A Nation in Crisis

From the Love We're Finding studios in Memphis, Tennessee, I'm Byron Tyler, here with Kerry Vaughn, the CEO of Love We're Finding. Kerry, today, Adrian Rogers' message, A Nation in Crisis.

And I found this the other day on a website. We're confronting a unique moment in our history with a trifecta of crises. Look at the worst health emergency in a hundred years, the greatest economic challenge since the Great Depression, and a renewed national conversation.

about social justice and racism. The key word is turn, and so if we can turn, there's a fancy word for that, by the way, repentance, but if we can turn away, turn around, right, a true 180, we begin to see God work in a mighty way. Yeah, and what we're seeing, Kerry, is something similar to Isaiah's day. Oh, absolutely. When you look in Isaiah 59, which is a great passage, by the way, we see separation from God, death, due to sin and self, we see, eventually, sin confessed, and then we see what they call the Redeemer of Zion shall come back to his people.

Yeah. But the key there is turn, to repent, to turn, to turn back toward God. Well, you know, some might ask, how did things get so bad? And Isaiah's people had been feeding on a diet of deception. Much like the day of Isaiah, poisonous philosophies are being swallowed by our generation.

That's exactly right. We're looking for truth in all the wrong places. Adrian Rogers said, truth is what food is to your body, light is to your eyes, and melody is to your ears, right?

And so we stand on the truth of God, and we turn back to the word of God. Well, we always love hearing from our Love We're Finding listeners. This Facebook response says, Thank you, Love We're Finding, for the reminder that even though we find ourselves in difficult times, the Lord is still enthroned.

I, along with millions of Americans, find myself suddenly unemployed in these unprecedented days. But these messages by Pastor Rogers keep me tethered to our Lord. I love that illustration there. It's so graphic to realize how we are connected to our Savior.

to come out in those things. But again, as we talk about this whole repentance and turn, it's not a 360, it's a 180. Kerry, you know, as we look at all the things happening in our nation and around the world, prayer is something that we have the privilege to do, boldly go into the throne room of God. And there's a special thing happening right now, 40 days of prayer. Great, great opportunity to pray.

I've been doing this with a group of men here locally. We pray every Monday evening. And I can tell you, Byron, for me personally, and for the ministry, it's been a great change to have a focused, concentrated effort on praying, and praying specifically, and praying with purpose, and praying in a methodical way so that God will hear. I've seen it really change my own life.

And so I'm excited about this 40 days. As a matter of fact, this group I've been praying with for the last 15 weeks, we have become a band of believers. And I look forward to our hour and a half, if you can believe that, of just praying before God. Nobody's preaching. Nobody's pontificating.

We're not talking. We are praying because prayer is our best weapon. Well, for a nation in crisis, here's Adrian Rogers. One by one, the lights of decency and the lights of hope are being blown out in America. One day calamity will come. One day we will face, perhaps, international terrorism, perhaps unparalleled economic reversal, perhaps natural disasters over which we have no control whatsoever. And then we will fill our churches.

And we will turn our eyes upward, but there'll be no answer. 1 Samuel 8, verse 18 says, And ye shall cry out in that day because of your king, which you have chosen you, and the Lord will not hear you in that day. You'll cry out. You'll say, Oh God, have mercy. You'll pray, and your prayers won't be answered.

Why is that? Well, look in Isaiah chapter 59, verse 1. For though the Lord's hand is not shortened, that it cannot save, neither is his ear heavy, that it cannot hear.

God is not palsied, and God is not deaf, but, verse 2, Your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you that he will not hear. For your hands are defiled with blood, and your fingers with iniquity. Your lips have spoken lies. Your tongue hath muttered perverseness. None calleth for justice, nor any pleadeth for truth.

They trust in vanity and speak lies. They conceive mischief and bring forth iniquity. Now, what is Isaiah saying to a sinful nation in that day? God is well able to hear your prayers. Not that he cannot hear your prayers. It is that he will not hear your prayers because your sin has created a barrier between you and a holy God. And Isaiah tells us what the sin of that day was and how it tracks and parallels the sin of our day.

First of all, look in verse 2. They had bloody hands, bloody hands. America is swimming in an ocean of blood. A modern Holocaust has stained and flooded America. But some 30 million preborn babies cries out from the ground against us since 1972 that horrendous Roe v. Wade ruling when nine men dressed in black robes said that a little preborn baby can be treated as a piece of protoplasm.

They and America are now killing babies at the rate of 4,000 a day. Notice what Isaiah said. Your iniquities have separated between you and your God. Your sins have hid his face from you. Verse 3, your hands are defiled with blood.

That's where we are in America today, bloody hands. But then he goes on to say not only bloody hands but lying lips. Again, look, if you will, in verse 3. Your lips have spoken lies. Your tongue hath muttered perverseness. Lying lips.

Number 3, wicked hearts. Look, if you will, in verse 4. None calleth for justice nor any pleadeth for truth. They trust in vanity and speak lies. They conceive mischief and bring forth iniquity. What are we being told today? We're being told that adultery is really no big deal. Everybody does that.

Friend, I want to tell you, if a man will not keep a sacred vow before Almighty God to his wife, I wouldn't trust him to keep any promise anywhere, anytime. Ecclesiastes 10, verse 1 says this, that dead flies cause the ointment of the apothecary to send forth a stinking savor. So doth a little folly in him that is in reputation for wisdom and honor. Dead flies in the ointment.

Friend, something stinks in America. Now what has brought about this condition? Why is it that Isaiah's people came to a place where they would look up to God and say, God, have mercy on us? And God said, no, I'm not going to hear your prayer. What brought about bloody hands, lying lips, and wicked hearts? Three things. I want you to see them right here in this text. Number 1, the people had been feeding on a diet of deception.

Look in verse 5. They hatch vipers' eggs and weave the spider's web. He that eateth of their eggs dieth, and that which is crushed breaketh out into a viper. Our world, our nation, is on a snake egg diet, a diet of deception. The incubators that hatch those eggs are materialism, humanism, new ageism, liberalism. They've hatched these out. The old granddaddy serpent who has spawned and fertilized these eggs is Satan himself because he's a liar and the father of all lies. There are certain philosophical underpinnings that are so incipient in American life today that they are poisoning our educational, our philosophical, our religious, our economic and political outlook, and our young people are going to public schools and each morning they're served a snake egg omelet. They swallow these things down.

Our kids are not being raised in a society, in a school, that says that they have rights that are given to them, unalienable rights given by Almighty God, but they are told that the universe is self-existing, not created, and the wisdom that built this great nation is being laughed at. But here's the sad thing. Look, if you will, in verse 5. They hatched vipers' eggs. They weaved the spider's web. He that eateth their eggs dieth, now watch that, and that which is crushed breaketh out into a viper. You come against these things and try to stamp them out, all you do is create more snakes.

To stamp out these snake eggs is not the answer. Now, not only is there a diet of deception, but that is compounded by a second thing in America that makes our nation a nation in crisis. Not only a diet of deception, but a web of wickedness. Look again in verse 5, if you will. He says here in verse 5, they weave the spider's web. I got down my encyclopedia and read some about spiders. I don't know whether you have a love affair with spiders or not.

I don't. But spiders weave a web, almost invisible, very sticky, and the purpose of that web is to catch an unsuspecting insect who will fly into that web, become entangled by that web, where the spider can come out and wrap him up in more strands of that web. Then the spider injects poison into the body of that insect, and then the spider sucks that insect dry. Now, Satan has woven some webs, and he is poisoning and sucking dry a generation of young people today. Satan has a network. Are you listening to me? A web of evil that is absolutely terrifying, and our young people can hardly see the web.

They don't understand it. There's pornography, for example, the web of pornography. Pastor Rogers, does pornography lead to degeneracy? Pornography is degeneracy.

That's what it is. Our kids today can get on the Internet and watch unspeakable, unmentionable things. Satan has his web of drugs and alcohol, a deadly trap. America is filled today with walking dead whose lives have been sucked dry by the spiders of alcohol and drug abuse.

And we have a generation of walking dead who've been sucked dry, embalmed by alcohol. There's the sticky web of immorality. Young people are being told today there are no fixed standards of right or wrong.

And the media and entertainment has created the myth that premarital sex, extramarital sex, homosexuality are on the same level as chastity, monogamy, and heterosexuality. And in our so-called sex education classes in many of our schools, they have a threefold goal, and that is to teach children how to fornicate without guilt, without catching a disease, and without conceiving a baby. That's called sex education today. How would you like your child to go to school and hear what some are being taught? Here's what they're being taught. Here's the textbook. Quote, premarital sexual intercourse is acceptable for both men and women if they are involved in a stable, loving relationship.

It has been suggested by some marriage counseling authorities that all couples should live together before they're married. How would you like that for education? Or listen to this. Often promiscuity is labeled as bad by persons who do not accept this type of behavior, and with other patterns of sexual behavior, one should not pin a good or bad on a practice. Here's another. Morality is individual. It is what you think it is.

Your conception of what is right or wrong morally is an individual decision. May God have mercy upon us. When these tell us we cannot pray, we cannot read God's Word, we cannot post the Ten Commandments, but we can denigrate God's Word and God's law, and they talk about going all the way. That's the one thing they don't do. They haven't gone all the way.

They go a little further when they catch a disease along the way, a little further when a baby is conceived and they have to tell a father or a mother a little further if they decide to murder that baby, but they really haven't gone all the way until they stand before a holy God who says, Thou shalt not commit adultery, a holy God that says, Flee fornication. Now, we are in a terrible situation. What has brought about this crisis in America? Number one, a diet of deception. Number two, a web of wickedness. Number three, the trashing of truth.

The trashing, the trashing of truth. Let's begin in verse 12. For our transgressions are multiplied before thee. Our sins testify against us, for our transgressions are with us, and as for our iniquities, we know them in transgressing and lying against the Lord and departing away from our God, speaking oppression and revolt, conceiving and uttering from the heart words of falsehood.

Now, watch this. And judgment is turned away backward, and justice standeth afar off. Why has judgment been turned away backward? Why does justice wait in the wings?

Here it is. For truth is fallen in the street, and equity cannot enter. Yea, truth faileth, and he that departeth from evil maketh himself a prey. That is, when you stand up and speak against it, you become the bad guy. When you call for justice, when you call for truth, you become the guy in the black hat.

But notice what he says. He says there's a traffic jam. Justice, equity cannot come through the streets because truth is fallen. And all of the traffic is backed up because truth is fallen in the streets. Well, what caused truth to fall? Notice truth is not dead.

There is a traffic jam. Justice and equity cannot enter. It's not that truth is nonexistent. You can't ever murder truth. It is not that truth is dead. Truth will not die. But truth has stumbled. Truth is lying prostrate on the ground.

Why? Well, she's been knocked down in America by doctors of philosophy. She's been tripped up in America by dishonest politicians. And she has been chloroformed by liberal preachers.

And she's lying there in the street. May I say, with all of the unction, function, and emotion of my soul, God help me to say it, the job in America today is to put truth back on her feet. And I really believe there's not a lot wrong in America that could not be put right quickly, dramatically, if across America, in the pulpits of America, this Sunday and every Sunday, a generation of preachers would open the book of truth and preach, thus saith the Lord God Almighty, without fear or favor.

We're in a situation today that is a crisis. Why did God write a Bible? He calls that Bible the word of truth.

Why did God send the Holy Spirit? He calls the Holy Spirit the spirit of truth. How does God describe himself? He describes himself as the truth. Who is Jesus? He describes on the way the truth and the life. What is the church?

The church is called the pillar and the ground of truth. The apostle John said, I have no greater joy than to know that my children walk in the truth. We can get facts from the Internet. There's a difference between facts and truth. Knowledge may double. Truth will never double. There is eternal truth.

Truth is what food is to your body, light is to your eyes and melody is to your ears. Now, you know what most of us want to do? Most of us want to be stamping out snake eggs. Most of us want to be sweeping down spider's webs. But, friend, you stamp out a snake egg, just more snakes. You sweep down a spider's web, you've done it before.

It's like the next morning, is it not? We need something that will slay the snake and destroy the spider. And that is truth. That is truth. Only truth, only truth, only truth can keep this daddy serpent from spawning those eggs. Only truth can keep that spider from weaving those sticky webs. We need to lift up truth in America today, to put truth on her feet. And I want to call upon you and every believer to rededicate himself to the truth. Parrots, teach your children to live the truth, to love the truth, to tell the truth, to know the truth, to believe the truth.

Jesus said, Sanctify them through thy word, thy word is truth. Proverb 23, verse 23, buy the truth and sell it not. Buy the truth and sell it not. There is a prize to possess, it is truth. There is a price to pay, you must buy the truth. You must study it, pour over it, learn it, live it, know it. And you must preserve the truth. Don't let anybody take the truth from you. That truth is in God's word.

The early Christians did not argue over the Bible. They loved it, they believed it, they expounded it, they poured it forth as white hot lava. One by one, person by person, family by family, city by city, church by church, we've got to take America back.

We've got to take America back. My heart is broken over snake eggs, spider webs, and traffic jams. What about you? Are you right with God?

Do you think it's somebody else's problem? What about your home? What about your business relationships? Have you been feeding on snake eggs?

Some right now are wrapped up in spider's webs. There's only one thing that will set you free. Jesus said, you shall know the truth, and the truth will make you free. I want to tell you the truth is today that God loves you. The truth is today that Jesus Christ died for you. He carried your sins to the cross, and with His blood, He paid your sin debt. The truth is that He walked out of that grave, and He has ascended the high hills of glory.

The truth is that one day soon and very soon, I hope, He's coming again. And the truth is, if you will believe on Him and trust Him, He will save you, I promise you, on the authority of the Word of God. And not only will He save you, but praise His holy name, He will satisfy you. What you're longing for, you'll never find until you find in the Lord Jesus. And not only will He save you and satisfy you, He'll sanctify you. He'll begin to make you more and more and more and more and more like Him. Now, when you come to Jesus, you're not gonna sprout wings and get a halo right away. You'll have to grow. But this saving Jesus is the satisfying, sanctifying Jesus.

And I'll tell you something else. He'll secure you. He'll keep you. He'll keep you. It's not a matter of your holding on to Him.

He'll hold you, if you truly really give Him your heart and your life. You know, if I could give my heart to Jesus for you today, I would, but I cannot. I've preached as best I know how. But the Lord sent me here to tell you today that He loves you. And He invites you to give your heart, your home to Him, once and for all, now and forever. Just say, Lord Jesus, come into my heart. Forgive my sin.

Cleanse me and save me, Lord Jesus. If you prayed that simple prayer from your heart today, I encourage you to go to our website. We have more encouragement for you and answers to questions you might have as you surrender your life fully to Jesus Christ.

Let us know about your decision. We'd love to rejoice with you. Just go to lwf.org slash radio and click Discover Jesus at the top of the page. Again, lwf.org slash radio and click the tab Discover Jesus. Let us hear from you today. Well, thank you for studying in God's Word with us. Remember these convicting words from Adrian Rogers that the job in America today is to put truth back on our feet. Stand for truth today and join us next time for more timeless truth right here on Love Worth Finding.