They sacrificed their sons and daughters to demons. They shed innocent blood, the blood of their sons and daughters, whom they sacrificed to the idols of Canaan, and the land was desecrated by their blood. They defiled themselves by what they did; by their deeds they prostituted themselves.” (Psalm 106:37-38)
Therefore God gave them over. . .” (Romans 1:24)
For years, the hue and cry of many Christian fundamentalists and evangelicals is that unless our nation turns from its overt and heinous sinfulness, the judgment of God must surely be close. Mrs. Ruth Graham, wife of Billy Graham, is cited as saying, “If God does not judge America then He will have to apologize to Sodom and Gomorrah.”
Why, even the non-believers have gotten into the act. Igor Panarin, a former KGB agent and now an official with the Russian government, predicted in 1998 that America would fall by 2010 due to its own moral and economic collapse. Civil war would break out, and the nation would be reduced to six, smaller, third-world entities controlled by foreign spheres of influence (e.g., the west coast nation under the Chinese, the northeast nation by Europe, etc.). Hmmmmmmmmmm??? Well, may I suggest that a judgment of sorts has come upon this land - we are already in its midst!
To review the biblical data, note the types of judgment mentioned in the Scriptures. First, appraising the Scriptures (i.e., individuals interpreting the Scriptures for themselves and forming judgments as to its meaning); then, discerning of the validity of church doctrine; next, assessing the government (i.e., when is it right to disobey the laws of the land in order to uphold the Truth of God); and, testing the spirits as John instructs in his first epistle; last, gauging men’s lives (including our own!) as Matthew 7 tell us. Too, there is God’s final judgment which will hold all accountable on that last day, and those whose names are not found in the Book of Life will be cast into the lake of fire and everlasting punishment.
But, there is another judgment that is often overlooked – the judgment of abandonment. Many places in Scripture address this: the sons of Israel in Judges 10 (“You have forsaken me, you have served other gods, therefore I will deliver you no more.”); Samson in Judges 16 (“…But he did not know that the Lord had departed from him.”); again, Israel in Proverbs 1 (“When distress and anguish come to you, then you will call Me but I will not answer.”); and God’s people in Hosea 4 (“Ephraim is joined to idols…Leave him alone.”).
As we’ve seen, one passage that uses some unbelievably strong language is Psalm 106:
Therefore the Lord was angry with His people and abhorred His inheritance. He handed them over to the nations, and their foes ruled over them. (vs. 40-41)
As seen in our opening passage, God exposed their sinfulness, and words like “sacrificed,” “demons,” “shed innocent blood,” “desecrated,” “defiled,” and “prostituted” all testify as to why God abandoned this people. This is the rawest language seen in the Scriptures, and to read it with understanding gives one a sense of the absolute horror – there is no hope for the guilty!
What we find in the Old Testament has its parallel in the New. Once more turning to Romans 1, we read in verses 18-32:
“The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness, since what is known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities – His eternal power and divine nature – have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.
“For although they knew God, they neither glorified Him as God nor gave thanks to Him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles.
“Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator – who is forever praised. Amen.
“Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural ones. In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed indecent acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their perversion.
“Furthermore, since they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, He gave them over to a depraved mind, to so what ought not to be done. They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; they are senseless, faithless, heartless, ruthless. Although they know God’s righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them.”
Note well the repetitive “…God gave them over…” (vs. 24, 26, and 28). That is the judgment of abandonment, and it describes the “moral chaos” extant in America today!
Let’s exegete this thing jus’ a bit; first, in verse 18, Paul tells us that God’s wrath is “revealed from heaven.” Wrath has several ideas in Scripture – eternal punishment (the lake of fire), the unfolding of divine displeasure at the end of the ages, calamitous providences (the flood of Noah, Sodom and Gomorrah, et al.), and now ABANDONMENT.
That’s the gist of that disturbing lil’ phrase, “God gave them over…” Man, it drones in our minds like the vliiiiiiiiiiiiiiiip!!! of a broken record. “God gave them over,” “God gave them over,” God gave…” Over and over again. Hmmmmmmmmmmmmm??? But, it is not damnation nor some massive disaster nor even the breaking of the seals, the blowing of the seven trumpets, or the dumping of the seven bowls. No, rather it is God handing over the prisoner for the carrying out of sentence (from the Greek, paradidomee, which has a judicial sense like when Jesus was given over to be crucified).
“There comes a time in a nation when God has had enough and He literally lets go and turns them over to the sentence that they have passed upon themselves by their incessant sinful choices. To see it another way, they are deprived of restraining grace.” (John MacArthur)
Now, the progression from the first “God gave them over” to the last is as natural as can be – i.e., it proceeds from impurity to sexual sin (let’s see, the so-called “Sexual Revolution” has come a long way since the Sixties – ever heard of “sexting” or how ’bout the college student selling her virginity to the highest internet bidder???) to gross perversion (homosexuality) to – SURPRISE!!! – disability (i.e., not being able to function, perform, think, reason, comprehend, understand, apprehend)?!?!?! MacArthur says:
“A depraved mind in the original language is one that’s tested and found useless, therefore, disqualified for its intended use. The reasoning faculty has been corrupted by the influences that surround it.”
MacArthur then calls attention to an MTV survey about morality (say what?!?!?!). They took the seven deadly sins (lust, greed, etc.) and asked their audience what they thought of them. The response was that these were seen as commendable – virtues, no less!
“And when that happens and your entire sense of morality is warped, then your conscience is ill-informed and it doesn’t function. So, you have unconscionable behavior. And you laugh at Jerry Springer instead of falling on your face and weeping. . .So, as a result, they do things that are not – what? – proper, fitting, sensible, reasonable.”
Well, what does this mean for us today. I think that as we look forward to yet another weekend of remembrance for the almost 54 million!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! babies – no, “sons and daughters” – whose “innocent blood” has been “shed” – “sacrificed” – upon the “demonic” altars of pleasure (Baal), cruelty (Molech), convenience and greed (Mammon), we must be reminded that God has already judged us. Yes, “Ichabod” has been inscribed across the mantel of this land in letters broad and bold. Hey, abortion IS the judgment!!! We have been abandoned to doing “things that are not…proper, fitting, sensible, and reasonable.”
But what can we do? Is there some relief to be found from this sentence? Will the Great Judge yet commute that sentence? Are we doomed to the dung heap of wasted civilizations? I don’t know anything about relief or commutation or the demise of America. But, there are four things that we must do (yes, there is both a grace and a duty of being spiritually-minded!!!): first, we must listen to and believe “the Book”; second, we must pray that this generation will be called of God to preach “the Book” so as to shape and mold both this generation and those to come; third, we must pray for all Christians to be bold for “the Book”; and last, we must pray that God’s men and women will live out “the Book” in their daily lives. To close, listen to “the Book”:
“If you falter in times of trouble, how small is your strength! Rescue those being led away to death; hold back those staggering toward slaughter. If you say, ëBut we knew nothing about this,’ does not He who weighs the heart perceive it. Does not He who guards your life know it? Will he not repay each person according to what he has done?” (Proverbs 24:10-12)
(This message was shared at two chapel services in 2009 commemorating the thirty-sixth anniversary of Roe v. Wade. At the end of each service, a young man, thirteen year-old Garrett, was introduced to the audiences as a living testimony of Proverbs 24 – i.e., the command “to rescue” was “lived out,” and he did not become one of those abortion statistics! Praise God!!!)
Copyright @ 2009 CrossWind Ministry
