Abomination of a Nation - Woe Unto Them

[0:00] Isaiah 5 verse 20 Woe unto them that call evil good and good evil, that put darkness for light and light for darkness, that put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter.

[0:29] ! Woe unto them. This is a message about Australia, about our nation. It's nearly midnight, there's a storm approaching and like Noah, we're living in the midst of a society that's ever increasingly faithless, immoral and violent.

[0:51] And we're witnessing a moral breakdown, a meltdown, a tipping point, a trashing of a nation, if you like.

[1:29]

[2:59] We're indoctrinated.

[3:30] And see what's going on.

[4:01] We're seeing that good is called evil and evil good in the schools. We're seeing it in the universities. This pattern in the universities, they're becoming a breeding ground for humanism.

[4:14] Humanism is a kind of religion. Humanists believe that man is inherently good. The new age religion says that God is everything and all beliefs are right.

[4:26] It's faith in man instead of in God. A man is viewed as divine, progressing somehow towards some kind of godhood or divinity. And meanwhile the media machine is pumping out propaganda, actively doctoring and manipulating news and information.

[4:45] Woe unto them that call evil good and good evil. That put darkness for light and light for darkness. That put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter.

[4:59] The word of God says woe. We're seeing that in the schools, in the universities, in the media. In the media we're seeing people's appetites are being fed for all kinds of immorality.

[5:12] Even popular soapies now are treating perversion as if it's normal behaviour. It's part of the conditioning. It's part of the softening up process. And the politically correct speak promotes tolerance, they call it.

[5:28] Tolerance, yes, but for everything but biblical Christianity. They're not tolerant about that. This tolerance, this diversity, this permissiveness is really a breakdown of the morals and accountability that our nation once had more of.

[5:46] We certainly got less of. And biblical Christianity is being marginalised and mocked in the media. Christians are being stereotyped. They're either stereotyped as deranged or crazy, bigoted or worse.

[6:02] That's what Christians are painted as in the popular press and TV. Hostility and hatred is fostered towards Christians today.

[6:13] And you're in the target sites. If you're a fair dinkum Christian, there's a propaganda war and it's being waged against you and what you believe. Christians are painted as cold, intolerant and oppressive.

[6:29] The media is redefining everything. There's a godless agenda. It's anti-Bible, anti-God. Fulfill yourself is the mantra.

[6:40] Fulfill yourself. A new age agenda that has man at the centre. Not God. Man, is that the centre. Really, it's a paganism.

[6:50] A pantheism. Godlessness. And it's a deliberate campaign. There's a war going on of these competing ideas and values and world views.

[7:03] Really, it's right versus wrong. It's truth versus untruth. It's freedom versus slavery. It's darkness versus light. It's bitter versus sweet.

[7:15] Someone said it's a conflict over beliefs and values. Over the ideas that will rule society. It's about how we live our lives.

[7:27] It's about the direction we want for our country. It's about the world we will leave for our children. It's about what God we acknowledge or whether we acknowledge any God at all.

[7:40] And people are following this. The media is training them. It's conditioning them to be like lemons heading for their destruction. And the vast bulk of humanity is brainwashed, enslaved, misled, manipulated, certainly distracted.

[8:00] Anything to take your minds off this fact. And there's an emphasis on acceptance. We see nowadays a promotion of environmentalism for one thing.

[8:11] The green gospel. The green gospel. Nature worship. And pagan worship. And goddess worship. And people are actively championing a political correctness.

[8:23] So we've got acceptance. Instead of accountability, it's all about acceptance. No longer an accountability to a God with whom we have to deal. Woe unto them.

[8:34] The word says woe. There's a word of judgment. A word of condemnation. Where we have a world without an accountability. And what do we see as the end result of that?

[8:45] An increase in lawlessness, in immorality and violence. A perception of reality that's being shrewdly imposed on us without us even realising it.

[8:56] The media are good at this redefining. This reframing of terminology. For example, we tolerate killing our unborn children. And we call it freedom of choice.

[9:08] We tolerate homosexuality and call it diversity. We tolerate paganism and call it multiculturalism. We tolerate killing of the elderly or the sick.

[9:21] And we call it compassion. Sounds so much nicer, doesn't it? The new age as well teach this. This kind of moral relativism. That claims there's no such thing as right and wrong.

[9:33] Each person in their effort to achieve oneness must travel their own path and make their own decisions. And those decisions are never wrong. Provided they're not wrong in the person's own mind.

[9:47] That's the kind of teaching we're getting today. So we're seeing this calling evil good and good evil. We're seeing it in the schools, in the universities, in the media.

[10:00] We're seeing it in the government, the arenas of government. Our leaders are corrupt often. Not all, but many. Our cities are filled with crime and brutality as law is breaking down and lawlessness is taking over.

[10:19] And when we see the control of the state, sometimes it makes matters worse. We're seeing policy makers in government who think nothing of pushing euthanasia or assisted suicide, effectively.

[10:33] We're seeing a new world order being shaped. And coming to us is this a global rule of law. It's socialist, it's tyrannical.

[10:45] A global governance is being promoted. And more and more we're seeing all this talk of globalism, of global terror, of global police, and global systems.

[10:57] It's so common now, isn't it? We're seeing it all the time. And we're seeing where it's leading to where ultimately a nation will be glad to give up their national sovereignty for this global governance that's going to solve all the world's problems.

[11:15] But yet we know that man has rejected God's word. That's at the heart of the problem. That's why the world is in the situation it's in today. Because man has rejected the saving grace of God.

[11:29] We're seeing a calling of evil good and of good evil. We're seeing it in society where we're seeing this slippery slope that people are sliding down.

[11:41] You know, the Bible speaks of things that God defines as abomination. Abomination. Now that's a very strong word that God uses. Abomination.

[11:53] It means something that's loathsome or disgusting. Something that's degrading and unclean. And the Bible specifically calls a number of things abominations. And yet it's strange that these same things are what we're seeing more and more accepted and becoming almost commonplace today.

[12:15] What the Bible, what God himself says is abomination. Some of the things that God calls abomination, and I've got a big long list if someone wants a bigger list, but some of the things that God calls abomination are wickedness, idolatry, witchcraft, sexual sins, cross-dressing, dishonesty, and hardness of heart.

[12:37] And yet these are things that our world seems to think nothing of now. It's almost like, how dare we judge someone for such things? As a society, we've rejected the foundation of all that is good.

[12:52] God's word. God's law. God's truth. We no longer know the difference between good and evil. Just a few years ago, we'd have been appalled at what is shown on the televisions, the debauchery that daily fills our streets, our movies, our music and arts, video games, businesses, political bodies.

[13:15] Today we barely bat an eyelid. We rarely give it a second thought because we've been conditioned, people. You're being conditioned day by day. It's nearly midnight, and many Christians are oblivious to this.

[13:29] Many people are unaware. God's judgment is closer and closer. In Romans 1 verse 18 it says, For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who hold the truth in unrighteousness.

[13:46] God's judgment is imminent. It's imminent. Sin is more accepted and condoned, embraced, even celebrated on the streets of our own city.

[13:59] God forbid. And for example, we see homosexuality. It's acceptable alternative lifestyle, some call it. It's sin.

[14:10] It's abomination. We see an increase in promiscuity. We see the demolition of family structures. The prevalence of broken and dysfunctional families.

[14:21] We see where the authority of fathers is being undermined. That's a big one. At the heart of society's problems lies this innate apathy, a disregard for God and the Bible.

[14:34] A conflict is going on between the world's values and beliefs, the ideas that will rule society, and what God says. You know, Albert Einstein said this, The world is a dangerous place to live, not because of the people who are evil, but because of the people who don't do anything about it.

[14:58] That's true, isn't it? We've got an opportunity here, Brother Phil, with those DVDs and that material to challenge some of these things that are going on. We've got an opportunity to do something about it.

[15:09] The world is a dangerous place, not because of people who are evil, but because of the people who don't do anything about it. One of the main problems is apathy, people.

[15:22] It's apathy and it's in the church. Sadly, it's even in the popular church. In Hosea 10 verse 2 it says, Their heart is divided. Consider the sad state of the popular church today, where it's experiential, it's feeling-centered, there's a lack of strong Bible preaching, there's a death of discernment, and truly God-fearing people are in a minority.

[15:50] They're a rare breed, and they're derided as unloving and divisive. Where are the people of God? The people of God, who will fear God, who will value truth and honesty and justice.

[16:06] Many church folk are caught up in compromise. It's all about convenience. Ignorance prevails. And at the heart of ecumenism lies a neglect of God's Word.

[16:19] The ecumenical movement is what it is because it's neglected God's Word. And worse than the ecumenical movement is the interfaith movement now, where it's just some fuzzy kind of spirituality, they call it.

[16:35] Spirituality. There is no absolute truth. That's what people are being told today. They're rejecting God's absolute truth. God's truth is not changing.

[16:49] It's the same. And we need strong Bible-based moral values that will build strong lives, strong families, strong churches, strong societies.

[17:01] Yet we're seeing in its place a watered-down, non-offensive message. That's what prevails. Doctrine has been abandoned. Yet in Romans 16, 17, Paul writes, We don't want to be contrary to Bible doctrine.

[17:24] We want to be standing fast and holding true. It's almost midnight. The Word says there will be times of deception.

[17:35] There will be perilous times. We need hard, gutsy truth. We need God's Word sounded forth strongly. We need to demolish the idols that were talked about earlier.

[17:48] The idols. The apathy. The things that will take us away from God's Word. Woe unto them. Woe unto them.

[18:00] That call evil good and good evil. That put darkness for light and light for darkness. That put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter.

[18:11] Woe. It's a word of judgment. And our Lord said, woe. Who did he say it to? Often it was to, woe. Scribes and Pharisees. Hypocrites.

[18:23] Often he was challenging the sorry state of the religious establishment. And we need to wake up as the church of the living God.

[18:34] We need to understand the forces that are happening all around us. And within the church. We need real, wholesome Christianity.

[18:46] Not to have hearts divided. But to be wholehearted. Not fearing to sound a warning. To speak out for integrity.

[18:58] To speak out such that there is a conviction of sin. To speak out concerning the truths of repentance, of faith, of holy living. 2 Thessalonians 2.10 it says, Of some who perish, deceived in their sin.

[19:16] Why? Because they receive not the love of the truth that they might be saved. 2 Thessalonians 2.10 They receive not the love of the truth that they might be saved.

[19:27] There's another gospel. The message doesn't save anymore. It's another gospel. Another Jesus. A fake kind of salvation.

[19:41] Friends, there's a real danger. And we're seeing it prevailing often in the faith preachers on TV, sadly. At the heart of the problem is the authority has been spurned.

[19:52] The authority of God's word. That's what's missing. The Bible. The authoritative word of God. It's our ultimate authority. Friends, we need to get back to the Bible.

[20:03] Around the context of Isaiah 5. In verse 24 it says, They have despised the word of the Holy One. They have turned from the law of the Lord of hosts.

[20:14] They have despised the word. And we're seeing that in the church of God in many quarters today. We need to stand on the truth. And have undiluted preaching of God's word.

[20:28] The Bible must be central in our lives. In our day by day. Because it is the very life and word of God. Woe to them.

[20:40] They call evil good. They call good evil. They put darkness for light. Light for darkness. They call bitter sweet. And sweet bitter. Will we love the truth?

[20:52] Or love the lies? That we are being sold. We need to pray. To pray for a spiritual awakening for our nation. For our church. God demands accountability for you and for me.

[21:06] He says, woe. Judgment is coming. The wrath of God is revealed from heaven. It's soon. It's soon. And we need to turn to the one who demands accountability.

[21:21] He offers absolutes. It's here in print. And we need to heed his word.

[21:34] And turn against counterfeit teachings. To discern error. To turn from that which is contrary to sound doctrine. Friends, God wants a holy people.

[21:45] He wants us to be that holy people. There is a day of reckoning. It's nearly midnight. But there is still hope. There is still hope for Australia. And we can take heart.

[21:56] Friends, there is hope. There is a gospel. There is a saviour. There is one. Who still has open arms. Extending his invitation. And we need to be reaching out.

[22:09] While we can. Let's not be those who do nothing. Let's be a church that's about that which matters. That which matters. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we pray.

[22:20] Lord, that you would still our hearts. Help us, Lord, to understand our heart condition. Lord, let it not be divided. Let it be wholehearted. Help us, Lord, to discern as we live our lives.

[22:33] Those influences that are calling evil good. And good evil. Through the education system. Through government. Through media. Through society.

[22:44] Lord, even in the church. Help us to be discerning of such things. Open our eyes, Lord, that we might see that which we need to see. To discern truth from error.

[22:54] Help us, Lord, to be led by your Spirit. Lord, not to avoid, but to stand strongly for that which matters. Lord, help us not to be doing nothing, but to be doing something.

[23:05] Help us, Lord, we pray. As your Holy Spirit enables us to. And empowers us. Lord, if there's any present here this morning who have yet to trust you. They're outside of Christ.

[23:16] Outside of salvation. Lord, that you would draw them to yourself. Even now. Lord, that your Holy Spirit would tug on their heart strings. And bring us to our knees, Lord. Help us to come.

[23:26] To come to you. Who offers life everlasting. Help us, Lord, to turn from sin. And turn to salvation. That you freely offer as a gift.

[23:39] And Lord, help us to walk in that. Walk in that truth day by day. We pray for every family that's here. Pray for young parents. Pray for young children.

[23:51] Especially targeted in these days. Especially vulnerable. Lord, help us to be a witness to each one. In Jesus' name we pray.

[24:03] Amen. Amen. Amen. Thank you.