Presuming Upon Mercy

Well it's good to be here tonight friends and I have a message I want to bring before you that you're not going to want to miss because it might be speaking directly to you. I believe that a old black-and-white movie about Sherlock Holmes sums up the general consensus of how men view God in the film. An escaped murderer from prison falls off a cliff to his death and Sherlock Holmes has to relate this news to the deceased convict sister who first assumes her brother has been caught by the police and now will be hung but Sherlock Holmes informs her he is dead with the statement he's in more merciful hands now infern that God will now deal more kindly with him than man would.

I believe if you were to go around the city tonight and stop folks and ask them to give you their opinion on God they would all agree that God is all love all mercy and he will take into consideration what a good person you are regardless of the sins you have committed and he will not be so severe as to send you to hell. I knew a long-standing Baptist church member who believed that Michael Jackson went to heaven when he died. I asked this person why they believed a pedophile would go to heaven and this good Baptist said that they thought God is a good God and God gives everyone a second chance to believe in him even after you're dead.

That's what this person believed and I believe most folks have a religion that presumes upon the mercy of God it was this very tactic that Satan used to deceive Adam and Eve in the garden. Listen to me friends in Genesis chapter three and verse four the serpent beguiles Eve with the words ye shall not surely die. In other words go ahead and do what your eyes see is good for surely God will not deal severely with you for such a trifle after all doesn't God love you? Isn't he a merciful father? Surely he wouldn't be so severe as to punish you in hell forever but just because you told some lies just because you stole a thing just because you took his name in vain but just because you committed fornication a few times or committed adultery surely a merciful God will look on your good character and see your true intentions and overlook your faults altogether.

But Satan is a liar and a deceiver and a murderer of souls for God will indeed punish sin for he is not God at all. Satan through his soft speaking ministers today enlarge on the love and mercy of God and throw a dark veil over scripture that contradicts them. God's Word boldly declares the soul that sinneth it shall die.

Satan's ministers will never preach from 2nd Thessalonians chapter 1 and verses 7 through 9 which declare the stark truths about God's unbending justice. Oh 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. No friends you won't hear that text preached next Sunday in church but you'll sure hear about the love of God and his great mercy towards man.

I believe most lost church members base their faith on an opinion of God in whom they are presuming upon his mercy over everything else. God's too good to send anyone to hell is the common view held in our churches today and in the world at large. Although he killed some folks while he was here he's in more merciful hands now.

Surely God will review his case and act kindly toward him. That's how the people out in Hollywood think. I used to know a Baptist pastor who believed Elvis went to heaven when he died even though Elvis was a famous womanizer who was living with his girlfriend when he died years ago when I was a young man and I lived in Memphis Tennessee.

I used to date a beauty queen who dated Elvis and she told me that Elvis had the filthiest mouth of any man she ever knew but that Baptist pastor felt Elvis went to heaven just the way he was. That's why every time some famous celebrity dies they say well he's up in heaven now looking down on us he's up there entertaining God because the happiness he gave people through his heart while he was on earth with his talent will assure him a spot in heaven because he was a good person. But the trouble is good people don't go to heaven.

Only forgiven people get to go there. If your sins are not washed in Christ's blood then you are none of his. In flame and fire the Lord Jesus Christ will come against you to take vengeance on you and send you to an everlasting hell of torments and flames as you are punished in everlasting destruction.

The title of my message this evening friends is presuming upon mercy. Listen to me friends that's a very very dangerous place to be to be presuming upon mercy. And I want you friend to examine yourself tonight and see if you have been holding on to a wrong view of God by presuming upon his mercy for yourself when you know deep down how wicked you really are.

How you yourself have been presuming on God's mercy because you don't want to believe God will treat you severely for what you see is a little sin. But little sins are just as grievous to God as bigger sins. A small leak will sink a ship just as surely as a cannonball.

What happened to Eve when she believed the serpents lie that ye shall not surely die? Because Satan was implying that there was no absolute certainty of it. It may be you shall live after all hasn't God been good to you? Why would he then suddenly become severe? Hasn't God blessed your business and made you rich? So tell Satan to the unconverted deacon businessman who feels no danger in his conscience. All is well.

It matters not that some of your gain came from unfair weights and crooked scales. Some of your earthly goods were got by cheating other men out of theirs. But God must love you anyhow.

So you're still the same after all. He made you a deacon in the church and he's giving you respect from others. Ye shall not surely die.

All is well with your soul. Look how good God has blessed you. God will overlook a few sins you have done.

He's not a severe judge with no compassion. It's like the Hollywood actress now who cheated her two daughters by bribing their way into USC. And all other offenders have pleaded guilty.

But she and her husband pleaded not guilty because they believe they did nothing wrong. And as soon as they have their day in court the judge will see it their way and let them go free. That's what they believe.

That's how people view God. Although deep down they know they have broken the law of God by one sin or another. But they don't view the sin highly.

And they presume upon the mercy of God as a good judge who will see things their way and not send them to a devil's hell that's only reserved for devils and the worst of mankind like sociopaths and serial killers. You won't find anybody in hell who just had a few sins so long as they weren't on a citizen. That's how the world thinks.

Though he'd be a murderer he's more and he's in more merciful hands now. But God could not look upon his beloved son nailed to that cross without his justice falling unsparingly upon him. Jesus cried from the cross, Oh my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Sin had to be dealt with by just and holy God.

God is a God who must punish sin. Jesus came into the world doing good. I know you've heard of Jesus friends.

How he healed the sick and how he gave sight to the blind. Yet what happened? Wicked men cried away with him and nailed him to a cross. The Roman soldiers nailed Jesus to that ignoble tree, piercing his innocent hands and feet with those nails.

But Christ on the cross bore the curse becoming sin for us and every stroke of the Romans hammer was an explanation point that God must punish sin. God must punish sin. God must punish sin.

But that he loved us and sent his son to be the propitiation for our sins. Listen friends, the cross is the place where wicked men sought to get rid of him. But by his death it becomes the place where his saving power flows out to all.

Hear me now, flows out to all who come in repentance confessing they are sinners and own him as their Savior and Lord. If you've been presuming on his mercy, then it's time you face the facts of reality and admit your guilt. Admit the fact you are a guilty sinner who has committed treason against a sovereign.

You are a lawbreaker who deserves the utmost punishment for the sentencing of the law must be carried out upon all guilty sinners. Presuming upon his mercy is presuming on a rope of sand. Presuming because you're not bad enough for hell then you must be good enough for heaven is having faith like a hole in the wall.

But that's only your opinion. You're presuming God will agree with you and see it your way. Hell is full of presumptuous church members who never knew Christ Jesus, who never got their sins washed in his blood.

They just presumed something. God's Word is sure and his justice is unbending. And if you are none of his, he will come as your judge to sweep you into hell with all the rest of unwatched sinners.

For 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. I'm going to sing a hymn, friend. And if you've been awakened to your lost condition through this message, and if you've been brought under conviction of sin, if you've been shown that you've been presuming upon God when you shouldn't have, you've been holding a false opinion of who God is, I want you to repent of your sins and come by faith to Christ Jesus for forgiveness of sin.

Jesus is the pearl of great price. He's worth selling off for to be gained. Listen to me, friend.

If God's been dealing with your soul through this message, don't hesitate or be deceived by the devil's lie that ye shall not surely die. You listen to God who declares the soul that sinneth, it shall die. Listen to the words of Christ Jesus.

I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh unto the Father but by me. Listen to that bloodstained Savior from sin as he hangs on that bloody cross as a substitute for sin.

If any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink. He that believeth on me, as the scripture has said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. Listen, friends.

The gospel is for the hungry, the weary, and the thirsty. Are you hungry for God? Are you weary of your sins? Are you thirsty for Christ? Then come to him and believe on him. You come as I sing.

Dear Jesus, all my sins forgave and washed me, made me whole. I have sweet peace and joy within. His blood is on my soul.

His blood is on my soul, my soul. His blood is on my soul. I rest securely in his hand.

His blood is on my soul. The tempter cannot overcome or gain the least control. I have God's everlasting seal.

Christ's blood is on my soul. His blood is on my soul, my soul. His blood is on my soul.

I rest securely in his hand. His blood is on my soul. I have his spirit now within.

My life's in his control. I'm ready for the crowning day. His blood is on my soul.

His blood is on my soul, my soul. His blood is on my soul. I rest securely in his hand.

His blood is on my soul.