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Jacob was raised in the home of the patriarch Isaac. His grandfather, the patriarch Abraham, lived near Jacob’s home. Jacob heard about God from these great and holy men all his life – but he himself did not know God personally. His father and grandfather knew God, but Jacob did not know Him. God was only a word that he memorized. We are not surprised when we learn that he never thought about God. He lived in rebellion and sin. Like young Samuel, Jacob “did not yet know the Lord” (I Samuel 3:7).

Last night Dr. Waldrip spoke about having a “God moment,” a moment when God makes Himself real to you. That is not when you become a Christian. But it is an experience which must happen before you can be converted. If you feel that you have always known there is a God, then you probably had an experience so early in life that you have forgotten the exact moment when God made Himself real to you. Others have several “God moments,” as I did a number of times before I was converted. I could truthfully have said several times as a young person,

“Surely the Lord is in this place; and I knew it not”
       (Genesis 28:16).

But Jacob was not converted then. He was converted later at Peniel, which means “the face of God,” when he came face to face with the preincarnate Christ (see Genesis 32:24-30). Yet Jacob first became aware of God here at Bethel, which means “the house of God.”

“And Jacob awaked out of his sleep, and he said, Surely the Lord is in this place; and I knew it not” (Genesis 28:16).

Jacob’s waking out of sleep is a picture of a sinner at the beginning of awakening. Before awakening begins a lost person is described as “having no hope, and without God in the world” (Ephesians 2:12).

I wonder if that isn’t true of you. On Monday night a person who has been in church many years told me that God has never seemed real. This person prays for at least ten minutes every day. This person attends church every Wednesday night, every Sunday morning, and every Sunday night – and has done so for many long years. But God has never been real to that person! This person has studied the Bible year after year. This person has heard many hundreds of sermons. Yet God is not in any of it. I asked this person, “Where is God in all your religious activities?” This person could not answer. This person is described by those awful words, “having no hope, and without God in the world.” Is that your case tonight? Does this describe you?

Several Chinese young people, who have recently come to church, told us they have never had a “God moment.” Here we are, preaching the Gospel of Christ to people who don’t believe in God in any real way! Many others are in the same condition. We are telling you that you need Christ’s atonement to save you from the wrath of God – whom you do not really believe exists!

I am afraid that we must emphasize the basic fact that you have “no hope, and [are] without God in the world.” Before you can come under conviction of sin, and feel that you have offended God by your sin, you must feel that there really is a God, whom you have offended by sinning for,

“Without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is…” (Hebrews 11:6).

Tonight it is not my purpose to convince you that God is real by giving you arguments and proofs of the existence of God. No argument or teaching I could ever give would convince you, deep in your heart, that God exists. I can only tell you the truth – if you have no God, then you have no hope. No hope at all! None! I can only say that you are in a horrible condition, “having no hope, and without God in the world.” My long-time Chinese pastor Dr. Timothy Lin used to say, “No light, no life, equal to no hope!” I can only say that you will live your life without hope if you have no belief in God. That’s the way most people live, “having no hope, and without God in the world.” That’s the way Jacob lived until that dark night of the soul when “Jacob awaked out of his sleep, and he said, Surely the Lord is in this place; and I knew it not.”

Will you ever have a “God moment”? Will there ever be a time when you are awakened out of the sleep of death and really believe in God? Will you ever be able to say, “Surely the Lord is in this place, and I knew it not”? Perhaps not. Perhaps you will never have such an experience with God. Perhaps God will never be real to you.

You will never have an experience with God if you are not one of the elect. Someone may say, “This is high Calvinism indeed!” But it is not. It is simply a Bible truth. Jacob had a brother named Esau. Jacob was awakened out of his sleep and felt the presence of God. But Esau never ever had an experience like that. Esau lived and died “having no hope, and without God in the world.” And God said, “Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated” (Romans 9:13).

“…Esau, who for one morsel of meat sold his birthright. For ye know how that afterward, when he would have inherited the blessing, he was rejected: for he found no place of repentance, though he sought it carefully with tears” (Hebrews 12:16-17).

My mother, Cecelia, had six brothers and sisters. There were seven children. I knew all of them well, four sisters and three brothers. They are all dead now. All but Mother lived and died, “having no hope, and without God in the world.” They were very poor when they were little children. All of them slept in one room. They teased my mother because she wanted to pray before going to sleep. Teasing is a very powerful motivator when you are six years old. Cecelia said that each night she would wait and wait and wait – until she knew all the others were asleep. Then she would quietly slip out of bed, get down on her knees and whisper her prayers. She told me, “Robert, I always believed in God.” None of the others did. I knew them all very well. Cecelia wasn’t saved until she was eighty years old. Dr. Cagan led my mother to Christ. But she believed in God for years before she was saved. Six brothers and sisters went to Hell. Why was my mother the only one saved? I know not how to explain it apart from election. The Bible says that some are,

“Elect according to the foreknowledge of God” (I Peter 1:2).

And if you are not one of the elect, then you will never be “awaked out of [your] sleep, and [say], Surely the Lord is in this place; and I knew it not.” If you are not one of the elect, you will go on and on as you are, “having no hope, and without God in the world.” You will never be converted if you are not one of the elect.

“And Jacob awaked out of his sleep, and he said, Surely the Lord is in this place; and I knew it not” (Genesis 28:16).

That will never happen to you if you are not one of the elect!

Then, too, you will never have such an experience if you have committed the unpardonable sin.

“And the Lord said, My spirit shall not always strive with man…” (Genesis 6:3).

Dr. John R. Rice said, “There is a sin, if a man commits it, ‘it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this world, neither in the world to come.’ There is an unpardonable sin” (John R. Rice, D.D., “Crossing the Deadline,” Sword of the Lord Publishers, 1953, p. 1). Dr. Rice said he believed Judas committed the unpardonable sin. Dr. Rice said,

Judas must have meant to do right. He must have made holy resolves. But he waited…he delayed. He turned down the Saviour in his heart, though outwardly he was a disciple. And at long last…Judas made the final decision. His character hardened…He cast the die, once and for all, against Christ. Satan entered into him, and he went out that night to make his wicked bargain and betray Jesus for thirty pieces of silver. I believe that Judas committed the unpardonable sin (Rice, ibid., page 16).

Dr. Rice said that the unpardonable sin is the sin of rejecting Christ repeatedly until the heart is hardened. The unpardonable sin is a sin against great light and long extended mercy. The unpardonable sin is particularly against the Holy Spirit, who calls the sinner by conviction.

What are the results of the unpardonable sin? The sinner’s heart becomes hardened, set against God, set against Christ, and so will never be converted. God’s Spirit no longer calls the forsaken sinner. I warn you tonight, do not trifle with the patience of God! (cf. Rice, ibid., pp. 18-27).

Then it will be too late! Then the Holy Spirit will leave you forever! Then you will never be awakened from the sleep of sin and death. Then you will never feel “Surely the Lord is in this place.” Then you will never be convicted of sin. Then, for ever and ever, you will have “no hope, and [be] without God in the world.” Lost and hopeless, you will die in your sins, and fall into the fiery pit of Hell.

Then how sad facing judgment, you’ll recall with no mercy
That you tarried and lingered till the Spirit was gone;
What reproaches and mourning, if when death finds you hopeless,
You have tarried and lingered and have waited too long!
   (“If You Linger Too Long” by Dr. John R. Rice, 1895-1980).

If you do not believe in God, and do not come to Christ in this life, you will not experience God in Hell. At death, your soul will fall immediately into the flames. But you will not feel God’s presence. The rich man died, “And in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom” (Luke 16:23). He could somehow see Abraham and Lazarus in Heaven. But he could not see or feel God.

No, when you go to Hell you will be separated from God for at least 1,000 years. At the end of over 1,000 years you will be dragged out of Hell and then you will experience God face to face for the first time in your life!

“And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works. And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire” (Revelation 20:11-15).

Your sins, every one of them, every evil word, every evil thought, every secret sin, every theft, every lie – every sin of omission, every sin of commission – all are recorded in God’s Books in Heaven. When you stand before God at the Great White Throne Judgment, the Last Judgment of the Unsaved Dead, God will read your sins out of His Books,

“That every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God” – including you! (Romans 3:19).

That will be the only time you will have a “God moment” – when you “stand before God and the books [are] opened” (Revelation 20:12) – your sins are read from the Books, and you are cast into “the lake of fire” (Revelation 20:14). That will be your only “God moment,” and it will be horrible!

The only way to have your sins blotted out of those Books is by the Blood of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. If you refuse to come to Christ you have no hope, no hope at all, either in this world or the world to come.

Then how sad facing judgment, you’ll recall with no mercy
That you tarried and lingered till the Spirit was gone;
What reproaches and mourning, if when death finds you hopeless,
You have tarried and lingered and have waited too long!
   (“If You Linger Too Long” by Dr. John R. Rice, 1895-1980).

(END OF SERMON)
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Scripture Read Before the Sermon by Dr. Kreighton L. Chan: Ephesians 2:11-13.
Solo Sung Before the Sermon by Mr. Benjamin Kincaid Griffith:
“If You Linger Too Long” (by Dr. John R. Rice, 1895-1980).