Brethren, let's again ask the Lord's help as we open up His Word together. Lord, we thank You for the opportunity You've given to us to gather together in the presence of Your Son. He has promised to be with His people when they are gathered. And we praise You for this privilege and opportunity. We ask now, Lord, that as we consider Your Holy Word, You would come and reveal Yourself to us. You would establish us in the truth of Your Holy Word. That it would help us as we interpret world events, as we seek to draw some lessons from this tsunami and earthquake that have caused such disaster in Japan. That as your people, we would be solidified in the truth of the answers we find in your word. And that we would be useful as those who would shed light upon these events to those who are in the dark. And that you would use us to proclaim the good news of the gospel. Salvation from sin and all its consequences, even a world that seems at times to be violent and out of control. We thank you that there's coming a day when our Lord comes back and even the earth will know a day and season of rest and of peace. Bless us that we might look forward to that day and not settle for this life with its sin, suffering and curses. In Jesus' name, Amen. The pictures on the internet, at least, that's sort of my main lifeline to news and to the world. We don't get TV or the news programs that some of you may get, but the pictures are absolutely amazing surrounding the events in Japan and the destruction that the earthquake and subsequent tsunami caused. One YouTube video alone, and maybe you saw this on the TV, absolutely was overwhelming to watch. You see the wave coming in. Whoever was taking the video must have been in a high rise a couple of miles from where it came on shore. And you see this huge, massive wave moving into the city. At the same time, you're observing a car going toward the wave, totally oblivious. No idea what is about to take place. The car disappears among buildings, but the wave just comes crashing through and huge office buildings, houses are just gone in a matter of seconds. Other videos showing cars rolling down rivers that are obviously overflowing their banks and the cars look like little pebbles in a stream. The force of the water just rolling them, buses rolling them down the water. One picture I saw on the internet, it looked like a car lot where all these cars were moved by, I guess the water together, but then a fire ensued and they were all fried. Hundreds of them all together just burnt to a crisp. the oil refineries that caught on fire, causing this thick black smoke and just darkness coming over the land. Horrifying pictures. Scary stuff, really, to have been there and to have experienced the disaster. Other pictures, very, very sad. of dead people who died within their homes. You read of how the elderly population is very, very high in Japan, and particularly this city, and some of the pictures of soldiers carrying the elderly on their back, using the young, youthful, strong legs of soldiers to carry them out to be rescued and to be safe. Really, as you look at all those pictures, it just, I don't know what it reminded you of, but it certainly reminded me of the judgment to come, and how horrific that day is going to be for the lost. It reminded me of many things, and we're going to sort of open up a topical message, just drawing from several truths that we should be reminded of in light of this tsunami, and things that we need to be prepared to tell others about. We get into trouble when we try to figure out all the details. Exactly why did this happen? Was it something in these particular people and even more specifically this city that caused God to bring the flood upon them and destroy them? We get into trouble when we try to get into the detailed interpretation of these kinds of events. But there are certainly a lot of truths in the Bible that are absolutely clear that we can apply to these events. And there are things that we can reflect on and think about and use to at least generally interpret some of those things that have happened and at least understand why they happened. And that's kind of where I want us to go this morning. First of all, the tsunami in Japan should remind us of our sin. It should remind us that we're sinners. Why do I say that? Well, here's the question I ask. Why does this happen? Why do earthquakes like this happen that then cause subsequent tsunamis that then cause people to die? In other words, why does it seem, at least in the last couple of years, maybe this is just our access to news, why does it seem the Earth shakes pretty often and becomes unstable rather regularly? Look at what happened just a year ago in Haiti. Earthquake, over a quarter of a million people, at least near that number, dead. Just off the top of my brain, in recent memory, the past few years, China suffered a huge earthquake, death tolls. Pakistan, huge amount of dead in that country from an earthquake. Why is the earth like shaking? One YouTube video I saw before the tsunami, but during the earthquake, amazing. Video starts to be taken, the person's in the house, everything's shaking. Have you ever felt an earthquake? I felt a small one one time. We were living up in Cohoes. I don't know if my family remembers this, but it was on a Sunday morning and I was getting ready. I think I had to preach at the nursing home that day. And I was up early and I was alone. And all of a sudden, the house started to shake. I literally thought, Christ was coming. I went outside to see what was happening. It is unnerving, to say the least. When everything normally stable, sure, like rock, immovable, begins to move, it shakes you to the core of your being. It wakes you up. It gets your attention. This house is just Rocking things are falling off the shelves the guy runs outside. There's a woman on the ground laying there She doesn't even want to get up because she doesn't think she can stand up on her own two feet She's just trying to get stability trying to get all of her body parts on the ground So that she won't move and so she'll get some sense of of sureness and of confidence, right? Why does that happen? You know why it happens Because of our sin. You know what the root cause of earthquakes are that destroy and kill people? Sin. The answer is not the tectonic plates have overlapped and an earthquake ensued. It's not what one guy who wrote into, I think, the Los Angeles Times said about an earthquake that happened in 2005. It was an act of nature, period. No. It was not an act of nature, period. Impersonal, violent, out of control nature, period, that kills. The earth shakes because of man's sin. The earth, in other words, is under a curse because of our sin. When we go way back to the beginning of the Bible, we see that everything we see, including this world, including you and me, was created by God. Everything came from Him. And when God looked upon His creation and He looked upon this world, He said that it was good. And part of the excellence, the goodness, the pleasantness of this creation is that it worked. It worked exactly the way God created it to work. Does this sound a little familiar? Teen retreaters. The world when God made it, functioned exactly the way it was supposed to function. Perfectly. And in those days... There were no earthquakes, there were no tsunamis, there was no nature out of control threatening the lives of human beings. Everything was in perfect order, in perfect balance. Adam could count on the fact that tomorrow when he got up, the earth wouldn't shake, but it would all be right. He'd go into the garden, he'd work the garden, he'd till the garden, the ground worked like it should, the seed he put in the ground worked exactly like it should, and life was really good. And the world was good and the world was at peace. That's what this world was like when God made it. In other words, there was a time in the history of the world when earthquakes were not a part of its existence and of its experience. That's what we learn from the Bible. So what happened? Why does the earth shake now? Why do tornadoes whip through the Midwest of our country? and kill people. Why do all of these things happen? Well, it's because of sin. The world is under a curse because of man's sin. It's a moral problem. That's why the earthquake happened. It's a moral problem, not a science problem. It's a moral problem. It's the result of man's sin. Look at Genesis 3. Turn back there with me for a minute. And listen to the words of God. Part of the consequence for our sin is that it impacted the earth in which we live. You see, sin is such an evil, vile thing. It not only destroys you, it's not only not good for you and those around you, we see how it impacted Adam. Caused him to experience great fear and guilt of conscience. We see how it impacted his relationship with his wife. He began to use her to save his own skin as a shield, right? Ariana remembers that point. and save his own skin, but it also impacted the earth. Sin is an evil thing that has ripple effects that even impacted the earth. Because of man's sin, the earth was cursed. Look at Genesis 3, verses 17 and 18. And to Adam he said, because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten of the tree, of which I commanded you, you shall not eat of it," to make it short, because of your sin. Cursed is the ground because of you. And one of the immediate ways in which Adam would know that the ground was cursed was that the ground would begin to work against him as he tilled it and farmed it. The immediate example to illustrate that what really happened was when Adam went out to plant his salad. and his tomatoes, and his beans for his garden, and he put the seeds in. He realized after a few days something came up first, and it wasn't the fruit he wanted, but there were these other plants starting to emerge called weeds. And now not only did farming involve tilling the ground, putting the seed in, reaping the harvest, it involved fighting off the weeds that were now coming from the cursed soil because the weeds threatened to destroy his very life source, right? The immediate result and example of the ground of the earth being cursed were weeds. And it would mean the earth itself began to work against man. It wasn't designed to be like that originally. It was from the stuff of the earth that Adam was made. But now the very stuff, it almost seems to me, from which Adam was created began to work against him. And from those days forward, things like earthquakes, tornadoes, weather systems that were in total control and were totally working for the blessing of man who was the apex of creation, now began to work, sometimes uncontrollably, against him to kill him. Weeds trying to cut off his food source. Tsunamis cutting off our life source, stability, air. Things we've made and created, houses remaining where they are. In a moment's notice, being out of control and killing people. And it's almost because of man's sin, the earth is almost trying to like vomit us out of it, right? It's almost like this earth at times doesn't want us to be here. Our sin has cursed it. And we cannot survive such things because of our sin. I'm telling you, the tsunami in Japan should remind us of our sin. It's the root cause. of this world and earth being out of control. The stability of the earth is impacted by man's sin. It shakes and becomes unstable, making life hard. The earth and its quakes testify that our condition before God is not good. It's not good. That's the message for non-Christians. It ought to remind us of our condition before God. It ought to remind us of our sin. Because this is the point. God did not create the world to kill us. He didn't create the earth to be a place in which we'd have to run for our lives to stay alive. He created the world to be a blessing for man, to be a place that he would enjoy, to be a place of peace and of stability. And the thing that changed it was man's sin. We are sinners suffering the consequences of our sin. This earth is under a curse which sometimes results in life-threatening tsunamis, bringing the kind of suffering we see in Japan. And the answer is it needs to be redeemed. Redemption is the answer. God is the answer. We can't stop earthquakes from happening, can we? We can measure them when they do happen. We can observe them after the fact. We can take satellite photos before the city and then after the city to show the kind of destruction it caused, but we cannot stand before earthquakes or tsunamis. We cannot overcome the problem of a violent earth, cursed as a result of our sin. The way to fix the earth is to fix the problem of sin. If there is a way that sin can be taken out, that sin can be removed, that sin can be redeemed and washed and done away with, all of the consequences of sin will be rolled back. Sin came into the world. Death was right on its heels. Earthquakes right on its heels. Tsunamis and an apparent out of control creation right on its heels. The only thing that will take all of this stuff and baggage that sin has brought in is if there is a way for sin to be removed. And God is the answer. Christ is the answer. And I'm sort of giving you a little glimpse into the Sunday school hour in eschatology, the study of last things. Do you realize the impact of Christ's work will have not only on you and the change that will take place in your sin-cursed body that's dying? There will be an incredible change that takes place in it. But Christ's scope, the scope of Christ's life and of His death and of His resurrection will have a glorious impact upon this globe. Turn to Romans 8. You know what this earth is craning its neck looking forward to? The future. When the moral problem that man has will be completely taken away. Romans 8. The creation waits, verse 19, with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of two children of God. For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. And not only the creation, but we ourselves who have the first fruits of the Spirit. Creation is looking forward to the final and complete redemption of Christ. being given to His people, the revealing of the sons of God when Jesus comes back and all sin is totally removed from us and we're changing the twinkling of an eye, that redemption is going to impact this earth and its bondage to corruption and to shaking and to violence will be cut and it will be set free. Anybody here see Beauty and the Beast? Great story of redemption. We've got two little girls raising their hands in the back. You know, the beast lives in the castle and it's dark and it's gloomy and he's a beast. Ferocious teeth and he's huge and he's strong and he's really ugly. The only way he can go back to being a man is to experience true love's kiss. Maybe that's another fairy tale. Something like that. And when he does, you remember what happened. Not only does the beast Become a man again. Yay. Get to live happily ever after with the beautiful woman, right? Forget her name. Belle. There we go. But all of a sudden, there's an impact felt in the castle, and there's this sparkling glitter, and the castle turns from gloomy black to rainbow, pastel-y, joyous, glorious light colors, and life just Beans everywhere. That's what's going to happen when Jesus comes back. We will be changed. In the twinkle of an eye. Never to perish again. And the earth will be put at rest. Never to quake again. We don't have to settle for a world under the curse. We have a glorious hope. which involves the redemption of this globe upon which we will live forever and ever. Secondly, the tsunami in Japan should humble all of us. We are weak, pitiful creatures of the dust. Every teenager should be glued to YouTube for an hour to see how pitifully weak and little he is. And maybe he'll stop walking down the street or being on the Hollywood movies and TVs as if we're all that. We're all nothing. We're creatures of the dust. And we are right on the edge of dying every moment of our life. A slight little car crash, you could be dead. I heard of a boy. I've got to reach out and contact him this afternoon in our community. Young boy, 7th, 8th grade on the basketball court in Catskill, had a heart attack from what I heard. Taken to the hospital, 12, 13 years old. The heart is such a fragile, weak thing. A little less blood, it gets to it just a little bit less blood than what it needs, you die. We are weak. And we are frail creatures of the dust. The earth shakes a little bit. We didn't even feel it here. Didn't even feel it. Just a little slight shake. Huge wave. 10 meters. Doesn't sound too big, right? 10 meters. Moving 600 miles an hour. Now that sounds kind of ferocious. And a whole city that was there one moment, the next moment is gone, let alone the puty little things that look like ants called people. The city and buildings man created could not withstand it, nor could man stand before the flood that came upon that Japanese city. Just a little slight shake, a little something out of the ordinary, a little slight change in our environment, and you're gone. No wonder the Scriptures compare man to grass. We're as strong as a little piece of grass. You know, if the grass doesn't have just enough water, just the right soil, just the right amount of sun, it dies. Grass is a very difficult thing to grow, at least if you live where I do. And it's like this weak little thing. I hate that it's so weak. And it needs just the perfect little soil. Grass is so girly. It just needs all the perfect little things to grow and to be healthy. What's wrong with my soil, grass, right? I need the genetically engineered stuff that grows out of rocks. It's just so frail and weak. And then you get it to come up. And you can't step on it. It's too muddy. You can't go on it yet. It's too frail. And it's here today. And it just seems like, at least for Ryan, it could be gone tomorrow like that. Make sure it gets the right amount of water, right amount of sun, right? That's what we're like. That's what we're like. We are nothing compared to the forces of nature. We are nothing compared to the slightest little problems that we could face. Little car accidents. Little arrhythmias with our hearts. A little bit of slight out of whack thing going on in our brains and our neurological system. And we cannot sleep. We need the balance to be just right for sleep. Some of you know that. You know that because of the pain you have every day from the things that you suffer. Our bodies cannot withstand a lot of abuse and a lot of accidents that they suffer. Often we'll take such things to our grave. It ought to humble us. We are dust. And to the dust we shall return. We need to repent of the sin of pride. Who are we but weak, needy creatures who cannot stand. I have Isaiah 40 here as a reference. 6-8, you can listen or turn. A voice says, cry. And I said, what shall I cry? Isaiah 46. All flesh is grass and all its beauty is like the flower of the field. The grass withers, the flower fades when the breath of the Lord blows upon it. Surely the people are grass. The grass withers. The flower fades. The Word of our God will stand forever. Haven't we been given a very clear example of man fading like a flower? Here today, tomorrow, gone. A little radiation, gone. A little destruction, gone. Here's the question. This is something all of us should be asking ourselves. I put it on Facebook. I'm praying my unconverted non-Christian friends will think about this. What should this remind us of? It should remind us of the fact that you're going to die. You're not going to be on this earth forever. You are going to have to face death. Here's the question. Are you ready to die? That is one of the most important questions you need to ask yourself, kids. All of us in this room, are you ready to die? You know why you've got to ask it? Because you're going to die. You could die when you're young. You might die when you're old. But you're going to die. Are you ready for it? Believers, members, church, you need to ask your friends that question. They need to personalize the tsunami to them. You may not die suddenly in a tsunami, but you're going to die. It's not going to take much. Are you ready? You are not all that. You are nothing. The only reason you're alive is because of God's mercy and grace. But because of our sin, we're going to die. we need to think of our mortality and how close to death we are. And brethren, I say for you Christians, if you think about that, the fact that you're going to die, and the fact of what Christ has done to save you from death, it will make you a very happy person. Because you're ready to face it. I thought to myself, and I said this to the kids over the weekend, if I was in that Japanese city, And I wasn't in the car, but I was walking down the street, and five mile away, whatever, I saw this wave coming. And I knew, you know, my city's on the ocean. I've lived here all my life. I've never seen the ocean there. Usually I've got to drive down several blocks, and I see it down there. But I never look up to the ocean. I always look down to it. And now the ocean's up in the sky, and it's higher than me, and I don't have enough time. My legs are pretty good, but I don't have enough time to run from this thing. I'm fast, but not 500 miles an hour fast. And here came that wave toward me. What would I do? What would you do? You know what I would do? Start praying and praising. But I would know, I would know for a fact, I'm God. This is what I would do. And start singing every hymn I knew. Oh, for a thousand tongues to sing my great Redeemer's praise. And my hands would be open, and I'd face the tsunami, and then it would take me out, and I'd be with Christ. I would not have to be afraid of the wave. I would ride it to glory. I would be fully confident, ready to die. Not because I'm everything, but because Jesus is everything. And I don't have to fear death because He's removed sin. Sin is the sting of death. He's taken out sin and He's saved me. So I know that even if I die, I shall live. And to die and to go to be with the Lord is much better. Ask your friends and family, could you do that? First ask yourself, could you do that? Christ gives us the ability to look a tsunami in the face with confidence, knowing that we're going to overcome it. that it will not have the last say in our life. Here's another humbling thought. If we cannot endure the shaking of this earth and the powerful forces of nature, how do we think we'll be able to stand before the great God who made heaven and earth? When you see such power in nature, when you see such glorious might, I mean, it's very sad, but at the same time, it's pretty amazing to watch a wave like that do the kind of damage it did. It is pretty awesome to behold the power of water and that water could move 500 miles an hour in that amount of volume and do what it did. It's amazing. No wonder ancient people worshipped creation. It is much more glorious and powerful in many ways than we are. And we cannot stand before God's creation. How much less can we stand before God? This is what you should learn about the tsunami and the earthquake. It's what all of us should learn, whether we have a Bible or not. Whether a people have a Bible or not. This power in creation reveals the power of Almighty God. Right? If this is what He made, if this is His handiwork, if this came from God, how great must the power of God be? Right? What can be known about God is plain to them. Romans 8, 19. Because God has showed it to them for His invisible attributes, namely, His eternal power. and divine nature have been clearly perceived ever since the creation of the world in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. The tsunami, the ocean, the ground, are all things that have been made and they reveal the eternal power of an Almighty God. Now it says in Scripture when we die, we first die, then the judgment, meaning someday, You may never stand before a tsunami. You may never have to endure the quaking of an earthquake that kills. But you will all, including myself, one day stand before this God of eternal power. And if we can do nothing against the ten meter high wave, how are you going to stand before an Almighty God who made it? Whose power, a little of it is only revealed in such things. He is powerful. He is almighty. You will not dictate the conversation with God. None of our countrymen, no matter how proud they are, the Robert and the DeNarrows, will not open his mouth before the presence of God. He is the almighty God. And just as the DeNarrows and we can do nothing against the wave, we can do nothing against the almighty maker of it all. And all of this is to say we ought to be humbled to know our place. before the Lord in who we are. Creatures of the dust. We cannot stand before God's creation, let alone God Himself. Again, I'm reminded of what that day of judgment is going to be like in Isaiah 13. What our experience will be like. Well, for the day of the Lord is near. Isaiah 13.6, as destruction from the Almighty, it will come. Therefore, all hands will be feeble, and every human heart will melt. They will be dismayed. Pangs and agony will seize them. They will be in anguish like a woman in labor. They will look aghast at one another. Their faces will be aflame. Behold, the day of the Lord comes. cruel with wrath and fierce anger to make the land a desolation and to destroy its sinners from it. The day of the Lord is coming to destroy from the land its sinners from it. Are you one of those sinners that will be destroyed? By the Almighty God, If you are outside of Christ, you are going to meet God as a sinner. Look at what we as sinners do before God's waves. And know that there is nothing you can do in sin before a holy God. But hope and pray that He's provided a way to be saved from sin. Bless God that He has. Thirdly, the tsunami and earthquake in Japan should remind us of the judgment to come. Boy, I've already gotten to that point, haven't I? Matthew 24. Now, I'm not saying, OK, the tsunami, look at all these earthquakes, Jesus is going to come next week. I don't know that. But I know that the coming of Christ is so huge an event, so cosmic in its hugeness and awesomeness, that ever since Jesus went back to heaven, His second coming has been incredibly near because it's that big. It's that huge. It casts a shadow back to the first and early centuries of the church because it's that big of an event. And this phenomenon should remind us of the judgment to come. Matthew 24. I have to go back a little bit in these verses. When the disciples said, tell us, when will these things be? And what will be the sign of your coming and of the close of the age? This is a direct question related to the second coming. And Jesus answered them, see that no one leads you astray. For many will come in My name saying, I am the Christ, and they will lead many astray. You know what? The news organizations are doing that. Here's one example. It was an act of nature, period. You know what this is? A modern day prophet. Telling you this is nothing but an act of nature. Don't fear it. Don't worry about it. There ain't no judgment to come because there ain't no God to give an account to. See that no one leads you astray with that kind of nonsense. And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not alarmed. For this must take place, but the end is not yet. For nation will rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be famines and earthquakes in various places. All these are but the beginning of the birth pains. Creation is getting ready to give birth. These are just the itsy-bitsy contractions that start. At the beginning of that time, a woman knows, here comes labor. And those are kind of painful. All labor is painful. Who am I to judge? I only observe. But the little ones at the beginning, painful as they are, earthquakes like this, painful as they are, they're an indicator of a greater pain and of a greater day to come. The tsunami and earthquake, I say, my friends, should remind us of the great and awesome day of the Lord. The death toll, the destruction, is compared to a birth pain. When Christ comes back, His judgment will be global and multi-generational, not in a various place involving one city. But it will involve everyone who now exists on this globe and everyone who ever existed on this globe, because the dead, all of them, wicked and righteous, will be raised. It will be universal in its scope. It will include everyone who has ever lived. And we will all stand before this Almighty God revealed in the forces of creation. Darkness will cover the whole earth. Everyone will be standing before Him. Look down to verses 29 and 30 of Matthew 24. 29 and 30, immediately after the tribulation, verse 29, Matthew 24, of those days the sun will be darkened and the moon will not give its light. and the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. Then will appear in heaven the sign of the Son of Man, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn. And they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory." Consider at Christ's coming what will happen to creation. It will again be shaken. It will again be darkened. Isn't that what happened in this Japanese city? The ground shook and the light went dark. The smoke from the oil refineries, the mist and the smoke and the burning and the darkness and the shaking. This is a sign. This is an indication. This is a reminder of the great and awesome judgment to come. These are the kinds of things that will be observed, that will be experienced. What will it be like to stand before the Lord? All the tribes will see the Son of Man coming in glory on the clouds of heaven, and they will mourn. You will know in that day you're a sinner. When you see His glory, you may not believe yourself to be a sinner, you may not believe sin to be that simple, but in that day you will know inwardly, no one will have to tell you, you will feel how sinful sin is to God. How evil it is, how wicked it is when you stand before the presence of the glories, holy, righteous Lord Jesus. You will know also in a moment. This is what sort of produces the mourning in the hearts of the tribes of the nations. You will know. Not only you're a sinner, but you will know that you're worthy of His judgment for your sin. You will know that your sin deserves something not good. Punishment and pain. You will know in that day, there's no more hope. There's no more chance for redemption. There's no more salvation. Like that car. Again, I'm reminded of that car driving into the wave. As you see this car driving into the city, and the wave is coming through it, you know that the people in that car have no hope anymore. They had no hope. They had absolutely no chance to live. The wave was coming 500 miles an hour and they were driving 30 in it, which means they were going to get hit with that wave at 530 miles an hour and they were going to die. Very sad when you see that kind of a situation. Life, and you know immediately, seconds later, death is going to come. That is exactly what judgment is going to be like for those outside of Jesus. There will be no more hope of redemption, no more hope of salvation, you will know this. And this is the big and mighty question. If the tsunami reminds us of the judgment that is coming, and it is coming, here's the question. I asked you, are you ready for death? Are you ready to stand before Jesus? Are you ready for judgment? One thing to face death. We're all going to face death, but we're told from the Scriptures we're all going to face judgment. We're all going to stand before the Judge of all the earth who is holy and righteous. Are you ready to stand before this Judge? Fourthly, the tsunami and earthquake should remind us of Christ's death on the cross. What does the tsunami and earthquake have to do with Christ's death on the cross? Well, look at Matthew 27 and the things that happened when Jesus died. Verses 45 and following. Matthew 27. Now from the sixth hour, Jesus is on the cross now. There was darkness over the land until the ninth hour. It seems kind of similar to what happened there in Japan. And about the ninth hour, Jesus cried out with a loud voice saying, That is my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? And some of the bystanders hearing it said, this man is calling Elijah. And one of them ran at once and took a sponge filled with sour wine and put it on a reed and gave it to him to drink. But the others said, wait, let us see whether Elijah will come to save him. And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice and yielded up His Spirit. And behold, the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. Now listen to this. And the earth shook and the rocks were split, the tombs also were opened, and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised and coming out of the tombs after His resurrection. They went into the holy city and appeared to many. When the centurion," verse 54, "...and those who were with him, keeping watch over Jesus, saw the earthquake and what took place, they were filled with awe and said, Truly this was the Son of God." The earth shook. Darkness was over it. What was happening when Jesus died? What was happening? Why did the earth grow dark? Why did the earth quake? Rocks split open. This is why. Because that day and in those three hours, it was a time of judgment! It was a time of judgment! Jesus was being judged. Jesus was being punished by Almighty God the Father. Jesus was bearing the sin of His people. He was holding it within. And He was standing before the tsunami of God's almighty wrath. And for three hours, while the darkness clouded the land, He was enduring it All of the punishment sin deserves. All of the wrath. All of the hellfire. All of the eternity. He was soaking it all up in His being. How could He do that? Because He was the Son of God. Only God can endure God. Only God could withstand the wrath of God. Testimony to His deity. He stood there soaking it all in. Amazing, while He was hanging on a tree, mind you. While He had been beaten to a pulp the whole night before. Right? After His back was ripped open with 39 lashes, totally ripped open, shredded, and humanly speaking, He was incredibly weak and in incredible pain. They nailed Him to the cross, rose Him up between heaven and earth, and then God had His way with Him. Man had his way with Jesus. Ripped Him to shreds. Did what they could. And then God had His way with His only Son. And judged Him and damned Him and struck Him for three hours. The tsunami and earthquake that took place in Japan should remind us of the death of Christ. Because it was a day of judgment. And for whose sin? Did He die? Your sin. My sin. He did not endure that judgment and that pain and suffering for His own sin. He was separate from sinners. Read of His life. But He bore our sin in His body on the tree. And then he was staked out on a hill so that God had a direct view to His Son to punish him in our place. He took our sins and was willing to be treated as a sinner before God. He was willing to absorb all the wrath, suffering, and judgment our sin deserves. What is amazing is that he endured all of this God's wrath included. And withstood it. And took it all away. And at the end of the three hours, do you know what, brothers and sisters? Our Jesus was still alive. The glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. Amazing. Up on the cross. Enduring it all. And at the end of it, He's still alive to speak. And He says, It is finished. What does it say next? He gave up His Spirit. Awesome. Isn't that who we're being reminded of today? That's what these elements represent. That's what they remind us of. A Savior who's able to deliver us, not just from tsunamis, but from the wrath of Almighty God against your sin. The tsunami should remind us not only of the judgment to come, but of the judgment that took place 2,000 years ago. The very judgment in depth that this bread and this juice represents. And here's the question, here is the application. You cannot endure the wrath of God or the ocean. But what Jesus revealed in His death on the cross is that He's able to overcome and endure the wrath of God and anything less than the wrath of God. And He's done it for you. And the way you get Him to help you is by believing in Him and trusting in Him. And then He will take you under the shelter of His wings. And you will be there. I love the imagery of the cross. Here He is. Arms wide open. And He's saying, come to Me. Come hide under My arms. I'll bear all the wrath of God. I'll bear your sin before My Almighty Father and I'll endure all the punishment you deserve." And the question that needs to be asked this morning is, are you under Christ? Are you in Christ? Are you benefiting from Him being judged so that you can escape judgment? Now, here's the deal. Judgment's coming. But you can avoid it and overcome it. by being judged in Christ already, by believing in Jesus. It's been hard to be here this morning. I've been reminded of my sin. I've been reminded of the great holiness and power of God. You know why I love that fact? Because I'd rather have you be reminded of it in word and spirit now than in reality then. This is a tough church, man. I don't know if anyone's going to visit this church. Don't visit this church if you want to live in the dark and in self-deception. Don't visit this church if every time you come in here you want to feel wishy and good inside. You want the truth? You want to be prepared for the greatest event in all of history? Do you want to be ready to stand before God or not? You want people ready? Invite them here. It's been like judgment here this morning. I'd rather have you go through my judgment and the Spirit's judgment now. It's a mercy. Then go through it then. I'd rather have you feel the sinfulness and evil of sin now before God than then. Here's the thing you should be praying for. Get judged now in Christ to escape the judgment coming. When you believe in Jesus, your judgment is passed. Isn't that awesome? God pours out His wrath already in His Son 2,000 years ago. Get judged now. How do I do that? You believe yourself to be a sinner this morning. You believe that you're not ready to die, that you're not ready for judgment. Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved. Hide under the shelter of His wings. And when you believe in Christ, He gets damned for you. He gets judged for you on the cross and you get set free. and your judgment is passed. Jesus is coming to judge once and for all one day, but He comes to His people now to save them. You ought to pray, Lord, come to me and show me what You're like. And show me my need of You. Do you know what? That's exactly why the Holy Spirit is sent. The most important work of the Holy Spirit is to convict you that you're a sinner now. The Holy Spirit's work is to come to you now to convict you of sin, of righteousness, and what's the other thing? The judgment to come. To convict you in your heart that what Pastor Davies is saying this morning is absolutely true. Sin is real. Sin is really bad. The work of the Spirit is to make you feel it and believe it and know sin to be bad. for you to believe that God is righteous. You need the Spirit of God to do that in your heart. That's exactly what God does. He comes preemptively before judgment to convict you of sin, to convict you of righteousness now, and to convict you of the judgment to come now that you might escape its horrors later. And that's the kind of presence of the Spirit I'm praying for. That's the kind of presence of the Spirit I'm praying for on Facebook. I mean, I am so sad to see our church only filled with 50, 60 people. I invited 380 people yesterday to come here. And I so want them to come and get judged now to avoid it later. I so want them to come to know the conviction of the Holy Spirit, the conviction of the Word of God that we preach, that they would escape the wrath of God to come because it's coming. No matter how many news article writers say it was simply an act of nature, period. It's coming. Get judged now and feel what it's like to stand before God now so you can escape it then. He convicts us as we're exposed to the Word of God. You want to get convicted. You're not convicted. Continue to expose yourself to God as He's revealed Himself in the Bible. And pray that He would convict you. Pray that He would make you to believe the truths that are revealed about Him there. And He will. He will. If you don't feel it this morning, pray that He will. He will. I pray that it will come to you and He will come in the presence of His Spirit and He will have His work take place in your heart. Praise God for sending His Son to save us, brethren, from sin and all its evil consequences. the glory of God, the excellence of God revealed in the face of Jesus Christ, the love of God as revealed in the cross, the mercy of God, the righteousness and holiness and justice of God, all of these things revealed in the glory of His cross and in what He has done. For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that if we believe in Him, we will not perish, but have everlasting life. One day the world, brothers and sisters, will never quake to kill or flood to destroy. Jesus' redemption will redeem sinners from sin and creation from the curse. Isn't that awesome? His work will result in our redemption and the world's. Because of Him, we look forward to an earth subdued and at rest rather than one that is restless at times and unpredictably destructive. We look forward to a world at rest. We look forward to a body at rest. We look forward to glory where pain and suffering will be no more and it is all made possible May God bless us as we continue to remember Him in this table. Let's pray. Lord, we thank You for this time that has not been time ill-spent or wasted, but thinking of Your glory revealed in the pages of Scripture through the forces of nature. And we look forward, Lord, to the day of judgment. We long for that day as your people because we know you will give us the fullness of that inheritance that Christ has purchased for us. We pray that all of us in this room could say, I'm looking forward to the Lord's coming. Come, Lord Jesus, come quickly. We pray that you would do a saving work in the hearts and lives of our kids. We love them. And we speak to them such things because we love them. We want them to be saved from the wrath to come. Save them, Lord. Have mercy upon them. And as we seek to witness to this culture and to our community, bless our witness. You have said the gospel is the power of God. Lord, we long to see it. Reveal your power to save, your power to redeem, your power to deliver. We thank You for our Lord and Savior, the strong and mighty Lion of the tribe of Judah, our King of kings, and He who was able to absorb your wrath. He who was able to take all of our sins upon Him, and in the weakness of His humanity, strength of His deed, He was able to stand, nailed to a cross, suspended between heaven and earth, and to endure all of the wrath, right down to the dregs. We praise You for Christ. Increase our love for Him. And crucify the world to us. In Jesus' name, Amen.