Surprised on the Day of Judgment! Because many fail to teach the severity of God! It is a sad fact that many will be surprised on the Day of Judgment. They will stand before God expecting to hear well done thou good and faithful servant Instead they will hear depart from me Mt 7:21 "Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. 1
Mt 7:22 "Many will say to Me in that day, 'Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?' 23 "And then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness! These will stand before God believing they had done what God had wanted of them and expecting to receive a home in Heaven. They had been deceived! No doubt there will be some there who had deceived themselves and those who had been deceived by others. It really didn t matter which group they were a part of the end result was the same! We won t be able to stand before God in Judgment and use the excuse Lord I was deceived! 2
God warns us time and time again in His Word against being deceived. 2Pe 2:1 But there were also false prophets among the people, even as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Lord who bought them, and bring on themselves swift destruction. 2 And many will follow their destructive ways, because of whom the way of truth will be blasphemed. 1Jo 4:1 Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world. 1Ti 4:1 Now the Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons, 2 speaking lies in hypocrisy, having their own conscience seared with a hot iron, 3
Eph 5:3 But fornication and all uncleanness or covetousness, let it not even be named among you, as is fitting for saints; 4 neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor coarse jesting, which are not fitting, but rather giving of thanks. 5 For this you know, that no fornicator, unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God. 6 Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. Mt 24:11 "Then many false prophets will rise up and deceive many. We have been warned by God not to be deceived. If we are we will still have to suffer the consequences. If we don t learn any other lesson from the story of the man of God in 1Kings 13, we should learn the dangers of being deceived! 4
The man of God was sent to Bethel to prophesy against the altar Jeroboam had built there. God had given him specific instructions not to eat or drink anything while he was there and to go home a different way than he had come. After prophesying against the altar the man of God started back home to Judah. We will pick up the story in vs 11 1Ki 13:11 Now an old prophet dwelt in Bethel, and his sons came and told him all the works that the man of God had done that day in Bethel; they also told their father the words which he had spoken to the king. 12 And their father said to them, "Which way did he go?" For his sons had seen which way the man of God went who came from Judah. 13 Then he said to his sons, "Saddle the donkey for me." So they saddled the donkey for him; and he rode on it, 5
1Ki 13:14 and went after the man of God, and found him sitting under an oak. Then he said to him, "Are you the man of God who came from Judah?" And he said, "I am." 15 Then he said to him, "Come home with me and eat bread." 16 And he said, "I cannot return with you nor go in with you; neither can I eat bread nor drink water with you in this place. 1Ki 13:17 "For I have been told by the word of the LORD, 'You shall not eat bread nor drink water there, nor return by going the way you came.'" 18 He said to him, "I too am a prophet as you are, and an angel spoke to me by the word of the LORD, saying, 'Bring him back with you to your house, that he may eat bread and drink water.'" (He was lying to him.) 19 So he went back with him, and ate bread in his house, and drank water. 6
1Ki 13:20 Now it happened, as they sat at the table, that the word of the LORD came to the prophet who had brought him back; 21 and he cried out to the man of God who came from Judah, saying, "Thus says the LORD: 'Because you have disobeyed the word of the LORD, and have not kept the commandment which the LORD your God commanded you, 22 'but you came back, ate bread, and drank water in the place of which the LORD said to you, "Eat no bread and drink no water," your corpse shall not come to the tomb of your fathers.'" 1Ki 13:23 So it was, after he had eaten bread and after he had drunk, that he saddled the donkey for him, the prophet whom he had brought back. 24 When he was gone, a lion met him on the road and killed him. And his corpse was thrown on the road, and the donkey stood by it. The lion also stood by the corpse. Certainly being deceived was no excuse for him! 7
I believe one of the biggest deceptions in religion being perpetrated on people today is being done by omission. This deception does not come from what these false teachers are teaching but from what they are not teaching. You can turn on just about any religious television station or web-site and hear over and over again about the Love and the Goodness of God. There is a radio network that is typical of this type of teaching. K Love They claim to be Positive and Encouraging They put out a Bible verse each day that they call the encouraging word God's voice is glorious in the thunder. We can't even imagine the greatness of His power. Job 37:5 NLT Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good! His faithful love endures forever. Psalm 106:1 NLT 8
Come and see what our God has done, what awesome miracles he performs for people! Psalm 66:5 NLT Live a life filled with love, following the example of Christ. He loved us and offered himself as a sacrifice for us, a pleasing aroma to God. Ephesians 5:2 NLT I certainly would not want to diminish the Love of God or the good news of the Gospel. But, there is another side of the Word of God that is so often left out. That side is the severity of God! Paul when writing to the Christians at Rome concerning the rejection of Christ by the Jews and His acceptance by the Gentiles makes this statement. Ro 11:21 For if God did not spare the natural branches, He may not spare you either. 22 Therefore consider the goodness and severity of God: on those who fell, severity; but toward you, goodness, if you continue in His goodness. Otherwise you also will be cut off. 9
God demonstrated His severity against sin time and time again through out the Old Testament. Millions of people died by the hand of God in the OT because of sin. Untold numbers died in the flood because of sin Over 600,000 Israelites died in the wilderness because of sin In Numbers 15 a man was stoned for picking up sticks on the Sabbath day. Nadab and Abihu were burnt to death by God for using the wrong fire. Uzzah was killed because he touched the Ark of the Covenant. King Saul was condemned and his kingdom taken from him because he offered a burnt offering. Ananias and Sapphira were killed by God for telling a little white lie. None of these people thought this was going to be the consequences of their sins. They were deceived. 10
They failed to recognize the severity of God! Lets see what the Hebrew writer has to say about the severity of God. Heb 10:23 Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful. 24 And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, Heb 10:25 not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching. 26 For if we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, 27 but a certain fearful expectation of judgment, and fiery indignation which will devour the adversaries. 11
Heb 10:28 Anyone who has rejected Moses' law dies without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. Nadab and Abihu, Uzzah, man picking up sticks and many others. 29 Of how much worse punishment, do you suppose, will he be thought worthy who has trampled the Son of God underfoot, counted the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified a common thing, and insulted the Spirit of grace? Heb 10:30 For we know Him who said, "Vengeance is Mine, I will repay," says the Lord. And again, "The LORD will judge His people." 31 It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. God is love but He is also a God of vengeance against those who do not obey him. 12
2Th 1:6 since it is a righteous thing with God to repay with tribulation those who trouble you, 7 and to give you who are troubled rest with us when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with His mighty angels, 8 in flaming fire taking vengeance on those who do not know God, and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 These shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power, Here are some things we know. God is a God of Love. He is also going to bring extreme punishment on those who don t obey Him. Simply being religious and sincere will not be good enough. That we can be deceived. God expects exact obedience to His law. We can t change His Word to fit our wants and desires. Rev 22 13
Conclusion Since we know these things, why wouldn t we do everything we could to prevent being surprised on the day of Judgment? Shouldn t we go to His Word and try to obey it exactly as He has left it for us. Failure to do so could cost us our eternal soul! 14