A Nation in Rebellion - Consequences of Sin

Welcome to Discerning the Times.

My name is Brian Thomas. Such a blessing to be with you once again this week. I want to spend today focusing on the topic of rebellion and the lawlessness that we see throughout our nation. And it's very unfortunate, it's sad and it's disheartening. But what we see taking place is directly from the Bible.

So I will get into that. But before I do, I want to remind you, as we always do, that your eternal state is far more important than your current state. If you've never received Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, I encourage you to do so today. Otherwise, if you leave this side of life without having received him, you will spend eternity in the lake of fire separated from God.

So will you please give your heart to Jesus Christ on today? All right, folks. And once again, there is a spirit of rebelliousness.

There is a spirit of lawlessness that has infiltrated our nation. One example, a classic example, I recently solved this involved a lady by the name of Angel Reese, who plays for the Women's National Basketball Association. And I have watched this woman from the time when she was in college at Louisiana State University. And it was very clear that she had embraced this role of villain and antagonist. And she's carried that into her professional playing career. But here's a clip that I want to share of what took place just a couple of weeks ago concerning this woman, Angel Reese. Well, let's talk about one thing that's stirring up a lot of buzz here out of the WNBA, and that is Angel Reese here. She was ejected last night. Now, we don't really know exactly what she said to the refs here, but just curious your overall perspective of just the situation and how it went down. So the referee told the pool reporter that there was a dismissive act by Angel Reese and she, you know, it was kind of dismissive.

They have rescinded that technical, that second technical on her, though, which is a really, really good thing. I think Angel Reese is one of the more fascinating figures in Chicago sports. And I think that between her and Kayla Williams, we are in a really interesting place with some high level celebrity athletes right now. I think it's the celebrities really interesting thing, too, because it goes with the personality. And one of the things that we've learned is like for Kayla Williams, that personality is not for everybody. I think with Angel Reese, we're seeing a lot of reaction on how the personality is not for everybody, but it is intriguing and it makes people want to watch. And I thought one of the most interesting things you mentioned that they rescinded the technical there.

My initial thought was, what did she say? Right. Because I think there's a line and especially when you're a rookie, they're a little bit tighter with those things. We see the vets get after the officials all the time. But I'm like, if she said something that crossed the line, I could understand a wave off feels like we got to just let that one ride.

We don't want to insert ourselves into the game too much. Now, for anyone who's not familiar with the sport of basketball, you are allowed five files in a game in which they're what's called regular files in which you are charged if you were doing something that is accidental. So you're trying to simply steal the ball and you accidentally hit someone that that is a regular file. But then if you do something egregious like arguing with a, an official or fighting with another player, then that is what's called a technical file. And you get two of those and you are disqualified from the game.

You, you are ejected. And so what you heard from this clip was that angel Reese received a second technical file. She had already received one for, for arguing with the official. We don't know exactly what was said, but then she, she waved the official off.

And here's the report that came out the very next day on ESPN. It starts with the title WNBA resends second technical file against skies angel Reese. The report reads the second technical file called Tuesday against Chicago sky rookie forward angel Reese has been rescinded by the WNBA. The league said Wednesday Reese was ejected after drawing two technical files for disagreeing with an official in the fourth quarter of the skies, 88 75 laws to the visiting New York Liberty Reese was called for her fifth personal file with two minutes, 31 seconds left and then call for two technical files by the same official Charles Watson.

Reese appeared to say something to Watson and then quickly waved her hand. It goes on to say the lead official later told a pool reporter after the game that Reese's technical files were for disrespectfully addressing the official and then for waving her hand in dismissal. It goes on to say the Chicago bulls, Lonzo ball, who was in attendance at the game said on X that he would pay the $400 fine Reese face from the WNBA for the two technical files.

Now that fine will be $200 since it's only one technical file. And then it concludes by saying quote ref that threw out at Reese 10 angel is weak by the way, you know who you are. Keep your money angel. I got you in quote. That was Lonzo ball.

Reese replied appreciate you gain. Now the thing that's troubling folks about this is you heard the commentators say in that clip that I share that it was a really, really good thing to rescind the technical file. And what we see is a blatant disrespect for authority, a blatant disrespect for those in positions above us in our society. Because what would happen if you waved off a parent after they handed down a disciplinary action?

I could tell you now if I waved off either of my parents or grandparent, I would still be down on the floor right now trying to collect all the fragments of my teeth to put them back together because folks that that just doesn't fly. You don't wave off someone in disrespect. But what we see is this guy Lonzo ball defending her. He's defending her disrespecting an official.

And then we see the league also come to her defense and decides to rescind the technical file to say no, you didn't deserve that. And again, what we see throughout our nation is this blatant disrespect for authority. And it's very troubling, but the Bible does speak to this second Timothy chapter three, verses one through five reads, but know this, that in the last days, perilous times will come for men will be lovers of themselves.

Lovers of money, boasters, proud blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, unloving unforgiving slanderers without self-control brutal despisers of good traders, headstrong, haughty lovers of pleasure, rather than lovers of God, having a form of godliness, but denying his power and from such people turn away. You see that disobedient to parents. And that again goes along with being disobedient to those in authority, despisers of good headstrong.

And we see that displayed in this incident with angel Reese. And then the Bible talks about the spirit of lawlessness that would come in the last days. Second Thessalonians chapter two, verses seven through 12 for the mystery of lawlessness is already at work. Only he who now restrains will do so until he is taken out of the way. And then the lawless one will be revealed whom the Lord will consume with the breath of his mouth and destroy with the brightness of his coming. The coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan with all power signs and line wonders and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish because they did not receive the love of the truth that they might be saved. And for this reason, God will send them strong delusion that they should believe the lie that they all may be condemned, who did not believe the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness. And folks, we see it throughout our society, people having pleasure in unrighteousness, people joining gleefully in unrighteousness. And here's the thing.

I am a parent of two children, two teenage children. And I tell them, listen, you know, as a parent, me as a dad and their mother, I say, we don't always get it right. We're not perfect.

Only Jesus Christ is the only perfect human being to ever walk the earth. We don't always get it right. We may sometimes misinterpret something. We may sometimes respond in a wrong tone.

We may lose our patience when we should not with him. And I let them know that, listen, you can disagree with something, but there is never an excuse for disrespect. There is never justification for disrespect that will not be tolerated. And that is why Isaiah five 20 says, woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter. And as we look at our nation right now, we have a month in which pride is being celebrated. Pride, the sin that the Bible says is what comes before we fall.

The sin that the Bible says God hates, the sin that calls Lucifer to rebel against God. And we see that being celebrated throughout our nation because there is this lack of accountability. There is this lack of righteous judgment and we see it happening even from the people, the highest officials within our nation. Here's a clip that I want to share that speaks about our current vice president, Kamala Harris. This was referring to a time before she became vice president in which she backed to Minnesota freedom fund for writers in the 2020 riots following the death of George Floyd, a Minnesota bail fund supported by vice president Kamala Harris during her 2020 campaign helped set an accused domestic abuser free. Now just weeks after his release, he's back behind bars after prosecutors charged him with murder. Senior correspondent Mike Tobin is live for us in our Mideast Midwest Bureau.

Forgive me, Mike. Well, having been jailed on domestic violence charges, George Howard posted $11,500 bail. He did it with the support of the Minnesota freedom fund. Now the freedom fund became well known during the riots, which followed the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis. Politicians and celebs got on board as they were posting bail for those arrested during the riots. And Kamala Harris was one of them evidenced by a tweet from June of 2020. If you're able to chip in now to the Minnesota freedom fund to help post bail for those protesting on the ground in Minnesota. Now with support like that, the freedom fund banked some $35 million and continued to bail people out stating if a judge determines a person is eligible for bail, they should not be stuck in jail because they don't have the same money.

Others do. Now one of those bailed out was George Howard, August the sixth. A few weeks later, there was a road rage incident. Damian Ortiz was shot and killed. Howard was arrested and charged with second degree murder. The Minnesota freedom fund acknowledged supporting Howard's bail and tweeted under new leadership, MFF has implemented changes to its policies and procedures, and we will continue to assess them and to ensure that we are being responsive to the safety and needs of our community.

Howard reportedly says he didn't do it. If convicted, he's looking at a max of 80 years in prison. So there you have it. Kamala Harris, our current vice president in the year before she became vice president was encouraging people to contribute to this bail fund to bail out those who were committing criminal activity during the riots. And now we see this man who was freed as a result of this bail fund has been charged with murder, but we see others that are speaking out against it.

Here's GOP Senator who is talking about this very act of Kamala Harris. The American public has had enough. The crime wave that's rolling across our country is tragic. As Senator Blackburn mentioned, we're seeing record high levels of crime in every major city.

Memphis saw a record high this past year alone. We've got to step up and do something about this, and we've had an administration that prioritizes anything but dealing with crime. In fact, as many of the members of this administration were running for office, I think about Vice President Kamala Harris, she actually raised funds to bail out criminals early. One of those criminals that her fund bailed out just a few weeks ago murdered somebody three weeks after being released on bail that now Vice President Harris's fund provided. And what we see, folks, there are district attorneys all over our nation that are allowing criminals to go unpunished. The police officers do their job. They go out and arrest them for committing crimes.

The district attorneys just simply give them a slap on the wrist, set them free right back out in the streets. And it's not just happening in our nation. It's happening on the world scene. Here is Mary Danielson of the Stand Up for the Truth podcast speaking of what has taken place concerning the nation of Israel. They say in the past few days, Hamas and other terrorist groups have been rejoicing over the decision by Ireland, Norway and Spain to recognize a Palestinian state. The terrorists are so delighted that they have released several statements praising the three countries and stating that the Palestinians view the recognition as a direct result of their terrorist attacks against Israel.

Germany, not to be left out, said it would, quote, detain Benjamin Netanyahu if he were to set foot on German soil if the International Criminal Court, the ICC, issues an arrest warrant. The recognition of a Palestinian state, even if it's merely a symbolic action that has no bearing on the reality on the ground, sends a message to the Palestinians that terrorism against Jews is justified and worthwhile because the world, instead of punishing you, will reward you for your crimes. You see, folks, that is what we see is the spirit of rebellion, the spirit of lawlessness throughout the world in which people are being rewarded for wrongdoing. They're being celebrated for committing crimes.

The reason this is happening is a consequence of sin and we see it throughout our nation. King David in the Bible, although he was forgiven for his sins, he suffered major consequences for his sin with Bathsheba. If you look over at Second Samuel Chapter 11, verses one through five, the text reads, it happened in the spring of the year, at the time when kings go out to battle, that David sent Joab and his servants with him and all Israel, and they destroyed the people of Ammon and besieged Rabbah, but David remained at Jerusalem. Then it happened one evening that David arose from his bed and walked out on the roof of the king's house, and from the roof he saw a woman bathing, and the woman was very beautiful to behold. So David sent and inquired about the woman, and someone said, Is this not Bathsheba, the daughter of Ilium, the wife of Uriah the Hittite? Then David sent messengers and took her, and she came to him, and he lay with her, for she was cleansed from her impurity, and she returned to her house. And the woman conceived, so she sent and told David, and said, I am with child. So we see this incident that many are familiar with, this account concerning King David.

And so this woman Bathsheba conceived as a result of this adulterous act. And what did David do? He decided to send for Uriah, the husband of Bathsheba. He was out on the battlefield, so he sent for him to return home to be with her so he could cover his sin. But instead Uriah, he was a faithful man to the king.

He slept at the king's house, at the door of the king's house. He would not go back home to be with his wife while others, his comrades, were out on the battlefield. He wouldn't do it. That's how loyal and devoted he was. So what did David do?

He decided to get him drunk. And then he thought, well, Uriah would then go in and be with his wife. But Uriah still would not lie with her.

He still would not have the pleasure of his wife while his comrades were out to war. So David then devised the scheme to put Uriah on the front line. And he sent word that, put Uriah on the front line and then have all the others retreat so that Uriah would get killed. And so as we pick up in 2 Samuel 11, verse 26 and 27, when the wife of Uriah heard that Uriah, her husband was dead, she mourned for her husband. And when her mourning was over, David sent and brought her to his house and she became his wife and bore him a son. But the thing that David had done displeased the Lord. This was a horrific thing that David did.

This scheme in which he committed adultery and then followed that up with murder in order to try to cover his sin. Because remember, folks, I said, David, yes, was forgiven by God, but David suffered great consequences. And we see that account here in 2 Samuel chapter 12.

So go over to the next chapter with me. As we come to verse 7, this is after the prophet Nathan sent by God had given a parable of where a rich man had taken a poor man's one little ewe lamb. And so in verse 7, it says, then Nathan said to David, you are the man. Thus says the Lord God of Israel, I anointed you king over Israel, and I delivered you from the hand of Saul. I gave you your master's house and your master's wives into your keeping and gave you the house of Israel and Judah.

And if that had been too little, I would have also given you much more. Why have you despised the commandment of the Lord to do evil in his sight? You have killed Uriah the Hittite with the sword. You have taken his wife to be your wife and have killed him with the sword of the people of Ammon.

Now, therefore, the sword shall never depart from your house because you have despised me and have taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your wife. Thus says the Lord, behold, I will raise up adversity against you from your own house and I will take your wives before your eyes and give them to your neighbor. And he shall lie with your wives in the sight of this son. Well, you did it secretly, but I will do this thing before all Israel, before the son. So David said to Nathan, I have sinned against the Lord. And Nathan said to David, the Lord also has put away your sin. You shall not die. However, because by this deed you have given great occasion to the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme. The child also who is born to you shall surely die.

Then Nathan departed to his house. And the Lord struck the child that Uriah's wife bore to David and it became ill. So what we find in this account folks is the baby did surely die. This child who was conceived out of this adulterous act. And then there was turmoil among the children of David. As we go through the account of second Samuel, we will find that David's son Amnon raped his sister Tamar. And then Amnon's brother Absalom killed Amnon in revenge. And then what we find is that David's own son took concubines.

Remember, Nathan said that this would be one of the things that will happen as a consequence. And remember, concubines, these were wives of David. They were considered the lesser wives. They were not the priority wife, but they were considered lesser wives. And if you look at second Samuel chapter number 16, beginning at verse 21, it says that go into your father's concubines whom he has left to keep the house and all Israel will hear that you are abhorred by your father.

Then the hands of all who are with you will be strong. So they pitched a tent for Absalom on the top of the house and Absalom went into his father's concubines in the sight of all Israel. Here is David's son Absalom having sexual relations with David's wife, with his father's wife on top of a house for all of Israel to see. And then Absalom later led a coup to overthrow David.

He was out to kill his father and then Absalom himself was killed in the process. All of this, folks, is because of sin. All of this was the consequence of David's sin, of David committing adultery and then having Uriah killed. We see that David had three sons that died.

He had a daughter that was raped and then he had a son that had sex with his wives. All of this because of sin. It was the consequence of sin. And there are people today who have rebellious children due to the sexual sin of a parent. And if you be honest with yourself, you can look around and you say there's no peace in the home.

There's constant turmoil. And I don't want to paint a picture of hopelessness because as we see with King David, yes, he was forgiven, but yet there were consequences because you see what we have to understand is that we can be forgiven, but temporal consequences may remain. Now again, we know that David, the Bible says he was a man after God's own heart. David was forgiven. Matter of fact, Jesus came through the line of David. He said he would sit on the throne of King David. So I don't want to paint a picture of hopelessness, but I do want to get people to understand there are consequences to sin.

And I stress these things because I don't want you to suffer those consequences. And if you look at Moses in the Bible, he disobeyed God, he displeased God. And God said, Moses, you can see the promised land, but I'm not going to let you enter. And the Bible says, Moses was the closest in personal relation with God than any man to ever live.

But yet God did not allow him to go into the promised land. And as we look at our nation, the United States of America, we had this sexual revolution, this rebellion in the 1960s. And now we are reaping the consequences.

In 1963, the Supreme Court outlawed Bible reading and recitation of the Lord's prayer in public schools. And since 1973, our nation has aborted more than 63, more than 63 million babies in their mother's womb. And folks, we are reaping the consequences of our nation's sins. We have the spirit of rebelliousness. We have the spirit of disrespect. We have a spirit of people not complying with police officers. The officer tells them to do something and they say, no, I'm not going to do it. And they decide to fight back and not comply.

And then in the process, they end up getting their life getting cut short by the police officer as the officer is trying to defend himself. And rather than leaders coming out and saying, well, this is the reason why we need to obey the law, we have nations leaders that come out and defend the wrongdoing. And this is the consequence of seeing this is a consequence of our turning away from God. And my message today is repent. We need to turn from our wicked ways. We, as a nation, we were founded on Christian principles and we need to get back to those Christian principles and hold to our Lord's word. Because if not folks, this spirit of rebellion, the spirit of disrespect, this, the spirit of lawlessness, it is going to continue to get worse and worse and worse. And the Bible tells us that this is all leading up to the return of our great Lord and King, our savior, Jesus Christ. So folks, let this not be a downer message for you.

That is not my goal here. My goal is to call us to repent, to turn away from sin so that we not have to suffer through the consequences that we saw with King David and that we see playing out throughout our nation. So that's going to do it for this week. I want to thank you for tuning in. Please come back and join us next time as we continue to discern the times by viewing life through the lens of the Bible. Until then, remember to pray for the peace of Jerusalem, bless God's great nation of Israel and to the only wise God be glory through Jesus Christ forever.

Amen. Thank you for tuning in to Discerning the Times. Please come back and join us next week as we continue to encourage you to view current events through the lens of the Bible. Until next time, remember to pray for the peace of Jerusalem, bless God's great nation of Israel and seek first the kingdom of God. Discerning the Times is presented by Blessings to Israel.