Let's dive in. We're going to be in 2 Kings chapter 19 today. And man, I'm excited for this sermon because this is just a big God sermon, y'all. This is a sermon where it's like, hey, God created the world, He's huge. All right, he's awesome.
His power is unrivaled. And there's a lot of things in our heart that begin to fall into place when we realize, as chaotic and out of control as different things in our life feel, certainly as things in the world feel, man, what kind of a steadiness does it bring? To our heart to know that God is still in control. Even if we don't understand at different times, He is still in control. Here's the big idea: if you're taking notes: the Lord is victorious over his enemies.
And here's what I want you to see: it's not even close. All right? When God decides to move, it's not even close. And I know, listen, sometimes we can't understand the timing of God. I feel that so much.
Like, I'm like, man, why is this evil in the world still here? Why is this tarrying? But at the same time, when God decides in his own purposes, it's time to move, man, it's game set match, okay? I don't know if you guys ever see this stuff on ESPN, but sometimes they'll put these high school scores on ESPN that are just so lopsided. In October 2008, Centennial High School lined up against Beechcroft High School in Columbus, Ohio.
Centennial High School scheduled Beechcroft for their homecoming, where they ended up losing their homecoming game 96-0. It was 55 to zero at the end of the first quarter.
Okay? It's not, okay, let me give you another one. 2016, Northeast College Prep takes on Gilmore Academy in the high school women's. This is crazy. This was in the playoffs now.
Okay, this ain't just some game. In the playoffs where they lost, Northeast Prep lost to Gilmore 108 to 1.
Okay, that's a soul wound. You don't get over that. I mean, that's deep, right? And what they said, this is crazy. The team that won, 108 to 1, they said, man, we were not trying to run the score up.
He said, I told my girls, stop playing defense. The problem was the other team went 0 for 28 in the game. They could not score. They hit one foul shot. All right.
Now here's why I bring that up.
Sometimes you see those crazy scores like that and you're like, man, that seems pretty lopsided. Those games seem like nail biters compared to what happens when the Lord shows up on the battlefield with his enemies. Those games, as crazy as they seem, no, no, no. Those things are as close as you could imagine compared to what happens when God shows up. You guys have been following this series.
I'm going to go, I'm not going to bury the lead. You know what happens in the story today? God sends one angel in one night to take out 185,000 Assyrian warriors who were the most formidable fighting force at the time, and he does it without breaking a sweat. When God shows up, Okay? When God shows up, the power is unrivaled.
It is unmatched. Here's why we need this so bad today. I don't know why Christians are this way, I fall into this as well at times. If people listen to us from the outside, and I know not everybody here is a believer, okay, I get that. Man, we're one of those churches where people are coming in every week and you're trying to figure it out.
Is this something you want to be a part of? I totally get that, all right? But if you're a Christian and you're like, hey, man, that's my thing. I've put the t-shirt on, I've got, you know, I'm in, I want the world to know I'm in.
Okay. One of the things that's ironic about us is that when you listen to us talk, We are so down in the mouth about how the world is. I mean, and I don't mean like from a righteous anger standpoint. I mean just like we're just cremogeny about the world sometimes, you know? It's just like, oh, can you believe this and can you believe that?
And the world's going to hell in a handbasket. It's always the next generation. Look at the next generation. Their TikTok dances and their pajama pants.
Okay. Where is the world going? And we're so worried about it. And then it's all of a sudden with, you know, with the wars and the election. I wonder sometimes if somebody from the outside listened to Christians talk about the world, if they might wonder, who do they think is in control of everything?
Isn't that ironic? We're the ones that say we believe God, one night, one angel, 185,000, didn't even break a sweat. And yet, the way we talk about the world, I wonder if somebody in the world would look at us and say, Who do you think is in control of this whole thing? You know? And so today's message.
It's about taking that power, that awesome nature, the bigness of God, and just kind of filling up the heart and sort of getting it in so that we'll remember: man, this is the God we serve. I wanna show you something about God's name. I want to show you something about God's power. And then I wanna show you something about God's vengeance, all right? Which is something we don't talk about a ton, okay?
Name, power, vengeance. 2 Kings chapter 19, let's start in verse 32.
Now, this is a prophecy about what God is gonna do to the Assyrian king Sennacherib. Therefore thus says the LORD concerning the king of Assyria. He shall not come into this city. Or shoot an arrow there. Or come before it with a shield, or cast up a siege mound against it.
By the way that he came, by the same he shall return, and he shall not come into this city, declares the Lord.
Now look, verse 34 is very important, okay? Because... We understand this prophecy is saying Sennacherib has mocked God. He has put a siege up against Jerusalem. He has said there's no God that can stop him, and he's going to take over God's people.
The prophecy says, no, he's not, actually. He's actually going to go back home with his tail between his legs. All right, that's what's about to happen. Verse 34 is important because it doesn't just tell us what happens, it tells us why. And this is important.
Look at verse 34. For I, this is God talking, will defend this city to save it. Listen, for my own sake. And for the sake of my servant David.
Now, Pastor Bobby and Pastor Daniel have done a good job over the last few weeks, kind of holding the rope for me a little bit, filling in while we're going through this time with Faith Ann. I'm so glad to be back. But here's the thing: they've painted this picture, they've painted this story, and we know the story. King Sennacherib has mocked God, he has surrounded Jerusalem, and yet what the Bible says is he's not going to step foot in here, he's not going to shoot an arrow. He is actually going to go home back to Nineveh with his tail between his legs.
And then the Lord tells us why in verse 34. And it's not the reason that many of us would think, because here's the deal. Many of us at times have a very man-centered view of our relationship with God. He's there for us. He's there as a servant when we ring the bell.
He's a genie that whenever we pray, we're trying to sort of get him out of the bottle. He's there to help me be a little more moral. He's there to help me raise my kids a little better. He's there for me.
Okay? And I want you to understand: God is very concerned with you and He loves you, but even His concern and love for you ultimately. is about him. And this is kind of crazy, okay? Because if you're new, you're like, that doesn't sound like, that doesn't sound like the precious moments, God on the little Hallmark card.
You know, I get that. It's like, man, that doesn't sound right. This is the God of the Bible, and it's the best thing in the world for us as created contingent creatures to understand. Look what it said in verse 34: I will defend this city. For my own sake.
Ultimately We benefit from the saving power of God. But it is about God and his own glory. Let's do a little bit of theology here. You know what it means to be God? What it means to be God is this: you are the thing in the universe that is, listen to my language.
infinitely valuable and totally supreme. There is nothing higher. There is nothing beyond. And so sometimes we can feel a little bit rubbed the wrong way when you're like, hey, when you read the scripture, God is constantly pointing us to recognize and respond to him. God created us to see something about Him and find it to be valuable and see it and savor it and be satisfied in it.
Yes, He did. That's exactly why you and I are here. We are created to recognize God's glory and to find our satisfaction in Him. Why? Because He is the ultimate, He is the supreme.
Listen. If God pointed you and I told you, To find our joy in something else, it would be a lesser thing than him pointing us to himself. If God pointed us to something else to worship, we would be idolaters because there is only one true God. See, God is passionate about his own renown and glory. That is why we are here.
Look at verse 42. Look at chapter 42, verse 8 of Isaiah. Don't turn there, just it'll be on the screen. It says, I am the Lord, that is my name. My glory I give to no other, nor my praise to carved idols.
God is passionate about his own name. He is zealous. For his own renown.
Now that may sound odd to us, but it should not. Why? Because there is one being in the universe. where being passionate about yourself is actually not only okay, but it is perfectly right and good and everything else falls into place because of it. The only person or the only entity in the universe where that would be okay is God.
But sometimes we don't like it.
Sometimes we're just a little bit like, I don't know, man, that sounds like God is like really into himself. Like, yeah, yeah, he is, man. He's really into himself. That's what it means to be God. I want you to think there's been people sometimes like I heard an interview one time.
I don't know if you guys remember this. You know, some of y'all are younger. In the 90s, there was not one human on planet Earth badder than Mike Tyson.
Okay. I mean, he was just the baddest dude that God had ever put on the earth. For that time. But if you listen to Tyson talk about it, he'll look back on it with a lot of wisdom now, talking about how bad it was because all these guys around him were just feeding that ego and they're trying to make money off of him and all this stuff. And he said, Man, I heard him talking.
He said, Man, I felt like I was God, I was a megalomaniac. What does that mean? It means he had a God complex. He thought he was more than a human. It's all about me.
Everything should be flowing to me.
Now, What's funny is, we'll look at somebody and we'll say they have a God complex, but sometimes we actually think about God being into Himself and passionate for His own renown and commanding us to worship Him. And we're like, man, that kind of sounds like God has a God complex. Just think about that for one second. I want you to think about it for one second. How could God have a God complex?
It's not a God complex when you're actually... The thing itself. When you are God, there's nothing God-complex about it. Why am I bringing this up? I think it's so important for us to have what theologians have called the Copernican revolution of the soul.
You guys remember your science class, Copernicus? It's like, hey, everything revolves around the earth. And then he's like, actually, I think it's kind of like the sun. And everything revolves around that. And what we need is that Copernican revolution of the soul where we remember, wait a minute.
We think God is really into my life. Like he's wringing his hands about the decisions I'm going to make. He's trying to nudge me, whisper to me. And we think God is doing those things in my life because something about him is contingent upon me? No.
That's not how this works. What we learn about God is that He is at the center. And everything that he does ultimately reflects on himself, even the things that he calls us to. Y'all, when we decide to parent for the glory of God and for God's dreams rather than the American dream. When we decide to say, hey man, I'm in a tithe of my time and my talent and my treasure.
When we decide to face suffering with joy. and a resolute spirit. God calls us to these things. Ultimately, they still are a reflection of him. He is at the sinner.
You and I are here for him, not the other way around.
So, 2,500 years ago. God is going to send one angel in one night to kill 185,000 dudes. Sennacherib is going to put his tail between his legs and go back to Nineveh, where he will be murdered by his two sons in a temple to an idol.
Okay, it's a great unraveling of Synacro. But you know what it's about first? Actually, first, it's not just about saving God's people, His servant David. First, It's about God saving himself. You know why?
Because this is his party. This is all about him. I want you, hey, I'm going to tell you. If you've ever gone to a birthday party with a bunch of three-year-old kids, I'm going to tell you a speech you need to memorize.
Okay, can I give you a speech you need to memorize?
Now, some of y'all are younger, you've got kids that are coming up. I'm going to help you here, all right? Because I've been to a bunch of birthday parties like this. Here's the speech. You take your kid to the birthday party.
All right, all the three-year-olds are running around. At some point at that party, Every child who it actually isn't their party is going to have to have this speech. You get down on their level, you look right in their eyes. You say, child. This ain't your party.
You see that kid over there? It's their party. The balloons are theirs, the cake is theirs, the presents are theirs. And by my estimation, you should just be happy somebody invited you to their party, okay? That's the speech, all right?
Now, here's the thing. All we are is grown-up versions of them. And sometimes it takes the word itself, the Bible. Man, why am I so fired up in the morning to spend? It ain't crazy.
I'm the pastor of this church, I'll probably spend. 15 or 20 minutes reading the Bible, but I do it every single morning, three chapters, every single morning. You go three chapters of the Bible in the morning, you will get through the entire Bible in a whole year, okay? And it doesn't take long, it fills your soul. One of the reasons why I'm so excited in the morning to get into the word is because I need the reminder, child, it ain't your party.
Right? Do you need that? I know I need it at times. Hey man, this whole thing. My life, where I go to school, college, my future, these exams coming up, man, something with business.
What, hey, man, just remember, this ain't your party, okay? This is about God. He will save ultimately for himself. And I know some of us in here are newer and you're like, man, I don't like that. And I'm going to tell you, I get that.
And I cannot even understand why we wouldn't like it. Especially if we're newer to this whole thing. But I'm gonna tell you, this is one of those great areas where you get a chance to trust the Bible and see it come to be true. in your life. Because here's the deal.
If God really did create you. And you really are a contingent being. He's the supernatural one, and you're not. I'm not. I know I didn't create the world.
I just sort of woke up here one day, okay? Like, it's not my world. If that is the reality, then it's good that the Bible would tell us that. And what happens over time is that we come to realize, man, our greatest joy. is actually connected to fulfilling our purpose.
Our purpose is to glorify God. And I don't mean just like in a praise way, I mean just with our life. You know, like, man, we're gonna wake up tomorrow. We're gonna work, we're gonna go to school, we're gonna do sports, we're gonna do these things, we're gonna do friendship, we're gonna do these things in a way that honors God and it brings glory to Him. And then we begin to realize the secret is, as a created being, that's the best thing for me.
It ends up being the greatest joy that I can have. God is jealous for his own name. All right? Let's talk about God's power. Think about this in verse 35.
I've already told you what happens here, but man, it's so good. That night, the angel of the Lord went out. And struck down 185,000 in the camp of the Assyrians. And when people arose early in the morning, behold, these were all dead bodies. Then Sennacherib, the king of Assyria, departed and went home and lived at Nineveh.
Now, this is the show, okay? This is the big part of the story. And I think the point for us is so simple. Listen. When God shows up.
It ends up looking like a 96-0 homecoming defeat is a nail biter. What he does compared to getting beat in a basketball game 108 to 1, if we think that's a big gap, what God does is a gulf. I mean, it's an ocean. The power that he has. You're talking about 185,000 men of one of the most fierce fighting forces on the planet, and one angel in one night does away with them all.
Listen, and the Bible doesn't even tell us how long it took him to do it. It says one night, he might have done it in five minutes. I get the impression the angel didn't break a sweat.
Okay. I mean, this is what I mean. It's such a, you could say it like this: when God shows up, the game is over. Yeah.
Now there are times in my life when it's hard for me to know why God doesn't show up sooner. The timing of things. It's a Deuteronomy 29, 29 thing where we just say, God, you are so much higher. Your ways are not my ways. I don't understand the timing of it sometimes.
But. Whenever God shows up, the game is over. When he moves, that's it.
Now, historically, we understand, in 1830, what is called Sennacherib's Annals were found, and they're like kind of writing about his reign, okay? And what we end up finding is that what the story says here, a lot of it we see even historically, because he talks about the siege of Jerusalem, but he never conquered Jerusalem for some inexplicable reason. I mean, all the other places are falling like crazy, and for whatever reason, they encircle Jerusalem, but they never conquer it. Herodotus, a Greek historian writing a couple hundred years AD, he says that it was already rumored for hundreds of years because it's an inexplicable historical fact. Why wouldn't Sennacherib take over, right?
Because that's just what they did. And Herodotus said it has been rumored all the way since it happened that there was a divine act. And many people think it was some sort of bubonic plague, actually.
Some kind of plague broke out against the Assyrians. We don't know. exactly what happened, but here's what we do know. One of the things you learn in this story is this. God can do more in one night than you and I can do in 10,000 lifetimes.
I mean, it just, when God decides that it's time to move. Everything changes. I don't know why he tarries at times. I don't know why he waits at times. But when he decides to move, that's it.
The game ends. Jeremiah says it like this. Lord God. It is you who have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and by your outstretched arm. Nothing is too hard for you.
Listen, if you are worried about the state of the world, if you're worried about elections, if you're worried about the war in Iran, if you're worried about the violence in our culture, do you know that we live in a culture where there are 20,000 people that get murdered in this country every year? I mean, some of the, it's just crushing. We live with violence and death everywhere we look. Maybe that's got you down and said, man, God, where are you? Maybe it's something personal.
It's a financial thing, a health thing. You think I haven't over the last month with this stuff with Faith Ann? I've not had this kind of. I want you to just take a minute and breathe this into your heart and your soul. The same God.
One knight, one angel, all the enemies defeated. The same God that Jeremiah says, nothing is too hard for you. The same God that Job says this, I know that you can do all things and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted. That same God is in control of the world right now. I don't know what you need to hear that in your life, but that's how important, how good is that to get that in our heart?
Man, he's in control right now.
Sometimes we don't understand the timing of things, but the evil. And the injustice in this world, it will flourish, it seems, for a while, and then one day it will stop. Because God will not allow it to flourish forever. Maybe we get to see that in our lifetime with different things. Maybe we'll see it in the very end.
But the spirit of Sennacherib, the mocking of God. The evil that we see, the injustice in our land that we see in this world. One day, when God decides that's the line, you crossed it, it's over, that's it. You know, one of the things, and listen, this is, I understand this. We have people that come into our church from different sides of the aisle, from different, you know, kind of, I get it, man.
So, even if you disagree with what I'm about to say. I would just tell you, like, don't let that be a reason that you can't come back. You can disagree with me. We can still be friends. You can still learn from the word.
And that's okay. But I'm going to tell you, you know, for 13 years, our church has done everything we can do for the cause of life. Man, we've prayed. We've tried to, man, we've taken the angle of like, man, we want to provide, foster, and adoption so that people, that women that find themselves in these impossible situations will have an option. That they won't just have the one option shoved down their throat, but they'll be like, man, listen, there's a way we can help you.
I mean, we've tried to do all these things in our church. And one of the reasons we've done that is because we see. The abortion culture in our land as so devastating, particularly to the poor.
Okay, it is so devastating. I mean, when you think about a child's life taken, there's a tragedy there. When you think about a woman who's going to live with that, as much as people try to act like this is not what it is, man, they're going to live with something. And there's people right here in the sound of my voice at our campuses that know that very personally. It's part of your story.
It's part of your testimony. God can redeem even that for sure. And He has. I know some of you very personally, He has redeemed that part of your life. And so there's all this tragedy.
But one of the major parts of why our church is so involved is because the roots of the abortion movement and industry are so against the image of God because of how racist they are. And I know that is so hard for people in our culture to hear because what you hear is you hear, you hear white, 42-year-old middle-class dude wearing boots, and you think, I know exactly where he's going with this, you know, because that's kind of politically and all that. I'm not, man, throw the politics out of it. What I'm saying is we have been so staunch with issues of life. Because when you think about abortion culture, it goes back to some very, very Dark things.
in our society and in our history. It goes back to eugenics. It goes back to forced sterilization. And these things were perpetuated primarily against minorities. And then you think, well, where's the connection today?
Let me ask you a question. Why do you think in every single major city, wherever they're going to put the abortion clinic, hey, listen, there's not an abortion clinic in Oak Ridge, North Carolina. The the the abortion clinic don't don't go to Summerfield. You know where they're going to put it? They're going to find the area that is most vulnerable.
And it is primarily the most black and brown population. And that's where they're going to put it.
Okay, and so as a Christian, as a Christian, as somebody who stands up and says, no, no, no, no, no, like what we see in the scripture. is that every single life Black, white, male, female, young, or old. Every single one of them are stamped with the image of God. Infinitely valuable. That these things that are attributed as differences for us, actually, they're part of what God is doing in terms of showing his greatness and how different we all are.
But we are all stamped with the image of God. And so for us, we stay so here's my point. Thirty years ago in Greensboro, North Carolina, An abortion clinic was set up. Probably best numbers, 100,000 children lost their lives in that clinic. That many moms are going to carry the tragedy of that.
and the perpetuation of fatherlessness primarily in these communities where they put the abortion clinic, it locks people into poverty. You know, one of the hardest things that people don't understand about the whole abortion movement is that when you make abortion thrive, so does fatherlessness and family breakdown. You know why? Because what you have said is, instead of having the burden of birthing and raising a child fall on mother and father. you have subtly shifted all of the burden to mom.
So it's not o it's not only racist, it's very sexist as well.
Okay, because what you're saying is, hey, it's all her decision. Everything is about her.
Well, what does that tell the men of a culture?
Well, man, if you decided to have the baby, that's on you. It's not on me. And so, what ends up happening is where you see abortion thrive. I'm going to quote Dave Chappelle in a sermon, which I never do.
Okay, can I just do this right? He says: if it's your body, your choice, why do you come to me for child support?
Now that's a little bit funny, but here's the problem with it. The problem is that is the exact spirit that happens in these communities where abortion thrives. Which is one of the reasons why the church says, no, no, no, we don't lock populations into poverty cycles. With our policy, okay? What we wanna do is lift people out of those situations.
And so when you see a key factor that is crushing to people. Man, you've got to stand up against it.
So 30 years ago, abortion clinic gets put. in Greensboro, North Carolina. And like I said, you know, well, along that same way for 30 years. Over 200 churches and 30,000 believers.
Some of you in this room right now, every single weekend, not all of us, obviously, but I mean, many of us have gone at least once or twice. But 30,000 believers over 30 years, they put their face on that pavement and they prayed. And I'm going to tell you, even those people that prayed, they came from different parts of the political aisle too. Not just right, not just left, but that on this issue, they understand: hey, this is one that is not a political issue first, it's a Bible issue. And we prayed that this scourge in our community will be left out.
That abortion clinic closed on April 30th, this past week. Stop.
Now, hey. Listen, man. The fight for life is not over. You know why? Because you and I have got to win hearts.
Too many times the voice of this argument is so battering. It is so harsh. Towards women that find themselves in these situations. It's preachy, preachy, preachy. And it's like, man, I understand there is right and wrong, and I understand God has righteous anger.
And when we're talking about abortion, there is something of righteous anger that comes out. But what's got to lead is the heart. That says, hey man, there is redemption here, and God wants so much for your life and this child. And we need to continue with that message going out. But I just want to tell you something.
This is a good example for me to bring to our church for this reason. When I look back, It's very hard for me to stomach. Man, for 30 years. that this clinic stood in our And you know, right here in our community, it's hard for me. I don't understand that.
I want to throw my hands up to God and just say, God, with the roots of this movement and how degrading to the image of God that it is, it's like, It's hard. But I don't understand the ways of God. Here's what I do understand: when He decides it's time, it's time. When he decides that's the line, you crossed it, it's over. Things move.
You know why? Because that's. His power. And it is unmatched, and it is absolutely unrivaled. Proverbs 21 says it like this: the king's heart is a stream of water in the hand of the Lord.
I mean, it's like, man, okay, let's go back to Sennacherib. It's like, dude, you're mocking me. You're the most powerful guy in the world, whatever. And all you are, I'm just your heart's like this, like water. You're gonna go that way, or you're gonna go that way.
You know, that's how powerful God is.
Now, third and finally, and I'll close with this. Man, let's talk about the vengeance of God. And he was worshiping in the house of Nisroch, his God. This is Sennacherib. And Adremelech and Shirazar his son struck him down and the sword with the sword and escaped into the land of Ararat.
And Asheradon, his son, reigned in his place. The undoing of Sennacherib is complete, okay? And this is kind of the point. You surrounded a city, but you actually mocked God. And when you mocked God and lived in rebellion, then this is sort of the end of that.
The army is defeated, and Sennacherib is defeated. And now, where is all of your mocking?
Now, it's important for us to understand how serious this is. I mean, I feel like God is trying to show us something in this passage to say that the evil of Sennacherib will be fully undone. I mean, it's almost like an anti or opposite of the gospel. What happens in Sennacherib's life? In Sennacherib's life, the king is killed by the brothers so that the son can reign.
And think about the gospel. In the gospel, the king sacrifices the son so that the brothers and sisters can come into the family and reign. What happens to Sennacherib is just like a complete devolving. Of what is supposed to happen in terms of grace and mercy. But here's the big thing: this is hard, okay?
And this may rub you the wrong way, but I have committed to read this scripture and shoot it as straight as I can. Here's the thing. God is glorified in Sennacherib's demise. Just as much as he's glorified, and many of us turning to him and showing off his grace and mercy. My point is this: He is going to be glorified with wrath rightly poured out.
Now, The scripture is clear. God is willing and he wants all to come to know him, right? And we want that, God wants that. But when someone doesn't, like Sennacherib, their downfall shows the righteous fury that God has towards the sin of this world.
Now, here's where many of us can get a little bit off. What we think is, we think, well, yeah, Sennacherib was horrible. I mean they're raping and pillaging and killing and they're going town to town and You and I think, yeah, this is what should happen. Like we, like, when you, when you, when you think about, you know, genocidal leaders, child abusers, murderers, whatever, these are people that we want to see the wrath of God. We want to see it poured out.
We love the picture of Jesus in Revelation. Sword coming out of his mouth, tatted up, robe dipped in blood, riding a white horse. Just come and get him, okay? You know, all the synacrobs of the world, all the child abusers, all the murderers. Here's what we don't understand about that.
All right.
You know, the Bible says that the wages of sin is death. How many of us have sinned? This is what I want to tell you. You and I think we're worlds apart from a genocidal leader like Sennacherib, but compared to where God is, we're like right here. Where's there's no, I mean, compared to where God is.
You know, you and I might as well line up right beside Senaker because The heart of sin is still in us. And that heart of sin deserves. The wrath of God. And this is a hard truth. God will be glorified by His grace and mercy for those who accept Him.
And he will be glorified by the wrath that is poured out upon those who don't. My point is: this: God is going to get his glory either way. You might think, like Sennacherib, oh man, I'm seeing God move. I'm just going to run away back to Nineveh. You don't get to run away.
This ain't your party, man. This is God's world. It's like we think we're running away. No, no. God will be glorified by his just wrath being poured out.
For you and I, because of our pride, because of our gossip, because of our sexual sin, because of our financial stinginess, because of, I mean, you could just think of all the sin, the sin that we deserve, his wrath poured out. God will be glorified in doing so. You and I can come under his grace and mercy, be shielded. by accepting the fact that Jesus went to the cross to have that wrath. Poured out upon him so that what's left for us is grace.
Let me just conclude like this, okay? Here's our conclusion. Embrace and share in God's victory today. Embrace and share in it. If you are a Christian.
Today, I know that's not everybody, all right, at our campuses as well. Man, you're at Clifton right now, you're at Northeast right now, you're at High Point, at Espanol. If you're a believer, I know that's not everybody. I think the first thing we got to wrestle with is. What is it in my life, whether it's something in the world, culture?
School. You know. Future, whether it's in my life personally, a health issue, financial issue. that I just need to remember the same God. One angel, one night, total downfall of the Assyrian army.
What what What do I need to remember that God Is he is in control of today? I mean, he's in control.
Sometimes it's hard, the timing of it, but I just need to, like I said, I need to kind of breathe that in a little bit. Man, God is in control. His sovereignty is supreme. The evil in this world will not stand forever because God will have his vengeance. as well.
His name, his power, his vengeance. Man, we can just rest a little easier. I hope that gives you a steadfastness of spirit. I hope it helps us walk a little straighter. Like, man, I've got a little bit of.
I got a little bit of courage in my spine that I didn't have when I came in. Because I remember that God is in control. But the second thing is: hey, there are some of you here right now and at our campuses, and you're like, man, you have not. You haven't put your faith in Christ yet. You're wrestling with that.
It's probably why you're here. You're thinking about it. Nobody's going to force you into that. I mean, you can't, you can't. I couldn't force you if I wanted to.
It's like, man, you, but you have to make the decision: is God drawing my heart? Is he putting people in my life? Is he putting circumstances in my life? that are set up for me. to begin to get to know him and live this life for him, for his glory.
And ultimately, that'll be the best thing for my joy. Is God calling you today? Man, don't do the man-centered thing. You're like, God's calling me, but I'm just going to decide later. No, no, no.
You don't come to God when you decide.
Okay? It's like if He's calling you, that's His invitation right now. And I would call upon you: hey, admit your sin, believe in what Christ has done. Confess him as the Lord of your life. Would you bow your heads with me for just a minute?
I'm gonna give you the opportunity. We're not doing hands raised, we're not coming down, we're not baptizing today, but I just wanna give you an opportunity. Man, if you want to pray to receive him. Start a new life with him. Hey, just pray.
God, I admit that I'm a sinner. I know I'm a sinner. I know what I deserve. I deserve the fate of Sennacherib. But I believe that Jesus went to the cross and substituted himself for me.
I believe that he went to the cross and paid for my sin and three days later raised from the dead to prove himself to be who he said he was. And God, I want to live for you. I want you to be the Lord of my life. God, come and take over in my life. You pray that prayer right now?
Father, I pray. For those that might be praying that prayer right now, God, give them courage. to take the next step. In Christ's name we pray. Amen.
