Who Shall Be Able To Stand?

The Day of The Lord

Isaiah 2:12-Isaiah 3:26

Revelation 6:12-17

Who Shall Be Able To Stand?

Revelation 6:17

“For the great day of His wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?”

n other words, unless you are protected by the covenant which God has set up with His people, you will not be able to remain standing upright. Your sins have never been forgiven. You are not covered by His grace, nor have you accepted His mercy. You are lost and undone. There is nowhere for you to go to escape from such great wrath, when that horrific day appears.

As previously stated in verses 15, 16 “And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every free man, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains; And said to the mountains and rocks, 'Fall on us, and hide us from the face of Him that sits on the throne, and from the wrath of The Lamb”, no one will escape punishment from God for ignoring Him. They who denied His existence will be condemned by their actions and judged for their unbelief.

With God, time has no meaning. Though the days are ordained from Genesis, where we are told He created day and night here on earth, time does not exist in heaven. 2 Peter 3:8 “But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with The Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.” From the moment the cries of God's people begin until they reach His ear may seem like hundreds of years to mankind, it is but an instant in God's hearing. Revelation 6:10 “And they cried with a loud voice, saying, 'How long, O Lord, holy and true, until You judge and avenge our blood on them that live on the earth?'”

There are two days you and I should be concerned with: Today and The Day of The Lord. The first, Today, is all you have to get ready for the other. 2 Corinthians 6:2 “For He says, 'I have heard you in a time accepted, and in the day of salvation have I helped you: behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.” Today is your day of salvation. Tomorrow is not promised. If tomorrow never comes, how can you say “I will do it tomorrow”?

Many have heard, but not all have heard, of the gospel of salvation, G.R.A.C.E.: God's Riches At Christ's Expense. I'll bet most can recite John 3:16, but how many of you know what that verse really means, or means to you personally? “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes on Him shall not perish, but have ever lasting life.” God loves us so much He did not ask His Son to go, He sent Him to die in our place. He gave Him to us as our sin offering, the Lamb of God, which takes away the sins of the world, the whole world, from time begun until time ends. That is an awful lot of sins. And every one of those sins was laid across His back, one whiplash at a time. Jesus was so covered in the sins of the world, that God could neither look at His Son nor be with Him at the time of His crucifixion; for God is holy.

Whosoever means me. Whosoever means you. Whosoever means anyone can believe on The Name of The Lord Jesus Christ for salvation. Water baptism will not save you. Immersion in water after salvation is a public display of our conversion: we are saying to our family and friends and strangers and enemies that once we were sinners but now are we saints because we believe that Jesus Christ is Lord and Savior of our lives, our souls. Once we lived as the world lives, for self: it's all about me life-style and habits. Now, we live for Jesus: it's all about Him. Today is our day of salvation. “For whosoever shall call upon The Name of The Lord shall be saved.” - Romans 10:13.

Romans 3:10-18 “As it is written, 'There is none righteous, no, not one: There is none that seeks after God. They are all gone out of The Way, they are together become unprofitable: there is none that does good, no, not one. Their throat is an open sepulchre; with their tongues they have used deceit; the poison of asps is under their lips: Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness: Their feet are swift to shed blood: Destruction and misery are in their ways: And the way of Peace they do not know: There is no fear of God before their eyes.” This is the unbeliever. This is the unrepentant backslider, one who once accepted Christ and then rejected Christ. This is the sinner who was not saved by grace. This is the false teacher, the false prophet, the fake, the liar, the deceiver.

Jesus says if we even think about doing harm to anyone, we have committed murder in our hearts, and therefore we are just as guilty as the one who literally took a life from another. If we participate in sexual immorality, whether in the physical sense or in our thoughts, there is no difference in God's sight: both actions are condemned and deserve God's wrath. Stealing a grape from the grocer is just as wicked as stealing money from the bank; stealing possessions and stealing trust are equal: a thief is a thief. “As a man thinks in his heart, so is he.” - Proverbs 23:7a. Who you really are and who the world sees could be two different things, and usually is. But God looks only at the heart of mankind. 1 Samuel 16:7 “But The Lord said unto Samuel, 'Look not on his face, or on his stature; because I have refused him: FOR THE LORD SEES NOT AS MAN SEES; for man looks on the outward appearance, BUT THE LORD LOOKS ON THE HEART.” Romans 3:23 “For ALL have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.”

Romans 5:8 “BUT GOD commended His love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” See, God did not wait for us to clean ourselves up and then come to Him. No matter how good we think we are, we will never be good enough to see God and live for ever in His presence. Isaiah 64:6 “But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.” While we may seem 'good enough' in our own eyes, we will never be 'good enough' for God: for God is holy.

Romans 6:23 “For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” A gift is something that is exchanged between friends, given in love to bring joy to the receiver. This is the salvation of The Lord. Once we have repented of our sins to God and received salvation through Jesus Christ, His death, His blood washes away our sins; His burial and His resurrection is our hope of eternal life in Him. It is a gift from God. Salvation cannot be earned, nor can it be bought. No matter how many little gold plaques your name is engraved on, your salvation depends on your believing in Jesus Christ as Lord.  

Hell was not created to hold people. It is God's will that all be saved, but He does not force us into His plan of salvation. He loves us enough to let us choose. We are all preordained to salvation, but not all of us have chosen salvation. Of the many gifts God has given us, one of these gifts is free will. It is the gift of being able to decide on any idea and bring it into existence. We choose who we will follow. By not choosing God's plan of salvation for our inheritance, we inherit nothing. We are written out of God's will and cast into eternal damnation in hell and the lake of fire. For those who choose not to believe, there will be two deaths: the first is death in hell; the second is hell in the lake of fire.

Yes, I am a fire and brimstone preacher. But I am also a believer who has not only received this grace, this gift of life eternal, from God, but I am a believer who re-gifts. I share God's plan of salvation, God's will, with you. I want you to be saved. I want you to spend eternity with God and with me. I want to see your face, your smile, your spirit in heaven beside me. I have God's heart in me, and I want to see God's salvation in you. But you have to make that decision, that choice. I cannot make it for you. Salvation must be accepted on an individual level, with understanding and knowledge.

Romans 10:9, 10 “That if you shall confess with your mouth The Lord Jesus, and shall believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you shall be saved. For with the heart we believe unto righteousness; and with the mouth (our) confession is made unto salvation.” And now we come back to the heart of the matter. The heart is the seat of emotions, the throne room, if you will, of whichever destination we have chosen. If evil lies in the heart, then evil thoughts invade the mind and evil words come out of the mouth ('I wish you were dead' and 'Idiot driver' are only two of these evil phrases). Gossip, revenge, workplace theft, violence on any level, getting even, pranks, pride, arrogance, and the list goes on of all the evils in the world and in the heart.

When you repent of your sins to God and accept the forgiveness of Him through The Lord Jesus Christ, and you make this statement out loud in the presence of people, witnesses to your conversion, you are confessing that Jesus Christ is Lord. You can believe in your heart that Jesus Christ is Lord and not say it out loud, but your actions will give you away. But, if you say out loud that you believe and your actions prove otherwise, you are just another liar and not a believer at all. Matthew 7:21 “Not everyone who says unto Me, 'Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that does the will of My Father, who is in heaven.”

“He who does the will”. So what is God's will that we must do? 1 Timothy 2:4-6 “Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus; Who gave Himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time.” God's will is that we be saved through Jesus Christ. Plain and simple gospel of salvation.

Romans 10:13 “For whosoever shall call upon The Name of The Lord shall be saved.” Man, woman, boy, girl: whosoever means you.

Your only means of escape from The Great and Terrible Day of The Lord is salvation through Jesus Christ. If you repent of your sins and depart from your wicked ways, you shall be saved. If you do not, you will not.