Suffering and Deliverance (Part 10) - Four Ways in Which God Judges a Nation

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I. When a nation is in need of judgment, there are four possibilities of how it will be meted out. 1. God will spare the entire nation for the sake of the righteous minority. A. God would have done this for Sodom and Gomorrah if there would have been even ten righteous among them (Gen 18:24-26, 32). i. This should give us hope because God might spare this nation for the sake of His few faithful churches within it. ii. This may be the reason that this nation was not destroyed long ago. B. The LORD spared the nation of Judah for a long time for the sake of the remnant (Isa 1:9). C. God said that he would pardon the city of Jerusalem if they could find a man who executed judgment and sought the truth (Jer 5:1). D. Remember this the next time things look hopeless: you could be the reason that God spares our nation, state, city, or town. 2. God won't spare the nation for the sake of the righteous. A. This happened prior to the Babylonian captivity when the wrath of the Lord arose until there was no remedy and He destroyed the nation (2Ch 36:16-17). B. Judah became so wicked that God said that even if Moses and Samuel would have stood before God and interceded for them their destruction would not be averted (Jer 15:1-9). C. When a nation fills up the cup of its iniquity and judgment has been determined upon it, even the repentance of the king will not stop God from destroying that nation (2Ki 23:24-27). D. They that are often reproved and continue to harden their necks will be destroyed without remedy (Pro 29:1). 3. God will only spare the righteous minority. A. When a nation is too far gone in backsliding and sin God will only spare the righteous within it when He judges it (Eze 14:13-14). i. In such a case, God will not even deliver the children of the righteous, but only the righteous themselves (Eze 14:15-20). ii. God has no grandchildren. B. Jeremiah and Ebedmelech were both spared death because of their faithfulness while the rest of the nation were judged (Jer 39:11-18). C. Jeremiah's remnant were spared and treated well by the enemy when they were conquered (Jer 15:11). D. Those that seek the LORD, righteousness, and meekness may be hid in the day of God's anger (Zep 2:3). i. God children should seek to save themselves from this untoward generation (Act 2:40). ii. They can do so by repenting of their sins, getting baptized into the church, and living a godly life (Act 2:38-42). E. God shortened the days of the siege of Jerusalem in 70 AD for the elects' sakes, otherwise they too would have been killed (Mat 24:22). F. God spared a remnant that escaped the sword of Nebuchadnezzar when He destroyed Jerusalem by him the first time (Eze 6:8). 4. God will not spare the nation nor the righteous minority. A. When a nation is ripe for judgment, there are times when God will destroy both the righteous and the wicked in it (Eze 21:3-5). B. Pray that our nation will not get to that point. II. An examination of Biblical examples of God either delivering a people for the righteous among them or delivering the righteous alone. 1. Enoch A. Enoch lived only three generations prior to the great flood in the days of Noah (Gen 5:21, 25, 28-29). B. The earth was corrupt and filled with violence in Noah's day (Gen 6:11). i. The earth likely did not turn wicked overnight. ii. It was likely an evil place when Enoch walked the earth a few generations prior. iii. Enoch prophesied against the ungodly which he probably personally witnessed in action (Jud 1:14-15). C. Enoch walked with God (Gen 5:22). D. Because of this God took him to heaven to be with him (Gen 5:24 c/w Heb 11:5). i. Translate v. - I. 1. a. trans. To bear, convey, or remove from one person, place or condition to another; to transfer, transport; spec. to remove a bishop from one see to another, or a bishop's seat from one place to another, and, in Scotland, a minister from one pastoral charge to another; also, to remove the dead body or remains of a saint, or, by extension, a hero or great man, from one place to another. b. To carry or convey to heaven without death; also, in later use, said of the death of the righteous. ii. He was one of only two people in human history who was taken to heaven without dying first (2Ki 2:11). E. Enoch was delivered from the evil to come that he would have witnessed in his lifetime (Isa 57:1-2). F. God may likewise deliver us from this evil world by taking us out of it early by death. 2. Noah and his family A. Noah lived in an exceedingly wicked generation (Gen 6:5, 11-12). B. The cup of the world's iniquity was full, and the LORD had determined to destroy it (Gen 6:6-7). C. Noah was a just man who found grace in the eyes of the LORD (Gen 6:8-9). D. Noah obeyed God and built the ark by faith (Heb 11:7). E. God saved Noah and his seven other family members from death (2Pe 2:5). i. It would have seemed impossible by human reasoning for God to destroy the earth and the entire human population while simultaneously saving eight faithful people, but God did it. ii. This is yet another example of God delivering the faithful while destroying those around them. iii. Take comfort, brethren, because God is a well able to do the same for us. 3. Abraham A. Abraham grew up as an idolater (Jos 24:2). B. The LORD delivered him from his false religion by calling him out of Ur away from his family where he grew up (Gen 12:1). C. God called Abraham alone (Isa 51:2). D. In his case, some of his family came with him and they were delivered from their idolatry as well (Gen 12:4-5). E. Abraham obey God by faith and was blessed for it (Heb 11:8-10). F. Abraham was not delivered from physical death or suffering, but being delivered from false religion is far more important than those things.