Billions of people throughout the world were shocked and horrified when they learned about the May 2-3 tropical cyclone Nargis which hit the coast of Myanmar with winds exceeding 190 kilometers per hour. It continued for more than ten hours, flattening homes, uprooting trees and toppling power lines. “In rural parts of the country up to 95 per cent of the homes were wiped off the face of the earth. The International Federation estimates that more than two million people have lost their homes or been severely affected,” (1).Today ”nearly four weeks after Cyclone Nargis pummeled large swathes of Myanmar and left more than 133,000 people dead and missing, foreign aid has still only reached 40 percent of the 2.4 million needy survivors, the United Nations said. Inciting international outrage, Myanmar’s isolated military had largely barred foreign aid workers from gaining access to the southwest Irrawaddy Delta, which bore the brunt of the May 2-3 cyclone, (2).

In Sichuan, China which had a population of 20 million people, a magnitude 7.9 earthquake struck on May 12^th. This was followed by an aftershock leaving 23,775 people missing with the total death toll expected to exceed 80,000. “Public demand for news after the earthquake in Sichuan has forced the Chinese government to relax its controls over the flow of information online and in traditional media. The Chinese people saw images of children’s limbs protruding from the rubble of school buildings and heard heartbreaking stories of victims dying just minutes before rescuers reached them, (3). Personally I can’t imagine any decent human being not feeling sickened by such tragic events.

Now allow me to ask you folks a few questions: suppose a fictitious person I’ll call Harry had advance knowledge of these natural disasters and absolutely nothing could have prevented Harry from warning those poor people in plenty of time to flee. Every one of them could have been spared such horrific grief if they heeded the warning, but Harry deliberately chose not to warn them. What kind of an answer do you think Harry could come up with which would convince the judge to acquit him if he was brought to trial for his apparent apathy? If it was a jury trial, and you were a member of the jury, do you know what your verdict would be? Would the fact that Harry was a professed follower of the Lord Jesus Christ, perhaps even a member of your church, persuade you to cut Harry some slack? To whom would you compare such a person? How about the likes of a Hitler, Stalin or Sadam Husain? Satan incarnate (in the flesh)comes to my mind?

In case you’re wondering why I’m asking these kinds of rhetorical questions about an imaginary person and the decision he freely made, allow me to explain. According to God’s Word, the spirits of those dead people right now are either in a place called Heaven or Hell. Their Christian loved ones and you and I can take comfort in knowing that our brothers and sisters in Christ who lost their lives in those disasters are in the presence of the Lord enjoying indescribable happiness. But now let’s look at what Jesus said about what those poor victims who were not covered by His precious Blood are experiencing. Enduring those natural disasters will seem like “a piece of cake,” so to speak, in comparison to the torments of Hell.

(1) Matthew 25:46 (ESV) ⁴⁶ And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”

Matthew 25:41 (ESV) ⁴¹ “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.

Matthew 13:42 & 50 (ESV) ⁴² and throw them into the fiery furnace. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

Revelation 20:15 (ESV) ¹⁵ And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.

Revelation 14:10 (ESV) ¹⁰ he also will drink the wine of God’s wrath, poured full strength into the cup of his anger, and he will be tormented with fire and sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb.

Matthew 3:12 (ESV) ¹² His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor and gather his wheat into the barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.”

Matthew 8:12 (ESV) ¹² while the sons of the kingdom will be thrown into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”

Revelation 20:10 (ESV) ¹⁰ and the devil who had deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur where the beast and the false prophet were, and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.

Matthew 5:29 (ESV) ²⁹ If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body be thrown into hell.

Matthew 10:28 (ESV) ²⁸ And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell.

Earlier I asked what you would think of a man I named Harry who had an opportunity to caution a lot of people about how to avoid such eternal horror, but didn’t do so as Jesus did. He warned His hearers about a dreadful day which will come. It’s referred to as “Judgment Day”, and He certainly had much to say about it.

(2) Matthew 25:31-32 (ESV) ³¹ “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. ³² Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.

Matthew 11:22 (ESV) ²² But I tell you, it will be more bearable on the day of judgment for Tyre and Sidon than for you.

Mark 6:11 (ESV) ¹¹ And if any place will not receive you and they will not listen to you, when you leave, shake off the dust that is on your feet as a testimony against them.”

Luke 12:48 (ESV) ⁴⁸ But the one who did not know, and did what deserved a beating, will receive a light beating. Everyone to whom much was given, of him much will be required, and from him to whom they entrusted much, they will demand the more.

John 3:19 (ESV) ¹⁹ And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their deeds were evil.

John 9:41 (ESV) ⁴¹ Jesus said to them, “If you were blind, you would have no guilt; but now that you say, ‘We see,’ your guilt remains.

John 15:22 (ESV) ²² If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have been guilty of sin, but now they have no excuse for their sin.

What kind of a defense can you visualize Harry offering on “Judgment Day,” when, although he had many opportunities to warn countless people of how to escape Hell’s eternal horror, he didn’t? If any of you are wondering what my fictitious person could have offered those people the reason as to how they got into such a predicament in the first place, he could take them back to the dawn of human history and Adam and Eve, the first humans God created.

(3) Genesis 2:16-17 (ESV) ¹⁶ And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, ¹⁷ but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”

Genesis 3:1-7 (ESV) ¹ Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?” ² And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, ³ but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’ ” ⁴ But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. ⁵ For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” ⁶ So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate. ⁷ Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths.

They had just suffered immediate spiritual death as a consequence and every one of their descendants entered this world in the same terrible condition. The great Apostle Paul reminded the early Christians of this awful fact. Addressing the early Christians, Paul wrote:

(4)Romans 5:12 (ESV) ¹² Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned—

Ephesians 2:1-3 (ESV) ¹ And you were dead in the trespasses and sins ² in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— ³ among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.

Colossians 2:13 (ESV) ¹³ And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses,

The Holy Spirit inspired King David to acknowledge the truth of fallen mankind’s dilemma.

(5) Psalms 51:5 (ESV) ⁵ Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me.

Psalms 58:3 (ESV) ³ The wicked are estranged from the womb; they go astray from birth, speaking lies.

Now what I have been speaking about is bad, really bad news for the entire human race. And unless something is done about it, no one will be able to enter into the Kingdom of God and escape the eternal torments of Hell. However, Jesus said much about how man can get out of his predicament and did everything necessary to make that possible on Calvary. Read the following which the Holy Spirit made certain the Apostle John would record the following memorial words:

(6) John 1:12-13 (ESV) ¹² But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, ¹³ who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.

John 3:5-7 (ESV) ⁵ Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. ⁶ That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. ⁷ Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’

Jesus also insisted there is absolutely nothing any human being can do to remedy his or her pitiful condition. Those Jews Jesus spoke to would have would have been very familiar with the following.

(7)Genesis 6:5 (ESV) ⁵ The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.

Genesis 8:21 (ESV) ²¹ And when the Lord smelled the pleasing aroma, the Lord said in his heart, “I will never again curse the ground because of man, for the intention of man’s heart is evil from his youth.

Ecclesiastes 9:3 (ESV) ³ the hearts of the children of man are full of evil, and madness is in their hearts while they live, and after that they go to the dead.

Jeremiah 17:9 (ESV) ⁹ The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?

Mark 7:21-23 (ESV) ²¹ For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, ²² coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. ²³ All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.”

John 3:19 (ESV) ¹⁹ And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their deeds were evil.

Romans 8:7-8 (ESV) ⁷ For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law; indeed, it cannot. ⁸ Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.

1 Corinthians 2:14 (ESV) ¹⁴ The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned.

Ephesians 5:8 (ESV) ⁸ for at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light

Titus 1:15 (ESV) ¹⁵ To the pure, all things are pure, but to the defiled and unbelieving, nothing is pure; but both their minds and their consciences are defiled.

Harry, the alleged follower of Christ could have done everything possible to dispel the myth of the universal brotherhood of man. Harry could have driven home the truth of what the One he professes to follow once said, but he didn’t. How sweet it would have been to have heard Harry echo these words of Jesus when He addressed multitudes of unbelievers.

(8) John 8:44 (ESV) ⁴⁴ You are of your father the devil and your will is to do your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and has nothing to do with the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies.

Harry could have told those people to consider what Paul, John and Titus had to say about human’s beings being enslaved by Satan, and their will being held in bondage to sin, but he didn’t.

(9)Ephesians 2:1-2 (ESV) ¹ And you were dead in the trespasses and sins ² in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience—

2 Timothy 2:25-26 (ESV) ²⁵ correcting his opponents with gentleness. God may perhaps grant them repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth, ²⁶ and they may escape from the snare of the devil, after being captured by him to do his will.

1 John 3:10 (ESV) ¹⁰ By this it is evident who are the children of God, and who are the children of the devil: whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is the one who does not love his brother.

1 John 5:19 (ESV) ¹⁹ We know that we are from God, and the whole world lies in the power of the evil one.

John 8:34 (ESV) ³⁴ Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is a slave to sin.

Romans 6:20 (ESV) ²⁰ When you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness.

Titus 3:3 (ESV) ³ For we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to various passions and pleasures, passing our days in malice and envy, hated by others and hating one another.

Harry didn’t share these truths. Nor did he point out the fact that there is absolutely nothing anyone can do about it, or another person can do on their behalf. He never took advantage of his God given opportunity to challenge all those unbelievers.

(10)Job 14:4 (ESV) ⁴ Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? There is not one.

Jeremiah 13:23 (ESV) ²³ Can the Ethiopian change his skin or the leopard his spots? Then also you can do good who are accustomed to do evil.

Matthew 7:16-18 (ESV) ¹⁶ You will recognize them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thorn bushes, or figs from thistles? ¹⁷ So, every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit. ¹⁸ A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit.

Matthew 12:33 (ESV) ³³ “Either make the tree good and its fruit good, or make the tree bad and its fruit bad, for the tree is known by its fruit.

John 6:44 (ESV) ⁴⁴ No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day.

John 6:65 (ESV) ⁶⁵ And he said, “This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted him by the Father.”

In closing I want to say that just as in the past several sermons I used an imaginary person I called Douglas to convey spiritual truth to you folks; today I deliberately reversed that approach in an effort to achieve the same result. In other words, although I referred to him as a fictional character named Harry, I have been speaking about a real person, who, although he recently had the responsibility and many opportunities to share these spiritual truths with billions of people, deliberately chose not to do so. On the “Day of Judgment,” I can’t help wondering what the Pope will say about the content of the speeches he chose to give during his recent visit to America. He spoke about symptoms (war, poverty, hunger, pedophile priests, forgiveness etc.) but not a mention of the real problem which is sin and fallen man’s rebellion against his Creator. Nor did he mention the necessity of accepting the love of Jesus as the only cure. Finally, I urge each of you to continue fighting in the spiritual war we are all engaged in, and frequently lift up in fervent prayer all those men God has called and ordained to proclaim the Gospel as Paul asked the Ephesians to do for him.

(11)Ephesians 6:18-20 (ESV) ¹⁸ praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints, ¹⁹ and also for me, that words may be given to me in opening my mouth boldly to proclaim the mystery of the gospel, ²⁰ for which I am an ambassador in chains, that I may declare it boldly, as I ought to speak..

May it please the Lord to make these words of my mouth and thoughts of my heart a blessing to all who have just heard this message, and everyone who may read it later. Lord willing, on Father’s Day….

(1)INTERNATIONAL FEDERATION OF RED CROSS AND RED CRESCENT SOCIETIES http://www.ifrc.org/what/disasters/response/myanmarnargis/index.asp?gclid=CNW1_LqL1JMCFQQcHgodzV_zhg

(2)INTERNATIONAL HERALD TRIBUNE

(3) THE WASHINGTON TIMES-NATIONAL WEEKLY EDITION MAY 26, 2008