When God Abandons Society - Part 1

Revelation 12:9 ESV

9 And the great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent, who is called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world—he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him.

The Cultic Relationship of Anime

The term anime– the Japanese word for ‘animation’ generally refers to animation originating from Japan. Specific to Japan is Shintoism, a religion that deems the Japanese islands and people as divine. According to the pagan religion of Shintoism, the Japanese people are direct descendants of the many gods and spirits (kami) living throughout the islands. Shrines to the different gods or spirits are common in Japan, and the themes of Shintoism are also common in anime and manga. Some anime thrives on the topic of religion, using Japanese culture as a setting for fantasy adventures in which the spirit world and humanity mingle, either pleasantly or unpleasantly. Given the mystical foundation of Eastern culture, anime also tends to employ elements of the occult such as tarot cards, incantations, and more. In anime, the characters usually (or often) draw their power from beasts such as foxes, wolves, serpents, snakes, dragons, lions, etc., from which they call their own ‘life force’. Serpents or snakes, dragons, lions, and wolves are Biblical representations of demons and satan.

Colossians 3:2 ESV

2 Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.

2 Corinthians 10:5 ESV

5 We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ,

Ephesians 4:30 ESV

30 And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.

Newsom Signs 9 Abortion, Reproductive Health Bills Into Law

“The right to an abortion is enshrined in California’s Constitution. We will continue to protect women and health care workers who are seeking and providing basic care.”

Three new laws specifically address allowing residents of states with restrictive guidelines to access education and medical services in California.

Senate Bill 345, authored by Nancy Skinner (D-Berkeley), is designed to strengthen protections for medical professionals disciplined in other states for providing abortions or other reproductive care services.

Jeremiah 1:5 ESV

5 “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations.”

Joshua 11:20 ESV

20 For it was the Lord’s doing to harden their hearts that they should come against Israel in battle, in order that they should be devoted to destruction and should receive no mercy but be destroyed, just as the Lord commanded Moses.

Parental Rights Video

With Discussion (Note: This is the link to the original video. The video shown during study was cropped for modesty, and an explicative was censored.)

https://twitter.com/libsoftiktok/status/1708850321110311282?s=42

Psalm 127:3 ESV

3 Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord, the fruit of the womb a reward.

Ephesians 6:1 ESV

1 Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right.

2 Peter 3:3 ESV

3 knowing this first of all, that scoffers will come in the last days with scoffing, following their own sinful desires.

Acts 17:30–31 ESV

30 The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent, 31 because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead.”

When God Abandons Society

We have moved through Paul’s introduction of his letter to the Church in Rome. Last week we looked at the Gospel. Paul said in verse 16, “For I am not ashamed of the Gospel...” That becomes important as we now get into the content of tonight’s message and the next few studies to come.

Paul was writing to the Roman Church because of a significant spiritual malady that had infected the Roman society. This is a satanic, demonically-driven malady that infects a society when it abandons the very natural principles of God. What we are seeing today in our own world is a magnification worldwide to what Paul was witnessing in his own day. Yet it would be on a level today that that would even leave Paul, a Roman citizen, aghast.

When God Abandons Society

At the time of Paul’s writing to the Roman Church, Christians were outsiders. The Christian ethic would be harshly bashed by the immoral sexualized culture prominent in Rome. In Rome, sexuality was tied to ideas of masculinity, male domination, and the adoption of the Greek pursuit of beauty. “In the Roman mind, the strong took what they wanted to take. It was socially acceptable for a strong Roman male to have intercourse with men or women alike, [and boys] provided he was the aggressor.” (Tim Challies).

When God Abandons Society

The Christian ethic that limited sex between a married man and woman, protected children, and taught that the man was to show love and fidelity, was not only an alternative system of morality. Instead it was condemning of the Roman identity. Inso much that Romans view Christians was traitors and a threat to their society. Today’s sexual revolution, that began in the sixties, pales the immoral ideologies of first century Rome.

So, before Paul even begins to address what he is witnessing in the culture around him, he has to make sure that the Romans are reading that he is not ashamed that the gospel. He is not ashamed that the Gospel in it’s power to save, stands in stark contrast to the depravity of the mind of men and to the spiritual darkness that looms in the heart of every man and society. What Paul will lay out for us, through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, is the means in which God abandons the depravity of men and even more so a society.

Romans 1:18–32 ESV

18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. 19 For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. 20 For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. 21 For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22 Claiming to be wise, they became fools, 23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things. 24 Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, 25 because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen. 26 For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature; 27 and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error. 28 And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done. 29 They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips, 30 slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, 31 foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless. 32 Though they know God’s righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them.

The Wrath of God

There are a number of different aspects we need to understand as we consider ‘the wrath of God.’ While I cannot go over all of them in detail, it is crucial for us to have a general understanding of what the Bible means when it refers to God’s wrath. “Wrath is defined as “the emotional response to perceived wrong and injustice,” often translated as “anger,” “indignation,” “vexation,” or “irritation.” Both humans and God express wrath. But there is vast difference between the wrath of God and the wrath of man. God’s wrath is holy and always justified; man’s is never holy and rarely justified.

The Wrath of God

In it’s most simplistic form, God’s wrath can be understood as a divine response to human sin. Romans 1:18 “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth.” It is best understood that God responds to the sinful heart of man a variety of ways.

The Eternal Wrath of God

First there is the eternal wrath of God.

2 Thessalonians 1:9 ESV

9 They will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might,

The Eschatological Wrath of God

Secondly, the Bible talks about eschatological wrath; meaning the final judgement of God. The Old Testament writers like Joel speak of the Great Tribulation as the Day of the Lord (Joel 2:1-2). We studied in Revelation how the outpouring of the various judgments on the world was an expression of God’s eschatological wrath (cf. Revelation 19).

The Cataclysmic Wrath of God

Third, there is what is known as the cataclysmic wrath of God. We read about how God opened the earth at Korah in Numbers 16:18-25. You can see this against Pharoah in the Exodus 7-12. You see the Flood of Noah or how God stopped the rain in the days of Elijah. You can see it in Revelation. We see it today as well documented in Bill Koeing’s book Eye to Eye.

The Consequential Wrath of God

Then there is the consequential wrath of God. That is, the natural results of man living against the laws of God. Colossians 3:25 “For the wrongdoer will be paid back for the wrong he has done, and there is no partiality.”

The Abandonment of God

But I think, the most common type of wrath in view today isn’t found in some ‘event’ (although that is definitely in the purview of God). Rather, I think the most common and alarming wrath is when God abandon’s man to his sin. In the Bible we see this happen personally, culturally, nationally, and one day soon it will come on a world-wide scale. Herein lies the heart of Paul’s message to the Romans.

Romans 1:18 ESV

18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth.

Romans 1:24 ESV

24 Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves,

Romans 1:26 ESV

26 For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature;

Romans 1:28 ESV

28 And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done.

The Great Tribulation

There comes a time in the heart of a man or woman, there comes a time in the life of a nation, and there will come a time in the entirety of this world that God lifts His retraining grace. In other words, the opportunity for salvation has passed and all that is left is His impending wrath. Eschatologically, we know this as an element of the Great Tribulation.

Hosea 4:17 ESV

17 Ephraim is joined to idols; leave him alone.

Judges 10:13 ESV

13 Yet you have forsaken me and served other gods; therefore I will save you no more.

Judges 16:20 ESV

20 And she said, “The Philistines are upon you, Samson!” And he awoke from his sleep and said, “I will go out as at other times and shake myself free.” But he did not know that the Lord had left him.

The Abandonment of God

“God will abandon sinners to their own choices and the consequences of those choices. And just what is this abandoning act on God’s part? It is the removal of restraining grace. It is when God lets go and turns a – a society over to its own sinful freedoms and the results of those freedoms.” The idea of this should shutter the heart of man. It should cause one who is fence-sitting between God and sin to flee toward the light of God’s grace.

The realization that God will lifts His hand of grace to give over to one their rebellion should cause a well of repentance in your heart in reverent fear of God. You may say, “Well, I don’t particularly like that thought.” Yet no Scripture more directly outlines the abandonment of God than Romans 1:18-32.

C.S. Lewis

C.S. Lewis wrote, “The lost enjoy forever the horrible freedom they have demanded and are therefore self-enslaved.”

I Am Not Ashamed

The only hope against this is the unashamed preaching of the gospel. That is why Paul wrote, Romans 1:16 “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.” When the Church reaches the point where we would rather try to entertain the lost into heaven than preach a message of repentance, the restraining grace of God is removed. Jesus told the Philadelphia Church they would be kept from the hour of tribulation for their faithfulness, but other churches were warned to repent (ie. Revelation 2:22; 2:16; 3:10)

Andy Stanley

Just this past week, Andy Stanley’s church held the Unconditional Conference which they affirmed LGBTQ identities and that the church is impotent to do anything about it, so we should just embrace the sin as normal human behavior. What Stanley did was uphold the Scriptural standard, but called for pastoral accommodation to the homosexual lifestyle as a means of empathy instead of condemnation. This sounds very amenable and kind, but it is, in reality, inviting the wrath of God - or just turning people over to their debased minds instead of inviting them to find the joy of liberty and hope in Christ.

Andy Stanley

Just as liberal theology does, Stanley attempts to sever doctrine from ethics. So we paint a picture of a tolerant compassionate Jesus without the wrath. The reality is the compassion of Christ is found in that sin is dealt with harshly and in full view of the wrath of God. That’s the image of the cross - God provided the means for us to forsake our sin, not to live in it.

Matthew 16:24 ESV

24 Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.

The Sexually Immoral Heart

The reality of our day is that our nation, is under judgement of God. I can offer no greater explanation about the state of affairs in our world than this. What Paul shows us is a progression of 3 steps that leads the Lord to this point. First we see that there is a desire of a society for sexual immorality through a immoral heart.

Romans 1:24 ESV

24 Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves,

This is evidenced since the sexual revolutions of the sixties and a stead and increasing lust for unbridled sex, pornography, the degradation of marriage, and today we see a landslide of immorality around children.

2. The Degrading Passions of the Heart

Secondly, Paul tells us that there will be degrading passions of the body. In other words, the behaviors of the immoral hearts become widely accepted, and even championed, in a culture.

Romans 1:26 ESV

26 For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature;

To that point, Paul mentions how it is evident among the women in a society who will give into these lusts. Usually it is the women who are the last to fall morally because there is an innate mothering instinct that shields children from the demonic behaviors. But the coming of feminism and particularly the rise of lesbianism is a demonic stronghold of a society indicating the abandonment of God.

3. The Debased Minds

Lastly Paul tells us that God completely gives us over to a debased mind. What this means is the presence of God’s grace is lifted from the minds of people or society giving them over to their corrupt reasoning. The wrath of God rests (Romans 1:18) by His abandonment. The Greek word translated “debased” in the New Testament is adokimos, which means literally “unapproved, that is, rejected; by implication, morally worthless.”

This is ultimately going to happen with the Rapture and the introduction of the Tribulation.

2 Thessalonians 2:6–7 ESV

6 And you know what is restraining him now so that he may be revealed in his time. 7 For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work. Only he who now restrains it will do so until he is out of the way.

Lifting of Restraint

What will happen when the Spirit-filled believers are lifted from the world? That is, the restraining force and minds that are not debased. All that will be left are the debased minds of men who will shake their fist at God. With that we have a better understanding of what Paul is referring to in Romans chapter 1 when he talks about the wrath of God. Next week, we will take a deeper look into the persistence of idolatry in a godless world.