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you do not do this, then you are not walking with God. Thus this very passage about thelight of God shines upon those who hides under the darkness of a distorted interpretationof "God is love," and exposes the fact that they are not really walking with God.The same Bible that says, "God is love," also says that, "God is light." And the sameBible that says, "God is light," also says that, "God is a consuming fire" (Hebrews 12:29).All three propositions are true, and they are consistent with one another, but the invalidinferences that people make from "God is love" often contradict the other twopropositions. That God is a consuming fire does not mean that he will give you a warmand welcome feeling. The writer of Hebrews states this proposition in the context oftelling his readers to worship God "with reverence and awe" (v. 28). The image of Godbeing a consuming fire is associated with his anger, judgment, and power to destroy. 26The modern man may disapprove of such a God, but what is wrong with such a God? IfGod comes at you as a consuming fire, it is you who are at fault. Paul tells his readers torecognize both the "kindness and severity" (Romans 11:22, NASB) of God. He says thathe is severe against those who disobey him, but he is kind to you, that is, if you continuein his grace.Many times I have heard preachers say, "God is not mad at anybody." This is false, andprovides the non-Christians with false comfort. The Bible says that if you are a non-Christian, God is now very angry with you, and "It is a dreadful thing to fall into thehands of the living God" (Hebrews 10:31). Jesus says, "Whoever believes in the Son haseternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God's wrath remains on him"(John 3:36). Jesus declares that he who is not with him is against him (Matthew 12:30);there is no neutral ground. You need not deliberately align yourself against Christ to becounted as his enemy, since you were born his enemy. 1 John 5:12 says, "He who has theSon has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life." You may suppressyour knowledge of God and your rebellion against him (Romans 1:18), but God is veryaware, and you will not get away with anything (Hebrews 4:13).If you are not a Christian, the great force of divine wrath will be poured out against you,perhaps in a moment you do not expect, and it is as if you will hear God say, "You fool!This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you haveprepared for yourself?" (Luke 12:20). Of course, as I have explained elsewhere, the wrathof God is not an emotion, since God is not a man and has no emotions. 27 However, thisshould not give you any relief, because it remains that God's wrath is a policy of thoughtand action against his enemies that will stop at nothing short of effecting their utterdestruction and endless suffering.Today's preachers tend to obscure the wrath of God, and present him as a harmless andhelpless clown. There are some "fire and brimstone" sermons, which the congregationsdetest, but even most of these sermons are not nearly terrifying enough to describe thehorrors of hell, the helpless state of those without Christ, and the greatness of God'smercy toward his elect.26 Deuteronomy 4:21-27, 9:3; Psalm 50:3, 97:3; Isaiah 66:15; Hebrews 10:27.27 Vincent Cheung, Systematic Theology.16
I urge you to read the sermon, "Sinners in the hands of an angry God" by JonathanEdwards. 28 It provides a much-needed biblical perspective about the sinner's condition. Itis inappropriate to reproduce the sermon in full here, but here are several passages fromit:The wrath of God is like great waters that are dammed for thepresent; they increase more and more, and rise higher and higher,till an outlet is given; and the longer the stream is stopped, themore rapid and mighty is its course, when once it is let loose. It istrue, that judgment against your evil works has not been executedhitherto; the floods of God's vengeance have been withheld; butyour guilt in the mean time is constantly increasing, and you areevery day treasuring up more wrath; the waters are constantlyrising, and waxing more and more mighty; and there is nothing butthe mere pleasure of God, that holds the waters back, that areunwilling to be stopped, and press hard to go forward. If Godshould only withdraw his hand from the flood-gate, it wouldimmediately fly open, and the fiery floods of the fierceness andwrath of God, would rush forth with inconceivable fury, and wouldcome upon you with omnipotent power; and if your strength wereten thousand times greater than it is, yea, ten thousand timesgreater than the strength of the stoutest, sturdiest devil in hell, itwould be nothing to withstand or endure it.The bow of God's wrath is bent, and the arrow made ready on thestring, and justice bends the arrow at your heart, and strains thebow, and it is nothing but the mere pleasure of God, and that of anangry God, without any promise or obligation at all, that keeps thearrow one moment from being made drunk with your blood. Thusall you that never passed under a great change of heart, by themighty power of the Spirit of God upon your souls; all you thatwere never born again, and made new creatures, and raised frombeing dead in sin, to a state of new, and before altogetherunexperienced light and life, are in the hands of an angry God.However you may have reformed your life in many things, andmay have had religious affections, and may keep up a form ofreligion in your families and closets, and in the house of God, it isnothing but his mere pleasure that keeps you from being thismoment swallowed up in everlasting destruction. Howeverunconvinced you may now be of the truth of what you hear, by andby you will be fully convinced of it. Those that are gone frombeing in the like circumstances with you, see that it was so withthem; for destruction came suddenly upon most of them; when28 The Words of Jonathan Edwards, Volume 2; Hendrickson Publishers, 2000 reprint from 1834 edition; p.7-12.17
Page 1 and 2: PRAYER & REVELATIONVincent CheungCo
Page 3 and 4: PREFACEIn his book, With Christ in
Page 5 and 6: PRAYER AND THE TRIUNE GODThe doctri
Page 7 and 8: interpretation of Christianity, the
Page 9 and 10: of metaphysics (or reality), which
Page 11 and 12: nevertheless sound reluctant to blu
Page 13 and 14: 2. PRAYING TO THE FATHERThis, then,
Page 15: The above leads us to reject the no
Page 19 and 20: 3. PRAYING BY THE SPIRITFor through
Page 21 and 22: First, we need to clarify what "gro
Page 23 and 24: The passage indeed implies that bel
Page 25 and 26: the limitations of our minds. Howev
Page 27 and 28: It is significant that when believe
Page 29 and 30: PRAYER AND THE DIVINE NATUREIn the
Page 31 and 32: 4. PRAYER AND SOVEREIGNTYI form the
Page 33 and 34: figures of speech; technically spea
Page 35 and 36: 5. PRAYER AND OMNISCIENCEAnd when y
Page 37 and 38: does not provide justification for
Page 39 and 40: that the man may receive the money
Page 41 and 42: Whatever we do, the principle remai
Page 43 and 44: this period of redemptive history i
Page 45 and 46: itself - that is, the physical obje
Page 47 and 48: 7. PRAYER AND MOTIVATIONAnd when yo
Page 49 and 50: sin that lingers. You must struggle
Page 51 and 52: 8. PRAYER AND OBEDIENCEIf anyone tu
Page 53 and 54: commands and remain in his love." I
Page 55 and 56: 9. PRAYER AND PERSISTENCEThen Jesus
Page 57 and 58: necessarily apply to our relationsh
Page 59 and 60: Then Jesus told his disciples a par
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Page 63 and 64: PRAYER AND THE INNER LIFEThe inner
Page 65 and 66: 10. PRAYER AND EXPERIENCEOne day Je
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cannot tell me if you can catch all
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Would you condemn me to justify you
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elieve! Trust God! This is what God
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Our culture favors the free express
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we cannot overemphasize the importa
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