Jude 23
“And others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire, hating even the garment spotted by the flesh.”

As a boy growing up, I was never too far from hurricane country. Although our family never had to evacuate, we were the recipients of the torrents of rain that accompany hurricanes and tropical storms. One time, we were directly in the path of the one of the most destructive hurricanes to ever hit South Carolina: Hurricane Hugo. For some reason it skirted my home town of Taylors, South Carolina, much to the relief of everyone in the upstate. It was years after Hugo finally blew itself out before the damage was completely cleaned up, and some of the downed trees were simply left to rot where they fell. A hour’s drive from my house allowed me to witness the terrible destruction the winds had wrought. It was very sobering indeed to behold, but in pondering it all, I came to this conclusion: I would rather be in a hurricane than a tornado.

While my experience was with hurricanes, my Mom worked for a time in a section of the country called “Tornado Alley.” She tells the story of a normal day at work when she heard a frightening sound across the street. She worked in the basement of a bank in Etna Green, Indiana. She described the sound she heard as something resembling a locomotive ripping up the row of shops across the street from her. Tellers from upstairs came down to where she was working, white as sheets, so great was their terror. A tornado had actually touched down right across the street from the bank. Comparing the two stories, I must concur with my original analysis: the hurricane is the lesser of two evils.

The simple reason for my opinion is this: there is at least some warning of a hurricane. True, no hurricane is perfectly predictable, but there is at least a ball park estimate of where it will do its worst. Anyone in the cone is forewarned having only themselves to blame should disaster strike.

Though God is the author of both hurricane and tornado, His judgments in spiritual matters are more often like the hurricane rather than the tornado. That is, He gives the sinner fair warning of judgment before the judgment falls. Before the flood, Enoch preached against the ungodliness of the Antedeluvian civilization, according to Jude 14. Noah, too, preached in that day, being known as a “preacher of righteousness” in 2 Peter 2:5. Two angels came to Sodom to warn Lot of the coming destruction of the cities of the plain, as narrated in Genesis 19. Exodus 7-11 chronicles how Moses warned Pharaoh of the coming judgments if he failed to let Israel go. After being in the land for many years, Israel asked for a king.

After being in the land for many years, Israel asked for a king. Monarchy was short-lived as far the united nation was concerned and soon God’s people found themselves split between north (Israel) and south (Judah). Israel never saw a good king their entire existence and, not surprisingly, saw God’s judgment first. Judgment never came without ample warning, however. An unnamed prophet pronounced God’s judgment on Jereboam’s idolatry in 1 Kings 13. The flamboyant Elijah and his protege Elisha constantly denounced sin and iterated its consequences throughout their ministries. Hosea and Amos also prophesied of the coming judgment if Israel refused to repent. Judgment finally came in 722 B.C. when the Assyrians wasted Samaria and carried the northern kingdom into captivity. The southern kingdom, though it had bright spots in its history, also went astray from their God. Like Israel, they rebelled and like Israel, they were adequately warned. Isaiah, Micah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Joel, Habakkuk, and Zephaniah all gave warnings of judgments that would fall on Judah. Both nations were terribly judged, but not before they were given ample warning and space to repent. The writer of 2 Kings is careful to point this out as he offers spiritual commentary on the destruction of Samaria. He says in 2 Kings 17:13: “Yet the LORD testified against Israel, and against Judah, by all the prophets, and by all the seers, saying, ‘Turn ye from your evil ways, and keep my commandments and my statutes, according to all the law which I commanded your fathers, and which I sent to you by my servants the prophets.’ ” The God of judgment in the Bible is also a God of prior warning.

Whereas the Old Testament primarily shows God dealing on a national level, the New Testament portrays the working of God on an individual level. The judgments of the Old Testament are primarily judgments on nations whereas the judgments in the New are on individuals. In the Old Testament, prophets implored the nation to repent whereas today, God “commandeth all men [individually] everywhere to repent (Acts 17:30).” Spiritually, every lost man today is in the cone of the most horrid hurricane imaginable: the storm of God’s wrath. Consider the following sobering statements:

He that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. John 3:18 He that hath not the son of God shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him. John 3:36 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness. Romans 1:18 And to you who are troubled rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. 2 Thessalonians 1:7-8

Any man born again has a responsibility to give the message of warning to lost and dying sinners. Jude tells us that the manner of our witness should have a note of urgency, as if sinners were already in the fire and we are the ones to pull them out. In modern day analogy, we are God’s National Weather Service. Hurricane Wrath is heading for every sinner we meet and we must give him warning.

I recently was speaking to a Christian man who had come to cut grass at an independent Baptist church. He began talking about the horrific state of American morality and began elucidating on the judgment of God that is already on this nation. Whether God will judge America, whether He must apologize to Sodom if He does not, whether He is currently judging America – these are not the questions. (I especially take issue with anyone who asserts that God must ever apologize for anything.) The question for you, Christian American, is this: How many did you warn today? While it may satisfy our egos to surmise new illuminations on current events as they relate to God’s judgment, what good can it possibly do for those still in the path of God’s wrath? Don’t take time out of your day to educate an independent Baptist evangelist on God’s judgment; take the time and energy to tell a sinner. If our churches spent the same effort on evangelism, the national ills might just find their own solutions. Many years ago, someone observed: “It is better to light one candle than to curse the darkness.”

Christian, go out and find a sinner today and warn him lovingly and urgently of God’s coming judgment.