"HOW CAN YOU ESCAPE THE DAMNATION OF HELL?"

-Matthew 23:33-

Your damnation will be a fearful thing. It will be lasting in its Duration and Sweeping its Consequences. Yet, you may never have been made conscious that your present state is nearly so desperate.

YOU ARE RIPE FOR THE JUDGMENT OF GOD because He has made you for Himself and you do not live in obedience to Him. Think of the multitude of things you have done that you knew were in violation of His will. Think also of all those things that you knew God would have you to do

but that you did not "feel like doing." You have taken His name in vain; you have lied; with your mind you have meditated upon uncleanness. In fact, if you will for a moment he honest with yourself, you will have to confess there is no health within you; that from the sole of your foot to the top of your head, you are filled with putrefaction. Because of your sins, you are a stench in the nostrils of God. How can you escape the Damnation of Hell?

YOU DO NOT DESERVE TO ESCAPE THE DAMNATION OF HELL. When you attend church services you sit smugly amusing yourself with thoughts of your goodness. After all, lots of people know you are a "good man", don’t they? But does the Judge of all the earth acknowledge society’s concept of "goodness?" Are you a "good man" in the sight of God? True, you give money to charitable organizations, but it is also true that you are prejudiced against the Gospel of Christ. And if you will not come to Jesus Christ bringing your guiltiness, to whom then will you go? You are Self-indulgent, and full of self-conceit. You pride yourself with being Self-sufficient and are Self-satisfied. You are full and swimming in Self-esteem. You love yourself. Your god is your own belly. How can you escape the Damnation of Hell? Your life wrapped up in yourself. Your will is the Guide of your conduct. You seek your own ends and not the purposes of Him in Whose hand your breath is.

WHO IS ABLE TO SAVE YOU FROM THE JUST PENALTY OF YOUR SINS? Has God provided another Saviour to carry away your filth and pollution? If you will not come to Christ, where will you go when in terror you turn from the face of Him Who sits upon the throne? You are helpless! You are Hopeless! -UNLESS you can find a Ransom sufficient for your never-dying soul; and unless you know the hour of your Death, you have no time for delay.

YOUR DAMNATION DOES NOT SLUMBER: it will meet you at the moment of death.

You are Ripe for the Judgment of God. You certainly deserve to be Damned. How can you escape?

Escape is impossible with men, but the things which are impossible with men are possible with God. How is it possible? It is possible because of the Suffering and Death of the Sinless Lord Jesus Christ. On the cross He by His death ransomed all who come to Him confessing and forsaking their sins. God the Father forgives Repentant souls for Jesus’ sake. Repent, therefore, and Believe the Gospel.

-A Warning In Time

FEBRUARY

16, 1607 --England. John Spratt is archdeacon of St. David’s Church in London, and has acquired a reputation for dainty eating. His wife is of a very hearty appetite. People have tried very hard to invite the archdeacon for dinner without asking his wife. Today neighborhood children serenade him --

"Jack Sprat could eat no fat, his wife could eat no lean;

And so betwixt them both, you see, they licked the platter clean."

17, 1496 --Italy. In the Carnival season of 1494, boys brought under the awakening influence of the preaching of Savonarola grouped in brigades going from house to house asking its inhabitants to surrender their cards, dice, erotic books and articles of adornment. Up and down the streets they sang hymns composed by the preacher.

The following year, similar scenes occurred culminating on the last day of the carnival week with a great bonfire on the public square consisting of a pyramid of such material. The pile measured 240 feet square and 60 feet high and the burning of it will he called the "burning of vanities." He has declared, "Your sins make me a prophet."

Insulting placards have been posted on the walls of the convent and distributed through the city’s avenues. Assassins moved by political intrigue congregate in the cathedral looking for an opportunity to take the preacher’s life. But Savonarola continues to thunder against the "fornications in Italy, France, Spain, and other regions." "Lust," wrote Philip Schaff, "had made the church a shameless courtesan, priests openly acknowledging their illegitimate sons." Savonarola’s preaching is often interrupted by stones through the windows. Even the pulpit was once filled with manure and the skin of a donkey tacked over it.

For five months, now, Savonarola has restrained himself from preaching following the publication of two papal bulls forbidding him to take to the pulpit. Today, however, he receives a call from the seigniroy and again ascends the pulpit. He preaches the Pope may err when he speaks as a man, and that when he speaks as a man and errs, no man is bound to obey him."

The Pope will attempt to bribe the preacher by offering him the red hat of a cardinal providing he will keep silent, but the man of God declares from the pulpit he will have no such hat except the red hat of martyrdom which God gives to His saints.

17, 1546 --Germany. Martin Luther complains of a heavy pressure on his chest. Tomorrow he will die.

19, 1377 --England. John Wycliffe is summoned to appear before William Courtenay, bishop of London, to explain, as one has said, "the wonderful things which had streamed forth from his mouth."

20, 1977 --Uganda. General Idi Amin has prohibited church services be held today. Despite the prohibition, in Kampala, 4500 Anglicans pack the cathedral for a thanksgiving service... "not fearing the wrath of the king."

25, 1745 --Connecticut. The heads of Yale College publish their position against Mr. George Whitefield declaring, "From these two principles which you have laid down, that the generality of ministers are unconverted, and that all unconverted ministers are such baneful and pernicious men, it naturally and necessarily follows that the people ought to discard them, or separate from them: if these two principles are right and true, we are satisfied your design is good, and we would readily join with you." But they are of the contrary opinion.

26, 1870 --Scotland. Robert Haldane has brought Caesar Malan to Christ; Mr. Malan has introduced John ("Rabbi") Duncan to the Saviour; and today, Mr. Duncan dies having led a Viennese Jew to Christ by the name of Alfred Adersheim.