Alas Sinful Nation!

Greetings in the name of Jesus! This is Rob Haymes. This is 15 Minutes With Jesus. Today’s program is entitled: Alas Sinful Nation! Just as this was Judah and Jerusalem in the days of Isaiah the Prophet, this is America today: Turn with me to Isa 1:1-28, The vision of Isaiah the son of Amoz, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah. Hear, oh heavens, and give ear, oh earth! For the LORD has spoken: I have nourished and brought up children, and they have rebelled against Me. The ox knows its owner and the donkey its master's crib; but Israel does not know, My people do not consider. Alas, sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a brood of evildoers, children who are corrupters! They have forsaken the LORD, they have provoked to anger The Holy One of Israel, they have turned away backward. Why should you be stricken again? You will revolt more and more. The whole head is sick, and the whole heart faints. From the sole of the foot even to the head, there is no soundness in it, but wounds and bruises and putrefying sores; They have not been closed or bound up, or soothed with ointment. Your country is desolate, your cities are burned with fire; strangers devour your land in your presence; and it is desolate, as overthrown by strangers. So the daughter of Zion is left as a booth in a vineyard, as a hut in a garden of cucumbers, as a besieged city. Unless the LORD of hosts had left to us a very small remnant, we would have become like Sodom, we would have been made like Gomorrah. Hear the word of the LORD, you rulers of Sodom; give ear to the law of our God, you people of Gomorrah: To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices to Me? says the LORD. I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams and the fat of fed cattle. I do not delight in the blood of bulls, or of lambs or goats. When you come to appear before Me, who has required this from your hand, to trample My courts? Bring no more futile sacrifices; incense is an abomination to Me; the New Moons, the Sabbaths, and the calling of assemblies—I cannot endure iniquity and the sacred meeting. Your New Moons and your appointed feasts My soul hates; they are a trouble to Me, I am weary of bearing them. When you spread out your hands, I will hide My eyes from you; even though you make many prayers, I will not hear. Your hands are full of blood. Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean; put away the evil of your doings from before My eyes. Cease to do evil, learn to do good; seek justice, rebuke the oppressor; defend the fatherless, plead for the widow. Come now, and let us reason together, says the LORD; Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall be as wool. If you are willing and obedient, you shall eat the good of the land; but if you refuse and rebel, you shall be devoured by the sword; for the mouth of the LORD has spoken. How the faithful city has become a harlot! It was full of justice; righteousness lodged in it, but now murderers. Your silver has become dross, your wine mixed with water. Your princes are rebellious, and companions of thieves; everyone loves bribes, and follows after rewards. They do not defend the fatherless, nor does the cause of the widow come before them. Therefore the Lord says, The LORD of hosts, the Mighty One of Israel, Ah, I will rid Myself of My adversaries, and take vengeance on My enemies. I will turn My hand against you, and thoroughly purge away your dross, and take away all your alloy. I will restore your judges as at the first, and your counselors as at the beginning. Afterward you shall be called the city of righteousness, the faithful city. Zion shall be redeemed with justice, and her penitents with righteousness. The destruction of transgressors and of sinners shall be together, and those who forsake the LORD shall be consumed. 

Verse 2, …I have nourished and brought up children, and they have rebelled against Me; Verse 3, The ox knows its owner, and the donkey its master's crib; but Israel does not know, my people do not consider. America does not know, nor do we consider. We do not know God, neither do we consider Him. We have rebelled against Him; we have rejected His Word to our own destruction. We do not consider that He is God and our breath is in His hand. Verse 4, we have forsaken the Lord and provoked Him to anger. Verse 13, Bring no more futile sacrifices; I cannot endure iniquity and the solemn meeting. Bring no more empty, vain prayers and religious services. Verse 15, even though you make many prayers, I will not hear. Why? YOUR HANDS ARE FULL OF BLOOD !!! Even now we continue to slaughter innocent babies by the thousands, every day !! Let’s go to 2Ki 24:3&4. This talks about King Manasseh who was the son of Hezekiah, a righteous king; but Manasseh did evil in the sight of the Lord; he did much evil, but the worst thing that he did was that he filled Jerusalem with innocent blood. Ladies and gentlemen we have filled our nation with innocent blood with the slaughter of these babies. We call it health care. We call it women’s choice. You can call it whatever you want, but it is murder. It’s murder of innocent babies. They haven’t even had time to do any evil or good, and they are snuffed out like some kind of inconvenience. See what the Lord said about Manasseh in 2Ki 24:3&4, Surely at the commandment of the LORD this came upon Judah, to remove them from His sight because of the sins of Manasseh, according to all that he had done, and also because of the innocent blood that he had shed; for he had filled Jerusalem with innocent blood, which the LORD would not pardon. The Lord would not pardon the shedding of innocent blood. Our land is defiled with innocent blood!! 

This is our diagnosis America, by the Prophet Isaiah, and it speaks still today! There is a cure! There is a real healing: verse 16, wash yourselves, make yourselves clean. Put away the evil of your doings from before my eyes. Cease to do evil, learn to do good, seek justice, rebuke the oppressor, defend the fatherless, and the unborn, plead for the widow. Verse 18-20, Come now, and let us reason together, says the LORD, Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall be as wool. If you are willing and obedient, you shall eat the good of the land; but if you refuse and rebel, you shall be devoured by the sword; for the mouth of the LORD has spoken. So, repent now! Turn from your evil ways! Come to your Savior Jesus Christ, who suffered and died for your sins, and let Him wash you and make you clean, and give you real life in Him. The only healing for America is to return to the God of our forefathers; to come weeping and mourning to our God whom we have forsaken and to His Son in true repentance, turning from the evil of our doings, being washed in the precious Blood of the Lamb of God. You cannot pick and choose scriptures and songs and try to justify your life of evil. The only way out is repentance; godly sorrow from the heart and returning to God with all our hearts. Then He will abundantly pardon and restore our judges as at the first, and our counselors as at the beginning. Then and only then shall we be called the city of righteousness, the faithful city; then and only then shall we be great again. No repentance; no forgiveness, and destruction will follow. America has been blessed and become great only because of the faith of our founders and the love and obedience which they lived toward our God; the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. If we refuse to return to Him there will be no healing, but rather a great purging by Him of those who have rejected His counsel to their own destruction. Verse 28, The destruction of transgressors and of sinners shall be together, And those who forsake the LORD shall be consumed. 

Isa 2:11-18, The lofty looks of man shall be humbled, the haughtiness of men shall be bowed down, and the LORD alone shall be exalted in that day. There is a day coming: The Day of the Lord! For the day of the LORD of hosts Shall come upon everything proud and lofty, upon everything lifted up—and it shall be brought low—upon all the cedars of Lebanon that are high and lifted up, and upon all the oaks of Bashan; upon all the high mountains, and upon all the hills that are lifted up; upon every high tower, and upon every fortified wall; upon all the ships of Tarshish, and upon all the beautiful sloops. The loftiness of man shall be bowed down, and the haughtiness of men shall be brought low; the LORD alone will be exalted in that day, but the idols He shall utterly abolish. So let us humble ourselves now, all of us, before the Great and Mighty God and come to His Son Jesus, who gave Himself for us a living sacrifice for our sins, with fear and trembling and true repentance that we may find grace in His sight; grace to help us in this great hour of need. We must see our need as Jesus said to the church in Laodicea in Rev 3:17-22, Because you say, 'I am rich, have become wealthy, and have need of nothing'—and do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked— I counsel you to buy from Me gold refined in the fire, that you may be rich; and white garments, that you may be clothed, that the shame of your nakedness may not be revealed; and anoint your eyes with eye salve, that you may see. As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. Therefore be zealous and repent. Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me. To him who overcomes I will grant to sit with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. It is not enough to do a little righteousness and pat ourselves on the back while we continue to slaughter innocent babies and commit many other abominations, quoting scriptures and trying to appear to be honorable in the sight of men. That is not going to work! It’s a lie! It’s deceit! We must repent now, while we still have a nation, while we still have breath, and turn from our evil ways with all our hearts, with fasting and mourning and crying out to God, like the people of Nineveh did at the preaching of the Prophet Jonah. Let’s turn there, Jon 3:1-10, Now the word of the LORD came to Jonah the second time, saying, Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and preach to it the message that I tell you. So Jonah arose and went to Nineveh, according to the word of the LORD. Now Nineveh was an exceedingly great city, a three-day journey in extent. And Jonah began to enter the city on the first day's walk. Then he cried out and said, Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown! So the people of Nineveh believed God, proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest to the least of them. Then word came to the king of Nineveh; and he arose from his throne and laid aside his robe, covered himself with sackcloth and sat in ashes. And he caused it to be proclaimed and published throughout Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles, saying, Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste anything; do not let them eat, or drink water. But let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and cry mightily to God; yes, let every one turn from his evil way and from the violence that is in his hands. Who can tell if God will turn and relent, and turn away from His fierce anger, so that we may not perish? Then God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God relented from the disaster that He had said He would bring upon them, and He did not do it. Do not be deceived people! God’s judgement is upon us. If we will turn back to Him, perhaps He will pardon us and repent of the evil that He has planned to bring upon us for our evil ways. But if we refuse and continue in them we will be destroyed. Isa 3:10&11, Say to the righteous that it shall be well with them, For they shall eat the fruit of their doings. Woe to the wicked! It shall be ill with him, For the reward of his hands shall be given him.

Isa 1:9, Unless the LORD of hosts Had left to us a very small remnant, We would have become like Sodom, We would have been made like Gomorrah. There is a remnant in America, a very small remnant of people who really love the Lord. Thank God for them, otherwise we would be as Sodom and like unto Gomorrah.