In the following sermon by Dr. MacArthur, he compares the current state of our nation to that of Israel, as portrayed by Isaiah in chapters 5 and 6 of his prophecy.
Dr. MacArthur used many scriptures in his portrayal of nations under judgment by God, including Romans 1; Isaiah 1; 14; 66; Matthew 13; Mark 4; Luke 8; John 12; Acts 28; Psalm 81. His message ultimately stated that there is no hope for our nation, but there is hope of individual salvation, of the elect. Believers need to be preaching correctly about the state of affairs in God’s world.
There is a link to the sermon after the following bulleted highlights:
- Dr. Steve Lawson introduced Dr. MacArthur at Trinity Bible Church Dallas, 10m, but worth hearing if you are new to MacArthur’s preaching
- Isaiah 5 contains an example of how God judged all the nations in history; the parable in this chapter also pictures the USA, presently
- The parable in Isaiah 5 is also a poem, a funeral song, a dirge; it is a picture of how God blessed Israel and how they betrayed Him such that He ultimately removed all their protection and sent Babylon to destroy them
- Israel went the same way that all the other nations went and they received the same judgment
- In Isaiah 5, the prophet pronounced 5 woes for: 1, excessive materialism; 2, for drunken pleasure seeking; 3, for having no knowledge of God; 4, for defiant sinfulness, for blatantly displaying their sins; and 5, the arrogance and conceit of the leaders – they declared evil good and good evil; challenged God to do something about it by revealing Himself if He actually existed and had a problem with their behavior…
- This very same behavior is breaking out everywhere in the western world; furthermore, preachers today are being charged with hate speech for preaching about what the Bible defines as sin; that is, lawmakers are protecting evil by legislation
- God whistled to the Babylonians to come and destroy Israel [do we have to guess about who He would have destroy us, the work is mostly done already]
- WE, who are alive presently, what kind of persons ought we to be?
- Isaiah received the message of chapter 5, and in ch. 6, he sought the Lord for understanding and instruction
- When he saw Him in the temple, he pronounced a woe on himself: Isaiah realized two things in ch. 6; that God is sovereign; that He is holy; the first provides comfort, the second, terror
- Isaiah was purified by the Lord; he later was sent to preach judgment to Israel
- Isaiah’s message of judgment was to be preached until Israel was completely destroyed; since the nation was beyond help
- (In ch. 1, God stated that He had exhausted his resources, so to speak, that there was no response from Israel and that it was beyond help – read the ch. that message is very clear)
- Dr. MacArthur spoke a moment about how our nation arrived at the point of no return: the sexual revolution led to the homosexual revolution which led to the appearance of the reprobate mind; the progression which is noted in Romans 1
- The state of the reprobate mind includes transgenderism; the legislation of evil to establish it and protect it from righteousness – there is no returning from that state. In the Bible, God destroyed nations when they got to that point
- Christians who are presently alive were made for this time; we need to rest in God’s sovereignty so that we might keep our joy; we also need to fear His holiness
- We also need to preach judgment against what is happening in society and for those elect who need to hear God’s gospel call – Matthew 13…John 12:37ff
- The message to this culture it that it is too late, as in Isaiah 6 and John 12:37 – 43
- The remnant will hear the call of God’s gospel message and be called out of this present evil
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-tKfbk116OQ&list=LL&index=1