1.     Last Lord’s Day morning I was eating my breakfast in the Amerisuite Hotel in Greenville, SC.  As I sat there and ate I glanced up at a television that was showing some of the winds and rain of Hurricane Katrina.

2.     What a week it has been!   I do not need to go over the story with you.  I am sure most of you have heard the horrible reports – New Orleans totally submerged under water, the city evacuated, murder and mayhem in the Superdome and on the streets, dead bodies everywhere, angry people cursing and complaining, and looting and shooting, and raping and killing.

3.     Everywhere there is filth and stench.  No clean water, no medicine, no electricity, no food, and for many there is no hope.

4.     But according to the Bible, “The LORD hath prepared his throne in the heavens; and his kingdom ruleth over all” (Psalm 103:19).

5.     Spurgeon: “To us the world may seem rent with anarchy, but he brings order out of confusion. The warring elements are marching beneath his banner when they most wildly rush onward in furious tempest. Great and small, intelligent and material, willing and unwilling, fierce or gentle, — all, all are under his sway. His is the only universal monarchy, he is the blessed and only Potentate, King of kings and Lord of lords” (Treasury of David).

6.     Thursday morning we drove home from North Carolina and we listened to the radio.  Everyone was talking about the hurricane but no one mentioned God.

7.     It is devastating what is happening in the Gulf Coast, especially in New Orleans.  Officials are warning that in addition to the angry gangs of looters and arsonists, the area will soon be crawling with alligators and snakes.  The stench of urine and feces is everywhere. 

8.     But according to the Bible, what is happening in New Orleans is nothing compared to what will happen in the coming tribulation (Rev. 6:12-17; 9:20, 21; 16:8-11, 20, 21).  Cf. Rev. 4 & 5 – God’s throne.

9.     September 11^th was a wake-up call for America but after about two or three weeks America forgot all about God.  Now God has sent another warning.   What will it take for America to repent?

10. This world is falling apart, but God is in control (Psalm 103:19). 

I.      LET US CONSIDER THE MERCY OF GOD (PS. 103:8-11, 17).

1.     God gave the people of New Orleans plenty of time to repent and plenty of time to escape.  But just like the wicked sinners of Sodom & Gomorrah, many of the people of New Orleans did not take the warnings seriously.

2.     There is a spiritual lesson here: preachers warn sinners about hell and judgment but they will not listen.  But then the day finally comes when they are cast off into hell and they curse God with bitter tears – weeping and wailing and gnashing their teeth.

3.     You may recall that it was exactly one year ago that Hurricane Ivan hit the Caribbean, destroying homes and killing many people in Jamaica and some of the other islands.

4.     The city of New Orleans was warned, but Ivan missed the city and there was minimal damage to the Gulf Coast (cf. II Peter 3:3-9).

5.     Here is another interesting fact: even the problems that occurred at the Superdome this week had a precedent – during a threat by Hurricane Georges in 1998. An estimated 14,000 people poured into the stadium.  They tore the place apart; theft and vandalism were rampant.

6.     Both Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco and New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin admitted after Hurricane Ivan that they needed a better evacuation plan.   But now the mayor blames everyone else for the fiasco in New Orleans.

7.     I have read a few newspaper articles about New Orleans, and I notice that it is often referred to as “the Big Easy.”  I do not know where that term originated but I suspect the idea is “easy to sin.”

8.     Yes, it is easy to sin but we must always remember that God judges sin.  A few articles referred to New Orleans as a “fun-loving city.”  They really mean a “sin-loving city.”

9.     New Orleans is known for the Mardi Gras, voodoo and witchcraft, drunkenness, nightclubs, brothels, worldly music, gambling, drugs, crime, homosexuality and all sorts of wickedness.  

10. The mayor (himself a very worldly and vulgar man) said in an interview that desperate drug addicts were breaking into drugstores and hospitals looking for drugs.

11. Listen to this article: “Hurricane Katrina walloped New Orleans just two days before the annual homosexual ‘Southern Decadence’ festival was to begin…Southern Decadence has a history of filling the French Quarters section of the city with drunken homosexuals engaging in sex acts in the public streets and bars.”

II.  LET US CONSIDER THE ANGER OF GOD (103:9).

1.     No one likes to consider the wrath and anger of God (cf. Rev. 6:12-17).

2.     God sent a worldwide flood in the days of Noah (Genesis 6:5-13).

3.     Second Peter 2:5 says God “spared not the old world, but saved Noah the eighth person, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly.”

4.     God promised that He would never destroy the world again with water (next time He will use fire), but that does not mean He cannot destroy a few wicked cities like New Orleans. 

5.     Which city will be next?  New York?

6.     In 1806 there was a terrible earthquake in San Francisco.  At that time it was the worst natural disaster in our nation's history.  It was chaotic and similar in many ways to what happened last week in New Orleans.  There was some looting and so the mayor announced that looters would be shot on sight. 

7.     In the midst of all the devastation, Harry Ironside walked the streets of San Francisco.  He reported that most sinners were hard and impenitent.  Ironside also said that liberal preachers assured lost sinners that God had nothing to do with the earthquake.

8.     “Not the least solemn thing noticed was the persistent efforts of the preachers of all denominations to quiet the fears of the populace by assuring them that God had no part in the calamitous events that had taken place.  Natural causes explained everything!  This the Christless were only too ready to believe; and thus were their partially awakened consciences lulled to rest and their ears closed against the voice of God” (Ironside, Minor Prophets, p. 159).

9.     Here is a Biblical principle: God does not keep (reserve or retain) His anger for ever with the penitent (103:9).  But when it comes to the wicked, God does keep His anger, and His anger builds and builds until it explodes like Hurricane Katrina upon the heads of the ungodly (cf. Psalm 7:11; Jude 14-16).

III.           LET US CONSIDER THE FORGIVENESS OF GOD (103:10-12).

1.     Verse 10 is a somber reminder that were it not for the grace of God we would all be in hell this morning.  Those poor souls in New Orleans should thank God it was only water that flooded them and not hot lava.

2.     When help arrived, many people praised God but others cursed and complained.

3.     It is my fervent prayer that through this horrible ordeal, many souls will turn to the Lord Jesus Christ and be gloriously saved.

4.     On the basis of Christ’s redemptive work on the cross, God has acquitted us of our guilt and shame and removed our sins as far away “as the east is from the west” (103:12)

5.     You may travel north and eventually you will reach the North Pole.  You may travel south and eventually you will reach the South Pole.  But if you travel east you will have to keep going because east never meets the west. 

6.     What a picture of God’s forgiveness! This has been referred to as “the geometry of God’s grace.”  Its height is from earth to heaven (103:11).  Its breadth is from east to west (103:12).  And its depth reaches to the bottom of the ocean (cf. Micah 7:18, 19).

7.     When a repentant sinner turns to Christ he is saved from the penalty of sin, the power of sin, and the very presence of sin.

CONCLUSION:

1.     As I read reports, heard the news over the radio, and saw scenes of devastation on the television, many Scriptures came to my mind.

2. But I think our Lord’s words in Luke 13:1-5 are most appropriate.