Summary: In his series of revival messages, the late evangelist and teacher Dr. R.A. Torrey (1856-1928) sets the foundation of all he will preach by presenting God in all His splendor, creativity, rationality, and holiness, and that we will be held accountable before Him one day. Be ready.
God is Great! That thought comes out in the Bible from the first verse to the last. He is majestic, infinite, and wonderful beyond words! This entire universe, of which we see something new about every day, it seems, is His creative work. The supreme difference between the teaching of the Bible and the teaching of modern thought is this – the teaching of the Bible is an infinite God and an infinitesimal humanity, except as God’s goodness makes him great.
The teaching of modern literature and modern thought is the opposite; that we are infinite, and the idea of a deity is inconsequential to our progress and worldview. This type of thinking has crept into the sanctuaries, pulpits, and worldviews of far too many professing Christians who have either not been properly taught the Word or have come to their own finite conclusions that the God in which they claim to believe in and serve is somehow subservient to us and a handy “lifeline” for those times where we find ourselves in varied troubles or difficulty.
The Scriptures tell us that this ungodly and condescending attitude towards the Holy and Reverent is a certain sign of the last days and the soon return of the Lord Jesus Christ, as He promised and declared.
I want to quote from The 1689 Baptist Confession of Faith in Modern English on the person and nature of the Sovereign LORD God Almighty, and you tell me how far we have fallen in terms of awe, reverence, and fear of Him (Hebrews 10:31).
“The LORD our GOD is One, the only living and true God. He is self-existent and infinite in being and perfection. His essence cannot be understood by anyone but Him. He is a perfectly pure spirit. He is invisible and has no body, parts, or changeable emotions. He alone has immortality dwelling in light that none can approach. He is unchangeable, immense, eternal, incomprehensible, almighty, in every way infinite, absolutely holy, perfectly wise, wholly free, completely absolute. He works all things according to the counsel of His own unchangeable and completely righteous will for His own glory.
He is most loving, gracious, merciful, and patient. He overflows with goodness and truth, forgiving iniquity, transgression, and sin. He rewards those who seek Him diligently. At the same time, He is perfectly just and terrifying in His judgments. He hates all sin and will certainly not clear the guilty.
GOD has all life, glory, goodness and blessedness in and of Himself. He alone is all-sufficient in Himself. He does not need any creature He has made, nor does He derive any glory from them. Instead, He demonstrates His own glory in them, by them, to them, and upon them.
He alone is the source of all being, and everything is from Him, through Him and to Him. He has absolute sovereign rule over all creatures, to act through them, for them, or upon them as He pleases. In His sight everything is open and visible. His knowledge is infinite and infallible. It does not depend upon any creature, so for Him, nothing is contingent or uncertain. He is absolutely holy in all His plans, in all His works, and in all His commands.
Angels and human beings owe to Him all the worship, service, or obedience that creatures owe to the Creator and whatever else He is pleased to require of them.”
(1 Corinthians 8:4, 6; Deuteronomy 6:4; Jeremiah 10:10; Isaiah 48:12; Exodus 3:14; John 4:24; 1 Timothy 1:17; Deuteronomy 4:15-16; Malachi 3:6; 1 Kings 8:27; Jeremiah 23:23; Psalm 90:2; Genesis 17:1; Isaiah 6:3; Psalm 115:3; Isaiah 46:10; Proverbs 16:4; Romans 11:36; Exodus 34:6, 7; Hebrews 11:6; Nehemiah 9:32-33; Psalm 5:5-6; Exodus 34:7; Nahum 1:2-3; John 5:26; Psalms 119:68, 145:17, 148:13; Job 22:2-3; Daniel 4:25, 34-35; Hebrews 4:13; Ezekiel 11:5; Acts 15:18 ; Revelation 5:12-14) – (c) 2012, 2017 Founders Press.
Stop and think. There are nearly seven billion people upon this planet like you. You are just one out of that vast number. Not very big, are you? Hold on further. This earth on which seven billion of us live is just one part of the universe. If our sun were hollow with a hole bored into it, 1,400,000 earths could be poured into it with room to spare. But, our sun is only one of numerous stars much larger, more bright, and more powerful, set within the numerous galaxies that we have discovered thus far. God made them all with precision, accuracy, and purpose.
That God whose Holy name you took upon your lips in vain and blasphemy last evening and perhaps today as you read this message; that God about how you dare to philosophize about how He ought to behave and act in order to satisfy your finite observations and assumptions – you have the audacity and nerve to go before Him with a chest full of pride and a mind with limited knowledge and comprehension of that which your senses try to even understand. You cannot be serious about such warped thinking, can you? If ever there were a sufficient definition of the word “idiot,” it is when you attempt in your arrogance to tell someone how God ought to act.
Dude, I’ve said it before, but it bears repeating. If you come before Almighty God with that kind of defiant and rebellious attitude, daring Him to do something about it, and not see that you are facing the very Being who holds your limited lifespan in His Holy Hands and humbly repent in tears and ashes, then quite frankly, you are eternally doomed, and there is no nice way of saying otherwise.
We are His creation, and He can do with us as He pleases. So get over it, swallow your ego, and bow the knee to His Majesty in love, gratitude, and thanksgiving for making salvation, mercy, and grace available to us through the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ upon the cross for our sins and enduring the hell we rightly deserve. Like it or not, you will come before Him one day and give an account of your life, both good and bad. If you approach Him having rejected the free offer of salvation in Christ and figure that it was not important, or whatever flimsy excuse with which you want to comfort yourself, you are and will be heading to an eternal hell void of any second chance or opportunity to make things right. It’s your choice, but once your eyes close in death, it will be too late according to Scripture.
To any Christian reading this, I want to remind, if not warn you, that we will be held accountable for our service to Christ while we were on this earth as well (1 Corinthians 3:11-15; 2 Corinthians 5:10).
What have you got to offer Him in terms of service and obedience when that time arrives? Did you take the time and effort to present the same Gospel that saved you from hell and eternal punishment to someone? Did you even do so much as leave a Gospel tract somewhere that would be picked up and read, and a life transformed as a result? Did you listen to the leading of God’s Spirit when He impressed upon you the need to go to other lands, places, or neighborhoods and be a witness for Him? Were you a good witness before your friends, family, and co-workers, or were you silent and decided to go along with the crowd in order to get along? Did you stop to render aid to another less fortunate person or family and share Jesus with them?
I’m examining myself as much as you are at this moment, and I want to have a clear conscience and a good report to bring before my LORD. I do not want to end up smelling of smoke while the things I thought were of worth burn up and turn to ash.
Make sure you are truly saved (Matthew 7:21-23) and not just playing some kind of religious game. I do not want you to be at the end of life only to find out that the Christianity you claimed to possess was nothing more than wishful thinking and self-satisfaction.
O, Holy and Gracious LORD, help us to examine ourselves and see where we are wanting in terms of serving and obeying you. Forgive us where we have been silent or embarrassed for being a follower of Christ. Like Peter, we repent in tears and sorrow and ask You to restore us to service and to have a clean heart before You. LORD, I ask that whoever reads this message and does not know Jesus Christ as LORD and Savior will be convicted by the power of the Holy Spirit and the Word to forsake their sins and surrender to You today.
Prepare our hearts and purify our souls as the day draws near for the Blessed Hope where you return to bring your people home (John 14:1-3; 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18; Revelation 3:10) and Your glorious return to this wicked world to make all things new, sinless, pure, well, and holy as it ought to be.
Even so, come, LORD Jesus. Amen.