“JUDGING A NATION AND SAVING A PEOPLE”
SELECTED SCRIPTURES

I. Introduction
“God is love!” We hear it again and again. And there’s a good reason for that. It’s true. God IS love! It’s a love that’s complete and perfect. Love is one of God’s awesome and magnificent attributes. But it certainly isn’t the only one. And we are badly mistaken if we assume that God’s love negates or somehow overrides His other attributes. It doesn’t!

What are God’s attributes? There are many, but this morning I’ll mention just a few of them. As I do so it is important to for us to remember that we can only know, we can only comprehend, and we can only begin to understand God’s attributes to the degree that He has chosen to reveal them to us in His written Word, the Bible.
• God is eternal. That means He is immortal and infinite.

• God is immutable or unchanging. As such He is thoroughly trustworthy.

• God is incomparable and unfathomable. No one is like Him and He is beyond our complete understanding.

• God is omnipresent; He is always in all places. He is omnipotent; He possesses all power. He is omniscient; He possesses all knowledge. Thus He sees everything, He controls everything, and He can neither learn nor forget anything.

• God is sovereign. That simply means His entire creation is subject to His perfect will. No one and no thing can thwart Him or change His purposes.

• God is just. Let me be very clear as to what that means. God’s justice has nothing whatsoever to do with any human concept of fairness. If God were fair the way you and I count fairness, all of us would be lost and spend eternity in hell paying the price for our sin. But God is not fair. He is just. It was His justice that caused Him to send His Son to die on the cross. Was that fair? No, but it was just.

That’s just a cursory look at some of God’s more well-known attributes. All of them are absolute. That is to say that none of them can increase, decrease, or be altered in any way. God will always do what He pleases. But whatever He does, He will always do it in complete and perfect accord with His character and all of His attributes.

But there’s one other attribute we need to consider. God’s primary attribute, if I may call it that, is the one that drives and permeates all of the others. It’s His absolute and trans-cendent holiness. It’s God’s holiness that completely separates Him from any form of evil or defilement. Man’s sin is judged by comparison to God’s holiness.

The events of this past week, and to a greater extent, the events of the last few years, have caused many believers to question whether or not God is judging America. Is that a foolish question? No, it’s a legitimate question.
God has promised that when a nation turns away from Him, He will send forth judgment. His justice, which stems from His absolute holiness, demands it.

Now despite all the noise to the contrary the historical fact remains that America was founded on biblical principles, morals, and values. There was a time in this country when even unbelievers were constrained by the overall morality of the culture. For most of two centuries America was ruled by what has often been called, “The Judeo-Christian Ethic.”

In short, biblical values, while not always practiced, were at least known by virtually everyone, and to a large degree, they were respected. There was always sin, but society as a whole refused to tolerate it. But that’s no longer the case. Today sin is not only tolerated, it’s embraced. Worse still, the vilest of sins are protected by law, and are being celebrated by young and old alike. In fact, we’re seeing the day approach when standing against sin will itself be a crime. What is God to do? Listen to the writer of Hebrews.
*Hebrews 10:26-27, 31
26 For if we go on sinning willfully after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins,
27 but a certain terrifying expectation of judgment, and the fury of a fire which will consume the adversaries.
31 It is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God.

This passage speaks of those who once knew about the truth, those who once knew that God would judge sin, but chose to ignore it and reject Him anyway. America once knew the truth, but today, we are a nation ignoring God’s truth and rejecting His Word.
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II. Text
It seems that the headlines get worse and the future looks darker every day. Is God judging America? Please hear me well. I cannot predict the future the way the Prophets did in the OT. I make no such claim. The idea that anyone could look at a particular event or nation and say without qualification, “That is a judgment from God,” is not what I’m suggesting at all. The fact is that we live in a sinful and fallen world. Bad things are always happening as a result of man’s sin and evil deeds.

But we believe in the sovereignty of God in the affairs of men. That means we believe that nothing happens unless God allows it or causes it to take place. Theologians often distinguish between the two by referring to God’s allowing something to happen as exer-cising His permissive will, and God’s causing something to happen as exercising His directive will. But in either case, God’s will is involved, isn’t it?

So is God judging America? I don’t know. But I can look to Scripture to see why God judges nations and make some inferences, can’t I? Let’s consider a few examples. We’ll begin with the flood. Why did God do that? Why would He destroy the entire world and virtually everyone and everything in it? Here’s why.
*Genesis 6:5-9
5 Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.
6 And the LORD was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart.
7 And the LORD said, “I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land, from man to animals to creeping things and to birds of the sky; for I am sorry that I have made them.”
8 But Noah found favor in the eyes of the LORD.
9 These are the records of the generations of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his time; Noah walked with God.

Noah found favor in God’s sight, was righteous, blameless, and walked with God. If Genesis 6 teaches us anything it’s this: God’s justice will be exercised and His judgment will come when the evil and wickedness of a people or a nation crosses the line of God’s tolerance. Has America come to that point? I don’t know. But are we closer than we were fifty years ago? There’s no question about it.

Consider Sodom and Gomorrah. We often think that the sin of homosexuality was the reason God destroyed those two cities.
*Leviticus 18:22, 24-25
22 “You shall not lie with a male as one lies with a female; it is an abomina-tion.” (v. 23 speaks of bestiality)
24 “Do not defile yourselves by any of these things; for by all these the nations which I am casting out before you have become defiled.
25 “For (even) the land has become defiled, therefore I have visited its pun-ishment upon it, so the land has spewed out its inhabitants.”

These sins actually drove people from the land they occupied. So is it unreasonable to conclude that such sin could literally result in the loss of this nation? In the NT God tells us that homosexuality is a direct result of denying God, believing a lie, and deliberately ignoring God’s revealed truth.
Romans 1:26-28
26 For this reason God gave them over to degrading passions; for their wo-men exchanged the natural function for that which is unnatural,
27 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 com-mitting indecent acts and receiving in their own persons the due penalty of their error.
28 And just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God any longer, God gave them over to a depraved mind, to do those things which are not proper…

What can we learn from Romans 1? One clear thing is this:
When a people or a nation continues in sin and unbelief, God allows them to sink ever deeper into it. He “gives them over” to it. Romans 1 says that three times.

But was homosexuality the only sin that doomed Sodom and Gomorrah? No. There was more. The Prophet Ezekiel gives us some other reasons.
Ezekiel 16:49-50
49 “Behold, this was the guilt of your sister Sodom: She and her daughters had arrogance, abundant food, and careless ease, but she did not help the poor and needy.
50 Thus they were haughty and committed abominations before Me. There-fore I removed them when I saw it.”

So God judged and destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah for pride, arrogance, gluttony, lazi-ness, indifference to the needs of others, and homosexuality. Which of those things is NOT running rampant in America today?

What about the Amorites (a.k.a. the Canaanites) and their sin? How did their sin affect God’s people? All the way back in Genesis 15 God told Abraham that the sin of the Amorites would have an immense impact on Israel’s future.
*Genesis 15:13-16
13 And God said to Abram, “Know for certain that your descendants will be strangers in a land that is not theirs (Egypt), where they will be enslaved and oppressed four hundred years.
14 “But I will also judge the nation (Egypt) whom they will serve; and after-ward they (Israel) will come out with many possessions.
15 “And as for you (Abram), you shall go to your fathers in peace; you shall be buried at a good old age.
16 “Then in the fourth generation they (Israel, your descendants) shall return here, for the iniquity of the Amorite is not yet complete.”

What does all this mean? God had promised Abraham that his descendants would even-tually be given the Promised Land. But God would not allow them to go there until He had judged the Amorites who were in the land.

The Amorites were polytheists, believing in many gods. They worshipped stone idols and animals, not the least of which were snakes. They practiced the occult and engaged in human sacrifice and religious prostitution. But God allowed their sin to continue for four hundred years. Then He used Israel to destroy the Amorites, possess the land, and fulfill His original promise to Abraham.

The point is that God may allow a nation to sink deeply into sin before He judges it. The Amorites had four hundred years to repent. They didn’t and God judged them.

So what about America? Do we fit the criteria for judgment? Is God judging this nation?
I don’t know. But ask yourself this: How are our national sins any less numerous or egregious than the sins of the Amorites, or for that matter, any other nation God has judged and destroyed?

It’s been four hundred years since the first English settlement was established at James-town in 1607. From that time forward God has blessed this nation as He has blessed no other in human history. It’s easy to speculate as to why He has done so.

We were the first country that was founded on biblical principles. Even though it took a while slavery was abolished in the 1860’s. Then America sent missionaries all over the world with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. By the late nineteenth century hundreds of Christian hospitals, charities, and other benevolent organizations had been established to help the needy. In the twentieth century America fought in two world wars to halt the spread of evil in the world. And maybe most important of all, in 1948 this country stood with God’s chosen people, the Jews, as He reestablished Israel and put Jerusalem back into Jewish hands for the first time in nearly two thousand years.

But then something happened. In the 1960’s America began to change. In 1962 prayer was deemed “unconstitutional” and was removed from the public schools. We’ve seen the results of that. Will God judge America? ( ‘63 JFK; ‘64 LBJ’s gs; ‘68 RFK and MLK)

In 1969 a homosexual uprising took place that began an era of normalizing, protecting, and even celebrating both male and female homosexuality. We’ve seen the results of that. Now our own state has sent the first openly homosexual senator to Washington. How are we different than the Sodomites or the Amorites? Will God judge America?

In 1973 the courts legalized abortion on demand, the wanton and premeditated murder of babies. Listen, Adolf Hitler sent six million Jews to gas chambers and furnaces. But America has murdered forty million babies! It’s been said that the most dangerous place for a baby today is his mother’s womb. How are we different than the pagan cultures who sacrificed their children to idols? Will God judge America?

Today the courts protect and defend pornography and the so-called “rights” of the porno-graphers. They say it’s a “free speech” issue. But what about socially and politically conservative “talk radio”? Don’t be surprised to see efforts redoubled at shutting it down in the coming years. What about the forced removal of all Christian symbols from the public arena? That’s being done every day. How are we different from other nations that have turned their collective backs on God? Will God judge America?

What about our national debt and uncontrolled spending? That too is a biblical issue. The more people are given the less is their incentive to work. The less people work the more government gives them. Thus government’s power increases and people’s freedom decreases. People give up personal responsibility for security, and in the process they lose both. This has been going on since the 1960’s. What are the long-term results?
The family is being destroyed and the nation is on the brink of economic collapse. Will God judge America?

But someone says, “Well, at least we still have the churches.” Do we? The mainline churches have long since quit teaching the Bible as literal truth. The Gospel of Jesus Christ, when it is spoken of at all, has become little more than a watered down social gos-pel. But it’s even worse than that.

Even established churches are replacing biblical God-honoring worship with the occult, paganism, and mysticism, and calling it “Christian.” For example, labyrinths are sprouting up all over America. What are labyrinths? If you’ve never seen one, think of a circular maze where you work your way into the center and then back out again.

Here’s one definition I took off the internet. “A labyrinth is an ancient symbol of whole-ness with a path to our own center and back again. The idea is to take a journey to cre-ate a sacred place in order to find ‘That Which Is Within You.’ This journey centers your deepest self and broadens your understanding of who you are.”

There are over two thousand labyrinths around the country. You can find them in hospi-tals and museums and public parks. And you can also find them in more than eight hun-dred churches; churches that call themselves “Christian.” Some of these labyrinths are on the grounds, but some are actually inside the churches. Is this limited to one single errant denomination? No, it isn’t. Today you can find labyrinths in Baptist, Congrega-tional, Episcopal, Lutheran, Methodist, Presbyterian, and Catholic churches.

We even have a local example. The front page of last Thursday’s Elkhorn paper was all about the new labyrinth in town. It’s “A Gift to the Community” from St. John’s Episco-pal Church. A church member says, “The labyrinth is a tool that gives shape to medita-tion and prayer. It’s a way to quiet the mind, recover balance in life, and reduce stress.”
Doesn’t that sound more like a definition of Hindu yoga than Christian prayer?

The pastor of St. John’s is quoted as saying, “The labyrinth allows us to approach God in our own way, in our own time, in whatever way the Spirit moves us. It’s a way of inviting people from many faith traditions to pray, meditate, or maybe just relax in whatever way satisfies their heart.” Approaching God in your way? Is that biblical?

Does Scripture urge us to go “within ourselves to find that sacred place”? It does not! To go “within yourself” is defined as searching for your own divinity. Listen Christian, “going within yourself” is an occult practice using meditation and controlled breathing patterns. This is eastern mysticism as it is practiced by pagans. It opens the doors to demonic activity, and no Christian should ever have anything to do with it. Period!

Today there are countless people going to their own churches to worship their own way and pray to a god of their own making. They have no idea what their Bibles actually teach, and few of them are interested in finding out. So will God judge America?
Back in the 1960’s it was Ruth Bell Graham who said, “If God doesn’t judge America soon He will have to apologize to Sodom and Gomorrah.” Of course, God will never apologize for anything, but Graham makes her point. How much farther has America fallen since she first said that?

Think of it. The forced removal of prayer and God’s Word from the public arena, the acceptance and glorification of homosexuality, the legalized murder of countless babies, the proliferation of pornography in books, movies, and television, uncontrolled debt and endless spending, the destruction of the nuclear family, and unbelief and paganism in the churches – the last fifty years have seen all of these things increase at an alarming rate.

But it gets even worse. Now America is beginning to do something else. And unless she changes course, it will seal her fate. Since Israel’s rebirth in 1948, America has stood with her. But now, under the administration American voters have just put back in office, that is changing. If this change continues America will find herself on borrowed time.

This is not speculation. Scripture tells us plainly that the day will come when every nation on earth will turn against Israel. Some day, whether sooner or later, Israel will find herself standing alone, and when she does, the Second Coming will be very near.
*Zechariah 12:1-3, 8-10 (prophesying the last days and the Second Coming)
1 The burden of the word of the LORD concerning Israel. Thus declares the LORD who stretches out the heavens, lays the foundation of the earth, and forms the spirit of man within him.
2 “Behold, I am going to make Jerusalem a cup that causes reeling to all the peoples around; and when the siege is against Jerusalem, it will also be against Judah.
3 “And it will come about in that day that I will make Jerusalem a heavy stone for all the peoples; all who lift it will be severely injured. And all the nations of the earth will be gathered against it.

8 “In that day the LORD will defend the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and the one who is feeble among them in that day will be like David, and the house of David will be like God, like the Angel of the LORD before them.
9 “And it will come about in that day that I will set about to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem.
10 “And I will pour out on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jeru-salem, the Spirit of grace and of supplication, so that they will look on Me (God) whom they have pierced (crucified); and they will mourn for Him (Jesus), as one mourns for an only son, and they will weep bitterly over Him, like the bitter weeping over a first-born.”

Zechariah makes it clear that at the Second Coming all the nations of the earth will be destroyed because all the nations of the earth will have turned against Israel. Now that is beginning to happen.
Whatever else the election results of last Tuesday night tell us, they tell us that America is not drawing closer to Israel.

Can anything be done to change that? Yes! There is one thing. Just as you and I had to repent and turn from our sin, so too does America. Most of you know 2 Chronicles 7:14. In context it applies only to Israel, but I believe the principle it teaches may apply to any believing nation or people. It says, “(If) My people who are called by My name humble themselves and pray, and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.”

Such are God’s requirements for blessing. So there is hope. Consider the Ninevites. In Jonah 1:2 God said that their evil ways and wickedness were great. He sent Jonah to preach judgment unless the people repented. What was the result?
Jonah 3:5-10
5 Then the people of Nineveh believed in God; and they called a fast and put on sackcloth from the greatest to the least of them.
6 When the word reached the king of Nineveh, he arose from his throne, laid aside his robe from him, covered himself with sackcloth, and sat on the ashes.
7 And he issued a proclamation and it said, “In Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles: Do not let man, beast, herd, or flock taste a thing. Do not let them eat or drink water.
8 “But both man and beast must be covered with sackcloth; and let men call on God earnestly that each may turn from his wicked way and from the vio-lence which is in his hands.
9 “Who knows, God may turn and relent, and withdraw His burning anger so that we shall not perish?”
10 When God saw their deeds, that they turned from their wicked way, then God relented concerning the calamity which He had declared He would bring upon them. And He did not do it.

Is America becoming more like the Amorites who refused to repent and were destroyed, or will America become more like the Ninevites who did repent and were spared? I don’t know. Only God knows.
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III. Conclusion
Anyone who knows me well knows how much I love this country. That’s why Tuesday night was so hard for me to watch. Like many of you I also had a hard time sleeping. But we’re called to trust God and take courage. Nothing has changed in Washington, but then nothing has changed in heaven either. History tells us that every nation has had three things in common.
First, no matter how purely it began, every nation eventually becomes corrupt.
Second, either most of the citizens don’t know about the corruption or don’t care about it. Third, the cause of the corruption is always the same. It’s sin.

But you can still be encouraged. God is on His throne and He will judge sin. If you’re a Christian you’ll never be judged for your sins. They were judged two thousand years ago on the cross. God will judge our faithfulness, not our souls. Our task is to faithfully walk before God as Noah walked. Noah found favor in God’s sight because he, “… was a righteous man, blameless in his time; Noah walked with God (Genesis 6:9b).”

What can faithful people do? We can pray for America to repent like the Ninevites did. God spared them and He may yet spare our country. But how much time is left? I don’t know, but I do know this: Neither our individual salvation nor the salvation of our coun-try will be found in the court house or the White House. It will be found in God’s house.
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Please permit me a post script. All of this raises an interesting question. If you and I pray for America to repent and she does, and if she turns back to God and reestablishes strong ties with Israel, will that extend the time between now and the Second Coming?

We like to say, “Prayer changes things.” But what exactly does it change? Does it change God’s mind? When God intends to do something, can your prayers stop Him? When God intends not to do something, can your prayers make Him to do it anyway?

Think about this. Both the day and the hour of the Second Coming are set. In Matthew 24:36 Jesus says, “…of that day and hour no one knows, not the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone.” Can your prayers alter the time of the Second Coming?

In Psalm 139:16 David says to God, “Your eyes have seen my unformed substance; and in Your book they were all written, the days that were ordained for me, when as yet there was not one of them.” What if David had prayed and asked God to let him live two years longer than the date God had set in eternity past? Would God have gotten out His eraser and changed the date of David’s home going? I don’t think so. 1 Samuel 2:29 says, “…for (God) is not a man that He should change His mind.”

So God doesn’t change His mind, He changes ours. Prayer doesn’t change God, it changes us. Prayer changes our circumstances. Prayer changes our attitudes. Prayer aligns us and our thinking with God and His thinking. It doesn’t align God with us and His thinking with ours.

As the men’s group is currently studying – God is sovereign and we are not. May we all be eternally thankful for that unchanging truth!

~ Pray ~