We have been looking at the state of the Church in modern America. It is not a pretty sight, but we need a good dose of Scripture on these issues in order to be delivered from all the deceptive activities and numbers that are being presented. Isaiah 63 gives us an awful picture of the Church in America if we care to look:
17 Why, O LORD, do You cause us to stray from Your ways And harden our heart from fearing You? Return for the sake of Your servants, the tribes of Your heritage. 18 Your holy people possessed Your sanctuary for a little while, Our adversaries have trodden it down. 19 We have become like those over whom You have never ruled, Like those who were not called by Your name (Isaiah 63:17-19).
This text gives us a snapshot and some guidelines that we can use as a yardstick to set along side of the Church and measure or determine something of the judgment that has been poured out on Her. The first thing to that should shake us to attention is the real cause of the wrath of the judgment. It is God Himself. The text says that God is the cause behind the Israelites straying from His ways. This is something very important and even utterly vital, though ignored in the modern day. The Church has strayed from the ways of God because She was already under the judgment of God. When we see so many individual churches that have fallen into ways of foolishness and biblical infidelity, we can know that judgment has already arrived upon them. The theology or creed of a “church” matters little in one sense if it is not following the ways of God. After all, it is still not following the ways of God. Any group that is of fallen humanity, whether Reformed or not, can have idolatrous hearts, self-centered and worldly ways that lead them to follow all sorts of man-centered actions and plans.
We are taught by Romans 1 that the wrath of God is revealed against all ungodliness which tells us that this wrath is revealed on a constant basis. We don’t have to wait for judgment day for the wrath of God to come, it is already among us. “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness” (Rom 1:18). Notice that this text does not limit this to professing unbelievers alone. We can look at Revelation 1-3 and note the promised judgments on the churches there and know for certain that God judges churches. A professing church can also suppress the truth in unrighteousness as well since idolatry in worship and anything else is unrighteousness. Without Christ in truth all that a church or individual does is unrighteousness. But if we go on in the text of Romans 1, we note that God punishes sin with more sin. God turns hearts over to sin as judgment and punishment for sin. God hardens hearts and turns them over to more sin. Why is that? While it may not be a popular thought, sin is the worst possible judgment on this earth. Sin provokes God to wrath now, it brings judgment now, it brings all kinds of misery upon the sinner now, and all of that increases the wrath of God for eternal judgment.
The Church in America must wake up and realize that its methodologies and practices that are not according to the ways of God, and that regardless of the numbers of people and the offerings it brings in, this is a sign of the judgment of God and not His blessing. The Church in America wants political power, moral influence, large numbers and offerings, and it wants its people to have happy, successful and fulfilling lives. That is nothing more than what the world offers. We must learn that church growth is not just about the numbers of people in the building, but the spiritual growth of the people. We must learn that spiritual growth is not just about how much people learn about the Bible, it is how much they know and walk with God. We must learn that worship is not just about people feeling wonderful about the entertaining songs and sermons on Sunday mornings, it is about entering into the presence of a holy God and being broken in His presence and adoring His glory.
Another sign of the wrath and judgment of God from Isaiah 63:17-19 is when God hardens people’s hearts from fearing Him. While this would bring a smile to many people in the land if they read this since they believe it is either a form of neurosis to fear God or that God is love and so we should not fear Him, yet the very fact that people think something is wrong with those who fear God is a sign of the judgment of God. In Genesis 20:11 Abraham thought that there was no fear of God in Gerar and that Abimelech and his people would kill him. Deuteronomy 6:13-24 shows us that we are to keep the commandments out of fear of God while Jesus taught us that without love for God we cannot keep them. This shows that Calvin was on the right path when he said that true piety was where the love and the fear of God met. In fact there is no true love for God without a reverential fear of Him and there is no true reverential fear of Him without a love for Him. The two go together. If the Lord hardens hearts from fearing Him, then there is no love for Him either. Deuteronomy 10:12 puts fear and love together in keeping the commandments.
Psalm 36:1 puts it in a terrifying way: “Transgression speaks to the ungodly within his heart; There is no fear of God before his eyes.” The ungodly have no fear of God, but true believers are to pray for the Lord’s name to be hallowed which is to glorify it and treat it with reverence and awe. There is no acceptable worship apart from this fear of the Lord either: “Therefore, since we receive a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us show gratitude, by which we may offer to God an acceptable service with reverence and awe” (Hebrews 12:28). When the Lord hardens the hearts of people, some are given over to open transgression and others to forms of worship that are not acceptable. If we have eyes to see, what we see in this nation is many people losing any sense of shame and being given over to open sin. We also see many “churches” that are given over to all kinds of entertainment in the music and all sorts of light teaching filled with jokes and stories. There is no sense of the fear of God in the world or in the Church today. That is a sign that the judgment of God is upon us even now.
The ways of God that are kept by those with tender hearts are really quite simple. In the church the Word of God is to be proclaimed with the glory of God and the Gospel at the center. In the church there should be time for prayer and not just for a little lip service. There must be time of true worship and not just noise that excites people and gets their feelings flowing. The ways of God are always the ways of true holiness and seeking His face and glory. While seeking the face of the Lord with humility, love and holiness obtained by grace is not easy, it is the way that the Lord sets out. The believer is to live and walk by faith rather than the things that the senses are able to obtain and do. One thing that means is that the believer is to live and walk by what faith receives which is grace. The believer is to be strengthened by grace and not by the things of the world. When a church is not living by the strength that grace gives in the fear of the Lord, it is under the judgment of God.
There are so many little churches in the world that believe that they are under the judgment of God because they are not large and are not growing. They look at the mega-“churches” and wish they could be like them. But they are caught up by numbers and glamour when they think like that. Perhaps not all mega-“churches” are the same, but the appearance is that the vast majority of them are given over to things that are not following the ways of the Lord and there certainly does not appear to be a true reverential fear of God. It is far better to follow the ways of the Lord and be small rather than to be large and outwardly successful and yet be utterly blind to the judgment of God upon you. That does not mean that a small church is being spiritually blessed, but simply to say that nickels and noses can be a deceptive way to determine the blessings of God. As Jonathan Edwards preached in a sermon entitled Those Whom God Hates, He Often Gives Plenty of Earthly Things To, God will give some people many earthly things and that is His judgment. A church that has plenty of people and money might well be under the judgment of God rather than the blessings of God. That would be still another sign of judgment if the church thought its numbers, property and money were a blessing when in fact it was judgment. That is spiritual blindness.
John 3:36 teaches (just down from John 3:16) with no shame that the wrath of God abides on unbelievers. What happens when a “church” fills its pews with unbelievers in the name of religion with a false and an ear-tickling Gospel? A true church consists of true believers in Christ. When a professing church is filled with professing believers, it is doing nothing but bringing the wrath of God into it. First, it is bringing those into its midst who are under the wrath of God and proclaiming them as being under the blessing of God. Second, it brings those in who are under the dominion of the devil and have them make decisions for the “church.” Third, in doing so the theology of the “church” has been watered down to that which is less than Christian. Fourth, what should be true worship is now nothing more than idolatry. Fifth, church discipline is not being exercised and as has been said in the past that when discipline leaves Christ leaves. A “church” like that is under the awful judgment of God.
Straying from His ways can be a church resorting to entertainment, user friendly ways and all sorts of methodology that is not from Scripture and not in line with biblical doctrine. This leads to large crowds, much activity, and perhaps financial giving. However, this is not a sign of blessing; it is a sign of judgment. There is much to lament over regarding spiritual things in America. A program will not help in the slightest. Spending more money on it will not help. Conferences will not help. More entertainment will not help. Only God can return God to church.
God Loves... Himself 
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