Let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith. Few of us would make the wrath of God our first choice for a Bible study, yet God's prophets thundered words of His judgment to the people of their day. God's warnings to the nations have not changed, have we? Today, a look at what God's wrath is all about.
Stay with us. From the Moody Church in Chicago, this is Running to Win with Dr. Erwin Lutzer, whose clear teaching helps us make it across the finish line. Pastor Lutzer, does God give any warnings before exercising His wrath? Dave, that's an excellent question, but first of all I want to comment on the wrath of God itself. The simple fact is that we as evangelicals have oftentimes redefined God. We have done all that we can to shape Him into our image, and how often do you hear messages on the wrath of God? And yet there it is in Scripture, there it is throughout all the pages of the Bible. The answer is yes, God oftentimes does give warnings, and every human being has within himself or herself a conscience that reminds us all that we are accountable to the Almighty. The wrath of God is not a subject that we'd like to talk about, but there it is in Scripture. We cannot make God into the image that we would prefer. God is who He is. At the end of this broadcast, I'm going to be giving you an opportunity to join us as we continue to share the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ around the world.
So you stay tuned, listen carefully, and I want to emphasize that the reason that God's grace is so wonderful is because His wrath is terrifying. A homosexual activist speaking to his constituency this past week said, welcome, you sodomites. He was of course referring to the Supreme Court decision that was made to overturn a Texas law which banned homosexual relationships. Whatever we may feel about the right of homosexuals to live together, the problem with the Supreme Court decision is that it was not based really on the Constitution, appealing once again to the doctrine of privacy, which was really the basis upon which abortion was legalized.
And also we have to face the question of whether or not it indeed opens the door to adult incest, bigamy, and prostitution, and a host of other such sins. It's really interesting to live at a time in the United States of America when so many of the fences that have been put up are being torn down. And nobody is even pausing to ask why the fences were put up there in the first place as we begin and continue the descent into a moral vacuum. This happens to be the fourth in a series of messages titled God and the Nations. We have talked about the origin of the nations, the providence of God in the nations, how that God raises up rulers and takes them down. We've also spoken about sins for which God judges a nation.
That was the last message. And today we come to another topic, namely the different kinds of ways in which God does indeed judge a nation for its sins. In fact, the title of the message is The Wrath of God, Understanding the Wrath of God. Now maybe you're here as a visitor and you say to yourself, now that's a strange topic for a sermon. We've come here to Moody Church today because we want to hear about the love of God.
Well, you'll hear about that too. But you know, the Bible does talk about the wrath of God. It says in Romans chapter 1 verse 18 that the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and wickedness and those, notice this phrase, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness.
The imagery there is of a, that we would like to use is of a garden hose with all of that pressure, the water coming through and someone absolutely insisting that he hold his thumb over the spout. People suppress the truth in unrighteousness. I was in Colorado this week and flew back and God in his providence put me next to a woman who is on her way to this great and wonderful city of Chicago for the gay rights parade. She was here for that purpose and she has a partner being part of that lifestyle who is actually the pastor of a church in Colorado. So we had an interesting discussion. But I couldn't help but think, but I couldn't help but think that in her life and in the lives of many, and I don't want to give the impression as if to say homosexuality is the big sin that we should be opposed to, but it is sin. But I couldn't help but think that another individual, it became clear to me, suppressing the truth, suppressing the truth. And you and I may be guilty of that as well. So we don't point fingers unless we talk also to ourselves. You say, well, what's this business about the wrath of God? God is a loving God. Most assuredly he is.
But do you remember, do you remember in C.S. Lewis, Lucy as she met Aslan? Remember Aslan is the lion representing Jesus Christ. And as she looked at Aslan's paws, his paws, they were as smooth as velvet.
In fact, those paws could have been used to stroke her face. But when Aslan's claws were out, they were as sharp as knives. And that's the way God is. Love, but also wrath and judgment.
A few preliminary remarks before we dive into the text. First of all, please keep in mind that all sin has immediate judgment, immediate judgment. As we shall see today, people say, well, someday God is going to judge America. Yeah, there may be some future judgment, but we are being judged for our sins right now, just like individuals are being judged for their sins right now. When you and I sin, it has an immediate instant judgment.
It has to be for God to be God. One day God said to Adam, do not eat of the fruit of the tree, which is in the midst of the garden. And Adam and Eve ate. And God says, in the day that you eat thereof, you will die. Well, there isn't an immediate judgment in the sense that Adam did not fall over dead, but the process of death began its laborious journey all the way to the grave.
There are immediate consequences to sin. But secondly, we need to keep in mind that sometimes God's full judgment may take centuries. Remember the case of the Canaanites. God says, I am giving them 400 years and I'm not judging them now because the cup of their iniquity is not yet full.
So God was willing to wait a long time. And eventually they were judged by Joshua, whose armies basically for the most part exterminated them. And then third, please keep in mind that God's intention is always loving. His intention is to bring us judgment, yes, but the intention is that we would be driven to him that we might repent individually and as a nation.
God's purposes are always loving and merciful, though they don't appear that way when they first happen. Now what we're going to be doing in the next few moments is to look into the scripture, and I'm going to give you some verses to show how God judged the nation Israel. But as I shall make clear, it would be wrong for us to simply look at these judgments and apply them directly to the United States and their reasons why God's judgment of Israel is somewhat at some points different than his judgment would be of other nations after the coming of Christ. They were a special people chosen by God.
They were there in the land and God says I'm going to use the land to either bless you or curse you. That's different than it is today. But the principles and the secondary applications, as we shall see, directly impinge upon us who live in this great and glorious and blessed nation with all of its sins and lost opportunities. Well enough chitchat. Let's get directly to the text. Now you know that usually what I do is take a passage of scripture and expound it.
Today we're going to do it topically as I did it last time. We're going to look at the scripture and just list six different ways that God judged Israel and we'll see its relevance. Then we're going to wind it up at the end with specific applications and we're all going to leave here changed and thinking differently because we've been under the authority of God's most holy word.
First of all, we have natural disasters, natural disasters. I could have used hundreds of verses from the Old Testament for this but I chose only two or three. Psalm 107 verses 33 and 34, he turned rivers into a desert, flowing springs into thirsty ground and fruitful land into a salt waste because of the wickedness of those who live there. God says you're going to have drought because of your sin. Jeremiah chapter 3 verse 3, therefore the showers have been withheld and no spring rains have fallen yet you have the brazen look of a prostitute you refuse to blush with shame. Notice God says I'm sending you drought and natural disasters to bring you to repentance but it's having the opposite effect.
You're as hard as ever in your heart. Few things about natural disasters. First of all, God controls them.
God controls them. You say well I think the earth is fallen and that's why it happens. Yeah, the earth is fallen but back behind of the natural disasters you have the immediate cause. Meteorologists know the immediate cause of a storm and hail and so forth but back of these movements of nature is God. You say are you serious?
Yeah, I'm very serious. Who is it that caused the plagues of Egypt, natural disasters but God? Who is it that caused the sun to stay in the heavens during the time of Joshua but God? Who is it that caused the storm during the time of Jonah or caused the storm to cease during the time of Jesus? God stands back of natural disasters. In my book, 10 Lies About God, I go into this in great detail but I can convince you that God is back of natural disasters if I simply ask you a question.
You are running through a forest and there is a lightning all around you above you and trees are just splitting here and there because lightning is just decimating them. Would you pray or would you not? Some of you haven't prayed for a long, long time would suddenly discover the discipline of prayer. Well if God's not in control of lightning, why bother praying? Of course you'd pray and you'd be wise to pray. God controls natural disasters and natural disasters are a picture of coming judgment.
Now I need to hurry here but you need to get this. This does not mean that Africa is a more wicked nation than we are because they have more drought. This is where the difference comes between the Old and the New Testament but the drought of Africa and the mudslides in Venezuela and the earthquake in Turkey. All of those together as we can show scripturally if we had the time is a picture of judgment that is to come regardless of which nation must endure it. God says in the Bible, in Job and elsewhere, that natural disasters are a cameo.
They're a little picture of my coming judgment of the world and that's why in the book of Revelation you have natural disasters connected with the final final judgment. Second, the deprivation of personal freedoms. I just chose one verse. Dozens could have been taken from the book of Judges and elsewhere but Zechariah chapter 11 verse 6, for I will no longer have pity on the people of the land declares the Lord. I will hand everyone over to his neighbor and his king. They will oppress the land and I will not rescue them from their hands. God says you're going to be enslaved to others and your personal freedoms will be taken away. Once again let's not think that Russia and China are worse than we were because their personal freedoms were taken away under communism. Sometimes people must suffer because of their evil rulers but one of the signs, one of the judgments of God upon a world that has neglected him is the fact that people always end up serving others and their personal freedoms are taken away.
We think of America. I mentioned last time, isn't it an anomaly that you would have liberal groups that supposedly are the champions of freedom to be the greatest threat to religious freedom here in America. So that students can read pornography on the bus as part of their freedom but according to one principle not a Bible because the bus is public property and you can't have religion and public property. Where is all this nonsense going to end anyway?
Because of silly ideas of the separation of church and state and political correctness which in itself would be a dozen sermons but we must hurry on. Third, war. War.
I chose just two passages again. It says in Isaiah chapter 10 verses 5 and 6, woe to the Assyrian the rod of my anger in whose hand is the club of my wrath. I sent him against a godless nation. I dispatch him against a people who anger me to seize loot and snatch plunder and to trample them down like mud in the streets. Habakkuk chapter 1 verse 6, I am raising up the Babylonians that ruthless and impetuous people who sweep across the whole earth to seize dwelling places not their own. I hope you understand how frustrated I am preaching because as I've been going through this I'm thinking you know if I had the time this would be a whole sermon, that'd be a whole sermon, that'd be a whole sermon.
Take about a year to say everything that needs to be said but isn't this interesting? Do you think that the Assyrians and the Babylonians were better than the people of Israel? Of course not, they were more wicked, they were pagans, they were sacrificing their kids to the fire and what have you. They were evil. But God says I'm going to use a nation that is more evil than you to judge you.
And when I continue this series of messages and talk about the United States of America and such things as terrorism we're going to have to come back to this concept again. But notice what God says, I am raising up the Babylonians against you. I will use a people more evil than you to judge you because of your sins and your violence and your inability to call on God.
Wow. Remember that in war it is not always true that the best nation wins, it's not always true because God uses evil nations to judge those who should know better. Number four, deaf ears. Deaf ears, isn't this interesting? If you were with us last time you know that I mentioned that one of the sins for which God judges people is ears that will not hear and I quoted a verse that says that when the word is preached they stop up their ears so they do not hear. Now what we learn in scripture is that if you're going to close your ears to the truth, God is going to make sure that your ears are closed as a judgment. Isaiah chapter 6 verses 9 and 10 he said go and tell this people, he's talking to Isaiah, be ever hearing but never understanding, be ever seeing but never perceiving, make the heart of this people calloused, make their ears dull, close their eyes otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts and turn and be healed and God says in the New Testament Satan has blinded the minds of those who believe not lest the light of the glorious gospel should shine onto them. God says you don't want to hear my word, I'll give you blindness and dull hearing so that you won't hear it, it's a judgment from me. Boy we have to pause there don't we? Number of years ago Alexander Solzhenitsyn, Nobel laureate, famous for Russian literature and his description of life under communism, giving a lecture at Harvard University and warned the students about America's pursuit of pleasure to the neglect of God and says that the student body should turn to God and he was booed off the stage.
We will not hear it. What I've just mentioned my friend is very sobering isn't it? When you stop to think of it we must recognize that God is a God of wrath, of course he's also a God of love but the reason that his love is so precious as I like to emphasize is because his wrath is so terrifying. I'm holding in my hands a letter that we received from someone who said that thanks to your teaching I learned about a God who loves me and I might add that's very important and can transform lives. He transformed mine and he used Pastor Lutzer's words I was not a believer but one day I started listening to your program and it goes on from there telling about the transformation that took place. I share that with you for a reason. When we receive testimonies like this I am well aware it is not a testimony for a man, for a ministry, for a church it is also your testimony because so many of you have stood with us financially and with your prayers. Would you consider becoming an endurance partner? Pray about it. You say well I need more info I hope that you have a pen or pencil handy. Here's what you can do go to rtwoffer.com that's rtwoffer.com and when you're there you click on the endurance partner button or you can call us at 1-888-218-9337. Right now you can go to rtwoffer.com.
Thanks in advance for helping us. It's time once again for you to ask Pastor Lutzer a question about the Bible or the Christian life. The end times are they coming soon? Many think they are including this listener who says that the Bible speaks about spiritual famine. The question is this do you think we will see a spiritual famine in our nation before the church is raptured? If so how can we prepare our churches for this?
Well that's a big story isn't it? First of all what are we to expect before the rapture? You know Jesus made that statement when the Son of Man comes will he find faith on the earth? I personally interpret that to mean perhaps not too much faith. In other words there is going to be a time of decline a time of heresy a time when evil grows and false spirituality takes the place of Christianity.
We can see that happening right now. If you're talking about a spiritual famine we are in it and it is only getting worse. The question is how can we prepare for it?
Excellent question. I think what we need to do is to intentionally as individuals and as churches ask and answer a very critical question namely what can we do to remain strong at a time when everything that has been nailed down is being torn up when you have a society that is turning away from God when you have unjust laws that are encroaching on our freedoms how can we continue to be strong? I always tell people that it is not necessary by the way to have freedom to be faithful as martyrs throughout the centuries have certainly proven. To answer your question in detail would take a great deal of time except to say that we need to begin to focus on the gospel on holy living on prayer on witnessing and to know that we can learn to be strong now because I believe the time is coming when it will be absolutely necessary if we intend to survive with our reputation and witness intact. Some wise counsel from Dr. Erwin Lutzer. Thank you, Pastor Lutzer. If you'd like to hear your question answered go to our website at rtwoffer.com and click on Ask Pastor Lutzer or call us at 1-888-218-9337.
That's 1-888-218-9337. You can write to us at Running to Win, 1635 North LaSalle Boulevard, Chicago, Illinois 60614. The blessings of God are bestowed on nations that follow God's commands. His judgment takes many forms like natural disasters and the deprivation of personal freedoms. Next time a look at more forms of judgment that are very evident in America now. Running to Win is sponsored by the Moody Church.
