A Sincere Gospel Appeal (Ez. 33:11)

A Direct Gospel Appeal to the Unconverted

0:00 For any of us who have listened with even half an ear to those few remarks made by Pastor Hendricks and whose hearts were engaged even in little measure with our brother as he prayed, and if the ears of our heart were at all attuned to even one or two of the verses of that blessed hymn that we sang together,

0:33 what can a preacher say? And in the spirit of Pastor Hendricks' remarks, and in the spirit of that wonderful gospel hymn, just as I am without one plea, but that thy blood was shed for me and that thou bidst me come to thee, O Lamb of God, I come. And in the spirit of that yearning of our corporate heart that was expressed through our brother's heart and mouth as we were led in prayer, I want tonight to preach directly, I trust, lovingly and tenderly, earnestly as God helps me, to every man, woman, boy or girl who sits in this place, still uncleansed by the blood of Jesus, still unrenewed by the spirit of Jesus, still utterly naked and unprotected from the wrath of an almighty God.

1:53 And without embarrassment, I say to you, whoever you are who fits that description, boy, girl, young man or woman, adult in the blossom of life, middle-aged, old man, old woman, will you, for the sake of your mercy, never-dying soul, seek to bring all of your faculties to the word of God with the prayer that the God who has given that word would bring it with saving mercy to your own heart. And that word that we will consider tonight is found in the prophecy of Ezekiel, Ezekiel chapter 33, the book of Ezekiel, and chapter 33 and verse 11.

2:50 Here through the prophet, God speaks, Ezekiel 33 and verse 11, say unto them, as I live, saith the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from Israel. Way and live, turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways, for why will you die, O house of Israel?

The Absolute Truthfulness of God's Word: 'As I Live'

3:30 I want you to note with me as we look at this portion of the word of God, first of all, that to which God himself directs the attention of those to whom this word first came, and that to which he directs our attention as we come to it tonight. And it's what I am calling the absolute truthfulness of this word from God. The absolute truthfulness of this word from God. When God directs the prophet to speak this word, he does so by telling him to preface it with these words, as I live, says the Lord God.

4:16 As I live, says. The Lord God. Now what is God doing when he directs the prophet to speak in this way? Well what he is saying is this.

4:29 He is saying that the only way this word I am about to speak can fail is if I, the living God, cease to live. God is saying, if I can be ungodly. If I, the living God, cease to live. If I, the living God, cease to live.

4:50 If I, the living God, cease to live. If I, the living God, can die and cease to be, then what I am saying will cease to be worthy of your trust. If I can cease to be God, this word will cease to be a trustworthy word. God himself is so concerned that his people receive this word in its absolute truthfulness that as it were he puts himself out on a limb.

5:21 And says, if I can be cut off from the limb, you will then have warrant to cut yourself off from this word. Would you say the thought is unthinkable that God would cease to be God? It is unthinkable that God would no longer be Adonai Yahweh, the Lord God, the everlasting God. He who has no beginning and no end.

5:49 Who can say to Moses. When they ask who sent you, say that I am sent you. The God who can say I am that I am. I will be that which I will be.

6:03 God in a sense is swearing by his own existence and being. And if we ask the question, why does he do this when delivering this word through the prophet Ezekiel to those in Ezekiel's day. And believing that this is the living word of God. That he speaks to us.

6:24 Why does he come to us and say, this word is a word that I want you to receive in its absolute truthfulness. And I'm so concerned that I preface it with these words as I live. Well what he is now about to say to the Israelites. He had said to them previously through the ministry of the prophet Ezekiel.

6:48 In chapter 18 and in verse 23. Words very, very similar to these words. Note them. Ezekiel 18 and verse 23.

7:00 Have I any pleasure in the death of the wicked says the Lord God. And not rather that he should return from his way and live. Verse 32 of the same chapter. I have no pleasure in the death of him that dies says the Lord God.

7:19 Wherefore. Turn yourselves. And live. But in spite of the fact that God had spoken these words previously.

7:29 Notice the cynical disposition of those to whom those words had previously come. In verse 10 of Ezekiel 33. The very preceding verse. Notice as Ezekiel quotes what was one of the buzz words in Israel.

7:45 It's a fascinating thing to go through the prophecy of Ezekiel and notice how many times. Ezekiel takes up and quotes some of the buzz words. Some of the expressions of cynicism that are voiced by the people. Most of them directed at God.

8:02 And the ways of God. And the justice of God. And the sincerity of God. Look at verse 10.

8:09 And you son of man say unto the house of Israel. Thus you are speaking saying. Our transgressions and our sins are upon us. And we pine away in them.

8:20 How then can we live? A kind of hyper-Calvinistic fatalism. We pine away in our sins. How in the world can you hold out life?

8:31 And God says. Oh listen to me my people. When I hold out the way of life. I'm not engaging in word games.

8:40 I'm not playing in mind games. I'm not trafficking in empty religious talk. My very livingness is spaked upon my word. As I live says the Lord God.

8:54 I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked. But that he turn and live. Sin is a reality. Yes.

9:04 The prophet has been set as a watchman to declare unto the house of Israel their sins. And in this very chapter his initial commission in this very language in chapter 3. Which is repeated again in a concentrated way in chapter 18. It's repeated.

9:20 It's repeated here. Sin is an ugly reality. Sin is a death producing reality. But God is the gracious sin pardoning God.

9:33 And he has held out amidst the thundering messages of judgment through the prophet Ezekiel. The way of life. The way of salvation. But that word has not broken through to them.

9:46 There is a cynicism expressed. There is unbelief. There is quarreling with the ways of God. And in that setting rather than God saying look.

9:56 I've had enough of your bullheaded adamant refusal to listen to my words. I'm going to wipe my hands of you and let you perish. God could have done that and be utterly just. But he comes again.

10:14 To speak not some new word. But the old word. Now buttressed with an even more. Powerful reason for these people to receive it as the word of God.

God's Persistent Appeal to the Privileged Unconverted

10:26 And do you see the application to those of you sitting here tonight. For most of you. God has come again. And again.

10:43 And again. And again. From Mommy sitting you on her knee. Or Daddy gathering the family together for family worship.

10:54 And periodically, whatever you're going through in the structure of your family worship, the central issues of the gospel have been pressed upon your young mind and spirit. And when you have sinned, and mommy and daddy have sought to deal with you about your sin biblically, and they've shown you that when you sassed them, and when you stole from daddy's nightstand and took a quarter, and when you spoke those ugly words to your sister, to your brother, it's because you had sin in your heart that there was sin on your lips and sin in your hands. And they sought lovingly to show you that that sin could be dealt with in the person and work of the Lord Jesus. And they sought to train you in a framework in which you were brought up with the consciousness that the God who is holy, and the God who knows you, and the God who sees every action, hears every word, reads every thought, He is a just God, and the wages of sin is death, but He's a merciful God. And they have set before you again and again the way of life, the way of salvation, through your toddler years, up into your pre-pubescent, and into puberty, and through puberty, and now into young adulthood. God has been saying, just in the framework of your home, again and again, that He is a just, a holy.

12:21 a righteous God, but He is a God who delights to show mercy. And the way of life has been set before you. For many of you, it has been set before you times without number. In the church to which mom and dad have taken you, in the Sunday school class, Sunday morning, Sunday night, you've not been reared in a framework where mom and dad were just doing their religious thing in a horrible context where there was no touching, and no Bible, and no preaching of the Bible, and no earnest seeking to get the Bible into your mind and into your heart.

12:59 You were reared in the setting where week after week Christ is preached, and you have been urged to own your sin and flee to Christ, and you have been told times without number there is a way of life, and you have been urged to choose life.

13:19 And yet you sit tonight, still in death, still in the way of death, and it would be perfectly just and right for God to take all of those privileges away that you would never again, until you went to judgment, hear anything of Christ. There are some who live, born and live out their three store and ten, and never once, never once, at mama's knee, in daddy's circle of the family worship, in a Sunday school class, in a place set apart for worship, at a conference like this, never once hear the name of Jesus, let alone hear anything about who Jesus is, and what Jesus has done, and what Jesus says to sinners when he welcomes them, saying, Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. But what has God done? He's brought you again, and again, and again, right up till tonight, within the orbit of his own merciful heart. And he says to every boy, girl, young man or woman, older man or woman, Oh, hear me as I live.

14:42 If you will not believe my naked statements, I will now pin my very being to my word. Oh, hear my word. Receive my word as I live, says the Lord God. The God who is worthy of your unquestionable trust, the great I Am.

The Amazing Disclosure of God's Heart: No Pleasure in Death

15:06 He comes to you and he comes to me, saying this word is absolute truth. It is worthy of your implicit trust. Then note with me, secondly, in our text, not only the absolute truthfulness of this word from God, but the amazing disclosure of the heart of God. The amazing disclosure of the heart of God.

15:38 Say unto them, as I live, says the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live. Now, I've chosen the word disclosure deliberately, because in this passage God is disclosing, revealing something not about the activity of his hand, which is observable, but the disposition of his heart, which is not observable. We would only know it if he declares it, discloses it. You remember what Paul said in 1 Corinthians 2.

16:22 Who knows the things of a man, save the spirit of a man which is in him? Next to God, nobody knows what you're thinking right now but you. But you know. Then Paul goes on to say, we would not know what is locked up in the mind and heart of God unless God discloses it.

16:41 And Paul says, these are the things that we now speak. No man knows the things of God, save the spirit of God, which things we speak. Not in words which man's wisdom teaches, but in words which the Holy Spirit teaches, so that the hidden heart and mind of God comes into the field of our awareness in the words of God. And that's precisely what God is doing here, giving us this amazing disclosure of his heart.

17:12 And notice how he discloses it, first of all negatively and then positively. Negatively he says this, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked. The prophet had just said in verses seven to nine, or we read of his reminder of his commission. Oh, son of man, I've set you a watchman to the house of Israel.

17:40 Hear the word of my mouth and give them warning from me. When I, that is I, God, say to the wicked, oh, wicked man, you shall surely die. And God does say that. And you, Ezekiel, do not speak to warn the wicked from his way.

17:56 That wicked man shall die. In his iniquity. But his blood will I require at your hand. Nevertheless, if you warn the wicked of his way to turn from it and he turn not, he shall die in his iniquity.

18:09 But you have delivered your soul. God has just said he is a just God and he must punish sin. And the wages of sin is death. In Chapter 18, a parallel passage, that well-known verse, verse four, the soul that sins, it shall die.

18:28 God is just and righteous and must punish sin. The prophet said he is of purer eyes than to look that is with indifference, let alone with delight upon iniquity and will by no means clear the guilty. God is just and must punish sin. He cannot deny himself.

18:47 But having just declared to the prophet and through the prophet that there are those who will die in their sins, they will surely die. If they do not turn. But the prophet delivers his hands of blood guiltiness. If he warns them, God now comes and says, yes, yes, I am a just God.

19:09 I am a holy God. I must deal with sin, injustice and righteousness. But I want you to know my heart. I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked.

19:25 I take no delight. When bound by my own impeccable justice and committed to my own unsullied justice and righteousness and holiness, I must punish the wicked for their sins. But please do not think in that declaration that I am some kind of a sadistic God that takes pleasure in the death of the wicked. I have no delight in the death of the wicked.

20:05 God discloses something of the disposition of his heart in this negative statement. I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked. And you and I are to know from this, if you go on in your wickedness, whether it is the open, obvious wickedness of wretched profligacy and the utterly turning away from all of the standards of uprightness and decency, those expressed in the law of God and in the training of your parents and in the conditioning of your conscience amidst gospel light, if you turn away from all of that and become openly profligate and wicked, or if you go on in polite, respectable, upright, noble, industrious wickedness of unbelief, still living unto yourself, God is bound to fulfill his word. The soul that sins, it shall die. He that believes not shall be damned. The wrath of God abides on those that believe not.

21:17 But the unbelieving, along with the liars and the whoremongers and adulterers, shall have their part in the lake of fire revelation. But this God comes to us in this word, to which he binds himself. As I live, saith the Lord, I want you to know the disposition of my heart. I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, and then he states it positively, but that he turn, but the wicked turn from his way and live.

21:57 My delight is in mercy. Judgment is my work, but the prophet Isaiah says it is his strange work. His delightful work is his work of mercy. I have no delight in the death of the wicked, but that he turn and live.

22:18 That is, that he repent and lay hold of my offers of gracious and free forgiveness and enter into the way of life. He details what that means in that setting in verses 14 to 16, when I say to the wicked, you shall surely die. If he turn from his sin, just as the message that came to the Ninevites, though it was a message of judgment, the intention was mercy. The prophet comes saying, forty days and Nineveh shall be overthrown.

22:54 God sent the message of judgment, that he might show mercy. And when they take the word of God seriously and humble themselves, it's as though God is chomping at the bit to show the profuseness of his mercy. And for over a hundred years, judgment is delayed upon that wicked nation. That's what God is saying here.

23:19 If he, I say, you shall surely die. If the wicked takes that seriously, turns from his sin, does that which is lawful and right, if the wicked restore the pledge, give again that which he has taken by robbery, walk in the statutes of life, committing no iniquity, he shall surely live. He shall not die. None of his sins that he has committed shall be remembered against him.

23:43 He has done that which is lawful and right, he shall surely live. And we read a passage like that in the full blazing light of the New Testament revelation of God's mercy in Christ. This is Acts 20.21.

23:58 Testifying to Jews and to Greeks repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ. Acts 26.20, Paul said, I preached first of all there in Judea and then I preached to all the Gentiles that they should repent and turn to God, doing works meet for or answering to repentance. God is saying, this is my heart.

24:25 I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that he turn from his wicked way and live. And if you have in your mind and heart, how can I know that that's really the heart of God? Whenever you have a question about any facet of God's character, that's what the fancy writers call, kids, the attributes of God, those are the different characteristics of God. The things God has revealed about himself.

25:00 Remember what Jesus said. He who has seen me has seen the Father. The only begotten who is in the bosom of the Father, he has declared him. No man has seen God at any time.

25:14 The only begotten, he has exegeted him. He has laid him out before our gaze. Jesus says to Philip, Have I been so long time with you, Philip, and you don't know me? He who has seen me has seen the Father.

Christ, the Mirror of God's Heart, Welcomes Sinners

25:31 When God says to the prophet Ezekiel, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that he turn and live, should we not expect that the heart of God would be perfectly mirrored in the incarnate God, the Lord Jesus? And it is. You remember the passage that Pastor Hendricks read tonight? I had not consulted with him.

25:56 When we met in the room, he said, I don't want to be stealing thunder. I'm planning to read this passage. I said, that's good. I plan to use it under one of the heads in the sermon.

26:07 Jesus comes on his way, his last visit to Jerusalem. He's going there to die. He's known it. He has set his face like a flint.

26:19 He refused to be turned aside. And as he comes to Jerusalem there in Luke 19, he says he beheld the city. And a very special word is used, not the word for the gentle, restrained weeping that he did at the graveside of Lazarus, but a stronger word, the word used for those professional wailers. And if you've ever seen Middle Easterners giving themselves over to the emotion of grief, sobbing, the whole body shaking and convulsive agony of grief, it says Jesus wailed over the city.

27:04 He went in to convulsive weeping. And do you remember what the words were? He said, if only you had known. Your day of visitation is come and gone.

27:20 And I know that in his righteousness the Father is going to mete out judgment upon you. And he describes it in shocking terms, similar to the latter verses in Matthew 23. He knows that judgment is coming. Their day of visitation is past.

27:43 But in spite of that, the Lord Jesus is not seeking to shuffle the decrees of God. He is not seeking by his peers to somehow yet turn aside the pledged judgment of God and give to Jerusalem another day of visitation and mercy. No. He says, behold, the days are coming.

28:08 But in that context he yet wails. The heart of God disclosed, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that he turn and live. And that disposition of God's heart, no doubt, has found some very surprising expressions when before the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 A.D., we read that on that day when the ascended Christ validates his identity as the Christ and the Spirit of God is sent, 3,000 are brought under the canopy of his grace and of his mercy. Again, I appeal directly to you who are not converted will you believe this utterly trustworthy word from the God who says, as I live, as surely as I am God, and as long as I am God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked,

29:21 but that he turn from his wicked way and live. Nothing will make the heart of God more glad than to behold in some of you sitting in this place tonight the disposition and the cry of the publican who takes his place in the presence of God and says, O God, be merciful, be propitious to me, the sinner. That's all I own myself to be. And I've come to believe that you're the God who has no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but who's promised that if the wicked turns he will live. God, be merciful to me, the sinner. And Jesus said this man went down to his house justified, all of his sins pardoned, and the very righteousness of Christ, that righteousness wrought by his perfect life and his death about to be abandoned, and accomplished, is credited to that sinner. And he was never more, he was as justified that moment as he will be a thousand years in the age to come.

30:44 Take that posture. Take the posture of that blind beggar that we contemplated the other night. Son of David, have mercy upon me. Take the posture of the thief upon the cross.

30:58 Lord, remember me. A woman whose only name is a sinner. A great sinner. Come as a great sinner.

31:09 As a sinner. And clasp the feet of him who is friend of sinners. This God who says as I live, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked. He is the God revealed in Jesus Christ.

31:26 Friend of sinners. The one who welcomes sinners. The one who does not pursue sin. And the one who does not repent.

The Gracious Command from the Throne of God: 'Turn Ye, Turn Ye'

31:36 And the one who does not repent of sin. That is the Lord God. Now let me take the last place, let me go over this. Now let me write a note with me thirdly.

31:46 Having seen the absolute truthfulness of this word from God. Secondly, the amazing disclosure of the heart of God. Now in the third place, note the gracious command from the throne of God. deity. This is the sovereign Lord of the universe. This is the God revealed in those strange visions in the opening chapters of Ezekiel, in which Ezekiel has such an overwhelming sight of the majesty of this enthroned God that he's like a zombie for days. He is utterly shattered and captivated by this vision of this majestic, exalted, unrivaled sovereign of the universe. And now it is this God, for remember, Ezekiel's whole life and ministry has been shaped and molded by those visions that confronted him on the front end, the

32:54 same way Isaiah's ministry is shaped and molded and all of its major contours are directed. And so when Ezekiel says, as I live, saith the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live. Turn, turn from your evil ways. This is a gracious command from the very throne of God.

33:24 Now notice two things about this command, the essence of it and the urgency of it. When God says, as I live, saith the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live. Turn, turn from your evil ways. What is he doing? He is calling us to repent. He is calling us, while we are in the way of sin, to forsake the way of sin. That's it. Turn ye, turn ye. You're in a given course.

33:54 You're committed to a certain direction. You're putting one foot in front of the other foot and you're moving in that way, the way of Isaiah 15. We have turned every one of us to his own way. And now God says in this gracious command from his throne, turn ye, turn ye. Abandon that way, the way of pride and self-will and unbelief and self-determination, the way of seeking to save yourself, the way of seeking to fulfill yourself in your own way, to frame your standards of righteousness, to frame your standards of right and wrong by what pleases you and what is convenient to you. God says, abandon the whole shooting match. Leave it. Let the wicked forsake his way.

34:47 Everything that makes your way your way, God says, abandon it. My way is determined by my word. This is why he could say in verse 15, walk in the statutes of life. If you're truly determined by my word, you're going to be saved. If you're truly determined by your purpose, you're going to be saved. And if you continue turning from your sin, you

35:13 will turn from your way into God's way. Now that's not very complicated is it? God has a way marked out by his word. And he calls us to turn from our way and to plant our feet in His way. That's repentance. You don't need to know a word of Greek, a word of Hebrew. or dad says, hey, stop, turn around, come. You don't stand there and scratch your head and say, mom, dad, please speak in simpler language. Can't get any simpler than that.

35:48 Stop, turn, come. The God who is the living God says to you, my unconverted boy, girl, man, woman, He says as surely as I've disclosed my heart, hear my gracious command. Put the command at issues from the throne of Him who made you and before whom you will stand in judgment. Turn ye, turn ye, repent, abandon your own way, everything that makes up your way, and return unto the Lord, for He will have mercy upon you and abundantly pardon.

36:30 The New Testament counterpart of this is Acts 17.30. Paul says, God who in times past winked and overlooked ignorance, now in the light of Christ having come, the incarnate God has been among us. He has lived and died and been raised from the dead and exalted to the right hand of the Father.

36:55 Now God commands all men everywhere to repent. Very simple. All men. Everywhere to repent.

37:08 Why? Because He has appointed a day in which He, the gracious God, who has now opened up the door of mercy in the person and work of His Son and freely declares it in the gospel to all men without distinction, that very God has appointed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness by the man whom He has ordained and He has given assurance unto all. In that He raised Him from the dead. You know the only sure way to get rid of your haunting conviction that there is a day of judgment and that you're going to stand before the God who made you?

37:48 You know the only surefire way to really get rid of that haunting fear of judgment? You've got to somehow get Jesus out of heaven, kill Him, and stuff Him back in Joseph's garden tomb.

38:02 That's the only way.

38:05 Get Him out of heaven, kill Him, and put Him back in the tomb and let the visitors and the tourists come and see the embalmed body of Jesus of Nazareth. You say, that's ludicrous, Pastor Martin. Nobody can do that. That's right.

38:24 And Paul said, Joseph's open garden tomb is God's pledge that every haunting thought of judgment is God's preview of the reality of that day.

38:39 Yet right now, he's still extending mercy. That's why I've said it is a gracious command from the throne of God because if God tells you to turn, He's telling you He's willing to receive the turning sinner, to forgive the turning sinner. This is what He says in that context that we've already seen. Verses 14 to 16.

39:04 That if he turn, the man will no longer die. He shall live. So it's a grace. It's a gracious command to turn not from something that's in your best interest, but from that which will destroy you in life, in death, and in eternity.

39:24 We look upon the command to repent and turn from sin and self-will and pride and seeking to save ourselves as something that is negative. No, it's the most wonderful thing to be called away from that which is to destroy you. This is the gracious command from the throne of God. The essence of it is to turn, to repent, to do what the Thessalonians did.

39:55 Paul said wherever we go, we start to open our mouths and tell people about our success in the gospel of Thessalonica. But he said once we start, people say you don't need to tell us. We've heard. We've already heard how that you turned unto God from your idols to serve the living and the true God and to wait for His Son from heaven whom He raised from the dead.

40:18 Even Jesus, who delivers us from the wrath to come. Jesus, when He commissioned His own in Luke 24, said that you are now to go out and preach repentance unto remission of sins in my name. What did He mean? He said preach this message of turn, turn, in the light of the full revelation of the mercy of God in my person and work so that we have, if I say it reverently, we have something to declare that Ezekiel could not declare.

40:53 He could declare it by type and shadow and prophetic utterance. We can say turn, turn, for Christ has died. Christ has been buried. Christ has been raised.

41:08 The Spirit has been sent. And in the light of all of these blessed realities, God bids you turn, turn, turn and cast yourself upon the living Savior and you shall be saved. That's the essence of the command. But note with me the urgency of this gracious command.

The Urgency of God's Repeated Command to Turn

41:33 If the living God says once, turn, that should be enough. Kids, how many times have your parents said to you, I want to use the terminology, how many times do I have to tell you? I should only have, I have to tell you once. Some of you have parents say, if I have to tell you twice, that's once too many.

41:57 Between the first and the second time, out comes the paddle. But look at God's accommodation to bull-headed, stubborn, insensitive sinners. He comes and says, as I live, this is an utterly trustworthy word. And I'm going to disclose my heart to you.

42:17 I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that he turn and live. And then he issues his gracious command from his throne, turn. But you see, there's an urgency. And the urgency is expressed in God repeating it.

42:34 Turn ye. Turn ye. God is saying, I'm serious about my call to you to turn. My first call may have, as it were, just arrested your attention.

42:51 And you may be, beginning to stop and beginning to turn and wonder, did I hear God all right? Does he really summon me to turn with the promise of forgiveness in life? And God says, yes, I meant what I said. Turn ye.

43:07 Turn ye. There is an urgency expressed in God's repetition through the voice of the prophet. I can't fathom why God, the living God, before whom all of the entourage of heaven, seraphim and cherubim and innumerable angels as it were, strain at the slightest intimation of his command, and they spring to do his will. And here we are, little worms of the dust, creatures that have to be sustained by stuff that's grown in the ground.

43:51 That's right. Everything you ate today, you're of the earth. You live of the earth. and you're going to go back as dust into the earth.

44:01 And the God who has all of those shining ones, what A.W. Tozer loved to call the burners, those whom Isaiah saw, those strange creatures, the burning ones, there they are in that unseen world where all of those vile spirits existed. There are these good spirits, these ministering spirits.

44:24 And in some way, apparently, Paul believed they were present in a unique way in the assemblies of God's people. Think of them just straining at the bit to hear the slightest whisper from the mouth of God and they spring into obedience.

44:40 And here we are, creatures so utterly, utterly exposed to the wrath of that God who cannot claim mercy from Him,

44:50 unclean in His presence, and yet He stoops to say to you and to me, Turn, and if you doubt my sincerity, I say again, Turn, turn, turn. The gracious command from the throne of God. God in regal grace, God in nothing short of majestic mercy, having sent His Son, now sends His Word, and I trust He is sending His Spirit and issues this gracious command to you, His creature, who will, one day be summoned by a command that you cannot disobey. Come to judgment! And when God gives that command, not one who has ever breathed on God's earth will disobey.

The Haunting Question: 'Why Will You Die?'

45:50 Now He bears with your disobedience, with your indifference, with your insensitivity, and He comes again tonight and graciously commands you, Turn, turn. But then fourthly and finally, having considered the absolute truthfulness of this Word from God, as I live, says the Lord God, the amazing disclosure of the heart of God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that He turn and live. The gracious command from the throne of God, Turn, turn. Now we see at the end of the text the haunting question to be answered before God.

46:39 The haunting question to be answered before God. Look at it. Turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways, for why will you die? Oh, house of Israel,

46:58 I wrestled with what to call it. Maybe there's a better word,

47:03 but surely calling it a haunting question is not the worst word. Think of the picture,

47:14 and I would not even want to venture on saying anything about it. I would not even want to venture on saying anything about it. I would not even want to venture on saying anything about it. Anything that would border on irreverence.

47:21 But don't you sense in that question something of what appears to us as God accommodates to our patterns of thought in our interaction an element of perplexity in the mind of God. God comes to rebel sinners in their own way with their backs turned against them and He says, will you please explain to me why you continue in the way of death. I've set before you the way of life. I have sworn by my livingness when I tell you I have no pleasure in what will come if you continue in that way. I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked. Continuing in that way you shall die. You will experience the horrors of the second death.

48:19 But I have no pleasure. No pleasure. Turn, turn. It's as though God pauses and says to those who will not turn, please tell me why will you die.

48:33 You must have some good and compelling reason to go on in a way that is the way of death. When what I've held before you is the way of life. And I've held it before you in the disclosure of my heart. And I've accommodated myself.

48:52 And I've accommodated myself. And I've accommodated myself. And I've made my mind and my will clear. Turn, turn.

48:58 I've given you the word of promise. If you turn, you will be forgiven. You will be received. You will be in the way of life.

49:05 Why? Why will you choose the way of death?

The Desert Oasis Analogy: Why Refuse Life?

49:12 Imagine yourself in some place in the world where there are real vast stretches of the kind of deserts that when people get lost in them, they're never found.

49:27 Except if someone finds their rotting flesh. And here's a man who's been lost in a trackless desert and for several days, he's had no water. He knows what burning thirst is all about. His body is dehydrated.

49:49 He's beginning to have delirium, beginning to get out of touch with the world of reality. He's in and he's out. And suddenly he comes upon. An oasis.

50:01 And there is a spring of water.

50:05 And you happen to come upon the scene right as he reaches the spring of water. And you say, surely, as the man drifts into consciousness of what the real world is all about and sees the water, he'll plunge his cracked lips into that fountain and splash the water over his head and he'll become delirious with joy. Instead, he stops. Three feet short of it, looks at it, and with languid eyes, sits and nods and looks and nods and you say to him, Sir, there's a bubbling spring, you're dying of thirst, why do you not drink? You see something of your perplexity and God comes to you and to me and he likens the gospel to the water of life. He likens it to a feast for famished men and women.

51:16 And he spreads it before us in his word. He has spread it before some of you again and again. And this week he has spread it before you.

51:29 And you will not drink.

51:32 And you will not eat. And God comes with this haunting question, why will you die? There must be some compelling, rational explanation for what. What are you doing?

51:47 God says, please tell me. Why will you die? Why will you die? Oh, house of Israel.

Privilege and Accountability: Why Will You Die?

51:59 Oh, house of Israel. House of privileged people. God's covenant people. The only nation to whom God gave his written word.

52:18 The nation who had the prophets and the patriarchs. And all of the privileges Paul enumerates in Romans 9 and verse 4. Oh, house of Israel. Privileged people who have the living God revealed to them.

52:36 To whom he has given his word, his ordinances, his servants. Why will you die? Children so privileged. Oh, house where prayer is made.

52:56 Oh, house where the Bible is made. Oh, house where you've not been reared like the typical American teenage pagan. But with a conscience honed by the word of God. Taught and lived out imperfectly.

53:12 Yes, but really in mom and dad. Oh, those of you gathered at this conference. Why will you of all people die? When I see the generation of pagans reared in this country of ours.

53:31 My heart breaks. And at times I feel utterly paralyzed. How do you begin to reach people. Whose only consciousness of reality has been dictated.

53:42 By the TV. And all of its cheap sitcoms. And all of the music of hell that is thundered in their ears. With the language of hell.

53:54 And with the total lawlessness of hell. Having as it were insinuated itself. Into every fabric of those musical forms. How in the world do you begin.

54:08 To even get through a concept that there is one true and living God. That speaking to such people you could take the words as I live. And talk about God being the great. Where do you begin?

54:21 But that's not you. To say the word God is to say a word that for many of you. Has a fullness of biblical concepts. Packed into it.

54:34 To say the word sin. To say the word grace. To say the words faith and repentance. And holiness and sanctification.

54:45 Why will you die? Why will you die? When God has made you in terms of privilege the elect. Among the elect.

54:57 Among the elect. Among the elect. In your generation. Why will you die?

The Emptiness of Excuses for Choosing Death

55:07 What answer do you give to God? Are you prepared to say God I'll die because I believe in hell. I'll really get some alleviation of my anguish. When I remember all the satisfaction I got.

55:23 From the smiles of my peers. Do you really think you'll find satisfaction in hell. If you're able for even five minutes to remember. Quote.

55:38 The fun you had. With those into whose ranks you cast your lot at the expense. Of turning. Abandoning yourself to Christ and his people.

55:54 And joining the army of God. Do you really think is that why you will die? For the anticipated sweetness of a few memories. Of fun with your peers.

56:11 Or the anticipated memory of a few moments. Of sensual pleasure. If at all there could be such memories in hell. Why will you die?

56:20 Will you let the question in? Will you let the question in? Why will you die? Give a reason.

56:33 Don't just go on blindly. No why will you die? Why will you die? Why will you die?

56:41 Oh house of Israel. Oh privileged people. Oh privileged boy. Oh privileged girl.

56:53 Could God be asking? Could God be asking? Do you see some defect in me? Why will you die?

57:02 As I live in all the livingness of who I am as Jehovah. God of the covenant. The God who brought your fathers out of Egypt by an outstretched arm. And fed them in the wilderness.

57:15 And fulfilled my promises. And brought them into the land. Displayed my grace and mercy. Again and again have you discovered some unseemliness in me?

57:26 I ask you my unconverted friend. What have you discovered in Jesus Christ that makes him unseemly and undesirable? What is that? Will you declare it?

57:42 Why will you die? Is it because Christ is fill in the blanks? Christ is not this? What is there in him?

57:55 What have you discovered in him? I say I don't like questions like that. They make me think. My dear unconverted friend.

58:05 Serious thinking is often the first step to heaven. Life's got to become something more than fun and games. And wondering if you're so attired that the guys will look first at you. And not at your friend down the road.

58:20 Or in the other dorm. You've got to think of questions like this. Why will you die? Why will you die?

58:28 Why will you die? Why will you die? And I trust as you face that haunting question. God by the Holy Spirit would bring you to say to choose the way of death is not only madness.

58:45 But in the light of things I've heard or mom and dad have told me about some of the messages in the morning. It is to sell my soul to the devil. And I will not sell my soul to the devil. I will choose the way of life.

Closing Exhortation: Venture Wholly on Christ

59:03 Choose the way of life. Choosing the way of life is committing yourself to him who said I am the life. Even the Lord Jesus. God himself says this is an utterly absolutely trustworthy word as I live.

59:26 He discloses his heart. I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked. He issues a gracious command. Turn.

59:36 Turn. He asks. A haunting question. I want to close tonight by quoting the words of a hymn precious to many of us.

59:46 And I pray God you will receive it as my closing exhortation to you. Come ye sinners poor and wretched. Weak and wounded by the fall. Jesus ready stands to save you.

60:09 Stands ready. Not visibly. Not visibly. But in the preaching of the gospel Christ is here.

60:19 And the only way you will see him until he bursts through the clouds is in the proclamation of the gospel. And he is here in the preaching of his own word. Of his own person and work. He stands ready to save you.

60:35 Full of pity. Joined with power. He is willing. He is willing.

60:42 He is able. Doubt no more. Let not conscience make you linger. Nor of fitness fondly dream.

60:53 All the fitness he requires is to feel your need of him. This he gives you. This he gives you. Tis the spirit's rising beam.

61:07 Though the incarnate God ascended pleads the merits of his blood. Venture on him. Venture wholly. Let no other trust intrude.

61:26 None but Jesus. None but Jesus can do helpless sinners good. Rabbi Duncan said, There is nothing between me and hell but Christ Jesus. I need nothing more.

61:48 Nothing less will do. Let us pray. Our Father we address you in the consciousness of our own native perversity, blindness, stubbornness, our wretched unbelief. We are ashamed to think that for some of us you said again and again and again and again times without number.

62:28 Turn. Do not turn for why you will die. And how we thank you. That you have arrested many of us, taken us out of the way of death and put us into and kept us upon the way of life.

62:44 And we believe you will complete that work. But, oh, we yearn for those who sit here. Yet in the way of death. Oh, our God.

62:57 In mercy. For the good of their souls. Souls, for the glory of your name, that your son may receive a reward from his sufferings from this group of men and women seated in this place tonight. Boys and girls, young people, O our God, be pleased to answer the cries that have gone up into your ears on behalf of some in this place for many years.

63:28 Look upon the tears of parents and pastors and the people of God, and O Lord, glorify yourself in causing some this night to say, I will cast myself upon Christ. Hear us, O God, we pray. Bind the powers of darkness, that foul fiend of hell who would come like the birds of the air behind the sower. And seek to pluck away the word before it is enfolded in the soil of the heart. O Lord, we pray that you would hinder his work, and may your word accomplish that whereunto you sent it. We plead through Christ our Lord. Amen.