In this sermon, Pastor Chuck Smith addresses the consequences of turning away from God and embracing sinful behavior. He emphasizes that when we engage in unnatural and sinful actions, we will inevitably suffer the consequences of those actions. The nation is described as being in a state of moral decline, with the Bible being removed from public schools. Pastor Chuck argues that this is a violation of the nation's history and the blessings that come from having God at the center of national life. He encourages believers to remain steadfast in their faith and to seek fellowship with God amidst the moral decay of society.

Welcome to the Word for Today. The Word for Today is a continuous study of the Bible taught by Pastor Chuck Smith of Calvary Chapel, Costa Mesa, California. Pastor Chuck is currently teaching from the Old Testament. And for those of you following along in your Bibles, we'll be continuing today in Isaiah chapter 3 beginning with verse 8, as we continue with an in-depth study. And now with today's study, here's Pastor Chuck. Jerusalem is ruined and Judah is fallen. There is really national calamity and disorder. And the Lord tells us why Jerusalem is ruined and why Judah is fallen. Because their tongue and their doings are against the Lord. And so the nation of Judah, which was God's people, they were to be God's witness upon the earth. They were to be a light unto the Gentiles, to show the Gentiles the benefits that will accrue to a nation that has God at the center of national life. A nation that will honor God and worship God, will be blessed of God. And that was to be the beacon to the world of a nation honoring God, but they had turned from God. And thus they became the example of what happens to a nation that turns its back upon God and tries to rule God out of its national life. And thus they began to speak against God. Their tongues and their doings are against Yahweh. Again, I would recommend to you a book, The Light and the Glory, in which you get a true perspective of the beginning of our nation. It was not until the pilgrims came over with a totally different motivation. They were motivated to establish a nation under God in which they would be granted that total freedom and liberty of worshiping God after the dictates of their own conscience and not after the dictates of a government. They did not want a government church or a government regulated church. They wanted to worship God as we worship Him in freedom and in truth without the government dictating to them which church they should go to. And thus in the framing of the Constitution, that was one of the paramount issues in establishing this government. And they sort of inculcated the thoughts and the ideas of God within the basic framework of the Constitution. The preamble to the Constitution tells their real purpose and desire. They wanted it to be a nation that would be a witness and a light to the world as Israel was to be. So that as the world saw the blessing and the strength and the power, they would recognize how a nation who has God at the center of the national life is a blessed nation, is a prosperous nation, is a strong nation. In the first public schools in the United States, the Bible was used as a textbook. A judge has ruled that a Florida schoolteacher can no longer read the scriptures. It is a violation of our constitutional law according to the interpretation of this judge. He doesn't know his American history. It's a perverse kind of an interpretation of the Constitution. Otherwise, how is it that in the early public schools, they use the Bible almost exclusively as their textbook? Our first major colleges were established by the church, Harvard, Yale, Princeton. Even USC was established by the Methodist as places where young people can go and learn about God. But oh my, how far we have fallen, speaking against God and then doing things against the Lord to provoke him, the eyes of his glory. God said the show of their countenance does witness against them. Sin leaves its mark upon a person's face. You remember when Cain killed his brother Abel and God brought him into judgment for it. God said, I will put a mark on your face. It left its mark. Sin always leaves its mark. Isn't it beautiful to look at a little baby, a little child, and see the face that is unmarked by sin? What's more beautiful than a child's face? What's more innocent and beautiful than looking in the face of a little child? I love it. I just love it. I'm captivated by it. But unfortunately, by the time they reach their teenage years, if they are living a life of sin, it begins to leave its mark. You can watch the young people as they walk by and you can pick out those that are living a pure holy life and you can pick out those that begin to have a forward look as sin begins to leave its mark upon them. And the older you get, the more distinguished those marks become. And you can look in the face of a derelict and no one has to say he's a derelict. He doesn't have to hang a sign around him that says, I'm a derelict. You can see it in their face. Sin leaves its mark. You can be sure your sin will find you out. It will find you out in your countenance. And God says that their countenance, the show of their countenance, does witness against them. And they declare their sin as Sodom and they hide it not. They used to say that they were closet homosexuals. That is, they were rightfully embarrassed and ashamed by that kind of activity, and thus they tried to hide it. Now they are seeking to display it proudly, arrogantly, declaring it, parading down the streets, holding up signs, demonstrating, advocating. And what used to be a shame, hidden in the closet, is now done in open. It used to be for a woman to drink was considered so socially unacceptable that if they drank, they would only drink within the privacy of their home. Closet drinkers. But that has all changed. It's become the glamorous thing. Hollywood has helped to make it so. The same was true of a woman smoking a cigarette. It used to be only the prostitutes and the totally loose women would smoke in public. Then Hollywood came along and made it a very glamorous thing. And smoking by women became an open kind of a thing. But that's what God is talking about. Rather than being embarrassed or ashamed because of their sin, they began to flaunt their sin before others. As Sodom, they didn't seek to hide it. The men of Sodom were beating on the door of Lot's house and saying, send out those two men that came into your house that we might sodomize them. The whole city, the men of the city, were there gathered at Lot's door. They were brazen, they were open. They were members of Act Up. And they were going to forcibly sodomize the angels of God that had come to judge the city and to bring God's judgment upon it. And so God said, woe unto their soul, for they have rewarded evil unto themselves. That is, they are bringing upon themselves the reward of evil. What is the reward of evil? Death. The wages of sin is death. They're bringing destruction upon themselves. Sin always destroys. There is in sin a destructive nature. Now, God doesn't want you to destroy yourself. And so those things that God said you should not do are things that if you do, then they will destroy you. They will destroy your health. They will destroy your relationships. They can destroy your family. They can destroy your marriage. And they can destroy you physically. And so God forbid a person to do those things that are destructive. People say, oh, the law of God, man, that's so heavy, I can't handle that. Well, God was only seeking to protect you. God, in his love, laid down the rules for a good, healthy life. God, in creating the human body, understood the characteristics of the human body. In creating the immune system in the human body, he understood completely the immune system that he had created. Marvelously designed the immune system. So that your body is able to identify a foreign protein that's introduced. Your body is able to identify foreign objects, and it isolates them, and it analyzes them, and it builds up an immunity to them. It's a marvelous mechanism of the human body, this immune system, and your body's ability to create immunities against the foreign proteins that are introduced. And God created it. But God, in creating it, knew that there were limitations to the immune system's ability to function. And when the male sperm is introduced into a body, it is a foreign protein. And the body creates an immunity to it. Now, within a monogamous marriage, your body creates the immunities to each other, so that there is no real danger from the sex act. But, if you're involved, as homosexuals often are, with multiple partners in an evening, night after night, all of this foreign protein that is being introduced into the body, the immune system, because all of it is different in its makeup, the immune system has to start building up defenses against all of it. Each one separately. And what happens is that you overwork the immune system, the immune system begins to break down, and that's exactly what AIDS is, the breakdown of the immunal system of the body. It is the natural consequence of that kind of activity, and God knew it, and that's why God said you shouldn't do it. It was to preserve you. And when God made us with the capacities of reproduction, He intended that these be used for the purpose of the replenishing of the earth, or the perpetuation of the human race. But we have changed the natural use of the body into unnatural uses, and as Paul said, you begin to suffer the consequences of those actions. You receive the reward which is meat or which is inevitable to those actions. So here, same thing is being declared. They are receiving the reward of the evil that they have committed themselves. Evil has its own consequences. Now, to this nation that is faced with this horrible dilemma, to this nation that is about as far down as you can go, there are still within the nation those who are hurt, upset by what's going on. They are walking in fellowship with God, and to look around and see all of the filth and all of the defilement, they're ripped up inside. Hearing the news of what's going on, it just is ripping them up. And it's like they're standing alone against the whole tide of evil. Elijah thought, I'm the only one left that is really interested in spiritual things. As he had fled from that wicked queen Jezebel, and God said to him as he was hiding in a cave, what are you doing here? He said, Lord, they have killed all of your prophets, and I'm the only one that is left, and they're out to kill me. Lord, you're just about out of prophets. I'm the last one, and they're after me. And the Lord said, I have reserved unto me 7,000 in Israel who have not bowed their knee to Baal. God had his remnant. God always has his remnant. Those who, in the midst of a wicked and a perverse generation, are seeking to serve the Lord and to live a righteous life. Their hearts are vexed by what's going on in the world around them. And so God said to Isaiah, say to the righteous, it will be well with him. God's judgment is going to fall. The nation's going to go down. They're going to be carried away captives by their enemies. But to the righteous, just say, it will be well with them. I will take care of them. I will watch over them. I will preserve them. Because they have held to me and held to my name, I will hold them in the hour of calamity that is coming. Say to the righteous, it will be well with him, for they shall eat the fruit of their doings. It has its rewards. Living a good life has its rewards. The fruit of a good life. And God said, say to the righteous, you'll partake of the fruit of your righteous life. If you decide to live a righteous life, live for Jesus Christ, give your life to him, follow after him, the fruit of it will be good. It will be pleasant. It will be joyful. As I go with my wife to visit our grandchildren, who have to be the delight of our lives, they're the greatest thing that God has ever invented that I have known of so far. Absolutely glorious. And as we just have that sheer delight of having them with us and taking them different places, my heart goes out to those broken homes where you cannot share the same kind of joy mutually with the children. If I had another wife who was not the real grandmother, she would be so upset every time I'd say, let's go see the grandkids. Why do you want to go down there? And it would be pressure. It would be a difficult thing. And that would be hard. But because they are our grandchildren, when I say, let's go see the grandkids, she'd say, I'll be ready in 10 minutes. And that's something for my wife. But oh, the rewards of righteousness. Lord, let me know. Face to face. Lord, let me see. Pastor Chuck Smith will return with a few closing comments. But first, I'd like to remind you that today's message is available in its unedited form on cassette or CD. Simply write or call and ask for ordering details on tape or CD number C-3243. Again, that's tape or CD number C-3243. Well, it's that time of year again. It may seem innocent, but the symbols of Halloween, like black cats, jack-o'-lanterns and trick-or-treat all have roots in sorcery and Satanism. We would never knowingly get involved with anything related to Satan, but many Christians don't understand what's really behind the pagan holiday. The word for today would like to offer you a presentation hosted by Pastor Chuck Smith called Halloween Trick or Treat that traces the pagan origins and history of Halloween. This powerful movie uncovers the mystic rites and ceremonies of Satan and will forever change your opinion of Halloween. Every year as the end of October approaches, we are faced with the dilemma of family and friends pressuring us to participate in the celebration of this pagan holiday. This documentary will definitely challenge you to decide whether or not you'll continue to participate in this tradition. If you'd like more information on Halloween Trick or Treat, then simply write or call and ask one of our operators for the ordering details. Again, it's called Halloween Trick or Treat. And right now, if you place an order, the word for today would like to bless you with Pastor Chuck Smith's pamphlet, How Can a Man Be Born Again, absolutely free. Instead of just giving candy this year, the pamphlet is the perfect tool for Christians to share the gospel with loved ones and friends. Available in both English and Spanish. Again, it's free when you call right now. To order Halloween Trick or Treat for yourself or for a friend, you can call the word for today at 1-800-272-WORD. Or write to us at P.O. Box 8000, Costa Mesa, California 92628. Once again, that number to call is 1-800-272-9673. And for those of you that would like to visit our website, you can do so at www.twft.com. Or if you would like to email us, you can do so at info at twft.com. Well, coming up next time on the Word for Today, Pastor Chuck will be continuing his fascinating study through the book of Isaiah. That's coming up next time on the Word for Today. And now, with a few closing comments, here is Pastor Chuck. Father, we thank you for your Word. Help us, Lord, to just soak it in tonight. To receive it just like rain coming down from heaven. Watering, Lord, those dry places in our lives that it might spring forth into life and beauty and fruit. And Lord, there are some here tonight that are living in that same desperate condition. Without God and without hope in this world. But Lord, help them to call upon you. Thank you, Lord, for being available. And may we avail ourselves the opportunities of fellowship, of love, of communion. Tonight and through the week, may we walk in the joy, in the peace, and in the glory of our Lord. In Jesus' name, Amen. Our God and communion. Lord, let me love you face to face. Apple, Costa Mesa, California.