Unlike most other preachers, I'm not here to
entertain you and make you laugh.
Sin is no laughing matter, because it dishonors
God and robs Him of His glory.
And hell is no joke, but a literal
place of punishment for sin.
Hell is for all eternity, and the fastest
way to go to hell is to hug
your darling sin.
Animal trappers catch monkeys in Africa by dropping
a nut in a bottleneck jar.
The monkey will desire that nut so badly,
he will contract his paw to squeeze it
into that jar, and then he will grab
that nut and hang on to it for
dear life.
And try as he may, he cannot extract
his hand from that jar so long as
he hangs on to that nut.
And that's how the trappers catch him, because
he won't sense his danger, because he's hanging
on to that nut.
And that's exactly how the devil will get
you, friend, good churchgoer that you are.
You have a pet sin that you won't
let go of, and it will drive you
into the clutches of the devil in a
dark infernal called hell.
You better listen to me today, friend, because
I care about your soul.
I don't want you to go to hell.
It's too crowded enough in there already without
you busting hell wide open when you die.
I have a somber message of warning to
you today, friends.
And dullness of hearing is what the devil
wants for you, because he does not want
you to hear this message today with clarity
that brings conviction of sin, because he doesn't
want to lose his hold on you, that
he is entrenched in your life with sin.
Well, that's the introduction to my message today,
friends, that is entitled Pressing the Claims of
Christ's Lordship on This Perverted Generation That Doesn't
See Anything Wrong with Sin.
That's a long title, but it's true, and
I pray that God will disturb somebody today
with this message to keep them out of
hell.
Most preachers like to be accepted by their
hearers, so they won't preach any message that
is disturbing to them.
Why upset the good deacons if you don't
have to?
So they will only give you soothing messages
that ease your conscience and keep you entertained.
But I'm not like most other preachers, because
God has called me and commissioned me to
warn you that the soul that sinneth, it
shall die.
I have a duty to God to warn
you about sin and its consequences, because whether
you believe it or not, friend, God is
a God who must punish sin.
I don't want your blood on my hands,
as written about in Ezekiel chapter 33, when
I say unto the wicked, O wicked man,
thou shalt surely die.
If thou dost not speak to warn the
wicked from his way, that wicked man shall
die in his iniquity, but his blood will
I require at thine hand.
I don't want bloody hands at the judgment,
friend.
I don't want your blood on my hands.
The main problem with this generation is that
everyone has become desensitized to sin.
Turn on cable TV, and you can watch
the most perverted things, and it won't make
you blush.
Sin no longer shocks us.
Sin no longer shames us.
We can sit back and enjoy sin and
still call ourselves Christians.
And the blame is not all on Hollywood
programming, but the blame needs to be shared
with all pastors who quit preaching hard against
sin and warning folks about a devil's hell
and omitting the claims of Christ's lordship in
the gospel.
Jesus had some hard sayings that he pressed
on his followers, but we modern preachers ignore
them today.
We just tell folks that God loves them,
and if you want to go to heaven,
all you have to do is walk an
aisle or raise your hand or repeat a
prayer where you accept Jesus as your personal
savior.
But that's not in my Bible, and it's
a lie out of hell that has given
millions a false assurance and has plunged them
into a devil's hell.
Jesus said, If thy right eye offend thee,
pluck it out and cast it from thee.
For it is profitable for thee that one
of thy members should perish, and not that
the whole body should be cast into hell.
But the church member or anyone else who
hangs on to a pet's sin is like
a monkey in his nut, and he'll surely
be cast into hell and its torments, so
says the Lord Jesus.
Jesus said, No man can serve two masters,
for either he will hate the one and
love the other, or else he will hold
to the one and despise the other.
You cannot serve God and mammon.
I guess that knocks out 90% of
our money-loving, money-hoarding congregations, church members
who trust in a bank account more than
they trust God.
Jesus said, There are few who are saved.
Jesus said, Enter ye in at the straight
gate, for wide is the gate, and broad
is the way that leadeth to destruction.
And many there be which go in thereat,
because straight is the gate, and narrow is
the way which leadeth unto life, and few
there be that find it.
But most pastors today have broadened the way
of salvation in ways Jesus never did.
Jesus continually pressed his claims and demands on
all followers of his.
He that loveth father or mother more than
me is not worthy of me.
And he that loveth son or daughter more
than me is not worthy of me.
And he that taketh not his cross and
followeth after me is not worthy of me.
Let me ask you, friend, is Jesus sitting
at your country club or is he mingling
with the homeless at the downtown mission?
Have you been going your own sinful, self
-satisfied way and asking Jesus to follow you?
Or do you die to yourself and take
up your cross and go where he goes,
no matter how distasteful it is to your
flesh?
Jesus said, The kingdom of heaven is like
unto a merchant man seeking goodly pearls, who,
when he had found one pearl of great
price, went and sold all that he had
and bought it.
Jesus, like that great pearl, is of inestimable
value.
He's worth selling all for and losing all
for, so he may be gained.
How can you follow a crucified Lord if
you are hugging your favorite sin and you
refuse to be completely done with it?
That monkey in the jungle with his nut
has got nothing on you.
Jesus said, If you want to follow him,
then self must go the way of the
cross and die.
If any man will come after me, let
him deny himself and take up his cross
and follow me, for whosoever will save his
life shall lose it, and whosoever will lose
his life for my sake shall find it.
Are you sitting on the throne of your
life and ruling there?
Self must be dethroned and another enthroned there.
The Lord Jesus Christ, a crucified Christ, must
have crucified followers.
Listen to me, friend, and listen to me
closely.
God demands unconditional surrender to the lordship of
his blessed son in your life and mine.
If you're going to be saved, your rebellion
must be squashed.
You must throw down your sin at his
nail pierced feet and be done with it.
If you don't drop that sin, you will
go to hell.
You must come to the place in your
life where you see your wicked heart for
what it is and acknowledge to God that,
because the fact that you are a sinner,
you deserve to go to hell.
You're not a sinner because you sin.
Rather, you sin because you are a big
sinner, even if you are the chairman of
the deacons.
Don't be like that foolish monkey with his
nut.
Drop the sin.
Drop it now.
Now is the time to be honest with
yourself and transparent with God.
You must repent and throw down your shotgun
of rebellion at his nail pierced feet and
own him as savior and lord.
You must submit all you are to all
he is, and he is lord.
The lordship of Christ is a reality, friend,
and if you continue to keep going your
own way, that is rebellion and sin.
It's treason, and Isaiah states, all we like
sheep have gone our own way, and sin
is going our way when we know it
isn't God's way.
Repent before it's too late and come to
a bloodstained Christ for forgiveness of sin.
Jesus said, I am the bread of life.
He that cometh to me shall never hunger,
and he that believeth on me shall never
thirst.
Listen to me, friend.
The gospel is for the hungry, the weary,
and the thirsty.
Let me ask you, are you hungry for
God?
Are you weary of sin?
Are you thirsty for Christ?
Then come to him in utter surrender.
When you come to him, your life is
no longer your own.
Your time is no longer your own.
Your money is no longer your own.
Your body is no longer your own.
Christ must be a complete master.
He is lord.
Let us pray.