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  WE MUST TAKE GOD AT HIS WORD
  by David Wilkerson
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Summary: We must take God at His Word and believe that He will deal
seriously with our sin, lest we face judgment and destruction.

Topics: "God's Judgment", "Repentance"
Scripture References: Genesis 18:20, Exodus 34:6

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DESCRIPTION
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David Wilkerson emphasizes the necessity of taking God at His Word,
warning that while God is merciful and gracious, He will not overlook
sin indefinitely. He illustrates this through the story of Sodom and
Gomorrah, highlighting that divine ultimatums exist when God calls us to
repentance before judgment. Wilkerson urges believers to live in a state
of readiness for Christ's return, as our actions reflect our faith in
God's warnings. He cautions against complacency, using the example of
Lot, who failed to heed the angels' warning, and stresses that
disobedience to God's commands can lead to dire consequences.

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CONTENT
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"The Lord said . . . the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and . . .
their sin is very grievous" (Genesis 18:20). We all love to hear about
God's mercy, grace and longsuffering. But we do not want to face the
fact that someday soon He will come against everything that is of Sodom.

God revealed His nature to Moses this way: "The Lord passed by before
him, and proclaimed, The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious,
longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for
thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin" (Exodus
34:6-7). Yet in the very next phrase, God added: "[I] will by no means
clear the guilty" (verse 7).

The Lord was saying, "I will not wink at sin! Yes, I am merciful and
longsuffering, but the time is coming when my patience with your sin
will end. And that is when Sodom will burn!"

Two angels came to Lot and warned, "Arise, take thy wife, and thy two
daughters which are here; lest thou be consumed in the iniquity of the
city" (Genesis 19:15).

Apparently Lot did not take this warning seriously because he slept in
the next morning and the angels had to rouse him. His sons-in-law must
have thought, "If he really believed the warning, he'd be on his way out
of here right now. He doesn't believe it, so why should we?" This should
be a lesson to us all. We need to live as if Christ is about to return
so that others will listen to our witness.

I believe in what are called "divine ultimatums"--times when the Holy
Spirit knows your sin is about to bring you to ruin. The Lord comes to
you and says, "I am the God of grace, and I want to deliver you out of
this. Now, turn from your sin. Obey My Word!"

These ultimatums are found throughout the Bible. For instance, Acts
tells us Ananias and Sapphira were warned not to grieve the Holy Ghost
by lying to Him. But they disobeyed and lied--and instantly dropped dead
(see Acts 5).

It does not matter how much you pray or fast, or how faithful you are in
doing God's work; if you do not believe God will deal seriously with
your sin, you are deceived!

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Source: https://sermonindex.net/speakers/david-wilkerson/we-must-take-god-at-his-word/
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