I'm speaking unto you, particularly my friends and my family back home, as I continue with this series over the next 13 days on the coronavirus and how that brings us unto the gospel to enjoy it, to understand it, and to live forever. But I want to bring you a text that's taken from the book of the Revelation, chapter number 20. We'll start the reading at verse number 13. It is the great white throne judgment. I ask you to pray for me as I bring you these messages, that I would have the word of God that would be helpful for you, myself, and for many others. But it says, then the sea gave up its dead. There is this great day of judgment that we can't hide from. And the death and Hades, they gave up their dead of the grave. There's no hiding place. And all were judged according to their works, what they did on this earth, their thoughts and their deeds. And death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is a real, actual place that exists. And anyone that was not found written in the book of life was thrown into the lake of fire. I'm convinced that the majority of us, my friends, my relatives, my family, just the people that I care about on Facebook, that they do not know that the wrath of God is real. And they do not believe that God is going to judge this world according unto our words. It's hard for us to believe, but that's why I'm a missionary. Because there is a day appointed by God in which he will judge the world in righteousness. And we've got to get ready. And we have to prepare for it. And we have to deal with this thing extremely honestly. And that's what I want you to do today. He would not have put his son on the cross. He would not have killed our Lord Jesus Christ if there was another way for us to be saved. These things are so serious that they occupy all of our attention and they are worth our entire life. The Apostle Paul said in Galatians 2 verse number 21 that if righteousness come by the works of the law, then Christ is dead in vain. If you and I could be good enough, But it says that anyone not found actually written in the Book of Life, the Lamb's Book of Life, was thrown He wasn't willing, but they walked in, was thrown into the lake of fire. If you and I could be good enough, if I could be man enough, if I could be the man of the year, or I could be the husband or the father or the dad of the year, if I could coach sports and have all these young men to look at me and say, wow, old coach, he really helped us. If you could be mom of the year, husband of the year, it would not matter if everybody on earth spoke well of you. When you and I get unto the day of judgment and we meet with God. If we're not found written in that book of life, the Lamb's book of life, he's going to look at our works and he's going to weigh us and he's going to find us wanting. He's going to say that we are sinners and he's going to cast us into hell forever and he describes it as a lake of fire. that burned with brimstone and our brother E.H. Spurgeon is right that this is imagery but how horrible is the imagery? It's a metaphor, but it's describing something that's awful, the wrath of God. And that's why Jesus hung upon the cross, because there was no other way to take away that punishment than for God to be manifested in the flesh, be joined with mankind as a perfect human being to live a righteous life, and then to die a substitute to save us from this horrible place that's coming. And Paul describes this place in the book of 2 Thessalonians 1, verse number 8. It says, taking vengeance, deflaming fire on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. It's the same Christ that's promised us eternal life. It's the same Christ that forgives sin, says that if you don't obey my gospel, I'll punish you forever. And it is forever. These will pay the penalty of eternal destruction from the Lord's presence and from His glorious grace. That saving power that could have saved us is going to be used to damage us. And what I want you to do is I want you to take this thing very seriously. Our Lord Jesus Christ is God's only way of salvation. He's the only way our sins can be forgiven. And if not, we're going to have to suffer his wrath. And so what we need to do is to believe on him. I wrote something earlier about people that are trying to take heaven. They're trying to take the sweetness of the blessings. They are trying to take eternal life out of the gospel, but then leave everything else behind. And it cannot be. He promised Noah there was one door on only one boat, one ark, to escape the wrath of God. He's proven it to us. He'll destroy the entire world. Of the angels that sin, became devils and demons who are reserved in chains of darkness until the judgment of the great day. He is just using us until the day of wrath as he's already proven with the devil as he uses him to afflict Job and to accomplish his purposes and to nail Christ upon the cross until he rises again from the dead. He'll use a sinner and cast him into hell the same way that he did Pharaoh. He's proven it. And then when Lot He came out of the city of Sodom, but there was only one way. It's the angels who took him and his wife and said, run and do not look back. Run. That's how serious this thing is. And what we have right now is the coronavirus is a helper. from God Almighty Himself. I know that people say it's the judgment. In some sense it is, absolutely, but it's sparing us the wrath of God if we take advantage of it, if we listen and we hear God say, judgment day is coming. If we listen, He's really telling us, you've got to die. He's telling us that me and you are not in control of our destiny, of our future, of tomorrow, or of today. And everything happened yesterday according unto His will. There's a God to deal with, and we've got to get ready. And the only way that we're going to be ready is to repent and to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ to take this blessed gospel at his terms. Let me read to you that particular text from Genesis chapter 19, verse 17. As soon as the angels got them outside, One of them said, run for your lives. I would scream that at the top of my lungs if I was preaching, and I'm home on, it's on quarantine, and I have my neighbors, but I would scream that out for its impact. Run for your lives. Do not look back. and don't stop anywhere on the plain. Run unto the mountains, or you will be swept away. He's telling us to take this seriously, and he's telling us to repent and to believe upon Jesus Christ. And from Matthew chapter 13, he puts it like this. Verse number 45. Again, here's what it costs, here's what it takes. It is no easy believism, man. I mean, it isn't just gonna you know, skip down the aisles, shake the creature's hand as I'm, you know, I'm gonna, I'm gonna swap my bubble gum from this side of my mouth to that side as I'm walking down to shake the creature's hand and now I'm saved and oh yeah, I got that settled and I'm going to heaven now and I can just live my life. That's not what it's about. It's about giving your whole self, your whole life unto Jesus Christ. That's what it means to repent and believe the gospel. It's to give up everything. It's to give up you. It's the old stories told. of the great Cherokee chief that was hearing the missionary preach and he brought the missionary the hunting rifle and he said I hear what you say about Jesus and how he died for me and I give him my hunting rifle and the missionary man said no And then he came back, and he had his favorite horse. The missionary man said, the Lord Jesus doesn't want your horse, Jacob. And then he came back, and he had his headdress. And the missionary man said, no, no, no. And then finally, with some tears in his eyes and heart, as he came back, and he said, missionary man, I give Jesus name. That's what He wants is you, all of you, lock, stock, and barrel, that you and I would live to spread the gospel. That I would be so overwhelmed, so believing, so committed to Him who saved my soul. that I would go out now and live my life to save other people by the gospel. That's whether I'm a preacher, or a cook, or a football coach, or a housewife, or a president. It doesn't matter. All of our lives look the same. We've only got one purpose, one ambition, the glory of God in Jesus Christ, to bring honor unto the gospel by how we live our life. That takes grace. And then to help other people come to Christ in this hostile world. That takes grace. That's what it takes. That's the minimum. And you will perish. I will perish. We will perish if we don't want to live that kind of life and say, I just want to be saved. It's a delusion. And what they're preaching now as to what these false prophets are telling you is just add Christ unto your life and he will make it better and he will help us to achieve our dreams. That's not the gospel. Christ didn't promise you a better marriage, as your wife might leave you and hate your guts for coming unto Christ, but you'll have eternal life, O, and you won't be going to hell, and you will have the forgiveness of your sins, and you will have fellowship and peace with God if you follow him by the gospel. He didn't promise you that your business might get better. Your business might go bankrupt and be overthrown, and I am tired of people creatures degrading the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. As if he is here to be our butler and to be our genie, as if he wants to live our life and he's here to help me to do that. No, he's to change me, change my life, and to give me life, and to transform me to live for him. And so that the only thing that matters is the souls of human beings. How can we live? There's nothing wrong with having money. It has its use in the kingdom, but how can we live to have money in, you know, Silicon Valley and to be big shots? Oh, you left California. I'm after your soul. Is the comfort of California more important than an African man's soul? His whole family? His whole church? It's not that you have to be a missionary in some foreign country. Right where you are, your life is about our Lord Jesus Christ. Are you in on it? Are you interested? Or is it the lake of fire? And the Lord Jesus said in Matthew 13 verse 45, again, the kingdom of heaven, the kingdom of God is like a merchant in search of fine pearls. He's trying to figure out what's the meaning of life? What am I gonna give my heart to? What's the best thing I can get? And when he found one priceless pearl, How priceless is Christ. He saves me from the everlasting wrath of God. He saves me and he makes me righteous. He gives me peace with God and power over sin. He forgives me. Don't you know that your sin is your issue with God, not your sickness? There's no sin in being sick. It's the repercussion of sin in our father Adam. But when a baby is born sick, it's not because he sinned, but because there's sin in the world, and there's sin in his body. Like he hasn't actually done something himself. He sinned in Adam, and that's why he's born sick. But to be sick is not sinful. But to be sinful is sinful. It's to be in rebellion against God. It's to be in unbelief. It's to not believe this gospel. And we need to stop shortchanging people with a cheap gospel and a cheap salvation that doesn't transform us, that doesn't make us a new creation, that doesn't have the preaching of a new life in Romans chapter 6. If our gospel stops at justification by faith and does not include a holy life and sanctification and commitment to Christ and and a true love unto the brethren. It's a false gospel. But this is the salvation. This is the salvation. This is the gospel that God gives. It's the gospel that actually changes a man and transforms him to be All in. That's what it means to believe. It's not to believe this part about the gospel and that part about the gospel. It's to believe Him. And to believe Him, He says, follow Me. And I'll make you fishers of men. I'll forgive your sins. I'll clean you up. I'll wash you. I'll give you my spirit. I'll give you a brand new heart and you will live for me. I'll put my law in your heart and you will keep my commandments. That's the gospel. That's the new covenant. That's the blessing of grace. That's the promise of God. And when this man found this pearl of great price, he went and sold. everything he had and bought it. What does it mean to sell everything you have? It was a leper who came to our Lord Jesus Christ and said, he's under the wrath of God. He said, Lord, if you will, You can make me a Christian. You can make me whole. And when I came to God in repentance, after my failure, after my unbelief, after my years of trying to do things my own way and still have Christ, He brought me, my brothers, and my sisters to a point of total brokenness and fear. The fear was of the wrath of God. And if there is no wrath, then you can tell him to shove off and to mind your own business. and we can smack him around and we can put him on the cross. But when he rises up from the dead and he walks out of the tomb and he's been exalted as king of kings and lord of lords, and he says to bow down, to repent, and to believe the gospel, now with fear and trembling, I must come to him and say, Lord, what would you have me do? What are the terms of surrender? How can I have peace with God? He says, put your trust in me. It's another text here that I want to read. It's in Isaiah chapter number 27, verse number four and five. He says, I'm not angry. He's not a God of fury yet. He has vengeance. He has wrath. But the day is coming. Right now, he is preaching peace. He is wooing. He has sent me to plead with you. But if it produces thorns and briars on me, If it rejects my gospel, I will fight against it, trample it, and burn it to the ground. That's the warning. Why aren't we scared? Why don't we tremble? Why are men scared to die but not scared of God and the judgment? We're scared of a virus, the plague. Oh, Nigeria is on edge and the U.S. is shut down. But we don't fear God and what happens after, at the judgment. We don't fear his wrath and we need it. Instead of telling people, oh smile, Jesus loves you and he'll fix your marriage. Your wife might spit in your face and go marry somebody else. That's not the promise of the gospel, but he'll make you a better man. He'll make you and me able to walk with God and to go to heaven. Or let Him take hold of my strength. That's what saves us. It's the strength of the Almighty God. Let Him make peace with me. And He will make peace with me. Make peace, He's saying. There's a day of judgment. There's wrath. Put your faith in Christ. Trust Him to do for you these two things. One, to take away all your sin. That's why He died upon the cross. Of the wages of sin is death. The gift of God is eternal life. It was eternal wrath that the Son of God had to bear. He had to be the everlasting God to bear an everlasting penalty. He had to be a perfect man in order to represent us and he had to be these both joined mysteriously into one glorious person. And he fulfilled it. God raised him from the dead. He's the son of God with power. Here's the second thing. Trust him to give you a new life. That blood of the covenant, of his shedding, of his death, of his life laid down was so precious, so valuable. It earned peace with God. It earned a forgiveness of our sin. It earned a brand new life. It earned holiness. There is no way I could keep going if he did not forgive Sam. He's so gracious. So if you would just look to him and come to him, not on your terms, but on his, he's not gonna do this our way. We're not in charge. But Jesus Christ, who is Lord and is sitting on this throne, his throne, will give you repentance and the forgiveness of sins. And I say this here as my last word. Pray to him and beg him. So few people ever beg God. I know that there is a false religion that's trying to beg in order to earn. And we can't earn from God. It's a gift of His grace. But when blind Bartimaeus heard him passing by, He was able to see by faith, even though his eyes did not work. This is the one chance that you and I have. This is it. If he leaves us, if he forsakes us, if he passes by, then I'm not saved. It's over. I plead with you. I'm begging for your life. Get serious. Come to him. With an open Bible, get down on your knees and ask Him to make you whole. Put your trust in our Lord Jesus Christ and His righteousness. Amen. The gift of His grace. Oh yes, begging Him is heartwarming. It's the begging of faith.