John MacArthur : The Evil Rulers From Within | God's Judgement

to begin our service with that god honoring and triumphant music normally at this time i would read the scripture but i'm going to do something a little bit different than normal this hour so i would invite you to open your bible to the prophet habakkuk for a moment i want to read some of it but i also want to make some comments habakkuk was called by god to speak to judah the people of god the jewish people and tell them that they were about to be punished by god and god was going to use the chaldeans the babylonians as his instrument of punishment the book of habakkuk begins with these words the oracle which habakkuk the prophet saw how long o lord will i call for help and you will not hear i cry out to you violence yet you do not save why do you make me see iniquity and cause me to look on wickedness yes destruction and violence are before me strife exists and contention arises therefore the law is ignored and justice is never upheld for the wicked surround the righteous therefore justice comes out perverted the prophet wonders why god doesn't step in and make things right verse 12 he says are you not from everlasting o lord my god my holy one we will not die you o lord have appointed them to judge and you o rock have established them to correct your eyes are too pure to approve evil and you cannot look on wickedness with favor the prophet says i know why all the violence has come i know why all the strife destruction contention i know why the law is ignored i know why we're surrounded by those who are perverted i know why judgment has arrived it is because you have appointed them to judge an unfaithful people you have established them to correct this is very appropriate for us our country and certainly we are aware of it as believers is experiencing these very things destruction violence strife contention the law is ignored justice is not upheld the wicked surround the righteous justice is perverted this is for us an evidence of the defection away from god of our nation and build into that is the expectation of judgment because god is the holy one we his people will not die but he has given us almost invading rulers and leaders who were appointed by him to judge it's not as if an alien army has come into our country to be the judge to be god's instrument of correction but people rising up in our own ranks have become an internal force for judgment we know the nation is under judgment but by romans 1 because we had a homosexual revolution following a sexual revolution and now we have been given over to a reprobate mind we see all of that this is a nation under judgment and instead of having leaders that lead us out of that they are very rare we are experiencing leaders who are the leaders that we deserve for our iniquities i'm personally thankful that our president fears god and we need to pray for him but we don't have leadership like that in the state of california we have in california the rule of evil and cruelty the slaughter of babies the destruction of families the freeing of criminals laws that benefit child predators transgender advocacy destruction of marriage destruction of the family and this is all being perpetrated on us as if it was some noble cause to make the world fair we have an evil ruler in our state and he is aided and abetted by other evil rulers who surround him and enable him to do what he does he will not escape judgment no one does no one who blasphemes god no one who attacks god no one who attempts to replace god no one who does not fear god can survive judgment unless he bows the need of christ that is my prayer for our governor and for all those who are leading this nation and this state in a path of blasphemy that has everlasting results habakkuk says in the final chapter verse 20 of chapter two the lord is in his holy temple let all the earth be silent before him god still reigns and so habakkuk prays the prayer of habakkuk the prophet according to shigeana this is most likely a musical note because that chapter also ends with the note for the choir director on stringed instruments but here is his prayer lord i have heard the report about you and i fear oh lord revive your work in the midst of the years in the midst of the years make it known and here's his prayer in wrath remember what mercy that's all we can ask for folks we are in the time of god's wrath he has allowed the realities of sin to run their course he has in the sense of romans 1 left us to our own devices we who belong to him are secure but we are experiencing the unleashing of divine wrath and the instruments of that wrath are largely the dominating influencers of our culture in the media through the internet social media particularly in political power and all we can cry out is what habakkuk cried in wrath remember mercy be merciful at the end of the third chapter habakkuk admits this is hard i heard i heard i heard the word from heaven about wrath and judgment and my inward parts trembled at the sound of my at the sound my lips quivered decay enters my bones and in my place i tremble because i must wait quietly for the day of distress for the people to arise who will invade us inevitability we're so far down the path of divine wrath being unleashed that habakkuk knows because the lord has told him so that the day of distress is coming in the form of the chaldeans who will do devastate devastating destruction upon the people of judah but notice his conclusion though the fig tree should not blossom and there be no fruit on the vines so the yield of the olives should fail and the fields produce no food though the flock should be cut off from the fold and there'd be no cattle in the stalls what he is saying there is everything that is normal ceases it's normal for fig trees to blossom for vines to produce fruit for olive trees to produce olives for fields to produce green for animals to produce offspring that's normal that's just daily normal life if all of that goes away if all that is normal is gone he says yet i will exult in the lord i will rejoice in the god of my salvation the lord god is my strength and he has made my feet like heinz feet that's a mountain goat and makes me walk on my high places the lord promises his people safety in his judgment we can rejoice he is the god of our salvation he is our strength and we can walk like a mountain goat on the precipice and know we will be safe nothing has changed in the circumstances of habakkuk but he will rejoice in his god let's pray again father we thank you for the promise that you are in your holy temple that you are high and lifted up that you are sovereign and that you are holy and it is because of your holiness that you cannot tolerate evil you cannot look on iniquity you must judge and you have warned again and again on the pages of holy scripture that to blaspheme your name is to bring about judgment and throughout history you've repeated that judgment on nation after nation after nation and now on this nation and much of the world there is no fear of god in their eyes there is an abandonment to sexual deviation and immorality to the slaughter of unborn children to the destruction of born children and destruction of families allowing perverted evil to become acceptable and consequently you've let this country go to wrath turn them over to immorality homosexuality in a reprobate mind you have to do this because you are holy but lord we ask you even for the leaders who are your instruments of wrath that you would show mercy we would ask for the salvation of our governor other leaders who blaspheme you with their ungodly devices and attempt to lead a whole nation to hell we know that the scripture says he that rules over men must be just ruling in the fear of god we would ask that there might be mercy on us if you would see fit to do that to give us a president for another term because he fears you but lord that that is for you and your sovereignty to decide we will rejoice because you are the god of our salvation we will be safe whatever happens we will be able to walk like mountain goats on the edge of cliffs and be safe because you are our strength thank you that in the midst of all of this you have kept the doors of grace community church open it's an incredible work that you have done time and time again and again they've endeavored to stop this church and you've never allowed it to happen in fact you've even expanded our opportunities expanded our facilities giving us a kindness with even more parking so lord we we want to make the most of this and we want to honor you we know the answer to everything is the gospel thank you for allowing us to preach the gospel the gospel of salvation that is the only answer there is no social need that will address the ultimate reality of eternity you can't change the way society works on earth and hope to make an eternal difference we can only know that eternal life in heaven is offered to those who repent and embrace christ that is our message thank you for allowing us to preach it thank you for drawing so many people together to hear bless us even now as we worship you and as we hear from you again and with thanksgiving we ask these things amen

Channel: Heart of Worship Channel

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Keywords: christ, jesus, jesus christ, God, bible, scripture, worship, hymns, prayers, bible study, bible devotionals, christian, christian growth, heart of worship channel, heart of worship, heart of worship YT channel, john macarthur, john macarthur sermon, grace community church, evangelicals, new testament, old testament, preaching, worshipping, expository preaching, passion of the christ, oldtestament habakkuk, habakkuk, evil rulers, evil nations, invasion by caldeans, judea invaded

Id: FGT4okV1GSY

Length: 16min 32sec (992 seconds)

Published: Sat Oct 10 2020