Are You Ready — Shane Idleman

Preaching the Difficult Truths of Scripture

What we're seeing in our nation today, not only are we seeing a turning away from God, we're seeing an embrace of relativism. We don't want to talk about the difficult truths of the Bible anymore. We don't want to mention hell.

We don't want to mention judgment. We don't want to mention the wrath of God. We don't want to mention righteousness. We sure don't want to talk about holiness. We don't want to talk about the blood. We don't want to talk about the cross.

Sin, Judgment, and the Foundations of the Gospel

Unfortunately, those are the foundations of the gospel. That's the foundation. You can't appreciate the good news without hearing about the bad news. And yes, we turn on the TV and you can hear about your best life now, but when do you turn on the TV and hear about the glorious gospel of Jesus Christ that we are sinners in need of a savior?

When you preach the difficult truths of the Bible, lives are radically changed. That's why we're not seeing people radically change. We're seeing people walk into churches no different when they arrived because they're not being convicted and not being challenged.

Repentance and the Judgment of God

Do you know that the only hope for this nation and the only hope for people who don't truly know God is repentance? When the judgment hand of God falls upon a nation, there is no plan B. There is no second chance.

You don't stand before God and give your, well, I did this and I did that. No, you will fall down on your knees and weep when you stand before a holy, righteous God. We're talking about the eternal destiny of souls.

Jesus Christ as the Only Way to God

Behold the glory of God. But we don't want to talk about these things. And that's that first group of people I want to talk to, those who truly don't know God. Do you know that Jesus said, I am the only way, the only truth, the only life.

No man could come to the Father except through me. He is the only way. All paths, every path you take, every choice, every road, every religion you follow will lead to the judgment seat of God. It will.

Christ Revealed Throughout the Bible

I can take you through Genesis and Exodus, Leviticus and Numbers and Deuteronomy and Joshua and Judges and Ruth and 1st and 2nd Samuel, 1st and 2nd Kings, 1st and 2nd Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther, Job, Psalms, Proverbs.

I can take you through the prophets and show you Christ in every book of the Bible. It's all about Christ and him alone. That's why I get excited. He said he's the only way, the only truth, the only life.

The Lordship of Christ and Final Judgment

You won't get up to God and make a deal. You'll bow to him. God said he is highly exalted, Jesus Christ. At the name of Jesus, every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that he is Lord. Period.

End of story. John said in the book of Revelation that he saw heaven open and behold, a white horse. And he who sat on it was called faithful and true. And it goes on to say that out of his mouth goes a sword.

Jesus Christ, yeah, goes a sword that he will strike the nations. And he himself will rule the nations with a rod of iron. And he himself will tread the winepress and fierceness and wrath of almighty God.

That does not sound like a pacifist doormat turn the other cheek. Christ is Lord. See, we say that flippantly now. Christ is Lord. People used to die for saying that. Heads will come off. The cross is bloody.

The Blood of Christ and the Necessity of Atonement

It's a mess. Because the sin of mankind, if you don't like to, if you don't like what I'm saying, guess what? You need to hear what I'm saying. If you don't like this, that because God's convicting you and drawing you.

I love this. Thank God for the blood of Christ. Thank God for the shed blood of Jesus Christ. It's the only reason I stand up here today and I'm not buried in Lancaster somewhere. The grace of God. Those who truly don't know God.

And I can't be up here and say, yeah, there's a plan B, like I talked about earlier. It doesn't matter if you're Baptist or Presbyterian or Catholic or any other thing. It's what have you done with Christ?

Because you see sin, it's our sin nature. We are sinners who need a savior. We cannot stand before a holy, righteous, pure God. So he had to send his son who died upon the cross. Leviticus says, without the shedding of blood, there is no remission of sin.

His blood has to be shed. He took the place of me and for you, a savior, God on a cross. That's not pretty. That's not pretty, folks. That's why I get so passionate about because it's life changing. If your religion has not changed your life, change your religion.

Genuine Salvation and the Transformed Life

If Jesus Christ has truly not changed you, I question the sincerity and genuineness of your salvation. And I can say that with the authority of God's word. There is a transformed life. Jesus said, he who believes on me as the scriptures say, out of his belly will flow rivers of living water.

Holiness, Obedience, and Self-Examination

If there's no passion for the things of God, there's no passion for holiness, for purity, we look just like the world. I need to seriously have you question your commitment to Christ. Paul said, examine yourself.

Do you not know yourself? Is Christ in you? John tells us, he who says, hey, know him, but do not do his commandments are a liar. John, little knife John, yeah. He said, they're a liar and the truth is not in them.

The Urgency of Knowing Christ

I'm not saying this in anger, I'm saying this in love. A warning, people are running for a cliff and they don't even know it. What I'm doing is I'm shining the light on the darkness of sin. I'm shining the light of the gospel.

But in our pride and arrogance, we don't want that. I'm gonna do things my way, I don't need God. I guarantee, when you stand in front of him, you will fall down like a child and will not be able to stop weeping.

Because Jesus said, depart from me, I don't know you. Do you truly know him? I mean, I could just skip right to this part and say, are you ready? Do you truly know him?