Sermon on

Today and Not Tomorrow

By Brian Pepper

To my mind the saddest story in the Bible is found in Revelation 20:7-9; "And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, And shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle: the number of whom is as the sand of the sea. And they went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city: and fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them."  One Day it Will be Too Late It says they came up like the islands of the sea; multitudes of impenitent sinners. Millions upon millions; they had refused to turn away from sin and now they are the victims of their sins. Among this great company are those who had gone through the seven last plagues. And yet they had not learned their lesson. They are deceived into thinking that God is not particular. They had not heeded the warning. In Isaiah 55:6,7 it says; "Seek ye the Lord while He may be found, call ye upon Him while He is near; Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon." This is a warning that one day soon it will be too late to seek God for He won’t be found. Revelation 15:1 says; "And I saw another sign in heaven, great and marvellous, seven angels having the seven last plagues; for in them is filled up the wrath of God." Yes, one day soon the wrath of God is to be poured out in the seven last plagues. Those who rejected Noah’s appeals were swallowed up by the waters of the flood. Those who have rejected the appeals of Christ will be destroyed by the wrath of the Lamb. Harden Not Your Heart They did not heed the admonition, "Today if ye will hear His voice, harden not your heart..." Hebrews 3:15 Yes, it is possible to harden our hearts against the voice of God. Pharaoh did that you will remember. When God poured out the ten plagues upon Egypt there was a type and shadow of the last days. Plagues of Egypt The first three of those plagues fell upon both the Israelites and the Egyptians. Exodus 8:22,23 says; "And I will sever in that day the land of Goshen in which my people dwell, that no swarms of flies shall be there; to the end thou mayest know that I am the Lord in the midst of the earth. And I will put a division between my people and thy people: to morrow shall this sign be.” God says, "I will put a division (margin: a redemption) between Egypt and my people." The plagues were to come on the wicked and not on God’s people. It will be the same with the seven last plagues as they will fall on the wicked and not on the people of God. Pharaoh Hardened His Heart We learn some very interesting things in the plagues of Egypt. First of all there need not have been those plagues on Egypt if Pharaoh had obeyed God and not resisted; then the plagues would never have fallen. Did you know that it was one word that sealed Pharaohs destiny; here it is. Exodus 8:10 says: "And he said, to morrow..." That word tomorrow will cause thousands to lose out on eternal life. Exodus 8:19 says; "And the magicians said unto Pharaoh, this is the finger of God: and Pharaoh's heart was hardened, and he hearkened not unto them; as the LORD had said." This is the very finger of God. Here was overwhelming evidence but it says that Pharaoh hardened his heart. The people who are destroyed by that lake of fire will go down against overwhelming evidence. Yes, it was so with Pharaoh, he hardened his heart. In Exodus 8:32 we read; "And Pharaoh hardened his heart at this time also, neither would he let the people go." But you say, it was God that hardened his heart. I want to tell you that it says ten times that Pharaoh hardened his own heart. How Hearts Harden Take my hands; at present they are quite soft for I have been doing a lot of painting and my hands have been softened by constant dipping into water. When I was engaged in camp erection my hands became quite hard. Hard hands come from handling things that are rough, they don’t come all at once but through constant handling. You take different materials; the sun affects them in different manner according to their nature. It melts wax and it hardens clay. And so as the Spirit of God works upon the hearts of men and women, different effects are produced according to the condition of the heart. The repentant sinner allows God's Spirit to lead him to conversion and salvation, but the impenitent sinner hardens his heart more and more. So in one sense it was Pharaoh that hardened his heart and in another it was God. God pleaded with him and and Pharaoh rejected that plea. The Spirit of God leads you to a certain step in your Christian experience and you say ‘no’. Then the Spirit will take you back and lead you in a roundabout way and bring you back to the same step. Tomorrow Could Be Too Late As I preach this truth I have no difficulty in convincing people that it is the truth. They say ‘yes the Sabbath is right! We believe it all.’ Yes many people say, ‘Without doubt brother Pepper you have the truth, but I don’t want to do anything about it till Christmas.’ In other words tomorrow! Yes, the Jews deliberately rejected Jesus Christ and look at the terrible experience that has been theirs. Hebrews 2:3 says; "How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation." St Paul tells us the worst thing a man can do is to neglect. You don’t need to reject all. All you need to do is just to neglect. St Paul says if we do this there is no escape. Yes, all you need to do is to neglect and millions are doing this today. Proverbs 27:1 says; "Boast not thyself of tomorrow; for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth." Tomorrow could very easily be too late! Plague of Frogs Exodus 8:3 says; "And the river shall bring forth frogs abundantly, which shall go up and come into thine house, and into thy bed chamber, and upon thy bed, and into the house of thy servants, and upon thy people, and into thine ovens, and into thy kneading troughs." You go to bed and you feel a cold clammy feeling; you put your hands down into the blankets and take out a frog! You step out of bed and you feel something cold and slimy, you look down and there is a frog under your foot. You eat your breakfast and out of the porridge a frog jumps out. Frogs hop out of the oven as you open the door, frogs jump out of the dough as you make the scones. And what did Pharaoh say to all this: tomorrow! The Spirit of Man Says Tomorrow There is no word that hurts GOD more than tomorrow. If you want to wake up from the sleep of death and go into the pit of fire then say tomorrow. Hebrews 3:7,8 says; "Wherefore as the Holy Ghost saith, today if ye will hear His voice, harden not your hearts, as in the provocation.” The Bible deals with two days, today and 'that' day. The Spirit of God says today. The spirit of man says tomorrow. James 4:13,14 says; "Go to now, ye that say, Today or tomorrow we will go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and yet gain; Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away." The Spirit of Truth God says 'My Spirit shall not always strive with man.’  There won’t always be the opportunity to make your decision for God. In John 14:15,16 Jesus says, "If ye love Me keep My commandments." Then He adds this, "And I will pray to the Father and He shall give you another Comforter that He may abide with you forever. Even the spirit of truth..." God says "if you keep his commandments then he will give you the gift of the Holy Ghost." If we obey God He gives us a wonderful blessing. You know, I don’t know of a country that is more asleep than Australia. Why is that? I think it is because Australia is so far removed from the troubled spots of our world. And yet we are living on the very edge of a volcano that is sizzling and ready to blow up. Last Call I believe that the Spirit of God is making His last call to men and women to prepare for the coming kingdom of Jesus Christ. Joel 3:9 says; "Proclaim ye this among the Gentiles; Prepare war, wake up the mighty men, let all the men of war draw near; let them come up:" The great and terrible day of Armageddon is drawing near. Napoleon said, "China is asleep but heaven help us if she should awake." Today the spirit of nationalism is abroad. Even the weakest of the nations are saying that they are strong. Take Japan; a few years ago she was subdued and shorn of power, but today Japan is an industrial giant. Joel 3:14 says; "Multitudes, multitudes, in the valley of decision; for the day of the LORD is near in the valley of decision." The Spirit of God is gripping their hearts. Millions are making their decision just before the seven last plagues and Armageddon. Yes, they are making their decision either for the glory land or for eternal death. In order to make their decision intelligently they must know what truth is. That is where we come in for we must do our part. 'Signs' are one of the avenues whereby we can bring to people's attention: the truth of God. Decisions Must be Made Before the Plagues The plagues must come before the coming of Christ. Revelation 16:1 says; "And I heard a great voice out the temple saying to the seven angels, go your ways, and pour out the vials of wrath of God upon the earth.” But before the plagues are poured out all decisions will have been made. Acts 2:38 says; "Then Peter said unto them, repent and be baptized, every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost." If we are to receive the gift of the Holy Spirit then we must be prepared for this gift. It is that important. Some people say "What about my friends, what will they say?" I can tell you this, will it be any consolation to you on the day that God destroys the unrepentant sinner? You will remember that St Paul says that we will be without excuse on that day. Even the very best excuse will gain us nothing. Revelation 16:9 says; "And men were scorched with great heat, and blasphemed the name of God, which hath power over these plagues: and they repented not to give Him glory." No More Repentance When the plagues fall there is no more repentance. The Holy Spirit who leads a man to repentance has returned to heaven. Yes, right now God will abundantly pardon. He will receive any repentant sinner but the day probation closes it will be too late. In Revelation 14:9,10; "And the third angel followed them saying with aloud voice, If any man worship the beast, and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand. The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb." Sun Worship If you have the mark of the beast you can’t be keeping the commandments of God. And if you keep the commandments you won’t have the mark of the beast. Some people say, ‘We keep nine of the Commandments; that should be enough.’ Others say, ‘What about the Jews? Very few of them keep the Sabbath today.’ Friends we are told that the commandment keepers are Christians for they have the faith of Jesus. And Jesus says "Blessed are they that keep the commandments." One day not very far away those who have rejected the commandments of God will wake up and find that they have terrible sores from their head to their feet and they will have a burning thirst. They will turn the handles of a tap for a cool drink but a horrible substance like blood will flow out! Why does God do a thing like that? The angels say "Lord you are doing the right thing.” Remember that just before this they have enforced their Sunday Sabbath and boycotted God’s people, then a death decree goes forth and so the angels say, "Yes, Lord they are only getting what they deserve.” The great counterfeit has been 'sun' worship. God says "Alright, if you prefer the Sun you can have the Sun." And the sun will pour down its blistering heat upon the inhabitants of this world. Plenty of people say "If I obey God I will starve!” They will starve anyway there is no question of that.   Plague of Darkness Revelation 16:10 says: "And the fifth angel poured out his vial upon the seat of the beast; and his kingdom was full of darkness; and they gnawed their tongues for pain." Just recently in Spain all Bibles were confiscated. Yes darkness comes upon the people. And now the spirits of devils go out and spur on the nations to agitate them towards war: The last great battle of earth, Armageddon.   A Great Earthquake Then there comes that great earthquake that topples the leading cities of the world. London, New York, Paris, Sydney! All the great cities crash to the ground. Plague of Hail Isaiah 28:17 says; "Judgment also will I lay to the line, and righteousness to the plummet: and the hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies and the waters shall overflow the hiding place." The terrible hail storm shall sweep away the refuge of lies, lies which many have hid behind; such as Sunday is the Lord's Day, we are living under the New Covenant, the Law has been done away with, God is not that particular. In Isaiah 28:20 we are told, "For the bed is shorter than that a man can stretch himself on it: and the covering narrower than that he can wrap himself in it." The bed too short, the covering too narrow: that is a bad way to be in, not covered properly. And the illustration fits. They are poorly covered when they cover themselves with the traditions and commandments of men. Is God a tyrant because He treats people like this? Today and Not Tomorrow to Make Your Choice Friends, before the plagues come, God send a clear message: there is no need to be lost. The thing is this: today and not tomorrow is the time to make your choice. Don’t harden your heart. Daniel 12:1 says; "And at that time shall Michael stand up, the great prince which standeth for the children of thy people...” The great Prince that stands for His people! Yes, he stands for His people, “…and at that time thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book." How many will He stand for? Everyone found written in the Lamb's Book of Life. To be found written in that book means that all decisions must be made today and not tomorrow!