When the Hammer of Judgement Falls

Well, gather up close here tonight, friends, so you can hear me better. For I have a message you're gonna wanna hear because it concerns you. I wanna tell you about a man named Noah.

This man, Noah, lived in a day where wickedness was all in the earth. Very much like our day today. Society today is just as bad or worse than in the days of Noah.

Listen to what God told Noah about how he was through with that generation. In Genesis 6 and verse 17, God declared, And behold, I, even I, do bring a flood of waters upon the earth to destroy all flesh, and everything that is in the earth shall die. Now, scientists have informed us that it was estimated to be around 750 million people on the earth in Noah's day.

That's almost a billion people who drowned and were perished. That entire generation perished save Noah and his family. It was wiped off the face of the earth.

The title of my message this evening, friends, is When the Hammer of Judgment Falls. Back in the beginning of my Bible, in the book of Genesis, in chapter 6, we hear a sound echoing out of the forest. The sound is coming from a man named Noah, and it is a pounding sound as he hammered away on that ark.

God told Noah to build an ark because God was sending judgment down on that wicked generation. I know you've heard of Noah and his ark, friends. Well, listen to this story tonight as I relate it to you.

For 120 years, Noah obediently hammered away on that ark, and he faithfully preached righteousness to that wicked generation of sinners who had no interest in God at all. It was a godless bunch, full of violence and wickedness, very similar to our generation today. Why, you can't go out here tonight without risk being murdered yourself.

We live in the most violent society since the days of Noah. Those evil antediluvians only mocked and made fun of this man, Noah. They made fun of that old white-bearded man named Noah who warned them of a coming judgment.

Every time his hammer fell on that ark, it was to be an ark of safety. They were invited to come in, but that generation just laughed and laughed at that crazy old man out in the woods who was building a big boat because it was obvious to anyone with any sense at all that there was no need for it. The teenagers would get together and go out in groups to those woods to watch that silly old man build a boat out in the middle of nowhere, where there wasn't any ocean for hundreds of miles.

But the teenagers would come to watch Noah and have their laugh. As they called him names, as they mocked him, they'd say, Hey, old man, they would yell. They would yell, Look, it's old Noah, the bearded sailor and his boat.

And Noah pounded away on the ark as he hammered away on that timber. Those antediluvians just grabbed their bellies and just laughed and laughed at such a ridiculous spectacle. And as Noah reached for some more tacking nails, he would cry out to that unbelieving crowd of onlookers.

And he worked preaching righteousness by warning them. And he'd start yelling, Judgment is coming. Judgment is coming.

And he'd go back to hammering away on that ark. The ark is the only place of safety, I tell you, he'd say. You better be prepared to come into this ark of safety.

I tell you, judgment is on the way. But they just laughed and laughed. But Noah knew that judgment was coming because God had told him so.

In Genesis chapter 6 it states, And God said unto Noah, That generation made fun of Noah as he hammered away on that ark of safety. They just laughed and laughed as they took picnic baskets out there to sit and watch him, to be entertained by him, by his crazy talk of a coming judgment, and his constant hammering. His message was just foolishness to them.

They couldn't see a cloud in the sky. They just mocked and laughed at such a spectacle of an old man building such a monstrosity as an ark when it was obvious to anyone with any sense that there was no need for it. But God looked down from heaven on that wicked generation whose every step took them closer to judgment.

Hear me now. Took them closer to judgment. But Noah building that ark was a warning to a careless world.

Every blow of his axes and hammers was a call to repentance. Hear me now. Every hammer blow was a call to repent.

But the hearts of men were only set on evil continually. And as God looked down out of heaven and beheld the wickedness of man, it grieved him. It grieved his heart.

And he said so in Genesis chapter 6. And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And he repented to the Lord that he had made man on the earth and it grieved him in his heart. And the Lord said, Hear me now.

And the Lord said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth. Listen to me, friends. That word destroy in the Hebrew language is a significant word.

It literally means to wipe something clean. God was saying, I will wipe off man from the face of the earth as if God was going to get out his mop bucket and clean up all the filth that man had done. That generation did not heed the warnings of Noah as he preached righteousness to them.

And time had run out for that wicked generation. For a day came swiftly. A day of judgment came where God brought a flood on the world of the ungodly.

Imagine the panic in Noah's neighbors as the skies turned black with thunder, how they hollered as they ran through the forest in the pouring rain, dodging lightning bolts as they fell all around them, the york loom before them. There's their only hope, but it was too late for God had already shut the door. Noah and his family were safe inside, but they could still hear the screams and the shrieks of the antediluvians who were stuck outside hollering, Please, please let me in.

But it was too late. Surely had the people of Noah's day believed him and had known in advance what tragedy would befall them, what rains and floods would surround and engulf them, the extent of the raging waters that would drown them and their cattle and all the beasts of the field that their homes would float and then sink, that they would be helpless to alleviate their entire circumstance. Imagine the sorrow and regret that filled their hearts as they were drowning, as they did not heed the warnings of Noah and book passage on the york of safety.

Rather, they laughed, they mocked, and they drowned. Surely had they known all of this, they would have not been so foolish. They would have paid more attention to Noah.

They would have become grave and serious and reformed themselves and repented before God to avoid such a horrible land as drowning. God even gave that generation a little extra time. He gave them an extra seven days to repent.

In Genesis chapter 7 and verse 4 we see this is true. We read about this reprieve as God declares, For yet seven days, and I will cause it to rain upon the earth forty days and forty nights, and every living substance that I have made, will I destroy them off the face of the earth. Here God gives a guilty world a reprieve to repent and to turn to Him.

He gives them seven extra days. But the people of Noah's day still did not heed the warning. Instead, they trifled away those seven days as they sinned even more in their careless attitude and negligent indifference.

Listen to me, friends. Maybe there is someone here tonight whom God has been reproving and He's given you some extra time to repent and to turn to Him. Will you be careless as well or will you heed the warnings? That generation of scoffers saw no need for an ark of safety.

People today are the same way. They don't see any need of Jesus who is the only refuge from the coming storm of God's justice, the coming storm of judgment from a holy God on sinful man. Today in the land, people go about their normal activities of their day.

They eat and drink like they did in Noah's day. They pursue their careers and they save their money. But they care little about eternity and they are ignorant about the destiny of their very souls that will go out into eternity when they die.

Every one of you here tonight, friends, is an eternity-bound man and woman. Hear me, young person. You are eternity-bound.

Most folks in this city tonight are consumed by their lusts and full of booze and they just want to sin all they can before the evening is over. They are careless like that generation in Noah's day and they are facing a common judgment just the same. They seldom think about a final judgment and a burning inferno of a devil's hell.

They don't see any need of your Jesus. They don't see any gathering storm clouds and they care less about a preacher of righteousness today who is here to warn them. God usually warns sinners before He strikes and where His warnings are slighted, the blow will be the heavier.

I'm here to warn you, friends, that a storm is coming your way. Repent before it's too late. A day is fast approaching you when judgment will fall.

You don't believe me. Some of you are smiling. I'm just an old man like Noah and I'm pounding away on some sinners tonight with the gospel of the Son of God and it will be life to some of you and to others it will be death.

But I will faithfully preach the full counsel of God to this wicked generation that has no interest in God. My Bible says in Hebrews, by faith Noah being warned of God of all things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house. That's the gospel, friends, in Christ Jesus, His deliverance from the wrath to come outside of Him.

There's no hope. No hope. Hear me now.

Listen to me. All of you, within the sound of my voice as I scream it at the top of my lungs, judgment is coming. God must punish sin.

Your only hope is to be in Christ to get under His blood. All my hope is in Jesus and He's your only hope too, friend. There was an echo of a hammer in the woods in Noah's day as he built the ark.

And many, many years after that there was a sound of a hammer far away in a village called Nazareth as Joseph the carpenter made his living hammering away. Standing by Joseph's side was his young son with a hammer in his hand as well. As he helped him, the young man was Jesus.

Each day, Jesus held that hammer in that carpentry shop working in the craft of carpentry. But there would come a day when Jesus would hear the sound of a hammer but it would be in another man's hands as a Roman soldier pounded away on a hammer as he drove nails into the innocent hands and feet of Jesus. They nailed the Son of God to a tree and crucified Him there on a hill called Calvary.

The sound of the hammer fell announcing a come and judgment upon a generation. And at Calvary was the sound of hammers as well. That sound of the hammer at Calvary was an announcement to all mankind that God is a God of justice.

God is a judge of all the earth who holds a gavel in His hand. At Calvary, a statement was being made when Christ was crucified. As the Roman soldiers nailed Christ to the cross, every hammer blow that pounded those nails into His innocent hands and feet was an explanation point that God must punish sin.

God must punish sin. God must punish sin. Judgment was about to fall.

Jesus on that bloody cross bore the curse becoming sin for us. Look at that blessed man on the cross, friend. See his nail pierced hands and feet.

Behold the man. Look at the crown of thorns on that blessed head. His arms outstretched beckoning you to come to Him.

Listen, friends. Judgment is coming. You can't stop it.

It's on the way. Every man, every mother's son will one day be judged. God must punish sin.

The judge of all the earth holds a hammer of justice in His hand. And it will fall announcing the sentencing of the law to be carried out against you if you are outside the ark of safety. You only hope Jesus Christ for He is the refuge for sin.

Look at those bloodstained hands, friends. Look at that bloodstained Savior from sin. The only refuge and remedy for sin.

Hear Him as He says, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh unto the Father but by Me. Listen to that man on the cross, friends, as He says, If any man thirst, let him come unto Me and drink.

He that believeth on Me, as the Scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. Come to Christ, friend, and believe on Him. He is your only hope, the only refuge for sin.

Jesus is the ark of safety. But you must come to Him and believe on Him. When all was against Him there at Calvary, His love flowed out to a world of guilty sinners.

Herein is love. And not that we love God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Hear me, friends.

Do not reject this Christ, this Christ of the Gospel, this refuge from the coming storm. Jesus is your only hope. In John's Gospel it declares, He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life.

And he that believeth not the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on Him. Hear me now. God's wrath abides on those outside of Christ when judgment falls.

You must get an interest in Christ, friend. You must come to Christ. The cross is the place where wicked men sought to get rid of Him.

But by His death it becomes the place where His saving power flows out to all who come in repentance, confessing they are sinners and own Him as their Savior and Lord. But you must come to Christ, friend, and believe on Him. This is a message of warning to you, but it's also a message of hope.

If you come to Christ Jesus for forgiveness of sins, I'm going to sing a hymn, friends. And if God's been striving with your soul through this message and showing you your need of a Savior from sin, then I want you to come to Christ for forgiveness for sins. As I sing, listen to me, friends.

Don't delay. If God's been dealing with you, if His Spirit's been striving with you, remember, God gave those wicked antediluvians another seven days to repent and they didn't do anything about it and God swept them away. There may be someone here tonight within the sound of my voice that God is dealing with.

Do not delay or He will sweep you away by death. You come to Christ, friend. You believe on Him.

Get under Christ's blood because Christ's blood can wash away the deepest stain of sin. But you must come to Him and surrender to a holy, sovereign Lord. Give your all to Him.

Come lay your sin burden down at His nail-pierced feet. Look at that blessed man on the cross, friend. He is your only hope.

You come as I sing. What can wash away my sin? Nothing but the blood of Jesus. What can make me whole again? Nothing but the blood of Jesus.

Oh, precious is the flow that makes me white as snow. No other fount I know. Nothing but the blood of Jesus.

For my pardon, this I see. Nothing but the blood of Jesus. For my cleansing, this my plea.

Nothing but the blood of Jesus. Oh, precious is the flow that makes me white as snow. No other fount I know.

Nothing but the blood of Jesus. This is all my hope and peace. Nothing but the blood of Jesus.

This is all my righteousness. Nothing but the blood of Jesus. Oh, precious is the flow that makes me white as snow.

No other fount I know. Nothing but the blood of Jesus.