What is Happening in America? Part 2

We'll take your Bible and turn back with me to Romans chapter 1. We read quite a bit of Scripture earlier starting in verse 18. I think I fell prey to my own advice earlier. I always encourage you to take notes and some people write in their Bibles. I have Bibles I don't write in and I have Bibles that I do write in and I have written in this portion of Scripture so much sometimes I just can't quite read the words. Maybe if I humbled myself and picked up my glasses it might help. That's just another subject.

But Romans chapter 1 now last week we began to answer the question that that most of us have had on our mind for quite some time and that is what in the world is happening in America? What is happening in our land? I think we've all been watching what's going on in our culture. We have different ways and avenues in which we keep up with the news. You know some of us use social media to keep up with what is going on. Some of us use internet news outlets. You know we don't have to turn on the television anymore. We have that at our fingertips whether that's good or bad.

Some of you do turn on the old-fashioned television set and maybe you watch the nightly news. You know as I was making my notes, I thought about it like this. Some of you might take the old-fashioned newspaper. You know the old-fashioned newspaper? It's dying. Is it not? I kind of miss those days. Maybe that shows my age. But there are lots of different ways that we keep up with what's going on in our land. And it all centers around that question. What in the world is going on in America? We see all this civil unrest. Really and truly we're watching violence. We're watching destructive anti-government riots to be honest with you.

We hear all this polarizing talk about race and systemic racism and the Black Lives Matter. Organization. I'm sure many of you see the leftists or the socialists. And it seems to be this way that is consuming so many in our culture. Really it's just anti-Americanism, anti-capitalism and it's fueled by hate and violence. Really anarchy. We are also bombarded by this anti-heterosexual revolution. You know as I was preparing my notes last week, I'm making all these categories. And it just all falls under that umbrella. Isn't that right? It's all anti-heterosexual. It's not just homosexuality anymore. It's not just lesbianism anymore.

It's all about transgenderism and all of these rights. And I was sharing with a friend of mine this week. I can't believe that I would ever have to use the term gender fluidity. Next is going to be polygamy. That's coming. I saw a news article this week that talked about some city that was looking at some kind of a polygamy law. I think next is legalizing things like bestiality and pedophilia. Because see that train, that's just where it goes. I believe leaders in the church. I believe men and women in the church, especially men and leaders in the church. We should be watching what's happening in our land.

And we must ask ourselves what all of this means biblically. If we're not careful to examine everything in our land through the lens of God's word, then we will be in error. We will not be able to understand biblically, accurately, the times in which we live. I ran across someone this week. I don't remember the source. And they talked about losing your consciousness. You know what that means? We understand physically, you know, if we faint or we have a medical condition or we're put to sleep, we lose our consciousness. Well, this scholar was talking about losing our God consciousness. And I'm just adding to that.

Listen, folks, we must have a Bible consciousness about these things. We must have a Bible consciousness and a God consciousness about all that we are seeing. If not, we will not see sin. We will not see the sinfulness of man in peoples and nations correctly. Our understanding of all that's going on in our land will be terribly erroneous. And we will not know how to live. If we can't see these things accurately, and we're going to address the question how. Now, last week I answered the question, what is happening in America?

Based on the teaching of the Old Testament scripture and the New Testament scripture, I said that I see America as being under the inescapable wrath of a holy God. I believe God has abandoned America. I believe that God has given America over to the sins of sexual immorality, to all sorts of homosexual immorality and even a depraved mind. I kind of paraphrase things sometimes. It's like God has said something like this. Okay, America, you want to reject me? You want to reject me as God? Then I will give you over to my holy wrath of abandonment. And I believe that's the land that we live in today.

I believe America is under the holy wrath, the abandonment of God. Now, last week I gave what I really see as an introductory message. It's very important. All of this goes together. And I would strongly encourage you to go back and get that. If you haven't gotten it, sometimes we have to go back and listen to them all and get out our notes and just get all that we can get. But I introduced you to the biblical reality of God's wrath against peoples and nations. See, some of you struggle with that. I introduced you to the biblical reality that God abandons peoples and nations. There truly is a wrath of abandonment.

And I explained that we see God's wrath of abandonment and it is exemplified in the Old Testament. And then we see this wrath of abandonment. It's explained here in the New Testament. And I believe that we are seeing God's wrath of abandonment evidence in our time. Now, this morning I will take what I call the next logical step. I'll answer the why. Why would God, the God that we say we love, the God of the Bible, why would God pour out his wrath of abandonment on our nation and our people? So here we go. Here's the answer. God is pouring out his righteous judgment on America because America has embraced sinfulness.

Our nation has suppressed the truth of God and embraced ungodliness and unrighteousness. Therefore, God is pouring out his wrath of abandonment on our land. Let's look back at verse 18. What does it say? "For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth of God in unrighteousness." And so what do we see here? This is God pouring out his wrath. Why? Because men and peoples and nations suppress the truth of God, they reject God. And the wrath of abandonment is revealed from heaven against mankind, even, yes, America. Why?

Because nations and peoples, we need to see it again, suppress the truth of God, they embrace verse 18, ungodliness and unrighteousness, and that's exactly what's going on today. Now, I need to take this why and I need to go a little further. See, verse 18 really is a general description. We need to go a little further. Paul flushes it out and we need to see why. And we see this in verse 18 and really going on down to verse 23. You see how we're going to address this topic of why? It's because men suppress the truth of God right there out of the verses. And then number two, because men refuse to honor God.

Now, I'll go ahead and tell you there's going to be a second part to this. There are going to be some other truths I'll give you about halfway through the message. As always, I encourage you to be a good note taker. Take what you get this morning, follow along, and then go back and study and pray, and just allow the Lord to sink it into your mind and heart and understanding. So number one, why this wrath? Why the wrath of God being poured out on men? It is because men suppress the truth about God. Go back to verse 18.

For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth of God in unrighteousness. Now, here we see some vital information. And truthfully, there is truth here that many people never come to terms with. Truthfully, there is information here that even people refuse to accept. Now, I want to share with you two important facts, and they both come from this phrase, "suppress the truth." So the first observation, the sin of man. This is this suppressing of truth. I'm calling this the sin of man. Now, the word suppress here, it needs to be understood. It means to fight against.

But it also means to hinder. Scholars say it means to oppose. It means to hold back. It means to try to suppress, to hold down. Simply, we have men that do not like the truth, so they fight against it. They hinder it. They hinder the truth. They try to hold the truth back. They try to hold the truth down. They suppress it. But we want to be careful here. We cannot assume that man is successful. Man can never be successful. At fighting against God, he never will be. One scholar describes it like a man sitting on a box, and he has the truth of God within the box. And he's trying to hold the lid down on the box, but he is terribly unsuccessful.

And they try to hold the lid down how? In and with their unrighteousness. So we see the sin of man, and the sin of man is suppressing the truth of God, and he always does it unsuccessfully. And then notice this truth of God. Still, we're dealing with how men suppress the truth of God. Notice this truth of God, right out of the phrase in verse 18. Now, if you notice with the information on the screen, I did not capitalize the word truth. You know, we capitalize certain things. We might capitalize the word Jesus out of respect. We might capitalize the word scriptures. Why? It's the holy word of God. We might capitalize the word Bible.

Many times when I'm typing the word truth, or writing the word truth, referring to the word of God, I'll capitalize that word truth. But that's not what this is here. This is not the truth of the word of God. This is not what scholars call special revelation known as the New Testament and Old Testament scriptures. Now, what is this truth? This is truth about God, and it is seen in two ways. You could say that it's seen in two places. Notice this is the truth of God that is placed within a man. Look at verse 19. "Because that which is known about God is evident within them." For God has made it evident to them.

Now, many of you have heard this phrase. This phrase, the truth of God written on a man's heart. Any of you heard that phrase before? The truth of God which is written on a man's heart? Well, believe it or not, this is very biblical. We see this over in chapter 2, verse 14. You could probably turn there. Remember, I have told you that Paul is dealing with the sinfulness of the Gentile and the sinfulness of the Jew. And what do we see in verse 14? "For when Gentiles who do not have the law," now my New American capitalizes that word law. What is he talking about? The Old Testament scriptures.

"For when Gentiles who do not have the law do instinctively the things that are in the law, these not having the law are the law to themselves. In that they show the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience bearing witness and their thoughts alternately accusing or else defending them." You see? Paul makes a distinction between the written law or the special revelation of the scriptures and the law written on the hearts of men. Now, what is Paul showing us here?

"When men who do not have the written word of God instinctively do the things that are written in the written word of God, they show the law of God is written on their hearts and their conscience condemns them or commends them according to their behavior." This proves the reality that the law of God is written on the hearts of men. Then there's the other side. Notice there is the truth of God displayed with outside of a man. You see? There's the truth of God inside the man, the law written on their heart. And then next, there's this truth of God displayed outside of the man. Look at verse 20.

"For since the creation of the world, his invisible attributes," that's God's, "his eternal power," that's God's, "and divine nature have been clearly seen, being understood through which has been made so that men are without excuse." This is the creation, the revelation of God in all of the creation. Notice Paul, he starts at the beginning because he goes back to the beginning, the creation, and he works to the creation that is before them in that day. He is saying that all of the universe for all time has borne witness to the reality of the creator God. So we see the truth of God inside the man, the law of God written on their heart.

Then we see the truth of God outside of the man. That's the creation. Now right here, some of you might be asking a question like this, saying something like this, "Well, pastor, that sounds good, but you can't expect a man to get all of that." Some people might go a step further and say, "You can't expect the uneducated, savage man in the jungle that's living outside of the contact of the real world. You know, they can't get all of that." Not so fast. Notice this is clear truth that they're holding down. This is clear truth. Two times it says that it is evident.

See, this is clear truth that they're trying to suppress and push away and hold down. Also, this is knowable truth. The text said being understood. So it's a knowable truth that they're pushing away and trying to get away from and suppress. Also, this is a constant truth because it's been evident since the creation until now. That is a constant truth that they never can get away from. Oh, but this is a limited truth. Put on the brakes. This revelation is not the message of grace found in the special revelation of God's word. No, this is not special revelation. This is what we would call general revelation.

Now, in summary, notice what we have. I'm bad about or good about giving you summaries. They're good for us. Try to get down into the scriptures and the words and phrases, but then we back up a little. Notice men have before them clear, knowledgeable, constant truth about God. The law of God's written on their hearts. And when they instinctively do what is written in the law, what does it do? It proves that that law was there. Then the testimony of creation, which testifies to the creator God to his eternal power and his divine nature. But what does man do? He becomes sinful. He fights against that truth.

He fights against that law that is written on their hearts. He fights against the testimony of creation. He opposes that truth. He tries to suppress that truth. He tries to hold back that truth. He tries to hold down that truth, but he can't. Because no man will ever fight against God successfully. Imagine, just imagine a man fighting against God. I couldn't help but think about Psalm 2. Talks about the nations raging against God. What does it say? God scoffs at them. Now our question, why? Why would God judge a people, a country, a nation like America? We're starting to see. Let's continue.

I want us to see what I call the second major truth here in our outline. Again, the question, why would God judge peoples? Because men refuse to honor God. You see it there in the text? Because men refuse to honor God. Look back at verse 21, for even though they knew God, they did not honor him as God. Again, some very vital information. But we need to see that verse 21 to 23, really it's just a continuation of verse 18 to 22. It all builds together. Really, this is all one sermon, verse 18 to 32. But think with me. Paul has made a very clear point that man has clear, knowable, constant truth about God.

The law of God, within the testimony of God without, but a question. How does man react? Even though they knew God, verse 21 says, it says that they did not honor God. It didn't glorify God, some translations say. They didn't even give thanks to God. But notice what we have next. Starting in verse 21, Paul gives the next logical steps for people who suppress and hold down and resist and try to stamp out the truth of God. And that is greater sin. And listen folks, sin breeds sin. Sin breeds more sin and greater sin. Sin begets sin begets sin. And so we're going to see a digression. Really, we see this in two steps, two ways.

This suppressing the truth of God. First, they became pointless in their thinking. Look back at verse 21, for even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks to God. But they became futile in their speculations. And what do we see? We see that when men reject God as God, immediately their minds are affected. And the meaning is simple here. They're thinking, they're reasoning. Some translations say becomes pointless. So their thinking immediately is affected. Their minds and their thinking and their reasoning becomes pointless and futile and worthless and useless. And then second, it says that they became fools.

Look at verse 22, professing to be wise, they became fools. See the digression? Now here we see a contrast. Notice for professing to be wise, they became fools. These God rejectors claim to be wise. Isn't that what it says? But they have made themselves fools. One scholar says they prided themselves in their self-sufficient wisdom. You hear that? They prided themselves in their self-sufficient wisdom. I'll modernize that by saying it like this. They're fools with a bunch of PhDs. But in so doing, they are becoming. They know what the text says. They are making themselves fools.

So in rejecting God, they boast in their own wisdom, which in turn makes them fools. Now we need to slow down here too. Right here, we need to see where this goes. In refusing to honor God, man digresses in his thinking. His thinking becomes pointless. It becomes futile. He digresses in his wisdom. He claims to be wise. But actually he makes himself a fool. Oh, but it gets worse. Two major things. Man is placing himself above God, is he not? Man is placing himself above God. He is saying, "I am wise without God. I am wise without God. I do not need God." Man is truthfully saying the same thing Lucifer did. I will be like God.

And then man then worships the creation rather than the creator. Go back to the verse. Verse 22, "professing to be wise." They became fools and they exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and crawling creatures. That's what we see. Man exchanges the glory of God to worship the very creation. Again, step back from the verses and notice in summary what we see. Because men refuse to honor God, man automatically begins this digression. They become pointless in their thinking. They become futile in their reasoning, in their minds and more.

See, it digresses boastfully. They're claiming to be wise and they're making themselves fools, nothing but fools. And then it gets worse. Essentially, they are setting themselves up above God and they end up worshiping the creation rather than the creator. Simply to not honor God automatically leads to idolatry. I need to say that again. Mark it down. Simply to not honor God automatically leads to idolatry. Every time, in every culture and in every age. Again, the question, why would God judge a people? Why would God judge our country and our nation and our land? I think we're getting close to answering that.

Now at this point, we need to stop and we need to see some other realities. I said earlier, this is really a part two in the message. Everything about me, to be honest with you this week, wanted to make this two more messages. But I want to move on in an efficient amount of time. But I want us to see that peoples and nations cannot reject God and go unpunished. You see, mankind cannot reject this truth of God and go unscathed. Look at verse 24. "Therefore, God gave them over." See the transition? Paul lays it out. What sinful men have done, they have rebelled against God in their ungodliness and their unrighteousness.

He's described what that looks like and what do we see? "Therefore, God gave them over." Then we see the same language. 26, for this reason, God gave them over. And then verse 28, "And just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God any longer, God gave them over." And what we have here are the ramifications of the rejection. We see the results of the rebellion. You need to get that. These are the ramifications of the rejection, the results of their rebellion. So that's what I want us to see, the results. Now, we must see what this phrase means here. This turning them over. We see it three times. Verse 24, verse 26, verse 28.

It's extremely important. Now, in the original language, it's really a judicial term. And in Paul's day, in that day, it was used for the turning over of a criminal so that he could be sentenced, so that he could be punished. Now, I question what's going on here with the phrase. Because sinful men reject the truth about God, and because they choose idols instead of honoring God, God gives them over. God abandons them over. God shuts those people up to the consequences, the ramifications of their sin. And just like the wrath of God is personal, we talked about that last week, the wrath of God is seen in verse 18 as being of God and from God.

This turning men over is personal as well. It is God Himself that is doing this work. Now, three times we see this turning over. We've already seen that. I want to quickly examine this action by God. Notice He turns them over to sexual immorality. Let's look at the verses, verse 24 and 25. "Therefore, God gave them over to the lusts of their hearts to impurity that their bodies might be dishonored among them." And Paul just repeats why. "For they exchanged the truth of God for Allah and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator who is blessed forever. Amen." Now, this is simple.

God is turning men over, turning peoples over to sexual immorality. In the original, the word here is impurity. And it speaks of something that is decaying, that is rotting. So God turns sinful men over to rot to decay in sexual immorality. But notice verse 25. Again, it's like Paul is giving the why again. Why would God do this? Because they exchange the truth of God for Allah and they serve the creation, worship the creation, rather than the Creator. That's why. So God turns men over. He gives them over. He shuts them up to rot and decay in sexual immorality. And then number two, He turns men over to homosexual immorality.

He turns men over to homosexual immorality. Look at verse 26. "For this reason, a digression, God gave them over to degrading passions. For their women exchanged the natural function for that which is unnatural." And in the same way also, "The men abandoned the natural function of the woman and burned in their desire toward one another. Men with men committing indecent acts and receiving in their own person the due penalty of their error." Notice the beginning of the verse. "For this reason," this communicates the next logical step, the next logical step downward. Remember what I said? Sin breeds sin.

Sin breeds more sin and greater sin and deeper sin and darker sin. But this is a different form of immorality. The second step is God turns men over to homosexual immorality. But notice something. Not every scholar points this out. Notice who is mentioned first. Women. Isn't that what the text says? Women. "For God gave them over to degrading passions. For their women exchanged." You see? Now Paul lists women to show the depth of this sin because in most cultures, it is the women who are the last to fall to this moral corruption. So this shows us the depth of this turning over. So what do we see?

It is God himself that is turning over a people and a nation and a group to what? Homosexual immorality. He closes them up to that sin. And then third, he turns men over to the depraved mind. We see that in verse 28. What does it say? "And just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God any longer, God gave them over to the depraved mind to do those things which are not proper." And then there's this long list that describes not everything they do, but much. But notice the beginning of verse 28. Again, we see this next step. We see the digression. Isn't that what we see?

"And just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God any longer, oh, it goes deeper." God now turns them over. The English standard calls it a debased mind. The new American, the depraved mind. Now this phrase carries with it a meaning of not passing a test. In that day, metal workers use this term when they describe a metal that was worthless. A metal that had so many impurities in it, they just tossed it away. And here Paul is communicating that God turns them over to a worthless mind, a deficient mind, a warped mind, a mind that is completely unable to make sound judgments. So what do we see?

The next step, God turns them over to this warped and perverted and debased mind. But look at the rest of the verses. Notice the end of verse 28 on down to verse 32. Go back to the Scriptures. "And just as he did not see fit to acknowledge God any longer, God gave them over to the depraved mind to do the things which are not proper." See, to do the things which are not proper. And then notice the long list being filled with all in righteousness and wickedness and greed and evil and full of envy and murder and strife and deceit and malice.

They are gossips and slanders and haters of God and insolent and arrogant and boastful and inventors of evil disobedient to parents without understanding, untrustworthy, unloving, unmerciful. And notice, "And although they knew or know the ordinance of God, that those who practice such things are worthy of death, they not only do the same, but they give hearty approval to those who practice them." See? Sin breeds more sin. Sin breeds greedier sin. Sin breeds deeper and darker sin. But look at the pinnacle of their sin. Not only do they practice these things, but they celebrate when others do the very same thing. They give a party.

Now in summary, again, backing up from the text, what do we see? God abandons men to their sin because they exchange the truth of God for a lie. He shuts them up to themselves and to their sin. And we see this in stages. God shuts them up. He abandons them to sexual immorality. And then ultimately, He shuts them up. He abandons them to homosexual immorality. And then last, He shuts them up. He locks them up to a warped and useful mind. Now question, how does this apply to us? You might say, "Pastor, that kind of preaching won't bring when you're friends." Might not. It's the truth. But how does this apply to us?

See, we've been asking the question, "What is happening in America?" I have stated that based on the Old Testament examples and the New Testament teaching, America is under the wrath of the abandonment of God. America is suffering the personal wrath of God. And then the next logical question, why? Why? It is because America has exchanged the truth of God for a lie. Even though America has known God, she has chosen not to honor God as God, but has chosen to reject God. But listen, folks. There's another layer. Americans have the law of God written on their hearts like any person who's ever been born.

They have the testimony of nature like all men, no matter where they've been born. And America has had special revelation. They've had the Word of God. They've had Christians. They've had churches. They've had mission movements. And so on and so on and so on. Look at the light that they have rejected. And rejecting this light, this truth, not capital T truth in verse 18, it is enough to condemn a man. Oh, it's not enough to save a man, but it is enough to condemn a man. But America has had the truth of God verse 18. And then they have had the truth of God's Word. They've had churches and Christians and missionaries.

They've had broadcast with people preaching the Word of God. And oh, a big part of American history is Christianity and Christians. America has sinned against a lot of light. But what happened? God's been kicked out. God's been kicked out of public life and much of private life. America has ripped the pages of verse 18 to 23 right out of the Bible. And it's become their playbook. America has done what every nation and every people have ever done that has rejected God. And she has fashioned for herself two gods. Her first god is self. Self is king. As a whole, America has kicked God out and professed to be wise.

And they become fools, fools, fools. And just like we see in the scriptures, they have set themselves up as God little G. I heard an old English evangelist say it like this. Now, remember, he came from England. They had kings and queens still do. And he looked at America and he said, America says they have no king and queen. And he said, I beg to differ. America's king and queen is entertainment and sports. It's all about self. It's all about comfort. It's all about what we want and who we want to be. The first god that America is fashioned is self. And then the second god is just like verse 25, four-footed animals and crawling things.

And listen, America's god is the creation, the environment. They worship the environment. They worship the creation rather than the creator. That's what all of this environmental stuff is all about. Now, I think we should be good stewards. But we don't worship that which God has given. I'll give you a personal example. And I'll be honest with you. When I see it, I could pick up something and throw it across the room. You might say, pastor, I didn't say I do. And I see these commercials. Now, I'm for taking care of animals. I like animals.

When I see these commercials, begging people to give money to take care of all these dogs and cats and animals that have been abandoned. And yet America will slaughter the unborn. That's worshiping a dog and a cat. It's the same thing that these pagan fools do. Some of you may be a little skeptical of what I'm saying. Still, pastor, brother Chris, I'm not sure about this. I think you're stretching things. The proof is in the evidence around you. Listen to what I said earlier in the message. The wrath of abandonment is exemplified in the old. It is explained in the new. And it is evidenced in our time. And it is all around us.

America decided to kick out God, to reject God's truth written on their hearts. The testimony of creation. America has rejected special revelation. The word, the testimony of the church and the Christians. And listen, since the 1960s, we have been enduring the first wave of wrath. God turned America over to a sexual revolution. You know, Woodstock, free love, it just went everywhere. See, the sad thing is many of you have failed to see it. And what do we see? God said, okay, you kick me out. I'll put you in a room. I'll lock the door and I'll give you what you want. See, God doesn't make man do those sins.

God locks him in a room all by themselves and they'll do it by themselves. And that's what we see here. God locked America in a room. He closed the door and he gave them what they wanted. And it's sexual immorality. It is the wrath of abandonment. I thought about it like this this week. Many of you know, I have done some carpenter work. I can do a little carpenter work. I don't know. I learned those things growing up. I say it like this. My dad was a school teacher. So he couldn't pay anybody to do anything like that. If he could, he probably would have gotten in trouble. He made too much money.

But you know, you put me in a room with the right tools and the right materials and I see the need and I can do the work. You see, you give me the tools, you give me the paint, you give me the saws, you give me the equipment and I can do the work. You just lock the door and I can handle it. But see what God has done is he's put man in a room. He's put mankind. He's put peoples. He's put nations. He's put America in a room and he's all by himself. And he's just let him do what he's wanted to do. This is the first wrath of abandonment. Oh, but because America wouldn't repent, what do we have the second wave of this wrath?

He has turned America over to this homosexual revolution. And I want you to think back to history. Homosexuality was really lurking outside the door. And then in 2012, somebody stuck the mic in Vice President Biden's face. What did he say? Sure. Same sex marriage? It's okay with me. And all the Obama administration took a deep breath because Obama had run for office supporting traditional marriage. But you know, America put up with it. And then what happened? God kicked open the door and God gave America what they wanted. And then in June of 2015, the Supreme Court voted to allow same sex marriage. You see, God stuck us in the door.

He locked the key. And then the third wave. The third wave of this wrath, the depraved mind. Now questions. Who votes to abort babies when they can clearly see the heartbeat in a womb? Who votes to defund the police? Who puts cross dressers and transgenders and all of those perverts in front of children for storytime hour? Listen, folks, all these crazy decisions are coming from people who should be wise. Politicians and peoples and leaders of influence. But what do they have? They have a depraved mind. They can't make a sound decision if they try. Now as I move closer to the end, remember the tests. These tests are really real for you.

Will you trust what God's word says here? Or will you trust the voices and opinions and wisdom of men? God's word is sufficient, but also it is authoritative. And we cannot look at things through another lens other than the word of God. You know, I thought about how we view America. We look at America through so many lenses, through our history and what we've experienced. But we must strip ourselves of that and look at things through the lens of God's word. And God's word is sufficient and authoritative to tell us. But then the second test, will you accept this God? Some of you might say, I don't like that God.

It's the God of the Bible, folks. He is sovereign over peoples and nations. In his word says he must judge sin. And if he does not judge sin, he is not God. And will you accept this God? Or will you fashion a God of your own liking? And then the third test, will you really see that man is sinful, utterly sinful. You know, when God turns man over, he does not make man sin. Remember, when God turns him over, he turns them over to do what they want to do in the first place. And sin without the restraint of God begets sin, breeds more sin, deeper sin and greater sin. Now I've answered the question, what is happening in America? And why?

Why is all this happening? It's not an easy answer. Oh, it's there in the scripture. It's just not easy for us to swallow. Now, as I close, I want to remind you that God does not judge the church. Now, like this, you got to see the difference, folks. Listen, he is true people. He doesn't judge his people like this. Now, he disciplines the church, folks. He purges the church. Many times he uses days like this and persecution to purge the church and to deal with the weeds that are there with the tares and the tares that are there with the weeds. He works to purify the church. He loves the church.

He disciplines his church and listen, he can and will use sinful peoples, sinful cultures and sinful nations as a part of his work for his church. This is all under his control, but this wrath of abandonment is not on his people. Now, some people are skeptical when you say things like this, when you deal with things like this. But this must force us to answer the next question. How do we live? I warn you, don't be a skeptic. Because if you don't embrace these times and embrace what the Scriptures say, you will be totally unprepared as to how to live.

I think back to a conversation I was having with a friend of mine earlier, and I think maybe I was trying to be a little nice or polite, and I just made the comment, "I don't know that things will get better." And he looked right up at me and said, "I don't see how they can." Folks, there's only one way out, it's repentance. It's when America would slam on the brakes and reach up to heaven and beg God for his mercy. And the only thing that would happen after that would be repentance from all of this. And until you see that happening, it might not be good English, but it helps you see it. It ain't happening.

Now, let me say this and then we'll close. We're going to start to look at how as soon as we can. But specifically next week, we need to examine a few specifics about what's going on in our culture. There's some things socially that are going on that are very dangerous to the Gospel and very dangerous to the Church. So next week, we're going to look at a few specifics. And it's all under this same question, what is happening in America? And then we'll answer the question, how? We'll answer the question, how.