Why God Abandons A Nation

Why God Abandons a Nation

For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, because what may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them.

For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse, because, although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God,

nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools, and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man—and birds and four-footed animals and creeping things.

Romans 1:18-23

We just read a section of Scripture that deals with the wrath of God upon the world, for the unrighteous acts of mankind. The rest of the section on the wrath of God extends to verse 32, which covers how God has unleashed His wrath…yes, God is sending His wrath today. Although the text speaks as if it is speaking of the past, we need to understand that the Word of God is timeless, and what is being said about at the time of Paul writing this some 2000 years ago applies to use today, because just a few seconds ago God revealed His wrath to someone or someplace, and sorry to say, is revealing His wrath to our nation today.

We may thing of God’s wrath as placing the soul in hell, but God’s wrath happens in different forms. There is the wrath that will fall upon the earth at the end of human history, and that will happen in the time of tribulation. There is a wrath that comes to individuals for their sins, and it is whatever a person sows they reap. We like to call this one karma, but it is all God. There is wrath involved in natural events, such as floods or other massive events that deal with the ungodly. Then there is eternal wrath, and that is the wrath of God that puts the unrighteous into hell. But The verses we have read and will read today deal with the wrath of abandonment, where God removes His hand from people and He lets them be themselves…letting the evils flow from the heart, because the Bible tells us the heart is deceitful above all things, And desperately wicked; Who can know it? Only God can know it, and whether you like it or not His hand keeps us from doing some of the dastardly things our hearts want to do.

When we get to verses 24, 26, and 28 we will read a repeated theme; God gives them over, gives them over, gives them over. In other words, it is when God abandons a nation due to their unrighteousness, turning them over to the consequences of their behavior which is escalating iniquity and disaster, leading to judgment. Verses 18 through 23 gave us the why God does it…because people suppress the truth about God, Jesus, and salvation. They do so by creating manmade gods, and even calling themselves gods, finding ways to avoid what is placed in their conscience. They suppress the truth that God has placed in our hearts. And he goes on to say they all have the truth; the truth is visible from creation – you can know something of God and His nature - and from the heart. Romans 2 says the Law of God is written in the heart.

This fighting against the truth happens when man abandons God as presented in creation; when man abandons God as revealed in conscience; when man abandons God as revealed in Holy Scripture, suppressing the truth, God judges that society and nation. And although that society may consider itself to be wise, it is in fact fools. The heart becomes darkened when God is abandoned, and then God abandons the darkened heart. That is why God abandons a nation.

Therefore God also gave them up to uncleanness, in the lusts of their hearts, to dishonor their bodies among themselves, who exchanged the truth of God for the lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.

Romans 1:24-25

Now we get to the sequence of things that happens when God abandons a nation. First, it says that He gives them over to sexual sin, the dishonoring of their bodies among one another. When God abandons a society, the first thing that happens is it becomes pornographic; it becomes obsessed with sex, obsessed with fornication, adultery, every kind of sexual behavior. I’ll tell you this folks, our social media is giving us the picture of this uncleanliness happening right now. On a few of these media channels I hear of woman bragging about sleeping with 100 and 200 men in a month. And yes, I said bragging. Because man has abandoned God uncleanliness in the form of promiscuity is skyrocketing. The word says that this stems from the fact that people no longer believe there is a God of creation, instead believing themselves to hold the keys to the future…believing only n manmade myths and lies.