Why Has the Lord Pronounced All This Great Evil Against Us?
Notes
Transcript
This morning I am beginning a new sermon series entitled, “Life’s Most Important Questions.” In light of all that has been happening in our nation the last several weeks, I would like to begin with a question that is found in Jeremiah 16:10-13:
“And when you tell this people all these words, and they say to you, ‘Why has the Lord pronounced all this great evil against us? What is our iniquity? What is the sin that we have committed against the Lord our God?’ then you shall say to them: ‘Because your fathers have forsaken me, declares the Lord, and have gone after other gods and have served and worshiped them, and have forsaken me and have not kept my law, and because you have done worse than your fathers, for behold, every one of you follows his stubborn, evil will, refusing to listen to me. Therefore I will hurl you out of this land into a land that neither you nor your fathers have known, and there you shall serve other gods day and night, for I will show you no favor.’
Many would object that this is a question that only Old Testament Israel could ask. I can understand the concern here, clearly the United States nor any other nation, has a covenantal relationship with God as Old Testament Isreal did. However, Scripture makes it clear that...
God Holds Every Nation Accountable
God Holds Every Nation Accountable
This is because God hold individuals accountable for their actions and nations are made up of individuals. We see this in Romans 2:14-16 for example:
For when Gentiles, who do not have the law, by nature do what the law requires, they are a law to themselves, even though they do not have the law. They show that the work of the law is written on their hearts, while their conscience also bears witness, and their conflicting thoughts accuse or even excuse them on that day when, according to my gospel, God judges the secrets of men by Christ Jesus.
I chose this text because it clearly speaks of the non-Jewish peoples of this world and it teaches us that even without the written Law, Gentiles know what is right or wrong because God has written it upon their hearts. In addition, Paul teaches us that everyone will be judged by Christ Jesus.
The police officers who participated in the murder of George Floyd knew they were doing wrong. The people who looted and vandalized businesses knew they were doing wrong. Many attempt to deny this truth, but in their hearts of hearts they know they are guilty before God and man.
We as a nation have social problems and systemic problems, but until we acknowledge we have a sin problem, there will be no moving forward towards a solution.
This is particularity important to remember in an election year. Modern politics is driven by the promise of making things better, but it is an empty promise. Until we realize our real problem is a sin problem, things will not improve. In fact, they will only get worse, because we as a nation will be under the wrath and judgement of God.
This bring us to my second point:
God Judges Every Nation For Their Sins
God Judges Every Nation For Their Sins
There are many examples in the Old Testament of God judging pagan nations for their sin, but I just want to highlight one, because I will be talking about what happen there in the rest of the sermon. The nation I am referring to is the Assyrian Empire and it’s capital city, Nineveh. At the beginning of the book of Jonah we read these words:
“Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it, for their evil has come up before me.”
Nineveh was a pagan city, it was not in covenant with God like Israel. The Ninevites could not be called “God’s people,” yet our text says God took notice of their sin and was going to hold them accountable. Moreover, God was concerned for the Ninevites and gave Jonah the task of warning them. Jonah did not share this concern and the book of Jonah ends with this thought provoking question:
And should not I pity Nineveh, that great city, in which there are more than 120,000 persons who do not know their right hand from their left, and also much cattle?”
God sees the sin of our nation. He sees the racism. He sees the looting, thrift and fraudulent behavior. He sees the murder (including abortion). He see the envy, greed and avaricious. He sees both the disrespect and misuse of authority. He sees the sexual immorality. Most of all, He sees the our unbelief and idolatry. This is why...
God Calls Every Nation to Repentance and Faith
God Calls Every Nation to Repentance and Faith
Again and again we see in the Old Testament God judging Israel in order to bring them to repentance, under the New Covenant, this same concern and call is extended to all nations and all peoples. Preaching before the intellectuals of Athens, Paul said:
The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent, because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead.”
Notice that Paul in this passage speaks both of God’s mercy and of His judgement. The judgements nations face in this present age are acts of mercy. In this age, God’s judgement is designed to lead people and nations to repentance and faith. As great as the current crisis may seem, it is not the full measure of God’s wrath. In fact, God is showing our nation a great mercy. He is giving us an opportunity to repent. In September, I am going to close this series of sermons with a passage that contains the following verse:
The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.
The question that week will be, “Where is His promised coming?” The answer to that question is found in the verse I just read: God is slow to bring the Final Judgement because He wants to give people and nations time to repent. Earlier I spoke of God’s compassion towards the nation of Assyria. Upon hearing the message of Jonah, the Ninevites repented and this is what we read happened:
When God saw what they did, how they turned from their evil way, God relented of the disaster that he had said he would do to them, and he did not do it.
The sins of Assyria were much worse than the sins of America, yet God forgave them. God can forgive and heal our land as well, but that repentance must begin with us. In a dream, God appeared to Solomon and said this:
When I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or command the locust to devour the land, or send pestilence among my people, 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 and will forgive their sin and heal their land.
Peter warns us that God’s judgement begins with the household of God, writing:
For it is time for judgment to begin at the household of God; and if it begins with us, what will be the outcome for those who do not obey the gospel of God?
If judgement begins with us, our nation’s repentance and healing begins with us as well. The church in America has for too long participated in the sins of our society. Too long have we made excuses for it. Too long have we placed our faith in politics rather than in Christ. Today it needs to stop. Today we need to believe in the promise God gave Solomon so many years ago; “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 and will forgive their sin and heal their land.”
Let us pray: