If God removes His Sustaining Hand

Yesterday we looked at all of the sexual allegations and the consequences. I want to say something about that subject, and it will lead me into what I want to discuss today.

Irony of how the world wants to live without God and His rules but when trouble and moral problems arise because of their godless living, they complain. They want to live without any rules, especially sexual and gender rules, but don’t want the consequences. They say don’t preach to me, don’t tell me I’m wrong, don’t throw your guilt trip on me, I want to live the way I want to live. They want to drink but don’t want the problems with drunkenness.

The want to abandon the Ten Commandments and live wantonly, free of any restraint, but also free of the results. They want to have free sex but don’t want consequences of diseases or babies. The want to eliminate the problem – the baby – they kill it but don’t want the guilt. They get upset if a Christian tells them the the diseases or babies are the result of their sinful lifestyle.

They change the words to try and convince themselves and the world that abortion is not murder. They say the baby is a fetus, and not a baby. They say the woman has a right to do what she wants with her own body.

Guilt

Columnist Ann Landers wrote:

“One of the most painful, self-mutilating, time—and energy-consuming exercises in the human experience is guilt.… It can ruin your day—or your week or your life—if you let it. ….. Never mind that it was the result of ignorance, stupidity, laziness, thoughtlessness, weak flesh, or clay feet. You did wrong and the guilt is killing you. Too bad. But be assured, the agony you feel is normal.… Remember guilt is a pollutant and we don’t need any more of it in the world.”

Here are some magazine titles under the heading Guilt:

“How to Stop Being So Tough on Yourself,”

“Guilt Can Drive You Crazy,”

“Guilt Mongering,”

“Getting Rid of the Guilts,”

“Stop Pleading Guilty,”

“Guilt: Letting Go,”

“Don’t Feed the Guilt Monster”

The world hates guilt, but God gave it to us to help and guides us through our Conscience.

Which shew the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts the mean while accusing or else excusing one another. (Romans 2:15)

The law of God is summed up in the Ten Commandments. The first four deal with our relationship with God, and the last six with our relationship with our fellow man. When we break God’s law, we know and feel guilt because God has put is law in our hearts.

For when the Gentiles, which have not the law, do by nature the things contained in the law, these, having not the law, are a law unto themselves: (Romans 2:14)

Every human being is programed with the knowledge of the law of God in their hearts. This law will either accuse you or excuse you. When a person’s actions are good, he feels good because he has been excused of any wrong doing because he has done what is right according to God’s law. But when he does wrong and violate God’s law, he is pricked in his heart and feels anguish because he has broken God’s law. His heart accuses him of wrongdoing. This is called guilt, and it is there to keep us doing right.

Man doesn’t want this, he wants God dead. That is why, back in 1966, Altizer and Hamilton published a book of essays on the topic, Radical Theology and the Death of God, right around when the TIME story came out.

April 8, 1966, cover of TIME Magazine

The idea is to remove God from our culture. If there is no God, then no rules, morality, or guilt. This is why evolution is so well accepted in our world today. If there is no God, we can act and live any way we want.

The English Novelist, Screen Writer, Philosopher, Aldous Huxley said”

“We did not want anyone to tell us that our sexual ways and perversions were sin, so we simply told God, God get out of the way”

Let me ask you a question, If God is removed, and He removes His sustaining hand from this world, what will happen?

And he is before all things, and by him all things consist. (Colossians 1:17)

That word “consist” means that they are held together by God. When we get down to the molecular level it is fascinating. Within the nucleus an atom there are positively charged particles called protons. Outside of the nucleus there are negatively charged particles called electrons. In the nucleus there are also neutrons, which are neutral, and have no charge. Two particles that have the same charge will repel each other. Science cannot explain why the atom does not explode. They say there is some kind of strong force that holds these particles together, but they don’t know what it is. There is an electrical field that holds the electrons in place and they are spread out around the nucleus. Within the nucleus there are two positively charged particles that should push apart. What holds them together? The answer is, God hold them together!

God said:

Thus saith the LORD, The heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool: where is the house that ye build unto me? and where is the place of my rest? (Isaiah 66:1)

Everything is the work of God. He spoke it into existence, and He keeps it together.

Romans Chapter 1 tells us what happens when removes his hand:

Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonour their own bodies between themselves: Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen. For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature: And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompence of their error which was meet. And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient; (Romans 1:24-28)

Three times this passage says God gave them up or over to something. He gives them up to uncleanness through the lust of their own hearts. He gave them up to vile affections because of their unnatural sexual desires and practices. Finally He gave them over to a reprobate mind. They received the just (meet) recompense, or reward, for their sin.

When you choose to worship something other than God, there is a price to pay. Sexual sin, among others, become an accepted way of life. There will be consequences like diseases and many other problems. This is the recompense for violating the precepts of God. What we are seeing in our world today is what we should expect to see because we have turned our back on God and His law.

The most serious part of this passage is the God gives those who reject His precepts “over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient.” A reprobate mind is a mind that is incapable of proper judgment because it has abandoned any standard of conduct, except the desire of the person.

Why do we see all of the evil things in this world? It is because we have abandoned the precepts of God. There is no objective standard upon which to base our conduct, and everyone does that which is right in his own eyes. The result of rejecting God and His precepts is that God has removed His sustaining had from us. God has said, you won’t listen to Me, then have it your own way, but if you do, you will suffer the consequences.