><U><B>Genesis 6:8-22</B></U></A><B>)</B></div> <div> 1. Noah found grace (vs. 8). Grace is God's unmerited, undeserved kindness. No one deserved it - why did Noah receive it? Because he knew he needed it. He knew he was accountable to God.</div> <div> 2. Noah lived a righteous life (vs. 9). Genesis 7:1 says God "saw" his righteousness. What set him apart from everybody else was not merely his personal religion or his heart, it was how he lived, which reflected his heart of faith toward God. And he lived that way because he had received grace.</div> <div> 3. Noah was spared by following God's only way of salvation - the ark (vss. 14-22).</div> <bR> <div> <B>III. Four Lessons</B></div> <div> 1.  Judgment is coming again, on the whole earth (<A HREF="http://www.biblegateway.com/bible?passage=2Pet+3:10-13" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.biblegateway.com/bible?passag"><U>2 Peter 3:10-13</U></A>). But you might say, "I'll be long gone by then". But everyone faces judgment. Hebrews 9:27 says, "Man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgment." Romans 3:23 says, "<B>All</B> have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God." People who have not trusted Jesus are already condemned to death and eternal punishment. John 3:18 says, "Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God's one and only Son." You will face judgment if you refuse to accept God's way of salvation. Prepare now . . .</div> <div> 2.  Salvation is available to those who will accept it. There is only one way (like the ark was the only hope from the flood). Hebrews 9:27-28 says, "Just as man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgment, so <B>Christ was sacrificed</B> once to take away the sins of many people; and <B>he will appear</B> a second time, not to bear sin, but <B>to bring salvation</B> to those who are waiting for him." Jesus invites you at every turn in your life to come to him. Whatever you have done, whatever you have become - it doesn't matter when you turn to him for forgiveness.</div> <div> 3.  Those who accept God's salvation are marked by righteousness (right living; vs. 9). God cares how his people live. Hebrews 12:6 says, "The Lord disciplines those he loves, and he punishes everyone he accepts as a son." There is a coming judgment for believers, an evaluation for God's people as to how we lived our lives. 2 Corinthians 5:10 says, "For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive what is due him for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad." Evaluate your life now, according to God's word and the Holy Spirit (stop judging yourself based on your own standards, which may either be too loose or too harsh).</div> <div> 4.  Those who accept God's salvation have a duty to tell others about it. Noah was preaching as he built the ark, and people were scoffing, but he kept building and preaching until time ran out. We have the same message: judgment is coming, but mercy is available - what will you do with it? Receive it and then share it.</div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> copyright, 2003, Stanley Baker</div> <div> www.stanbaker.org</div> </td> </tr></table></body>