Preached at the Fundamentalist Baptist Tabernacle in Los Angeles, CA, on January 8, 2002.

"THE TERROR OF THE LORD"

Second Corinthians 5.11

INTRODUCTION:

1. Turn in your Bible to Second Corinthians chapter 5. That’s page 1233 in your Scofield Reference Bible. Before we read our text there are some things I would like you to consider.

2. There is a monumental struggle that we are engaged in to see you converted. We study and prepare, we pray and preach, we seek to persuade and exhort, all for the purpose of seeing you come to Christ.

3. From where you sit it may sometimes appear as though there is a tug of war between you and the preacher, whether it be me or Dr. Hymers, to see who is going to win this contest of wills, to see whose will shall prevail in this great struggle.

4. If you see all of this effort as a struggle between the preacher and you, or between the pastor and you, then you are entirely mistaken. This matter of getting you converted is not a struggle between your will and my will. Not at all.

5. In decisionist Churches the struggle is between the sinner’s will and the pastors will, or between the sinner’s will and the visiting preacher’s will. But that’s because Charles Finney was not a genuine Gospel preacher, and he didn’t see the issues properly. So what he did, which was wrong, others copied him in doing, giving us the present sad state of affairs in so many Churches all over America. But not in this Church.

6. What you need to realize, this evening, is that there very much is a tug of war going on. But the two who are currently pulling in opposite directions are you and the Holy Spirit. You, the sinner, pulling in one direction, and the Holy Spirit of God, Who is working to convince you to give it up, to stop resisting, to yield to God’s will for your life, to come to Jesus, is pulling the other way.

7. Now, I certainly understand how tempting it is to be a decisionist preacher. You see someone you love, lost and in rebellion toward God. You don’t want to see your loved one die and go to Hell, so you try to persuade him. And if you have an incorrect understanding of conversion, if you don’t clearly see that conversion is a miracle, if you have given little thought and consideration to the fact that with the heart man beleiveth unto righteousness (meaning you can’t force anyone to get saved), then a preacher will try manipulating sinners to make professions of faith, will try pushing sinners to pray to receive Jesus. In short, decisionists try to make happen what they want to happen, instead of waiting on God.

8. My friend, you will not get converted until you want to get converted. But you don’t want to get converted. The Bible teaches that you are God’s enemy and that you are in rebellion against Him. The Bible teaches that you are fouled by sin and you are a stench in God’s nostrils that needs to be cleansed.

9. As well, the Bible teaches that your thinking is so corrupted by your sin that you are blind to the truth. Your sensibilities are so dulled by the deadness of your soul that you are unafraid and unconcerned and really unaffected by your situation and by your danger and by your future.

10. But God has chosen to deal with sinners like you by means of the preaching of His Word, so preaching is what we give you. Some people would say that teaching is a more effective way of communicating. That’s fine. They can say what they want to say. But God has chosen preaching. And God blesses preaching.

11. To show you that this struggle of wills is not a struggle between you and me, but rather between you and God, I want you to look at Second Corinthians 5.20: "Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ’s stead, be ye reconciled to God."

12. So you see, Paul is here reminding the Corinthians that when they came to Christ under his preaching, it was actually God beseeching them by Paul. This resulted in Paul saying to sinners, in essence, "we pray you in Christ’s stead, be ye reconciled to God."

13. So, the struggle is not correctly seen, and is not correctly presented, as a struggle between you and the pastor, or between you and the preacher. It is a struggle between God, Who is not willing that you perish, between Christ, Who gave Himself to ransom your soul, and a defiant, deluded, dead in trespasses and sins lost person . . . you.

14. These things said, let us now look to our text for tonight, Second Corinthians 5.11. When you locate that verse please stand for the reading of God’s Word: "Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men; but we are made manifest unto God; and I trust also are made manifest in your consciences."

15. Notice that Paul clearly stated that his objective as a Gospel preacher was to persuade men. Make no mistake about the fact that my goal is to see your thinking toward God changed, to see your thinking toward your own sin changed, and to see your thinking toward Jesus changed; changed enough that you will act. Our desire is that you are persuaded to actually embrace Christ, that you will simply come to Jesus and be saved.

16. But there is motivation that Paul had, and that the co-laborers who traveled with him had, that you’ve likely not seen or heard about. The evidence is clear that what motivated Paul to preach as he did was something the Corinthians were unaware of and hadn’t considered even after they had become Christians.

17. Notice the opening phrase of our text. Paul writes, "Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord." He is saying here, because we know the terror of the Lord we persuade men. Because we truly understand the fear of the Lord, we persuade men.

18. Now, you may be thinking, "I know that already. That’s nothing new." To be sure, there is nothing new in the Bible. But consider again whether you have personally seen what this verse really says before you discount it as old news.

19. Paul is not, here, referring to the fear of God. He is not, here, making mention of the things God will do to you if you don’t get saved. This is a statement about what Jesus will do. My friends, the apostle Paul and his men did everything they could to persuade sinners to come to Christ, in part, because they knew what the Lord Jesus would do to those who rejected Him.

20. And it is about that that I would like to preach this evening: The terror of the Lord Jesus Christ. What is Jesus going to do to you, my friend? Have you ever thought about that? Consider two things:

During His earthly ministry the Lord Jesus Christ was so kind, so tender, so gracious, so friendly. He was the friend of sinners. He was attractive to little children. He was the healer of the afflicted. He was the cleanser of the lepers. He fed the hungry and wept when His friend suffered death. The only display of anger He ever exhibited was toward religious hypocrites and those who made His Father’s house a house of merchandise.

The transformation of this Jesus by the Roman Catholic Church into an angry Ruler is a great crime. It completely misrepresents Him and deters sinners from coming to Him for salvation and cleansing and life. Sinners must understand that Jesus is not angry with them, that He is receptive to sinners coming to Him, and that any sinner who comes to Him will be welcomed, will be received, will not be turned away.

But there is coming a day when the Savior’s attitude will change, and I’ve spoken to you about this before. There will come a time when those who will be saved have all been saved, when those who have benefited from His saving sacrifice will have benefited already. Then it will be time for vengeance. "Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord." But for what will Jesus seek vengeance against sinners once all opportunity to get saved has passed?

1B. My friend, Jesus left heaven’s glory for you

He set aside His regal garb, turned His back on the glories of heaven and the adoration of angels, and became a man, for you. And not just a man. He became a poor man, a downtrodden man, for you. He left the pristine environment of heaven and dwelt among wretched sinners, for you. And how have you responded to that?

2B. Jesus suffered unimaginable indignities for you

He was falsely accused of wrongdoing. He was arrested for no legitimate reason. He was illegally tried and convicted by false testimony three times in one night before sunrise. He was stripped naked and beaten. Men laid hands on the Lord of glory, mocked Him with a crown of thorns, defiled Him, struck Him with their hands, and plucked His beard from His face. Paraded through the streets of the city. And He endured all that for you. And how have you responded to that?

3B. Then Jesus suffered the Cross for you

Can you imagine the Son of the living God being nailed to a cross? Can you envision the Roman soldiers ridiculing Him, the Jewish leaders ridiculing Him, the two thieves on their crosses ridiculing Him? But that’s not the worst of it all. Worse than that was when He took upon Himself all your sins. But even that’s not the worst of it all. The worst of it all was when God poured out His wrath on Him, Jesus suffering all the pent up rage God had for all the sins of men of all time. And how have you responded to that?

4B. When Jesus does to you what He will do to you it will be because of your transgression of God’s Law, your sins against God, to be sure. And your grieving and quenching and resisting of the Holy Spirit, of course. But there will be an element in his punishment of you that will be directly the result of His great love for you scorned, of His humiliation for you discounted, of His sacrifice for you spat upon.

2A. Now Consider WHAT JESUS WILL DO TO YOU

What He did during His earthly ministry, culminating in His suffering and bleeding and dying, Jesus did for you. The Just for the unjust, that He might bring you to God. But Paul and his co-laborers, and Dr. Hymers and I, am aware of what Jesus will do to you after you die.

And how serious must your sins be, how great must your crimes be, how horrible must your offenses against the Son of God be, that with fierceness and anger He will do these things to you:

1B. Jesus determines who goes to Hell

1C. At least, that’s what Revelation 1.18 seems to suggest. Turn there and read it with me: "I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death."

2C. Jesus certainly has the keys of death. He raised up Lazarus from the dead. He raised up Jairus’ daughter from the dead, as well as others. So, having the keys of death seems to indicate that Jesus determines who lives and who dies, who is raised from the dead and who stays dead. Scripture verifies this conclusion about what having the keys of death means.

3C. In like manner might Jesus be seen as the One Who determines who goes to Hell. After all, salvation from sins is a matter of coming to Jesus, is it not? And Who is better qualified to know Who He knows than Jesus, Himself?

4C. Some will try to enter heaven, but Jesus will tell them to depart and will say that He never knew them. So, my unsaved friend, Jesus will put you into Hell. And in addition to the sins you’ve committed against God and in violation of God’s Laws, you will have to contend with the things the Lord Jesus Christ did for you, which you have to this point ignored and discounted.

2B. As well, Jesus will judge you at The Great White Throne Judgment

1C. Turn to Revelation 20.11-15 and read with me. That’s page 1350 in your Scofield Bible:

¹¹ And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them.

¹² And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works.

¹³ And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works.

¹⁴ And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.

¹⁵ And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.

2C. When you die Jesus will determine that you go to Hell, if you do not know Him as your Savior, if He does not know you. But then, after something more than a thousand years in Hell, you will be delivered to the Great White Throne for judgment.

3C. Now, it says in verse 12, that John saw the dead, small and great, stand before God, and that you will be judged out of those things which will be written in the books.

4C. But the One actually sitting on the Great White Throne will be the Lord Jesus Christ. I say this because in John 5.22 He said, "For the Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son."

5C. Because of that I think verse 11 is referring to the Lord Jesus Christ. It is His face from whom the earth and the heaven will flee. Close your eyes for a moment. Imagine the expression on the face of the Lord Jesus Christ, Whose eyes are flames of fire. What anger. What rage. What vengeance He will exact upon you. What punishment He will pour out on you. Look up, please.

6C. Throughout the ceaseless ages of eternity you will have burned into your conscious memory, never to fade over time in the least, His fierce countenance and His last words to you: "Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels."

CONCLUSION:

1. What a great tragedy it will be that the One Who suffered so greatly for you will make you suffer such torment.

2. How pitiful it will then be that the One Who was for you the Lamb of God that could have taken away your sins, the One Who bled and died a ransom for your soul, will be the One Who determines you for Hell and Who will determine the severity of your eternal horror in the lake of fire.

3. What terrible irony it will be. What great tragedy it will be. What horrible waste it will be. Jesus would have been so gracious to you, so kind, so tender, so satisfying to your soul, so friendly to your heart and mind.

4. But your refusal of Him will change all of what could have been, what might yet be, into stark terror, into unending fright, into never-ending burning.

5. It is this knowledge of the terror of the Lord, on top of the fear of God’s wrath, that motivated Paul so powerfully, that so strongly moves your pastor to do what he does to urge you to come to Christ.

6. Please come to Jesus. Please avoid this needless tragedy. Please concern yourself with the welfare of your own soul. Please come to Jesus now.