The Lord Will Not Always Contend

Q: What does the Bible say about God's judgment and restraining evil?

The Bible warns that God's judgment involves Him withdrawing His restraints from the wicked, allowing them to pursue their sinful ways (Isaiah 57:16). In Isaiah 57:16, we see God's declaration that He will not contend with man forever, indicating a time when He withdraws His restraint from evil. This withdrawal is a form of judgment, as God allows individuals to pursue their sinful inclinations without His intervention. Scripture shows that once God lets go, people can descend into greater depravity, reflecting the truth found in Romans 1, where God gives them over to their vile passions. The consequence of this is that society becomes a reflection of chaos and immorality, as God allows men's hearts to grow harder.

Q: How do we know that God is sovereign over the affairs of men?

The sovereignty of God is evident throughout Scripture, showcasing that He controls all events according to His will (Proverbs 16:9). God's sovereignty is central to our understanding of His nature and the unfolding of history. Proverbs 16:9 states, 'The heart of man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps.' This emphasizes that despite human intentions, God ultimately orchestrates everything according to His divine plan. Numerous examples in the Bible illustrate this, from the rise and fall of kings to the events surrounding the life of His people, showing that God uses even the actions of wicked men to fulfill His purposes, as seen in the story of Joseph (Genesis 50:20). In every situation, God is in control, working all things for the good of those who love Him (Romans 8:28).

Q: Why is understanding God's mercy and judgment important for Christians?

Understanding God's mercy and judgment is crucial for recognizing our need for grace and the seriousness of sin (Ephesians 2:4-5). As Christians, understanding the balance of God's mercy and judgment helps us appreciate the depths of His grace. Ephesians 2:4-5 tells us that 'God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ.' This highlights that without recognizing God's judgment against sin, we cannot fully comprehend the magnitude of His mercy in saving us. Moreover, God's judgment serves as a sober reminder that every sin has consequences. When we realize we are deserving of judgment yet receive mercy instead, it compels us to live in gratitude and holiness, aligning our lives with His will. It leads us to a deeper reverence for God and a commitment to see His righteousness manifested in our lives.

Q: What does it mean to be 'given over' by God?

Being 'given over' by God refers to His withdrawal of restraint, allowing individuals to pursue their sinful desires, leading to spiritual ruin (Romans 1:28). To be 'given over' by God is a serious consequence of persistent rebellion against Him. In Romans 1:28, we read that due to refusing to acknowledge God, He gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done. This concept indicates that God's judgment can manifest in the form of withdrawing His grace and restraint, essentially leaving individuals to their own devices. This act is not simply abandonment; it is a divine judgment that reflects God's righteous anger towards persistent sin. When left unchecked, this leads to moral decay and a life devoid of the knowledge and fear of God, which can devastate both individuals and society. It serves as a warning to take seriously the call to repentance and the need for God's grace.

In the book of Isaiah 57, there is a statement that reads
like this, verse 16, I will not contend forever. And I take that
to mean I won't put up with you forever. Sometimes God gets fed up. Putten up with people and just
let them go. Just let them go. Don't restrain
their passions and all that stuff. Just let them go. We live in a world, you young
folks, I'm sorry for you, you don't understand what I'm talking
about. What do you older ones do? We
live in a world that's changed so much in the last 50, 60, 70
years. Sometimes one may think, what
in the world is going on? What's the world coming to? God sometimes in the history
of Israel referred to them as Sodom. And we're much, much worse
than Sodom. I think we dwell in the very
foyer of hell. And everything seems to be out
of control. But it's not. God's in charge. This is a statement of Scripture
that every man, every woman, ought to take to heart. He hath
mercy on whom he will, and whom he will, he just lets them go. Hardens them. One day there were
some religious leaders who got irritated at the Lord. He said
something they didn't like. And his disciples said, Lord,
I believe you offended those fellows. And he said, let them
alone. Nothing that I can think of can
be worse than being let alone. Let them alone. It says in the book of Jeremiah,
you showed me your back, not your face, and I turned my back
on you. No use for you to cry out, I
won't hear. You've sinned till there's no
longer any remedy. Let them alone. Jeremiah don't
used to pray for them. I'm not going to heal you. Let
them alone. We live in a land where there's
so much freedom. But, boy, it's freedom to go
to hell is what it is. Freedom to sin, boldness to sin,
sin without reproof, sin without rebuke. God's as if He said,
let them alone. Isaiah said in one place, Verily
thou art a God that hideth thyself. And when He hides Himself, who
can find Him? Nobody. He's as a stranger in
the land. Men don't realize that there's
a living God, that He's in charge. Men aren't getting by with anything.
They're going to pay. Every sin and disobedience shall
receive a just recompense of reward. You turn your back on
God's light and He might just turn the light out. I wish men could understand that.
I wish you'd get hold of them. They might learn one more time
to fear God. God's not trying to do the best
He can and men won't help Him and He can't get the job done.
God's in control! Always has been, always will
be. He was in control in Egypt. He was in control in Babylon. He's in control everywhere. He
does what He pleases. Always what He pleases. Only
what He pleases. He's God indeed. He's in control. I want to show you something
this morning. The back page of your bulletin is something I
put in this three or four times in the last few months. because it weighs so heavily
upon my mind. I am so thankful for who God
is, who Christ is, what He became, what He has done and is doing
and shall yet do for His people. And yet there never a day goes
by that my heart isn't tormented by the facts of the spiritual
death all around. Mr. John Newton wrote Amazing
Grace. He also wrote this article. Get it and look at it with me.
When, and we're under that when right
now, when God is exceedingly displeased with a people, It's
not necessary in order to their punishment that He should bury
them alive by an earthquake or destroy them with lightning.
Oh, no. The worst judgment of all that
God can put upon a people, and we see it over and over again
in the Old Testament, gave them up to their own ways if He only leaves them to themselves. And boy, men love that. They
think they're smarter than God anyway. He leads them to themselves.
He's just going on, every man doing that which is right in
his own eyes. Leads them to themselves. And
notice this next word. Withdraws his blessings from
their counsels. He doesn't bless their counsel.
He doesn't bless them. He instructs them and gives them
guidance and leadership. Withdraws His blessings from
their counsel. Withdraws His restraint from their passions. Deuteronomy
chapter 18 verse 14 teaches that the only reason that any man,
any man, any man, any woman, anywhere, the only reason they're
not as bad as they could be is because of God's restraints. God holds them back. And folks don't seem to realize
that anymore. All they hear from the modern
preacher is what God is trying to do, and hope you will let
Him do it. No, God is in charge. You play with Him and you will
die. You turn your back on the light and He will turn the light
out. And He withdraws His restraint
from their passions. Boy, if we don't see that in
America, we don't see anything. Their ruin follows on course.
When this happens, their ruin follows on course according to
the necessary order and connection of causes and effects. That's
where we live. God is in the process of leaving
men to themselves, to their own religious wills and ways. God is in the process of withdrawing
His blessings from their counsels and removing His restraints from
their passions. And men act more and more like
animals every day of the year. If, the next paragraph, if God
gives up a people to the way of their own hearts, they will,
they must, they shall perish. Because there is a way that seems
right unto men. But to end there are the ways
of death. Men love darkness rather than light. So if God lets them
go, where do they go? They love darkness. And they
call it light. But Christ said if a man walks
in the dark, he doesn't know where he's going. Doesn't know
where he's going. When? A general corruption of
morals takes place, and it has and is in our country. You wouldn't believe the difference
between when I was a little boy and today. It's just hard to believe. When private interest extinguishes
all sense of public virtue, And it has. And it has. Well, you can see
it from the courthouse down here all the way to the United States
Capitol. When a profligate and venal spirit
has infected every rank and order of the state, and that profligate
and venal spirit down below at the end of the
article. It means when people are ungoverned
by morals, and they are, insensitive to principle, they are, virtue
and decency, and a people who are given to reckless extravagance
and excess. A very wise preacher told me
twenty years ago or better, he said, as long as this country
remains as it is, God's not going to do anything for us. He's going to save his people,
but there's not going to be a big work of God. Because we have
so much, we don't need God for anything. If a man's house blows away,
he calls the governor. And he calls the president. They don't need God. They can
do well without God, don't you? How many people do you know who
are calling upon God? The Kingdom of Heaven suffers
violence and the violent take it before it. Do you know anyone
who is in a state of violence to throw on the throne of grace
seeking mercy? We don't need God. We got everything. That's just about truth. We got
everything. But God. When presumptuous security and
dissipation increase as danger approaches, and danger is approaching,
and people are more and more presumptuous, When after repeated disappointments,
contempt for God, and vain confidence in a imagined resource as their
own, they grow bolder and bolder. I have never seen, witnessed,
experienced, or heard of such boldness to sin. Such boldness
to sin. Because nothing is actually sin
anymore, it is an inherited disease. If you're a child molester, you
inherited it. If you're a drunkard, you inherited
it. That's what they say. And I know men and women can inherit
certain propensities to evil, but that's something to be overcome
by the grace of God, not to be made an excuse to sin. And judgment
will reveal that one of these days. When all of these things take
place then, there is reason to fear that
the sentence has already gone forth. And it has. And that execution of it is at
hand. And it is. God is withdrawing Himself. I think daily of the men and women and children
who love religion and hope in religion, go to church all the
time, but it's not a religion of truth.
It's not of God. It's a deception. And I think poor souls wish I could help them. This chapter here calls them
a seed of falsehood born of a lie. Born of a lie. I think of those
men and women and children who have no respect for God or religion
anymore. They've seen so much foolishness
on television they don't care about any of it. A lot of people
like that in the world. So foolish. So foolish. And they found in this foolish
religion an excuse for despising the Word of God and the God of
the Word. Their hearts have just been made
harder and their will more stubborn by seeing foolish religion. And then there are those men,
women, and children who have heard the truth, heard the truth,
and yet give no heed to their souls. They just eat and drink and be
merry as they did in the days of Noah until the flood came
and takes them away. Their soul is something they
don't want to think about right now. Like the man that Paul was
talking to, a more convenient season. I'll talk to you about
it. Some more convenient season. They know they ought to hear
the Word of God, but right now, they don't feel badly about what
they're doing or the prospect of where they're going. It doesn't
mean much to them. No weight in the Word of God. Things are going pretty good
in America. The economy is pretty good. Russian threats gone, no Cold
War, bothered by terrorism, but that's about it. Things are going
pretty good. People have a right to do just
about anything they want to. A soldier gets killed and they
demonstrate and harass his family at the funeral. Things are going
pretty good. That's a lot of freedom, you
know it. A lot of freedom. More freedom than men ought to
have. More than they would have if they had a conscience. If
they had a conscience. Sometimes when men think they
have less to fear, they have more to fear. When natural men think things
are at their best, they're usually at their worst. Now listen to
me. I'm telling you the truth. When the world begins to say,
peace and safety, what does Paul say? Then sudden destruction
shall come upon them. Sudden destruction, near at hand. When men reach the place, especially
in a country that's had as much light as we've had here, when
they reach the place, When they can desecrate what God holds
sacred and think nothing of it, it will be trouble. And they do it with no fear of
God. They do it with no pangs of conscience. Conscience has
been seared a long time ago. Then is when men ought to fear
the most. Old Belshazzar could take the
holy vessels of the temple and use them to mock the things of
God, to mock God. Pretty soon his knees were going
to beat together in fear. And they did. He died that night. He died that
night. It is a testimony of Scripture
with endless examples, almost, that there comes a time when
God gets fed up, fed up with men, fed up with a generation,
fed up with a country. Look, read the Old Testament. They resisted the light on every
hand, and the Lord took it away. Read John chapter 12, that twelfth
chapter. And he said, while you have the
light, walk in it. There will be a time when you
don't have the light. You walk in darkness, you won't
know where you're going. And no matter what he said and
all the miracles he did, they failed to believe him. And the
Bible said he hid himself from them. And the rest of the Gospel
of John, he no longer deals with the multitude, but with his own
people. Left them to their darkness. We live in an age when darkness
is comfortable and peaceful. Wasn't that way when I grew up,
not in my house. We live in a day when evil deeds
are not reproved, but everything is accepted, even the most gross
forms of perversion. Now men are free. How great a
sin! How bold is the sin! But this
freedom is the unsuspected suicide of the soul. It's a result of the Lord saying,
I won't contend forever. I've listened to several tapes
by Ralph Barnard recently. I think I have about 50 of them
now. And he said more than one occasion,
on more than one occasion, he said, this is the most ignorant
generation of religious folk that God ever had to put up with. And I believe he's right. I believe
he's right. Truth doesn't matter. It's doing
anything to get folks in and anything else to keep them in.
Not truth. Not the glory of God. Building
churches, that's the order of the day. Genesis chapter 6 and verse 3. Look there just a moment. In
the days of Noah, Genesis chapter 6 and verse 3. And the Lord said, My spirit
shall not always strive with man, resisting, restraining. I'm going to give him 120 years,
and it's done. Fed up with them. All I see is evil and evil continually
from their hearts. They had up with him. John Calvin
said, I know that most religionists today, most preachers say that
means he did not always strive to save them. And while he's
striving to save you, you better let him do it. But that's not
what that means. What that means is more akin
to what you find. Look at Romans chapter 9, just
a moment. Romans chapter 9. Verse 22. What if God, willing to show His wrath
and make His power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels
of wrath fitted for destruction? Put up with them! Put up with
them from day to day, from hour to hour. Put up with them! Endured
it! He said, I'm not going to endure
it much longer. Not going to restrain their evil
passions. Won't turn them loose in hell. And so he did. And used a great
flood to take them there. John Calvin said, as long as
God suspends His judgment upon man, he's still striving in a
sense. Always striving in a sense. Restraining. Holding back. enduring with much long-suffering
these vessels of wrath that are good for nothing but to be destroyed. Sends his word, sends his prophet. They despise his word, kill his
prophets. He gets weary with their perverseness. I want to show you something
in Deuteronomy 18. I referred to it a moment ago.
I want you to see this and I want you to take it to heart. I want
you to think about it when you think about your children, your
grandchildren. Because the help they need is
from above. I know God uses us down here,
but ultimately it's divine help we need. Verse 14 of the 18th
chapter of Deuteronomy, these nations, all these nations that
God drove out when He brought Israel into Canaan. He said,
these nations which thou shalt possess, they hearken unto observers
of times and diviners and all kinds of superstitious and idolatrous
behavior. And yet, as for thee, this one
nation of Israel, why were they different? As for thee, the Lord
thy God hath not suffered thee to do these things." Growing up, maybe there were
things that I never did do because God never suffered it. It was
in here. The same kind of heart as in
the most wicked, vile man who ever lived. But in the sovereign
providence and grace of God, Godly parents, the place where
I live, the community, all these things working together, God
never forbidden me to do it. Oh, it was in here. I didn't
do it. And I blame that on God. I'm
so thankful. for the restraining hand and
power of Almighty God. Genesis chapter 20. There was
a king that wanted Abraham's wife. And he went and took her. But he didn't take her. God sent
him a dream. God spoke to him in that dream
and said, I kept you from touching her. against me. Now you send her
back and I'll have Abraham pray for you." Over and over and over and over
and over again that's in the Scriptures. God restraining evil
men. God moving evil men to do what
He wanted them to do. In the book of Exodus, or Genesis,
last part, you remember Jacob, his children, Joseph, those eleven
others, ten others, they sold Joseph into slavery and bonded
down into Egypt. And he met them when it was over
and he said, you meant it for evil. You meant it for evil! It was in your heart! But God
meant it for good, to save much people alive. Whatever's going
on in this world, God's in charge. Is there evil in a city anywhere? And God didn't do it. God said
no. In the book of Ezra, God restrains
folks and He softens the hearts of some. King Cyrus, the great
Persian king, had Israel in bondage and God said, You don't know
me, but I know you. You don't know me, but you're
my servant. You're going to let my people
go and give them help along the way. And he did. Let them go. A wicked, idolatrous, heathen
king. And God worked in his heart,
and he did God's will, and sent the children of Israel out of
seventy years of bondage. And God hardens folks' hearts. Just let them go. Just let them
go. Old Pharaoh. Old Pharaoh. Moses, you go there and tell
them that I said, I am, I am, said, let my people go. But he's not going to do it, because
I'm going to harden his heart. And you know that's what happened.
God will bring a judgment upon him. He'd soften and give in
a little bit, and then after God removed it, he'd just get
that much meaner. So God softens and God hardens. God restrains and God lets go. All in the hands of that God
with whom we have to do. In 1 Samuel 16, King Saul resisted
the Word of God. God sent a demon on him, an evil
spirit. Troubled him! He had to request David to play
for him, calm him down. 1 Kings 22, Ahab resisted the truth
of God. And God sent evil spirits down
there. Ahab wanted to hear something
from the prophets. But not that one prophet. He
always tells me things I don't like. And so God sent him lying
prophets. And I think we have a bunch of
them in our day. Lying prophets. Then in 2 Thessalonians chapter
2, when they received not the love of the truth, they heard it. They didn't love
it. They received not the love of
the truth. God Almighty, on purpose, sent
them strong delusions that they should believe a lie and be damned. God's not inactive. Nothing's
out of control. God's dealing with men mainly
according to their own actions. And oh, how He's letting them
go. Turning them over, giving them
over, giving them up to all kinds of vile and unnatural affections. Let me show you a couple of things
here. And this is in your bulletin. Ezekiel chapter 16. Ezekiel chapter 16 and verse 48, 49. Behold, this is the iniquity
of thy sister Sodom. Sodom and Gomorrah. And this is a good picture of
the United States of America in 2006. Pride, too much to eat, too much idle time. was in her and too much fullness
of bread, abundance of idleness was in her and in her daughters.
Neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor in need, and
they were haughty. And out of that too much money
and too much to eat and too much time came this strange conduct. perversion, sexual perversion,
abominations before God. And they committed abomination
before me, therefore I took them away. Tired of putting up with
them, I took them away. I took them away. Let me show
you something else. All in relation to this article
we read this morning. Look at 2 Timothy. The Apostle Paul is warning young
Timothy of things that he'll have to face, things facing the
church. And he said in the beginning of chapter 3, I want you to know
this too. That in the last days, perilous,
troublous, terrible times shall come. Not wars and rumors of wars. Not terrorists. It's worse than that. These people here are religious
people. They're religious in the name
of the Lord Jesus Christ, just like people are today. But they're
lovers of their own selves. That's who they love. Not Christ,
not the people of God. They love themselves. Everything
they do is to promote themselves, make themselves feel good. And
these folks are covetous. I'm never satisfied. Never satisfied. And they're boasters and proud. Never been humbled by the Spirit
of God. Never been given eyes to see
what they are in the sight of God. Proud and blasphemous. Why, the children are disobedient
to their parents, unthankful, unholy. Oh, they sure are. And these are people that go
to the Baptist churches without natural affection. Oh, there is so much of that.
Isaiah said one time, by the Spirit of God, he said, a mother
may, not likely, but a mother may forsake her suckling child
But God never forsake you. What do we see mothers doing
to their children on television almost every day? Abuse. Molestation. Mothers and fathers of children
killing them. Killing them. That's not natural
affection. They're truth-breakers, can't
believe a thing they say. False accusers, incontinent,
no self-control. They're fierce, they despise
what's good, love what's evil, bad. They're traitors, heady
and high-minded, and they love pleasure a whole
lot more than they love God. They love themselves, they love
pleasure. They have a form of godliness,
but they don't know nothing about the power of God in their souls
and regeneration. That's where we live. Timothy, terrible, troublesome,
tumultuous times are coming upon us. And that's what it is when
the churches are worse than the world used to be. And the world
is like the foyer of hell. Like 1st Romans 1 says, given
up, given over, turned over to perversion and to do that which
is unnatural. Unnatural. But today it's just
an alternate lifestyle. Everything's all right. Not according
to this book. Not according to this book. Natural men, when God withdraws
himself, they think they're so well off. Perhaps they thought that way
in Noah's day. They were eating, drinking, marrying,
giving in marriage. Everybody so happy and go lucky.
And then the flood came. And they haven't been happy since. And then that awful city of Sodom had no conscience about anything.
Do anything. And God took his man out. And they haven't been happy since. And perhaps tomorrow here will
be the same. This is not going to go on much
longer, I don't feel like it. Boy, there is a bit of the
best news that I ever heard in my life. Being this kind of people,
unable to change our hearts, unable to change our spots and
our color, there is a bit of good news.
God sent His only begotten Son to stand in my place, to stand
in our place, to answer unto God for me. And he did like Paul did in the book of Philemon
for Onesimus. Whatever this man owes you, in
whatever way he's ever wronged you, you charge it to me and
I'll pay it. That's what God done for His
people in His only begotten Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. He came down here and He lived
for them. Every day of his life, it wasn't for himself, he was
living for others. And then being found at the end of his days,
when his hour was come to go to the cross, he had no sin,
he did no sin, he knew no sin. But he was voluntarily made to
be sin and punished with my sin, for my sin, for the sins of his
people, that he might bring us to God. Bring us to God! That's the way it is. This Redeemer is sovereign and
able. He is able to save the vilest
sinner who ever lived. He's able to save to the uttermost,
completely, thoroughly, and forever all that come to God by Him.
All that come to God by Him. He's able to show me myself.
And He has. And He can do the same for you. able to show me my need, able
to give me a new heart, able to give me faith to trust Christ.
And He has done all of those things. He comes to the most helpless
and the most needy, reveals His righteousness, His substitutionary
life and death wherein He pleased God for us. reconciled us under
God by His own blood. Well, if you're here this morning
and you haven't trusted in Christ, you need to. I don't know how
you live without it. Judgment's coming. It's just
as sure and certain. I don't know the date, but it's
coming. Find shelter in Christ. Trust Christ. Wrap both arms
around Him. Don't let Him go. Okay, David.

The Lord Will Not Always Contend

What does the Bible say about God's judgment and restraining evil?

How do we know that God is sovereign over the affairs of men?

Why is understanding God's mercy and judgment important for Christians?

What does it mean to be 'given over' by God?

Sermon Transcript

About Maurice Montgomery

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The Lord Will Not Always Contend

What does the Bible say about God's judgment and restraining evil?

How do we know that God is sovereign over the affairs of men?

Why is understanding God's mercy and judgment important for Christians?

What does it mean to be 'given over' by God?

Sermon Transcript

About Maurice Montgomery

Comments

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