Careless before Catastrophe — Mike Attwood

Well, good morning, everybody. It is an absolute joy to be with you and good to see more people here this time. Last time I was here a year ago, COVID was keeping all of you on Zoom and not in person, so I'm glad you're here.

It's good to see you. There's so much easier to preach to people than news, so I'm just thankful for that. I'd like you to turn in your Bibles, please, to the Book of Judges, the Book of Judges, and Chapter 18.

Finding the Gospel in Judges 18

On Friday mornings, it's been my privilege to teach a Bible class of literature here, so we'll be going through different parts of the Bible and writing those. We're in the Book of Judges, and one of the things that an old evangelist said many years ago as he was training young men how to be effective evangelists, and so what he would do is he would give them a chapter of the Bible and he'd say, now find a gospel message in that chapter.

And then he'd give them another chapter and he'd say, now find a gospel message in that, and they weren't obvious ones. So as I read this, we're going to be looking at the gospel this morning, and it may not be obvious to you initially, but you'll see the gospel here.

So, Judges 18, and I'm going to read just a few verses, verse 7 to begin with, please. Judges 18 and verse 7 says, Then the five men departed and came to Elish, and saw the people that were therein, how they dwelt careless, after the manner of the Sidonians, quiet and secure, and there was no magistrate in the land that might put shame in anything, and they were far from the Sidonians, and had no business with any.

And then please, same chapter, verse 27 and verse 28. And they took the things which Micah had made, and the priests which he had, and came unto Elish, unto a people that were quiet and secure, and they smote them with the edge of a sword, and burnt the city with fire, and there was naught in the good, because it was far from Sidon, and they had no business with any man, and it was on the valley of Elias, by the river, and they burnt the city, and went therein.

Now, if you're going to buy a ribbon or a marker or a piece of paper, stick it in your Bible, in chapter 18, where we are. Let me get right back there, but I need to read one more passage from James, please.

Sin’s Progression in James 1

James, in chapter 1. James, chapter 1, I want you to read verse 15 through 17. It says, Then when this hath conceded, it bringeth forth sin. And soon when it is finished, it bringeth forth death. To not burn, my beloved brethren, every good gift, and every good gift, which I give you shall not burn.

It comes down from the Father of light. There is no availableness by the shadow of turning. And again, God will bless you for that reading of this word. And keep your deliverance, James, gone as well, because we want to be gone back and forth between the two.

God will bless the reading of this word to us this morning. Now, I want to mention that you've heard about the gospel. I'm so thankful for that. I believe we've gone around the world, too. I love D. L. A. Joseph, that assembles a three-legged sewer.

And he said, if any one of those legs are missing, what happens if you've got a three-legged sewer that needs a leg? We're in a very precarious position, aren't we? And he said that the assembly, the three legs, one is a leg that talks about ministering to the heart of God in worship.

That's part of the reason an assembly exists. We just did that this morning. We had a wonderful time ministering to the heart of God that restores him. That's his son. We did that this morning, worship.

The other is ministering to one another in edification and body life, right? We need that, too. We need that to kind of build one another up. So that's that ministry, that second leg. And then the final leg is ministering to a lost and dying world.

And that's the gospel. And I would suggest to you that many assemblies have lost that leg. They've lost the gospel. They've lost the burden for the gospel. And we need to get it back. So I would commend you for your concern.

God’s Holiness and Judgment on Canaan

Now, I'm going to go back to the pictures. We don't have to understand all the backgrounds of this story. Just the simplest, that the people of Greece were in the land of Canaan. And if you remember anything about the Bible, you realize that the Canaanites were very enriched.

Now, God was very patient. In fact, he said to Abraham that the iniquity of the Amorites, the people of the land of Canaan, wasn't yet full. And he was going to give them time for their wickedness to vibrate to a full level.

And then he was going to judge them. And it was going to take 400 years. So God patiently waited 400 years, allowing their sin to reach its peak before judgment would fall. And God would use the Israelites to bring judgment on these people of the land of Canaan.

And of course, you say, well, how is that going to work? Well, in one sense, what it tells us is this. God, by his very nature, is infinitely holy. And we sometimes forget that. And in this holiness, he hates sin with a compassionate nature because he sings what it does to the human race and sings how devastating it is.

And how it wrecks lives and wrecks families and wrecks countries. And it just causes devastation and sin. And in this holy nature, we must judge sin. He wouldn't be a just God if he judged the law of sin, right?

It would be unjust to allow it to continue. So in this holiness, we must deal with sin. Now, God was given a great witness to these nations in what he did for the nation of Israel. Bringing them out of the land of Egypt and all the miracles.

And some of the people of the land of Canaan remembered that, heard that, and turned to the Lord. One of them was a prostitute called Rahab the harlot. So God's grace was available even for the people of this land.

And he was given a great testimony to his greatness. So they all knew about that. But they didn't know anything about it. They carried on in their sin and wickedness. So I want us to just think about the people of Raish.

The Careless People of Laish

I saw in verse 27, when they're about to be judged, it tells us what was going to happen. What was about to fail that happened. And it tells us, if you look again at verse 27, they took the things which Micah had made and the things which he had.

But it came to Raish, to a people of Babylon, quiet and secure. And they smote them with the edge of a sword and burnt the city on fire. And there was no deliverer. I want us to get this idea that here's a people and God's judgment is about to fall on them.

But they're oblivious. They don't realize. They don't realize how close they are to the judgment of God. And I wonder if the people in this country realize. Do you realize how close God's judgment is?

Bible actually says, if you're not a Christian this morning, if you haven't trusted in the Lord Jesus, the Bible says about you that the wrath of God abides on you. It's like it's hanging over your head, just moving into place.

That's how close you are to the judgment of God. And so when people have no idea that they're about to be wiped out, they don't get it. They're not aware of it. So notice verse 7, what they were like.

What was their condition? Even though judgment is about to fall, what was their condition? The first thing they learned is that they were a careless people. Verse 7 says, five men came to them and saw the people and learned how they weren't careless.

Careless people. Sounds a lot like North America right now, doesn't it? Careless people. Just people under the judgment of God, His wrath is about to burst on them. All they can think about is the next episode of their favorite sermon.

Careless. Just learn about life. No anxiety about eternity. No concern about their eternal destiny. Just carelessness everywhere. I have to say this. Part of my job as a gospel teacher is to get you to realize you shouldn't be anxious about your eternal destiny.

You shouldn't care about your soul. You shouldn't care about what's going to happen to you one second after that. You should be concerned. And to be careless is a bad place to be in. And sadly, our culture has lots of ways to continue to keep you from that drug state of carelessness.

Before I get into entertainment, announcements, right? We're a people that are announcing ourselves to death. What does amusement mean? Well, amusement means amusement of thinking. It means no. It means no thinking.

This is our culture. The reason there's no anxiety about your soul is because you're not thinking. And the reason you're not thinking is because you're being drugged by the media. And by the way, behind the media is the God of this world who, in a sense, has blinded the minds of those that believe not.

And so, you're in this blind state that means you're careless. No sense of anxiety about your soul or your eternal destiny. You're careless. That's what a careless people are. They're not conscious of the fact that judgment was about to fall.

False Security and the Absence of Peace

And it says that all of it is being careless. It says that the manner of Zeitgeist is quiet and secure. By the way, if you want to know what the Zydonians were like, one of the most treacherous people in the Bible was a Zydonian.

His name was Jezebel. Remember the story of Jezebel? Her dad was one of the kings of the Zydonians. And a high priest of the Zydonians. So, the Zydonians were pretty wicked. Incredibly wicked people. Careless.

After the manner of the Zydonians, they noticed this quiet and secure. It almost seems like it's a tranquil scene. You know, when you think of quiet and secure, that sounds pretty nice, doesn't it? I remember the first time I came to America, I have to say all I'd ever seen of this country was what I'd seen on TV.

As an unsaved person in my youth, I used to watch a lot of American detective shows. And when you first come out of America, it's like, shouldn't we get shot on the street corner every day? It's kind of like...

And so, we get a bit nervous coming to this country, because it's all we've ever seen. This contract and this base, you know, it kind of gives you your age range. Starsky and Hutch. I should have mentioned earlier, I really hadn't known that.

But that's all we watched. We watched that kind of stuff. And so, you're passionate about coming to this country. I remember going to Wisconsin. Where nobody locks their doors. Nobody locks their cars.

Where we go to a restaurant and there's a sign on the wall that says, we encourage our patrons to give thanks to God for their food. And I thought, I'd be wild to. This is not like... It's quiet and peaceful.

But you know what? In Wisconsin, we found, talking to souls, there were just as lost as people in those cop shows. Just as lost, even though it was quiet and peaceful. Because there's this sense of peace.

That people, everything seems peaceful and tranquil and quiet in life. And yet, God's judgment is still waiting to be announced. And everything can be as cold as the breeze. You know, none of us can control our next heartbeat.

One second after death, that person will face the terror of eternity in the lake of fire. And yet, it's all peaceful. Quiet. Secure. Seeming that it's all a deception. You see, the Bible says, there is no peace, sayeth my God, for the wicked.

And it says it twice. It says it in Isaiah 38 and it says it again in Isaiah 57. There is no peace, sayeth my God, for the wicked. You might be deceived to think everything's fine and everything's cozy and everything's quiet and everything's secure.

But it's a deception. Because if you don't know Christ as your Savior, you're not safe. You're not secure. And it's not going to be quiet. We're going to spend an eternity in a place of separation from God.

A place of conscious torment for all eternity. We're all going to live in this labyrinth. A labyrinth of gnashing teeth. And so, there are careless people. There's this quietness, this quiet deception.

A Shameless Society Without a Magistrate

They're really a deceiving people. And you can listen to a few of them. Two songs of them. They were a wicked people. You can notice it says there's no magistrate in the land that might put them to shame in anything.

So, they're basically careless. There's no magistrate that would shame them in their delusion. That would tell them what they're doing is wrong. And so, it's a ruined society. An ashamed society. I find that interesting, isn't it?

Increasingly, our culture is a shameless society. There's no shame. You know, I can remember if somebody had a child out of wedlock, there was a great shame attached to it. It passed on by. It was a scandal.

Actually, somebody got divorced. It was a scandal. That shows how old I am. But I remember those days. Divorce things were absolutely scandalous. And there was a shame about them. But now, instead of shame about sin, you know what our society says?

Let's out of it. And they march down the streets. And they proclaim to the world, I am absolutely clouded by the conversion. Remember that? Just like this eyebrow means. Shameless. And unfortunately, there's no magistrate that would do what the Bible says shouldn't be done to these kind of people.

The Bible says the same. The Bible says actually, people convicting themselves in that way in the Old Testament were to be stoned to death. And the magistrates were to witness against them. But now, no shame.

And so, this is a shameless society. They're involved in utter wickedness. And they're not even ashamed. Their consciences are so seared and so boned that they can sin and actually boast about it. No shame.

The Need for a Deliverer

And there was a great tragedy about this particular chapter. Yes, judgment is about to fail. But verse 28 says this. And there was no deliverer. That's tragic, isn't it? Isn't it tragic to be under the judgment of God?

To be just seconds away from the sword of eternal justice and having no hope of anybody delivering you. So, that's why we're here this morning. Because the one thing that I can tell you that's different and astonishing is that for you, from the beginning to now, you've been careless about your sin.

Even up to now, you've been shameless about your sin. I can tell you that I'm here with a message of hope. And that message of hope centers on a deliverer. There is such a deliverer. How do I know that?

Because he delivered me from my sin and my rebellion and my torturing. He saved me. And he can save you. From hell and from judgment. Now, how is God going to do this? How is he going to do this? How is he going to provide this deliverer?

Sin’s Attractive Beginning and Deadly End

Let's go now to James. Keep in mind what we've just seen in Judges. That passage now in James chapter 1. And we've seen verse 15. When Christ has been saved, it brings forth sin. And sin, when it's finished, brings forth death.

But let me just kind of emphasize this again, please. Sin, when it's finished, brings forth death. This is a divine principle. That sin, when it's finished, brings forth death. Now, let me explain what I mean by sin, when it's finished, brings forth death.

See, the interesting thing is that most of us when we sin, never think about sin when it's finished. We always think of it at the beginning. And at the beginning, it always looks attractive. If it doesn't look attractive, it doesn't appeal to you in the beginning.

Sin by its very nature is attractive, isn't it? And so I want to give you an example of sin from the Bible itself. Of how attractive sin looks. Actually, the Bible talks about the plagiarism of sin. And then it says, foresees that.

It's only short term. But the consequences are long term. Right? But in the short term, it's like it's for a season. Right? So there's pleasure in connecting with sin. And it always looks good at the beginning.

The Fall and the Meaning of Death

So we go back to the beginning. Go back to the God in the beginning. And there was fruit on the tree. I'm not going to say what kind of fruit it was. Because the Bible doesn't say what kind of fruit. But I do know this.

That it looked good in sin. It looks good to me. But I'm sure it looked good. Now, for me, I'm going to have to do that. But nevertheless, it did look good. And there was kind of promise connected with it.

It said if you eat it, it's going to make you rise. But who would want to rise? But then, it said that if you eat it, you're going to be like God. Wow, that sounds appealing, doesn't it? And so, this fruit looks good.

It has a good appeal connected with it. And I'm sure it's going to taste good. So it's fine. Everything about it says good. Good, good, good. Except God says, not good. God says, the day you eat thereof, you will surely die.

Now, what's interesting is, Adam and Eve came over and died that day. So the Bible is not true. Now, it is true. And see, what happened is this. The death was just taking the last breath. But that's not how the Bible defines death.

Death means separation. And there's three stages to it. The first stage is when sin is separated from God. That's spiritual death. That's the most significant one, in a sense. Everything else comes out of that.

And so, that day, prior to them eating that fruit and acting with direct disobedience against the commands of God, prior to that, they enjoyed intimate communion with God every single day. It was a wonderful relationship.

But the minute they ate that fruit, they died spiritually. Something inside of them died. And instead of looking forward to communion with God and walking with God, they ate something. Isn't that interesting?

Well, that's a big part of that relationship with God. And sin always does that. It always breaks that intimacy of fellowship with God and communion with God. It's a terrible thing. They don't enjoy it anymore.

They want to hide from it because they're guilty of it. And so, it's a terrible thing. Well, then, eventually, there's a Genesis chapter 5. And there's a refrain, I'm not sure of that chapter, about Adam and all his descendants.

And it says this. And he died. And he died. And he died. And he died. And he died. And he died. Just keep going. Because sin, when it's finished, brings forth death. So, that's physical death. That's spiritual death.

That's physical death. And then, there's a third aspect to death. And that is, if that person that dies, dies without restoring that communion with God before they die, without getting right with God, it means they are forever separated from God for all eternity.

And, of course, without turning. And so, sin is finished. And there's many other examples. By one man, sin entered into the world. And death by sin. So, death passed upon all men. But all of sin. And so, clearly, there's this idea that death always brings separation.

Separation, spiritually, from God. Separation physically. Then the body separates from the soul and spirit. The body goes into the grave. Soul and spirit either go to a place of eternal punishment. Or it goes to be with God.

If that person is collecting soul and spirit with God. And then that eternal separation. Some other examples of sin. Looking good at the beginning. And then, always bringing forth death. I would say, David and Bathsheba.

Anybody think that Bathsheba was a beautiful woman? I mean, it doesn't describe her in the text. But David had lots of wives. Like, remember, David had a woman. He's got his own personal harem, really.

Right? And when he sees this woman, I bet she looked gorgeous. Absolutely beautiful. And so good. Unless she was married to somebody else. And, as it happens, she got pregnant. And David tried the best cover-up in the street.

And it didn't work. So, a lot of dying occurred. Because of sin. But David died. And David's son, Alan, died. And David's son, Absalom, died. And David lost his kingdom. And David lost his respect. And it was just a disaster.

And you ask David. I want to interview him. Was it worth it, David? Like, how did it go, this sin thing? Did it work out? You ask anybody who has fallen into sin. And the repercussions and the consequences, was it worth it?

They all say the same thing. No, it was a disaster. Sin when it's finished. That's a deception. Deception is when you get to the point where it's worth it. That's a deception. Sin when it's finished, brings self -death.

None of these stories happened with all of this happening ever after. It was unanswerable. See, the Bible says sin is slavery. It's slavery. It's bondage. It's hard bondage. It hurts good. And so, James says.

He says, get this right. Sin when it's finished brings self -death. Get it right. Understand this. Sin when it's finished brings self -death. Don't be deceived. Sin when it's finished brings self -death.

So, get this right. Don't earn my beloved brethren. It's almost like the church says something completely radical here in verse 17. It says, every good gift and every perfect gift is from above. And comes down from the father of rights.

With whom is now a bearer of this night and the shadow of eternity. He asks himself, what's this got to do with anything he's been saying? Well, how does God deal with this problem of man separating from God because of sin?

God’s Gift of His Son

What's his solution? How's he going to deal with this? Well, he says, well, I've got a solution. I'm going to send a gift into the midst of this mess. And what it gives me at once. See, God so loved the world.

In all of which we're talking about is degradation. Even though he hates the sin, he loves the sin. And he wants him back. He wants a relationship with him. He wants a relationship. And so, how did he deal with that?

Well, he sent a sin. God so loved the world that he gave. The greatest gift he could give was his perfect righteous son. Coming to this world. And he was the only person who didn't sin. Lived a perfect life.

In fact, the Bible says he knew no sin. He did no sin. Neither was any guile found in his mouth. This was the perfect man. The perfect man, the Bible says. The perfect man that has raised this earth. Of the son of Jesus.

The interesting thing is. He said that sin when it's finished brings forth death. And it brings this dilemma. He was the only sinless person that ever lived. Well, let me think about Jesus. Let me think about him.

Let's think about him. He died. Well, why did he die? He was sinless. Sin when it's finished brings forth death. Why did he die? Isn't this kind of raising the whole thing? You said sin when it's finished.

How did he die? It was because of sin. Not his, yours. Well, sin when it's finished brings forth death. If you want to know what sin when it's finished looks like. I want to take you to a place called Calvary.

I want you to look at something. It says this. His face was marred by an animal. Was that because they just went in a big meeting? There's a lot of people that use countenance as being odd. Because it would be something.

But what I'm saying about Jesus' face was marred by an animal. Is that he went through the wrath of God. He went through the wrath of God. He went through the wrath of God. And yet, as our substitute, he bore in his own body, on that tree, our sin, my sin.

It was like this. God blamed Jesus, the sin of the world. And then punish him as if he was guilty of every one of them, as if he committed them. And God's calling laugh against sin was poured out on his son, Calvary.

You want to know what sin would have finished up like for Calvary? Look at that. Why is this? Because God wants to forgive. He wants to show mercy to the people who are on the judgment that deserves death and deserves hell.

He wants to do that. But he can't just pretend that death happened. He can't just look away and say, I know you're a scoundrel, but you can come into my heaven. He can't do that because if he were there, I'd turn around and accuse him of being unrighteous.

God, how did that guy get into heaven? I knew about him. He's a lying scoundrel. How would we ever let him in? God can say, I can let him in because his sin was taken care of. He was dealt with. He was punished.

Everything that man ever did was punished. He was substituted for that Jesus. And all our sin is on that tree. And so God was able to allow us to be forgiven, bring us back into that intimate relationship with him.

Christ’s Finished Work and the Call to Salvation

And still retain his justice, his righteousness, and holiness. Because nobody can say that sin wasn't paid for. Because Jesus paid it all for them. All to him I owe. Sin had lasted. Sins and sin. He washed it with our sin.

To see the Lord Jesus. All our sin is on that tree. And so unlike the people of Laish, who have no deliverer, I meet this morning to tell you there is a deliverer. That deliverer is Jesus Christ. He loves you enough to die and take the penalty for your sins.

But listen, you can no longer be careless about your sin. You have to realize how serious it is. You shouldn't be anxious about your sin. Because either he will pay the penalty. It must be paid. So you can either let him pay it.

And trust in his finished work. Or you can put yourself in hell for all eternity. Or can't afford to be careless. Or you can't allow yourself to be deceived into this quiet state of security. If you don't have a secure savior.

It's wonderful. I can tell you without hesitation. Because I'm a good person. But I know without a shadow of a doubt. That if I die, I will go to heaven. I have absolute security. And peace. And quietness in my soul.

It's not a deception. But the Bible says. Shall not perish. But have pleasant possession. Everlasting life. So please don't be careless about your sin. Don't have this deceptive sense of quiet and peace.

I was able to assert. To recognize it. And in that time. To be free. To be free. To live. To live. To live. To live. To live. To live. To live. To live. To live. To live. To live. To live. To live. To live.

To live. Jesus is alive because sin has been dealt with by Calvary. So can I urge you this morning that you would never curse me. Can we offer an opportunity here as a savior to save me from sin and death?

I pray that you would tell the Lord Jesus, there is no God that you can save. All you got to do, for the very life of your people, if you've never been to sin, is simply say the Lord has saved you. I've observed judgment, I know I did, but I need to be saved.

The Lord has saved me. And I will do it. It says, whoever comes to them, no matter how bad, you might have been this merchant of Jezebel. It says, whoever comes to me and says, my eyes cast them out. He will save you.

He will save you. He will close before you sin, give you a new start, a new beginning, a new hope, a new life, a glorious future, and a hope. So will you close in on the offer of salvation? Because it might not be available much longer than that.

The reason I say that is, we aren't guaranteed the next blessing. This is not something to put off. We may not have tomorrow. But many people are going to bed at night thinking they wake up in the morning and they didn't.

Well, they did, they woke up in the morning. So can I urge you, please, this is serious. We're not playing games here. This is the most serious thing you can ever do. Just close in on the offer of salvation.

Holiness After Conversion

And for those of you who said, ah, save, I'm in power, I'm in control. Can I urge you to flee from sin as well? Because if I don't see sin, then it's finished. Look at Calvary. So everything that's paid for in Calvary, not just means we're today before we're saved, but you're going to walk faster.

So please, don't add anything to this. Let's flee from sin. Let's live holy lives. Let's tell the world. There's hope. Yes, there's one thing to deliver. There's light to deliver. And we know it because it's running for us.

We're not helpless in these times. Let's pray. Father, we pray for us. This morning, there's never, ever trusted the Lord Jesus. And even in a meeting like this, maybe in the Christian realm, since we're guaranteed he doesn't come by natural birth, but by supernatural birth.

So let us never, ever close in on the offer of salvation. Let's fear and fear nothing. Because whatever they'll call us to be in the world, that they might do it this morning. Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name.

Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. Amen.