Last week, we looked at the fact that God’s judgment on the world has begun. He has taken off a lot of the restraints that hold evil back, and we can see that there has been an exponential growth of evil over the past 30-40 years. Things that were never allowed in public, or things that were never considered normal are now normal in many places.

One of the ways that God judges a nation – you can go back into the Old Testament and read about this with Israel – was to let pagan invaders come in and take over their land. Fundamentally enslaving them in their own land. The Philistines did it in the Judges, as did the Midianites, as did the Romans in Jesus’ era. And today, the Muslims have invaded the Promised Land and are a thorn in the side of Israel.

Well, guess what? The Muslims are doing a slow invasion of us here in North America. They have conquered Europe for the most part, and soon the UK and the EU will be predominantly Muslim strongholds. In Canada, the Muslims know that somewhere around 2050, they will have out-birthed us, they will take over, and they are not ashamed, nor are they shy to say it. This is a part of the judgment of God on a nation or on nations that turn their backs on Him.

One of the other ways of judgment is that more and more women get into leadership roles like the Government and eventually churches, like churches calling women as their pastors. In Isaiah 3:12, God, in the context, is pronouncing judgment on Judah and Jerusalem. In verse 12, He says that this will happen when a nation is apart from God.

“Youths oppress my people, women rule over them. My people, your guides lead you astray; they turn you from the path.”

In verse 4, we see this verse: “I will make mere youths their officials; children will rule over them.”

I am astonished at how many youths with no real work experience are elected to public office. We see people like the new Mayor of New York, who had no real experience doing anything. The new Mayor of Seattle is an unskilled woman with no understanding of how businesses work because she has no experience in life. The judgment of God is on us. What we think is progress is actually God’s judgment.

Now, it is easy for us to become arrogant and think ‘we are not like them’; we are saved, good people. And as such, we forget that we, too, are simply sinners saved by grace.

In Romans chapter 2, we are reminded of God’s wealth of kindness towards us in not giving us what we deserve. The reality is that even as saved people, we can at times commit the same sins as lost people. We cannot lose salvation, BUT the payment for sin is death. In 1 Corinthians 11, Paul reminded that some of the people in that church slept [died] because they took the Lord’s Supper disrespectfully. Paul tells us that we are not to take the grace of God towards ourselves lightly (Romans 2:3-4, AMP).

“But do you think this, O man, when you judge and condemn those who practice such things, and yet do the same yourself, that you will escape God’s judgment and elude His verdict? Or do you have no regard for the wealth of His kindness and tolerance and patience [in withholding His wrath]? Are you [actually] unaware or ignorant [of the fact] that God’s kindness leads you to repentance [that is, to change your inner self, your old way of thinking—seek His purpose for your life]?”

We are told to regard the ‘wealth’ of God’s patience because He does not deal with us as we deserve. In Psalm 103:10, we are reminded that God does not deal with us as we deserve. Thank Him for that daily, hourly.

Even as His children, our sins are grievous to God, and while they cannot ‘unsave’ us, they can disrupt fellowship and God’s direction and plans for our lives. Paul tells us that God is tolerant and patient as He withholds His wrath that our sin deserves. It is God’s kindness that leads us to repentance and drives us, like David, to confession of our sinful state and to recall often God’s loving, kind and patient forgiveness – and not only forgiveness BUT His restoration.

One day God’s righteous judgment will fall on the whole world. Those in Christ will be judged at the Bema Seat judgment spoken of in 2 Corinthians 5:10, and the unrepentant masses will be judged at the Great White Throne judgment described for us in Revelation 20:11-15. These are set historical events that will happen in the future. There will be God’s wrath at both; to the saved, the wrath is about lost rewards and lost work in the Millennial Kingdom. And to the lost, the wrath will be eternal separation from God.

Therefore, let us be constantly judging ourselves, constantly looking in the mirror, constantly removing the plank from our own eyes, and constantly repenting of the sins we know we did, and the ones we are not sure we did.

In Psalm 19:12, David asks that God forgive him for hidden sins; these are not hidden like he is covering them up (David is in the process of confession, so he is not hiding them); rather, he is talking of the sins he did but that he cannot remember. He is asking God to forgive the sins that are hidden from his memory. Here we have another reason to rejoice and to repent even more. God will forgive even the sins we cannot remember if we faithfully confess what we can recall.

seangooding@yahoo.ca

Dr. Sean Gooding
Pastor of Bethany Baptist Church
70 Victoria Street, Elora, Ontario

Paul is writing to the Roman believers from Corinth. He is in Corinth for the third visit, and this is recorded for us in Acts 20: 1-3. The focus of the Book of Romans is God’s great plan for redemption.

We looked at the Kinsman Redeemer in Ruth, and here in Romans, Paul will explore Jesus, who is our true Kinsman Redeemer. The God who became man to identify with us, suffer like us, die like us, and then rise from the dead to conquer death, our final enemy. In verses 1-7, Paul makes it clear that salvation is by God, of God, through God, and sustained by God. He leaves no room for pride, for works, or for any other way of salvation. In verse 16, we have the famous declaration:

“For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek.”

Paul then jumps into dealing with those that are unbelievers. Those who know the truth know that there is a God and yet refuse to humble themselves before Him. Paul reveals to us that there are very few true atheists. God is known by all, denied by many. One has to go to great lengths to deny the existence of God. The fact that a thing exists is a testimony that there was someone who made the thing. The fact that there is a creation simply draws us to conclude that there is a Creator, verses 20-21:

“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.”

Therefore, because they deny God, they go to extraordinary lengths to deny God and explain Him away. God has begun to execute judgment on them, and we can see that being played out in our world today. In verse 24, we see that ‘God gave them up to uncleanness,’ and as such, they began to do sexual misconduct. One of the natural outflows of denying God is loss of interest in natural sexual behavior. Paul states that these folks dishonor their bodies. The AMP version describes this as being given over to the ‘degrading power of sin.’ Holman’s notes point out that this is a judicial act; God removes His restraining grace that acts as a guard for how sinful we really are. We begin to see things and do things that we never thought possible because God has given up on us.

Next, when God is denied, He gives them over to ‘vile passions.’ These are described as when men lust after men, and women also turn to other women in sexual ways. We are told that sex between a man and a woman is ‘natural.’ Anything else is unnatural. We all know that. These folks can’t see it because God has given them over, taken away His grace, and allowed their natural sin nature to have complete control.

There used to be a ‘cringe’ that came with public affection between two men. These things were kept in secret and in the darkness, the dark recesses of this world, because we all know that they are wrong. Not just wrong but an affront to God’s natural design. No farmer can bring in two bulls to ‘mate’ and expect calves. We ALL know that. But somehow, we explain it away as ‘love’ when it is two men or two women. It is wrong. Those of us that trust and believe in God are being forced to accept this behavior. To see two grown men, obvious men with beards and male features, kissing and other expressions in public. Our children see men with men, and we have to explain that this is wrong before God.

By the way, my Canadian government just made reading and teaching from this passage a hate crime; it is illegal to read Romans 1.

Then lastly, in verse 28, God gave them over to a ‘debased mind.’ The AMP version translates it as ‘depraved.’ The Holman Bible presents it as a ‘worthless mind.’ And with this worthless mind, they are now free to do even more evil. We see it every day. There is a lawlessness, a mentality that says ‘I can do whatever I want,’ as if there is no accountability. Once we allowed homosexuality to be lived out freely, the next targets were our kids. The effort to sexualize our kids, even at the age of 6 or 7, is hard fought. They want our kids as sexual deviants well before they reach high school. Sadly, they are winning, for the most part.

According to most data, the average age for the ‘first heterosexual encounter’ is 16 in North America, with 2% of girls having sex by 12 or younger. Here in Canada, 22% of grade 9-10 students report having their first sexual encounter. These are 14- and 15-year-olds having sex and having it often. By Grade 10, 33% of girls are on birth control. This is causing health issues and making them think that they cannot get pregnant which most adults know is not the case. I have a friend or two who have gotten pregnant while on birth control.

These folks cannot think of anything but evil. We all see the hidden videos of teachers trying to indoctrinate kids into evil and demanding pro-nouns. We have all seen by now videos of parents reading sexually explicit and graphic material that their kids are required to read. These parents often get arrested for indecency, or they are shut up because they read the perverse stuff back to the teachers.

There has been a rise in sexual misconduct between female teachers and their students. This used to be a male-dominated area; no longer is that the case. It is just going to get worse. God has given these folks over to the evil that is inside them. They cannot think of anything else. They just want to do evil all the time. It is their norm, and we who try to do right are now the evil ones. We are the weird ones. We are the ones that society wants to shut up, send back into our homes, and make us look like we are the hateful ones.

God’s judgment on mankind has already begun. He is letting us ‘hang ourselves,’ as the saying goes. He did not have to do anything proactive; He just had to simply allow us to know what life would actually be like if He did not exist, as many want Him to be.

One day soon, He will wake them up from their stupor, and, hopefully, some will find Jesus and trust Him. Others will stand before God one day in total hopelessness, looking at the God they denied and tried to erase from life and memory. But it will be too late. Their sins will not be covered, they will not be washed away, they will not be buried in the depths of the sea; rather, they will have to shoulder their own sins for eternity in Hell. But at least for them, God won’t be there; they should feel right at home.

seangooding@yahoo.ca

Dr. Sean Gooding
Pastor of Bethany Baptist Church
70 Victoria Street, Elora, Ontario