Listen to the broadcast program. radio015en.ram (15 minutes)
PROGRAM 15 is transcribed below.
This is based on short article.
You are listening to ComfortForToday.com, a weekly program on this station. If you have a computer, you will also be able to read it or listen to it on the website ComfortForToday.com. So make yourself comfortable for 15 minutes and listen to what God is saying to us today.
The true church of Jesus Christ is not a building of bricks and mortar, but it is the body of people all over the world who believe and trust in Jesus.
Jesus said in Matthew 16, verse 18 that the very gates of hell would never be able to prevail against His true church!
Let us now listen to "The Gates of Hell are Broken" - new words to an old hymn.
HYMN:
The gates of hell are broken, the fetters have to fall;
God's grace and mercy keep me, His peace envelops all.
A broken, humbled spirit, a heart that loves my Lord,
I'll love and serve Him always, I'm marching heaven'ward.
My past is all forsaken, my paths of heinous sin
My sin of unforgiveness His blood has covered in.
My anger, wrath, and malice, my sin of wilful pride
No longer may torment me; for them My Saviour died.
All glory, power, and honour to Christ My Lord and King,
I'll never cease to love Him, and give Him everything.
I'll thank Him, praise, and serve Him until He says, "Come Home"
Then worship Him forever with angels 'round His throne.
(Words by Doreen Palmer, arranged and produced by Greg Critchley from "Lead On O King Eternal" Lancashire 7676D, Henry Thomas Smart 1813-1879)...public domain)
The hymn you have just heard declares victory, but it is only victory for those who believe in and trust in Jesus Christ as their Lord and Saviour.
Today's message from the website ComfortForToday.com, is entitled "God's Wrath for a Perverse Generation."
But what does the Bible have to say about those who REFUSE to believe?
Listen carefully to the verses Neville is now going to read to you because article #15 is based upon these scriptures. The first passage is taken from the Old Testament, the other three passages from the New Testament.
NEVILLE:
2 Chronicles 34:21: "The reason the Lord's great anger has been poured out upon us is that our ancestors have not obeyed these laws written here."
Ephesians 5:6:
"God's wrath comes on those who are disobedient."
Romans 1:18:
"The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness."
But notice the following scriptures:
I Thessalonians 5:9:
"For God did not appoint us to suffer wrath but to receive salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ."
Doreen:
In other words, it is not God's purpose or desire that we should suffer under His judgment; it is instead His purpose and desire that EVERYONE should be saved from it.
I shall now read ARTICLE #15.
Throughout history, any time a nation or group of people falls into deep sin, its destruction inevitably follows. It seems to be God's law of moral judgment that His wrath falls on those who refuse to listen to His voice.
This law is evident throughout the Bible as the Israelites, God's own chosen people, always found an enemy coming against them or some tragic event in nature taking place whenever they failed to worship their Jehovah and obey the laws which He had given them. The prophets always foretold destruction and doom if the people failed to repent, and it always happened as predicted. Even the New Testament agrees with this moral law when the Apostle Paul writes: "God's wrath comes on those who are disobedient"
(Eph.5:6 NIV).
God's wrath was displayed when Jesus threw the money-changers out of the temple and told them they had turned His Father's house into a den of thieves (Matt.21:15). Jesus condemned the self-righteous, religious Jewish leaders who appeared outwardly good but inside were full of hypocrisy and wickedness (Matt.23:28 NIV). These glimpses into the nature of God show that while He is filled with mercy and long-suffering in infinite love toward all His created creatures, if our hearts become hardened beyond repentance and we refuse to acknowledge our sin, His judgment falls in one form or another. When King Josiah found an ancient scroll of Moses in the temple, he said to his people: "The reason the Lord's great anger has been poured out upon us is that our ancestors have not obeyed these laws written here" (II Cron.34:21 LB).
Our generation has dwelt upon the love of God and His great kindness, but little has been spoken about what inevitably happens to a nation or group of people who continue to reject Him.
The Bible predicts that in the last times many will fall away from God and will be lovers of selves, following false teachers and false doctrines. False prophets will arise, and many will be deceived. We are warned to watch and pray in case we, too, fall into the deceptive traps of Satan (I Tim.4:1-2). Sin will be rampant in a way unparalleled in the past.
The good news is that the Bible also tells us Jesus is coming to remove His church before the most evil seven-year period in history begins. While theologians argue about the time of this "rapture", let us get ourselves ready because the Bible says nobody will know the exact time (Matt.24:40-42 LB). This seven-year period of evil will immediately precede the establishment of the kingdom of God on earth when King Jesus will return to reign forever.
Let us, as individuals and a nation, turn our eyes back to God and learn of His ways. We have already forgotten that, while He is a just God, full of mercy and always more than ready to forgive, He is also a God of judgment who can tolerate sin only for a season. Let us watch and pray that we be ready when the Lord of the harvest, the final Reaper, returns to clear out the fields and sift the wheat from the chaff as He said He would.
"Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me" (Psalm 51:10). I want to belong to the glorious church without a single spot or wrinkle or any other blemish, being holy and without a single fault (Eph.5:27 LB).
Jesus has not planned that His true church suffer the wrath of God (I Thess.5:9)!
MUSIC: "LORD, I ONLY WANT TO LOVE YOU" by John Martin of Vision Walk recorded by Shaun Hayward of Community Pentecostal Church, Beaverton)
Closing:
So let's get it straight. God is tired of sin and disobedience. But He does not want us to suffer its consequences. That is the reason He died to make us righteous like Him.
Did you know that Jesus is waiting to take you into His arms and say "I love you" - did you know that? It is true. And that is what next week's program is all about: "The King of Glory Awaits an Invitation." (Small insert of "Here is Love") That small portion of "Here is Love" explains it well!