God’s Anger Against Sin!
“Who knoweth the power of thine anger?”
Psalm 90:1-11 Bro.
Elmo Parker
Pastor Victory Baptist Temple
During the 40 years that Moses led this nation of God’s chosen
people through the wilderness, He saw people dying everywhere. Moses
went through times when people would get out of God’s will and just
laugh at him. The results were…the anger of God was unbelievable!
Moses saw the earth open up and swallow thousands of people. He saw
fire fall from heaven and destroy 250 Levites. Moses watched as
Pharaoh’s army, the greatest army on the face of the earth, do a
very foolish thing. They followed the Israelites on that dry land
over which the Israelites had crossed the Red Sea. He watched as God
allowed that sea to come over the top of them. Bodies and parts of
chariots were slung upon the seashore.
Moses became overwhelmed at the power of this divine displeasure
against sin. He asked, “Who knoweth the power of thine anger?” No
one can measure the might and power of God’s wrath. The Bible says,
“It’s a fearful thing to fall into the hands of an angry God.” And
yet, most people go through life as if there were no God.
We can go through the motions, but not follow the Bible, whether it
be…
a. children obeying their parents
b. the man being head of the home
c. or the woman being in subjection
We live like heathen and we wonder why the world will not believe
us! We live like heathen with a set of “doctrines”.
The Bible teaches that there is a literal hell with fire and
brimstone. It is a bottomless pit of darkness—a place of wailing,
weeping, and gnashing of teeth. People who go there will be there
for an eternity. The world laughs at those of us who believe this,
but the Bible teaches that it is impossible to exaggerate the power
of God’s wrath against sin.
The Bible says of heaven, “Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither
have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath
prepared for them that love him.” That’s wonderful! Heaven is a
wonderful place and it’s described in the Bible. But the same awe is
taught about hell and God’s wrath.
No one can conceive the power of His anger in hell. Oh, I know the
modernists rail against such preaching as I’m doing, but the truth
is there has never been a preacher who could fully envision the
power of God’s wrath against sin.
Ask Sodom and Gomorrah. The world today says that if you are not for
homosexuality, you are a homophobe. Then they are calling my God a
homophobe because of that terrible hideous wicked sin God poured
fire and brimstone down on Sodom and Gomorrah and destroyed every
person.
We’re fools when we think we know more than God. We think we can
mock God and get by with it. That’s a trick of the devil.
Ask Ananias and Sapphira. All they did was lie and God struck them
dead.
Ask Ahab and Jezebel—the most powerful people in the kingdom—king
and queen. They thought they could flaunt their sin in the face of
God. But watch, after Ahab is dead, Jezebel is up in that tower and
they throw her out of that tower, the powerful queen. She splats on
the pavement below and the dogs came and ate her flesh and licked up
her blood.
Ask David. “He was a man after God’s own heart.” But sin got into
his life. Now David is weeping over the casket of his baby. His life
is destroyed. Everything that he held dear is gone. Ask David if
anyone can measure how great the power of God’s anger against sin.
Ask the neighbors of Noah. He warned them for years and they laughed
at him. But watch them now as they try to grab the sides of that
ark, as the water is getting deeper and deeper. Oh, they laughed
when God said He would destroy the earth because of the wickedness
of man.
Ask Pharaoh’s army. Ask those who watched their firstborn males
killed. Ask them, “Who can measure the power of God’s anger?”
We’re fools when we think we know more than God. We think we can
mock God and get by with it. That’s a trick of the devil. We destroy
everything we hold dear.
I read a story of a man whose daughter died. He became beside
himself. He said, “How can God do this to me? Me?!” This man ran
outside and shook his fist at God and called Him every dirty name in
the book. He picked up a stick and shook it in the face of God and
said, “If you’re such a big God, why don’t you just kill me?” There
was a little black widow spider on that stick. It crawled down onto
his hand and bit him, and he died. I would guess he is burning in
hell right now with millions who had no idea of the power of God’s
anger toward sin!
Read the book of Revelation. Chapter after chapter pictures God’s
wrath in the future in detail when He comes down and purges this
world of sin once and for all.
Liberals would say, “He’s not that kind of God.” My answer is, “Read
the Word.” They claim that He doesn’t look at the sin in our lives.
Moses said, “Who knowest the power of thine anger.” I don’t think
any preacher can preach against sin and paint a true picture. I
believe part of the problem as Christians is because of the grace
and mercy of God. We loose sight of His wrath completely because He
doesn’t chastise us immediately.
What about faith? We say we are Christians. But no matter how we
reason, it is worse than we can imagine. Sometimes Christians make
light of sin—they water it down—they joke. Sin is no joking matter.
People like this don’t know the power of God’s anger. We ought to
pray for our political leaders. But when a man cast a vote for
homosexuality or pornography, when a man casts a vote to legalize
abortion, when educators stand up in classrooms and tell boys and
girls that God did not create them, that there is no absolute truth,
the Bible is o.k. but it isn’t inspired, these people have no idea
of the power of His anger! Men thumb their noses at the virgin’s
birth. Men thumb their noses at the efficiency of His blood. Men
thumb their noses at the inerrancy of His Word. They have no idea of
the power of His anger! They take little penknives and cut out what
they don’t like in the Bible. They don’t want to offend anyone. It’s
only because of His grace and mercy that God has not destroyed the
world already. Don’t be confused.
We pretend, we play games, and we lie to each other. We must face up
to reality.
You know it’s because of you we don’t have revival.
Not many who believe what they say they believe. I know people say,
“You should not be judgmental.” I can’t help but see what I see with
my eyes. Most people despise those who stand for what is right. I
say it’s only because of God’s grace and mercy that He has not
destroyed the world already. God is good, but He is not stupid. God
is good, and He is not blind. God is good and He is not a liar. We
will be judged. Has God been dealing with you? Hey, young people,
has God been dealing with you about being right toward your parents,
authority, and God? Wife, has God been dealing with you as far as
being a Christian wife and mother? Are you the Christian husband you
should be? Has God been dealing with you about a sin in your heart,
but you refuse to repent and confess? Has Satan got you blinded and
you continue to sin because God hasn’t struck you dead. That was
Israel’s problem. They didn’t seem to see their sin.
The Bible was written as a warning—we ought to be warned. Nobody
ever gets by with sin. God is loving. The Lord is merciful. But you
never get by with sin. We seem to be burdened down with problems and
heartaches and a lack of peace. But do we ever look at our sin?
We are so used to making excuses for our sin. We are so used to from
a child up, hiding our sin. We are so used to lying about our sin.
We believe our own lies. There are those who know sin is there and
refuse to look at it and acknowledge it before God. Realize even
death is a testimony of God’s anger against sin. If it weren’t for
sin we would live forever. Moses knew that little babies died
because of their parent’s sin. He witnessed the earth opening up and
swallowing his neighbors. He watched fire come down and consume the
Levities. He watched the soldiers of Egypt drowning. He pled with
the Israelites to confess their sins to God.
This morning I plead with you, confess your sins and acknowledge
them. Don’t just say, “Well I know I’ve got problems.” Do you love
your children? Do you love God? Do you really believe in God? Face
and acknowledge your sins. You have no idea of the consequences that
sin will ultimately bring into your life. You say, “Well, I’ve got
my health. I’ve got my family. I’ve got my job. I’m secure.” You are
content in your sin.
But you need to understand, “the power of God’s anger against sin.”
One day He will turn His wrath and express His anger against sin and
your life will never be the same. There is one thing I do not like
about pastoring one church for 30 years—I have to wait and watch and
know that God’s wrath is coming. It never fails. I must wait for
God’s judgment to fall on blind sinners. The worst unimaginable
judgment could happen. Don’t wait for God to show His wrath before
getting right. Get right with God. Practice what you say you
believe. I say again, do you really love your children? If so you’ll
get right with God. Do you really believe God? You’ll get right with
Him.
If you have never received Christ as your personal Savior, I’m
saying to you, God’s wrath is real! He has promised no matter what
happens here on earth, His wrath will be seen by us.
Again, I’m just reminded how we pretend. “Oh your such a good
father.” Are your children living for God? If not, you’re a rotten
father. We pretend, we play games, and we lie to each other. We must
face up to reality. You know it’s because of you we don’t have
revival! None of us will get by with our sin. It doesn’t matter what
people think or say, my life affects my kids and my grandkids. “If I
fail there, I’m miserable!”
Unsaved friend, there is only one major judgment that I see in the
Bible for you. If you have not received Jesus and said I’m a sinner
and repent of that sin, and turn to Christ, you are going to hell. I
beg you, come and get things right. Stop making excuses.
The Saving Power of Jesus
Christ!
A testimony of a changed life…
In April of 1991, I knew that my life was going to change. I had
reached a point in life that could not go on. I had been praying to
God just to let me die and go to hell. For forty-three years God had
let me live my life, my way and it was about as messed up as a
person can make it.
For over twenty years, I had lived by means of a bottle of pills and
alcohol. If there were a person in the Bible that I can relate to
during this time, it would be the mad man of Gadara. You can read
about this man in Mark 5. I was a total wreck, no good to myself or
anyone else.
I hid in my parent’s home; did not socialize with anyone and totally
feared being out of a controlled atmosphere. Going out of that house
meant downing six to eight pills and a half pint of vodka. I did
this in order to take my mom shopping, take my truck for new tires,
and the big thing was getting a hair cut every couple of months. I
totally agonized every time that I had to face that hair cut. That
meant up to ten pills and more vodka. Hating the taste of the
alcohol, feeling the humiliation of what was happening, what was
going on inside of me, setting down in that barber chair shaking and
wondering why the pills and alcohol were not doing the job they were
supposed to be doing, was totally overwhelming. Getting up the next
morning and not remembering the events of the day before allowed me
to go on to the next time. At the same time I was feeding my flesh
from the perversion of the world. The devil had set a pretty good
table for me. All this was a never-ending cycle that could not
continue.
When I turned forty or so, the Lord started working. He started
bringing back memories of the only churching that I had known. A few
months during the summer when I was six years old, I was allowed to
attend Vacation Bible School and then Sunday school and church
services until the Weather turned too cold for myself and four year
old brother to walk the mile or so to church. The Lord brought back
the memories of the stories from the Bible that my Sunday school
teacher, Mrs. Mildred Page, had taught me. The Lord also brought
back the memory of seeing an elderly couple that had been saved in
their home come forward for baptism. I also remembered as a six-year
old boy wanting what the preacher talked about as they came forward.
The Lord put a desire into my heart to open His Word. I started
reading the Bible and over the course of the next three or so years,
read it three times. I didn’t understand much, but when the Lord
sent a preacher to the intensive care waiting room of St. Francis
Hospital one evening when my mom was in there with a heart attack, I
was ready to accept his invitation to his church on Easter Sunday.
Two weeks later on 21 April, 1991, that preacher and one of his
deacons came by my home. At 9:00 p.m. I knelt and asked the Lord’s
forgiveness and to save me. His arm was not short that He could not
reach down, down even to where I was and lift me from the miry clay.
He changed me and gave me a new life. I was clothed and put in my
right mind. His confidence filled me. Never again would I need pills
and alcohol to get me through a day. I now had His power, His
Spirit, His love, and His control of my life to get me through each
and every day.
The days, weeks, months, and then years following my salvation were
the most wonderful time of my life. He gave me a family that made me
feel loved, He gave me new desires and a new outlook on life, He
gave me a wonderful, God fearing Christian wife and son.
Since that time, many days have come and gone. I have had many days
of joy, peace, and goodness. I have also had some hard times. God
has used those valleys to bring me closer to Him, to show Himself to
me, and to build a trust and faith like I have never known before.
No matter how long the Lord gives me in this life, I can never start
to repay Him for all that He has done in my life and continues to
do. He is so good; He is a friend closer than a brother; He will
never leave me or reject me; I have His Word on it.
The promise of being with Him for eternity is the greatest reward
that I can imagine. I look forward to that time.
If any of you reading this article have not come to know the Lord
Jesus Christ as Saviour, I highly recommend Him to you. You will be
eternally grateful for the day the Holy Spirit comes into your heart
with the need of salvation. If you know that you are lost and need a
Saviour, call out to the Lord believing and He will meet you and
save you.
If you have questions about your salvation that you would like to
discuss with someone, call our church office (573) 223-4198. Someone
there can help you. 
Mr. Jim Fahrenkrog
Marble Hill, MO
Jim is pictured standing with his wife,
Rhonda and her parents, Ralph and Frances Collier
at their 50th Wedding Anniversary.
“Only God can solve men’s problems.”
Who Is He That Overcometh…I
John 4:4-5
Bro. Scott Miller
Assistant Pastor
Perhaps more than once you have thought what my wife expressed to
me sometime ago, “With this world getting so corrupt, I’d simply
like to move to a cabin in some remote place and live for Jesus
there with my family until Christ returns.” Sounds like a nice idea;
yet the truth is that the world has always been corrupt, and we are
seeing evil becoming more intensified in these last days. Yet, if we
were able to escape this “rotten world” we would find that we never
escape the evil within ourselves. After all, have we not at some
time been alone, isolated at times; the world has not been there to
tempts us, but all was not really well? Were you perfectly happy?
Were you totally free from temptation? Was the spirit of the world
entirely absent? God only knows that that was not the case, right?
Let me illustrate my point with the story I read of a saint who
lived in Scotland several hundred years ago. He was a farmer, and as
a result of a sermon preached one Sunday, had felt very definitely
that he must conquer the self within him. This became such a burden
to the man that he decided he would spend an entire day alone on the
top of a mountain near his house in fasting and prayer in order that
once and for all he might deal with this friend, self. So, he went
to the mountaintop and struggled with God in prayer pleading to be
delivered from his foul self.
Towards the end of the day, he felt at last that God had given him
the victory—he felt that he had been completely delivered. So
delighted was this man, that he spent some time in rejoicing and
praising God. As he descended the mountain that evening to return
home, he came upon some of his neighbors just finishing the days
work of carting in the hay. He looked upon them and thought, “How
much better have I spent the day than they have been. While they
have been attending to these material, mechanical, earthly things, I
have been giving my attention to the soul.” In that moment he found
the enemy he thought that he had conquered on the mountaintop was
still inside him! We can go way and spend our time in some remote
cabin, but we cannot get away from the world, it is in us!
So how do Christians arrive at this position of overcoming the
world? John says there are two main things we must know.
We overcome because of what has happened to us.
We do so because of what our faith in Christ enables us to do.
Christians overcome, and yet they are still overcoming. How are they
able to do this? Because they are born of God…”Whatsoever is born of
God overcometh the world…” First, John says we begin with a new
disposition—a new outlook. We do not need to come out of the world;
we need a new outlook of it—and the new birth gives us a new
outlook. In essence, when we are born again we are able to look at
the world as the Lord Jesus did. As the Apostle Peter puts it, “We
become partakers of the divine nature…” (2 Pet. 1:4).
That leads to the second principle. As Christians, because of what
has happened to us, we are able to exercise faith and to live by
faith. First, we are born of God; second, “this is the victory that
overcometh the world, even our faith.” Practically speaking, the
world’s system that believers are fighting against is extremely
powerful, more powerful than any of us! This world conquers and
masters every one that is born into it. The world is in us from the
moment we begin to live. It is no use trying to fight the world
while being a part of it—it can’t be done!
So what we need is emancipation from the world. We need to be lifted
to another realm; we need a force and strength and power we do not
naturally have. I need this and so do you. How are we able to obtain
it? When we are born from Above we see a Might and Power that is
even greater than all that is opposed to us. D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones
said, “Christians are men and women who have been introduced to
another realm.” So, here are people who have new nature and outlook
with a new disposition and understanding that enables them to be
linked to a heavenly power source!
Yet, John finishes by giving us a third step in overcoming the
world—believing that Jesus is the Son of God. That is it—that is
everything! The thing that makes men and women most overcome the
world—that enables them to do so, is their relationship to Jesus
Christ; to His work and to what He has already accomplished and
finished! It is drawing upon His perfect finished work! [Galatians
2:20]
Thank the Lord that we do not have to be overcome by the world. We
can be and are overcomers. Wherever we are, whatever may be opposed
to us with whatever circumstance is against us—because of Who is in
us, you and I can triumph and prevail. “For whatsoever is born
of God overcometh the world”
Bro. Miller and his family
 How
To Overcome The Sin Of Prayerlessness
Dr. Andy Tully, Evangelist
The following is an excerpt from Dr. Tully’s
book
entitled Prayer, available through Berean Bible College
& Theological Seminary.
We are all tempted to live lives that maximize our own priorities
and minimize Heaven’s. We are constantly Tested in the area of
maximizing the spiritual and minimizing the physical. We all fight
the battle of the temporal vs. the eternal. We must overcome
prayerlessness like any other temptation. Say, “No,” to laziness and
apathy. Say, “Yes,” to self-discipline and character. Let me insert
here that it is possible to overcome the temptation to neglect
prayer. Paul said in I Corinthians 10: 13, “There hath no temptation
taken you but such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who
will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will
with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able
to bear it.”
The temptation to be prayerless is not insurmountable. Thus, when we
demonstrate by our lack of prayer that we have succumbed to this
temptation, we are showing a lack of character on our part. If there
is “no temptation” that I cannot overcome, then when I yield to
temptation it merely shows a lack of character and integrity on my
part.
“But, Preacher, you just don’t understand! I just can’t make myself
get out of bed and spend time in prayer in the morning!”
You could make yourself get out of bed if you had to go to work, or
if you were leaving on a pleasure trip. You can make yourself do
anything that you want to do, if you want it bad enough! “I can do
all things through Christ which strengtheneth me,” Paul said
(Philippians 4:13). If a drunk can give up his booze; if a chain
smoker can give up his tobacco; if an adulterer can give up his
immorality; if a criminal can give up his crime—all with the help of
the Son of God—then don’t say that you cannot give up some of your
time on a daily basis to spend in prayer.
To overcome the sin of prayerlessness, there are a number of steps
that must be taken:
1. SET APART A TIME AND PLACE TO PRAY.
In Proverbs 8:17 God (wisdom personified) said, “Those that seek me
early shall find me.” “Early” means early in life, early before it
is too late, and early in the day. We must give our Lord the first
part of every day. He demands first place in our lives, the first
part of our finances, and first place in our time. He will never
settle for anything less than first place. Either He is Lord of all
in your life or He is not Lord at all.
2. PRAY THROUGH ABOUT YOUR BURDENS AND PROBLEMS.
The sinner does not have to “Pray through” to be saved; but God does
require the saved to pray long and hard about many blessings in the
Christian life. Jesus taught in Luke 18:1-8 that “men ought always
to pray, and not to faint.” There are some things that we might
receive quickly, almost immediately, when we pray. However, there
are some things that the Lord requires importunity and “praying
through” about. We must always be willing to “pray through” about
the difficult things in life, and about our burdens and problems.
3. TAKE TIME TO PRAY ABOUT THNGS AS THEY COME UP.
How often, when asked to pray for someone or about something, do we
say, “I’ll be praying for you.” Then, in the business of the day, we
forget all about it and never do end up praying for that individual
or that thing. Would it not be much better to stop and have prayer
immediately for that person, rather than not pray at all?
4. WE SHOULD LEAVE OFF ALL THE FORMALITIES; IT WOULD BE BETTER TO
LET PRAYER BE SIMPLY TALKING TO GOD.
I am amused at some of our public praying. One day in a service in a
church in Colorado a member of the church was called on to come to
the pulpit and lead in a public prayer. After taking a formal
stance, he folded his hands, bowed his head, closed his eyes, and
said, “Our dear heavenly Father, we do now come into Thy presence…”
I thought to myself, “Where have you been all week?” I am not trying
to be picky or mean about it. I am just saying if you walk with the
Lord every moment of every day, when you pray you will not have to
“come into” His presence—you will already be there.
5. STUDY THE BIBLE, THEN SET OUT TO FOLLOW BIBLICAL EXAMPLES OF GOOD
CHRISTIANS, AND THE TEACHINGS OF THE WORD OF GOD ABOUT PRAYER.
Jacob prayed all night. He didn’t just breathe a quick line or two
in the form of a prayer. All night long he begged God for the
blessing, and he got what he asked for.
Jesus often prayed all night. On one occasion He had sent the
apostles on a boat out into the Sea of Galilee. A storm had arisen,
and they were in danger. Jesus, in the mean time, was in the
mountaintop praying for them. The Bible records that He prayed on
that occasion until at least three in the morning. It was often His
experience to pray all night long.
If we are disciples of Christ, then we are His “followers.” To
follow Christ means, among other things, to exemplify His example in
prayer.
David often awoke in the middle of the night to commune with God in
prayer. “Stand in awe, and sin not; commune with your own heart upon
your bed, and be still” was his oft-repeated experience (Psalm 4:4).
Many of us could testify that this has happened to us on numerous
occasions. In the middle of the night, suddenly awakened with a
burden for an individual or for a particular situation, we have
rolled out of bed to pray in the solitude of the night hours.
We are told in Psalm 55:17 that David prayed at least three times a
day.
We should strive to emulate Bible examples of prayer warriors. Our
heroes should come from the Word of God, not from Hollywood or the
sports arena. Bible Christians made much of prayer, and so should
every serious Christian today.
 
Moses and the people were in the desert, but what was going to
happen to them? They had to be fed, and feeding 3 million people
requires a lot of food!
According to the Quartermaster General in the Army, it is reported
that Moses would have to have had 1,500 tons of food each day. Do
you know that to bring that much food each day, two freight trains,
each a mile long, would be required? Besides you must remember, they
were out in the desert, so they would have to have firewood to use
in cooking the food. This would take 4,000 tons of wood and a few
more freight trains, each a mile long, just for one day! Just think,
there were forty years in transit. Oh yes, they would have to have
water. If they only had enough to drink and take a sponge bath it
would take over 11,000,000 gallons each day, and a freight train
with tank cars, 1,800 miles long, just to bring the water, just for
one day!
Now, do you think God has a problem taking care of your needs?
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December
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