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  AVOID HIS WRATH, KEEP HIS COMMANDMENTS
  by Shane Idleman
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Summary: This sermon emphasizes the importance of avoiding God's wrath
by keeping His commandments, which reflect the condition of our hearts.
It highlights the need for repentance and genuine surrender to God,
especially in the face of challenges and tribulations. The sermon also
discusses the concept of believers being judged at the judgment seat of
Christ, where our works will be examined and rewarded based on our
motives and actions.

Duration: 1:01:32 Topics: "Obedience to God's Commandments", "Judgment and Rewards in Christ"
Scripture References: Revelation 14:13, Matthew 25:31, 1 Corinthians 3:12, Hebrews 9:27, 1 John 2:4, Matthew 7:16

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DESCRIPTION
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This sermon emphasizes the importance of avoiding God's wrath by keeping
His commandments, which reflect the condition of our hearts. It
highlights the need for repentance and genuine surrender to God,
especially in the face of challenges and tribulations. The sermon also
discusses the concept of believers being judged at the judgment seat of
Christ, where our works will be examined and rewarded based on our
motives and actions.

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CONTENT
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We are in Revelation 14. The title of the message, Avoid His Wrath, Keep
the Commandments. Avoid His wrath, keep His commandments.

If you're just hearing that and you're about ready to tune us out later
on radio or social media, do not tune us out because this is so
important. We don't avoid God's wrath by keeping His commandments. Wait
a minute, your title says that.

Well, we're going to get into Scripture in a minute. Keeping His
commandments are a reflection of what is in your heart. So we avoid His
judgment by keeping His commandments, and keeping His commandments flow
from a right relationship with Him through Jesus Christ.

You cannot know Jesus Christ and not keep God's commandments. Thank God
I didn't say perfectly. But a true believer, when he breaks the
commandments or the heart of God, have you felt that before? There's
something... I've got to repent.

And that's a good feeling. If people are sorry, not just sorry, tears,
but genuinely repentant, they realize I don't want to keep breaking
God's heart. That's why people in addictions, we had Teen Challenge
Choir here Wednesday night.

I thought it was incredible. I don't want to rub it in, but you should
have been here. We're going to have them out again.

And I encourage a lot of kids, even adults caught in an addiction, that
that isn't necessarily a mark of a person going to hell. If they keep
struggling, they keep falling. Now, I'm not giving permission to sin,
but the reason drunkard, homosexuality, adultery, all that, Paul says,
and such were some of you.

It's when the lifestyle is embraced and I'm not repentant, that's when
it's very dangerous. I don't care. I don't care what God's Word says.

I was born this way, and I'm going to enjoy it until the day I die.
Versus the person saying, I know I talked about this last Sunday, but
it's so important. The person saying, Lord, I fell again.

Please help me. I'm caught. I need help.

God, I love You. I want to keep serving You. I can't keep falling.

God, please help me. You see, big difference, isn't there? One's in
rebellion. One's struggling.

Help. Help, Lord. That's a prayer He answers.

That's why Paul said, and such were some of you. But let's catch up
before we get to Revelation 14. We talked about the tribulation.

Big topic right now, isn't it? The tribulation is Jacob's distress in
Jeremiah. It's the 70th week of Daniel. It's the tribulation of Matthew
24.

It's the day of the Lord and first Thessalonians and second
Thessalonians. So the Bible uses different times in Scripture to really
get the point across that there is a day of tribulation coming. And some
of you are here for your first time.

You can go back and listen to other messages where I talk about the
different views on the book of Revelation. Did you know there's
different views? Yes, there are. I didn't know that when I first came
back to the Lord.

I'm like, was taught a certain way? And that's what I thought was the
way, the truth of life. Nobody comes through into Jesus Christ unless
they believe my exact eschatological position, my view on eschatology.
And it's not the case.

There's different views. And I've talked about those. So I don't wanna
go into the different views, but we're catching up.

The first angel was proclaiming the eternal gospel last week. So this
angel's proclaiming the gospel to all who are on the earth. And then the
second angel, he talked about the fall of Babylon the great.

And then the third angel, what was that one? Anyone who worships the
beast and takes his mark will encounter God's wrath eternally. Because
that mark is something that marks you, either worshiping God or
worshiping Satan. And it's an interesting fact I wanna share with you.

How many of you read Matthew Henry? His commentary? It was written in
1706. This is what he said about Revelation 14. He said, Revelation 14
is about the progress of the reformation appears to be set forth here.

In other words, he viewed Revelation 14 as what happened during the
reformation that he's talking about. 1517, Martin Luther nails his 95
thesis on the church doors in Wittenberg, Germany, challenging the Roman
Catholic Church to all these false doctrines. So these early
commentators would actually link this up with the Roman Catholic Church,
the papacy.

That's what they thought because the parallels are amazing that they
draw in. And again, I'm just saying that because it's historical fact,
number one. Number two is we love Catholics.

I was raised Catholic. There's gonna be Catholics in heaven. I'm getting
controversial.

There's gonna be Presbyterians. There's gonna be Methodists. There's
gonna be Pentecostals, I think.

There's gonna be conservative Baptists because it's not the
denomination, it's what you've done with Jesus. Now, my question to
Catholics is how can you stay in a system that is totally blasphemous on
many different levels? That's between them and God. And I've talked to
them.

I just wanna, like Martin Luther, I'm trying to just stay there, make a
difference if I can. But at some point, you gotta realize that structure
you're over is very unhealthy and very dangerous. And tribulation will
no doubt increase before this great day of tribulation.

Correct? For Christians? I mean, just look at anybody well-known trying
to stand up for the truth. Or not even well-known. Anybody that's trying
to make a difference.

The guy who's exposing Planned Parenthood. Have you ever followed his
videos? I think he's in California. He had to go through a major
lawsuit, still in it, could possibly face jail time.

For exposing the unfruitful works of darkness. So there is tribulation
here on Earth. And then Revelation 14 is where we left off.

Verse 12. And this is where the message came from. Here is the patience
of the saints.

Here is the patience of the saints. Here are those who keep the
commandments of God and the faith of Jesus. So these who persevere, the
true saints of God, they are those who keep the commandments.

And again, works do not save us, but they do reflect us. They reflect
the true condition of our heart. Works do not save us.

You don't have to put up your hand, but a lot of times, I talk to people
who think their works do save them. Well, how exactly do you know? They
don't come out and say that exact wording, but what they'll say is
something like this. Man, when I get to heaven, I sure hope God sees all
the good things I did.

You're being misled. He won't see all the good works you did. Now that's
for the bema seat or the judgment seat of Christ where our works are
judged, but in front of God as a final judgment, there's not a scale.

And you'll see many religions live like that. I believe from Islam to
even the Mormon church down the street, you have to follow their
rituals. You have to follow, you have to be part of that church.

There's no salvation outside of a certain church. Even Roman Catholicism
was works based. You have to do these works.

And a portion of the Bible there, James, I believe it was, it talks
about without works, faith is dead. And many of you, you've read that.
Basically he's saying, show me your faith by your works and I'll show
you my works by my faith.

And basically James was saying that your faith is going to be reflected
in your work. So Martin Luther didn't like that book of the Bible. It's
a scorn.

It should be removed because of how the Roman Catholic church used it to
support that works do save you. And it makes sense, right? If we're not
trusting in Jesus, we've got the internal alarm clock going on, the
conscious bearing witness of us, whether doing good or doing bad. Read
Romans 1. And so we think, okay, if I'm just doing these good things,
but doing these good things do not save us.

So what's the next portion here? Let's look at this. Keep, and this is
why this is so important, even for young adults to understand this. Keep
my commandments.

And Jesus actually says, those who keep my commandments, if they don't,
they don't love me. And this passage says, these are the true saints of
God who keep my commandments. Keep his commandments.

That word keep is the same word that a ship's captain would keep to
reach his destination. So when they sail from New York to England, do
you think they do a straight, perfect line? No, never, ever. What
happens? Gale force winds.

Something breaks, maybe. Or there's a drift. Anybody drift? Do you know
that that famous song came from a drift? Prone to wander.

Lord, I feel it. Prone to leave the Lord I love. Here's my heart, take
and seal it.

Seal it in thy courts above. Anybody, can we just be honest? Anybody
ever feel that prone to wander? I'm doing so good, this is so great. And
then the old chain comes out.

Or the old Chris, Mike, Steve, Pat, Dorothy, Nicole. I can keep going.
Morgan, Aubrey, Abram, Erica.

Right, you're doing, Laila, you're okay? But so, but then prone to
wander. But what am I gonna do? No, back to the Lord. And some people,
that's why we have to have a lot of grace.

Some people wander a lot more than you. See, will this work out here,
right? See you guys. Abram, take over.

But still, there's still hope for me, right? There's still hope for me.
I didn't wander as far as you did. Or they didn't wander as far, you
know? But we need to start having more grace, I think, in this area.

Not excusing sin, but some people wander. But even in that wandering
state, they're miserable. Have you ever wandered? It's not fun.

The prodigal son was eating with the pigs. And he came to himself and he
ran back home to the father. And so that, a true believer, I believe,
will always have that condition, that conviction in the Holy Spirit.

They'll be yearning. They'll wake up the next morning and say, Lord,
what have I done? Please forgive me, help me. Can we be honest? Anybody
relate? Nobody's ever woke up in the morning and said, please, Lord,
help me.

Help me not to do that again. See, they wanna keep the course. They
wanna keep the course.

They might say something and feel bad about it. But they want, oh, that
was wrong. That was wrong.

Oh, Lord, please forgive me. It's funny, it just happened the first
service. Our sound went out, so I was a little irritated.

Right, Madeline's texting me, the usher's telling me I got it. And the
usher came up and he goes, hey, the sound's out. I'm like, I know you're
the third person to tell me this.

And after the service, I'm like, man, I'm so sorry. You caught me at a
bad time. But see, I couldn't, I'm like, oh, that didn't, ah, that
didn't work.

See, you're gonna keep, you wanna, even though you drift off course,
don't act like you guys don't do stuff like that. I mean, I've seen it.
I have seen it firsthand.

I've seen people in the grocery stores, they don't even see, know that
I'm there. I walked in two weeks ago to Sprouts in Lancaster, and
there's Abram in line. I hear him talking to the cashier.

Do you remember I text you later and say, were you at Sprouts today? And
I'm like, just gonna watch him. See, I live in a fish bubble, so do you
now. Or my favorite one, I'm walking in, and people see me like, oh,
hey, Pastor Sham, I say, oh, it's okay, you can still keep looking at
the Budweiser, Coors Light.

I mean, you don't have to just like, you don't have to like, cause you
know right, they're talking like, that would be good, six pack of IPA.
That was, oh, hey, how's it going? Hey, we're just, it was the air
conditioning. Or when they're grocery shopping, they're pushing the car,
like, oh, hi, it's good to see you.

We'll see you Sunday. Isn't it? Captain Crunch, Donuts, Pringles, and
then I love when my wife is like, hey, Doritos, but they're the organic
Doritos. Let me tell you, that doesn't mean much.

What was that all about here? Where are we? Oh yeah, so at least you're
keep, right, you'll keep the course. You keep, you mess up, but you
wanna get back on track. The world, the world just, I don't care.

I don't care. I don't care if there's a God, and this is why when I
teach on this topic, it's so important because many people struggle with
sin, but they don't want to live there, and so that's why when Paul
said, neither fornicators, sex outside of marriage, neither idolaters,
committing adultery, even in your mind, you're hooked to porn all the
time, committing adultery, and this is gonna be outlawed at some point,
so I might as well say it, idolaters, idolatry, homosexuality. Paul said
it, it's clear in the Bible, but then he goes on to say, such were some
of you, so here's a person in sexual sin, I don't care what God says.

I could care less. It's how I was raised. It's how I was born.

I don't care. Rebellion, or you have the person, Lord, I don't wanna
keep falling in this area. I need help.

Where are these desires coming from? What's this, Lord, why am I tempted
like this? What's wrong with me? I can't go, God, please help me. Big
difference. One's going to heaven because their savior is holding them
together.

The other is hell-bent, they are hell-bent and they're on their way to
hell because they are rejecting God, so the works don't necessarily send
the person to hell. The rejection of God does, and the works are just an
outflow of a corrupt heart. Their marriage, their relationship with
others, the church, it must be the church's fault.

Things get difficult and challenging, and that's what we test our faith.
Now, I'm not saying that's not easy. I get a little irritated, too.

Let that be a surprise to you. Tribulation, I do not like it. It will
challenge my faith as well.

Fear, things aren't going, it challenges our faith. There's nothing
wrong with questions, it's what you do with those questions. It's not
wrong to be tempted with something, tempted with doubt, it's what you do
with the doubt.

That really tilts the scale. So, if it's not based on what's happening
to me, it's not based on my feelings, it's not based on circumstances,
it's only based on the solid foundation of Jesus Christ. You want solid
faith? You've got to build upon Him and His teaching and the
relationship with the Word of God, but also with the Word, literally
Jesus.

If I'm building on that foundation, here comes a storm. Well, I'm on the
foundation. It's not contingent upon a storm not coming, no matter.

That's why Job could say, though He slay me, yet will I trust Him.
That's why Paul could say, what can separate me from the love of God,
which is in Christ Jesus? Neither height, nor depth, nor principalities,
nor powers, nor things to come, nothing, not even a creative being can
take away the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus. So Paul went
through hell and he's experienced heaven.

It doesn't matter what's happening to you, it matters what's happening
within you. Is your life built on the solid foundation of Jesus Christ?
Stop playing games. I'm tired of people playing games with God.

Fully surrender your life. Stop playing these silly games with God. If
you do this, or if you do that, or if my, I remember one gentleman,
because God didn't repair his marriage, he's not coming anymore.

Could it be that why he didn't repair your marriage? Could it be that
you chose plan B and got hooked up with someone? I can get real. The
complaining and the bickering at God has to stop in order for you to
truly, truly experience a foundation that will never crack and never
crumble. Be thankful, thankful.

I'm trying every day now, I'm gonna try to do a hundred of them if I can
think of a hundred on Facebook. Why I love California, and it drives
people bonkers. I moved because of this.

I don't care why you moved. I'm just telling you why, my goodness, are
you that convicted? That's all it is. Why I love, my kids are here, my
parents raised me here, they're buried here, this and this, and just
reminding God, thankful, thankfulness, thankfulness, thankfulness.

Build on the foundation. Perseverance is so important, isn't it?
Actually, many of you, you've heard of Calvinism, correct? One of their
main points, which I actually agree with, number five, point number five
is perseverance of the saints. That's how they end their tulip, total
depravity, unconditional election, limited atonement, irresistible
grace, and the true saints of God will persevere.

And this is my opinion on how to read Scripture. I'm not gonna go into
all the details on that, but it's a fruit of genuine faith. And it
really affects all areas of life, doesn't it? Perseverance.

I'm not gonna recommend this. You don't have to put up your hands, but
how many of you watch Joe Rogan sometimes? Oh, you didn't have to put up
your hand, but you did, okay. And I know there's more.

But anyway, a friend of mine, actually a pastor sent me a clip, no
cussing on it and all that, his name is Kevin James, remember him, the
mall cop? You know, and that guy, he's in other movies and things. But
he was on just recently and he did a 40-day fast, lost all this weight.
And he just admitted, I got it all back.

I don't know what to do. And it's just so, you know, I do good for a
while. Perseverance.

Because when it comes to health and fitness, it can't be a diet. A
30-day diet's not gonna change my lifetime struggle. It's perseverance.

It's getting back up. It's falling forward. It's getting back on track.

Perseverance. Ask any CEO of a company if they had to persevere. Any
moms out there, did you have to persevere through parenting?
Perseverance, perseverance.

And the reason I'm saying that and stressing it so much is because I see
in the American culture, we have really dumbed down biblical attributes.
Haven't we? Especially in men. Men are becoming more feminine.

I'm gonna research this. I wanna research it before I share it with you,
but I can't now, so the cat's out of the bag. And I found some links and
video.

Do you know some of the billionaires who are investing in influencing
our kids to become transgender are actually, many of them Chinese,
billionaire investors. The Chinese do not allow anything to be posted
where a man is a woman. Anything at all.

Nothing. Yet, they come here, and any guess where TikTok is? Who owns
that? You know that? And you don't think there's, some of the books on
war, they say if you can just change the internal of the beliefs of a
nation, you don't even have to go to war with them. So I truly believe,
whether it's the enemy of our soul, of course, there's an assault
against these biblical principles.

Billions of dollars are invested because influence matters, right?
That's why they call them social media influencers. They influence you.
I tell my little kids, why are you watching a video that has six million
views and all they're doing is building a house and knocking it down?
Oh, but it's fun.

That's stupid. That's silly. I don't tell them that, okay? But it's
like, guys, he's a social media influencer.

I don't care. He did something stupid. He drank Drano, and now he's got
a million followers on TikTok.

You don't have to follow these people. And so they use these social
media ways to, look, I was born this way. When I grew up, I didn't know
anybody that they call it gender identity and all that.

Is it a real problem? Of course, just like any other sin, but you point
them to the hope. You don't keep validating their sin. That doesn't help
anybody.

Why suicide and epidemic? Why are these people taking their lives? I
have no joy. I have no peace. I'm a girl and I feel trapped.

Okay, let me just give you a hundred milligrams of testosterone seponate
every week, and then you'll be a boy and you'll feel better. Let's
remove your breasts and let's do some surgery. No, you won't feel any
better because you're still not pointing them to the hope that is in
Christ.

That's the only hope for our nation. Come on, we've got to wake up,
folks, and we got to shoot people straight. We got to tell them the
truth about what really gives you hope and peace.

Changing your gender does not give you hope and peace. And so these
biblical principles, right, that are so important, character, honesty,
integrity, hard work, perseverance, endurance, they're all being
removed. Removed from our culture.

1 John 2, the NLT, I'm reading from the NLT, it's more of a commentary
on the Bible. They said this, and we can be sure, when the Bible says
you can be sure, we can be sure that we know Him if we obey His
commandments. Now be careful, there's something out there called the
modern day Pharisee, and when it's too much about works, and they're all
about what I do and what I obey, you got to be careful of those people.

Aren't they critical, those critical hearts? I mean, to be honest with
you guys, and I pray all the time, Lord, don't have me be too honest,
because I want to be honest, transparency is a better word, because
people use it against you. So I don't like my wife posting a lot of
stuff on anything, because people are like, oh, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.
Is that a TV in the background with Frozen on it? Your kids are watching
Frozen? I don't like it, I don't like it, I don't like it, and I will
say, no, let's get something better on it.

But if something happens to happen like that, that's when the legalistic
Pharisees come out. They just want to pinpoint, pinpoint, no pictures
with our address, no pictures with anything. Be careful, because these
people are ruthless, ruthless.

Do I think people, no, you're magic, and of course not. But I've seen
more kids be led to hell by legalistic parents just as much as
compromising parents, because when you shove God's Word down their
throat, they don't want to have anything to do with it. And my kids now
will call me, hey, they're gonna watch this at this house.

Oh, God, do I go pick them up? And sometimes, sometimes they say, no, we
don't watch that. Absolutely, we draw the line. But if it's something
where, you know, it's not, it's not, I mean, where do you draw the line?
Some parents draw a stronger line in the sand.

I respect that. You know, some parents, nothing, nothing, nothing at
all. And getting away from screen time is very healthy, very good, I
think.

But there is a group out there, you've seen this group, right? Hey, I'm
God's, I said nothing wicked before my eyes. The Bible says that. I
don't go to Cinemark, neither should you.

You went to the movies? How could you? And the reason I want to get this
point across, because people think that obeying, and they're angry when
they obey too, aren't they? You know, that's where that Bible thumping,
fire brimstone preaching, it comes out sometimes, I'll be honest with
you, but it's not from a legalistic heart. But these people, they just,
you can't do this, you can't celebrate this, you can't go there, you
can't. And it just becomes very, very hard to follow the, see, the
commandments to me are not hard at all.

Now that you live under grace, you actually have a higher
responsibility. Uh-oh, all these graces, these preachers, oh man, you
live under grace, don't worry about it. No, actually, because I live
under grace, I have more of a responsibility to serve and honor God.

I love His commandments. Why? Because they're guardrails through the
canyons of life. I like, there's no problem, a believer doesn't, now you
might not like some of them, right? Hey, forgive your brother, no, not
today.

It's not happening, it's not happening today. The pride in others I can
so clearly see. Thank God there's none in me.

I'll shoot everybody in this sermon with spiritual bullets. But guys, it
breaks my heart to see this. People will lecture me because of my Bible
translations.

And we're going to hell because we're not using the King James only.
Honest to God. You ever see those guys, I'm getting in trouble, but
protesting Grace Fest? Don't try talking to them.

I did, they don't want to listen. You're an apostate, you're a wolf in
sheep's clothing. It's a King James only.

Well, did you know it had to be translated like 45 different times? Do
you know there's still words in there? Go fetch a compass doesn't mean
go fetch a compass. Even the translator said, this is not the perfect
translation. These are mere men taking the precious Word of God and
putting it in a language that people will understand.

William Tyndale, John Huss, Whitecliff, two of them were burned at the
stake for putting that. And their translation is different. They read
the Geneva Bible before the King James Bible.

Read the Latin Vulgate by Jerome. Wow. See, they did the best, but it's
that legalistic, arrogant, rigid heart that will not repent.

So be careful. You're not obeying the commandments if your heart's not
right. Because if you do something with the wrong heart, Pharisees,
correct? Jesus said, do what they say.

Because they were saying, but don't do what they do. Their hearts were
wrong. And we can be sure that we do know Christ if we obey His
commandment.

If someone claims, I know God, but doesn't obey God's commandments,
Taylor Swift, Ice Spice, you see her next to her in the football game?
She's doing that devil sign and all that stuff. I don't think it's
conspiracy. I think these people are, it's wicked.

Wicked, wicked stuff that's going on. Google it later. You'll find it.

And Morgan spoke about her yesterday. They will release a video to the
young girls. We can love somebody, but still tell people the truth.

All these people saying they love God. When I was in Nashville,
Tennessee, I'm like, these people, they talk about God real quick, but
then go get drunk, cheat on my wife. My car broke down and my dog left.

I'm gonna stop by and get me some more Jack Daniels. And I'll be singing
on the way to church. Now, I do like Craig Morgans.

That's what I love about Sundays. I will say that. But right, it's like,
God, there's a disconnect here.

Kanye West, did I pronounce it right? Pretty close, okay. I mean, see,
we don't judge people. But guys, there's gotta be a little bit more
fruit than just saying God, and then you act like just the devil.

You can't proclaim God and act like the devil and promote things that
are devilish. I've heard Katy Perry talk about God. But you see, some of
her stage performance are clearly satanic.

And I just pray for them. I pray for them. Be very careful what you're
allowing to influence you.

Again, all this is backed up with the Word of God. And then just on that
section, I'll show you too if they ever come in, I'm gonna get these
emails. Who are you to judge? Who are you to judge? Well, actually, you
might wanna keep reading that verse because it says, as long as I remove
the plank from my eye, long as I spend time with God weeping over the
sins of others and myself and come broken and humble.

And God, I just wanna help people. And I can rightly judge. Because
Jesus goes on to say, we're supposed to rightly judge with the Word.

And we allow conviction. I don't wanna hear conviction. Conviction
prevents us from not hearing.

Or it allows us to hear better. Lord, I'm convicted, that's wrong, help
me. Or convicted, nope.

Nope, I'm not gonna listen to that guy. That's for sure. So that, oh
wow, that's some pretty strong language, John.

God, couldn't you be a little nicer? That person is a liar and the truth
is not living in them. He's not living in, oh, John, come on. Let's, you
know, come on.

Let's tone it down a little bit. I truly believe over the last decade or
so we have become so weak, so woke, don't offend. No, some things need
to offend.

Some things need to offend and wake us up. Not being mean and, you know,
of course, racist and all these things, but we need to be, wow, did the
Bible say I'm a liar? Is He calling me a liar? Yeah, it is. If you obey
His Word but really do not know Him.

These people, these people, let's look at 1 John. These people left our
churches. Okay, I should clarify, this isn't if you leave church.

What obviously they're talking about is these are the people who left
the faith altogether. Brackets mean I added it. But they never really
belonged with us, otherwise they would have stayed with us.

When they left, it proved that they did not belong with us. Now, if a
person is coming to church and they just leave the church completely,
like I'm done with God, it shows where their heart really was at. And
then 2 Thessalonians 2, 3, let no one deceive you by any means, for that
day will not come unless the falling away comes first and the man of sin
is revealed, the son of perdition.

Now, if we took time and we maybe will do that in the future, but 2
Thessalonians, if you remember, the people are afraid that they missed
Jesus's return. How many of you ever, it's hard for me to say, let's
just say 2 T. But Jesus, did He already come and we missed it? No, no,
no, no, no, no, no. No, you're not gonna miss it, it's gonna be crystal
clear.

He wrote this 2,000 years ago. So He's saying now, let no one deceive
you. The day will not come.

What day is that? Jesus's return. Sometimes the day means the final
judgment of God, the final of all things. This day, first, there's gonna
be a great falling away.

And I think we're starting to see some signs of that. A huge falling
away. And you'll see more and more falling away when the heat is turned
up.

Can you imagine if they initiated a social credit score like China? Did
you know that they had that? Where you can't buy or sell or go on trains
unless your social credit score is pretty high? Well, how do I get it
high? You agree with the government. You don't do silly things like
believe God. So what about if you, Westside, hey, it's coming out, they
call it the central bank digital currency that's coming out, it's just
coming, there's no way around it.

And you're gonna get this card and it says, oh man, Shane Idleman, that
guy, he's gonna be like a 500 credit score, he's not going anywhere.
Because of his sermons, of this, of this. And you, they don't know a lot
yet, but like, oh, did you post that on Facebook? About, are you
challenging Biden? Well, he won't be here by then, but you know.

Oh, you just had 1,000, you could go anywhere, great deals on prices,
great deal on electronics, sometimes you get free flights. Your 1,000
just went to 900. You attend Westside, you attend a Bible believing
church, ooh, now you're down to 700.

You see, it's gonna be real quick, really quick, what it's gonna take.
You can't go to work, you're a Christian, you can't work here. That's
why I'm trying to prepare the church now.

You don't get to that stage and get prepared. If you're not prepared
now, you will fall later. Because the foundation, whoever hears these
words of mine and does them, Jesus said, I will liken him to a man who
built his house upon the sand, who built his house on a raft on the
water, who built his house on the rock.

And when the storm did come, the storm's coming. Isn't it interesting,
it's like, why does it say if a storm comes? When it comes, when it
comes, it will not fall, because it's founded on the rock. And so there
will be a great falling away, according to Scripture, that I believe is
still coming.

And then the man of sin has revealed the son of perdition. Most people
think, obviously, that looks like to be a one world leader. And it's so
easy to see how things are going in that position.

AI alarms me, I don't know about you, but AI, there's some good things
it does. I take my sermon and break it down into a manuscript real
quick. But on the flip side, there's many, many things that will not be
good.

So we need to be prepared as a church, not scared, but prepared. And how
you do it is you actually say, Lord, I don't know what my credit score
is gonna be, but I can't like Job, though he slay me, yet I trust him.
Lord, I need to be strategic.

I need to maybe buy cryptocurrency, or I need to have some silver, I
need to have some store. Lord, I wanna use wisdom, but I cannot, I
cannot bow to this false system. Prepare me now, strengthen me now.

I just feel for our kids and grandkids. And I keep seeing this thing on
social media. I wanna post, but I know some of my friends will get mad
at me.

There's like a 1.008% chance your kid will end up in the NBA, Major
League Baseball, or whatever, 100% chance that they will stand before
Christ. Isn't that true? And it's hard as dads. I know, you know, you
want to.

I mean, I could build a batting cage in my backyard. I could build a
pitching mound. I could go out there five days a week.

I know all the drills, all the things. I can make him really, really
good for D1 college, and then go to D1 college and lose your faith.
However, God might have some kids going to those places.

That's why I never draw a hard line in the sand. I just say, be careful,
be careful. And so there will be a great falling away.

The range of the word apostasia, apostasia, it can allow for either type
of departure, a doctrinal departure or a physical departure. The reason
I'm saying this is some people think the falling away is the rapture of
the church. However, doctrinally, you can look over hundreds and
hundreds, it just, there's just no way that means that here in this
case.

But most agree it's a departure from the faith. And then verse 13, then
I heard a voice from heaven saying to me, so John is writing, write this
down, write it down, John. Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from
now on.

And I like this part. Yes, says the Spirit. Yes, says the Holy, I don't
know if he's really saying that, but there's something where, oh, it's
the next page.

I don't know, Revelation 14, 13. Then I heard a voice from heaven saying
to me, write down that blessed are those, blessed are those right now
who die in the Lord. Yes, says the Spirit, that they may rest from their
labors and their works will follow them.

Here we go with works again. I thought works don't save us. They don't
save us, but they will follow you.

Blessed are those who die in the Lord from now on. So there's gonna be
some, this time in history where he's writing, there's gonna be people
dying for their faith. And that's what some of you need to know.

I wanna reiterate this. Some say that the saints with patience that I've
just been talking about in the tribulation are the church. That's why
many people believe the church will go through the tribulation.

Others teach and believe that these are new believers coming to faith in
Christ. Regardless, they are Christians. We know that.

So we don't have to get arguing back and forth. We know there are
Christians in the tribulation. Can we all agree on that? I hope.

It's clear that there are believers in the tribulation. So here, on that
note, when I was taught the rapture, I think the number one reason I was
taught the rapture is because Christians will not be here, they can't be
here to endure God's wrath. Okay, well, what's wrong with these guys?
These guys, they're actually probably stronger than me because they're
dying for their faith.

So I'm not saying there's not a rapture before the tribulation. That
could possibly happen, but the argument that it's because we're not
supposed to absorb God's wrath, well, that's not true because there's
thousands who are going to be here. Now, I believe God can persevere.

God can mark them. God can hold them. And that the outpouring of His
wrath is mainly, obviously, it's not mainly, it's all on the
unbelievers.

But will He keep His remnant pure? Will He keep His remnant safe? Will
they be a witness during this time? Because I think it's the next
chapter. I think so. Where it's very interesting.

All this stuff happens. And the Bible actually says, but they still
would not repent. Sores and boils and cataclysmic events, and they still
would not repent.

And I just have this idea of guys on their knees, and they're going
through hell, and they're just like shaking their fists. God, how dare
you? I hate you. And it's almost God saying, I'm calling you still to
repentance.

The Bible would not say, the Bible doesn't say they could not repent.
Let that sink in. The Bible does not say they could not repent.

It says they did not repent. So to me, that puts more ownership on these
individuals for not exercising their faith, not their faith, but
exercising belief in God. They would not, they would not, they would
not.

And we see that throughout the Bible, that the stiff-necked Pharisees,
you're always resisting the Holy Spirit. You would not repent and
believe. Oh, King Agrippa, Paul said, I would be the God that you would
repent, but you would not.

You would not. But I do need to talk about two separate judgments, and
we will be done. You need to know about this, because it talks about the
judgment, and their works will follow them.

Number one, we've been talking about, is God's final judgment. God's
final judgment for unbelievers. The Holy Spirit will convict the world
concerning sin and righteousness and the judgment.

And then I got these slides to them on Friday morning. I didn't have
time to reference it. But it goes on to say, I think it's in Revelation,
they saw the dead, the great, the small, and there the great books were
opened.

Or the great book was opened. And God judges them. It's when the sea
gives up its dead.

Isn't that interesting language? That countless people have died in the
ocean. I mean, that's what it appears to be. So the sea gives up their
dead.

And the dead which are in Hades, this holding place, they give up their
dead. And they were all judged, everyone according to their deeds.
Everyone according to their deeds.

So as an unbeliever, your deeds do judge you because they're proof of
the fact you don't have saving faith. In other words, somebody's gonna
go, like Ray Comfort, do you ever watch his stuff on YouTube? How he
uses the law? It's so good. I'm like, these people aren't, he just walks
them right into the corner.

Well, have you ever lied? Have you ever thought about a woman lustfully?
Oh yeah, well sure. Well then, according to your own admission, you're a
liar. Lying, thieving, adulterous at heart.

But he's right. So see, that's what the unbeliever, they stand before
God, that this, this, this, this, these works convict me. These works
lead me to damnation because I don't have the blood of Christ that
covers them all.

That's how the works play a role, a big role. And did you know there's a
second death? There's a second death. It's appointed for men to die
once.

Physical death. But then after this, it's the judgment, spiritual death.
Hebrews 9, that verse is just, I remember reading that when I came back
to the Lord.

It was like, wow, thank you God. Because I don't know where I would be,
honestly. Thank you God.

Remember in the Bible, death, the word death just means separation. So
in the first death, you die physically, you're separated from the body.
The second death, your soul, who you are eternally, is separated from
God, if you don't know Him.

Guys, if you think I like preaching these kind of messages, they're
hard. But we have to speak the truth. I want to be faithful to what God
has called us to.

We can't just always hear fluffy messages. Somebody else sent me this
pastor, I'm not going to name names, but they're on stage as a similar
illustration getting a haircut, or jumping on trampolines. Maybe once in
a while, I don't know.

But there's just always, always sugarcoating, always people walk in
sinners. They walk in sleeping with their girlfriends, they walk in
cheating on their spouse, and they leave no different. Oh man, that was
so great.

Oh, he was jumping on the trampoline showing me how Jesus bounces back.
This is great. I don't know what the haircut had to do with anything.

A lot of these guys just want to show off. And just, you know, it's
ridiculous. When they do not have the Spirit of God in their preaching,
they have to resort to carnal means.

Now you might see certain illustrations from time to time. I'm not
saying that's necessarily wrong. The second death, it's appointed man
once to die, and after that, the judgment.

Matthew 25, when the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels
with Him, then He will sit on His glorious throne. Before Him there will
be gathered all the nations. So here's that famous passage where you
hear about what's on the right, what's on the left.

He will separate people from one another. As a shepherd separates the
sheep from the goats, and He will place the sheep on His right side, but
the goats on His left. And these, those on His left, will go away into
eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.

Here's where it's interesting with Christians. They think, you know, God
doesn't judge. That's kind of what, Jesus said it a lot.

Jesus spoke more about hell than heaven. Come on, guys, Jesus. Well, the
Reformers did this, and the way they translate the Bible, and God's not
a God of judgment anymore.

That's the Old Testament God. There's no Old Testament, New Testament
God. Did you not understand that? One God.

They call it the Old Testament is the covenant God had with His people.
People keep the law. Jesus comes.

Same God. I did not come to get rid of the law, but to fulfill it. He
dies.

He becomes propitiation for our sin. He absorbs the wrath of God. Still
God, still the same God.

Now we're under the new covenant. Oh, it's under grace. No, no, no, no,
no.

Same God, same wrath, same holiness, but now Jesus paid the price. I
don't need the blood of bulls, and goats, and animals to temporarily
cover my sin. Now the finished blood of Jesus Christ on the cross, now I
can walk freely, walk boldly into the throne room of grace because of
what Jesus did.

Same God. I just don't like people. Well, that's the God of the Old
Testament you preach.

Do you not hear that? Hmm. Hmm. I'm gonna break it down for you in case
you don't know.

Here's what they're really saying. Shut up with that hard stuff to hear.
Leave that judgment, blood, atonement, repentance.

That's the old stuff. I like the new stuff. Tell me what I want to hear.

Tickle my ears. Don't challenge my heart. That's what that really means.

I'm not stupid. I'm not naive. Anytime people challenge anything about
the Word of God, it's because they are convicted.

If you look at the books that are written on the homosexual agenda or
the homosexuality, they'll say David and Jonathan had a love affair.
What and where do you get this stuff? Sodom and Gomorrah. Well, you know
what the real judgment was because they didn't give to the poor.

Now, to their credit, the Bible does say that, but it also says a lot
more stuff. Jude talks about giving them over to strange flesh. All that
the Bible is crystal clear, but whatever we don't like, instead of just
taking it, the full weight of its glory, God, the full conviction, and
come out a better husband, a better father, a better mother, be filled
with the Spirit of God, be on fire for God, we fight the things we do
not like, don't we? I've had alcoholics tell me, hey, I'm supposed to
take a little bit of wine for my stomach.

Did you know that? Paul said, hey, Timothy, take a little wine that was
usually mixed with lots of water. Well, red wine is good for you. No,
just take the resveratrol tablets or get it from grapes.

You don't need the... See the excuses we have? What's going on in the
family? My wife won't submit. Well, I think I can guess the problem.
Submission is earned, never forced.

If you have to quote that Scripture and beat them up with the Bible, the
problem might be that you need to look in the mirror. Don't we make
excuses? And that's what we see now in our culture. They're dumbing down
the message of the gospel and Jesus.

Do you know who owns TikTok? Hey, there's some news watching. China, I
hope they do ban it. Oh, it's free speech.

No, they can give it to someone else. Let a billionaire American, let
Elon Musk buy, I'd like to see him have X and TikTok. Wouldn't that be
great? So, but there's billionaire, Chinese billionaire investors who
are investing into our country and promoting gender identity, changing
your gender.

You can't do this in China. You can't even put a man dressed as a woman
anywhere on the China media. Did you know that? They want their men to
be men and the women to be women.

But let's invest billions of dollars and change the culture. They wanna
win. They wanna defeat us from the inside out.

Be crystal clear on this. This war is not gonna be fought with F-16s and
nuclear weapons. It's going to destroy us from the inside out.

Do you know how the greatest empire that ever existed fell, Rome? From
the inside out. Study it. Arnold Toynbee wrote on the fall of Rome in
1960s.

He said, sport was becoming more and more brutal, UFC. Taxation was
getting more and more out of control. The disintegration and the
breakdown of the family.

I read all seven. I'm like, you got, and this is from the 1960s. The
fall of Rome, where America was at back then.

We're ripe for judgment. I don't say any of this again to alarm, but to
awaken, to awaken. Because if we all realized the severity of this, we
would be at Sunday morning worship.

We would be at prayer meetings. We would be at Wednesday services. Okay,
I can't come here.

That's fine. You would have, hey, I gotta have a prayer meeting. At my
house, Tuesday.

Come one, come all. Because there's no urgency. There's no, how is the
church today any different? Curious, how many of you did not know that
believers were judged? Anybody? Okay, that's pretty good.

Or you just don't wanna raise your hand. Believers are judged at the
judgment seat of Christ. This judgment does not determine salvation,
which is by faith alone, but is a time when we give an account for our
life.

And to me, it makes perfect sense that God would do this, because if
there was no judgment, it's like, okay, whatever. I'm no Billy Graham
and the person who does nothing for God. You know, there's something
there that God honors and rewards.

First Corinthians, last verse, it'll be up there. I have laid the
foundation and others have built upon it, Paul says. But take heed how
you're building.

Now, if anyone builds on the foundation with gold and silver and
precious stones, or what about they build with wood, hay, straw? And I'm
just gonna summarize it here. If anyone's work is burned, he will suffer
loss, but he himself will be saved, yet so through fire, the last verse
there. What he's saying is gold and precious stones, they don't burn
when they're consumed by fire.

So when we go before Jesus to be rewarded, our works will be exposed.
And they'll be before us. Hey, you started that ministry just so you
could be recognized.

You did this just so you could get the applause and accolades of others.
And it will burn like hay. Have you ever thrown hay or stubble into a
fire? Motives before a holy God.

Or somebody genuinely, that's why a lot of people I tell, even young
pastors, they want the limelight, but they don't want the loneliness.
The people that are not recognized, I have a feeling are gonna be ahead
of many of us in the line to rewards. God buries His women and men in
the midst of paltry things.

No monuments are erected. Not so that they cannot be seen, but they are
now in a place that God can use them. Oswald Chambers said that.

And so our works will be rewarded. Will every sermon be rewarded? Maybe
not. Jane, you didn't want to be there.

You were angry. You had too much coffee. Right? Motives.

Motives come out. And that's what this judgment will be. I'm gonna close
with this quote from Spurgeon.

There are three effects of being near Christ. Three effects of being
near Christ. Humility, happiness, and holiness.

And there's genuine fruit in a believer's heart. There's genuine fruit.
You know, again, we all come in here limping, don't we? Limping, and I
blew it last week, and I'm trying, I got angry on my way to church,
there's traffic, anybody else doesn't like slow traffic, or just me?
Okay, I mean, and we're stumbling through life, but at the end of the
day, as I draw near to Christ, there's humility, and there's really joy
is what he's saying here.

And there's holiness. Holiness is one in being set apart for God. So if
somebody doesn't have any of these characteristics, you will know them
by their fruit.

And they'll say, well, Shane, you can't judge. Some what true, I can't,
I don't know their heart, but I can judge their fruit. And a lot of
people who say they're believers, there's just no fruit.

I can be a fruit inspector. Always remember this. Maybe somebody's here
for the first time, or listening for the first time.

You can be sincere, but you can be sincerely wrong. There's so many
people sincere about God right now, aren't there? Sincere, like I think
this is the way, I think this works. Buddha, this type of prayer,
finding your inner self, whatever that means.

You know, God is within us, and God is everywhere, and I'm very sincere.
More sincere sometimes than Christians. But they can be sincerely wrong.

So the thought for the morning is, do not live your life with a question
mark here. If you want to get baptized this coming Easter, let us know
ASAP in the prayer room. If you're not sure, and as a believer, I
believe there are believers who are kind of, they're not real sure.

I say, well, you're obviously not a Christian, because here's what
happens. As a believer, we can be living in sin. We can be so prideful
and arrogant, not walking with God, even though we're a believer, we're
struggling.

The flame of the Spirit can be so dim that we do begin to wonder, where
am I at with God? Where am I at with God? And you need to change that
this morning as well. You need to fully repent and believe if you are
unsaved. If you are saved, you need to say, God, give me that fire
again.

Give me that fire again. Or if you've never had it, I want that. I want
that fire.

Listen, I believe. I don't think there's something that can happen years
later after conversion. I believe a person can have it immediately.

Like I always say, you have all the Holy Spirit, but does He have all of
you? If we're living in sin and we're arrogant and unrepentant and doing
our own thing and prideful and all these things, all they do is quench
the fire of the Spirit within us. Do you know becoming critical can
quench the fire? Three people? A critical spirit will quench the Holy
Spirit. Trust me, I experience that weekly sometimes.

Don't act like you don't either. Right? Disgruntled, upset, this, oh my
goodness. Just walking around, it quenches, it grieves the Holy Spirit.

Because we're supposed to take joy in everything. Joy in what's... We
don't have to agree with what's going on, but there should be, Lord, I
don't understand this, I don't agree with it, I'm going to fight to end
it, but God, give me that joy, give me that peace.

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Video: https://sermonindex2.b-cdn.net/aDBt9_iB5RM.mp4
Source: https://sermonindex.net/speakers/shane-idleman/avoid-his-wrath-keep-his-commandments/
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