More Than Conquerors

Romans 8

Life Through the Spirit

Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death.

For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sinful nature, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering And so he condemned sin in sinful man, in order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the sinful nature but according to the Spirit.

Those who live according to the sinful nature have their minds set on what that nature desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. The mind of sinful man is death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace; the sinful mind is hostile to God. It does not submit to God's law, nor can it do so.

Those controlled by the sinful nature cannot please God.

You, however, are controlled not by the sinful nature but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ. But if Christ is in you, your body is dead because of sin, yet your spirit is alive because of righteousness. And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit, who lives in you.

Therefore, brothers, we have an obligation—but it is not to the sinful nature, to live according to it. For if you live according to the sinful nature, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live, because those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.

For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry, "Abba, Father."

The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God's children.

Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.

Future Glory

I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.

The creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed.

For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God.

We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time.

Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.

For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what he already has? But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.

In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express.

And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God's will.

More Than Conquerors

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.

For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.

And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.

What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us?

He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?

Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. Who is he that condemns? Christ Jesus, who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us.

Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?

As it is written:

"For your sake we face death all day long;
we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered."

No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.

For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

What a wretched man I am!

Romans 7

An Illustration From Marriage


Do you not know, brothers—for I am speaking to men who know the law—that the law has authority over a man only as long as he lives?

For example, by law a married woman is bound to her husband as long as he is alive, but if her husband dies, she is released from the law of marriage.

So then, if she marries another man while her husband is still alive, she is called an adulteress. But if her husband dies, she is released from that law and is not an adulteress, even though she marries another man.

So, my brothers, you also died to the law through the body of Christ, that you might belong to another, to him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit to God.

For when we were controlled by the sinful nature, the sinful passions aroused by the law were at work in our bodies, so that we bore fruit for death.

But now, by dying to what once bound us, we have been released from the law so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit, and not in the old way of the written code.

Struggling With Sin

What shall we say, then? Is the law sin?

Certainly not!

Indeed I would not have known what sin was except through the law.

For I would not have known what coveting really was if the law had not said, "Do not covet."

But sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment, produced in me every kind of covetous desire. For apart from law, sin is dead.

Once I was alive apart from law; but when the commandment came, sin sprang to life and I died.

I found that the very commandment that was intended to bring life actually brought death.

For sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment, deceived me, and through the commandment put me to death.

So then, the law is holy, and the commandment is holy, righteous and good.

Did that which is good, then, become death to me? By no means! But in order that sin might be recognized as sin, it produced death in me through what was good, so that through the commandment sin might become utterly sinful.

We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin.

I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do.

And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good.

As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me.

I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature.

For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out.

For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing.

Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.

So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me.

For in my inner being I delight in God's law; but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members.

What a wretched man I am!

Who will rescue me from this body of death?

Thanks be to God—through Jesus Christ our Lord!

So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God's law, but in the sinful nature a slave to the law of sin.

but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord

Romans 6

Dead to Sin, Alive in Christ

What shall we say, then?

Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase?

By no means!

We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer?

Or don't you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?

We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.


If we have been united with him like this in his death, we will certainly also be united with him in his resurrection.

For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin—

because anyone who has died has been freed from sin.

Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him.

For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him.

The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God.

In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus.

Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires.

Do not offer the parts of your body to sin, as instruments of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God, as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer the parts of your body to him as instruments of righteousness.

For sin shall not be your master, because you are not under law, but under grace.

Slaves to Righteousness


What then?

Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace?

By no means!

Don't you know that when you offer yourselves to someone to obey him as slaves, you are slaves to the one whom you obey—whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness?

But thanks be to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin, you wholeheartedly obeyed the form of teaching to which you were entrusted.

You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness.

I put this in human terms because you are weak in your natural selves.

Just as you used to offer the parts of your body in slavery to impurity and to ever-increasing wickedness, so now offer them in slavery to righteousness leading to holiness.

When you were slaves to sin, you were free from the control of righteousness.

What benefit did you reap at that time from the things you are now ashamed of?

Those things result in death!

But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves to God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life.

For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Justified through Faith

Romans Chapter 5

Peace and Joy

Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.

You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God's wrath through him! For if, when we were God's enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life! Not only is this so, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.

Death Through Adam, Life Through Christ

Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because all sinned— for before the law was given, sin was in the world. But sin is not taken into account when there is no law. Nevertheless, death reigned from the time of Adam to the time of Moses, even over those who did not sin by breaking a command, as did Adam, who was a pattern of the one to come.

But the gift is not like the trespass. For if the many died by the trespass of the one man, how much more did God's grace and the gift that came by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, overflow to the many! Again, the gift of God is not like the result of the one man's sin: The judgment followed one sin and brought condemnation, but the gift followed many trespasses and brought justification. For if, by the trespass of the one man, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive God's abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ.

Consequently, just as the result of one trespass was condemnation for all men, so also the result of one act of righteousness was justification that brings life for all men. For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous.

The law was added so that the trespass might increase. But where sin increased, grace increased all the more, so that, just as sin reigned in death, so also grace might reign through righteousness to bring eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Abraham Justified by Faith

Abraham Justified by Faith

What then shall we say that Abraham, our forefather, discovered in this matter? If, in fact, Abraham was justified by works, he had something to boast about—but not before God.

What does the Scripture say?

"Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness."

Now when a man works, his wages are not credited to him as a gift, but as an obligation. However, to the man who does not work but trusts God who justifies the wicked, his faith is credited as righteousness. David says the same thing when he speaks of the blessedness of the man to whom God credits righteousness apart from works:

"Blessed are they
whose transgressions are forgiven,
whose sins are covered.
Blessed is the man
whose sin the Lord will never count against him."

Is this blessedness only for the circumcised, or also for the uncircumcised? We have been saying that Abraham's faith was credited to him as righteousness.

Under what circumstances was it credited? Was it after he was circumcised, or before? It was not after, but before!

And he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised. So then, he is the father of all who believe but have not been circumcised, in order that righteousness might be credited to them.

And he is also the father of the circumcised who not only are circumcised but who also walk in the footsteps of the faith that our father Abraham had before he was circumcised.

It was not through law that Abraham and his offspring received the promise that he would be heir of the world, but through the righteousness that comes by faith. 14For if those who live by law are heirs, faith has no value and the promise is worthless, because law brings wrath. And where there is no law there is no transgression.

6Therefore, the promise comes by faith, so that it may be by grace and may be guaranteed to all Abraham's offspring—not only to those who are of the law but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham. He is the father of us all. 17As it is written:

"I have made you a father of many nations."


He is our father in the sight of God, in whom he believed—the God who gives life to the dead and calls things that are not as though they were.

Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed and so became the father of many nations, just as it had been said to him,

"So shall your offspring be."

Without weakening in his faith, he faced the fact that his body was as good as dead—since he was about a hundred years old—and that Sarah's womb was also dead. Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised. This is why "it was credited to him as righteousness."

The words "it was credited to him" were written not for him alone, but also for us, to whom God will credit righteousness—for us who believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead.

He was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification.

“ Do not fear; At that time I will bring you back

Zephaniah 1

1 The word of the LORD which came to Zephaniah the son of Cushi, the son of Gedaliah, the son of Amariah, the son of Hezekiah, in the days of Josiah the son of Amon, king of Judah.

The Great Day of the LORD
2 “ I will utterly consume everything
From the face of the land,”
Says the LORD;
3 “ I will consume man and beast;
I will consume the birds of the heavens,
The fish of the sea,
And the stumbling blocks[a] along with the wicked.
I will cut off man from the face of the land,”
Says the LORD.
4 “ I will stretch out My hand against Judah,
And against all the inhabitants of Jerusalem.
I will cut off every trace of Baal from this place,
The names of the idolatrous priests[b] with the pagan priests—
5 Those who worship the host of heaven on the housetops;
Those who worship and swear oaths by the LORD,
But who also swear by Milcom;[c]
6 Those who have turned back from following the LORD,
And have not sought the LORD, nor inquired of Him.”
7 Be silent in the presence of the Lord GOD;
For the day of the LORD is at hand,
For the LORD has prepared a sacrifice;
He has invited[d] His guests.
8 “ And it shall be,
In the day of the LORD’s sacrifice,
That I will punish the princes and the king’s children,
And all such as are clothed with foreign apparel.
9 In the same day I will punish
All those who leap over the threshold,[e]
Who fill their masters’ houses with violence and deceit.
10 “ And there shall be on that day,” says the LORD,

“ The sound of a mournful cry from the Fish Gate,
A wailing from the Second Quarter,
And a loud crashing from the hills.
11 Wail, you inhabitants of Maktesh![f]
For all the merchant people are cut down;
All those who handle money are cut off.
12 “ And it shall come to pass at that time
That I will search Jerusalem with lamps,
And punish the men
Who are settled in complacency,[g]
Who say in their heart,

‘ The LORD will not do good,
Nor will He do evil.’
13 Therefore their goods shall become booty,
And their houses a desolation;
They shall build houses, but not inhabit them;
They shall plant vineyards, but not drink their wine.”
14 The great day of the LORD is near;
It is near and hastens quickly.
The noise of the day of the LORD is bitter;
There the mighty men shall cry out.
15 That day is a day of wrath,
A day of trouble and distress,
A day of devastation and desolation,
A day of darkness and gloominess,
A day of clouds and thick darkness,
16 A day of trumpet and alarm
Against the fortified cities
And against the high towers.
17 “ I will bring distress upon men,
And they shall walk like blind men,
Because they have sinned against the LORD;
Their blood shall be poured out like dust,
And their flesh like refuse.”
18 Neither their silver nor their gold
Shall be able to deliver them
In the day of the LORD’s wrath;
But the whole land shall be devoured
By the fire of His jealousy,
For He will make speedy riddance
Of all those who dwell in the land.

Zephaniah 2A

Call to Repentance
1 Gather yourselves together, yes, gather together,
O undesirable[a] nation,
2 Before the decree is issued,
Or the day passes like chaff,
Before the LORD’s fierce anger comes upon you,
Before the day of the LORD’s anger comes upon you!
3 Seek the LORD, all you meek of the earth,
Who have upheld His justice.
Seek righteousness, seek humility.
It may be that you will be hidden
In the day of the LORD’s anger.
Judgment on Nations
4 For Gaza shall be forsaken,
And Ashkelon desolate;
They shall drive out Ashdod at noonday,
And Ekron shall be uprooted.
5 Woe to the inhabitants of the seacoast,
The nation of the Cherethites!
The word of the LORD is against you,
O Canaan, land of the Philistines:

“ I will destroy you;
So there shall be no inhabitant.”
6 The seacoast shall be pastures,
With shelters[b] for shepherds and folds for flocks.
7 The coast shall be for the remnant of the house of Judah;
They shall feed their flocks there;
In the houses of Ashkelon they shall lie down at evening.
For the LORD their God will intervene for them,
And return their captives.
8 “ I have heard the reproach of Moab,
And the insults of the people of Ammon,
With which they have reproached My people,
And made arrogant threats against their borders.
9 Therefore, as I live,”
Says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel,

“ Surely Moab shall be like Sodom,
And the people of Ammon like Gomorrah—
Overrun with weeds and saltpits,
And a perpetual desolation.
The residue of My people shall plunder them,
And the remnant of My people shall possess them.”
10 This they shall have for their pride,
Because they have reproached and made arrogant threats
Against the people of the LORD of hosts.
11 The LORD will be awesome to them,
For He will reduce to nothing all the gods of the earth;
Peopleshall worship Him,
Each one from his place,
Indeed all the shores of the nations.
12 “ You Ethiopians also,
You shall be slain by My sword.”
13 And He will stretch out His hand against the north,
Destroy Assyria,
And make Nineveh a desolation,
As dry as the wilderness.
14 The herds shall lie down in her midst,
Every beast of the nation.
Both the pelican and the bittern
Shall lodge on the capitals of her pillars;
Their voice shall sing in the windows;
Desolation shall be at the threshold;
For He will lay bare the cedar work.
15 This is the rejoicing city
That dwelt securely,
That said in her heart,

“ I am it, and there is none besides me.”
How has she become a desolation,
A place for beasts to lie down!
Everyone who passes by her
Shall hiss and shake his fist.

Zephaniah 3


The Wickedness of Jerusalem

1 Woe to her who is rebellious and polluted,
To the oppressing city!
2 She has not obeyed His voice,
She has not received correction;
She has not trusted in the LORD,
She has not drawn near to her God.
3 Her princes in her midst are roaring lions;
Her judges are evening wolves
That leave not a bone till morning.
4 Her prophets are insolent, treacherous people;
Her priests have polluted the sanctuary,
They have done violence to the law.
5 The LORD is righteous in her midst,
He will do no unrighteousness.
Every morning He brings His justice to light;
He never fails,
But the unjust knows no shame.
6 “ I have cut off nations,
Their fortresses are devastated;
I have made their streets desolate,
With none passing by.
Their cities are destroyed;
There is no one, no inhabitant.
7 I said, ‘Surely you will fear Me,
You will receive instruction’—
So that her dwelling would not be cut off,
Despite everything for which I punished her.
But they rose early and corrupted all their deeds.

A Faithful Remnant

8 “ Therefore wait for Me,” says the LORD,

“ Until the day I rise up for plunder;[a]
My determination is to gather the nations
To My assembly of kingdoms,
To pour on them My indignation,
All My fierce anger;
All the earth shall be devoured
With the fire of My jealousy.
9 “ For then I will restore to the peoples a pure language,
That they all may call on the name of the LORD,
To serve Him with one accord.
10 From beyond the rivers of Ethiopia
My worshipers,
The daughter of My dispersed ones,
Shall bring My offering.
11 In that day you shall not be shamed for any of your deeds
In which you transgress against Me;
For then I will take away from your midst
Those who rejoice in your pride,
And you shall no longer be haughty
In My holy mountain.
12 I will leave in your midst
A meek and humble people,
And they shall trust in the name of the LORD.
13 The remnant of Israel shall do no unrighteousness
And speak no lies,
Nor shall a deceitful tongue be found in their mouth;
For they shall feed their flocks and lie down,
And no one shall make them afraid.”

Joy in God’s Faithfulness

14 Sing, O daughter of Zion!

Shout, O Israel!

Be glad and rejoice with all your heart,
O daughter of Jerusalem!
15 The LORD has taken away your judgments,
He has cast out your enemy.
The King of Israel, the LORD, is in your midst;
You shall see[b] disaster no more.
16 In that day it shall be said to Jerusalem:

“ Do not fear;
Zion, let not your hands be weak.
17 The LORD your God in your midst,
The Mighty One, will save;
He will rejoice over you with gladness,
He will quiet you with His love,
He will rejoice over you with singing.”
18 “ I will gather those who sorrow over the appointed assembly,
Who are among you,
To whom its reproach is a burden.
19 Behold, at that time
I will deal with all who afflict you;
I will save the lame,
And gather those who were driven out;
I will appoint them for praise and fame
In every land where they were put to shame.

20 At that time I will bring you back,

Even at the time I gather you;
For I will give you fame and praise
Among all the peoples of the earth,
When I return your captives before your eyes,”
Says the LORD.

A Nation Abandoned by God

A Nation Abandoned by God

John MacArthur

Grace To You www.gty.org

It is a real delight to be with you tonight. I want to thank Pastor Heard and Pastor Al for the opportunity to be here. Thank you, men, so much, this is a privilege and a joy and a delight to me. I always love the opportunity to teach and preach the Word of God, but especially to meet and greet people who have listened to me on the radio through the years and come to me with all kinds of strange comments about what they thought I looked like. (Laughter) This is it, better that you had never known. (More laughter).

It’s a joy tonight to have my dear wife, Patricia, here. Honey, stand up and let them welcome you. (Applause) This is the best earthly gift given to me by far and I have to take advantage of every moment I have with her in this world because there’s no marriage in heaven, so I’ve got to take advantage of it while I’m here. And I’m delighted to be able to do that. God has blessed us with four children and by His grace they’re in Christ and serving with us in our church and they married four who love the Lord and we have 14 grandchildren who are being raised in the things of the Lord. And it’s exciting to see that happening. We are very, very grateful to the Lord and His goodness in our family, and I say that only to say God has used Patricia in a remarkable way in the lives of our children, to nurture them in the things of Christ. What a great blessing to me.

It’s not a small thing to have the opportunity such as I have tonight to try to put a little bit of perspective and focus on the issue of praying for our nation. There are so many things that could be said and probably should be said and I certainly don’t intend to say them all, by any means. But trying to funnel down our thinking a little bit so that our prayers can be direct is really helpful. I remember one of our kids- I used to go from room to room when the kids were little and pray with them- and one of my daughters, a habit just because she was sleepy I think, saying, “And God bless the whole wide world. Amen.” I thought that was a little unspecific, I guess you could say- she needed a little more targeting in her prayers. And if I can tonight, I want to try to target our prayers a little bit as to how we can direct our prayers in what, I believe, is the most needful way- not to the exclusion of any other things, but this, I think, has to be the primary focus. And it may take me a little while to get to that point, so you need to stay with me and you’ll see how this unfolds, and hopefully it will be helpful. That certainly is my prayer.

One of the most tragic scenes in the Bible and yet one of the most familiar to us is the scene of the strongest man who ever lived, a man by the name of Samson, finding out he had no strength. Judges chapter 16 records this. “When Delilah saw that he had told her all that was in his heart, she sent and called the lords of the Philistines saying, ‘Come up once more, for he’s told me all that is in his heart.’ Then the lords of the Philistines came up to her and brought the money in their hands and she made him sleep on her knees, called for a man and had him shave off the seven locks of his hair. Then she began to afflict him and his strength left him. And she said, ‘The Philistines are upon you, Samson,’ and he woke from his sleep and said, ‘I will go out as at other times and shake myself free.’” And here’s the telling line written by God the Holy Spirit. “But he did not know that the Lord had departed from him. So the Philistines seized him, gouged out his eyes, brought him down to Gaza, bound him with bronze chains and he became a grinder in the prison.” Sad. He didn’t know that the Lord had departed from him. I can’t imagine anything worse than being abandoned by God.

To the sons of Israel earlier in the book of Judges in chapter 10, God said this, “You have forsaken me, you have served other gods, therefore I will deliver you no more. Go and cry out to the gods which you have chosen. Let them deliver you in the time of your distress.” This was God saying to Israel, “I’m done with you, abandoned by God.

Proverbs chapter 1 records a similar sentiment. “Because I called and you refused, I stretched out My hands and no one paid attention. You neglected all my counsel, you did not want my reproof, I will even laugh at your calamity. I will mock when your dread comes, when your dread comes like a storm and your calamity comes like a whirlwind. When distress and anguish come on you, then they will call on Me but I will not answer. They will seek Me diligently, they will not find Me because they hated knowledge, did not choose the fear of the Lord, they would not accept My counsel, they spurned all My reproof, so they will eat of the fruit of their own way and be satisfied with their own devices.” Again being abandoned by God, turned over to the inevitable consequences of sinful choices.

A haunting line is found tucked away in the little prophecy of Hosea 4:17, referring to Israel by the name Ephraim, where God says, “Ephraim is joined to idols.” The next line, “Leave him alone,” sounds out of character for God, doesn’t it? “Ephraim is joined to idols, bring him back,” might sound a little more like God. “Let him alone?”

People and nations- even the covenant nation Israel- can come to a point where they are abandoned by God. Jesus reiterated this in Matthew 15 when He confronted the Pharisees and then described them to the disciples. He said, “They’re blind leaders of the blind. Let them alone.” When God lets you go, it’s serious. When Jesus pronounces over you abandonment, it’s serious.

Now I’m going to say something; you’re going to have to hold on to your seat a little bit. I’m convinced beyond doubt that in this same sense, God has abandoned America. I know that’s a strong thing to say and I’m going to show you why I believe you can see that clearly in Scripture.

Open your Bibles to Romans 1. By the way, don’t be surprised by that statement because while you’re turning there, the Apostle Paul states in Acts 14:16, “In the generations gone by,” (that’s past history) “God permitted all the nations to go their own way.” This is not the first nation God has abandoned, nor if Jesus tarries is it the last, nor is it now the only. This is the cycle of history and it is this very cycle of history that Paul describes in Romans 1:18. Here in Romans chapter 1, beginning with verse 18 running to the end of the chapter, you have the most clear presentation of God abandoning a nation, what that looks like, what happens and why He does it. This is the most graphic and the most detailed and the most comprehensive discussion of what it means for a people, a society to be abandoned by God. And it perfectly describes the moral chaos in our own nation today.

It starts with very familiar words in verse 18, “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven.” Now let me stop you there for just a moment. We’re talking about the wrath of God and I need to just let you know that in the Scripture and in reality there are five different manifestations of God’s wrath. Okay? And you will recognize them.

There is eternal wrath. That is that wrath which God unleashes on the unbelieving dead in hell- eternal wrath, suffering eternal punishment forever. That’s eternal wrath.

There is also in the Bible eschatological wrath, that is the unfolding of divine wrath at the end of the age described in detail, for example, in Revelation 6 through 19, the pouring out of God’s wrath in the breaking of seven seals, the blowing of seven trumpets, and the dumping of seven bowls of wrath- eschatological wrath, that wrath is yet to come as is eternal wrath for all society. Right now there are many experiencing eternal wrath- all the unbelieving who have left this world are already experiencing eternal wrath.

The third kind of wrath is what I guess you could call calamitous wrath. That is that wrath of God which produces calamity in the world. The most notable illustration of that is the Flood, which drowned the entire world: only eight people were saved. Massive wrath on the part of God against sinful man.
Fourthly, there is consequential wrath, the sowing and reaping wrath. That’s the natural end of patterns and choices of sin. Whatever a man sows, he reaps- that’s consequential wrath.

But there’s one other kind of wrath that is usually overlooked. We all understand eternal wrath, eschatological wrath, consequential wrath, calamitous wrath- in the calamity of the Flood or God destroying Chorazin, Bethsaida, Capernaum, etc. Throughout history these calamities continue to happen and they all fit in the category of God’s judgment of sin. But there’s this other category- the wrath of abandonment, a form of God’s wrath in which He lets go of a society, letting it catapult at full speed without restraint in the direction of its own sinful desires and devices and choices. That’s the wrath being described here. The cyclical reality of this wrath has defined human history and always will until Jesus comes. As Paul said, in all the generations gone by, God permitted the nations to go their own way.
I don’t believe we’re waiting for God’s wrath in this society. We haven’t had a massive calamity such as the destruction of an entire city. We certainly don’t want that to happen, pray that does not happen, but it could happen and God would be just in any calamity that He brought upon us. We have not entered into eschatological wrath- that comes in the end times. We are experiencing, all of us, the consequential wrath of sin. But I’m convinced this massive concept of the wrath of abandonment is now at work in our society. We like to talk about the fact that America was founded on Christian principles and God was at the center of it, and all that, whatever it might have been in our founding, but that’s no longer the way it is, and I want to show you how we know that has happened.

Go down to Romans 1:24. You see the first word “therefore,” which means we’re now going to see a description that connects to what has been said. If you go back to verse 18, “The wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men,” we could stop at that point. The wrath of God is revealed. And then it goes on to talk about the wrath of God and the reasons for the wrath of God. And in verse 24 it then describes the wrath of God and here’s the description. “Therefore God gave them over, or God gave them up, in the lust of their hearts to impurity that their bodies might be dishonored among them, for they exchanged the truth of God for a lie, worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator who is blessed forever, amen. For this reason God gave them over to degrading passions, for their women exchanged the natural function for that which is unnatural. In the same way also the men abandoned the natural function of the woman, burned in their desire toward one another, men with men, committing indecent acts and receiving in their own persons the due penalty of their error. And just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God any longer, God gave them over to a depraved mind to do the things that are not proper, being filled with all unrighteousness, wickedness, greed, envy, full of... or evil full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, malice, gossip, slander, haters of God, insolent arrogant boastful inventors of evil, disobedient to parents without understanding, untrustworthy, unloving, unmerciful. And although they know the ordinance of God, that those who practice such things are worthy of death, they not only do them, but also give hearty approval to those who practice them.”

Now let me break that down for you a little bit. Three times the verb “gave them over” is used- three times. The wrath of abandonment is when God gives a nation over. This verb, paradidomi, can have a judicial sense. It’s used often in Greek literature in terms of law courts and criminal courts. It comes down to handing a prisoner over for punishment. It’s even used in the case of Jesus being handed over for a crucifixion. Each of these uses of the verb in this text expresses the fact that the wrath of God has acted to hand over a society to sentence- to hand them over. As the historian Schiller said, years ago, “The history of the world is the judgment of the world.” 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.

Now how do we know when this has happened? Note the progression in verse 24, “God gave them over in the lusts of their hearts to impurity that their bodies might be dishonored among them.” Impurity speaks of sexual sin. The first thing that happens in a nation when it is abandoned by God is a sexual revolution. Moral, sexual perversion, pornographic desire describes the general character of the culture. You can’t even count how many million pornographic web sites there are. When a society is abandoned by God, it operates out of its own perverse sexual passion without restraint. You can go back to the 60’s and the sexual revolution of the flower children, or Hugh Hefner in the Playboy world, and it has gone like a flood since then. It is characterized by, as you look at verse 24, lust coming from inside as Jesus said, “What comes out of the heart of a man is what defiles him,” leading to impurity- sexual impurity, and to the dishonoring of their bodies. The heart is wicked and the bodies demonstrate it. The body follows the heart. Lust conceives in the heart, James says, and brings forth sin and sin brings forth death.

The first thing you look for in a society, which you’re trying to discern whether it has been abandoned by God, is whether or not that society has gone through a sexual revolution so that illicit sex, adultery, every form of immorality is accepted as normal in that society. And we’re there.

The second step in the progression is verse 26, “God gave them over, not just to passions that are explicable because they’re men and women, but to inexplicable degrading passions for their women exchanged the natural function for that which is unnatural.” You know a society has been abandoned by God when it celebrates lesbian sex. God has given them over- gross affections, unnatural, unthinkable.

So you follow a sexual revolution with a homosexual revolution, and homosexuality becomes normalized. Verse 27 adds the male part, “In the same way the men abandoned the natural function of the women, burned in their desire toward one another..” And by the way, it is a burning that is just hard to comprehend. There was the coroner for the city of New York, Halpern, who did, I think, 26 or 28 thousand autopsies in his day. He said we can look at a corpse that had been murdered and tell whether a homosexual killed that person by the multiple wounds. He’s not Christian, but Jewish, and he said, “There’s something about the passions of that kind of involvement that are not explicable.”

But interestingly enough, the Holy Spirit here puts the women first and the men after. Why? The Holy Spirit first refers to the degradation of women because they’re usually the last to be affected in the decay of morals because their hearts are so naturally inclined toward a husband, and the responsibility of nurturing children. But when they lead the parade, God has removed His restraint. And the amazing thing of it is this, in verse 27, “The man abandoning the natural function of the women, burning in their desire toward one another, men with men, committing indecent acts and receiving in their own persons the due penalty of their error.” Right into this wrath of abandonment comes the consequential wrath, and even though it generates venereal disease and AIDS, they keep doing it. This is what step two looks like and we know this has come like a flood. But it’s not the final step. The final step comes in the middle of verse 28, “God gave them over to a depraved mind.”

Now I’m reading the New American Standard Bible- the version you have might have a different translation for depraved, so let me tell you what the word means: non-functional, useless, it doesn’t work, can’t think, can’t reason, can’t comprehend. And you look at this world and you say, “Rampant sexual immorality, out of control, destroying people willy-nilly even in the church, even in the leadership of the church. Homosexuality, same thing, rampant, out of control, demanding to be accepted as normal and the society rushing to affirm that acceptance. Isn’t there anybody in the system who would stand up and call this what it really is, a massive, moral disaster? Can’t they see it? Can’t they figure it out? No… First Corinthians 1 says, “Man by wisdom knew not God.” Human wisdom on its own just doesn’t get there. Then you add that the god of this world has blinded the minds of them that do not believe and you’ve got a compounding blindness. And then you add the fact that they are blinded by virtue of the sweeping, dominating elements of their culture and you’re just not going to get anybody to rise up and take that position and have people rally around it. You’re going to have more people in leadership in the country outing themselves as homosexuals. If you think you’ve seen a lot of that, you haven’t seen any of it yet as it becomes more and more accepted.

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. MTV did a survey on morality. Boy, there’s a switch. And they took the Middle Ages idea of the seven deadly sins- lust, greed, all those things- and they surveyed their audience about what they thought about that. And basically they thought all those things were virtues. Yeah. 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 then you laugh at the Jerry Springer Show instead of falling on your face and weeping at the aberrations. A depraved mind, a reasoning faculty so corrupt that it must be rejected as non-functioning. And as a result of that, what happens? Verse 28, God gave them over to a depraved mind. So as a result, they do the things that are not proper, fitting, sensible, reasonable.

What do they do? They’re filled with all unrighteousness, wickedness, greed, envy, murder, deceit, malice. What’s that? That’s the nightly news. It’s the local newspaper. Slanderers, haters of God, and on and on it goes. They’re unconscionable. Conscience is a device, a mechanism, that reacts to your moral code. If you’re a Muslim, conscience tells you to blow up infidels because conscience is not a set of moral laws, not a set of moral rules. It’s a mechanism, like pain. Pain is a mechanism God gave you that responds to your physical condition. It says to you something is wrong with your body. Pain is simply the device that tells you that. And it’s a good thing, isn’t it? It’s a good thing because it tells you’ve got a problem with your body you need to deal with. That’s what conscience is, it’s a mechanism God gave you that accuses you or excuses you, Romans 2 says, but only functions if it is morally informed accurately. And if you have a culture that has developed an aberrant morality, then you have consciences that function off of that aberrant morality. And you get all the stuff, all the inexplicable behaviors. And that’s why in Romans 1:32 it says, “Although they know the ordinance of God, what is right and what is wrong, and that they who practice such things are worthy of death, they do them anyway and they give hearty approval to those who practice them.

You know what that reminds me of? Bill Clinton’s approval ratings went up in the middle of the Lewinsky affair. Why? Because a culture like this approves of somebody like that, perfect fit. That’s our kind of guy.

So they are without reason, without conscience. This is what it means when God abandons a society.

Sexual revolution, down one more step; homosexual revolution, down one more step; you can’t ever get your way out of it because the mind, the cultural mind is gone- it’s gone. And I would put it this way, maybe simply, there’s no surer indicator of a corrupted, wicked and abandoned society under God’s wrath than when that society does not tolerate anger against sin. This society will not tolerate you standing up and displaying righteous indignation against sin. How long is it going to be before if you preach against it in your pulpit the government is going to come in and tell you, you can’t do that? They’ve done it in Canada.

One night Larry King said to me, off the camera, “You know, I like you a lot but... you’re all caught up in the words of the Bible and you miss the message.” So I said, “Well, what’s a message with no words?” I don’t think we miss the message.
It was C.S. Lewis who said, “The last experience of the sinner is the horrible enslavement in the freedom he desired.”

So, Paul is unfolding for us this picture of what a society looks like when it’s abandoned. It’s not my description. Now you see why I said I think America is here going through the cycle of Romans 1.

Why does it happen? Let’s go back to verse 18 and find out. Why does it happen? I’m going to give you the short version. Verse 18, “The wrath of God is revealed from heaven in this form of abandonment against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men that makes up this society.” Verse 18, “Who suppress... what?... they suppress the truth.” That’s why I wrote the book The Truth War. It’s always about truth, always. From the Garden, it started out as a war of truth, right? God says you eat the fruit, you’ll die. Satan says, no you shall not surely die. There it is. Adam and Eve believed Satan. They thought God was lying to them. That started the truth war- it’s going on today. It’s always about the truth. This happens when you suppress the truth.

What truth? Real truth. As Francis Schaeffer used to say, the true truth- biblical truth. You suppress this, that’s where you go. Take the Word of God out of the place of its supremacy and you suppress the truth. Deny that it’s true, deny its veracity, deny its authenticity, deny its inerrancy, deny its inspiration, deny its sufficiency, deny its clarity- that’s the latest one- nobody really knows what the Bible means anyway, it’s a wonderful book, we believe God gave it to us but we have no idea what it means. That’s convenient. I mean, you can divide my life into attacks on the Bible coming from every imaginable angle- the truth is always under assault. This nation has succumbed to that. There are even churches that have decentralized the truth because they think it offends, it’s divisive. It’s all we’ve got, folks. It’s all we have. God saves through the truth. You’re begotten again, Peter says, by the Word of truth. You’re sanctified by the word of truth. Jesus said, “Sanctify them by Thy truth, Thy word is truth,” John 17:17. That’s all we have.

Of course it’s being assaulted by Satan. Of course the critics come along and say it’s not inspired, it’s not true, you can’t believe it. Of course the mystics come along and say no, it’s fine, but we have more revelation over here and more over there, and more over there. And the cults all develop out of extrabiblical revelation. And then there are others who come along and say, “Well, the Bible’s fine, it’s just not sophisticated. You need to add philosophy and other kinds of things to the Bible to fill it out.” And now there are those who come and say, “Well, it lacks clarity.” And that’s an attack on the old perspicuity, the doctrine of perspicuity, that Scripture is clear, that God intended it to reveal not to hide. So the truth is diminished in its place- it’s denied, it’s rejected. It’s amazing how people mock biblical truth today- amazing.

Oh, you can figure out a way to make it so smooth and soft, take out all the hard parts so it doesn’t have the sting. But if you give the unadulterated, unexpurgated, pure Word of God, it will generate a negative reaction in many environments. You need to speak the truth in love, but all we’ve got is the truth. Suppress the truth.
Let me expand that a little bit. Give you four things to think about, four reasons for wrath that have to do with the suppressing of the truth. Number one, revelation. We’ve been given the truth. “Suppress the truth in unrighteousness because that which is known about God is evident within them for God made it evident to them for since the creation of the world, His invisible attributes, eternal power, divine nature have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made so that they are without excuse.”

What is this? This is not even talking about the Scripture. This is talking about the fact that God has inlaid His truth into the fabric of man’s being. He is not without a witness to the truth. Look at 2:14, “For when Gentiles who do not have the Law do instinctively the things of the Law, these, not having the Law, are a Law to themselves, in that they show the work of the Law written in their hearts, their conscience bearing witness.” Part of being human, like all the other parts of being human, being able to think and to make relationships, to speak and to act in the ways that humans act, those kinds of things are the familiar components of what it means to be human. But another one is, the Law of God written in the very fabric of man’s nature, so that he cannot plead ignorance. In fact, it says in verse 20 that he has enough of the Law in himself, enough of reason to be without excuse. You cannot plead ignorance, that which may be known of God. What is knowable regarding God. What man can know, what of the light that lights every man that comes into the world, John 1:9, is written in the heart. It is evident in them. Two ways, one, in reason. Where does reason inevitably take you? Reason inevitably takes you to an ultimate cause. Reason is simply a cause and effect device. Reason is simply thinking our way through patterns of cause and effect. This leads to this, this leads to this and that’s how reason works. And eventually you get back to the first cause of the massive universal effect of creation, so reason is a device given by God to all human beings that leads them directly back to Him.

Any thinking person knows that. You can’t have an effect without a cause, right? I mean, how simple do we have to be? You ask me where this watch came from- if I say, well there’s a bunch of tin floating in a box and I pulled it out and it started to tick and this is it- it’s ridiculous. Well, how can you explain the universe that way? It’s an absurdity. Nobody times nothing equals everything? That’s totally irrationality.

I’ll give you a little thing to think about. There was a gifted mathematician named VanNeumann,. And VanNeumann invented, or conceived of an invention called the ultimate machine. Okay? Called the VanNeumann Machine- all engineers and scientists know about it. The VanNeumann Machine, he said, this is the ultimate machine, it is self-perpetuating. It has the capacity within itself to sustain itself. Wow! Secondly, it is self-repairing. Anything that ever goes wrong with it, it can fix. It has within itself the ability to fix itself, to generate whatever new parts it needs to reassemble them so that it functions. And then thirdly, it reproduces itself. It multiplies itself. This would be like having a car that generated its own fuel, fixed itself, and when you came out in the morning there were three little cars sitting next to it. (Laughter) Okay? This is a VanNeumann Machine.

The complexity of this machine is staggering. But it can’t be built, it’s way too complex. It becomes exponential, almost to infinite to put something together like this- it can’t be done. And yet that is exactly what every single organic cell in existence in the biological world does. It’s a factory of perfect self-generating, self-repairing, self-reproducing machinery. Don’t tell me that one time there was a pile of protoplasm and it decided to become this. My reasoning tells me there has to be a Creator. And do you know the whole world believed that until Darwin came along? Jonah out on a boat, and the sailors (pagan sailors) say to him, “Why is this going on?” He says, “It’s my God, He’s doing it because He’s punishing me. And so it’s my God.” And they say, “Well who is your God?” He didn’t say, “Well, let’s see, He’s the Hebrew God, He’s the God of the Hebrew people, that’s who He is.” He didn’t say that. He said, “Well, He’s the God who made the earth and the sea.” Oh, that’s a natural assumption. Go to Mars Hill, Paul’s up there, they have a deal there for the unknown god. Paul says, “I want to tell you who this unknown God is.” He doesn’t say, “This is the Christian God of the New Testament.” He says, “This is the God who created everything. This is the God in whom we live and move and have our being.” Everybody got it. Only in the modern world do we not get it.

You go back to God, the massive first cause of everything. So that’s in the fabric of being human. And you know, you have to work very hard for a couple of hundred years to convince an entire society that that’s nonsense and that what makes sense is nobody times nothing equals everything. And though it doesn’t make sense, it works in a totally immoral culture because if there’s no Creator, there’s no judge. So reason is the first thing that shows you God.

The second thing is morality which is built into the fabric of all of us and has again to be cultivated to the point where you’ve got a society of people whose reason doesn’t need God, and whose sense of morality has been totally perverted.
Here we are. Even though since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power, divine nature clearly seen, clearly understood so that we’re without excuse, this society has rejected God. That’s our second point. Point one, revelation, God has revealed Himself to every person. Second, rejection, men have turned away from the truth. Romans 1:21, interesting, “Even though they knew God,” that is humanity, society in any given period of time, by God’s creative design have the knowledge of moral law and reason that leads them back to a moral law-giver and a judge and a Creator; even though they know that innately, they did not honor Him as God, or give thanks, but instead of doing what was reasonable and moral, they became empty in their speculations and their foolish hearts were darkened. And the bottom line is: they don’t like the God their reason leads them to, and they don’t like the God that their innate sense of what is right and wrong leads them to, and so they abandon that God and the lights go out. And then you come up with stuff like a rock is a rat is a dog is a boy. Life is random. Truth is relative. People are basically free to do whatever they want. It’s all good. Everyone ought to be free to do whatever he wants. The goal of life is self-satisfaction. Live it up and don’t let anybody tell you that you can’t do anything.

So they didn’t honor Him as God. They weren’t thankful to Him for what He had given. And the lights went out. They became empty in their speculations, their thinking, their patterns, their ideologies, their foolish hearts went black. Empty human ideas, now you can’t know God, can’t know the truth.

But you think you’re smart. Look at Romans 1:22. “Professing to be wise, they became fools.” That’s the third step. You go from revelation to rejection to rationalization. Men insist they’re doing fine, never did better. We’re very advanced. Professing to be wise... reminds me of the guy lying in bed in the nut house, pounding his chest saying, “I’m Napoleon, I’m Napoleon, I’m Napoleon.” And the guy in the next bed saying, “Well, I’m God, I’m God, I’m God.” Just that kind of insanity. Or the lady who came to the psychiatrist’s office with a duck on a string and said, “You’ve got to help my husband, he thinks he’s a duck.” This is no perception of reality. In fact, it says, “Professing to be wise, they became fools.” The word is moraino from which we get moron, proud morons giving each other Ph.D.s.
Finally, it goes from revelation to rejection to rationalization to religion. Yeah, religion. That’s right. Romans 1: 23, They “exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man, birds, four-footed animals and crawling creatures (reptiles).” What religion is that? Oh how about environmentalism where you worship what- the creation, not the Creator. Wow. Yeah, this is man at his... you say, “Isn’t this man at his highest? He’s worshiping?” No, this is man at his lowest. False religion is man in the pit. He’s gone so far down, he’s created the fantasy of false religion. Religion is not man at his highest, it is man at his lowest. The ultimate insanity is to worship any other than the true God, right?
And so we see what happens in a society when God turns them over and we see why He turns them over. And that was just a quick overview. We look at our nation- our hearts are broken, the mind is depraved, they think they’re smart, but they’re morons. They can’t get to the truth, the mind is completely gone. They invent bizarre religions. They become “religious”. And today they like to talk about being spiritual, right? I’m very religious, I’m very spiritual.

What in the world does that mean? As if you can invent your own worship and your own religion. That’s man at his lowest. That’s all the way at the bottom, total complete rejection of the true God and the true faith. That’s where we are. Now the question is... how do we pray?

Turn to Psalm 81. And I want the Holy Spirit to give you direction here as we think about this. See if this doesn’t sound familiar- Psalm 81 verse 11, “But My people did not listen to My voice, and Israel did not obey Me.” So verse 12, “I... what?... gave them over.” Wow. If He would do that with Israel, a covenant people, what do you think is going on in America- we’re not a covenant people? “So I gave them over to the stubbornness of their heart to walk in their own devices.” I let them go to the consequences of their choices. This is God, He’s abandoned them. But look at verse 13, and here’s the heart of God that I think we have to grasp in America in this hour, here’s God, His words, “O that My people would... what?... ?... yeah, there it is... that they would listen to Me. That Israel would walk in My ways.” Right there, folks, is your mandate to pray.

What do you have to pray for? You have to pray for the Word of the living God to be proclaimed across this nation. And if it’s not being proclaimed in churches, it’s not going to be proclaimed anywhere else. This is not a time for weak men in weak ministries preaching weak messages. This is a time to call on God to raise up a generation of passionate faithful gracious loving preachers of the Word so that a nation can listen to God. That’s the answer. Think God might react? He said- I love this, verse 14, ”I would quickly..” you like that word? Isn’t that a good word? I don’t get the picture God’s dragging His heels here. “I would quickly subdue their enemies, and turn My hand against their adversaries” and it would be so great that even “those who hate the Lord would pretend obedience to Him.” And then I love this, I love verse 16, “I would feed you with the finest of the wheat and with honey from the rock I would satisfy you.” That’s metaphoric- I would just drown you in blessing.

God only wants one thing out of a nation. Listen and believe this book. I really get grieved even when I hear evangelical people in the media and the public eye equivocating about the clarity of the gospel. It’s all we’ve got. Or about the clarity of what Scripture says. Your prayer and mine has to be that God would raise up faithful preachers and people who would proclaim His Word across this land. Pray for this generation of young men that God will call and shape and send, pray for pastors everywhere. Pray for lay people, for Christians to be bold. There’s only one solution and that’s the truth- the truth by which God saves, by which God sanctifies, and if this nation will respond and listen to His truth, God will open the flood gates. We might be the greatest recovery story in history. But there’s no other way than that people listen to Me and walk in My ways. It’s not going to happen if there’s a famine of the hearing of the Word of God. Pray that the Word, as Paul said, would have free course and that it would run with all its power across this land. With all its beauty and magnificence, all its power and grace, that people would hear and believe and be saved and be obedient, all that to the glory of God.

I don’t know what God’s plan is, I just see here what His heart is. “O, that My people would listen to Me,” that’s the heart of God.

Our Father, we thank You for simplifying things, as You always do even in the midst of what is so profound. It all comes down to the truth again, the truth. Make us people of the truth. May we trust the truth, unleashing it in all its power, knowing that we have no other weapon but the sword and it is sharper than any other. So, Lord, we just plead with You that Your Word in all its saving and sanctifying and transforming power would explode across this nation, that the truth would replace the lies that abound everywhere, not for us but for Your own glory. This we ask in the name of our Christ. Amen.

We uphold the law

Romans Chapter 3

God's Faithfulness

What advantage, then, is there in being a Jew, or what value is there in circumcision? Much in every way! First of all, they have been entrusted with the very words of God.

What if some did not have faith? Will their lack of faith nullify God's faithfulness? Not at all! Let God be true, and every man a liar. As it is written:

"So that you may be proved right when you speak
and prevail when you judge."

But if our unrighteousness brings out God's righteousness more clearly, what shall we say? That God is unjust in bringing his wrath on us? (I am using a human argument.) Certainly not! If that were so, how could God judge the world? Someone might argue,

"If my falsehood enhances God's truthfulness and so increases his glory, why am I still condemned as a sinner?"

Why not say—as we are being slanderously reported as saying and as some claim that we say—"Let us do evil that good may result"? Their condemnation is deserved.

No One is Righteous

What shall we conclude then?

Are we any better? Not at all! We have already made the charge that Jews and Gentiles alike are all under sin.

As it is written:

"There is no one righteous, not even one;
11there is no one who understands,
no one who seeks God.
All have turned away,
they have together become worthless;
there is no one who does good,
not even one."
"Their throats are open graves;
their tongues practice deceit."
"The poison of vipers is on their lips."

"Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness."

"Their feet are swift to shed blood;
ruin and misery mark their ways,
and the way of peace they do not know."
"There is no fear of God before their eyes."

Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world held accountable to God. Therefore no one will be declared righteous in his sight by observing the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of sin.
Righteousness Through Faith

But now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify.

This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe.

There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.

God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood. He did this to demonstrate his justice, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished—he did it to demonstrate his justice at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.

Where, then, is boasting? It is excluded. On what principle? On that of observing the law?

No, but on that of faith. For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from observing the law.

Is God the God of Jews only? Is he not the God of Gentiles too? Yes, of Gentiles too, since there is only one God, who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through that same faith.

Do we, then, nullify the law by this faith? Not at all! Rather, we uphold the law.

No, a man is a Jew if he is one inwardly

Romans 2

God's Righteous Judgment

You, therefore, have no excuse, you who pass judgment on someone else, for at whatever point you judge the other, you are condemning yourself, because you who pass judgment do the same things.

Now we know that God's judgment against those who do such things is based on truth.

So when you, a mere man, pass judgment on them and yet do the same things, do you think you will escape God's judgment?

Or do you show contempt for the riches of his kindness, tolerance and patience, not realizing that God's kindness leads you toward repentance?

But because of your stubbornness and your unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath against yourself for the day of God's wrath, when his righteous judgment will be revealed. God "will give to each person according to what he has done."

To those who by persistence in doing good seek glory, honor and immortality, he will give eternal life.

But for those who are self-seeking and who reject the truth and follow evil, there will be wrath and anger. There will be trouble and distress for every human being who does evil: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile; but glory, honor and peace for everyone who does good: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile.

For God does not show favoritism.

All who sin apart from the law will also perish apart from the law, and all who sin under the law will be judged by the law. For it is not those who hear the law who are righteous in God's sight, but it is those who obey the law who will be declared righteous. (Indeed, when Gentiles, who do not have the law, do by nature things required by the law, they are a law for themselves, even though they do not have the law, since they show that the requirements of the law are written on their hearts, their consciences also bearing witness, and their thoughts now accusing, now even defending them.)

This will take place on the day when God will judge men's secrets through Jesus Christ, as my gospel declares.

The Jews and the Law

Now you, if you call yourself a Jew; if you rely on the law and brag about your relationship to God; if you know his will and approve of what is superior because you are instructed by the law; if you are convinced that you are a guide for the blind, a light for those who are in the dark, an instructor of the foolish, a teacher of infants, because you have in the law the embodiment of knowledge and truth— you, then, who teach others, do you not teach yourself?

You who preach against stealing, do you steal?

You who say that people should not commit adultery, do you commit adultery?

You who abhor idols, do you rob temples?

You who brag about the law, do you dishonor God by breaking the law?

As it is written: "God's name is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you."

Circumcision has value if you observe the law, but if you break the law, you have become as though you had not been circumcised. If those who are not circumcised keep the law's requirements, will they not be regarded as though they were circumcised?

The one who is not circumcised physically and yet obeys the law will condemn you who, even though you have the written code and circumcision, are a lawbreaker.

A man is not a Jew if he is only one outwardly, nor is circumcision merely outward and physical.

No, a man is a Jew if he is one inwardly; and circumcision is circumcision of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the written code.

Such a man's praise is not from men, but from God.

"The righteous will live by faith."

Romans Chapter 1

Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle and set apart for the gospel of God— the gospel he promised beforehand through his prophets in the Holy Scriptures regarding his Son, who as to his human nature was a descendant of David, and who through the Spirit of holiness was declared with power to be the Son of God by his resurrection from the dead: Jesus Christ our Lord.

Through him and for his name's sake, we received grace and apostleship to call people from among all the Gentiles to the obedience that comes from faith. And you also are among those who are called to belong to Jesus Christ.

To all in Rome who are loved by God and called to be saints:

Grace and peace to you from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ.

Paul's Longing to Visit Rome

First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith is being reported all over the world. God, whom I serve with my whole heart in preaching the gospel of his Son, is my witness how constantly I remember you in my prayers at all times; and I pray that now at last by God's will the way may be opened for me to come to you.

I long to see you so that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to make you strong— that is, that you and I may be mutually encouraged by each other's faith.

I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, that I planned many times to come to you (but have been prevented from doing so until now) in order that I might have a harvest among you, just as I have had among the other Gentiles.

I am obligated both to Greeks and non-Greeks, both to the wise and the foolish. That is why I am so eager to preach the gospel also to you who are at Rome.

I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile. For in the gospel a righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: "The righteous will live by faith."

God's Wrath Against Mankind

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 may be 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.

Futhermore, since they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, he gave them over to a depraved mind, to do 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,

slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; 31they 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.

Ezekiel 34

Shepherds and Sheep

The word of the LORD came to me:

"Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel; prophesy and say to them: 'This is what the Sovereign LORD says: Woe to the shepherds of Israel who only take care of themselves! Should not shepherds take care of the flock? You eat the curds, clothe yourselves with the wool and slaughter the choice animals, but you do not take care of the flock. You have not strengthened the weak or healed the sick or bound up the injured. You have not brought back the strays or searched for the lost. You have ruled them harshly and brutally. So they were scattered because there was no shepherd, and when they were scattered they became food for all the wild animals. My sheep wandered over all the mountains and on every high hill. They were scattered over the whole earth, and no one searched or looked for them.
" 'Therefore, you shepherds, hear the word of the LORD : As surely as I live, declares the Sovereign LORD, because my flock lacks a shepherd and so has been plundered and has become food for all the wild animals, and because my shepherds did not search for my flock but cared for themselves rather than for my flock, therefore, O shepherds, hear the word of the LORD : This is what the Sovereign LORD says: I am against the shepherds and will hold them accountable for my flock. I will remove them from tending the flock so that the shepherds can no longer feed themselves. I will rescue my flock from their mouths, and it will no longer be food for them.

" 'For this is what the Sovereign LORD says: I myself will search for my sheep and look after them. As a shepherd looks after his scattered flock when he is with them, so will I look after my sheep.

I will rescue them from all the places where they were scattered on a day of clouds and darkness. I will bring them out from the nations and gather them from the countries, and I will bring them into their own land.

I will pasture them on the mountains of Israel, in the ravines and in all the settlements in the land. I will tend them in a good pasture, and the mountain heights of Israel will be their grazing land. There they will lie down in good grazing land, and there they will feed in a rich pasture on the mountains of Israel. I myself will tend my sheep and have them lie down, declares the Sovereign LORD. I will search for the lost and bring back the strays. I will bind up the injured and strengthen the weak, but the sleek and the strong I will destroy. I will shepherd the flock with justice.

" 'As for you, my flock, this is what the Sovereign LORD says: I will judge between one sheep and another, and between rams and goats. Is it not enough for you to feed on the good pasture? Must you also trample the rest of your pasture with your feet? Is it not enough for you to drink clear water? Must you also muddy the rest with your feet? Must my flock feed on what you have trampled and drink what you have muddied with your feet?

" 'Therefore this is what the Sovereign LORD says to them: See, I myself will judge between the fat sheep and the lean sheep. Because you shove with flank and shoulder, butting all the weak sheep with your horns until you have driven them away, I will save my flock, and they will no longer be plundered. I will judge between one sheep and another. I will place over them one shepherd, my servant David, and he will tend them; he will tend them and be their shepherd. I the LORD will be their God, and my servant David will be prince among them. I the LORD have spoken.

" 'I will make a covenant of peace with them and rid the land of wild beasts so that they may live in the desert and sleep in the forests in safety. I will bless them and the places surrounding my hill. I will send down showers in season; there will be showers of blessing. The trees of the field will yield their fruit and the ground will yield its crops; the people will be secure in their land. They will know that I am the LORD, when I break the bars of their yoke and rescue them from the hands of those who enslaved them. They will no longer be plundered by the nations, nor will wild animals devour them. They will live in safety, and no one will make them afraid. I will provide for them a land renowned for its crops, and they will no longer be victims of famine in the land or bear the scorn of the nations. Then they will know that I, the LORD their God, am with them and that they, the house of Israel, are my people, declares the Sovereign LORD. You my sheep, the sheep of my pasture, are people, and I am your God, declares the Sovereign LORD.' "Ezekiel 36

A Prophecy to the Mountains of Israel

"Son of man, prophesy to the mountains of Israel and say, 'O mountains of Israel, hear the word of the LORD. This is what the Sovereign LORD says: The enemy said of you, "Aha! The ancient heights have become our possession." ' Therefore prophesy and say, 'This is what the Sovereign LORD says: Because they ravaged and hounded you from every side so that you became the possession of the rest of the nations and the object of people's malicious talk and slander, therefore, O mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Sovereign LORD : This is what the Sovereign LORD says to the mountains and hills, to the ravines and valleys, to the desolate ruins and the deserted towns that have been plundered and ridiculed by the rest of the nations around you- this is what the Sovereign LORD says: In my burning zeal I have spoken against the rest of the nations, and against all Edom, for with glee and with malice in their hearts they made my land their own possession so that they might plunder its pastureland.' Therefore prophesy concerning the land of Israel and say to the mountains and hills, to the ravines and valleys: 'This is what the Sovereign LORD says: I speak in my jealous wrath because you have suffered the scorn of the nations. Therefore this is what the Sovereign LORD says: I swear with uplifted hand that the nations around you will also suffer scorn.

" 'But you, O mountains of Israel, will produce branches and fruit for my people Israel, for they will soon come home. I am concerned for you and will look on you with favor; you will be plowed and sown, and I will multiply the number of people upon you, even the whole house of Israel. The towns will be inhabited and the ruins rebuilt. I will increase the number of men and animals upon you, and they will be fruitful and become numerous. I will settle people on you as in the past and will make you prosper more than before. Then you will know that I am the LORD. I will cause people, my people Israel, to walk upon you. They will possess you, and you will be their inheritance; you will never again deprive them of their children.

" 'This is what the Sovereign LORD says: Because people say to you, "You devour men and deprive your nation of its children," therefore you will no longer devour men or make your nation childless, declares the Sovereign LORD. No longer will I make you hear the taunts of the nations, and no longer will you suffer the scorn of the peoples or cause your nation to fall, declares the Sovereign LORD.' "

Again the word of the LORD came to me: "Son of man, when the people of Israel were living in their own land, they defiled it by their conduct and their actions. Their conduct was like a woman's monthly uncleanness in my sight. So I poured out my wrath on them because they had shed blood in the land and because they had defiled it with their idols. I dispersed them among the nations, and they were scattered through the countries; I judged them according to their conduct and their actions. And wherever they went among the nations they profaned my holy name, for it was said of them, 'These are the LORD's people, and yet they had to leave his land.' I had concern for my holy name, which the house of Israel profaned among the nations where they had gone.

"Therefore say to the house of Israel, 'This is what the Sovereign LORD says: It is not for your sake, O house of Israel, that I am going to do these things, but for the sake of my holy name, which you have profaned among the nations where you have gone. I will show the holiness of my great name, which has been profaned among the nations, the name you have profaned among them. Then the nations will know that I am the LORD, declares the Sovereign LORD, when I show myself holy through you before their eyes.

" 'For I will take you out of the nations; I will gather you from all the countries and bring you back into your own land. I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your impurities and from all your idols. I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws. You will live in the land I gave your forefathers; you will be my people, and I will be your God. I will save you from all your uncleanness. I will call for the grain and make it plentiful and will not bring famine upon you. I will increase the fruit of the trees and the crops of the field, so that you will no longer suffer disgrace among the nations because of famine. Then you will remember your evil ways and wicked deeds, and you will loathe yourselves for your sins and detestable practices. I want you to know that I am not doing this for your sake, declares the Sovereign LORD. Be ashamed and disgraced for your conduct, O house of Israel!

" 'This is what the Sovereign LORD says: On the day I cleanse you from all your sins, I will resettle your towns, and the ruins will be rebuilt. The desolate land will be cultivated instead of lying desolate in the sight of all who pass through it. They will say, "This land that was laid waste has become like the garden of Eden; the cities that were lying in ruins, desolate and destroyed, are now fortified and inhabited." Then the nations around you that remain will know that I the LORD have rebuilt what was destroyed and have replanted what was desolate. I the LORD have spoken, and I will do it.'

"This is what the Sovereign LORD says: Once again I will yield to the plea of the house of Israel and do this for them: I will make their people as numerous as sheep, as numerous as the flocks for offerings at Jerusalem during her appointed feasts. So will the ruined cities be filled with flocks of people.
Then they will know that I am the LORD."

Ezekiel 37

The Valley of Dry Bones

The hand of the LORD was upon me, and he brought me out by the Spirit of the LORD and set me in the middle of a valley; it was full of bones. He led me back and forth among them, and I saw a great many bones on the floor of the valley, bones that were very dry. He asked me, "Son of man, can these bones live?"

I said, "O Sovereign LORD, you alone know."

Then he said to me, "Prophesy to these bones and say to them, 'Dry bones, hear the word of the LORD! This is what the Sovereign LORD says to these bones: I will make breath enter you, and you will come to life. I will attach tendons to you and make flesh come upon you and cover you with skin; I will put breath in you, and you will come to life. Then you will know that I am the LORD.' "

So I prophesied as I was commanded. And as I was prophesying, there was a noise, a rattling sound, and the bones came together, bone to bone. I looked, and tendons and flesh appeared on them and skin covered them, but there was no breath in them.

Then he said to me, "Prophesy to the breath; prophesy, son of man, and say to it, 'This is what the Sovereign LORD says: Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe into these slain, that they may live.' " So I prophesied as he commanded me, and breath entered them; they came to life and stood up on their feet—a vast army.

Then he said to me: "Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel. They say, 'Our bones are dried up and our hope is gone; we are cut off.' Therefore prophesy and say to them: 'This is what the Sovereign LORD says: O my people, I am going to open your graves and bring you up from them; I will bring you back to the land of Israel. Then you, my people, will know that I am the LORD, when I open your graves and bring you up from them. I will put my Spirit in you and you will live, and I will settle you in your own land. Then you will know that I the LORD have spoken, and I have done it, declares the LORD.' "

One Nation Under One King

The word of the LORD came to me: "Son of man, take a stick of wood and write on it, 'Belonging to Judah and the Israelites associated with him.' Then take another stick of wood, and write on it, 'Ephraim's stick, belonging to Joseph and all the house of Israel associated with him.' Join them together into one stick so that they will become one in your hand.

"When your countrymen ask you, 'Won't you tell us what you mean by this?' say to them, 'This is what the Sovereign LORD says: I am going to take the stick of Joseph—which is in Ephraim's hand—and of the Israelite tribes associated with him, and join it to Judah's stick, making them a single stick of wood, and they will become one in my hand.' Hold before their eyes the sticks you have written on and say to them, 'This is what the Sovereign LORD says: I will take the Israelites out of the nations where they have gone. I will gather them from all around and bring them back into their own land. I will make them one nation in the land, on the mountains of Israel. There will be one king over all of them and they will never again be two nations or be divided into two kingdoms. They will no longer defile themselves with their idols and vile images or with any of their offenses, for I will save them from all their sinful backsliding, and I will cleanse them.

They will be my people, and I will be their God.

" 'My servant David will be king over them, and they will all have one shepherd. They will follow my laws and be careful to keep my decrees. They will live in the land I gave to my servant Jacob, the land where your fathers lived. They and their children and their children's children will live there forever, and David my servant will be their prince forever. I will make a covenant of peace with them; it will be an everlasting covenant. I will establish them and increase their numbers, and I will put my sanctuary among them forever. My dwelling place will be with them; I will be their God, and they will be my people.

Then the nations will know that I the LORD make Israel holy, when my sanctuary is among them forever.' "

His Love Endures Forever

Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good;
his love endures forever.

Let Israel say:
"His love endures forever."

Let the house of Aaron say:
"His love endures forever."

Let those who fear the LORD say:
"His love endures forever."

In my anguish I cried to the LORD,
and he answered by setting me free.

The LORD is with me; I will not be afraid.
What can man do to me?

The LORD is with me; he is my helper.
I will look in triumph on my enemies.

It is better to take refuge in the LORD
than to trust in man.

It is better to take refuge in the LORD
than to trust in princes.

All the nations surrounded me,
but in the name of the LORD I cut them off.

They surrounded me on every side,
but in the name of the LORD I cut them off.

They swarmed around me like bees,
but they died out as quickly as burning thorns;
in the name of the LORD I cut them off.

I was pushed back and about to fall,
but the LORD helped me.

The LORD is my strength and my song;
he has become my salvation.

Shouts of joy and victory
resound in the tents of the righteous:
"The LORD's right hand has done mighty things!

The LORD's right hand is lifted high;
the LORD's right hand has done mighty things!"

I will not die but live,
and will proclaim what the LORD has done.

The LORD has chastened me severely,
but he has not given me over to death.

Open for me the gates of righteousness;
I will enter and give thanks to the LORD.

This is the gate of the LORD
through which the righteous may enter.

I will give you thanks, for you answered me;
you have become my salvation.

The stone the builders rejected
has become the capstone;

the LORD has done this,
and it is marvelous in our eyes.

This is the day the LORD has made;
let us rejoice and be glad in it.

O LORD, save us;
O LORD, grant us success.

Blessed is he who comes in the name of the LORD.
From the house of the LORD we bless you.

The LORD is God,
and he has made his light shine upon us.
With boughs in hand, join in the festal procession
up to the horns of the altar.

You are my God, and I will give you thanks;
you are my God, and I will exalt you.

Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good;
his love endures forever.

“Blessed is He who comes in the Name of the Lord”

Praising God with verses and prayers of thanksgiving because of His Awesomeness.

Isaiah 62:6-7

"I have posted watchmen on your walls, O Jerusalem;
they will never be silent day or night.
You who call on the LORD,
give yourselves no rest, and give him no rest till he establishes Jerusalem
and makes her the praise of the earth.”

Psalm 118:25-27
"O LORD, save us;
O LORD, grant us success.
Blessed is he who comes in the name of the LORD.
From the house of the LORD we bless you.

The LORD is God,
and he has made his light shine upon us.
With boughs in hand, join in the festal procession
up to the horns of the altar

Matthews 28:8-10

"A very large crowd spread their cloaks on the road, while others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. The crowds that went ahead of him and those that followed shouted,

"Hosanna to the Son of David!"
"Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!"
"Hosanna in the highest!"

Matthews 23:38-39

Look, your house is left to you desolate. For I tell you, you will not see me again until you say,

'Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.’

Luke 13:34-35

"O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing! Look, your house is left to you desolate. I tell you, you will not see me again until you say,

'Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.'

Interesting: One of Jesus’ Names is:

“Blessed is He who comes in the Name of the Lord”