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Golden Bells
#413
“God now commands all men everywhere to repent, because He has appointed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by the Man whom He has ordained.� Acts 17:30-31
God Has Judged With
Water In The Great Flood
God’s world became very bad after Adam and Eve sinned . It was just so bad that God was sorry He had ever created people. They always lied, cheated, stole, murdered and hurt one another. They were not nice at all! God looked over the whole earth to find someone who was different. He did find 1 very good man called Noah. Noah loved God and obeyed Him. God decided to use Noah to carry out a very great plan.
It was time for the world to be punished. Everything was wrong and nothing was right. God’s plan was to send a HUGE flood to cover the whole world and destroy EVERYTHING! It was a sad and terrible thing for God to have to do and it really did hurt Him in His heart. God said to Noah, ‘Build an ark’. The ark would be a MASSIVE boat. The only safe place on earth. Again God said to Noah, ‘Tell all the wicked people about the flood I’m going to send’. Noah warned the people every day for 120 years but they just said “Ha Ha Ha”, because they were sinful and did not care about what God said. Then God said, ‘Noah take the animals I send to you on board your ark’. ‘Quack Quack’ there were 2 ducks. ‘Moo Moo’ there were 2 cows. Sniffle Snuffle there were 2 aardvarks. 2 of every land animal and bird.
‘Noah get your family and board the ark, now I am sending the flood’, said God. Then the rain came. First just spitting, then raining, then pouring, then gushing, then flooding!! Water came from everywhere. Oh how frightened the people were! But they could not escape. It was all too late! The flood drowned them all! Except of course those people who were safe inside the ark. God looked after Noah, his wife, their children and all the animals. They lived inside the ark for 1 year until finally the flood water dried up and God let them out. How excited they were when they saw God’s new world. They looked around at everything so fresh and clean and thanked God for being so kind in keeping them all safe.
God Has Judged With
Fire
In Sodom & Gomorrah
Sodom and Gomorrah were two very big cities built right next door to each other. Some cities are famous for their food, some cities are famous for their shopping but Sodom and Gomorrah were famous for their sin. How terrible!
Every day the people living in Sodom and Gomorrah did the worst kinds of wicked things. They offended God and made Him very angry. God looked at the 100’s of 1000’s of people living in these cities. Was there 50 good people? What about 40 good people? 20 good people? NO! There were not even 10 good people living in Sodom and Gomorrah! God found just 1 man who had not forgotten Him. The man’s name was Lot. Around dinner time, God sent two angels along to Lot’s house. They came with a very serious and surprising warning, ‘Lot, get your family and get out! These cities have become so sinful that God is going to destroy them!’ So Lot told His family. His sons in law just laughed, they thought he must be joking. Lot’s wife and daughters were not really very worried and Lot did not want to hurry. Early the next morning, the angels had to warn Lot again, ‘Get up! Get out! God is going to punish these cities and you may not escape!’ Lot did not like to leave his home but the angels grabbed him by his hand. They took his wife and his two daughters and pulled them all away to the gate of the city. Then the angels said, ‘Run and do not look behind you. Do not stop running until you reach the safe city.’ How they all ran! Then God’s judgment came. Fire poured out of heaven like rain. There were explosions of petrol, tar, salt and sulphar. Earthquake and lightening turned the cities into something like a volcano. Lot’s family could hear the terrible noise and smell the smoke. Their house was burning. Then Lot’s wife stopped and looked back… she had disobeyed God. Straightaway she turned into a pillar of salt! Lot and his daughters kept running and they escaped. Sodom and Gomorrah were gone. Nothing was left but smoke and ashes. All the people and animals were burnt alive. God had judged sin and it was terrible. This is one of the most serious stories we read of in the whole Bible.
Jesus is coming back to judge the whole world, just as the Bible says.
Today the Gospel Message is going out all over the world.
God is slow to
God does not want
3. God Always Waits Before He Judges
For 120yrs Noah preached of coming judgement. Lot was warned by angels from heaven.
2. God Always Warns Before He Judges
These stories are not fairy tales. They really happened just a few thousand years ago.
1. Gods Judgement is Real
The flood and Sodom & Gomorrah teach us 5 things about Gods final judgement.
Judgement
God’s
Jesus said, ‘Verily I say unto you, he that hears my word and believes on Him who sent me has everlasting life and will not come into judgement but is passed from death to life’ (John 5v24)
When God fiEvery person outside the ark died. nally judges, there Nothing was left of will be no more chances. The Sodom and Gopunishment will be morrah but smoke forever. and ashes.
5. God’s Judgement is Terrible, Inescapable and Final
The ark kept Jesus was judged Noah’s family safe and punished for from drowning. our sins. We will The angels took be safe if He is our Lot’s family to a Saviour. safe city.
4. God Always Makes a Way of Escape From Judgement
get angry. He is anyone to perish. always patient, He is still waiting longsuffering and in 2008 for people merciful to sinners. to repent.
The Final J
- - - - t- -W- ill Wha ?? Ha-p-p-e-n-?- -
“God now commands all men everywhere to repent because He has appointed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by the Man whom He has ordained.” (Acts 17v30-31) The Lord Jesus Christ who came once before has promised to return to earth again. This time He will come in power and glory, with thousands of His holy angels. It will be sudden and unexpected, as startling as a flash of lightening. No one will miss it. Every eye will see Him. It will be the great and glorious appearing of our God and Saviour Jesus Christ. The final intervention of God in human history for the purpose of judgment. This is not merely judgment for a certain group of people, in one place at a particular point in time. This is worldwide. People from every nation and every generation, both those who are living and those who have died, EVERYONE will be involved. It will be a fearful day when Jesus Christ takes total control. In righteous anger He will judge the world. The people who have forgotten their Creator, broken His holy law and rejected His only Son will know the wrath of God poured out in all its power. Each person will stand individually before the Judge. The record books will be opened and everyone will be judged on their thoughts, words and actions even those which are secret and unknown. The judgment will be perfectly fair and true. Every mouth will be shut. A person’s works will be evidence of what they really are; SINNERS. Not one life will measure up to God’s perfect standard; GUILTY! God’s verdict will be final and forever.
Wrath
God’s attitude of righteous anger against sin which is stored up and must eventually break.
Sinners will be punished eternally. They will along with Satan and his legions of angels be cast into the Lake of Fire. With sin removed and every enemy defeated, the Lord Jesus will take His rightful place as King of Kings and Lord of Lords. He will rule and reign in perfect righteousness forever. Further Study: 1 Thess 1:7-10; Jude 1:14-16 2 Pet 3:8-13; Rev 20:11-15; Rom 2:2-11,16
Judgement - - - - -e-s-sage of M But the is... y t i n a i t s Chri- - - - - - - God is Waiting
“The Lord is not slack concerning His promise… but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance” (2 Peter 3v9)
God Has Warned
Jesus’ first coming to earth was predicted 1000’s of years before it actually happened. His second coming has also been predicted. In the very last verses, of the last chapter, of the last book of the bible, Jesus says, ‘Surely I am coming quickly’. Do not ignore the Word of God.
God Has Made a Way of Escape
The Lord Jesus who is the Judge has always known our destiny. He came into the world the first time to seek, to save and to rescue sinners. At that time, God was in Christ not counting our sins against us but reconciling the world to Himself. The Lord Jesus took all the records that make you guilty and nailed them to His cross. He bore your sin in His own body. He was wounded for your transgressions and bruised for your iniquities (Isaiah 53:5). God’s wrath was poured out on Him instead of on you. He took your place and your punishment and died for you. Therefore, through Jesus Christ is preached to you the forgiveness of sins. By Him, everyone who believes is justified from all things. When God forgives and justifies, He once and for all declares you to be righteous. You are free of every charge and record against you. You are NOT GUILTY. It is impossible to be condemned again because you are accepted by God. Christ’s death and resurrection releases believers from ther debt of sin. They are freed from the wrath and rejection of God in the coming, final judgement. One believer put it simply in these words, ‘No other hope, no other plea, He took my place and died for me’. ‘He who believes on the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not believe on the Son shall not see life but the wrath of God abides on him’ (John 3v36) Further Study: 2 Cor 5:18-21; Isaiah 53 Acts 13:38-39; Rom 8:31-39; Rom 5:1-2
Mercy God’s kindness in holding back what we really deserve
Activ Read the words listed below. If a word belongs to the story of the second coming, circle the letter in the ‘yes’ column. If the word does not belong to the story of the second coming, circle the word in letter in the ‘no’ column. 1. Power 2. Glory 3. Television 4. Trumpet 5. Whales 6. Angels 7. Clouds 8. Heaven 9.Computers
YES T H S F Z T H E D
NO X P E Y A Q F N R
Write the circled letters in order below to spell the name of someone who knows when Jesus will return. __ __ __
__ __ __ __ __ __
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vities Heiroglyphics (Hi-ro-glif-ics) are pictures Egyptian people used to write with instead of letters and words. Below is a code made out of REAL Heiroglyphics. The answer is something the Lord Jesus says about His coming.
__ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ Check your answer in Revelation 22:7
Hieroglyphic Code Breaker
A
Z
Find out for yourself which letter each picture stands for. They are in order of the alphabet from A at the top left to Z at the bottom right.
The Back Page Noah... they ate, drank, married… the flood came and destroyed them all As it was in the days of
Lot… they bought, sold, planted, built… the fire came and destroyed them all As it was in the days of
So will it be in the day when the Son of Man is revealed.
Therefore be ready for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.
See Luke 17:26-30 & Matt 24:44
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