Claims of God Duty of Sinners

That God is a dread sovereign, high and lifted up, is a fact of my Bible, the prophet Isaiah declares. For thus saith the high and lofty one that inhabited the eternity, whose name is holy. The entire Bible resounds with the attributes of an almighty God who is not only the creator of all things, but the judge of all the earth.

And a day is fast approaching when he shall reveal himself from heaven. In 2 Thessalonians we read, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire, taking vengeance on them that know not God and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his power. That God requires obedience from his children is a fact of scripture, but man is a sinner with a rune nature and a bent toward sin.

The rune condition of man is best described in the book of Job. How much more abominable and filthy is man, which drinketh iniquity like water. Man can't get enough of sin, and neither can you, friend.

But God is holy, and he hates sin. A long-provoked God will take vengeance upon the wicked. The psalmist declares, God is angry with the wicked every day.

If he turn not, he will wet his sword. He hath bent his bow and made it ready. The gospel has rights and claims on a person's life.

In Matthew chapter 16 we read, Then said Jesus unto his disciples, 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. God requires man to repent or be cast into the torments of hell.

In Acts we read, In the times of this ignorance God winked at, but now commandeth all men everywhere to repent. One cannot read the word of God without being confronted with the claims of God and the duty of sinners. And that's the title of my message today, friends, the claims of God and the duty of sinners.

God requires perfection to get into his holy heaven. And no man is perfect for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. Sin is the transgression of the law.

All men are sinners who have broken God's holy law. The strictness and severity of God's law will be the measuring line of all men at a future judgment, as all men will be one day held up against the unbending law of God. And so will you, friend, and all who stand there in their own merits will fail that test.

You must stand in the merits of another, the Lord Jesus Christ. Listen, friend, you are not a sinner because you sin. Rather, you sin because you are a big sinner because of your sin nature.

You love sin and drink it like water. But all crimes committed must be dealt a penalty. The penalty of sin is death.

Sin is treason against the sovereign. All guilty rebels will one day face the condemnation of their sins. For the sentencing of the law must be carried out against all lawbreakers.

The sentence is punishment in flames, in the torments of an everlasting hell reserved for the devil and his angels. If you die in your sins, you will be cast into the outer darkness of a bottomless pit that burns like a furnace. There will be wailing and gnashing of teeth.

Hell is a prison from which you will never escape. We get a sense of the surprise and shock of a soul sent to hell as seen in Isaiah. The sinners in Zion are afraid.

Fearfulness has surprised the hypocrites who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire, who among us shall dwell with everlasting burnings. But God in his mercy has provided a way of escape from eternal damnation. In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten son into the world that we might live through him.

Jesus came into this world doing good, healing the sick and giving sight to the blind, even raising the dead to life. He brought rest to the weary. Yet what happened? Men cried, away with him, and nailed him to a cross.

On Calvary Jesus suffered as a crucified common criminal. He was beaten, spit upon, scourged. A crown of thorns was placed upon his head, and he was ridiculed and mocked by the religious leaders of his day.

They circled the cross like vultures saying, he saved others, let him save himself. Meanwhile, Roman soldiers shot craps at the foot of the cross. It was a scandal.

The whole world groaned in agony on that day as the son of God was nailed to a cruel cross of execution. Jesus hung naked on that scandalous cross as a substitute for sin, becoming a curse for us. Look at that man on the cross.

See him there as he hangs there with his arms outstretched, beckoning you to come to him and believe on him. Look at that blessed man on the cross, covered in his own blood. Look at that bloodstained Savior from sin as he says, look unto me and be you saved.

All the ends of the earth, for I am God and there is none else. If you have not trusted this blessed Savior friend, receive him now, be for it's too late. Soon he will come in judgment on this world, when his anger shall burn as an oven, and then you shall meet him as your judge.

If you die outside of Christ, you will spend eternity in a burning hell of smoke and torments. I warn you, don't go to hell friend, get to Christ when all is against him. His love flows out to a world of guilty sinners.

The bleeding sacrifice for sin, you must get your sins onto his blood. The cross is the place where wicked men sought to get rid of him, but by his death, it becomes the place where a saving power flows out to all who come in repentance, confessing they are sinners and own them as their Savior and Lord. Come to Christ friend and surrender all you are to all he is, and he is Lord.

And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life. He that cometh to me shall never hunger. And he that believeth on me shall never thirst.

The gospel is for the hungry, the weary and the thirsty. Let me ask you friend, are you hungry for God? Are you weary of your sins? Are you thirsty for Christ? Then come to him and believe on him. The duty required is to come, and he has a pure gospel promise to all who come.

All that the Father giveth me shall come to me, and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out.