======================================================================== 7 REASONS WHY THE CHURCH IN NORTH AMERICA HAS LOST THE FEAR OF THE LORD by Edgar Reich ======================================================================== Summary: This sermon emphasizes the importance of fearing God and recognizing His judgment, highlighting the need for repentance, surrender, and a deep relationship with Jesus Christ. It addresses the reasons why the Church in America may have lost the fear of God, including misconceptions about grace, materialism, pride, and a lack of teaching on God's judgment. The sermon urges listeners to repent of sin, seek forgiveness, and commit their lives to Christ, emphasizing the eternal consequences of sin and the need for a clean heart before God. Topics: "Fear of God", "Repentance and Surrender" Scripture References: Deuteronomy 10:12, Matthew 11:28, 1 John 1:9, Revelation 9:15, Psalms 51:7, Luke 12:4, Psalms 114:3, Revelation 16:20, 1 John 2:22, Ephesians 4:30 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ DESCRIPTION ------------------------------------------------------------------------ This sermon emphasizes the importance of fearing God and recognizing His judgment, highlighting the need for repentance, surrender, and a deep relationship with Jesus Christ. It addresses the reasons why the Church in America may have lost the fear of God, including misconceptions about grace, materialism, pride, and a lack of teaching on God's judgment. The sermon urges listeners to repent of sin, seek forgiveness, and commit their lives to Christ, emphasizing the eternal consequences of sin and the need for a clean heart before God. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ CONTENT ------------------------------------------------------------------------ There's some other friends in the audience here, and so it's good to know. But you know, it's a good question. But please don't look at me at any other person than a donkey. All right? Do you get that? You see, a donkey carried the Lord Jesus to Jerusalem. And you see, that's all we are, is a servant of God. And as long as I carry him, you will hear the word of God. Let us pray. Heavenly Father, I thank you. I just thank you so much, Lord, for providing the bread of life for us this afternoon. I thank you so much that you have blessed this living bread, that you have broken it already, and now help me to pass it out, that everyone here will be filled, and that there would be baskets left over. And I thank you that you will do that in Christ's name. Amen. The sermon this afternoon is Seven Reasons Why the Church in America Has Lost the Fear of God. And our opening scripture comes from Psalm 111, verse 10, 111, verse 10. And there it says, the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. And I'll stop there. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. I have a German background. I was actually born during the Second World War in Germany. And in Germany, housewives love to have a clean house. And my sister still lives over there now, and when I go to that place, I have to take off my shoes to make sure I don't carry in any dirt into the house. And you know, she is a spotless woman. She loves everything perfect and clean. And when she sees a little dust around, guess what she does? She takes a cloth, and she gets rid of that dust. And you see, God is like that. To God, sin is dust in the house. And he's preparing a new earth, a new heavens for us. And that new earth and that new heavens that he prepares for us, there will be no dust in the house. There will be no sin in the house. Because God is love, and because of his love, there must be judgment to eliminate sin. There must be judgment to eliminate sin, to present to us a house free of sin. There'll be no more tears. There'll be no more sorrows. There'll be no more heartaches. And so, when God does that for us, he must take action. He has no choice, beloved. He has no choice. He will eliminate sin. And if sinners don't want to give up sin, he will eliminate them. He will kill them, says the word. He will not put up with dust in the house. It is early on a Sabbath day, the Jewish Sunday, a man is gathering sticks to make himself a fire. What can be wrong with that? That man came to tell him that that is against the law of God, to work on the Sabbath. The man taken before the leaders, Moses and Aaron. The story is told in the Old Testament of the Bible in the book of Numbers, chapter 15, verses 32 to 35. I will only quote a verse from that. When Moses asked God what to do, the answer was given in Numbers, chapter 15, verse 35. The Lord said to Moses, listen to it. This is what God said. God said, give him a break. I'm a loving God. Is that what he said? Amen? No. The Lord said to Moses, the man shall be surely put to death. All the congregation shall stone him with stones outside the camp. Please note that this was a direct instruction from God himself. It wasn't Moses, the leader, who made the decision to do that. It was God himself who made that decision. This man was to be stoned to death, and he died because of sin and rebellion against the law of God. My first point is in North America, most Christians do not fear the Lord. Few know it is a commandment in the Bible to fear the Lord. That commandment is found in Deuteronomy, chapter 10, verse 12, if you want to look at that. Deuteronomy, chapter 10, verse 12, and there it tells us, and now Israel, what does the Lord your God require of you? First part of the commandment, surprise. But to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all his ways, and to love him. To serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul. So it's a four-part command here. First to fear the Lord, then to walk in all of his ways, to love him, and to serve him. Four commandments, right? Surprising, isn't it? Now some of you will say, well, I'm in the new period, under the new commandment, I'm free from the law, and it's something that I'm not too sure about. Should I really live by that, or is that something to make me scared, or what is it all about? We cannot decide ourselves not to fear the Lord. The reason is given in verse 13 of Deuteronomy, chapter 10, and there it says that it is good that it is for our own good, and then it also tells us that it is good for us to fear the Lord because it prolongs our life. Yes, fear can help us stop sinning. Now you say, well, this is the Old Testament, and Christ repeated that command in the New Testament, just to be sure, and if you don't want to go with the old laws, then go with the new laws. Go with what Christ says. Christ says, if you love me, keep my commandments, and when you see Christ's commandments in the New Testament, they by far exceed the requirements of the Old Testament. One example in Matthew, chapter 5, if you look at a woman with lust, you have committed adultery in your heart. If you're angry at someone without cause, you have committed murder, right? Isn't that what the word says? So we know in Luke, chapter 12, verses 4 and 5, there Jesus said, and I say unto you, my friends, be not afraid of them that kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do, but I will forewarn you whom you shall fear. Fear him which after he hath killed has power to pass into hell. Yea, I say unto you, fear him. So God wants us to love him and fear him. These are two opposing emotions, that's very hard to imagine how do we do that, but imagine your own earthly father, please think of a good father who loves you to death, but when you've gone too far, he's going to correct you. And when you walk away like the prodigal son, some sons don't come back. The prodigal son came back, but some don't. Now note that God will kill and cast into hell unbelievers. We know that the law cannot save us, it is not by being good, good, good that we are saved, it is only by the Lord Jesus Christ that we are saved. And then it tells us that even Jesus experienced godly fear while crying and shedding tears in Hebrews chapter 5, 7, and 8. It says, who in the days of his flesh when he had offered up prayers and supplications with vehement cries and tears to him who was able to save him from death and was heard because of his godly fear, though he was a son, yet he learned obedience by the things he suffered. And he said, dad, if there's another way but the cross and me taking all of the sins of this world, let there be another way, dad. And he feared it in the flesh, he's also God, but at that time point he feared what was to be suffered with the godly fear. Point number two, in America we no longer fear God because we believe God won't correct us or strike us dead when we sin. You see, that's the first preacher I've heard say that, strike me dead? Does God shorten our life span if we insist on sinning? God is patient and a gentle God, slow to anger. Sometimes he runs out of patience. In Acts chapter 5, and by the way, that's in the New Testament under grace, there were two people in the church, Ananias and Sapphira. And you know, they told a little white lie based on today's standards. They sold a piece of land and they got money and then they gave money to their brothers and sisters. Isn't that a generous act? That's kind, that's nice, that's good. And so they did that, what can be wrong with that? Well, when they turned the money over, they said to Peter that they had sold it for such and such a price and they were giving all to the church, to Peter, to take care of their sisters and brothers. And Peter said to him, why have you let Satan fill your heart? You see, Satan is the father of lies. He is the one who originally sinned and lied and then now we have that habit and we think little white lies are not really that bad. And then when Peter said that, he said to him, Ananias, you could have told the truth, but you lied and therefore you're going to die and Ananias dropped dead to the ground. And guess what, the church feared, it says, the church feared. And it's all right to fear God because it helps us not to sin. Three hours later, Sapphira, his wife, came to the apostle Peter. She told the same story as her husband. In verse 10, she drops dead to the ground, also the husband first and then the wife. You say, ah, that doesn't happen today. Great fear came about the church. Do you have a little dust in your house sometimes, little white lie here or there, a little lie? In Psalm 89.45, it tells us, Psalm 89.45, the day of his youth, hast thou shortened, thou has covered him with shame, Selah. And here some young people died and I wonder if this still takes place today. On the internet, there is a website called the 27 Club. Young people, I want you to look it up on your website, the 27 Club. It also goes under the names like the Curse of 27. You can Google this club on your computer. The club was created because many musicians have died at the age of 27. The club includes Robert Johnson, blues singer, who died at 27. Brian Jones, the founder of the Rolling Stones, died at 27. Jimi Hendrix, guitarist and singer, died at 27. Janis Joplin, lead vocalist, died at 27. Jim Morrison, lead singer for the Doors and Poet, died at 27. Kurt Cobain, founding member and lead singer of Nirvana, died at the age of 27. And recently, Amy Winehouse, a multiple award winner, singer and songwriter, died at the age of 27. There are 42 other musicians that died at the age of 27 on that website, for a total of 49 people. Is it coincidence? We know that only God can take away life. How's your lifestyle, young people? Is there a little dust in the house? Is there dust in the house that God needs to take care of? In Psalm 90, verse 3, it says, the psalmist said, thou turnest man to destruction and sayeth, return ye children of man. Further steps by God include exposing us to destruction. He's doing this to help us to turn around, to repent, and to follow him. On 9, 11, 10 years ago, the churches were full. In the meantime, we again have lost the fear of God. God has planned disasters for America to help us turn around and to help and follow him. What is that? Does God correct Christians? Does God bring stripes and hurt? I went to visit the AIDS sick in an AIDS hospital. In the early days, there was much suffering with blindness, hearing loss, limbs not functioning, followed by death. I spoke with the man, and they asked me, why did God allow this? Few saw it as a result of their breaking the law of God. In America, few Christians have fear that the judgments of God will affect them when they sin. In Psalm 89, 31, 32, it says, if they break my statutes, statutes are laws and ordinances of God, and keep not my commandments, then will I visit their transgressions with the rod and their iniquity with stripes. The rod of God is a fearsome thing. It may affect you, it may affect you in sickness, it may affect you in poverty, it may affect you in rejection within your own family, it may affect you with the loss of loved ones. And recently, a 42-year-old preacher with a 6,000-member church was found dead in his hotel room with a bag of white powder. Another preacher was exposed by sexual misdemeanors with boys. God is not mocked. Eventually, all will come to light. Do you have dust in your house that you need to clean up? Do you have dust in your house? King David sinned with Bathsheba in adultery and then committed murder by killing her husband. God did not kill King David, but he gave him five fearsome penalties. Five fearsome penalties. And God said, via Nathan the prophet in 2 Samuel 12, 8. He said to David, I also would have given you much more. And you see, when we sin, we deny the blessing hand of God. When we sin and remain in sin, then God does not bless us. And so, beloved, we need to stop hurting ourselves. Then in 2 Samuel 12, 10, God said via the prophet Nathan, the sword shall never depart from your house. That was the second penalty for David. And it said, with the sword, it meant that they would be fighting, killing, and death in David's own family. Amnon, his firstborn brother, raped his half-sister Tamar. And then in 2 Samuel 13, 28, and 29, Absalom then had Amnon, his brother, killed. Killing and death came to David's family because of the father sinning. Now, dads, if you're here and you have trouble in your house, is it because you're sinning? Is it because you can't keep your hands off the Internet and watch some porn or some other stuff? In 2 Samuel 12, 11, the Lord said, I will raise up adversity against you from your own house. God said, your own family will turn against you. And in 2 Samuel 15, 13, and 14, David had to flee from his own house. Absalom was going to kill him. He had to flee Jerusalem. And the fourth penalty was, the Lord said, I will take your wives before your eyes and give them to your neighbor, and he shall lie with them in the sight of the sun. You did it secretly, but I'm gonna do it open. I'm gonna make you come out and come clean. Our secret sins will be brought to light. In 2 Samuel 16, 22, Absalom, David's own son had a tent put on the top of the house, and he went in to sleep with his father's wives for all of Israel to see. We often hear of preachers exposed by their own sins. And then the fifth penalty involved an innocent little baby. And the Lord said to David, however, because of this deed, you have given great occasion to the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme. You see, when our enemies see us sin, they say, Christianity is no different from what I do. Come on now, wake up. You're not any different from me. And they curse God, and they say that God cannot help you. God can't do anything for you. And they curse God's name because they see you sinning. So sisters and brothers, we also give a bad name to our great God, even as before. And so we must fear God. And then in 2 Samuel 12, 18, his innocent little son died. That was the fifth penalty for David. If there's dust in your house, he, our God, can't accept it. He can't live with it, because it affects his life too. It affects his glory. It affects his power. It affects his love for us. And it says that the Holy Spirit weeps for us. That is God weeping because we sin. And you see that word that is used in Ephesians talks about the pain of loss, the pain of someone separating from you. It talks about all of the grieving that goes on when a loved one leaves you. That's how God grieves for your love, because he says, I'm doing everything for you. I'm giving you life. I'm giving you breath. You're breathing only because I say so. You're only still here because I say so. You're only still here because I love you. And you don't love me. And you don't love me. And you don't care about me. And you sin. You don't ask me for help. You don't ask me for release from what troubles you. And you have dust in your house, and you won't give it up. So, number three, in America, we no longer fear God because we have adopted a lifestyle of the unbelievers and are caught up in materialism, pride, and religiosity. Dr. David Paul Tripp states, one of the greatest challenges to the Christian family is rampant, culturally institutionalized, media-promoted, hero-driven materialism. Maybe more than ever before, our culture has embraced the delusion that life can be found in the physical, material creation. The created world has no ability whatsoever to satisfy the cravings of the heart. The creation is meant to be a finger that points us to one place where there's real life and rest of the heart, God himself. Because this materialism plays to the deepest idolatries of the heart, it leaves us fat, addicted, and in debt. As a culture, we spend too much, we eat too much, and we're way too busy, all in the vain hope of finding happiness in life where it cannot be found. It is hard to be a family living in a Western culture and not breathe in the toxic gases of this materialism. Is there a little materialism in your house? Is that Porsche or Mercedes or BMW or whatever you buy for, is that more important to you than God? Is that football scholarship more important to you than God? Is that recognition in school and in life more important to you than recognition from God? Let us consider pride, American humanism, human wisdom, the thoughts of man have elevated man to independence from God. Man feels he has the right to exercise his will. You say, I'm gonna do what I want to. I'm not dependent on you, God. I'm gonna do what I please. I'm looking for the stars. I'm looking for what I want to look for. I'm gonna make my own rules. He rationalizes that either there is no God or God will do him no harm and that he can do what he wants. And then there are false prophets and pastors teaching materialism in a scriptural sense, and the prosperity gospel teaches us to covet and to press God to meet our wants and our desires the way we want to. These preachers project God as a gentle old man with a white beard, like Santa Claus, who will meet all materialism in turn for money given to the pastor or the church. Holiness, abstention, self-denial, and obedience required by God are suppressed in favor of creating the lust for more. Beloved, is there dust in your house? Do you want more out of this life or do you want more out of God? That's the basic question. Do you want more out of God and his son Jesus, or do you want more from this life? In Acts chapter 12, verses 1 and 2, we read that King Herod, the son of King Herod, the great, killed the apostle James with the sword. That means he beheaded the apostle James. Now, there were not so many apostles, only 12, and I would have thought that God would take action. Nothing happened. God was still giving King Herod time to repent. However, in Acts chapter 12, verses 21 to 23, we read that Herod accepted the accolades of people who said, the voice of God and not of man. King Herod did not refuse that tribute and stole God's glory. In Acts chapter 12, 23, God sent an angel to kill him, kill him, because he did not give God the glory. King Herod was filled up with worms and eaten by worms until he died. When I grew up, after the Second World War, we didn't have too much to eat, and I had worms in myself, and so I saw them dance in my experiments, and I ate contaminated food. So I watched, and I decided, it's not good to die of worms if you can manage that. So is there pride in your life? Is there dust in your house? There was once a flea inside the ear of an elephant. They came to an old wooden hanging bridge. As the elephant stepped on the bridge, the hanging bridge started to swing and shake. Once the elephant got to the other side, the tiny flea said to the elephant, be sure, shook that bridge. And the elephant said to the flea, you got it all wrong, little flea. I shook the bridge, and you came for the ride. Likewise, there are many preachers today who say that they're shaking the bridge. God might fill them up with worms. God hates pride. It is dust in the house. Now, what about your religiosity? We decided to go witnessing downtown New York for three months during the summertime, and the leader, Silas Titus, he had fasted for three months. Forty days, I probably shouldn't tell you this, but he's a man of God, and he has a commitment to God, and God spoke to him and said, now, before you go out on those streets, you've got to remember, you're not any better than the persons out there. You're not any better. You're a sinner saved by grace. And now, love your fellow man. If you can't love your fellow man, don't go out there, because they might curse at you. They might say things that get to your heart. And you know, after the first week, I didn't want to go out there anymore. They were cursing at me, and it got to me, and I prayed on the week, and then I said, now, Lord, I don't want to go out there no more. And they don't want you. They don't want me. And then I repented right afterwards, and I said, God, help me to repent. Help me to show what's wrong in my thinking. Help me to show me what's wrong with me. Break my heart. I went back out. I was down near ground zero, and it was rush hour time. Thousands of people, thousands of New Yorkers were rushing towards me, and all of a sudden, my heart started to break. And it was weeping on the inside, and I never had that emotion before. And then all of a sudden, all sound disappeared. I couldn't hear anything anymore. And then the people were walking towards me in slow motion without sound. Slow motion, I saw their faces. I saw their unhappiness. I saw their materialism. I saw their disdain for me. I saw everything that seemed to be going on in them. And then I started to realize why I was seeing them without sound and in slow motion. They were the walking dead. They were the walking dead. And God said, you better love them. You better love them, because if you don't tell them, their blood will I require at your hands. You better tell them. And so, beloved, I really improved in loving people. I'm not there. I'm just on the way. And God will help us to also be that witness. But we must reach out and love others. Just because we are saved and you all look like wonderful people, you look like you were saved when you were born. You don't know what sin is, right? You're all sinners saved by grace. And so your neighbor, love him that he can be a sinner saved by grace. Don't make yourself better. Is there dust in the house? And then we don't remember how great God is, because we make ourselves equal to that great God. You know, and in Psalm 114, verses 1 to 8, in verse 3, it gives us the reason that the waters of the Red Sea fled. The children of Israel were coming from the land of Israel. They were being let go from slavery. They came to the Red Sea, couldn't cross. And Psalm 114, 1 to 8, tells us why the waters went back and made way. You see, God came down from heaven. He came before the children of Israel. And in verse 3, it tells us the reason. The water sensed God approaching the Red Sea when he came to save his people from the Egyptian army. The waters felt the approaching foot of the Almighty God coming down from heaven, and the waters fled. Can you make the waters flee? You better have some respect, some awe, some fear of God. The sea looked and fled. The sea looked and fled. The sea had awe and respect and fear. How about you, my dear brother and sister? And the same verse in Psalm 114, 3, it tells us that the River Jordan's waters parted and turned back to make room for God going before his people. In Psalm 114, 6, it asks, why did the mountains and hills skipped? In 114, 7, it says, the earth trembled, and it was all because of the presence of God. When you find yourself in the eye of a tornado, you will tremble. A tornado is nothing compared to God. When we find ourselves in the middle of a 7.0 earthquake, and the earth splits before you, you will tremble. Two ants were on a railway track shaking their fists against God. Now, I don't know if you've ever been at a railway track when you were young, and I was able to do that, and I put my ear down to hear when the train is coming. You see, you can hear the train coming from far off. There is that slight singing sound. And these two ants were on the railway track shaking their fists against God, and the railway track started to sing softly. And the two ants were shaking their arms against God, and they said, you think you can make all the rules, God? I make my own rules. The ants were shouting, we don't accept your laws, God. We'll sin if we want to sin. There's nothing, nothing you can do. And that track was vibrating louder now. And the poor ants had no understanding and no fear of God, and they didn't know, beloved, the train is coming. The train is coming. The train is on the way. Humble yourself. Point number four. In America, we no longer fear God because Christians believe that all is covered under grace, the unmerited favor of God. I went on a bus trip with a whole bunch of Christians. At the hotel, one of the Christians took two towels. Another Christian watched pornography. Another Christian was looking longingly at a woman. He was asked, are you not married? And should you be looking at her with lust? His answer, oh, God knows I'm human. He's got me covered by grace. Don't worry. Trust God for his grace. Don't be such a stickler with the law. Is there something wrong in that argument somewhere, do you think? Is grace a carte blanche for us and for you to sin? Is it a carte blanche and a license to sin? No, it is. It is not. Could I ask you, are all sins of America covered under grace? Our country is the number one pornography exporter into the whole world, the number one exporter. We profess to be Christians, and yet we do not live differently from our neighbors in the world. We call ourselves Christians, but we did take away the Bible and prayer from our children. And you say, how did I do that? Well, you stood by and you watched. You didn't do nothing. You think you had a part? Every one out of three boys now grows up without a dad. Divorce is about 50% in America. It's the same for Christians, no difference. In the African-American culture, two out of three boys grow up without a dad. Homosexuality has been declared by 100 ordained pastors as not being sin. It's OK with God's word, they say, 100 ordained pastors. Many churches now permit the Koran to be read in dozens of churches. Allah is not the same God we serve. Allah does not acknowledge Jesus Christ as the Son of God. And scripture says in 1 John 2.22, who is a liar, but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ. He's anti-Christ who denies the Father and the Son. Now, beloved, Allah is not the same God as our God. Allah denies Christ, and therefore, Allah is a counterfeit from Satan. He's a counterfeit, so do not be deceived. Do not follow that thinking. By the way, I love Muslims. I took care of a Muslim. I buried him. I loved him. I prayed for him. And I love Muslims, but I cannot go for idolatry. I'll love you, but I won't love your sin. Is that all right with you? God did not say, Muhammad is my beloved son in whom I'm well pleased. Did he? Did God say, Buddha is my beloved son in whom I'm well pleased? Or did he say, Krishna is my beloved son from the Hindus in whom I'm well pleased? No, he didn't. You see, God made sure he spoke by a voice from heaven to help you and me to know that we have the truth through the Lord Jesus Christ that Christ is the Son of the living God. And God affirmed him from heaven himself personally. And he said, this is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased. And then in point number five, in America, we no longer fear God because we Christians misinterpret perfect love, pass out fear. We say we don't need to fear God because that's what the word of God says. I did read before that Christ had fear of his own father from Hebrews. Now, we associate God with love and not wrath and vengeance. Wrath is violent anger. It is rage and fury with the intent to do harm. Vengeance is a retaliatory punishment. In America, love is taught as never ending. Few, if any, speak of God's judgments and his punishments for the unbelievers, which is never ending. But beloved, his love is perfect because he will provide a house, a clean house for us, a clean new earth, a clean new heaven he will provide for you and for me. Isn't that wonderful news? And so we know that scripture does not contradict itself. Matthew Henry, in his commentary, says the true love to God assures believers of God's love to them. In Luke chapter 12, verses 4 and 5, Jesus said, and I say unto you, my friends, do not be afraid of them that kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do. But I will forewarn you whom you shall fear. It is his father. It is God himself. After he hath killed, he has power to cast into hell. Yea, I say unto you, fear him. And as humans, we don't like fear. We certainly don't like the fear of darkness and the fear of evil. But God says in his verse, perfect love casts out the fear of that darkness. It casts out anything that would affect us. And then when you read 1 John 4, 17, the following passage is all related to verse 17, because there it says, perfect love casts out fear in relation to judgment. The verses don't say don't fear God, but they say you no longer need to fear judgment. Praise God. The fear of God out of light, we need to accept that God is greater than us. And so we must not be misled by that. And we must rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is our reward in heaven, for so persecuted the prophets which were before you. A few years ago in North Korea, 25 Korean Christians were found with Bibles. And they were taken by the army. Five leaders were to be executed. And they made the other 20 Christians watch. They brought a steamroller. And they put the pastor, two assistant pastors, and two elders on the ground. They gave them a choice and said, if you follow King Tucson and Kim Young-tu, rather than your Jesus, we will let you live. And they would not speak. And the steamroller started rolling and rolled over them. And the fellow Christians screamed and fainted as the steamroller went over five bodies. And their skulls were crushed and popped, made a popping sound. And the other 20 Christians, they went to one of these Korean death camps. Beloved, you don't need to fear that. Because God will give you help. God will be with you. God will give you that power through the Holy Spirit to stand up to persecution. We are very soon will be facing persecution in this country, because also there are now 120 pastors who have gotten together. They are supporting a new concept called Chrislam. It's a combination of Islam and Christianity. And they say this is the way to go. And as they follow this concept under the ecumenical movement, it will take rapidly other believers along the way. And you and I will have to stand up with a witness before our God. And so it's up to you to decide where you want to be, in heaven, in a clean heaven, a clean new earth, a clean new universe, or there. In America, we no longer fear God, because we do not recognize when he gives us into the hands of the enemy, such as on 9-11, or he sends us natural disasters. A few months ago, a Christian woman running for president, Michelle Bachmann, suggested that Hurricane Irene and the earthquakes were judgments of God. She was laughed at and ridiculed. A cartoon appeared the next day in a local newspaper in New Jersey with Michelle standing at a podium, making this statement, this is the judgment of God. Then on the right-hand side was another podium where Michelle was struck by lightning, ending up in a pile of ashes, and saying, you see what I mean? These people have no idea about the never-ending wrath of God and the torment that is awaiting them, except God may yet have mercy on them and save them. R.C. Sproul wrote in his commentary, when two evangelical leaders, Pat Robertson and the late Jerry Falwell, suggested 9-11 may have been a divine judgment upon our sinful culture. They were hissed and booed and shouted down to the point that they issued a public recall statement. The American psyche has no place for a God who judges people or nations. God can bless us, but God forbid he ever judges us. So far in 2011, we've had many major disasters. The latest hurricane Irene brought flooding, damage, destruction. People were killed, 4 million people without electricity, 4.7 billion in damage. They were unusual. Earthquakes in Washington, the Washington Monument was undermined. There were earthquakes recorded in Argentina, Chile, Iran, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Tonga, Burma, Christchurch, New Zealand, Japan, and recently another one in the United States. In Japan, the tsunami was 130 feet high, traveling six miles inland, chasing cars. And you know, I watched some of those videos. And it was, drive, drive, drive, drive. And the wave came and swallowed up that car. And I knew a person died. Then came the tornado in Joplin, Missouri, killing 159 people. They were ensured losses of 2 billion. Other disasters included the historic flooding of the Mississippi and the Mississouri Rivers, called 100-year floods. Major droughts have affected Texas and some of the other states. Bread prices are going to go up. The Japan earthquake and tsunami caused a major nuclear disaster in Japan. The leakage of radioactive material is massive and is affecting the American food supply, such as milk, water, and food items. The amount of radioactive cesium released in Japan is equivalent to 168 Hiroshima bombs. They don't even tell you that some of these things are in your food supply now because they do not want to alarm you. Ezekiel 8.18 says, therefore, I will also deal in fury. You see, God says he must clean up the house to give us a clean heaven and earth. And he's going to draw his people back unto himself. And we can do it willingly, or he's going to send us disasters. Or he will give us into the hands of the enemy. And you know there are some fearsome things in the book of Revelation. And that is my final point, point number seven. In America, many pastors do not teach and preach God's judgment in hell. And we basically don't believe the book of Revelation. Now you say, yes, I do. Why don't you act differently? If you truly believe it, you would act differently. And I would too. You see, in Revelation chapter 9.15, it tells us that four angels will kill one third of mankind. How many billions of people do we have in the world? Seven billion? Revelation 9.15 says four angels will kill one third of mankind. What does that mean? One third? 2.33 billion people? We are just over 300,000 in this land of America. That's the 0.3 and the 2.33. We are shocked when we see the World Trade Center go down, 3,000 die. We are shocked when we see videos from the Second World War, and 70 million died. I myself had bombs thrown on me. There were fighter planes shooting at me. We were in a cattle train with 56 cars. And 55 were destroyed by bombs. I was in the one where we still lived. And then we went to it. So God had mercy on this man, because he had a plan. Praise God. And I went to the city of Dresden with my mother and my sister. And 80,000 people were killed in Dresden with bombs. And firebombs were thrown on the city. And when they opened up the cellars in the city, they found all of these charcoal dolls. And they thought they were all children. But they were all adults that had shrunk in their cellars because of the intense heat in the city. Now, beloved, only 70 million died. These are just a few things I'm telling you. But what it tells us is, in the book of Revelation, there will be death, war, famine, hunger, earthquakes, cyclones. The sun will turn black. The moon will turn red. The sky will recede like a scroll. There will be an army of 200 million by three plagues, including the army. A third of mankind will be killed. Every mountain and island will be moved out of its place. There will be stars falling from the earth. A great burning mountain will fall into the ocean. With earthquakes, there will be killer tsunamis all over the world. Hail will fall. Fire mingled with blood will fall. Trees and grasses will burn. The sea will turn into blood. And all the streams eventually will turn into blood. Those who worship Antichrist will have terrible sores. The sun will scorch man with fire. Darkness falls over the kingdom of Antichrist. Demons are released on the earth. And in the final great earthquake, the 21st judgment, all the great cities of the nation of this earth are destroyed. And every island will flee away. Every island will flee away. Think of every island that you know of submerged by killer tsunamis. The shaking of the earth will be so great that the mountains will be broken up and will be no more according to Revelation chapter 1620. Then as a very final part of that judgment, God will stone the world with 75 pound hailstones. We started the sermon with God stoning a man and we're finishing this sermon with God stoning the whole world. Beloved, is there dust in your house? He wants to give us a clean new heaven, a clean new earth. And he cannot accept sin, he cannot tolerate sin. Those billions of people that will have to die because they will not accept the Lord Jesus Christ. But you and I have a task. If we truly believe this will happen, we would all be out on the street. We would all have a passion for souls. And we would repent, we would stop sinning. We would cry out to God for mercy. We would say, God, help me, help me not to sin anymore. Help me, help me Lord, help me to be a better Christian. Help me through your Holy Spirit. Help me with the besetting sin in my life. I don't want it no more. I don't want dust in my house. My house needs to be clean. And beloved, I was at home trying to clean my home of dust. But there was something wrong with the dust. It was sticking to me. I thought I could use a little tide, but I could not loosen the stains. So I ran to the Ajax and I scrubbed as hard as I could. Surely Ajax would do the job and get rid of the stain. But no, the dust in my house and the stains on me would not leave. Ajax would not do it, so I ran for Mr. Clean. And surely Mr. Clean would do the job. And I'm scrubbing hard and nothing is happening. The dust is still in my house. I'm exhausted, I'm on my knees and I'm on the floor. Oh Lord, oh Lord, what am I to do about my sin? And then I heard it and I looked on the floor off my house and there were droplets of blood coming down. As the drops hit the dust, it disappeared. The stains disappeared and I was wondering whose blood it was that could make dust disappear, that could make stains disappear, that could make a sinner clean. There's a beautiful song that says, what shall wash away my sin, my sin? Nothing but the blood of Jesus. What shall make me whole again? Nothing but the blood of Jesus. Oh, precious is the flow that made me white as snow. No other fount I know. Nothing but the blood of Jesus. Now I wonder if there's still some dust in your house and perhaps you want to recommit that dust to the Lord Jesus this afternoon. But before we do that, I have a text message for every young person in the house and that is the final story. It was after the great earthquake in China. Rescue teams were going from house to house. They were trying to save the lives of those who were covered with the beams and rubble of the houses. They came to a little house that was completely flattened. The rescue team decided no one could be alive here. They moved on. The leader was bothered in his spirit and he went back. He saw a small opening in the rubble and he reached in with his hands. He could feel a body and he felt a little warmth. He got excited and he shouted, there's life, there's life. The team rushed back and started to remove the beams and the rubble. They found a woman on her knees, her back bent and broken by the beams. She was dead. Her back was bent in a curve over something. She had been protecting something. And so the team leader reached beneath her and there was a parcel, a rolled up blanket. And as he unrolled the blanket and he opened up the blanket, here was a beautiful little baby boy fast asleep. And yes, he was breathing. And a doctor came and examined the boy. He was well. And then the leader saw a cell phone in the hands of the mother and he took it from her hands. When he opened the cell phone, there was a text message from the mother, which said, if you survive, know that I love you. If you survive, know that I love you. And the Lord Jesus Christ is saying that to every person this morning, and to you young people especially, because you've survived. You have more temptations than I ever had. And you hear this morning, praise God. Perhaps you've never made that decision for the Lord Jesus Christ, whose blood can wash away all sin. And then he can help you to have that beautiful fulfilled life in his service. You don't need to run after the things of the world. You can follow a wonderful, incredible God. And so if you survive, know that I love you. He is sending you that message this morning. And beloved, would you all rise please? Would you all rise please? And we're going to close in a word of prayer. But before we do so, if there's any dust in the house, if there's any dust in your house, would you just come forward this morning and just lay it, or this afternoon, and lay that dust, those sins before God. And ask him to help you to deal with those sins. Would you do that? Would you come right now, even as I'm talking? Would you come? Thank you. Thank you for coming. And then those that have never accepted the Lord Jesus Christ, would you come please? Would you come today? Would you come? Just come and stand at the altar. Come. Come give your life to God. Give your life to the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, as you're coming, I need to explain to you that I cannot take away your sin. I cannot give you eternal life. And I don't want to say words for you to follow and then tell you that you have eternal life, because I don't know, because it's between you and God. So I'm asking every person that came forward to accept the Lord Jesus Christ, would you please talk to Jesus himself, to the Son of God, and say to him, I need you, Lord Jesus. I need to be washed from my sins. And then I want to give my life to you. Help me to be a Christian. Help me to be a person. Help me to be someone that you can use for your glory and for your honor. And then for those that have come to ask to be cleansed of their sins, 1 John 1.9 says, if we confess our sins, he's faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. And we thank you so much, Father. And let's have a couple of moments of quiet, please, about a minute, minute and a half. Please pray. If you should come and the Holy Spirit is drawing you, do not say no to the Holy Spirit. Please, I beg you, I beg you. I told you the truth today. I told you the whole counsel of the word of God. He will not accept you into heaven if there is sin in the house. He cannot because he has promised to give us a new heavens and a new earth. So I beg you, I beg you, I beg you because you're gonna go to an eternal hell forever and ever and ever. And I don't want you to do that. Please, I beg you, I beg you. In Jesus' name, please, please come forward. Please ask God for forgiveness of your sins if you need to and please give him your life. Thank you, thank you, thank you. Let us pray. And Heavenly Father, I thank you so much for your mercy, for your love, for your graciousness, for your kindness, for your Holy Son, Jesus, through whom we have life everlasting. We thank you so much for him. We thank you for the Holy Spirit abiding with us, Lord. And I thank you so much for each one of the persons here that came this afternoon and they're standing before you. They've raised not only their hands, but they have come physically before you and they've drawn near to you, Father. And so I ask that you draw near to them, meet every need, take away every sin. And then those that have come and do not know the Lord Jesus, Lord, I pray that you would save them to the uttermost. And I thank you that you will do that in Jesus Christ, amen. Thank you. And those that came forward and made a decision for the Lord Jesus Christ, I want to encourage you to join a good church. This is a good church right here. And I want you to start reading a Bible and to start praying, but join a fellowship so that you have strength through your fellow Christians. Thank you. The Lord bless you. Amen. Amen. Amen. ======================================================================== Video: https://sermonindex2.b-cdn.net/kcBPwzlnJxg.mp4 Source: https://sermonindex.net/speakers/edgar-reich/7-reasons-why-the-church-in-north-america-has-lost-the-fear-of-the-lord/ ========================================================================