Isaiah 43:21-28
What God Says to America (Part 2)
There Is A Problem
This morning, I preached from the first half of this chapter on What God Says to
America (Part 1). In that message, my emphasis was on Why America Has Been
Blessed. This afternoon, I want us to look at the last half of the same chapter.
My emphasis will be on There Is A Problem.
If you were not here this morning, let me bring you up to speed.
1. This is a chapter written to the nation of Israel.
a. While I know that America has not replaced Israel in any way, I believe
there are many similarities between the two nations.
b. So much so, that I believe what God said to Israel in this chapter, He
might well say to America as well.
2. Some of the things God told Israel in this chapter are:
a. God had created them for His glory.
(1) I believe that is true of America.
(2) Has there ever been a nation more blessed than America? I think
not.
b. God loved Israel and they were precious in His sight.
(1) Has God not demonstrated His love for this country with His
blessings?
(2) If you think that these blessings came to this country because of
some ability it had, hang one. You are soon to see just how much
goodness this country can bring to itself.
c. God called Israel to do certain things for Him.
(1) God wants a nation to believe Him, to bear witness for Him, to
understand who He is and what He has done.
(2) While those tasks are the church’s responsibility in this age,
America has stood in the gap to help the church in accomplishing
those tasks.
3. So God has blessed this nation in a great way, just as He blessed the
nation of Israel.
However, there is a problem.
1. There was a problem with Israel, and I believe it is the same problem that
America has.
2. God details Israel’s problem as He continues to talk to them.
3. You will notice that these verses, like the ones we looked at this morning,
are still God speaking in the first person.
Notice the problems:
I. \\#Is 43:22\\ You have not called upon Me.
A. So God is speaking to Jacob.
1. He actually calls Israel by that name.
2. Israel had quit praying to God.
3. Likewise, America has quit praying to God.
B. One of the first steps to abandoning God is to quit praying to Him.
1. Lack of prayer seems so innocent, but it is the mark of self-
sufficiency.
2. In this case, the mark of a nation that thinks they no longer need
God.
3. When a nation no longer thinks it needs God, it will soon abandon
Him.
C. Anyone looking at our nation for the last 100 years could see this
coming.
1. Toward the end of the 1800’s, Charles Darwin told the world that
accidents not God was responsible for our existence.
a. If God is not the Creator, He is not the Provider.
b. If God is not the Provider, at most He would be a Spectator.
c. If God is nothing more than a Spectator, who needs Him?
2. As that unsubstantiated hypothesis began to take hold, first in the
scientific community and then in the schools of American, the
majority of our nation suddenly realized they did not God anymore.
3. God became excess INTELLECTUAL baggage.
4. Then the sinful nature of man began to realize that if God wasn’t
there, there was a whole lot more sin that he could get in to.
a. This made not having God FUN.
b. So God became excess MORAL baggage as well.
5. Of course, we have preached for years that one of the reasons the
lost world does not like the church is because our very presence,
not to mention our preaching, places them under conviction.
6. For awhile, that conviction was enough to keep things in some
form of reasonable shape, but with a spirit of self-sufficiency
also comes a spirit of pride and rebellion.
a. America finally got tired of the conviction and just decided
that they were not going to give into it any longer.
b. They chose to ignore the Holy Spirit and to bask in their
pride, rebellion, and self-sufficiency.
7. That created the spirit of reprobation as described in Romans 1.
a. Paul told us 1900 years ago how that would end up.
b. Men working with men that which is unseemly.
c. People filled with fornication, wickedness, covetousness,
murder, debate, inventors of wicked things, without
understanding, without natural affection. unmerciful.
D. You and I are seeing the end results of what started when American
decided they didn’t need God and quit praying to Him.
1. God told Israel in this chapter that there was a problem.
2. I think God is telling America in this chapter that there is a
problem.
II. \\#43:22\\ You are tired of Me.
A. That is what God said when He told Isaiah, "thou has been weary of me,
O Israel."
1. Israel just got tired of God.
2. They got tired of His Law, tired of His commandments, tired of His
worship, tired of being good, tired of giving sacrifices— just
tired of God.
B. That is what has happened in America.
1. No thinking person has ever said that living for God was going to
be easy. What they have said was that it was going to be worth
it.
2. Following God is difficult.
a. It requires self control, sacrifice, piety, humility, and a
whole bunch of other Bible characteristics.
b. To be honest, following God will cost you some money.
C. I hear this one frustration of America over righteousness more than
any other.
1. America is tired of losing money to be right with God.
a. We have to have gambling? Why? We can’t afford not to.
b. We have to have liquor sales? Why? We can’t afford not to.
c. We have to allow pornography? Why? Because they will buy
it in the next county where it is legal.
d. Some are advocating legalizing marijuana so we can regulate
and tax it.
2. I found it interesting that the same week that Brent and
Centreville were legalizing the sale of liquor in their city
limits, that several young people were killed on Bibb County
roads due to alcohol! Just how much are the lives of are young
people worth in dollars and cents?
3. I find it interesting that simulcast racing was necessary
for Jefferson and Greene Counties, which lead to dog racing,
which lead the horse racing, which lead to Bingo casinos and
now after 15-20 years of legalized gambling, those two counties
are still on the verge of bankruptcy.
4. But they say, "We have to have it because the money will fix
our problems!" and "If we had it, we wouldn’t be in the mess
we are in right now."
5. People are tired of God.
6. America, there is a problem.
D. America got tired of doing what God said in the home—in relation to
purity, in relation to marriage, in relation to divorce, in relation
to child rearing, and in every other matter of the home. (Did you
see where the Texas woman got your children taken away from her a
few weeks ago for just spanking her children? No whelps, no bruises,
no abuse. The judge chastised her, "We do not spank our children
anymore.")
E. America got tired of doing what God said on the Lord’s Day. We should
be able to buy and sell, play and frolic, come and go. So now, a good
many folk have to work on Sunday just like any other day of the week
and they wonder why they are so tired and their family is falling
a part?
F. America got tired of doing what God said concerning debt so in the next
few weeks the American government will raise the debt ceiling again,
never mind the fact that our national debt already totals $46,416 per
US citizen and $129,553 per tax payer.
http://www.usdebtclock.org/index.html
G. America, there is a problem.
1. Are we getting the idea?
2. Pick a category, any category, you will find that in that category
America has gotten tired of God, thrown away His guidance and
made matters worse for himself.
III. \\#Is 43:23-24\\ You have quit giving to Me.
A. The items that God mentions in these verses are the things that the
Jews would have brought to God in order to worship Him.
1. Some would have been sacrifices for sin.
2. Some would have been gifts of love.
3. These words would have been directed to the worshippers of God,
not the ones who did not worship at all.
4. God’s message to Israel was not just a rebuke to the world at
large.
5. It was a rebuke to His own.
6. They were not giving the gifts of worship and love.
B. So is God’s message to America.
1. In America, there is a problem but it is not all out there. It is
in here too.
2. Too many who profess God are not giving to God the things of true
love and worship.
3. If they give anything, they give the lame, the halt, and the
otherwise rejected; but many just don’t give to God at all!
C. God is not only worthy of our gift; He is worthy of our first and our
best.
1. What wife wants a used toaster for her birthday?
2. What husband wants a bottle of water a stranger drank out of?
3. What patient wants a used syringe?
4. Those we love we treat better than that!
5. God may be talking about gifts, but our gifts represent our love.
D. Let’s give to our God what we want our God to give to us. The best!
1. We don’t want Him to give us what no one will have.
2. God could.
a. He could give us the trouble that everyone asked not to
receive.
b. But He doesn’t.
3. God gives to us the first place at the table of forgiveness.
God gives to us the first helping of opportunity.
God gives to us the first fruit from His gardens of blessings.
4. Why? Because God loves us.
E. Church, there is a problem. Give to God what you have, the best you
have, the first of what you have because you love Him and watch what
He will do for your country!
IV. \\#Is 43:24\\ You have made Me serve with your sins.
A. Of all the things that God addresses, this seems to be the most
egregious.
1. Because Jehovah was Israel’s God and they were His people; what
they did, God was forced to be a partaker by association.
2. This may not sound serious to us, but it is to God.
3. The only way God could remove Himself from their activity was to
cease to be their God and Protector.
4. You see, to enjoy the benefits of God, you must have His presence.
B. I believe God is sending that same message to America.
1. If you want God’s blessings, you must have God’s presence.
2. If you have God’s presence, you must remove the sin.
3. If you do not remove the sin then you take God’s presence into you
sin.
\\#25-26\\ Let me close by saying that even as God spoke these words to Israel,
He offered to forgive them. God reminded them that He was the God who blots out
sins. He invited them to remember Him, to come and confess their sins that they
might be justified.
That is also the message that God gives to America today.
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