 So John chapter 3, so we went through John chapter 3 last week and I looked at that phrase from John the Baptist in verse number 30 where he said, he must increase, I must decrease. We looked at that but I want to stay in John chapter 3 for one more week and I want to preach just on one verse in particular. I didn't want to leave the last verse of the chapter out of this Bible study because it's hard to have a favorite verse in the Bible but it's definitely my favorite soul winning verse, John 3, 36 where the Bible says, he that believeth on the sun hath everlasting life and he that believeth not the sun shall not see life but the wrath of God abideth on him. So that is definitely my favorite verse for soul winning in the Bible where there is just such a great verse to show people that it's just by believing on Jesus and then when you do believe on Jesus or trust on Jesus that you hath everlasting life. It's in a moment. It's not a process that people think it's not a lifelong, you know, a repent every Sunday or whatever people think it is. It's a very clear verse in the Bible demonstrating the Gospel. So this evening I want to look at this verse. I just want to kind of look at this idea in this verse. I think this verse we're going to look at another unique aspect of the verse outside of the Gospel this evening that makes it very unique. And the question I want to kind of answer tonight is who is God? You know, who is God? Now if you just been saved, if you just been saved, you know, you kind of have to forget everything you've been taught about who God is. You know, who is God? What's he like? What's his personality like? You know, you just kind of have to forget everything that you've been taught if you're newly saved and somebody preached you the Gospel and you did trust on Jesus. And now you want to find out who this God is, what he wants from you, what he's like, what is his disposition towards different things, you know, who is God? All you have to do really is just read the Bible. You have to kind of blank, you know, just shake the slate clean, shake that etch a sketch of who you think God is in your life, shake that clean and then just read the Bible and take it for what it says. And that's what I want to look at this evening. You know, tonight I want to answer questions like, is God an angry God? Is God an angry God? You know, is God a loving God? You know, this one right here is God a loving God. If you're a soul winner, you know, I ask this question to people right after I, you know, explain sin and explain the punishment for sin is hell. And I always ask people the question, well, do you think God loves you? Do you think God wants you to go to hell? Do you think God loves you? And this is inherently, it's, people know this. People know this right off the top of their head. They know, oh no, God loves me. I've never had one person say that they don't think God loves them. Maybe I have, I don't know. But the vast majority of people know that God loves them. Know that God is a loving God. It seems that everyone knows that. This is really being pushed. It's the only side of God that's being pushed today in Christianity, in this modern culture that we're in. And the problem is, is that if you just teach that God is only a love, what, God is love. The Bible literally says that statement. The Bible says in 1 John 4-8, it says, you know, he that knoweth not love, you know, he that loveeth not knoweth not God, for God is love. In 1 John 4-8. So the Bible literally does say that God is love, that God is love. But if that's all you teach about God and you don't teach who God completely is, what will happen is you will get people that will actually reject the God of the Bible. They will actually say, oh, well that's a, that's a, you know, so by the way, is there an agenda to teaching that God is all loving, all the time, no matter what? You bet there's an agenda there. Because Satan is trying to get people to reject the God of the Bible. So if you have many traits as a person and I teach that, you know, just, you're just all about this one trait. Say you're just a, you're a really fast runner, but you're also a doctor and you're also a father and you're also a, you know, all these other things in your life. And all I do is tell people that, you know, you just like to run and you're good at it. I'm misrepresenting you in that case. And people that are just mis, that are just teaching that God is loving of everything all the time are misrepresenting God and what they're doing is they're actually causing people to reject the one true God, the God of the Bible. All right? Because, you know, this is every, you know, every now and then we will watch a Christian movie in our home to try to find a movie for the church for a movie night. It's like 90% failure rate. We usually don't even get through the movie. But every single Christian movie out there is like, it just has these Christians that are just like these super weak, these super, you know, they're just like these super weak men, these super weak people, they're always getting tricked, they're always getting run over by everybody, you know, and they're just like, oh, love, love, love, it's just steamroller. After steamroller it just rolls right over them. It's because of this idea that's being pushed in Christianity today that God is just this one trait. That's why. That, oh, we just have to accept and love everything all the time. So the question is, is God angry or is God loving? Is God a wrathful God or is God a loving God? Well the answer in John chapter 3 and verse number 36 is yes. Look at John chapter 3 and look at verse number 36. The Bible says, he that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life. So that seems like a really good statement right there. If you cross reference that statement to John 3.16 the Bible says, for God so loved the world, for God so loved the world that first half of John 3.36, he so loved us, everyone in the world. He so loved whosoever, that whosoever believeth on the Son hath everlasting life. That's how loving God is. That's how loving God is that whosoever would just trust in his Son, he will give them heaven. He will give them eternal life. He will give them something that they do not deserve. That's how loving he is. That's the first half. That's the first side of the coin in John chapter 3 and verse number 36. But let's keep reading because the Bible is the whole verse, not just half the verse. The Bible says in the last half of the verse it says, but he that believeth not the Son shall not see life but the wrath of God abideth on him. So here we see in one single verse. This is why this verse is very unique. This verse is very unique in that it shows that God is the most loving God and he is also full of wrath to anyone that would not believe on his Son. The people that have not trusted in Jesus Christ, they have the wrath of God abiding on them. So yes, God is full of wrath. And if you can't get that from reading just the first few pages into the Bible, you are not reading the same Bible that we are in this church, which is the King James Bible. God is full of wrath and the Bible, as a matter of fact, the Bible is other than pointing to the Gospel. The Gospel has the most detail about God's wrath. So why is God so angry? Let's explore why God has so much wrath. What is he so angry about? Turn to Psalm chapter 5. The first thing God is angry about is quite simply rebellion or sin. So that's why he's wrathful. That's why he's angry. But who is he wrathful towards? Go to Psalm chapter 5 and look at verse number 5. Psalm chapter 5 and verse number 5. Look at what the Bible says here. So let's explore this idea. Is God one-dimensional? God is love, 1 John 4-8. Is that it? That is not it, folks. There are many dimensions to God. God is wrathful and he is love. Both. Look at Psalm 5-5. It says, the foolish shall not stand in thy sight. Thou hastest all workers of iniquity. This is the Psalmist saying that God hates these people. This isn't talking about, you know, God loves the sinner and hates the sin. No, God hates these people. God hates these workers of iniquity. And I'm gonna show you what that is in just a minute. Turn to Matthew chapter 7, verse number 23. But these are people in Psalm chapter 5 and verse number 5 that God has wrath towards. God is angry with them. He hates them. Look, I know that that word's a bad word today. But today, hate means, the word hate means to have a stronger version towards or to strongly dislike. That's what it means. Whoo! It's just a word. It's just a word describing a feeling towards something or someone. A negative feeling. Look at Matthew chapter 7. So God hates these people. These workers of iniquity. Who are the workers of iniquity? I tell you what, I'm gonna prove the reprobate doctrine to you right here without even going to Romans chapter 1 because it's everywhere in the Bible. The Bible says that God hates these workers of iniquity. Look at Matthew chapter 7. And look at, actually, let's start at verse number 21. It says, not everyone that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven, but he that doeth the will of my father, which is in heaven, the Catholic will say, see, gotcha, aha, you gotta do the will of the father. The will of the father in John 6.40 is that you believe on the Son. All right, not part of the point I'm trying to make, but many will say to me in that day, verse 22, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? In thy name cast out devils, and I named on many wonderful works. These people are calling Jesus, Lord. They're telling, they're standing in front of Jesus, telling Jesus why they should be able to go to heaven, why they should have everlasting life because they've done all these great, wonderful works. Look at verse number 23. And then I will profess unto them, I never knew you, depart from me ye that what? Ye that work iniquity. These are the same workers of iniquity that God hates. These people in Matthew chapter seven, so right at Matthew chapter seven in verse number 23, if you write in your Bible, cross reference Psalm 55, because the workers of iniquity are people that are going to hell. So the Bible is saying in Psalm chapter five in verse number five that God hates these people, these are the people that are, these people are going to hell. You say, how am I gonna prove the reprobate doctrine to you? Because in Psalm 55, they're currently working iniquity. They're alive on this earth working iniquity and God hates them now. They're not dead. It doesn't say, I hate us the workers of iniquity that have died. It says, I hate the workers of iniquity. And then in Matthew chapter seven in verse number 23, we see that that is defined as people, they're damned, they're going to hell. And yes, they thought they were righteous in verse 22 and they thought they had great works, but the point is in Psalm chapter five in verse number five, the workers of iniquity are people that are alive that God hates. God does not hate sinners. God holds out hope for people that would get right and be saved, but these workers of iniquity are something different. These are the people that have turned on God. They're working against the Lord. You know, then refer to Romans chapter one. But the point is you don't even need Romans chapter one to prove that you can reach a point before you're dead on this earth. People can reach a point where God just rejects them. Where God's like, no, I hate you now. You're done, my wrath, my wrath. I mean, I don't even want you to get saved. See the Pharisees. Now go to Psalm chapter 11. In Psalm chapter 59, we won't turn there, but in Psalm chapter 59, David again references the workers of iniquity and he equates them to bloody men. Men that love violence in Psalm chapter 59. Go to Psalm chapter 11, look at verse number five. Psalm chapter 11, look at verse number five. So we're looking at why is God so angry? He's angry with people that have rebelled against him. He's angry with sin. Look at Psalm chapter 11, verse number five. It says, the Lord trieth the righteous. But him, now this matches up perfectly with the bloody men of Psalm chapter 59 that are also equated to the workers of iniquity. It says, him that loveeth violence, his soul hated. So the Bible, this is somebody different here. This isn't somebody that has messed up and has joined a gang and got in a drunk and driving accident and went to prison. That's not who this person is. This person loves violence. This is the bloody man from Psalm chapter 59. These are the workers of iniquity. But the point is, God hates them. God hates these people. They're alive on the earth at this point. Turn to second Corinthians chapter five. You say, but what about me? You say, but what about me? I still sin. Well, first of all, you're not a bloody man. You were never a bloody man. You were never a worker of iniquity. How do I know that? Because you're saved. Because you were able to get saved. You say, what about me? I still sin. I still sin. And God is angry with sin. God is angry. God's wrath is towards sin. I'm gonna show you that this evening. You're like, I still sin. Turn to second Corinthians chapter number five and look at verse number 21. But here's the difference between you and somebody that is in John chapter three in verse number 36, that is a sinner that has that wrath of God abiding upon them. Look at this in verse number 21 of second Corinthians chapter number five. The Bible says, for he hath made him to be sinned for us. That's how we got out of this mess. But here's the real key, who knew no sin that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. So what this is saying is that the only reason that you are going to get eternal life, the only reason that you will have everlasting life that you will be in heaven when you die is because when God looks at you, he doesn't see your sin. He's not going to look at you and see how much sin you have or don't have when it comes down to whether or not you get eternal life. What he is going to see, I'm choking. What he's gonna see is the righteousness of Christ. It's the righteousness of Christ that is imputed to you in your life. So it is a matter how much sin you have or don't have as far as that decision on whether or not you get eternal life, because God's righteousness is given to you. He's gonna see the righteousness of Christ. He's gonna see the righteousness of him that knew no sin. And that's how Jesus could take that sin upon himself because he knew no sin. If Jesus sinned one time, he could not be that righteousness imputed upon you because he would have that sin. That's why God had to come and do this himself. Turn to Jeremiah chapter 23. Jeremiah chapter 23, look at verse number five. Jeremiah chapter 23, look at verse number five. So the Bible here is showing us again that when God looks at us, he's not gonna see how much sin you have or don't have when it comes to you getting eternal life or not. Look at Jeremiah 23, verse five. The Bible says, behold, this is a prophecy of Christ here where the Bible says, behold, the days come, sayeth the Lord that I will raise unto David a righteous branch, and a king shall reign and prosper and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth and his days Judah shall be saved and Israel dwells safely. And this is the name whereby he shall be called the Lord, what does that say? Our righteousness. So the Bible here is saying that Jesus, how am I getting to heaven as a sinner? Because Jesus is my righteousness. So it doesn't matter how bad you and I mess up, if we've trusted on Jesus, he is our righteousness. He, I mean, that's what God is gonna see when he looks at us is the righteousness of Christ, him that knew no sin. So that's how we're getting out of it is because of Jesus' righteousness, not how good or not good we are. But look, God is mad because people, nations are in open rebellion to him. When you read the Bible, this is why God is wrathful. All right, look, he can be wrathful towards us and I'm gonna give you a couple points on how to have God's wrath not be on you, not to damn nation, but have God not upset with you, have God not be angry with you, but God is wrathful, back to the main point. God is wrathful, God is love, but he is also wrathful because people and nations have always been in open rebellion towards him. And look, every nation, every nation that has rebelled against God will be judged on this earth by God. We need to keep that in mind. We need to keep that in mind as we walk through this short blip that is our life because every nation in the Bible, look, it wasn't just the nation of Israel that was judged by God. Every single nation was judged by God that every nation that rebels against God is gonna get what they've got coming. It wasn't just Israel that was carried away by Babylon that was judged. Babylon was also judged. And if you look at chapter 46, 47, 48 of Jeremiah, Edom was judged. The Moabites were judged. Egypt was judged. Everybody got what was coming to them because everybody was rebelling against God. And it didn't matter if they were God's people or not, God judged them anyway. So look, I mean, that's why, you know, I like to pay attention to what's going on in the world. You all know that. But I don't wanna get too wrapped up in a lot of this other stuff that's going on with other nations because what you have to understand is this idea that there's good guys and there's bad guys, especially in this world that we live in today, it just doesn't, it's a false narrative. Question the narrative always, especially today. The truth is, I mean, look, I mean the conflicts today that we see, the conflicts today that we see, it doesn't matter. You have this nation and this nation over here and they're getting attacked by this nation because this guy's evil and crazy. That's the narrative today. You gotta question that narrative. And then you have, you know, what they're trying to do is they're trying to make a white hat and a black hat of the situation. They're trying to put one nation or another in the good guy box. But I'm telling you, in the world that we live in today, in the world that we've been in in the last many decades, there's, you know, as a Bible-believing Christian, you're gonna have problems with that. You're gonna be like, you know what? Neither one of these two fits in the good guy box. God is gonna judge all nations. So it shouldn't really get wrapped up when enemies of God do bad things to enemies of God. It's just, you know, and you're just like, which one are you talking about? All of them, all of them, all of them. Question the narrative because God is gonna judge all nations that are an open rebellion to him. And you show me the nation today that's following the Lord, you show me that nation. So we shouldn't get too wrapped up in that. But we see that God, look, God is wrathful towards people and nations that are in rebellion to him. God is wrathful towards sin. And God is wrathful, look, if God's wrath is upon the sin of somebody that is unsaved and, you know, they are not a reprobate, they're not rejected, but they die in that sin, then God's wrath will be on them for eternity. That's how it works for the unsaved. So you say, what about me? Me, could I experience God's wrath? You bet you could. You will never experience the eternal judgment of God's wrath, but God can definitely be angry with the saved believer today. And so that's the point of the sermon tonight. I just wanna give you two ways as a saved Christian that you can avoid God's wrath in your life. You will never experience, if you are saved tonight, you will never experience the eternal judgment of God's wrath as John chapter three, verse number 36 is explaining, you can still experience it through the chastisement of God. So the first one is this, turn to Proverbs chapter eight. I'm gonna give you two points tonight. It's a simple message tonight. I'm gonna give you two points to avoid this in your life. The first way to avoid God's wrath in your life as a Bible believing saved believer is to have your own wrath. You should have your own wrath in your life. Look at Proverbs chapter eight in verse number 13. You need to get your wrath right tonight. The world is trying to rob you of your wrath today. You need to make sure that you listen to what the Bible says and as a Bible believing Christian, we need to get our wrath right. We shouldn't be these Christians that just go along with everything and every wicked worker of iniquity and just get steamrolled by everything and just don't care about anything and listen to all these narratives that are being pushed today and just do nothing about anything. Look at Proverbs chapter eight in verse number 13. We need to get our wrath right as Christians. The fear of the Lord is to hate evil, pride and arrogance and the evil way, the forward mouth do I hate. That's what's all of us talking right there. He's saying, I hate the things the Lord hates. That's what he's saying. You don't have to, look, if you don't hate evil and the workers of iniquity, you will take no action in your life to protect against it. I mean, that's the first thing. It's to follow the Bible to protect yourself and your family. If you don't hate the workers of iniquity, if you don't hate these evil, violent, perverted, bloody men, as the Bible says, if you don't hate these types of people, you will take no action against its influences. This is Jehoshaphat. This is Jehoshaphat and the mistake that he made. Turn to second chronicles chapter 19. You say, what if I just want to love everybody all the time no matter what? Well, then you're Jehoshaphat. And the Lord rebuked him for this. Jehoshaphat, of course, made an alliance. He made an alliance with a very wicked man, Ahab. He made this alliance with him. It almost cost him his life and it messed up generations of his family. But look at what the rebuke that the prophet gave to Jehoshaphat after he narrowly escaped with his life. Look at verse number two of second chronicles chapter 19. You say, could God be wrathful towards me? Could God be angry towards me as a Bible-believing Christian? I'm saved, why would God ever be angry with me? And Jehu, the son of Heneini, the seer, went out to meet him and said to King Jehoshaphat, shouldest thou help the ungodly and love them that hate the Lord? Therefore, he's saying you shouldn't love people that hate God. That's what they're telling you today. They're telling you to love people that hate God today. And instead, he says, therefore, he says, because of this, because you did do this, therefore is wrath upon thee from before the Lord. He's like, now God's wrath is on you. What does that mean? That means God has mad at him. God is angry with Jehoshaphat. Chastisement is coming his way. This is the Christian today that loves them that hate the Lord. This is why, if you ask me, if you ask me, like what is the most important thing that the new IFB brought back? What is the most important truth that the new, because look, we haven't invented anything here. It's just Bible doctrine that people stop preaching, stop saying, if you ask me what the most important thing that churches like ours have brought back the most important truth that was not being spoke anymore, it's not the pre-trib rapture. It's not, oh, you know, post-trib pre-rap. That's not it. It's the reprobate doctrine. That's what's going on. I mean, that is super important today. Because why? Because Christians today are loving those that hate the Lord. They're loving people that they shouldn't be loving. And that's exactly what the narrative is today. I mean, I'm watching, I am watching. I mean, you don't even have to watch. You don't even have to pay much attention to see this. There's this gal that goes around to colleges. And she, I don't know if she's Christian or not, but this, her name's Riley Gaines, I think, and she speaks out against like transgender, you know, like trannies in women's sports or whatever. She's really like fighting against this. She goes to college campuses and like she's been assaulted. She's been like held against her will. The last, you know, video somebody sent, like people went up to her table and just threw everything. I mean, there's people who just, people hate her. All these people are saying love everything, hate her. There's literally a school board president of a public school, which I don't care about, that refused to fly any flag other than the American flag and his state flag. And you know why he did that. And literally people want to kill him. All these loving people want to kill him. Like we're gonna kill you. Look at all these death threats. How many pastors do we know? They've had their families and just threatened. Their children threatened, their wives threatened, their wives threatened, their churches blown up. Yeah, it's pretty loving. It's a lie. The narrative is a complete lie. Turn to James chapter four. So we're not supposed to just love every single person that hates the Lord. We're not supposed to love anyone that hates the Lord, folks. Look at James chapter four in verse number four. The point of trying to get you to understand here is to avoid what happened to Jehoshaphat to avoid God's wrath coming upon us. You're like, man, I mean, look, God wants you to choose the side. God wants you to stand up and choose a side. Look at James four, four. James four, four, the Bible says you adulterers and adulteresses. Know ye not that friendship of the world is enmity with God. You know what enmity means? It means being against, meaning hating, meaning working against him and just being in conflict with him. It's like, you're gonna be friends with the world. You're gonna be against the Lord. That's what the Bible is saying here. Who sort of there will be a friend of the world is the what? The enemy of God. You must choose a side. You can't be in the middle. So for yourself, for yourself, you should have, turn to 2 Corinthians chapter seven. So to avoid God's wrath, you need to choose a side. You need to have indignation against those who hate the Lord, the Bible is saying here. But look, even for yourself, even for yourself, you should have indignation against these things that are trying to get you to fall. These people that are trying to get you to fall out of your Christian life. Look at 2 Corinthians chapter seven in verse number 11. This is talking about 2 Corinthians chapter seven and verse number 11. It's talking about somebody that would get right. So 2 Corinthians, the whole concept of 2 Corinthians is kind of like, hey, we kicked this guy out of church in 1 Corinthians. Now he's getting right. Let's get him back in. Let's get him back into church. What does a godly sorrow look like? What does it look like when somebody gets right? And the Bible gives us this great verse here that shows us what godly sorrow should entail. Look at this. For behold, this self same thing. That he sorrowed after a godly sort. What carefulness it wrought in you. Yay, what clearing of yourselves. Yay, what indignation. You know what that means? Means you're upset, you're angry, you're mad, you're wrathful towards whatever it was that caused you to fall. What fear, what vehemint desire, what zeal. Yay, look at this. What revenge. So there's two words there. Indignation and revenge. Talking about how angry you should be at the sin in your life. How angry you should be at anything that is drawing you towards sin. Anything that's trying to pull you out. I mean, we're talking about somebody that got thrown out of his church here. It's like, man, it should just make you just just vengeful about that thing, about that person, about whatever. You need to have that wrath against that sin in your life so you can protect yourself against it. I mean, the things, the people that want you to fail, that have caused you to fall, you should have wrath against that to avoid God's wrath. But here's another thing. Here's another thing. Back to go to Matthew chapter 12. I mean, just on this idea of choosing a side. How about this? Could you stand up for God? There's all these people out there trying to destroy the Lord. There's all these people out there trying to just destroy who God is, to teach falsehoods, to change the truth of God into a lie. There are all these people out there trying to destroy and blaspheme God. And they're trying to teach all this falsehood to all these people that we love in the world about who God is and who God isn't. Could we stand up for God? You say, oh, I just want to love everything and everybody. Could you be jealous for God like he's jealous for you? Think about it this way. What if somebody broke into your, imagine, if somebody broke into your house and tried to kill your family? Would you get wrathful then? Of course you would. What if somebody came in and tried to harm someone that you love? Well, do you love the Lord? Do you love the Lord as you consume all the TV that blasphemes him? As you consume all the media, all the movies, all the music that just hates him? You need to get your wrath right. Not only to avoid God's wrath, but hey, do you love God? Are we jealous for God? He's jealous for us. So much that his name is jealous. Look at Matthew 1230. Where is our wrath for those trying to destroy God? Matthew 1230, the Bible says, he that is not with me is against me. And he that gathereth not with me scattereth abroad. We need to get our wrath right as Christians. If you don't, there's wrath on you. That's what the Bible is telling us here. Turn to Genesis chapter 15. That's the first thing. You all avoid God's wrath in your life. Get your wrath correct. Not politically correct, folks. What the Bible says. What the Bible says about what you should be wrathful towards. What kind of world would we live in? What would there be any justice if there was no wrath? Think about that. We'll get into that in just a minute. But look at Genesis chapter 15. Here's the second thing that you need to have in your life to avoid God's wrath. The second thing that you need to have in your life to avoid the wrath of God on you in your life as chastisement is mercy. I bet you didn't think I was gonna say mercy there, did ya? You're like, man, I was getting all wrathful. I was getting all wrathful and excited tonight. And then you drop something like mercy on me. Look at Genesis chapter 15. Let's look at what God's mercy looks like. Yeah, God's got a lot of wrath, but let's look at what his mercy looks like. Look at Genesis chapter 15. Look at verse number 16. The Bible says, when the sun was going down, we're talking about Abram here. He's not even Abraham yet. It says, the sun, a deep sleep fell upon Abram and a hole of great darkness fell upon him. And he said unto Abram, no of surety that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs. And they shall serve them and they shall afflict them 400 years. He's talking about the Egyptian captivity here. And also that nation whom they serve, will I what? Will I judge? His wrath came upon Pharaoh, did it not? And afterward shall they come out with great substance. And thou shalt go to thy fathers in peace and thou shalt be buried in a good old age. But in the fourth generation they shall come hither again for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full. Don't miss that last statement right there. And here's something that people don't understand because nobody reads the Bible anymore. Nobody reads the Bible. Nobody understands the Bible. Of course, most people aren't saved so they couldn't understand it. But let's just look at the timeline from Abraham to Joshua. Here's a good way to, here's a good way to, this isn't exactly correct, but this is a good way to remember the timeline. Okay. If you look at from Abraham to Moses to David to the return after the Babylonian captivity, just Abraham somewhere around 2000 BC. And then if you just look at those big milestones, it's about 500 years in between, maybe 450 in a couple cases. But it's not really, there's some debate on the actual dates. But if you look at Abraham to Moses, you're looking at almost 500 years from 2000 BC to 1500 BC. Then you go to David, that's about 1000 BC. Then you go to after the captivity, that's about, I don't know, 450 BC or so. And then 450 years from there, the birth of Christ. So it's just kind of like narrow it down 500, 500, 500. And it's a good way to remember those things. But the point I'm trying to get you to understand is this. When God gave Abraham the promised land, it was 500 years before they actually went there. Before he actually went and tapped Moses and said, hey, it's time to get the people to go. It's time to get them to go into the promised land. He already told Abraham here that he was going to give it to him. It was 500 years. Why was it so long, you ask? Well, the Bible just told us in verse number 16, because the iniquity of the Amorites was not yet full. You know what that is? That's God's mercy right there. That's how much God, God, that's how much mercy, Godhead. He said the Amorites, what are you talking about? They're not God's people, but their iniquity was not full. And they're not gotten bad enough to where God decided he was gonna come and judge them. See, this is what people don't miss. This is what people miss. It took God hundreds of years to get to the point where his wrath was full with the Amorites. And then he said, why call Moses at that time? Because his wrath was full. Because his wrath was full and that was the time that he chose to rescue his people. See, the promise fulfilled Abraham. It doubled as a judgment on the people in the land of Canaan. This is what nobody understands today. This is the fool today who says, oh, the go Old Testament God is a genocidal maniac. No, God spent hundreds of years pouring his mercy out on those people and his iniquity wasn't full for literally over 500 years. Instead, he put up for 500 years, he put up with people hating him. He put up with people turning against him. He put up with people being bloody and violent. He put up with people for hundreds of years. He put up with people sacrificing their own children. You know, at some point mercy becomes unjust. Endless mercy becomes unjust. You say, what point is it correct? This point right here. Whatever point God chooses to end his mercy and bring in his wrath, that's what's just. You know, I've thought about that. I've thought about that as a pastor many times. I have reflected on this one thought so many times over the last probably two years I cannot even count the times. But at some point, how much mercy do you give to people without harming other people? See, you just can't tolerate evil things and evil people and people doing bad things for infinity or you end up hurting innocent people. At some point, judgment and wrath equals mercy for the next generations, you see? Tell me God isn't just. Tell me that putting up with evil, bloody, violent people who just go out murdering and pillaging and slaughtering for just affinity. Tell me that that's just. Tell me that that's mercy. Tell me that that's loving. It's not. As long as there is evil people and sin and open rebellion to God on this earth, God must have wrath. Turn to Matthew chapter nine. So people that are like, oh, the God is some genocidal maniac, no. At some point, infinite mercy turns into injustice. And that's what these people are calling for. They say we need to love everything and love every evil and love every perversion and love every child and wester. They're calling for injustice and evil is what they're calling for. Look at Matthew chapter nine. Let's get back to mercy. Matthew chapter nine and verse number 13. The Bible says, but go ye. So we see that God's mercy is hundreds and hundreds of years for these nations in the Promised Land. Look at verse 13. It says, but go ye and learn what that meaneth. I will have mercy and not sacrifice for I am come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance. Jesus says this and he was quoting Hosea. Chapter six and verse number six. You can go ahead and turn there if you want. You can write that in Matthew chapter nine and verse number 13. If you write in your Bible what Jesus was quoting this idea in Hosea 6.6 of God wants mercy over sacrifice. And the Hosea 6.6 says it this way. Says for I desired mercy and not sacrifice and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings. See, Israel on the outside was obeying the laws. Jesus was speaking to the Pharisees. They were on the outside. They were obeying the law and they looked good and everything was great and they had their borders enlarged on their garments and they looked super religious but they did not fear the Lord. They did not love God. God's like keep the sacrifices. He's like I want mercy and not all these sacrifices. Look at 1 Samuel chapter 15. This is a perfect example of this exactly what Jesus is talking about in 1 Samuel chapter 15. 1 Samuel chapter 15 is when Samuel told Saul to destroy the Amorites and he didn't do it. He didn't listen to the Lord. He kept some of the sheep. He kept some of the oxen and he kept the king. He didn't kill him. Look at verse number 18. And the Lord sent him on a journey and said go and utterly destroy the sinners, the amicoites I'm sorry and fight against them until they be consumed. Where for? So Samuel's talking to Saul. He's like why didn't you do it? He says where for? Then didst thou not obey the voice of the Lord? But disfly upon the spoil and disevil in the sight of the Lord. And Saul said unto Samuel, you have obeyed the voice of the Lord and have gone the way which the Lord sent me and have brought a gag the king of Amalek and have utterly destroyed the amicoites. But the people took of the spoil, the sheep and the oxen and the chief of the things which should have been utterly destroyed. Why? Why did he say the people did it for? To give to you God to sacrifice unto the Lord thy God and Gilgall. So here Paul he does two things that are wrong. First of all he doesn't admit it and then he blames somebody else. But he says the reason we did it Samuel was so we could sacrifice to the Lord. We got all this stuff for you God. And what does God say? He says exactly what Jesus told the Pharisees. Look what he said and Samuel said, hath the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as it obeying the voice of the Lord behold to obey is better than to sacrifice and to harken than the fat of lamps. He's like you know what God wants you to do? He wants you to listen. He wants you to obey. He wants you to be merciful is what Jesus said. He's like put all your sacrifices away. He's like I want you to be merciful. That's what Jesus came here to do was be merciful to these sinners. Turn to Luke chapter six. Mercy's important. God wants us to have mercy. You say how can mercy, how can me having mercy help me avoid God's wrath? I keep sinning. I'm never gonna be sinless. You're never gonna be sinless. What you should get the sin out of your life. The Bible says if you willingly sin you're gonna be beaten with more stripes. You're gonna be beaten with many stripes. If there's a downside of a church like this it's right there. Is that you're gonna know what's right. You're gonna know what's wrong. Everything from the Bible is gonna be preached. You're gonna know. You're gonna have to willingly go against it. And you know what that fact right there is why a lot of people don't come to a church like this. Or a lot of people end up leaving a church like this because they hit some point where they're like I'm not gonna do that and they don't wanna be beaten with the many stripes over and over again. Look at Luke six, 36. The Bible says be therefore merciful as your father also is merciful. Go to Matthew chapter five. You say but still what does that have to do with God's wrath pastor? Go to Matthew chapter five. We're getting closer. We're circling the target here. Matthew chapter five. Look at verse number seven. Matthew chapter five and verse number seven. So you're saved and you keep messing up. What do you need? You're saved and you keep messing up and you're like I'm gonna get right and I'm gonna get right God and you confess your sins to the Lord which you should confess your sins to the Lord by the way. You should confess your sins to the Lord daily. First John one nine is talking about being right with your heavenly father. It's trying to be, it's trying to get you to be in a good relationship with the God that saved you. It's not talking about being saved over and over every day. It's talking about being in a good relationship. Confess your sins. Look at Matthew chapter five and verse number seven. The Bible says bless it or the merciful. It's saying why be merciful though? Bless it or the merciful. Oh, here it is. For they shall obtain mercy. You know what you need in your life? As you try to get the sin out of your life, as you try to change things and get things right, you read the Bible, you hear something. Oh, don't have that right. And you try to get that thing right and you slip up and you fall. You know what you need? You should pray for mercy. How do you get mercy? You give mercy. The Bible is super clear about this. Let's go to James chapter two and verse number 13. I could read you verse after verse after verse about this. He who is merciful will obtain mercy from the Lord. He that gives no mercy? Look, I'm not talking about people that hate God. I'm not talking about the workers of iniquity. I'm talking about 99% of the rest of the world being merciful. Look at James chapter two and verse number 13. It says for he should have judgment without mercy. Who wants God? Who wants God to give them judgment with no mercy? Who wants a heavenly father that will just see them slip up and will just smack them down as hard as he possibly can right away? Who would like that? Well, that's what this guy is gonna get. He shall have judgment without mercy that has showed no mercy. And mercy rejoices against judgment. You will get mercy from God. How you give mercy to others. You're this person, you're just never gonna let anything go. You're this person, you're this husband that's gonna bring up things from five years ago. You're this wife that's gonna bring up these things from 10 years ago. You will receive no mercy from the Lord. That's what the Bible is telling us. You can't let grudges go against something that happened to you three years ago. You had some guy cheat you out of 50 bucks and you can't give mercy to anybody and he's the worst person in the world or whatever and you're this unmerciful person you will receive no mercy but I'm saved but you will receive no mercy. God will just go straight to wrath with you in your life. You know what's also a very merciful thing to do? You're like, I wanna be more merciful. You know what's pretty merciful? Going up and knocking on somebody's door that you've never met before. Taking time out of your week every single week every single chance you can get to go knock on somebody's door and show them how they can get eternal life. It's not like you earned it. It's not like you deserve it but having that mercy to go out and meet people and talk to people and show people the word of God to people that you've never even met. You know what, that's love and that's mercy because you know what? Those people that you're knocking on their door 99% of the people in that neighborhood that wrath of God is abiding on them in an eternal way. You know what they need? They need mercy. They need somebody to come up and show them. And you know what? There's a lot of people that'll listen. There's a lot of people that wanna hear and there's nothing more merciful that you can do in your life. You want God to give you mercy? Go out and preach the gospel to people and then you'll have mercy from God. Because guess what? You're not gonna be in sinless perfection. I don't know about you but I want my mercy tank full with the Lord. When I go and I mess something up, I want God to be like, you know what? I just need to shoe him this way and he needs to be merciful. I don't need God coming in and nuke in my life. And that's exactly what he can do. That's exactly what he can do. But what makes him decide how much mercy do I have to other people? If I just go out and I'll just never forgive a thing, I'll never let anything go. God's gonna go straight to the stick with me and he'll do the same with you. This is a philosophy that is very clear in the Bible. You want to avoid God's wrath in your life? Tonight, folks, on this Wednesday night, you want to, how can I avoid God's wrath in my life? God's chastising wrath? Have wrath towards those that hate the Lord. That's number one. And then be merciful to all others. That's number two. And we will avoid God's wrath in our lives. So John 3.36, God is love, he's full of it. And God is wrath, he's full of that too. And we just need to know who God is and how to navigate that in our lives. And of course, the Bible has all the answers. Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer.