"REAPING THE WHIRLWIND"
Intro: The northern kingdom of Israel is declining rapidly, it will soon fall to Assyria. The whirlwind of destruction will carry them away.
I. "THEY HAVE SOWN THE WIND."
A. Transgressed my covenant.
1. God had established the basis for fellowship.
a. "Thou shalt have no other Gods before Me."
1. God wanted to be first in their lives.
2. They were worshipping Baal.
B. Trespassed against my law.
1. God's law was intended for man's good, vs. 3. "He has shown thee O man what is good..."
2. They thought God was trying to keep them from the "good life."
a. The good life of drinking, carousing, promiscuity.
3. God had only told them how to preserve a society.
a. Their psychiatrists said, "God's laws are too repressive, free yourselves from the Victorian era. Express yourself.
b. The sociologists said God's death penalty is cruel and inhumane punishment. Rehabilitate them and set them free in our society.
c. The politicians said 10% tax is not enough to run the government, we need more.
d. The bankers cried to remove the usury laws, we want higher interest.
e. The feminists were calling for abortion on demand.
f. The courts were saying, "we must get the idea of God out of education."
g. The liberals were saying no nukes, and we must disarm to prove to the enemy that we want peace.
C. They had truly sown the wind.
II. IF YOU SOW THE WIND, WHAT WILL THE HARVEST BE?
A. Unfortunately, many people never think of that.
1. What can this action lead to?
a. If the alcoholic had only stopped to consider.
b. If the drug addict had only reasoned. It can't do me any real good; it can do me great harm.
2. Stop and look at your life.
a. Where can these things lead?
1. Are you involved in a flirtation with one of the gals at work?
2. Is the deal totally honest and legal?
III. THE WHIRLWIND IS THE HARVEST OF SOWING THE WIND.
A. We are seeing the beginnings of the destructive force of the whirlwind uprooting our society today.
1. We see the broken homes with the tragic side effects on the children.
2. We see crime rising to epidemic levels.
3. We see the violence on our streets, as the little children, now grown up, play out their TV roll models.
4. We are beginning to see the anything goes attitude of an amoral society.
5. The children with no alternative in their public education but to believe that they sprang from animals, are beginning to act like animals, and many schools now require constant policing to protect the teachers.
B. "It hath no stalk."
1. Nothing to stand on.
a. That's exactly where humanistic existentialism leaves you. No base.
C. "The bud shall yield no meal."
a. No real fruit can come from it.
b. All chaff, empty, tasteless, hopeless.
D. Should anything come, strangers will eat it up.
E. You say, "I've played the fool, I've sown the wind. What can I now do?