Keep Seeking God, Don't Turn Back — Tim Conway

I'm just reading along through my Old Testament. I'm so often impacted when scripture just simply says, the wicked forget God. The wicked don't call upon God. The wicked seek God. Kind of gives you a different definition of wicked, doesn't it?

Zephaniah and the Word of God

Now, so what's the one that the world likes to carry around, or maybe many of you here? Zephaniah. So just chapter 1, verse 1, the word of the Lord that came to Zephaniah, the son of Cushi, son of Gedoliah, son of Amoriah, son of Hezekiah, in the days of Josiah, the son of Ammon, king of Judah.

Now, if that Hezekiah is indeed King Hezekiah, then it would make Zephaniah actually of the royal family. And actually, it would put him, if you trace the lineage of Josiah, who's mentioned here, because that's when Zephaniah prophesied, in the days of Josiah, the son of Ammon, king of Judah.

Now, if you trace Josiah back to Hezekiah, you have four generations. If you trace Zephaniah back, you have, maybe it's three generations with Josiah. I know there's, I haven't done all the genealogical study, but I read somebody that had, and there's one more generation for Zephaniah than there is for Josiah, if they're both actually descended from Hezekiah.

But Hezekiah was a common name, so this may not be King Hezekiah. We don't really know. They just throw that out there. They may have been related. They may have been cousins, actually. But here's the point.

Here's what we do know. Zephaniah is a prophet. Now, sometimes we just need to stand back and think about that. God, you can't see him. But you know what? God actually spoke. God actually gave a message, direct revelation from God to Zephaniah, that he, you know, these guys, we don't always know exactly how, what they prophesied came to be in writing.

Sometimes we're told. Sometimes, you know, Jeremiah dictated to Baruch, and the thing, there were times that these guys spoke these things. They may have gone and stood in front of the temple and spoke this, and then wrote it down.

But this is basically the word of God. God is speaking. God has a message, and he prophesied. He spoke God's word in the days of Josiah. Now, Bible historians tell us, and you can track all this out. You can basically, from the genealogies of Scripture, we have a pretty good idea.

We can pretty much trace all the way from Adam right down to the days of Christ. There are some places where it's a little bit more difficult, but Bible historians tell us that Josiah lived from 640 to 609 BC.

Well, you just do the math there. That's more than 2 ,600 years ago. That's more than six centuries before Jesus Christ walked this earth. That's when Zephaniah lived. That's when Zephaniah prophesied.

Judgment, Hell, and the Sacrifice of Christ

And what did Zephaniah prophesy? One of the main themes, as is the case with many of these minor prophets, it's a message of judgment. And you know what? We don't like judgment. If I told you I'm doing a series on judgment, we don't like that.

We don't like wrath. Now, we like the good news. We all like good news. We all like the promise of some good thing out on the horizon. The problem is, this is a huge problem. How many go in at the straight gate and walk the narrow way?

Jesus said, few find it. We don't like judgment. We don't like the bad news. We like good news. And the thing is, you know what? The fact is, the God of Scripture makes us uncomfortable. The God of Scripture, a God who takes people and casts them into hell, an eternal hell.

You say, you know, that's not nice. That's not a nice thing to think about. But you know, the real issue that we have to think about is what's true. I mean, if we're honest, if we're actually honest, whether preachers preach about the bad news or not, the Bible certainly speaks to it.

I mean, if we're honest, and I know it makes people uneasy. I know it makes people even angry. We desperately want a God of love. And the fact is, God is love. The fact is, God shows his love. The fact is that God so loved the world that he did give his only begotten son.

That's a reality. But God gave his son, why? God gave his son as a sacrifice for sin. God crushed Christ. That's what Isaiah 53 said, he crushed him. So this is the thing, a sacrifice for sin. God crushed him.

God vented his wrath in an expression of love. Yes, God is real. Sin is real. Hell is real. Judgment is real. God's wrath is real. The Bible is real. The truth of the Bible is real. And the truth of the Bible is, few there be that find life.

Zephaniah's Warning of the Day of the Lord

So just listen, Zephaniah 3 .8. I'm just reaching in. I've read this book over and over and over and over. And I'm just basically reaching in and pulling out one of any number of verses that I could have laid hold of.

In fact, in the beginning, I had a list of verses here and I just narrowed it down to this one because I think this describes, therefore wait for me, declares the Lord. Interesting, wait for me. Oftentimes when we think about waiting for the Lord, we think about waiting for him to do something that we're expecting of, something good.

Wait for me. Wait for what? For the day when I rise up to seize the prey. Wow, what a way to put it, to seize the prey. For my decision is to gather nations. And you know what? That's no different than we see in the New Testament when it says that Jesus Christ, he's gonna come in all of his glory and he's gonna gather the nations.

It's the same picture. This is judgment. To assemble kingdoms. You see why they're being gathered? To pour out upon them my indignation. Man hardly can even process this. Why? I mean, the wind's nicely blowing.

What a beautiful Sunday afternoon. People are walking around, people are probably going out, they're eating, they're barbecuing in their backyard. They can't even hardly process this. But you see what God says, wait for me.

Wait, something's coming. I'm gonna pour out my indignation, all my burning anger, for in the fire of my jealousy, all the earth shall be consumed. And this is what Peter tells us. We're waiting, we're waiting for this whole heaven and earth to be consumed by fire.

It's waiting for that. Even in Jude, even in second Peter, we get this idea what Sodom and Gomorrah, fire and brimstone came down and consumed them. That is an example, Peter tells us, of what is gonna happen to all the ungodly.

We just walk around. And you know what, man gets very confident. And you'll understand why man gets confident because of the way God operates. And we see it in scripture, because man isn't immediately punished for a sin.

Man doesn't sin and immediately lightning strikes him. Because man sinned and he thinks he gets away with it. And then he's bold to sin again and again and again. And then finally he just believes nothing's gonna happen.

Maybe God isn't up there at all. Maybe God doesn't know. Maybe, but you see what Zephaniah is telling us. And folks, this isn't just the Old Testament. I've often been gripped. Now don't turn here, but just listen to this.

Christ's Return and the Wailing of the Nations

I have often been gripped by this text. And I'm gonna tell you how I'm gripped by it after I read it to you. But you know what happens? You get to the end of the Bible. You get to the book of Revelation.

You begin reading Revelation. And Revelation, you talk about symbolic language and hard to understand. As you're crinkling your eyebrows and you're trying to figure out all the symbolism of it, you're going through.

I'll tell you what, you don't have to speculate too far and hard. Right in the very first chapter, when it says this, behold, he is coming with the clouds and every eye will see him. Even those who pierced him and all tribes of the earth.

Will wail on account of him, even so, amen. What's that saying? I'll tell you what it's saying. It's saying the same Zephaniah is saying. And all the nations, all the tribes, all the kingdoms, they're all being gathered together and they wail.

Yeah, you know what? Wail, that means they greatly mourn. I mean, you can understand that. You can understand. If people up there, they're walking up and down the sidewalks, they're in shorts today, glorious.

It's a summer day, it's Sunday. Can you imagine if suddenly the sky split open and life is done? No more days hanging out with your family. No more time grilling steaks on the grill in your backyard with friends.

No more laying your head on a pillow to rest. Your life is over. This world is over and you're not ready. That thing you were planning to do this Friday, all your plans are done. They wail. And I just asked that, you know what?

You know the question I asked of this verse, all these different times. I know this isn't Zephaniah, this is Revelation. It's the same God speaking about the same event. And you know what I would ask myself?

Where are all the rejoicing Christians? Because that is not the picture when Christ comes. And you know what the feel is? That Christians are in such a minority when Christ comes that it's just eclipsed by a massive wail.

From the nations. I mean, listen, there are people, now I don't wanna bog you down with this, but there are folks out there that call themselves post-millennial. The post-millennial people, I wish it was true.

I could really get on board if I saw biblical evidence. But they believe in a golden age, a millennium, a golden age, a great worldwide revival that gets ushered in. Some of the guys that you might see on the internet today, they say, you'll hardly know a lost person.

Is that the picture of what things look like when Christ comes? You see, if that's the way things really were, then you would expect that by and large, what would characterize the second coming of Christ would be celebration.

But that's not it. By and large, the major characteristic of Christ's return is a wail. Wow. When God paints a picture of the second coming, that is the one overwhelming characteristic. It is people scream, and you hear it.

Watch what they do. And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the commanders, and the mighty men. But not just them. The slave, every free man. This is a picture of all humanity.

What are they doing? Do you know what happens when that sky breaks open? They hide themselves in the caves, in the rocks of the mountains. And they say to the mountains and the rocks, fall on us and hide us from the face of him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the lamb for the great day of his wrath has come and who is able to stand?

You ought to be able to answer that question. Who is able to stand? No one. Unless you have Christ for a refuge. Who's able to stand? You know what Jesus said? Jesus made a very interesting observation.

He said, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth? And what a foreboding statement that is. You know what the expectation is? You know what that sounds like? I mean, what does that sound like he's saying?

If he says to his disciples, if he said it to you, when the Son of Man comes, when I return, am I gonna find faith on the earth? That doesn't sound like Jesus anticipates he's gonna find a whole lot. That's what it sounds like.

Doesn't sound like a great prediction of worldwide revival to me. I would love to believe the post-mill position, but it just, Scripture just doesn't feel that way. Do you know what Scripture says? And I recognize that when you read different parts of what's prophesied in the New Testament, sometimes people wonder, well, is this talking about when Christ wiped out, or when the Romans wiped out the temple and they wiped out Jerusalem, which I would say was Christ.

Christ was reigning, undoubtedly. And you got these preterist folks that feel like a lot of these things that were talked about in the New Testament, well, they talk about 70 AD and the destruction of Jerusalem and then other people are torn.

Well, they think it's talking about the second coming. Well, I'll tell you this, I think it's talking about both, just like I think the minor prophets talk about judgment in their day and also the end.

It happens over and over, that apocalyptic language seems to have a present application and a future application. But listen, I just tell, very simply, Christ said, you know what it's gonna be like when the Son of Man is revealed?

The Days of Noah and Lot

There are two good examples in scripture just exactly what it's going to be like. First one, Noah. What was it like in Noah's day? Just as it was in the days of Noah, this is what Luke 17 says, don't turn there, but just listen, just as it was in the days of Noah, so will it be in the days of the Son of Man.

What were they doing? Just what they're doing today, eating, drinking, you know all the pubs are full, the ones that have nice patios, nice exposure to the sun, you know what it's like? What's it gonna be like when Christ comes, the day of the Son of Man?

When all these nations wail? Well, it's gonna be just like the days of Noah. What was it like in the days of Noah? This is what it was like, Jesus says. They were eating and they were drinking and they were marrying and they were being given in marriage until the day when Noah entered the ark, the flood came and destroyed them all.

Now see, this is one of the reasons why I think that this very, very much lends itself to the second coming of Christ. And as much as we might talk about 70 AD and everything that happened, you know, a lot of those people survived.

But what it says here is everybody's gonna be destroyed. He destroys them all. You better believe the people wail because they're in trouble. It's gonna, just like the days. And you know what? He goes on to say this, just as it was in the days of Lot.

Oh, how was it in the days of Lot? Just like it was in the days of Noah and just like it's gonna be when Christ comes. What's that like? Eating, drinking, buying, selling, planting, building. But on the day when Lot went out from Sodom, fire, sulfur, rain from heaven and destroyed them all.

He says the same thing in both. That day destroyed them all. And that's true. All but eight souls. You see, am I gonna find faith in the earth? Well, that is very much like what it looked like in Noah's day.

If you came there and you looked and you said, well, Noah was righteous. You know, we don't even know. I mean, we have some question about at least one of his sons. How many of them were actually believers?

We don't know anything about the faith of the wives. But let's just be charitable and say eight souls were saved. Eight souls knew the Lord. Let's just say that. Eight out of what? Out of the whole human race that was alive at the time.

You think it would be proper to say that when that flood came, was there faith in the earth? Not much. What about the days of Lot? How many do you find there? Well, the way I read it, only Lot and his two daughters escaped.

And I'm not even certain where his daughters were at as far as the faith went. His wife, remember Lot's wife, she didn't make it. It's gonna be just the same. Folks, people may not like judgment, but you know what the safest thing that you and I can do is face it head on.

Facing Judgment Honestly

I was a mechanical engineer for 15 years. It intersected with my pastoring about three years. And I worked in a company and it was fairly big. We had a cafeteria seated about 500 people. They would stagger the lunches so that they could get all the people in the company through this cafeteria, at least in that building.

They had several buildings. I was in there packed full of people, eating at a table. There was a guy that was eating next to me. And I just, I looked up and I looked at all those people and I said, just think a hundred years from now, all these people will be dead.

And he just looked at me like I had three heads like, shut up, why are you even talking? He said, I try not to think about that. Well, that's how the world is. Hey, we're eating, drinking, we're buying, we're selling, we're planting, we're building, we're out here doing our thing.

We don't want to hear about that. Don't tell us about judgment. Don't tell us about that. But then you know what? You can bury your head in the sand, but brethren, we don't want to be like that. You know what Spurgeon said?

I come across this quote over the years, various times, but Spurgeon said, for my own part, my constant prayer is that I may know the worst of my case, whatever that knowledge may cost me. That is a safe approach to your life.

Tell me the worst. Lord, tell me the worst. Tell me what's true. Not what I hope to be true, not what I imagine to be true. I want to know what the truth is. I want to know what is real. That's what, yes, thinking about God's anger towards sinners is a heavy matter.

I recognize that, but is it true? I mean, is it true? That's the issue. What is God going to do to this human race when Christ comes? He's gonna do such things to them that it creates a wail from the people.

That means extreme mourning. It's they're in trouble, in big trouble. And what's the issue? The issue is this. Most men are not ready for Christ to come. And what's the most loving thing we can do? Should we just walk by them and let them go on in their delusion?

You know, it may seem great out there today, but let me ask you this, all these people that are out there eating and drinking today, where are they gonna be in 100 years? I'll tell you, if we were silent here, you just think with me, if we were silent, and suddenly we could make everybody see and feel what they are going to see and feel 100 years from now, and we were just silent and we just listened, and everybody became 100 aware of where they would be and how they would feel, what do you think we would hear?

I'll tell you what you would hear. The same thing we're gonna hear when Christ comes. You would hear a whale come up over this city of the most horrific nature, and you know that's true. Brethren, we wanna know.

We need to declare the truth, we wanna know the truth, even if we don't like that truth, even if people don't like that truth. Look at Zephaniah 1 .17. Listen to what God says. Zephaniah 1 .17, just look there.

The Sin of Turning Back from the Lord

"'I will bring distress on mankind "'so that they shall walk like the blind "'because they have sinned against the Lord. "'Their blood shall be poured out like dust "'and their flesh like dung.'". And you just need to capture that.

They walk like a blind man. What's that mean? What does it mean to walk like a blind man? Christ breaks forth, and it's like a blind man walking on a precipice. What does that look like? He's got no cane, he's got no nothing.

It's just pitch black, it's dark, he's walking towards a cliff. Like a blind man, what's that? It's just doubt, it's uncertainty. They're gripped by that. They've got no clue what to do. They've got no clue which way to go, where to turn.

No plan for escape. They're at their wits' end. They're utterly bereft of hope. They're just grasping blindly and frantically at anything, but they're able to see no way out. They're like a blind man.

They see no light, no hope, no direction, no way of escape. That's why they're asking the mountains to just come upon them. But who in their right mind? I mean, could you imagine you're walking in front of a cliff?

Who wants a rock to fall down or a pile of rocks to fall down on their head? That would be the last thing anybody would want, but that's the first thing everybody wants when Christ has broken through and the sky is opened up and there he is.

Like blind men, just going headlong to their own destruction. And why does it say? Because they've sinned against the Lord. You know, man thinks so little of his sin. They basically, they're pretty good.

God obviously does not think little of sin. Now, here's something very important. God, through the prophet Zephaniah, he encapsulates, he kind of summarizes the sin. All these people that are going to be wailing, all these people that are gonna be desperate to have the mountains fall on them.

You know what? He sums up, he simplifies what their sin is. And I just want you to see this. This is so helpful. Look at Zephaniah 1 .6. Just see how he just kind of wraps it up by saying this. These people that make up the nations that God is going to gather together and pour out his indignation on.

Here's how he describes them. Those who have turned back from following the Lord, who do not seek the Lord or inquire of him. You have to love the simplicity of that. Now, I think we need to stop right here and just ask ourselves, what does it mean to turn back from following the Lord?

I want to give you a biblical, not a dictionary definition. I just want to give you a biblical definition. So let's just give you some verses. Listen to this. You remember the day when God told his people to go up into the promised land and take it.

And of course, the spies came out. You know what happened? Because they wouldn't go up, now God said, you can't go up. And everybody that's of a certain age are gonna die in the wilderness. Well, then they all bemoan the fact they didn't do it.

And you remember what they did? Now they decided to go up. And this is what Moses said to them. Moses said, do not go up for the Lord is not among you, lest you be struck down before your enemies. For there the Amalekites and the Canaanites are facing you and you shall fall by the sword.

Same idea. Because you have turned back from following the Lord, the Lord will not be with you. So when we think about this, what is gonna characterize the people that aren't ready to have Christ come?

They've turned back from following the Lord. What does turn back from following the Lord mean? Well, in that example, what it means is God told them to do something. God wanted them to trust him. Just like Caleb and Joshua did.

They said, you know, there may be giants in that land, but we're well able to take care of that because God is with us and God's removed their protection from them. So let's go up, we can surely take this.

And you see where their trust was. Their trust was in the Lord and they were gonna obey what the Lord wanted them to do. And what did the Lord want them to do? Go into the promised land and take it. God is telling us to do all sorts of things.

You see what happened when they turned from following the Lord. It means they didn't obey his voice. They didn't trust him. Or there's this. You remember how God said to Samuel, I greatly regret that I have set up Saul as king, for he has, here it is again, turned back from following me and has not performed my commandments.

And you remember what he did. He was supposed to go up and take out these Amalekites. And what happened? He spared Agag and he spared the animals. He said he didn't keep God's commandments. That's the same thing that was said of the Hebrew children out there in that wilderness when they wouldn't go into the promised land.

You see what it means to turn from following the Lord. It means you don't heed his voice. Or there's this. God warned Solomon in 1 Kings, if you or your sons at all turn from following me, there it is right there, and do not keep my commandments and my statutes which I've set before you.

So you get this idea. What does it mean? What does it mean? What is going to really characterize the people who God destroys on judgment day? Well, you remember what Jesus said? Not everybody that says to me, Lord, Lord, is going to inherit the kingdom, but those who do the will of my father.

And he said, many are gonna say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, we did this and that and the other thing. I never knew you, you workers of lawlessness. You see, they didn't keep the law. They didn't keep his commandments.

They didn't heed his voice. Somebody that can just hear God say things and then disregard that, that is going to make up the people that are going to wail in that day. Listen to how Isaiah puts it. Our transgressions are multiplied before you.

Our sins testify against us. Our transgressions, there's that word again, transgress, transgress. The idea is you've got a line and you step over it. God has put down a standard and we step past that.

We transgress. That is the word that's being used over. Our transgressions are multiplied. Our transgressions are with us. We know our iniquities, transgressing and denying the Lord and turning back from following our God.

There it is again, turning back. What would scripture have us to believe is characteristic of turning back? And now this is important, why? Because this is what characterized the people among all these nations that are going to let out this wail in that day.

What characterized their life? And we know it, 1 John. If you say that you know him, but you don't keep his commandments, you're liars and the truth isn't in you. This is everywhere in scripture, folks, everywhere.

Because saving faith, you know this, faith without works is dead. That's what scripture teaches us. And so there's also this, these people not only turn from following the Lord, but they do not seek the Lord or inquire of him.

Seeking God with the Whole Heart

Now let's just talk about those two words, seek and inquire, very interesting. I did an extensive, exhaustive actually study on those two Hebrew words. I looked at every place that they're found. They are absolutely synonyms.

They are used so interchangeably in the Old Testament and translated in all the same ways that you hardly can distinguish between the two words as far as meaning. But you see, seek the Lord, inquire of the Lord.

To inquire would be to ask, but they're synonyms. And so what does, I ask this, what does the scripture have to say about seeking the Lord and about inquiring of the Lord? What is that? Because whatever it is, those who don't do it are in an extremely dangerous place.

So seek, we got an idea about seek just in an English way. It means to strive after, to search for, I'm looking for something. Okay, first, if I'm just doing an honest study of these words in the Old Testament, the first thing is this, the searching, the seeking is never approved of by God unless it is done with your whole heart.

Now listen to this, Deuteronomy 4 .29, you will seek the Lord, your God, and you will find him if you search after him with all your heart and with all your soul. And then Jeremiah 29, you will seek me and find me when you seek for me with all your heart.

Now, somebody could look at that and say, what? Who can do anything with their whole heart? Well, I would just say this, it's not impossible. This is never set forth in scripture as an impossibility. In fact, it's very much set forth not only as in the realm of possibility, but something that you need to do.

Not wait for God to zap you or do any other thing, but you have a responsibility to do this. Listen to this, 2 Chronicles 22, Jehoshaphat sought the Lord with all his heart. You see, it's not just theoretical.

There's actually examples of scripture where it's being done. The heart, what's the heart? The heart is the seat of emotion, feeling. The heart is a vast word that is used to mean lots of things. It can talk about the will, the mind, the intention, determination.

I would just say this, if you're gonna seek something with your whole heart, I would say this, seek the Lord as though your life depended on it. You know, that's a good way to put it. You think people actually seek something that they know their life depends on it.

They're actually fully aware of it. They're confronted by the very reality that if I don't get this thing, I'm going to die. That's a good way to think about it. And that ought to put some intensity in your emotion and your feeling behind this.

By faith, we need to be people that recognize that if, listen, in this world, if you have any hope, it is only going to be a valid hope if you seek and find this God. There's only salvation in seeking this God.

You have to think about all the things that are a reality, all forgiveness, all deliverance, all help, all hope, all good, all safety. It's found only in this God that you must seek. Dude, you remember last week I told you this.

I didn't tell you exactly what king it was said of, but it was said of King Amaziah. It said this, he did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, yet not with a whole heart. I mean, that ought to jump out at you.

Somebody, you know what? Is that the banner you want written above what you do? I mean, think about this. Think about this. Ben, Tim, Tim gets up in the morning and he studies his Bible, yet not with his whole heart.

He communicates with people, corresponds with people by way of whatever ways people are contacting me, but not with his whole heart. He talks to his wife, not with his whole heart. Loves his wife, not with his whole heart.

He comes to the church. He tries to minister to the church, yet not with his whole heart. He leads the meeting, yet not with his whole heart. Leads the singing, not with his whole heart. He preaches, not with his whole heart.

He tries to stir up the brethren to love and good works. He seeks to equip the brethren for the work of the, yet not with his whole heart. Is that what you want written over your life? That's how a lot of people are when it comes to the things of God, yet not with a...

Is that the banner you want written across your effort to find this God, yet not with your whole heart? That's... Oh, brethren, think with me. Every work that Hezekiah undertook in the service of the house of God, and in accordance with the law and the commandments, seeking his God, he did it with all his heart, and he prospered.

Forgetting God and Failing to Call Upon Him

That's the banner you want written above your life. Or how about David? David says, with my whole heart, I seek you. Let me not wander from your commandments. Over the years, as I've read through the Bible, again and again and again, I've been struck oftentimes with just the simplicity with which God often describes the wicked.

Here's the thing. When we think of wicked, or we think of evil, I know what you think of. We think of somebody especially horrible. I mean, somebody like a devil worshiper, a child killer, a serial killer, somebody like that.

Listen, I am so often struck just reading along through my Old Testament. I'm so often impacted when Scripture just simply says, the wicked forget God. The wicked don't call upon God. The wicked don't seek God.

Kind of gives you a different definition of wicked, doesn't it? Now, so what's the one that the world likes to carry around, or maybe many of you here? Brethren, listen to this. The wicked shall return to Sheol, all the nations that forget God.

Forget God. That's very similar to not seeking Him or inquiring of Him. Just forget Him. Doesn't forgetfulness seem like a small sin? The result of this forgetting is damnation. Have they no knowledge, all the evildoers, who do not call upon the Lord?

Again, call, another similar expression to not seeking, not inquiring. They don't call. You say, that guy is evil. What does he do? Does he beat his wife? He doesn't call upon the Lord. That is how scripture speaks.

That's how Zephaniah is speaking to us. He doesn't call upon the Lord. Do you ever watch something? Maybe you watch something on TV or you watch something on the internet, and you're watching a lost person.

Maybe you're just dialoguing. Maybe it's your neighbor. You're just talking to them. And they begin to rejoice about something, but you notice right away, they don't regard the Lord. Or they're in desperation, but there's no cry to the Lord.

You ever been there where you just, you almost fill in the blank. It's like, well, you're almost anticipating they're gonna praise the Lord for that thing, or they're gonna ask God to help in the midst of that thing.

But I just say this, what loneliness the lost man has to not have the God of scripture to seek. Scripture says, pour out your anger on the nations that do not know you, on the kingdoms that do not call upon your name.

Pour out your anger. Do you realize what a sin it is when people don't call upon his name? Mark this then you who forget God, lest I tear you apart and there be none to deliver. I just say this, God has no soft words when he speaks of those who just simply forget him and refuse to call upon him.

And I'll tell you this, you may reject this God who saves, you may spurn his mercy, spurn his son, the only savior today, but I guarantee the day of judgment, ooh, you'll sorely need a savior in that day of wrath.