Wrath and Works

About this sermon

Introduction: One of the greatest problems in modern evangelicalism is the mistaken belief that the final judgment will have no correspondence with the way that people live right now. You hear this all the time. People claim to have a real relationship with God. People claim that they belong to God’s family, the community of those who have a relationship with God. People claim that they are in the truth, the belong to the truth, they have come to know the truth. They claim that the eternity promised to those who really belong to God will be their future — heaven is destined to be their home. And yet, when you examine their life, the fruit says that they have no enduring interest in ANY of those things. They don’t seek God with any consistency or conviction. They don’t love the church. They don’t hunger for the Scriptures. They give almost no thought to eternity. Or to state it in the other direction. It is quite apparent that what they care about the most is exactly the same as the world they’re living in. The world’s primary interests are their primary interests. They love the world and things that are in the world. WHAT THEY ARE SAYING IS THAT ONE DAY THE FINAL JUDGMENT WILL REVEAL THAT THEIR ETERNITY HAD NO REAL CONNECTION WITH THEIR PRESENT LIFE. Their present loves said nothing about their eternal love. Their present pursuits said nothing about their eternal finish line. Their present desires said nothing about their eternal reward. ONE DAY I’LL FOREVER CARE ABOUT THE THINGS I REALLY DIDN’T CARE ABOUT RIGHT NOW. Meanwhile the Scriptures warn us in a directly opposite fashion. ESV 1 John 2:15 aDo not love the world or the things in the world. bIf anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16 For all that is in the world-- athe desires of the flesh and bthe desires of the eyes and pride of life1-- is not from the Father but is from the world. And when the Bible describes the people of God it describes them in a very different way. ESV Hebrews 11:13 These all died in faith, anot having received the things promised, but bhaving seen them and greeted them from afar, and chaving acknowledged that they were dstrangers and exiles on the earth. 14 For people who speak thus make it clear that they are seeking a homeland. 15 If they had been thinking of that land from which they had gone out, athey would have had opportunity to return. 16 But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed ato be called their God, for bhe has prepared for them a city.