Covenant Theology: Blessings, Curses, and Sanctions: The Hallelujah of Confession

When God Gives Up His People

Transcript: AI Transcript

Professor: John Weaver

Subject: Covenant Theology

Genre: Sermon

Dictation Name:

Date: 2004-12-26

Synopsis: John Weaver examines Psalm 81 to explore the sobering reality that God sometimes gives up His own professing people to their own hearts' lusts and counsels when they persistently disobey. He demonstrates from Scripture that this can happen to individuals, families, churches, and nations. The sermon contrasts the blessings of obedience—subdued enemies, submission of haters, enduring prosperity, and abundant provision—with the curse of being left to one's own devices. Weaver calls for personal and national repentance, warning that America may already be under such judgment.

[John Weaver] We're going to read the entire psalm, Psalm 81. I had two other messages that I was planning on preaching, and then as I was reading my Bible this week, this message just hit me, and I decided, well, I'll postpone the others and deal with Psalm 81. The message is entitled, and I put a general title, but I'm going to come back and make it specific. The general title is when God gives up a people, but really the specific title should be when God gives up his people. Look in Psalm 81 verse 1. Sing aloud unto God our strength, make a joyful noise unto the God of Jacob. Take a psalm and bring hither the temporal, the pleasant harp with the psaltery.

[John Weaver] Blow up the trumpet in the new moon in the time appointed on our solemn feast day. For this was a statute for Israel and a law for the God of Jacob. This he ordained in Joseph for a testimony when he went out through the land of Egypt, where I heard a language that I understood not. I removed his shoulder from the bird, and his hands were delivered from the pots. Now call us in trouble, and I delivered thee. I answered thee in the secret place of thunder, and I proved thee at the waters of Meribah. Hear, O my people, and I will testify unto thee, O Israel, if thou wilt hearken unto me. There shall no strange god be in thee, neither shalt thou worship any strange god. I am the Lord thy God, who brought thee out of the land of Egypt. Open thy mouth wide, and I will fill it. But my people would not hearken to my voice, and Israel would none of me.

[John Weaver] So I gave them up unto their own hearts' lust, and they walked in their own counsels. Oh, that my people had hearkened unto me, and Israel had walked in my ways! I should soon have subdued their enemies, and turned my hand against their adversaries. The haters of the Lord should have submitted themselves unto Him, but their time should have endured forever. He should have fed them also with the finest of the wheat, and with honey out of the rock, should I have satisfied thee." Every Christian is aware of the phrase, and God gave them up. When we hear that phrase, we immediately think of the Sodomites that are mentioned in Romans chapter 1. And I do want you to turn there, hold Psalm 81, but look in Romans chapter 1, and let's begin reading there with verse 22, just so that you can see how this phrase is used in Scripture. Notice Romans chapter 1 and verse 22.

[John Weaver] The Bible says, concerning this group of individuals, professing themselves to be wise, they became fools and changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to a corruptible man and to birds and four-footed beasts and creeping things. Now note verse 24, wherefore God also gave them up. to uncleanness through the lust of their own hearts, to dishonor their own bodies between themselves, who change the truth of God into a lie and worship and serve the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen." Now watch,"...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 lusts one toward another, men with men, working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompense of their error for which was meek. 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.

[John Weaver] Now twice the Bible says in verse 24 and verse 26, God gave them up. And in verse 28 the Bible says God gave them over. Now scripture specifically and emphatically states that God gave them up.

[John Weaver] Now there's no way to deny this simple truth. Every Christian understands this principle when it's applied to the wicked and the ungodly. But a question begs to be asked in light of this truth, and that is, does God ever give up His own people? Now, let me give you a scripture, and I want you to think about it. 1 John 5 and verse 16 says this, there is a sin unto death. There is a sin unto death. Now, I want you to understand that there is a difference between a professing people and a possessing people. Are you with me? There are many who profess, but they actually do not possess the truth and the life of God. Paul says it like this in Romans chapter 9.

[John Weaver] They are not all Israel who are of Israel. What does he mean? There was an outward professing people who were in covenant, that is an outward covenant with God, but they were not really chosen, they were not really regenerated, they were not really converted. So you could be in the outward number and be covenantally connected, but not really be a child of God. Now, when I ask this question, Does God ever give up his people? The question, while it is a valid one, is also a very distressing one. I mean, we know that we have eternal life, we know that we love the Lord, we know that he loves us, and yet at the same time, think about this, as a nation and as a people, that profess to be a Christian people, we know also that we turned our backs upon Him,

[John Weaver] we trampled His law under our feet, and we despised His Son. Now my question is, is it possible that we could be given up because of our sin and rebellion to His Word? Or I could ask, is it possible that we have already been given up because of our sin and rebellion?

[John Weaver] Now, before I go further, I want you to understand, and I'm going to show it to you from the Scripture. I believe that Scripture teaches us that it is possible to be given up individually, familially, ecclesiastically, and nationally. You say, how can you say that? Well, because of what Scripture teaches. We know that it is possible for individuals to be given up Because we just read that in Romans chapter 1. There were a group of individuals, and verse 24, and God gave them up. Verse 26, and God gave them up. And verse 28, and God gave them over. So it is very possible then for individuals to be given up by God. It is also possible for entire families to be given up by God. You say, what are you talking about? Well, look in your Bibles, Old Psalm 81, but go to Jeremiah chapter 22, and let's read verses 28 through 30. And look what God says about Caniah and his family. Notice Jeremiah chapter 22, beginning there with verse 28. Jeremiah 22, verse 28.

[John Weaver] Is this man, Caniah, a despised, broken idol? Is he a vessel wherein is no pleasure? Wherefore, they cast out, and his seed, and are cast into the land which they know not. O earth, earth, hear the word of the Lord."

[John Weaver] Now look what God says,"'Thus saith the Lord, write you this man childless, a man that shall not prosper in his days, for no man of his seed shall prosper sitting upon the throne of David and ruling any more in Judah.'" God said, I'm writing off the entire family. I'm writing off the entire lineage. So it is possible for God not only to give up individuals, but also families. Thirdly, it is also possible for God to give up churches. If you look in your Bibles to the book of Revelation chapter 2 and verse 5, and of course everyone knows the writings to the seven churches, these letters that were written. And look, if you would, in Revelation 2 and verse 5 at exactly what God says.

[John Weaver] Here he is writing to the church of Ephesus and he says this, Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen and repent and do thy first works or else I will come unto thee quickly and will remove thy candlestick out of this place except thou repent. Now God is writing to the church and he says you better remember from whence you are fallen and you better repent or else I will remove thy candlestick out of his place. So God can give up an individual. God can give up a family. God can give up a church. God may also give up a nation.

[John Weaver] And there should be absolutely no argument over this. Look in your Bibles to 1 Samuel chapter 4 and verse 21. Everyone is aware of this story. When the ark of God was captured by the Philistines, You remember Hophni and Phinehas, the two sons of Eli, who were wicked and ungodly? Well, when Phinehas' wife found out that her father-in-law was dead, that her husband and brother-in-law had been captured. Notice what happens in your Bibles, 1 Samuel 4 and verse 21. The Bible said, let's read verse 20.

[John Weaver] And about the time of her death, the women that stood by her said unto her, Fear not, for thou hast born a son. But she answered not, neither did she regard it. And she named the child Ichabod, saying, The glory is departed from Israel, because the ark of God was taken, and because her father-in-law and her husband, and she said, the glory is departed from Israel for the ark of God is taken. And of course, God literally gave up his people to the Philistines there and the glory was gone. Now, God does give up individuals. God does give up families. God does give up churches. God does give up nations. And so it should not be surprising to us that it can be very easily done, that is to give up a professing people who really do not possess any godly characteristics of professing people who are full of sin and rebellion.

[John Weaver] Now, go back in your Bible, Psalm 81, because that's a psalm we're certainly going to be looking at in detail, but look in verse 8. I'm going to show you what I'm talking about when God gives up His people. Psalm 81, verse 8, God says, Hear, O My people. He's not talking to the heathen. He's talking to His people. Hear, O My people, and I will testify to thee, O Israel, if thou wilt hearken unto Me. So the My people and Israel are synonymous. Does God ever give up his people? I've shown you where he gives up individuals, families, churches, and nations. Look in your Bibles to 2 Chronicles chapter 30, and let's begin reading there with verse 1. A very interesting statement is made, and it details How Hezekiah is pleading with Israel to return unto the one true and living God. And I want you to note a statement that is made. 2 Chronicles chapter 30 verse 1. And Hezekiah sent to all Israel and Judah and wrote letters also to Ephraim and Manasseh that they should come to the house of the Lord at Jerusalem to keep the Passover unto the Lord God of Israel.

[John Weaver] For the king had taken counsel in his princes, and all the congregation in Jerusalem, to keep the Passover the second month. For they could not keep it at that time, because the priests had not sanctified themselves sufficiently, neither had the people gathered themselves together at Jerusalem. And the thing pleased the king and all the congregation. So they established a decree to make a proclamation throughout all Israel, from Beersheba even to Dan, that they should come to keep the Passover unto the Lord God of Israel at Jerusalem, for they had not done it for a long time in such sort as it was written. So the postmen put the letters from the kings and its princes throughout all Israel and Judah, and according to the commandment of the king, saying, now look what the letters said. You children of Israel, turn again unto the Lord God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, and he will return to the remnant of you that are escaped out of the hand of the kings of Assyria. Watch, and be not ye like your fathers, and like your brethren, who trespassed against the Lord God of their fathers, who therefore gave them up."

[John Weaver] to desolation as you see. What does King Hezekiah say that God did to all of those people who profess to be his people? He gave them up. He gave them up to desolation and destruction.

[John Weaver] Now, look in your Bibles to Acts chapter 7. Let me show you the same phrase again. In the New Testament, Acts 7, verse 42, Stephen is about to be stoned to death, and he is reciting the history of Israel. And in Acts chapter 7, in fact, let's begin reading there with verse 40. In fact, verse 39. To whom our fathers would not obey, that is, they would not obey Moses nor God, whom our fathers would not obey, but thrust him, that is, Moses, from them, and in their hearts turned back again unto Egypt, saying unto Aaron, Make us gods to go before us. As for this Moses, who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we want not, or we know not what is become of him.

[John Weaver] And they made a calf in those days, and offered sacrifice unto the idol, and rejoiced in the work of their own hands. Then God turned, and gave them up to worship the hosts of heaven. As it is written in the Book of the Prophets, O ye house of Israel, have you offered to me slain beasts and sacrificed by the space of forty years in the wilderness. Watch, yea, you took up the tabernacle of Moloch, and must starve your God. Rephan, figures which you made to worship them, and I will carry you away to Babylon." Now when God gave them up, it was not just over the golden calf in the wilderness, but for forty years. as they traveled in the wilderness. Although they outwardly worshipped God, inwardly they were carrying the tabernacle of Moloch and the star of their god, Brethren. And because of their continued idolatry, God gave up the southern kingdom and sent them to Babylon. The northern kingdom went to Assyria, but the southern kingdom went into Babylon.

[John Weaver] Therefore, it should not be surprising to you as you turn back to Psalm 81 to realize that God not only can, but God does also often give up a rebellious and disobedient people. Look in verse 12. I'm just going to read it right now. So I gave them up. unto their own hearts' lusts, and they walked in their own counsel." So God does give up a rebellious and disobedient people.

[John Weaver] However, before he does so, there is always testimony given against them. There are always witnesses sent to call them to repentance. There are always offers of reconciliation, and when they will not hearken and hear, God Let's look at Psalm 81. I want you to see first of all the rescue and the restoration of Israel. The rescue and the restoration of Israel. Remember that Abraham and his seed went down into Egypt.

[John Weaver] for 400 years, actually 430 years, but watch verse 1. Sing aloud unto God our strength, make a joyful noise unto the God of Jacob. Take a psalm and bring hither the temporal, the pleasant harp with the psaltery. Blow up the trumpet in the new moon in the time appointed of our solemn feast day. Now this psalm aptly begins with an admonition then to sing aloud and to make a joyful noise unto the God of Jacob. Now, there's very good reason why they should sing with instruments and should make a joyful song in these solemn feast days. Moreover, the Bible tells us that God had appointed a law, He had appointed a statute for each of them, and it was to commemorate the Lord's mercy and deliverance. Look in verse 4. For this was a statute for Israel and a law of the God of Jacob.

[John Weaver] It was His right to be honored and glorified. It was his right to be praised over and over. Scripture tells us to give unto the Lord glory and to give unto the Lord the glory that is due unto his name.

[John Weaver] Now, let me point something out in verses four and five. Look at it. For this was a statute for Israel, and a law of the God of Jacob. This he ordained in Joseph for a testimony when he went out through the land of Egypt, where I heard a language that I understood not." Now, what did God do? God sovereignly, graciously, and mercifully rescues Israel from Egypt, and he restores them.

[John Weaver] And he says, here's what I want you to do. I want you to sing a joyful song to me. I want you to praise and be thankful for this deliverance. And God says, I'm going to make it a law. I'm going to make it a statute that you praise me and remember me and remember this gracious, sovereign deliverance from Egypt. It's important to note that our customs and our traditions in worship are to be rooted in divine authority. if there is no divine authority for a religious custom or tradition.

[John Weaver] It is not binding, nor can it be binding upon anyone. Why did they have solemn feast days? Why were they called upon to praise the Lord? Why were they called upon to worship? Because it was a law, it was a statute. God had a divine authority and He issued that law and He issued that statute. So without divine authority, nothing can be binding upon anyone's conscience. I've been in so many churches in the last 40 years, and inevitably, invariably someone says to me, but Brother Weaver, we don't do things like that here.

[John Weaver] Well, why do you not do them? Or why do you do what you do? Where is your divine authority for doing what you do? Or where is your divine authority for not doing what you're not doing? You see what I'm saying? A custom or tradition is worthless unless there is some divine authority behind it.

[John Weaver] Now, Israel had been in Egypt 430 years and God graciously rescues them and restores them for which he should be constantly and continually praised. Now, what in the world, or from what did he rescue them? Well, the answer is he rescued them from slavery. from servitude, from constant drudgery and bondage. What did he do? He brought them out of all of that into his glorious liberty and freedom of his grace and mercy.

[John Weaver] Look in verses 6 and 7. Here's what God says, I did for you. I removed his shoulder from the burden. His hands were delivered from the pots. Thou callest in trouble and I delivered thee. I answered thee in the secret place of thunder. I proved thee at the waters of Meribah. When they called, he answered. When they were in trouble, he delivered. You know why? Deuteronomy 7 tells us he is the faithful God. And God certainly is faithful. God graciously, sovereignly delivered them. Now, a problem arose. However, the problem was not with God. The problem was not with God's deliverance, because His work is perfect. The problem was with the people. The problem was they did not want to give up their false gods, their strange gods, their foreign gods. They worshipped and served a god or gods of their own making instead of the one true and living God. Look in verse 8 and 9. Look what God says. Hear, O my people, And I will testify against thee, O Israel, if thou wilt hearken unto me."

[John Weaver] Now, God said, if you'll just listen to me, I'll tell you what the problem is. There shall no strange god be in thee, neither shalt thou worship any strange god. God says you're not to have any idols, and you're not to be worshiping any strange god, any foreign god. Well, what is the first commandment? I'm the Lord by God who brought thee out of the land of Egypt. Thou shalt have no other gods before me. And the second is thou shalt not make of thee any graven images. God said, I want to testify against you.

[John Weaver] I gave you my law. I gave you my statute. I delivered you. I told you not to do this. And yet. You did.

[John Weaver] Now, look in verse 10. This is such a wonderful, wonderful verse. God says, I am the Lord thy God who brought thee out of the land of Egypt. Open thy mouth wide and I'll fill it. God said, Do you think that I brought you out of the land of Egypt just to drop you? No, I didn't bring you out to drop you. I brought you out to bring you into the promised land. I am the God who can supply all of your needs, and all you have to do is just open your mouth wide, I'll fill it. You worship me, you obey me, I will supply every need that you could possibly ever think of having.

[John Weaver] Alice and I enjoy watching those little wrens because we have some antiques kind of hanging outside, and one of them is a little antique water pump. And we've got a wren that every year puts her nest in that little water pot. This past year also had a nest in the back of my bobcat, the little tractor. I could have, but I wouldn't use it until those little birds hatched. And the little birds, there were three of them in that little nest, and you could stand there, and just standing there, those little birds would just open those mouths so wide, waiting for you, thinking, I guess you were the mother, to poke something down. And all of us have seen those mother birds, and the father birds as well, take worms and just fill those little beaks full. That's what God says, open thy mouth wide and I'll fill it. If you need something, God says, I'm willing to give it to you. By the way, there was a Persian custom, that when the king delighted in you, he would call you into his presence, and he would tell you to open your mouth wide, and then he would personally fill it, either with sweet meat, or with gold coins.

[John Weaver] And then of course, whatever you could carry in your mouth, was yours. Henry, I'd like to try that. See how many gold coins you can put in my mouth. And I'll just keep them. And you won't even have to buy my dinner for a while. How about that? But here's the picture. God said, I am the Lord my God who brought thee out of the land of Egypt. What? Open thy mouth wide and I'll fill it. I'm willing, I'm ready, I'm able to give you everything imaginable if you just simply obey my voice. Now, here is a perfect illustration of the heart of God. God's great promise was that God himself would be their all-sufficiency, and He was nigh unto them in anything and everything that they called upon Him for.

[John Weaver] If they would only adhere to Him, He would be their powerful protector and ruler, and He would always be their bountiful benefactor. There certainly is enough in God to fill all of our treasures and to fill and replenish every hungry soul, to supply all of our wants, all of our desires, and to make us completely happy. Now, God said, I'm the one who delivers you. I'm the one who delivers you, I'm willing to give you everything.

[John Weaver] And yet, they would not hearken. They would not hear.

[John Weaver] Now, look in verse 11, and you'll see the reason for His giving them up. He said, but my people would not hearken to my voice, and Israel would none of me.

[John Weaver] Now, let me tell you something. When you think of Old Testament Israel, don't just stop and think, well, God really showed them, didn't he? Pull Psalm 81 and turn in your Bibles to Romans 15 and then to 1 Corinthians 10. Okay? Romans 15. Look in Romans chapter 15 and verse 4. Romans 15 verse 4. Look what the Bible says. For whatsoever things were written aforetime, that is in the Old Testament, were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope." Huh? What did he say? Everything that was written in the Old Testament was written, what? For our learning.

[John Weaver] In other words, there's an application to us. Look in your Bibles to 1 Corinthians 10 and verse 11. 1 Corinthians 10, verse 11. He's talking about Israel. In fact, if I were to read the first 10 verses, he talks about how Moses led them out of Egypt through the Red Sea and all of this. He talks about the wilderness wanderings. But look in verse 11. He says, Now all these things happen to them for examples, and they're written for our admonition upon whom the ends of the world are come. So the Apostle Paul is taking everything that happened to old Israel and applies it to the new Israel. And says, You better listen and learn. So when the psalmist then says in verse 11, but my people would not hearken to my voice, he's not just simply talking about old Israel, here he's also talking to us upon whom the ends of the world would come.

[John Weaver] Now, the word gave in verse 12, so I gave them up to their own hearts lust. The word gave is the Hebrew word shalach. It occurs 847 times in our Bibles. And it is variously translated as send off, send away or out, to send forth, to dismiss, to give over, to cast out, to give up, to put away, to be divorced. He said, I divorced him. I put him away. I gave him up. I sent him away.

[John Weaver] His testimony against Israel In this testimony, he charges them with a high contempt of his authority as their lawgiver and contempt of his grace and favor as their benefactor. He says, my people would not hearken to my voice. That is, they turned a deaf ear unto him.

[John Weaver] Now, I want you to know that God complains in verse 11 of two things specifically. First, he complains of their disobedience to his commands. They did not hear his voice, so as never any people did, but they would not hearken to it. They did hear his voice originally. They heard it from Mount Sinai. Do you not remember? And they said, Don't let God speak to us lest we die. They heard the voice of God as no other people ever heard. But although they heard it audibly, they did not hear it internally because they never would obey.

[John Weaver] They refused to abide by his law. They refused to honor his word.

[John Weaver] Secondly, he not only complains that they would not hear, he also complains of their dislike for their covenant relationship to him. He says, but my people would not hearken to my voice, and Israel would none of me. They wouldn't have me, said God. They did not want me. God was willing to be to them a God, but they were not willing to be to Him a people. They did not like God, and they did not like His terms.

[John Weaver] Surely this must make us think of the words of our Lord in Matthew 23 and verse 37, when He said, O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that stonest the prophets, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thee and thy children together, even as the hen gathered her chickens together under her wings, but you would not." You would not.

[John Weaver] They would have none of him. It is not that they might not have him because they had been invited to him. It was not that they could not have him because he had entered into a covenant with them and had given them his terms. So it was not that they might not or could not, it was that they would not. They literally hated and despised God. They refused to hearken to Him, and they would have none of Him.

[John Weaver] By the way, I know I've preached this before, and I hope you know this, but I can't help but say it again. You cannot despise the words of God without despising God Himself. God and his word are basically one. Let me show you. Whole Psalm 81, but turn in your Bibles to 2 Samuel chapter 12. 2 Samuel chapter 12. Everyone knows the story of David and Bathsheba. And so, in this passage, when God sends Nathan to David, and David confesses his guilt, I want you to look at what is said, 2 Samuel 12, beginning there, verse 9. Look what God says to David. 2 Samuel 12, verse 9.

[John Weaver] Wherefore hast thou despised the commandment of the Lord to do evil in his sight? Well now, what's the commandment of the Lord? Thou shalt not commit adultery. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife. Thou shalt not kill. So he says, Wherefore hast thou despised the commandment of the Lord to do evil in his sight? Thou hast killed Uriah the Etype with a sword, and hast taken his wife to be thy wife, and hast slain him with the sword of the children of Ammon. Now therefore the sword shall never depart out of thine house, because thou hast what? Despised me. Well, how did David despise God? By despising his commandment. By despising his word.

[John Weaver] Look in your Bibles to the book of Numbers, chapter 15. Numbers, chapter 15. Beginning there with verse 29. Numbers 15, verse 29. Look what God says. You shall have one law for him that senteth through ignorance, both for him that is born among the children of Israel, and for the stranger that sojourneth among them. But the soul that doeth ought presumptuously, whether he be born in the land or a stranger, the same reproacheth the Lord." Now note, the same reproacheth the Lord, and that soul shall be cut off from among his people. Why? Because he had despised the word of the Lord and broken his commandment. See, you can't reproach God without despising His Word. You can't despise His Word without reproaching and despising God. And so God complains in Psalm 81, My people would not hearken unto Me, and they would have none of Me.

[John Weaver] They did not want to be associated with Me. They didn't like My terms. So God said, I gave them Now, thirdly, I want you to look at the results of having been given up by God. Look in Psalm 81 and verse 12. God said, So I gave them up to their own heart's lust, and they walked in their own counsel. Now, I want you to listen to me very carefully. Scripture here tells us there is a two-fold evidence of a people who have been given up by God. What is the evidence? First, they fulfill their own heart's lust, and secondly, they walk in their own counsels. Now let me deal with the word lust. The Hebrew word is shiriroth.

[John Weaver] It literally means twisted or firm. In other words, here is someone who is twisted, who is firm in his own imagination, in his own lust, in his own stubbornness, in his own hardness. And here's the word counsel. He says, so I gave them up to their own heart's lust and they walked in their own counsels. I'm going to come back. But the word counsel means their own plan or their own device.

[John Weaver] Now, what did God say? God said, so I gave them up to their own heart's lust. Well, you remember earlier, he said that he gave them over to worship the host of heaven. As they worship the sun, the moon, the stars, anything they wanted to worship. Their own heart's lusts. Being given up to your own heart's lusts is more dangerous than being given over to your enemies. It is true that God oftentimes gave Israel over their enemies, but that was temporary. When God gives someone up to his own lust, he literally takes the bridle of restrained grace from him and allows them to do as they please.

[John Weaver] Now, I'm not going to ask that you turn there, but I'm going to quote for you Hosea 4 and verse 17. You know what God said about Ephraim? Listen to what he said. Ephraim is joined to idols. Let him alone. God said, I'm not going to mess with him anymore. Just let him alone. He wants idols? Let him have them. You know what the Bible said? What our Lord said in, I think it's Matthew 15.

[John Weaver] Don't you remember he was teaching there and his disciples came up and said, knowest thou not that the Pharisees were offended at thee? And what did our Lord say? Let them alone. They be blind leaders of the blind. If the blind lead the blind, they shall both fall into the ditch. Let them alone. Here is a righteous thing for God to give up individuals to their own heart's lust so that they may indulge them, when they will not be led by God, they'll be led by their own lust. His grace is His own.

[John Weaver] And He is debtor to no man. He has never given His grace to anyone who deserved it. And He's never taken it from anyone who did not forfeit it. God can do as He pleases.

[John Weaver] Now, let me ask you this question. What happens when God gives individuals or a people up to their own heart's lust? The next automatic result is they walk in their own councils. They follow their own imagination. They follow their own thoughts. They follow their own thinking. They do what they want to do. I want to read to you just very quickly. I went back and I checked three of the old commentators on verse 12. And I want you to listen to what John Gill said. John Gill was Matthew Poole and John Trapp.

[John Weaver] You're talking about men who have been dead several hundred years. But John Gill said on verse 12, So I gave them up unto their own heart's lust. Sometimes, God gave them up when they sinned in the hands of the Moabites or Ammonites or Philistines or other neighboring nations for their chastisement. But to be delivered up unto their own hearts' lust is worse than that, nay, even than being delivered unto Satan.

[John Weaver] Salvation may be the consequence of that, but damnation of this. And yet it is a righteous judgment, for as men like not to retain God in their knowledge, it is but just with them to give them up to vile affections, to a reprobate mind, to do things not convenient. There is nothing men are more desirous of than to have their hearts lust, and there is no greater judgment can befall them than to be left in the power of them, which must unavoidably issue in their ruin here and hereafter." And they walked. and their own counsels, which were bad, after the imagination of their own evil hearts, and not after the counsels and directions of God in his word and of his servants.

[John Weaver] Upon their obstinate and oft-repeated rebellions and rejections of my grace and mercy offered them, I would have drew all the restraints of my providence, and my Holy Spirit, and my grace from them, and wholly left them to follow their own vain and foolish imaginations and wicked lusts. They walked in their own councils, they practiced those things, both in common conversation and in religious worship, which were most agreeable, not to my commands or counsels, but to their own fancies and inclinations, as appeared in the Golden Cat and many others. And John Trapp was more succinct, he says this, so I gave them up.

[John Weaver] I lent them as a ship without a rudder, a horse without reins, to go whither they would and do what they would. This is a fearful judgment. Let me tell you something, people. The greatest judgment that God can cast upon any people is to let them alone. Let them have their own way. Let them have their own counsel. Let them do their own thing. That's what God said. God said, so I gave them up. They wanted idolatry?

[John Weaver] I'll let them have it. Now, I want you to see with me forkly today the ramifications of having been given up. Or the ramifications of disobedience. If I were to ask, and don't answer this out loud, But if I were to ask, what do most Christians pray for? And I'm talking about real, genuine Christians. What do most real, genuine Christians pray for? I mean, we pray for the lost. We pray for God's enemies to be overthrown. Do we not? We pray for God's blessing upon ourselves.

[John Weaver] And listen, boy, I know people who scream and cry and beg for these things. And man, you have missions, conferences, and you do all these things. Now, listen to me carefully. In our rush to have our own way and fulfill our own desires and follow our own counsels, we never stop to think exactly what we are missing by disobeying God and His word. Since I teach a lot on Southern history, one of the most frequently asked questions is this, what if the South had won the war? Well, an equally imposing question is this, what if Israel had obeyed God?

[John Weaver] Or let's make it a little more practical. What if we, as a people, obeyed God? As I was studying this passage, I thought of another sermon, and another sermon title, and it's, Reminiscence of What Might Have Been. Reminiscence of What Might Have Been.

[John Weaver] Now, I want you to look in your Bible, since you're there at Psalm 81. I want to show you exactly what we lose by disobeying God. OK? Scripture tells us that we lose about four wonderful blessings. And these blessings are usually one that we pray for on a daily basis. Let me tell you what the wonder of Psalm 81 is. The wonder of Psalm 81 is this. That God, our Heavenly Father, is ready and willing and able to give us these blessings.

[John Weaver] And we do not have to beg and plead and cry and implore for them. All we need to do is obey.

[John Weaver] Now, look in verse 13. God says, O that my people had hearkened unto me, and Israel had walked in my ways. That verse reveals the heart cry of God. Verse 13 is in the optimistic mood, which simply means this, it is a desire that is contrary to the fact. So he says in verse 13, O that my people had hearkened unto me, and Israel had walked in my ways. What God is saying, it was my desire. It was my wish. It was my greatest desire for them to obey me.

[John Weaver] It's just like when you and I do something absolutely foolish and stupid, The first thing we say is, I wish I hadn't done that. But that is a wish or desire contrary to the fact we've already done it. God said, oh, that my people had hearkened to me. I wish they hadn't listened. I wish they had walked in my ways. Verse 13 reminds me, I immediately thought of Lamentations 3 and verse 33. Let me just quote it. There we're told, for God doth not afflict willingly, nor grieve the children of men. It's not a picture that God is sitting in heaven with a big old switch just waiting for us to mess up, ready to bust our chops. No, no, no, no. God is saying, my desire is that you obey me, so I don't have to chastise you.

[John Weaver] I'd rather have your obedience. I'd rather have your submission. Verses 14 through 16 tells us of the great mercy that God had in store for Israel had they obeyed. The same mercy is for us if we obey.

[John Weaver] Now look what he said. First, verse 14, I should have soon subdued their enemies and turned my hand against their adversaries. God said, if they had just listened to me, I would have given them victory over their enemies and would soon have completed the reduction of those enemies. God said, I should have subdued their enemies. And it's only God, by the way, who can really genuinely subdue our enemies.

[John Weaver] There need not be a tedious, exhaustive and expensive war. God said, if you would obey me, I would have done it. I would have turned my hands against the adversary. They would not have been able to stand. How easily God could have done it. The Bible says in Isaiah 11, Nay, with the breath of his mouth, he destroys the wicked. God need not even lift his hand.

[John Weaver] Just breathe upon them and they will be destroyed. God said, had they obeyed, I should have soon subdued their enemies and turned my hand against their adversaries. Let me tell you something, folks. We've got grievous as well as great adversaries in this country. And it does matter whether or not you obey God. If we want God to smite his enemies and our enemies, that is a blessing that comes through obedience. Look secondly, verse 15.

[John Weaver] The haters of the Lord should have submitted themselves unto him, but their time should have endured forever. God said if my people had listened to me, if they had obeyed me, the haters of the Lord should have submitted themselves to him. Now, some undoubtedly would have submitted to him in grace and in mercy. Others may have not been brought to love him, yet they would have been made to fear him and they would have had to confess that he was too hard for them and too great for them and it was useless for them to fight against him.

[John Weaver] And so they just simply submit to him. You know what the Bible says in Proverbs 21 and verse 1? The Bible tells us the king's heart is in the hand of the Lord. He turneth it whithersoever he will as rivers of water. Let me tell you something, folks. If the king's heart is in the hand of the Lord and he can turn it wherever he wants, I can assure you the rest of the people are in his hands and he can turn their hearts wherever he wishes as well.

[John Weaver] God said if you had obeyed, if you only obeyed, I would have subdued your enemies. And the haters of the Lord would have submitted themselves. You don't have evangelism.

[John Weaver] Thirdly, in verse 14 he said, or verse 15 it is, but their time should have endured forever. That is, he would have confirmed and perpetuated their prosperity and established it upon a sure and lasting foundation. In spite of all of their enemies, in spite of all the attempts against them, he said, your time would have endured forever. In other words, no one would have disturbed you and your possession. No one. Listen, folks. We want our possession. We want our country. We want to be safe? What does God say?

[John Weaver] Safety is of the Lord. What is it? He said it like this. Except the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain. God said this will be ours. He said fourthly, he said in verse 16, He should have fed them also with the finest of wheat and with honey out of the rock should I have satisfied thee. He said I would have given him plenty of great and good things. The best of grain, the best of honey, honey out of the rock.

[John Weaver] Besides all the precious fruits of the soil. God said I would have made everything prosper. I would have fed him, I would have given him everything had he obeyed me. You know, I'm going to make some applications, but I want you to just think of everything that we have lost in this country because we've turned our backs upon the one true and living God who has revealed himself in Jesus Christ and his word.

[John Weaver] Listen, there are businesses, and not that I agree with everything in Saturnalia, and I certainly do not agree with the Roman Catholic Church, but there are businesses who will not even allow their employees to say Merry Christmas. They say Happy Holidays. or blessed winter days or some stupid thing like that. I mean, you cannot have a nativity scene, but yet you can have a Santa Claus and a snowman and anything that's Islamic or anything that's foreign. Kwanzaa. Isn't that amazing?

[John Weaver] The point I'm trying to make is this, folks. Stop and think. Have we been given up to our own hearts' lusts and our own counsels? Let me make some applications. The first one is this. You need to remember that God's curses are upon disobedience and His blessings are upon obedience. Listen carefully. Psalm 81 is Deuteronomy 28 applied. Where God says of all those curses, the application is Psalm 81. Instead of reaping the blessings of God, a disobedient people only reap the curses of God. The duty God required from Israel as the condition of receiving all of these blessings was obedience. The duty that God requires of us receiving all of these blessings has not changed. It's obedience.

[John Weaver] God said, look, all I've ever asked is that you hearken to me as a scholar listens to his teacher or his professor. that you obey me as a servant obeys his master. You receive my commands and you walk in them. It's just that simple. You just do what I tell you to do because the ways of the Lord are right and pleasant and holy and godly. And God says everything that I do, I do for your benefit. It's to help and not to hurt. And all God requires is obedience.

[John Weaver] Thirdly, I want you to observe that the reason of withholding the mercy is laid to their neglect of duty. God said, if they had hearkened unto me, that is, if they had listened to me, I should have soon subdued their enemies. Now listen carefully. National sin or national disobedience is the great and only thing that retards and obstructs national deliverance. You cannot have a national deliverance until you have a national repentance. God said, when I would have healed Israel, Hosea 7 verse 1, when I would have healed Israel, That is, when I had said everything right among them, then the iniquity of Ephraim was discovered. God said, I was about to restore them, and then the idolatry of Ephraim came up, and that put a stop to it. What is it that puts a stop to God restoring our country? Our sin. Our rebellion. Our wickedness. Now, the question is not Can God give up America? The question is, will he give us up?

[John Weaver] Or has he already given us up? Listen. National repentance must begin with individual repentance. Because a nation is made up of individuals. When individuals repent, that then can lead to familial or family repentance. When families get right, guess what? That can lead to ecclesiastical or church-wide repentance. And when churches get right, that can lead to national repentance. But let me tell you something, folks. has to begin somewhere. And each of us should say, Lord, let it begin in me. And Lord, make me just as obedient and as holy and as godly as I can be by your infinite grace and mercy.

[John Weaver] horrible words. When God says, so I gave them up. When our Lord says, let them alone. If we want an awakening, we must seek to be awakened ourselves. If we want a national repentance, We must be willing to repent ourselves. And I shall tell you truthfully, folks, if we do not repent, God will give us up. No, that doesn't mean that real, genuine Christians are going to be lost. But it does mean our country is going to be lost. It does mean that we're going to be persecuted It does mean that we're going to have problems like you've never even dreamed about. God always has the elect. God always has a remnant. But that elect and that remnant many times suffer when God gives up a nation, when God gives up a people.

[John Weaver] Let's determine, by God's grace, we shall repent and be obedient and be holy and godly. Let's pray. Father, we ask in the name of Jesus Christ that you would help us. What an awesome thought when you give up a people, when you say, let them alone. The greatest curse is to be left our own lusts, left our own sins and wicked thoughts and imaginations. Father, we beg Thee for mercy. We ask Thee for repentance. We ask Thee for faith. We ask Thee for obedience. May we not sin against Thee. May we not grieve Thee or quench Thee or vex Thee. Lord, we do pray for each of these blessings that you've mentioned to us. But yet, Lord, we realize they're only ours through obedience. May we hearken to your word, and may we have all that we can get of thee. In the name of Jesus Christ, we ask it. Amen.

When God Gives Up His People

John Weaver | SermonAudio

Lecture Metadata	Details
Speaker	John Weaver
Source	SermonAudio
Media ID	140572516
Subject	Covenant Theology
Course	Covenant Theology: Blessings, Curses, and Sanctions: The Hallelujah of Confession
Genre	Sermon
Date	2004-12-26
Dictation Name
Book	Book 042: Covenant Theology: Blessings, Curses, and Sanctions: God's Answer to America's Problems — Chapter 4
Source Timed Segments	84

Formatted Transcript

Introduction: The Phrase 'God Gave Them Up'

Weaver introduces the topic by noting that Christians associate 'God gave them up' with the wicked in Romans 1, but asks whether God ever gives up His own people.

We're going to read the entire psalm, Psalm 81. I had two other messages that I was planning on preaching, and then as I was reading my Bible this week, this message just hit me, and I decided, well, I'll postpone the others and deal with Psalm 81. The message is entitled, and I put a general title, but I'm going to come back and make it specific. The general title is "When God Gives Up a People," but really the specific title should be "When God Gives Up His People." Look in Psalm 81 verse 1:

Scripture Reading — Psalm 81:1-16

"Sing aloud unto God our strength, make a joyful noise unto the God of Jacob. Take a psalm and bring hither the timbrel, the pleasant harp with the psaltery." "Blow up the trumpet in the new moon, in the time appointed, on our solemn feast day. For this was a statute for Israel, and a law of the God of Jacob. This he ordained in Joseph for a testimony, when he went out through the land of Egypt, where I heard a language that I understood not. I removed his shoulder from the burden, and his hands were delivered from the pots. Thou calledst in trouble, and I delivered thee; I answered thee in the secret place of thunder, and I proved thee at the waters of Meribah. Hear, O my people, and I will testify unto thee: O Israel, if thou wilt hearken unto me; there shall no strange god be in thee, neither shalt thou worship any strange god. I am the Lord thy God, who brought thee out of the land of Egypt. Open thy mouth wide, and I will fill it. But my people would not hearken to my voice, and Israel would none of me." "So I gave them up unto their own hearts' lust, and they walked in their own counsels. Oh, that my people had hearkened unto me, and Israel had walked in my ways! I should soon have subdued their enemies, and turned my hand against their adversaries. The haters of the Lord should have submitted themselves unto him, but their time should have endured forever. He should have fed them also with the finest of the wheat, and with honey out of the rock should I have satisfied thee."

Every Christian is aware of the phrase, "and God gave them up." When we hear that phrase, we immediately think of the Sodomites that are mentioned in Romans chapter 1. And I do want you to turn there, hold Psalm 81, but look in Romans chapter 1, and let's begin reading there with verse 22, just so that you can see how this phrase is used in Scripture. Notice Romans chapter 1 and verse 22.

The Bible says, concerning this group of individuals, "Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, and changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and four-footed beasts, and creeping things." Now note verse 24: "Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonor 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 forever. Amen." Now watch, "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 lusts one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompense 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."

Now twice the Bible says in verse 24 and verse 26, "God gave them up." And in verse 28 the Bible says "God gave them over." Now Scripture specifically and emphatically states that God gave them up.

God Gives Up Individuals, Families, Churches, and Nations

Using Romans 1, Jeremiah 22, Revelation 2, and 1 Samuel 4, Weaver argues that Scripture shows God giving up individuals, families, churches, and nations.

Now, before I go further, I want you to understand, and I'm going to show it to you from the Scripture, I believe that Scripture teaches us that it is possible to be given up individually, familially, ecclesiastically, and nationally. You say, how can you say that? Well, because of what Scripture teaches. We know that it is possible for individuals to be given up because we just read that in Romans chapter 1. There were a group of individuals, and verse 24, "and God gave them up." Verse 26, "and God gave them up." And verse 28, "and God gave them over." So it is very possible then for individuals to be given up by God. It is also possible for entire families to be given up by God. You say, what are you talking about? Well, look in your Bibles, hold Psalm 81, but go to Jeremiah chapter 22, and let's read verses 28 through 30. And look what God says about Coniah and his family. Notice Jeremiah chapter 22, beginning there with verse 28. Jeremiah 22, verse 28.

"Is this man Coniah a despised broken idol? Is he a vessel wherein is no pleasure? Wherefore are they cast out, he and his seed, and are cast into a land which they know not? O earth, earth, earth, hear the word of the Lord."

Now look what God says, "Thus saith the Lord, Write ye this man childless, a man that shall not prosper in his days: for no man of his seed shall prosper, sitting upon the throne of David, and ruling any more in Judah." God said, I'm writing off the entire family. I'm writing off the entire lineage. So it is possible for God not only to give up individuals, but also families. Thirdly, it is also possible for God to give up churches. If you look in your Bibles to the book of Revelation chapter 2 and verse 5, and of course everyone knows the writings to the seven churches, these letters that were written. And look, if you would, in Revelation 2 and verse 5 at exactly what God says. Here he is writing to the church of Ephesus and he says this, "Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent." Now God is writing to the church and he says you better remember from whence you are fallen and you better repent or else I will remove thy candlestick out of his place. So God can give up an individual. God can give up a family. God can give up a church. God may also give up a nation.

And there should be absolutely no argument over this. Look in your Bibles to 1 Samuel chapter 4 and verse 21. Everyone is aware of this story. When the ark of God was captured by the Philistines, you remember Hophni and Phinehas, the two sons of Eli, who were wicked and ungodly? Well, when Phinehas' wife found out that her father-in-law was dead, that her husband and brother-in-law had been captured, notice what happens in your Bibles, 1 Samuel 4 and verse 21. The Bible said, let's read verse 20.

Scripture Reading — 1 Samuel 4:20-22

"And about the time of her death the women that stood by her said unto her, Fear not; for thou hast born a son. But she answered not, neither did she regard it. And she named the child Ichabod, saying, The glory is departed from Israel: because the ark of God was taken, and because of her father in law and her husband. And she said, The glory is departed from Israel: for the ark of God is taken."

And of course, God literally gave up his people to the Philistines there and the glory was gone. Now, God does give up individuals. God does give up families. God does give up churches. God does give up nations. And so it should not be surprising to us that it can be very easily done, that is to give up a professing people who really do not possess any godly characteristics, or professing people who are full of sin and rebellion.

Historical Examples of God Giving Up His People

Weaver cites 2 Chronicles 30 and Acts 7 to show that God gave up Israel to desolation and idolatry because of their rebellion.

Now, go back in your Bible, Psalm 81, because that's a psalm we're certainly going to be looking at in detail, but look in verse 8. I'm going to show you what I'm talking about when God gives up His people. Psalm 81, verse 8, God says, "Hear, O my people." He's not talking to the heathen. He's talking to His people. "Hear, O my people, and I will testify unto thee: O Israel, if thou wilt hearken unto me." So the "my people" and "Israel" are synonymous. Does God ever give up His people? I've shown you where He gives up individuals, families, churches, and nations. Look in your Bibles to 2 Chronicles chapter 30, and let's begin reading there with verse 1. A very interesting statement is made, and it details how Hezekiah is pleading with Israel to return unto the one true and living God. And I want you to note a statement that is made. 2 Chronicles chapter 30 verse 1: "And Hezekiah sent to all Israel and Judah, and wrote letters also to Ephraim and Manasseh, that they should come to the house of the Lord at Jerusalem, to keep the passover unto the Lord God of Israel."

"For the king had taken counsel, and his princes, and all the congregation in Jerusalem, to keep the passover in the second month. For they could not keep it at that time, because the priests had not sanctified themselves sufficiently, neither had the people gathered themselves together at Jerusalem. And the thing pleased the king and all the congregation. So they established a decree to make proclamation throughout all Israel, from Beersheba even to Dan, that they should come to keep the passover unto the Lord God of Israel at Jerusalem: for they had not done it of a long time in such sort as it was written. So the posts went with the letters from the king and his princes throughout all Israel and Judah, and according to the commandment of the king, saying," now look what the letters said, "Ye children of Israel, turn again unto the Lord God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, and he will return to the remnant of you, that are escaped out of the hand of the kings of Assyria. And be not ye like your fathers, and like your brethren, which trespassed against the Lord God of their fathers, who therefore gave them up"

"to desolation, as ye see." What does King Hezekiah say that God did to all of those people who profess to be His people? He gave them up. He gave them up to desolation and destruction. Now, look in your Bibles to Acts chapter 7. Let me show you the same phrase again. In the New Testament, Acts 7, verse 42, Stephen is about to be stoned to death, and he is reciting the history of Israel. And in Acts chapter 7, in fact, let's begin reading there with verse 40. In fact, verse 39: "To whom our fathers would not obey," that is, they would not obey Moses nor God, "whom our fathers would not obey, but thrust him from them, and in their hearts turned back again into Egypt, saying unto Aaron, Make us gods to go before us: for as for this Moses, which brought us out of the land of Egypt, we wot not what is become of him."

"And they made a calf in those days, and offered sacrifice unto the idol, and rejoiced in the works of their own hands. Then God turned, and gave them up to worship the host of heaven; as it is written in the book of the prophets, O ye house of Israel, have ye offered to me slain beasts and sacrifices by the space of forty years in the wilderness? Yea, ye took up the tabernacle of Moloch, and the star of your god Remphan, figures which ye made to worship them: and I will carry you away beyond Babylon." Now when God gave them up, it was not just over the golden calf in the wilderness, but for forty years as they traveled in the wilderness. Although they outwardly worshipped God, inwardly they were carrying the tabernacle of Moloch and the star of their god Remphan. And because of their continued idolatry, God gave up the southern kingdom and sent them to Babylon. The northern kingdom went to Assyria, but the southern kingdom went into Babylon.

Therefore, it should not be surprising to you as you turn back to Psalm 81 to realize that God not only can, but God does also often give up a rebellious and disobedient people. Look in verse 12. I'm just going to read it right now. "So I gave them up unto their own hearts' lusts, and they walked in their own counsels." So God does give up a rebellious and disobedient people.

The Rescue and Restoration of Israel (Psalm 81:1-7)

God delivered Israel from Egypt and commanded joyful worship as a statute, but the people turned to false gods.

for 400 years, actually 430 years, but watch verse 1: "Sing aloud unto God our strength, make a joyful noise unto the God of Jacob. Take a psalm and bring hither the timbrel, the pleasant harp with the psaltery. Blow up the trumpet in the new moon, in the time appointed, on our solemn feast day." Now this psalm aptly begins with an admonition then to sing aloud and to make a joyful noise unto the God of Jacob. Now, there's very good reason why they should sing with instruments and should make a joyful song in these solemn feast days. Moreover, the Bible tells us that God had appointed a law, He had appointed a statute for each of them, and it was to commemorate the Lord's mercy and deliverance. Look in verse 4: "For this was a statute for Israel, and a law of the God of Jacob."

It was His right to be honored and glorified. It was His right to be praised over and over. Scripture tells us to give unto the Lord glory and to give unto the Lord the glory that is due unto His name. Now, let me point something out in verses four and five. Look at it. "For this was a statute for Israel, and a law of the God of Jacob. This he ordained in Joseph for a testimony, when he went out through the land of Egypt, where I heard a language that I understood not." Now, what did God do? God sovereignly, graciously, and mercifully rescues Israel from Egypt, and He restores them.

And He says, here's what I want you to do. I want you to sing a joyful song to me. I want you to praise and be thankful for this deliverance. And God says, I'm going to make it a law. I'm going to make it a statute that you praise me and remember me and remember this gracious, sovereign deliverance from Egypt. It's important to note that our customs and our traditions in worship are to be rooted in divine authority. If there is no divine authority for a religious custom or tradition,

it is not binding, nor can it be binding upon anyone. Why did they have solemn feast days? Why were they called upon to praise the Lord? Why were they called upon to worship? Because it was a law, it was a statute. God had a divine authority and He issued that law and He issued that statute. So without divine authority, nothing can be binding upon anyone's conscience. I've been in so many churches in the last 40 years, and inevitably, invariably someone says to me, "But Brother Weaver, we don't do things like that here."

Well, why do you not do them? Or why do you do what you do? Where is your divine authority for doing what you do? Or where is your divine authority for not doing what you're not doing? You see what I'm saying? A custom or tradition is worthless unless there is some divine authority behind it.

Scripture Reading — Deuteronomy 7:9

Now, Israel had been in Egypt 430 years and God graciously rescues them and restores them for which He should be constantly and continually praised. Now, what in the world, or from what did He rescue them? Well, the answer is He rescued them from slavery, from servitude, from constant drudgery and bondage. What did He do? He brought them out of all of that into His glorious liberty and freedom of His grace and mercy. Look in verses 6 and 7. Here's what God says, "I did for you. I removed his shoulder from the burden: his hands were delivered from the pots. Thou calledst in trouble, and I delivered thee; I answered thee in the secret place of thunder: I proved thee at the waters of Meribah." When they called, He answered. When they were in trouble, He delivered. You know why? Deuteronomy 7 tells us He is the faithful God. And God certainly is faithful. God graciously, sovereignly delivered them. Now, a problem arose. However, the problem was not with God. The problem was not with God's deliverance, because His work is perfect. The problem was with the people. The problem was they did not want to give up their false gods, their strange gods, their foreign gods. They worshipped and served a god or gods of their own making instead of the one true and living God. Look in verse 8 and 9. Look what God says. "Hear, O my people, and I will testify unto thee: O Israel, if thou wilt hearken unto me;"

Now, God said, if you'll just listen to me, I'll tell you what the problem is. "There shall no strange god be in thee; neither shalt thou worship any strange god." God says you're not to have any idols, and you're not to be worshiping any strange god, any foreign god. Well, what is the first commandment? "I am the Lord thy God, which brought thee out of the land of Egypt. Thou shalt have no other gods before me." And the second is "Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image." God said, I want to testify against you. I gave you my law. I gave you my statute. I delivered you. I told you not to do this. And yet, you did.

God's Gracious Offer and Israel's Refusal (Psalm 81:8-11)

God promised to fill their mouths if they obeyed, but they would not hearken and wanted none of Him.

I gave you my law. I gave you my statute. I delivered you. I told you not to do this. And yet, you did.

Now, look in verse 10. This is such a wonderful, wonderful verse. God says, "I am the Lord thy God, which brought thee out of the land of Egypt: open thy mouth wide, and I will fill it." God said, Do you think that I brought you out of the land of Egypt just to drop you? No, I didn't bring you out to drop you. I brought you out to bring you into the promised land. I am the God who can supply all of your needs, and all you have to do is just open your mouth wide, I'll fill it. You worship me, you obey me, I will supply every need that you could possibly ever think of having.

Alice and I enjoy watching those little wrens because we have some antiques kind of hanging outside, and one of them is a little antique water pump. And we've got a wren that every year puts her nest in that little water pot. This past year also had a nest in the back of my Bobcat, the little tractor. I could have, but I wouldn't use it until those little birds hatched. And the little birds, there were three of them in that little nest, and you could stand there, and just standing there, those little birds would just open those mouths so wide, waiting for you, thinking, I guess you were the mother, to poke something down. And all of us have seen those mother birds, and the father birds as well, take worms and just fill those little beaks full. That's what God says, "Open thy mouth wide, and I will fill it." If you need something, God says, I'm willing to give it to you. By the way, there was a Persian custom, that when the king delighted in you, he would call you into his presence, and he would tell you to open your mouth wide, and then he would personally fill it, either with sweetmeat, or with gold coins.

And then of course, whatever you could carry in your mouth, was yours. Henry, I'd like to try that. See how many gold coins you can put in my mouth. And I'll just keep them. And you won't even have to buy my dinner for a while. How about that? But here's the picture. God said, "I am the Lord thy God, which brought thee out of the land of Egypt. Open thy mouth wide, and I will fill it." I'm willing, I'm ready, I'm able to give you everything imaginable if you just simply obey my voice. Now, here is a perfect illustration of the heart of God. God's great promise was that God himself would be their all-sufficiency, and He was nigh unto them in anything and everything that they called upon Him for.

If they would only adhere to Him, He would be their powerful protector and ruler, and He would always be their bountiful benefactor. There certainly is enough in God to fill all of our treasures and to fill and replenish every hungry soul, to supply all of our wants, all of our desires, and to make us completely happy. Now, God said, I'm the one who delivers you. I'm the one who delivers you, I'm willing to give you everything. And yet, they would not hearken. They would not hear.

Now, look in verse 11, and you'll see the reason for His giving them up. He said, "But my people would not hearken to my voice; and Israel would none of me." Now, let me tell you something. When you think of Old Testament Israel, don't just stop and think, well, God really showed them, didn't He? Hold Psalm 81 and turn in your Bibles to Romans 15 and then to 1 Corinthians 10. Okay? Romans 15. Look in Romans chapter 15 and verse 4. Romans 15 verse 4. Look what the Bible says.

Scripture Reading — Romans 15:4

"For whatsoever things were written aforetime,"

that is in the Old Testament,

Scripture Reading — Romans 15:4

"were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope."

Huh? What did he say? Everything that was written in the Old Testament was written, what? For our learning.

In other words, there's an application to us. Look in your Bibles to 1 Corinthians 10 and verse 11. 1 Corinthians 10, verse 11. He's talking about Israel. In fact, if I were to read the first 10 verses, he talks about how Moses led them out of Egypt through the Red Sea and all of this. He talks about the wilderness wanderings. But look in verse 11. He says,

Scripture Reading — 1 Corinthians 10:11

"Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come."

So the Apostle Paul is taking everything that happened to old Israel and applies it to the new Israel. And says, You better listen and learn. So when the psalmist then says in verse 11, "But my people would not hearken to my voice," he's not just simply talking about old Israel, here he's also talking to us upon whom the ends of the world would come.

Now, the word "gave" in verse 12, "So I gave them up to their own hearts' lust," the word "gave" is the Hebrew word shalach. It occurs 847 times in our Bibles. And it is variously translated as send off, send away or out, to send forth, to dismiss, to give over, to cast out, to give up, to put away, to be divorced. He said, I divorced him. I put him away. I gave him up. I sent him away.

His testimony against Israel: In this testimony, he charges them with a high contempt of his authority as their lawgiver and contempt of his grace and favor as their benefactor. He says, "My people would not hearken to my voice." That is, they turned a deaf ear unto him. Now, I want you to know that God complains in verse 11 of two things specifically. First, he complains of their disobedience to his commands. They did not hear his voice, so as never any people did, but they would not hearken to it. They did hear his voice originally. They heard it from Mount Sinai. Do you not remember? And they said, "Don't let God speak to us lest we die." They heard the voice of God as no other people ever heard. But although they heard it audibly, they did not hear it internally because they never would obey.

They refused to abide by his law. They refused to honor his word. Secondly, he not only complains that they would not hear, he also complains of their dislike for their covenant relationship to him. He says, "But my people would not hearken to my voice; and Israel would none of me." They wouldn't have me, said God. They did not want me. God was willing to be to them a God, but they were not willing to be to Him a people. They did not like God, and they did not like His terms.

Surely this must make us think of the words of our Lord in Matthew 23 and verse 37, when He said,

Scripture Reading — Matthew 23:37

"O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not!"

You would not. They would have none of him. It is not that they might not have him because they had been invited to him. It was not that they could not have him because he had entered into a covenant with them and had given them his terms. So it was not that they might not or could not, it was that they would not. They literally hated and despised God. They refused to hearken to Him, and they would have none of Him.

The Results of Being Given Up (Psalm 81:12)

God gave them up to their own hearts' lusts and counsels—a judgment worse than being given to enemies.

By the way, I know I've preached this before, and I hope you know this, but I can't help but say it again. You cannot despise the words of God without despising God Himself. God and His word are basically one. Let me show you. Hold Psalm 81, but turn in your Bibles to 2 Samuel chapter 12. 2 Samuel chapter 12. Everyone knows the story of David and Bathsheba. And so, in this passage, when God sends Nathan to David, and David confesses his guilt, I want you to look at what is said, 2 Samuel 12, beginning there, verse 9. Look what God says to David. 2 Samuel 12, verse 9.

"Wherefore hast thou despised the commandment of the Lord, to do evil in his sight?" Well now, what's the commandment of the Lord? "Thou shalt not commit adultery." "Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife." "Thou shalt not kill." So he says, "Wherefore hast thou despised the commandment of the Lord, to do evil in his sight? Thou hast killed Uriah the Hittite with the sword, and hast taken his wife to be thy wife, and hast slain him with the sword of the children of Ammon. Now therefore the sword shall never depart from thine house; because thou hast" what? "Despised me." Well, how did David despise God? By despising his commandment. By despising his word.

Look in your Bibles to the book of Numbers, chapter 15. Numbers, chapter 15. Beginning there with verse 29. Numbers 15, verse 29. Look what God says.

Scripture Reading — Numbers 15:29-31

"Ye shall have one law for him that sinneth through ignorance, both for him that is born among the children of Israel, and for the stranger that sojourneth among them. But the soul that doeth ought presumptuously, whether he be born in the land, or a stranger, the same reproacheth the Lord."

Now note,

Scripture Reading — Numbers 15:29-31

"the same reproacheth the Lord, and that soul shall be cut off from among his people."

Why? Because he had despised the word of the Lord and broken his commandment. See, you can't reproach God without despising His Word. You can't despise His Word without reproaching and despising God. And so God complains in Psalm 81, "My people would not hearken unto Me, and they would have none of Me."

They did not want to be associated with Me. They didn't like My terms. So God said, "I gave them up." Now, thirdly, I want you to look at the results of having been given up by God. Look in Psalm 81 and verse 12. God said, "So I gave them up unto their own hearts' lust, and they walked in their own counsels." Now, I want you to listen to me very carefully. Scripture here tells us there is a two-fold evidence of a people who have been given up by God. What is the evidence? First, they fulfill their own hearts' lust, and secondly, they walk in their own counsels. Now let me deal with the word "lust." The Hebrew word is sheriruth.

It literally means twisted or firm. In other words, here is someone who is twisted, who is firm in his own imagination, in his own lust, in his own stubbornness, in his own hardness. And here's the word "counsel." He says, "So I gave them up to their own hearts' lust, and they walked in their own counsels." I'm going to come back. But the word "counsel" means their own plan or their own device.

Now, what did God say? God said, "So I gave them up to their own hearts' lust." Well, you remember earlier, he said that he gave them over to worship the host of heaven. As they worship the sun, the moon, the stars, anything they wanted to worship. Their own hearts' lusts. Being given up to your own hearts' lusts is more dangerous than being given over to your enemies. It is true that God oftentimes gave Israel over to their enemies, but that was temporary. When God gives someone up to his own lust, he literally takes the bridle of restrained grace from him and allows them to do as they please.

Now, I'm not going to ask that you turn there, but I'm going to quote for you Hosea 4 and verse 17. You know what God said about Ephraim? Listen to what he said.

Scripture Reading — Hosea 4:17

"Ephraim is joined to idols: let him alone."

God said, I'm not going to mess with him anymore. Just let him alone. He wants idols? Let him have them. You know what the Bible said? What our Lord said in, I think it's Matthew 15.

Don't you remember he was teaching there and his disciples came up and said, "Knowest thou not that the Pharisees were offended at thee?" And what did our Lord say? "Let them alone: they be blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch." Let them alone. Here is a righteous thing for God to give up individuals to their own hearts' lust so that they may indulge them, when they will not be led by God, they'll be led by their own lust. His grace is His own. And He is debtor to no man. He has never given His grace to anyone who deserved it. And He's never taken it from anyone who did not forfeit it. God can do as He pleases.

Now, let me ask you this question. What happens when God gives individuals or a people up to their own hearts' lust? The next automatic result is they walk in their own counsels. They follow their own imagination. They follow their own thoughts. They follow their own thinking. They do what they want to do. I want to read to you just very quickly. I went back and I checked three of the old commentators on verse 12. And I want you to listen to what John Gill said, Matthew Poole, and John Trapp.

You're talking about men who have been dead several hundred years. But John Gill said on verse 12, "So I gave them up unto their own hearts' lust." Sometimes, God gave them up when they sinned into the hands of the Moabites or Ammonites or Philistines or other neighboring nations for their chastisement. But to be delivered up unto their own hearts' lust is worse than that, nay, even than being delivered unto Satan. Salvation may be the consequence of that, but damnation of this. And yet it is a righteous judgment, for as men like not to retain God in their knowledge, it is but just with them to give them up to vile affections, to a reprobate mind, to do things not convenient. There is nothing men are more desirous of than to have their hearts' lust, and there is no greater judgment can befall them than to be left in the power of them, which must unavoidably issue in their ruin here and hereafter. "And they walked in their own counsels," which were bad, after the imagination of their own evil hearts, and not after the counsels and directions of God in his word and of his servants.

Matthew Poole said, "Upon their obstinate and oft-repeated rebellions and rejections of my grace and mercy offered them, I withdrew all the restraints of my providence, and my Holy Spirit, and my grace from them, and wholly left them to follow their own vain and foolish imaginations and wicked lusts. They walked in their own counsels, they practiced those things, both in common conversation and in religious worship, which were most agreeable, not to my commands or counsels, but to their own fancies and inclinations, as appeared in the golden calf and many others." And John Trapp was more succinct, he says this, "So I gave them up." "I lent them as a ship without a rudder, a horse without reins, to go whither they would and do what they would. This is a fearful judgment." Let me tell you something, people. The greatest judgment that God can cast upon any people is to let them alone. Let them have their own way. Let them have their own counsel. Let them do their own thing. That's what God said. God said, "So I gave them up." They wanted idolatry?

I'll let them have it. Now, I want you to see with me forthly today the ramifications of having been given up. Or the ramifications of disobedience. If I were to ask, and don't answer this out loud, but if I were to ask, what do most Christians pray for? And I'm talking about real, genuine Christians. What do most real, genuine Christians pray for? I mean, we pray for the lost. We pray for God's enemies to be overthrown. Do we not? We pray for God's blessing upon ourselves.

The Ramifications of Disobedience: Lost Blessings (Psalm 81:13-16)

Had Israel obeyed, God would have subdued enemies, made haters submit, established them forever, and fed them with the finest wheat and honey.

And listen, boy, I know people who scream and cry and beg for these things. And man, you have missions conferences, and you do all these things. Now, listen to me carefully. In our rush to have our own way and fulfill our own desires and follow our own counsels, we never stop to think exactly what we are missing by disobeying God and His word. Since I teach a lot on Southern history, one of the most frequently asked questions is this, "What if the South had won the war?" Well, an equally imposing question is this, "What if Israel had obeyed God?" Or let's make it a little more practical. What if we, as a people, obeyed God? As I was studying this passage, I thought of another sermon, and another sermon title, and it's, "Reminiscence of What Might Have Been." Reminiscence of What Might Have Been.

Now, I want you to look in your Bible, since you're there at Psalm 81. I want to show you exactly what we lose by disobeying God. OK? Scripture tells us that we lose about four wonderful blessings. And these blessings are usually ones that we pray for on a daily basis. Let me tell you what the wonder of Psalm 81 is. The wonder of Psalm 81 is this: That God, our Heavenly Father, is ready and willing and able to give us these blessings.

And we do not have to beg and plead and cry and implore for them. All we need to do is obey. Now, look in verse 13. God says, "Oh that my people had hearkened unto me, and Israel had walked in my ways!" That verse reveals the heart cry of God. Verse 13 is in the optative mood, which simply means this, it is a desire that is contrary to the fact. So he says in verse 13, "Oh that my people had hearkened unto me, and Israel had walked in my ways!" What God is saying is, it was my desire. It was my wish. It was my greatest desire for them to obey me.

It's just like when you and I do something absolutely foolish and stupid, the first thing we say is, "I wish I hadn't done that." But that is a wish or desire contrary to the fact we've already done it. God said, "Oh, that my people had hearkened to me. I wish they had listened. I wish they had walked in my ways." Verse 13 reminds me, I immediately thought of Lamentations 3 and verse 33. Let me just quote it. There we're told,

Scripture Reading — Lamentations 3:33

"For he doth not afflict willingly nor grieve the children of men."

It's not a picture that God is sitting in heaven with a big old switch just waiting for us to mess up, ready to bust our chops. No, no, no, no. God is saying, my desire is that you obey me, so I don't have to chastise you.

I'd rather have your obedience. I'd rather have your submission. Verses 14 through 16 tells us of the great mercy that God had in store for Israel had they obeyed. The same mercy is for us if we obey.

Now look what he said. First, verse 14, "I should soon have subdued their enemies, and turned my hand against their adversaries." God said, if they had just listened to me, I would have given them victory over their enemies and would soon have completed the reduction of those enemies. God said, "I should have subdued their enemies." And it's only God, by the way, who can really genuinely subdue our enemies. There need not be a tedious, exhaustive and expensive war. God said, if you would obey me, I would have done it. I would have turned my hands against the adversary. They would not have been able to stand. How easily God could have done it. The Bible says in Isaiah 11, "Nay, with the breath of his mouth he destroys the wicked." God need not even lift his hand.

Just breathe upon them and they will be destroyed. God said, had they obeyed, "I should soon have subdued their enemies and turned my hand against their adversaries." Let me tell you something, folks. We've got grievous as well as great adversaries in this country. And it does matter whether or not you obey God. If we want God to smite his enemies and our enemies, that is a blessing that comes through obedience. Look secondly, verse 15. "The haters of the Lord should have submitted themselves unto him: but their time should have endured for ever." God said if my people had listened to me, if they had obeyed me, the haters of the Lord should have submitted themselves to him. Now, some undoubtedly would have submitted to him in grace and in mercy. Others may have not been brought to love him, yet they would have been made to fear him and they would have had to confess that he was too hard for them and too great for them and it was useless for them to fight against him.

And so they just simply submit to him. You know what the Bible says in Proverbs 21 and verse 1? The Bible tells us

Scripture Reading — Proverbs 21:1

"The king's heart is in the hand of the Lord, as the rivers of water: he turneth it whithersoever he will."

Let me tell you something, folks. If the king's heart is in the hand of the Lord and he can turn it wherever he wants, I can assure you the rest of the people are in his hands and he can turn their hearts wherever he wishes as well. God said if you had obeyed, if you only obeyed, I would have subdued your enemies. And the haters of the Lord would have submitted themselves. You don't have evangelism.

Thirdly, in verse 15 he said, "But their time should have endured for ever." That is, he would have confirmed and perpetuated their prosperity and established it upon a sure and lasting foundation. In spite of all of their enemies, in spite of all the attempts against them, he said, your time would have endured forever. In other words, no one would have disturbed you and your possession. No one. Listen, folks. We want our possession. We want our country. We want to be safe? What does God say?

Safety is of the Lord. What is it? He said it like this: "Except the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain." God said this will be ours. He said fourthly, he said in verse 16, "He should have fed them also with the finest of the wheat: and with honey out of the rock should I have satisfied thee." He said I would have given him plenty of great and good things. The best of grain, the best of honey, honey out of the rock. Besides all the precious fruits of the soil. God said I would have made everything prosper. I would have fed him, I would have given him everything had he obeyed me. You know, I'm going to make some applications, but I want you to just think of everything that we have lost in this country because we've turned our backs upon the one true and living God who has revealed himself in Jesus Christ and his word.

Applications: The Need for Repentance

Weaver applies the psalm to America, warning that national disobedience obstructs deliverance and calling for individual and corporate repentance.

Listen, there are businesses, and not that I agree with everything in Saturnalia, and I certainly do not agree with the Roman Catholic Church, but there are businesses who will not even allow their employees to say "Merry Christmas." They say "Happy Holidays" or "blessed winter days" or some stupid thing like that. I mean, you cannot have a nativity scene, but yet you can have a Santa Claus and a snowman and anything that's Islamic or anything that's foreign. Kwanzaa. Isn't that amazing? The point I'm trying to make is this, folks. Stop and think. Have we been given up to our own hearts' lusts and our own counsels? Let me make some applications. The first one is this. You need to remember that God's curses are upon disobedience and His blessings are upon obedience. Listen carefully. Psalm 81 is Deuteronomy 28 applied. Where God says of all those curses, the application is Psalm 81. Instead of reaping the blessings of God, a disobedient people only reap the curses of God. The duty God required from Israel as the condition of receiving all of these blessings was obedience. The duty that God requires of us receiving all of these blessings has not changed. It's obedience.

God said, look, all I've ever asked is that you hearken to me as a scholar listens to his teacher or his professor, that you obey me as a servant obeys his master. You receive my commands and you walk in them. It's just that simple. You just do what I tell you to do because the ways of the Lord are right and pleasant and holy and godly. And God says everything that I do, I do for your benefit. It's to help and not to hurt. And all God requires is obedience.

Thirdly, I want you to observe that the reason of withholding the mercy is laid to their neglect of duty. God said, if they had hearkened unto me, that is, if they had listened to me, I should have soon subdued their enemies. Now listen carefully. National sin or national disobedience is the great and only thing that retards and obstructs national deliverance. You cannot have a national deliverance until you have a national repentance. God said,

Scripture Reading — Hosea 7:1

"When I would have healed Israel,"

Hosea 7 verse 1,

Scripture Reading — Hosea 7:1

"When I would have healed Israel,"

that is, when I had set everything right among them,

Scripture Reading — Hosea 7:1

"then the iniquity of Ephraim was discovered."

God said, I was about to restore them, and then the idolatry of Ephraim came up, and that put a stop to it. What is it that puts a stop to God restoring our country? Our sin. Our rebellion. Our wickedness. Now, the question is not "Can God give up America?" The question is, "Will He give us up?"

Or has He already given us up? Listen. National repentance must begin with individual repentance. Because a nation is made up of individuals. When individuals repent, that then can lead to familial or family repentance. When families get right, guess what? That can lead to ecclesiastical or church-wide repentance. And when churches get right, that can lead to national repentance. But let me tell you something, folks. It has to begin somewhere. And each of us should say, "Lord, let it begin in me. And Lord, make me just as obedient and as holy and as godly as I can be by your infinite grace and mercy."

Horrible words. When God says, "So I gave them up." When our Lord says, "Let them alone." If we want an awakening, we must seek to be awakened ourselves. If we want a national repentance, we must be willing to repent ourselves. And I shall tell you truthfully, folks, if we do not repent, God will give us up. No, that doesn't mean that real, genuine Christians are going to be lost. But it does mean our country is going to be lost. It does mean that we're going to be persecuted. It does mean that we're going to have problems like you've never even dreamed about. God always has the elect. God always has a remnant. But that elect and that remnant many times suffer when God gives up a nation, when God gives up a people.

Let's determine, by God's grace, we shall repent and be obedient and be holy and godly. Let's pray. Father, we ask in the name of Jesus Christ that you would help us. What an awesome thought when you give up a people, when you say, "Let them alone." The greatest curse is to be left to our own lusts, left to our own sins and wicked thoughts and imaginations. Father, we beg Thee for mercy. We ask Thee for repentance. We ask Thee for faith. We ask Thee for obedience. May we not sin against Thee. May we not grieve Thee or quench Thee or vex Thee. Lord, we do pray for each of these blessings that you've mentioned to us. But yet, Lord, we realize they're only ours through obedience. May we hearken to your word, and may we have all that we can get of thee. In the name of Jesus Christ, we ask it. Amen.

Study Guide

Major Themes

God's Judgment of Giving Up

Summary: God sometimes gives up rebellious people to their own sinful desires as a righteous judgment.

Evidence: Weaver states, 'So I gave them up unto their own hearts' lust, and they walked in their own counsels' (Psalm 81:12) and cites Romans 1:24, 26, 28.

The Scope of Divine Abandonment

Summary: Scripture shows God giving up individuals, families, churches, and nations.

Evidence: Weaver references Romans 1 (individuals), Jeremiah 22:28-30 (family of Coniah), Revelation 2:5 (church of Ephesus), and 1 Samuel 4:21 (Ichabod/nation).

Obedience as the Condition for Blessing

Summary: God's blessings—victory, submission of enemies, enduring prosperity, and provision—are conditioned upon obedience.

Evidence: Psalm 81:13-16: 'Oh that my people had hearkened unto me... I should soon have subdued their enemies...'

The Danger of Despising God's Word

Summary: To despise God's commandments is to despise God Himself.

Evidence: Weaver cites 2 Samuel 12:9-10 and Numbers 15:30-31 to show that despising the word equals despising God.

The Call to Repentance

Summary: National deliverance requires national repentance, which must begin with individuals.

Evidence: Weaver urges, 'National repentance must begin with individual repentance... Lord, let it begin in me.'

Key Arguments

God gives up His own professing people when they persist in disobedience.

Summary: Psalm 81 shows God giving up Israel, His covenant people, because they would not hearken.

Evidence: Psalm 81:11-12: 'But my people would not hearken to my voice... So I gave them up...'

Being given up to one's own lusts is a worse judgment than external affliction.

Summary: God's abandonment to sinful desires leads to ruin, whereas chastisement may lead to repentance.

Evidence: Weaver quotes John Gill: 'to be delivered up unto their own hearts' lust is worse than... being delivered unto Satan.'

Obedience would have brought immediate and lasting blessings.

Summary: God laments that if Israel had obeyed, He would have subdued enemies, made haters submit, and provided abundantly.

Evidence: Psalm 81:13-16: 'I should soon have subdued their enemies... He should have fed them also with the finest of the wheat.'

National sin obstructs national deliverance.

Summary: God's healing of a nation is hindered by the discovery of iniquity, as in Hosea 7:1.

Evidence: Weaver says, 'National sin or national disobedience is the great and only thing that retards and obstructs national deliverance.'

Repentance must start with the individual.

Summary: Corporate repentance begins when individuals turn from sin.

Evidence: Weaver states, 'National repentance must begin with individual repentance.'

Scripture References

Psalm 81:1-16

Context: The entire psalm is read and expounded as the basis for the message.

Romans 1:22-28

Context: Shows God giving up the wicked to uncleanness, vile affections, and a reprobate mind.

1 John 5:16

Context: Mentioned to introduce the concept of a 'sin unto death' as possible for believers.

Romans 9:6

Context: Not all Israel are of Israel; distinction between professing and possessing people.

Jeremiah 22:28-30

Context: God writes off Coniah's family line, showing familial judgment.

Revelation 2:5

Context: Threat of removing the church's candlestick for lack of repentance.

1 Samuel 4:20-22

Context: Ichabod: the glory departed from Israel, illustrating national abandonment.

2 Chronicles 30:1-9

Context: Hezekiah's letter says God gave their fathers up to desolation.

Acts 7:39-43

Context: Stephen recounts God giving Israel up to worship the host of heaven.

Deuteronomy 7:9

Context: God is faithful; referenced in context of His deliverance.

Romans 15:4

Context: Old Testament written for our learning.

1 Corinthians 10:11

Context: Old Testament events are examples for our admonition.

Matthew 23:37

Context: Jesus' lament over Jerusalem: 'ye would not!'

2 Samuel 12:9-10

Context: David despised God by despising His commandment.

Numbers 15:29-31

Context: Presumptuous sin reproaches the Lord.

Hosea 4:17

Context: Ephraim joined to idols; God says 'let him alone.'

Matthew 15:14

Context: Jesus says of Pharisees: 'Let them alone: they be blind leaders of the blind.'

Lamentations 3:33

Context: God does not afflict willingly.

Proverbs 21:1

Context: The king's heart is in the hand of the Lord.

Hosea 7:1

Context: When God would have healed Israel, iniquity was discovered.

Historical References

Sodomites in Romans 1

Context: Weaver notes that Christians immediately think of the Sodomites when hearing 'God gave them up.'

Israel's deliverance from Egypt

Context: God rescued Israel from 430 years of slavery; commemorated by statutes and feast days.

Golden calf incident

Context: Israel's idolatry with the golden calf is mentioned as an example of walking in their own counsels.

Babylonian captivity

Context: God gave the southern kingdom up to Babylon because of continued idolatry.

Persian custom of filling the mouth

Context: Weaver illustrates 'open thy mouth wide' with a Persian custom where the king filled a subject's mouth with sweetmeat or gold.

Commentators John Gill, Matthew Poole, John Trapp

Context: Weaver quotes these historical commentators on Psalm 81:12 to emphasize the severity of being given up.

Southern history and 'What if the South had won the war?'

Context: Weaver draws an analogy to the question of what might have been if Israel had obeyed.

Modern cultural references: Saturnalia, Kwanzaa, 'Happy Holidays'

Context: Weaver laments businesses forbidding 'Merry Christmas' while allowing other cultural expressions.

Important Quotes

So I gave them up unto their own hearts' lust, and they walked in their own counsels.

Significance: This is the central verse of the sermon, summarizing God's judgment of abandonment.

Oh that my people had hearkened unto me, and Israel had walked in my ways!

Significance: Reveals God's heart cry and desire for obedience, highlighting the lost blessings.

I should soon have subdued their enemies, and turned my hand against their adversaries.

Significance: Shows the specific blessing of victory that obedience would have secured.

He should have fed them also with the finest of the wheat: and with honey out of the rock should I have satisfied thee.

Significance: Illustrates the abundant provision God would have given.

National sin or national disobedience is the great and only thing that retards and obstructs national deliverance.

Significance: Key application: sin is the obstacle to God's blessing on a nation.

National repentance must begin with individual repentance.

Significance: Practical call to personal responsibility in seeking revival.

The greatest judgment that God can cast upon any people is to let them alone.

Significance: Summarizes the severity of being given up to one's own ways.

You cannot despise the words of God without despising God Himself.

Significance: Connects rejection of Scripture with rejection of God.

Discussion Questions

What does it mean for God to 'give up' a person or a people? How is this different from ordinary chastisement?

Context: Weaver explains that being given up to one's own lusts is a worse judgment than being given to enemies.

In what ways might we, as individuals or as a church, be in danger of God giving us up?

Context: The sermon applies the warning to modern believers and churches.

How does Psalm 81:13-16 challenge our typical prayer requests? Are we missing blessings because of disobedience?

Context: Weaver contrasts what we pray for with what God promises to the obedient.

What is the relationship between despising God's Word and despising God Himself? How should this affect our view of Scripture?

Context: Weaver uses 2 Samuel 12 and Numbers 15 to show the connection.

Why is individual repentance essential for national or corporate revival?

Context: Weaver argues that national repentance must begin with individuals.

How can we cultivate a heart that 'hearkens' to God rather than walking in our own counsels?

Context: The sermon emphasizes the importance of listening to God's voice.

What evidence might indicate that a church or nation has already been given up by God?

Context: Weaver asks whether America has been given up and points to cultural signs.

How does the promise 'open thy mouth wide, and I will fill it' encourage us in our walk with God?

Context: Weaver uses the illustration of baby birds to show God's willingness to provide.

Applications

Examine your obedience to God's Word

Summary: Weaver calls listeners to assess whether they are hearkening to God or walking in their own counsels.

Evidence: He says, 'The duty God required from Israel... was obedience. The duty that God requires of us... has not changed.'

Repent individually as the foundation for corporate revival

Summary: National repentance must start with personal repentance; each person should pray, 'Lord, let it begin in me.'

Evidence: Weaver states, 'National repentance must begin with individual repentance... each of us should say, Lord, let it begin in me.'

Recognize the danger of cultural Christianity without true possession

Summary: Weaver warns that many profess but do not possess; outward covenant connection is not enough.

Evidence: He cites Romans 9:6: 'They are not all Israel who are of Israel.'

Trust God's willingness to bless obedience

Summary: God is ready to give victory, provision, and protection if we obey; we do not need to beg but simply obey.

Evidence: Weaver says, 'God, our Heavenly Father, is ready and willing and able to give us these blessings... All we need to do is obey.'

Beware of despising God's Word

Summary: To reject or ignore God's commandments is to despise God Himself.

Evidence: Weaver states, 'You cannot despise the words of God without despising God Himself.'

Pray for national repentance and awakening

Summary: Weaver urges prayer for mercy, repentance, faith, and obedience to avoid being given up as a nation.

Evidence: In his closing prayer, he asks, 'Father, we beg Thee for mercy. We ask Thee for repentance.'

deepseek | deepseek-v4-pro | clean_readable_transcript | 2026-06-05T22:15:47Z

deepseek | deepseek-v4-pro | weaver_study | 2026-06-06T13:53:30Z

Clean Transcript

When God Gives Up His People

Clean readable transcript. This view follows the Commentary.net cleaned segment text while preserving timestamps for audio follow-along.

We're going to read the entire psalm, Psalm 81. I had two other messages that I was planning on preaching, and then as I was reading my Bible this week, this message just hit me, and I decided, well, I'll postpone the others and deal with Psalm 81. The message is entitled, and I put a general title, but I'm going to come back and make it specific. The general title is "When God Gives Up a People," but really the specific title should be "When God Gives Up His People." Look in Psalm 81 verse 1: "Sing aloud unto God our strength, make a joyful noise unto the God of Jacob. Take a psalm and bring hither the timbrel, the pleasant harp with the psaltery."
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"Blow up the trumpet in the new moon, in the time appointed, on our solemn feast day. For this was a statute for Israel, and a law of the God of Jacob. This he ordained in Joseph for a testimony, when he went out through the land of Egypt, where I heard a language that I understood not. I removed his shoulder from the burden, and his hands were delivered from the pots. Thou calledst in trouble, and I delivered thee; I answered thee in the secret place of thunder, and I proved thee at the waters of Meribah. Hear, O my people, and I will testify unto thee: O Israel, if thou wilt hearken unto me; there shall no strange god be in thee, neither shalt thou worship any strange god. I am the Lord thy God, who brought thee out of the land of Egypt. Open thy mouth wide, and I will fill it. But my people would not hearken to my voice, and Israel would none of me."
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"So I gave them up unto their own hearts' lust, and they walked in their own counsels. Oh, that my people had hearkened unto me, and Israel had walked in my ways! I should soon have subdued their enemies, and turned my hand against their adversaries. The haters of the Lord should have submitted themselves unto him, but their time should have endured forever. He should have fed them also with the finest of the wheat, and with honey out of the rock should I have satisfied thee." Every Christian is aware of the phrase, "and God gave them up." When we hear that phrase, we immediately think of the Sodomites that are mentioned in Romans chapter 1. And I do want you to turn there, hold Psalm 81, but look in Romans chapter 1, and let's begin reading there with verse 22, just so that you can see how this phrase is used in Scripture. Notice Romans chapter 1 and verse 22.
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The Bible says, concerning this group of individuals, "Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, and changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and four-footed beasts, and creeping things." Now note verse 24: "Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonor 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 forever. Amen." Now watch, "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 lusts one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompense 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."
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Now twice the Bible says in verse 24 and verse 26, "God gave them up." And in verse 28 the Bible says "God gave them over." Now Scripture specifically and emphatically states that God gave them up.
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Now there's no way to deny this simple truth. Every Christian understands this principle when it's applied to the wicked and the ungodly. But a question begs to be asked in light of this truth, and that is, does God ever give up His own people? Now, let me give you a scripture, and I want you to think about it. 1 John 5 and verse 16 says this, "There is a sin unto death." There is a sin unto death. Now, I want you to understand that there is a difference between a professing people and a possessing people. Are you with me? There are many who profess, but they actually do not possess the truth and the life of God. Paul says it like this in Romans chapter 9.
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"They are not all Israel who are of Israel." What does he mean? There was an outward professing people who were in covenant, that is an outward covenant with God, but they were not really chosen, they were not really regenerated, they were not really converted. So you could be in the outward number and be covenantally connected, but not really be a child of God. Now, when I ask this question, "Does God ever give up His people?" the question, while it is a valid one, is also a very distressing one. I mean, we know that we have eternal life, we know that we love the Lord, we know that He loves us, and yet at the same time, think about this, as a nation and as a people that profess to be a Christian people, we know also that we turned our backs upon Him,
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we trampled His law under our feet, and we despised His Son. Now my question is, is it possible that we could be given up because of our sin and rebellion to His Word? Or I could ask, is it possible that we have already been given up because of our sin and rebellion?
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Now, before I go further, I want you to understand, and I'm going to show it to you from the Scripture, I believe that Scripture teaches us that it is possible to be given up individually, familially, ecclesiastically, and nationally. You say, how can you say that? Well, because of what Scripture teaches. We know that it is possible for individuals to be given up because we just read that in Romans chapter 1. There were a group of individuals, and verse 24, "and God gave them up." Verse 26, "and God gave them up." And verse 28, "and God gave them over." So it is very possible then for individuals to be given up by God. It is also possible for entire families to be given up by God. You say, what are you talking about? Well, look in your Bibles, hold Psalm 81, but go to Jeremiah chapter 22, and let's read verses 28 through 30. And look what God says about Coniah and his family. Notice Jeremiah chapter 22, beginning there with verse 28. Jeremiah 22, verse 28.
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"Is this man Coniah a despised broken idol? Is he a vessel wherein is no pleasure? Wherefore are they cast out, he and his seed, and are cast into a land which they know not? O earth, earth, earth, hear the word of the Lord."
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Now look what God says, "Thus saith the Lord, Write ye this man childless, a man that shall not prosper in his days: for no man of his seed shall prosper, sitting upon the throne of David, and ruling any more in Judah." God said, I'm writing off the entire family. I'm writing off the entire lineage. So it is possible for God not only to give up individuals, but also families. Thirdly, it is also possible for God to give up churches. If you look in your Bibles to the book of Revelation chapter 2 and verse 5, and of course everyone knows the writings to the seven churches, these letters that were written. And look, if you would, in Revelation 2 and verse 5 at exactly what God says.
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Here he is writing to the church of Ephesus and he says this, "Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent." Now God is writing to the church and he says you better remember from whence you are fallen and you better repent or else I will remove thy candlestick out of his place. So God can give up an individual. God can give up a family. God can give up a church. God may also give up a nation.
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And there should be absolutely no argument over this. Look in your Bibles to 1 Samuel chapter 4 and verse 21. Everyone is aware of this story. When the ark of God was captured by the Philistines, you remember Hophni and Phinehas, the two sons of Eli, who were wicked and ungodly? Well, when Phinehas' wife found out that her father-in-law was dead, that her husband and brother-in-law had been captured, notice what happens in your Bibles, 1 Samuel 4 and verse 21. The Bible said, let's read verse 20.
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"And about the time of her death the women that stood by her said unto her, Fear not; for thou hast born a son. But she answered not, neither did she regard it. And she named the child Ichabod, saying, The glory is departed from Israel: because the ark of God was taken, and because of her father in law and her husband. And she said, The glory is departed from Israel: for the ark of God is taken." And of course, God literally gave up his people to the Philistines there and the glory was gone. Now, God does give up individuals. God does give up families. God does give up churches. God does give up nations. And so it should not be surprising to us that it can be very easily done, that is to give up a professing people who really do not possess any godly characteristics, or professing people who are full of sin and rebellion.
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Now, go back in your Bible, Psalm 81, because that's a psalm we're certainly going to be looking at in detail, but look in verse 8. I'm going to show you what I'm talking about when God gives up His people. Psalm 81, verse 8, God says, "Hear, O my people." He's not talking to the heathen. He's talking to His people. "Hear, O my people, and I will testify unto thee: O Israel, if thou wilt hearken unto me." So the "my people" and "Israel" are synonymous. Does God ever give up His people? I've shown you where He gives up individuals, families, churches, and nations. Look in your Bibles to 2 Chronicles chapter 30, and let's begin reading there with verse 1. A very interesting statement is made, and it details how Hezekiah is pleading with Israel to return unto the one true and living God. And I want you to note a statement that is made. 2 Chronicles chapter 30 verse 1: "And Hezekiah sent to all Israel and Judah, and wrote letters also to Ephraim and Manasseh, that they should come to the house of the Lord at Jerusalem, to keep the passover unto the Lord God of Israel."
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"For the king had taken counsel, and his princes, and all the congregation in Jerusalem, to keep the passover in the second month. For they could not keep it at that time, because the priests had not sanctified themselves sufficiently, neither had the people gathered themselves together at Jerusalem. And the thing pleased the king and all the congregation. So they established a decree to make proclamation throughout all Israel, from Beersheba even to Dan, that they should come to keep the passover unto the Lord God of Israel at Jerusalem: for they had not done it of a long time in such sort as it was written. So the posts went with the letters from the king and his princes throughout all Israel and Judah, and according to the commandment of the king, saying," now look what the letters said, "Ye children of Israel, turn again unto the Lord God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, and he will return to the remnant of you, that are escaped out of the hand of the kings of Assyria. And be not ye like your fathers, and like your brethren, which trespassed against the Lord God of their fathers, who therefore gave them up"
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"to desolation, as ye see." What does King Hezekiah say that God did to all of those people who profess to be His people? He gave them up. He gave them up to desolation and destruction.
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Now, look in your Bibles to Acts chapter 7. Let me show you the same phrase again. In the New Testament, Acts 7, verse 42, Stephen is about to be stoned to death, and he is reciting the history of Israel. And in Acts chapter 7, in fact, let's begin reading there with verse 40. In fact, verse 39: "To whom our fathers would not obey," that is, they would not obey Moses nor God, "whom our fathers would not obey, but thrust him from them, and in their hearts turned back again into Egypt, saying unto Aaron, Make us gods to go before us: for as for this Moses, which brought us out of the land of Egypt, we wot not what is become of him."
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"And they made a calf in those days, and offered sacrifice unto the idol, and rejoiced in the works of their own hands. Then God turned, and gave them up to worship the host of heaven; as it is written in the book of the prophets, O ye house of Israel, have ye offered to me slain beasts and sacrifices by the space of forty years in the wilderness? Yea, ye took up the tabernacle of Moloch, and the star of your god Remphan, figures which ye made to worship them: and I will carry you away beyond Babylon." Now when God gave them up, it was not just over the golden calf in the wilderness, but for forty years as they traveled in the wilderness. Although they outwardly worshipped God, inwardly they were carrying the tabernacle of Moloch and the star of their god Remphan. And because of their continued idolatry, God gave up the southern kingdom and sent them to Babylon. The northern kingdom went to Assyria, but the southern kingdom went into Babylon.
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Therefore, it should not be surprising to you as you turn back to Psalm 81 to realize that God not only can, but God does also often give up a rebellious and disobedient people. Look in verse 12. I'm just going to read it right now. "So I gave them up unto their own hearts' lusts, and they walked in their own counsels." So God does give up a rebellious and disobedient people.
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However, before He does so, there is always testimony given against them. There are always witnesses sent to call them to repentance. There are always offers of reconciliation, and when they will not hearken and hear, God gives them up. Let's look at Psalm 81. I want you to see first of all the rescue and the restoration of Israel. The rescue and the restoration of Israel. Remember that Abraham and his seed went down into Egypt
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for 400 years, actually 430 years, but watch verse 1: "Sing aloud unto God our strength, make a joyful noise unto the God of Jacob. Take a psalm and bring hither the timbrel, the pleasant harp with the psaltery. Blow up the trumpet in the new moon, in the time appointed, on our solemn feast day." Now this psalm aptly begins with an admonition then to sing aloud and to make a joyful noise unto the God of Jacob. Now, there's very good reason why they should sing with instruments and should make a joyful song in these solemn feast days. Moreover, the Bible tells us that God had appointed a law, He had appointed a statute for each of them, and it was to commemorate the Lord's mercy and deliverance. Look in verse 4: "For this was a statute for Israel, and a law of the God of Jacob."
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It was His right to be honored and glorified. It was His right to be praised over and over. Scripture tells us to give unto the Lord glory and to give unto the Lord the glory that is due unto His name.
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Now, let me point something out in verses four and five. Look at it. "For this was a statute for Israel, and a law of the God of Jacob. This he ordained in Joseph for a testimony, when he went out through the land of Egypt, where I heard a language that I understood not." Now, what did God do? God sovereignly, graciously, and mercifully rescues Israel from Egypt, and He restores them.
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And He says, here's what I want you to do. I want you to sing a joyful song to me. I want you to praise and be thankful for this deliverance. And God says, I'm going to make it a law. I'm going to make it a statute that you praise me and remember me and remember this gracious, sovereign deliverance from Egypt. It's important to note that our customs and our traditions in worship are to be rooted in divine authority. If there is no divine authority for a religious custom or tradition,
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it is not binding, nor can it be binding upon anyone. Why did they have solemn feast days? Why were they called upon to praise the Lord? Why were they called upon to worship? Because it was a law, it was a statute. God had a divine authority and He issued that law and He issued that statute. So without divine authority, nothing can be binding upon anyone's conscience. I've been in so many churches in the last 40 years, and inevitably, invariably someone says to me, "But Brother Weaver, we don't do things like that here."
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Well, why do you not do them? Or why do you do what you do? Where is your divine authority for doing what you do? Or where is your divine authority for not doing what you're not doing? You see what I'm saying? A custom or tradition is worthless unless there is some divine authority behind it.
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Now, Israel had been in Egypt 430 years and God graciously rescues them and restores them for which He should be constantly and continually praised. Now, what in the world, or from what did He rescue them? Well, the answer is He rescued them from slavery, from servitude, from constant drudgery and bondage. What did He do? He brought them out of all of that into His glorious liberty and freedom of His grace and mercy.
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Look in verses 6 and 7. Here's what God says, "I did for you. I removed his shoulder from the burden: his hands were delivered from the pots. Thou calledst in trouble, and I delivered thee; I answered thee in the secret place of thunder: I proved thee at the waters of Meribah." When they called, He answered. When they were in trouble, He delivered. You know why? Deuteronomy 7 tells us He is the faithful God. And God certainly is faithful. God graciously, sovereignly delivered them. Now, a problem arose. However, the problem was not with God. The problem was not with God's deliverance, because His work is perfect. The problem was with the people. The problem was they did not want to give up their false gods, their strange gods, their foreign gods. They worshipped and served a god or gods of their own making instead of the one true and living God. Look in verse 8 and 9. Look what God says. "Hear, O my people, and I will testify unto thee: O Israel, if thou wilt hearken unto me;"
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Now, God said, if you'll just listen to me, I'll tell you what the problem is. "There shall no strange god be in thee; neither shalt thou worship any strange god." God says you're not to have any idols, and you're not to be worshiping any strange god, any foreign god. Well, what is the first commandment? "I am the Lord thy God, which brought thee out of the land of Egypt. Thou shalt have no other gods before me." And the second is "Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image." God said, I want to testify against you.
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I gave you my law. I gave you my statute. I delivered you. I told you not to do this. And yet, you did.
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Now, look in verse 10. This is such a wonderful, wonderful verse. God says, "I am the Lord thy God, which brought thee out of the land of Egypt: open thy mouth wide, and I will fill it." God said, Do you think that I brought you out of the land of Egypt just to drop you? No, I didn't bring you out to drop you. I brought you out to bring you into the promised land. I am the God who can supply all of your needs, and all you have to do is just open your mouth wide, I'll fill it. You worship me, you obey me, I will supply every need that you could possibly ever think of having.
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Alice and I enjoy watching those little wrens because we have some antiques kind of hanging outside, and one of them is a little antique water pump. And we've got a wren that every year puts her nest in that little water pot. This past year also had a nest in the back of my Bobcat, the little tractor. I could have, but I wouldn't use it until those little birds hatched. And the little birds, there were three of them in that little nest, and you could stand there, and just standing there, those little birds would just open those mouths so wide, waiting for you, thinking, I guess you were the mother, to poke something down. And all of us have seen those mother birds, and the father birds as well, take worms and just fill those little beaks full. That's what God says, "Open thy mouth wide, and I will fill it." If you need something, God says, I'm willing to give it to you. By the way, there was a Persian custom, that when the king delighted in you, he would call you into his presence, and he would tell you to open your mouth wide, and then he would personally fill it, either with sweetmeat, or with gold coins.
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And then of course, whatever you could carry in your mouth, was yours. Henry, I'd like to try that. See how many gold coins you can put in my mouth. And I'll just keep them. And you won't even have to buy my dinner for a while. How about that? But here's the picture. God said, "I am the Lord thy God, which brought thee out of the land of Egypt. Open thy mouth wide, and I will fill it." I'm willing, I'm ready, I'm able to give you everything imaginable if you just simply obey my voice. Now, here is a perfect illustration of the heart of God. God's great promise was that God himself would be their all-sufficiency, and He was nigh unto them in anything and everything that they called upon Him for.
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If they would only adhere to Him, He would be their powerful protector and ruler, and He would always be their bountiful benefactor. There certainly is enough in God to fill all of our treasures and to fill and replenish every hungry soul, to supply all of our wants, all of our desires, and to make us completely happy. Now, God said, I'm the one who delivers you. I'm the one who delivers you, I'm willing to give you everything.
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And yet, they would not hearken. They would not hear.
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Now, look in verse 11, and you'll see the reason for His giving them up. He said, "But my people would not hearken to my voice; and Israel would none of me."
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Now, let me tell you something. When you think of Old Testament Israel, don't just stop and think, well, God really showed them, didn't He? Hold Psalm 81 and turn in your Bibles to Romans 15 and then to 1 Corinthians 10. Okay? Romans 15. Look in Romans chapter 15 and verse 4. Romans 15 verse 4. Look what the Bible says. "For whatsoever things were written aforetime," that is in the Old Testament, "were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope." Huh? What did he say? Everything that was written in the Old Testament was written, what? For our learning.
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In other words, there's an application to us. Look in your Bibles to 1 Corinthians 10 and verse 11. 1 Corinthians 10, verse 11. He's talking about Israel. In fact, if I were to read the first 10 verses, he talks about how Moses led them out of Egypt through the Red Sea and all of this. He talks about the wilderness wanderings. But look in verse 11. He says, "Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come." So the Apostle Paul is taking everything that happened to old Israel and applies it to the new Israel. And says, You better listen and learn. So when the psalmist then says in verse 11, "But my people would not hearken to my voice," he's not just simply talking about old Israel, here he's also talking to us upon whom the ends of the world would come.
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Now, the word "gave" in verse 12, "So I gave them up to their own hearts' lust," the word "gave" is the Hebrew word shalach. It occurs 847 times in our Bibles. And it is variously translated as send off, send away or out, to send forth, to dismiss, to give over, to cast out, to give up, to put away, to be divorced. He said, I divorced him. I put him away. I gave him up. I sent him away.
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His testimony against Israel: In this testimony, he charges them with a high contempt of his authority as their lawgiver and contempt of his grace and favor as their benefactor. He says, "My people would not hearken to my voice." That is, they turned a deaf ear unto him.
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Now, I want you to know that God complains in verse 11 of two things specifically. First, he complains of their disobedience to his commands. They did not hear his voice, so as never any people did, but they would not hearken to it. They did hear his voice originally. They heard it from Mount Sinai. Do you not remember? And they said, "Don't let God speak to us lest we die." They heard the voice of God as no other people ever heard. But although they heard it audibly, they did not hear it internally because they never would obey.
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They refused to abide by his law. They refused to honor his word.
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Secondly, he not only complains that they would not hear, he also complains of their dislike for their covenant relationship to him. He says, "But my people would not hearken to my voice; and Israel would none of me." They wouldn't have me, said God. They did not want me. God was willing to be to them a God, but they were not willing to be to Him a people. They did not like God, and they did not like His terms.
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Surely this must make us think of the words of our Lord in Matthew 23 and verse 37, when He said, "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not!" You would not.
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They would have none of him. It is not that they might not have him because they had been invited to him. It was not that they could not have him because he had entered into a covenant with them and had given them his terms. So it was not that they might not or could not, it was that they would not. They literally hated and despised God. They refused to hearken to Him, and they would have none of Him.
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By the way, I know I've preached this before, and I hope you know this, but I can't help but say it again. You cannot despise the words of God without despising God Himself. God and His word are basically one. Let me show you. Hold Psalm 81, but turn in your Bibles to 2 Samuel chapter 12. 2 Samuel chapter 12. Everyone knows the story of David and Bathsheba. And so, in this passage, when God sends Nathan to David, and David confesses his guilt, I want you to look at what is said, 2 Samuel 12, beginning there, verse 9. Look what God says to David. 2 Samuel 12, verse 9.
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"Wherefore hast thou despised the commandment of the Lord, to do evil in his sight?" Well now, what's the commandment of the Lord? "Thou shalt not commit adultery." "Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife." "Thou shalt not kill." So he says, "Wherefore hast thou despised the commandment of the Lord, to do evil in his sight? Thou hast killed Uriah the Hittite with the sword, and hast taken his wife to be thy wife, and hast slain him with the sword of the children of Ammon. Now therefore the sword shall never depart from thine house; because thou hast" what? "Despised me." Well, how did David despise God? By despising his commandment. By despising his word.
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Look in your Bibles to the book of Numbers, chapter 15. Numbers, chapter 15. Beginning there with verse 29. Numbers 15, verse 29. Look what God says. "Ye shall have one law for him that sinneth through ignorance, both for him that is born among the children of Israel, and for the stranger that sojourneth among them. But the soul that doeth ought presumptuously, whether he be born in the land, or a stranger, the same reproacheth the Lord." Now note, "the same reproacheth the Lord, and that soul shall be cut off from among his people." Why? Because he had despised the word of the Lord and broken his commandment. See, you can't reproach God without despising His Word. You can't despise His Word without reproaching and despising God. And so God complains in Psalm 81, "My people would not hearken unto Me, and they would have none of Me."
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They did not want to be associated with Me. They didn't like My terms. So God said, "I gave them up." Now, thirdly, I want you to look at the results of having been given up by God. Look in Psalm 81 and verse 12. God said, "So I gave them up unto their own hearts' lust, and they walked in their own counsels." Now, I want you to listen to me very carefully. Scripture here tells us there is a two-fold evidence of a people who have been given up by God. What is the evidence? First, they fulfill their own hearts' lust, and secondly, they walk in their own counsels. Now let me deal with the word "lust." The Hebrew word is sheriruth.
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It literally means twisted or firm. In other words, here is someone who is twisted, who is firm in his own imagination, in his own lust, in his own stubbornness, in his own hardness. And here's the word "counsel." He says, "So I gave them up to their own hearts' lust, and they walked in their own counsels." I'm going to come back. But the word "counsel" means their own plan or their own device.
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Now, what did God say? God said, "So I gave them up to their own hearts' lust." Well, you remember earlier, he said that he gave them over to worship the host of heaven. As they worship the sun, the moon, the stars, anything they wanted to worship. Their own hearts' lusts. Being given up to your own hearts' lusts is more dangerous than being given over to your enemies. It is true that God oftentimes gave Israel over to their enemies, but that was temporary. When God gives someone up to his own lust, he literally takes the bridle of restrained grace from him and allows them to do as they please.
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Now, I'm not going to ask that you turn there, but I'm going to quote for you Hosea 4 and verse 17. You know what God said about Ephraim? Listen to what he said. "Ephraim is joined to idols: let him alone." God said, I'm not going to mess with him anymore. Just let him alone. He wants idols? Let him have them. You know what the Bible said? What our Lord said in, I think it's Matthew 15.
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Don't you remember he was teaching there and his disciples came up and said, "Knowest thou not that the Pharisees were offended at thee?" And what did our Lord say? "Let them alone: they be blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch." Let them alone. Here is a righteous thing for God to give up individuals to their own hearts' lust so that they may indulge them, when they will not be led by God, they'll be led by their own lust. His grace is His own.
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And He is debtor to no man. He has never given His grace to anyone who deserved it. And He's never taken it from anyone who did not forfeit it. God can do as He pleases.
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Now, let me ask you this question. What happens when God gives individuals or a people up to their own hearts' lust? The next automatic result is they walk in their own counsels. They follow their own imagination. They follow their own thoughts. They follow their own thinking. They do what they want to do. I want to read to you just very quickly. I went back and I checked three of the old commentators on verse 12. And I want you to listen to what John Gill said, Matthew Poole, and John Trapp.
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You're talking about men who have been dead several hundred years. But John Gill said on verse 12, "So I gave them up unto their own hearts' lust." Sometimes, God gave them up when they sinned into the hands of the Moabites or Ammonites or Philistines or other neighboring nations for their chastisement. But to be delivered up unto their own hearts' lust is worse than that, nay, even than being delivered unto Satan.
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Salvation may be the consequence of that, but damnation of this. And yet it is a righteous judgment, for as men like not to retain God in their knowledge, it is but just with them to give them up to vile affections, to a reprobate mind, to do things not convenient. There is nothing men are more desirous of than to have their hearts' lust, and there is no greater judgment can befall them than to be left in the power of them, which must unavoidably issue in their ruin here and hereafter. "And they walked in their own counsels," which were bad, after the imagination of their own evil hearts, and not after the counsels and directions of God in his word and of his servants.
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Matthew Poole said, "Upon their obstinate and oft-repeated rebellions and rejections of my grace and mercy offered them, I withdrew all the restraints of my providence, and my Holy Spirit, and my grace from them, and wholly left them to follow their own vain and foolish imaginations and wicked lusts. They walked in their own counsels, they practiced those things, both in common conversation and in religious worship, which were most agreeable, not to my commands or counsels, but to their own fancies and inclinations, as appeared in the golden calf and many others." And John Trapp was more succinct, he says this, "So I gave them up."
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"I lent them as a ship without a rudder, a horse without reins, to go whither they would and do what they would. This is a fearful judgment." Let me tell you something, people. The greatest judgment that God can cast upon any people is to let them alone. Let them have their own way. Let them have their own counsel. Let them do their own thing. That's what God said. God said, "So I gave them up." They wanted idolatry?
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I'll let them have it. Now, I want you to see with me forthly today the ramifications of having been given up. Or the ramifications of disobedience. If I were to ask, and don't answer this out loud, but if I were to ask, what do most Christians pray for? And I'm talking about real, genuine Christians. What do most real, genuine Christians pray for? I mean, we pray for the lost. We pray for God's enemies to be overthrown. Do we not? We pray for God's blessing upon ourselves.
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And listen, boy, I know people who scream and cry and beg for these things. And man, you have missions conferences, and you do all these things. Now, listen to me carefully. In our rush to have our own way and fulfill our own desires and follow our own counsels, we never stop to think exactly what we are missing by disobeying God and His word. Since I teach a lot on Southern history, one of the most frequently asked questions is this, "What if the South had won the war?" Well, an equally imposing question is this, "What if Israel had obeyed God?"
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Or let's make it a little more practical. What if we, as a people, obeyed God? As I was studying this passage, I thought of another sermon, and another sermon title, and it's, "Reminiscence of What Might Have Been." Reminiscence of What Might Have Been.
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Now, I want you to look in your Bible, since you're there at Psalm 81. I want to show you exactly what we lose by disobeying God. OK? Scripture tells us that we lose about four wonderful blessings. And these blessings are usually ones that we pray for on a daily basis. Let me tell you what the wonder of Psalm 81 is. The wonder of Psalm 81 is this: That God, our Heavenly Father, is ready and willing and able to give us these blessings.
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And we do not have to beg and plead and cry and implore for them. All we need to do is obey.
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Now, look in verse 13. God says, "Oh that my people had hearkened unto me, and Israel had walked in my ways!" That verse reveals the heart cry of God. Verse 13 is in the optative mood, which simply means this, it is a desire that is contrary to the fact. So he says in verse 13, "Oh that my people had hearkened unto me, and Israel had walked in my ways!" What God is saying is, it was my desire. It was my wish. It was my greatest desire for them to obey me.
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It's just like when you and I do something absolutely foolish and stupid, the first thing we say is, "I wish I hadn't done that." But that is a wish or desire contrary to the fact we've already done it. God said, "Oh, that my people had hearkened to me. I wish they had listened. I wish they had walked in my ways." Verse 13 reminds me, I immediately thought of Lamentations 3 and verse 33. Let me just quote it. There we're told, "For he doth not afflict willingly nor grieve the children of men." It's not a picture that God is sitting in heaven with a big old switch just waiting for us to mess up, ready to bust our chops. No, no, no, no. God is saying, my desire is that you obey me, so I don't have to chastise you.
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I'd rather have your obedience. I'd rather have your submission. Verses 14 through 16 tells us of the great mercy that God had in store for Israel had they obeyed. The same mercy is for us if we obey.
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Now look what he said. First, verse 14, "I should soon have subdued their enemies, and turned my hand against their adversaries." God said, if they had just listened to me, I would have given them victory over their enemies and would soon have completed the reduction of those enemies. God said, "I should have subdued their enemies." And it's only God, by the way, who can really genuinely subdue our enemies.
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There need not be a tedious, exhaustive and expensive war. God said, if you would obey me, I would have done it. I would have turned my hands against the adversary. They would not have been able to stand. How easily God could have done it. The Bible says in Isaiah 11, "Nay, with the breath of his mouth he destroys the wicked." God need not even lift his hand.
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Just breathe upon them and they will be destroyed. God said, had they obeyed, "I should soon have subdued their enemies and turned my hand against their adversaries." Let me tell you something, folks. We've got grievous as well as great adversaries in this country. And it does matter whether or not you obey God. If we want God to smite his enemies and our enemies, that is a blessing that comes through obedience. Look secondly, verse 15.
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"The haters of the Lord should have submitted themselves unto him: but their time should have endured for ever." God said if my people had listened to me, if they had obeyed me, the haters of the Lord should have submitted themselves to him. Now, some undoubtedly would have submitted to him in grace and in mercy. Others may have not been brought to love him, yet they would have been made to fear him and they would have had to confess that he was too hard for them and too great for them and it was useless for them to fight against him.
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And so they just simply submit to him. You know what the Bible says in Proverbs 21 and verse 1? The Bible tells us "The king's heart is in the hand of the Lord, as the rivers of water: he turneth it whithersoever he will." Let me tell you something, folks. If the king's heart is in the hand of the Lord and he can turn it wherever he wants, I can assure you the rest of the people are in his hands and he can turn their hearts wherever he wishes as well.
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God said if you had obeyed, if you only obeyed, I would have subdued your enemies. And the haters of the Lord would have submitted themselves. You don't have evangelism.
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Thirdly, in verse 15 he said, "But their time should have endured for ever." That is, he would have confirmed and perpetuated their prosperity and established it upon a sure and lasting foundation. In spite of all of their enemies, in spite of all the attempts against them, he said, your time would have endured forever. In other words, no one would have disturbed you and your possession. No one. Listen, folks. We want our possession. We want our country. We want to be safe? What does God say?
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Safety is of the Lord. What is it? He said it like this: "Except the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain." God said this will be ours. He said fourthly, he said in verse 16, "He should have fed them also with the finest of the wheat: and with honey out of the rock should I have satisfied thee." He said I would have given him plenty of great and good things. The best of grain, the best of honey, honey out of the rock.
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Besides all the precious fruits of the soil. God said I would have made everything prosper. I would have fed him, I would have given him everything had he obeyed me. You know, I'm going to make some applications, but I want you to just think of everything that we have lost in this country because we've turned our backs upon the one true and living God who has revealed himself in Jesus Christ and his word.
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Listen, there are businesses, and not that I agree with everything in Saturnalia, and I certainly do not agree with the Roman Catholic Church, but there are businesses who will not even allow their employees to say "Merry Christmas." They say "Happy Holidays" or "blessed winter days" or some stupid thing like that. I mean, you cannot have a nativity scene, but yet you can have a Santa Claus and a snowman and anything that's Islamic or anything that's foreign. Kwanzaa. Isn't that amazing?
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The point I'm trying to make is this, folks. Stop and think. Have we been given up to our own hearts' lusts and our own counsels? Let me make some applications. The first one is this. You need to remember that God's curses are upon disobedience and His blessings are upon obedience. Listen carefully. Psalm 81 is Deuteronomy 28 applied. Where God says of all those curses, the application is Psalm 81. Instead of reaping the blessings of God, a disobedient people only reap the curses of God. The duty God required from Israel as the condition of receiving all of these blessings was obedience. The duty that God requires of us receiving all of these blessings has not changed. It's obedience.
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God said, look, all I've ever asked is that you hearken to me as a scholar listens to his teacher or his professor, that you obey me as a servant obeys his master. You receive my commands and you walk in them. It's just that simple. You just do what I tell you to do because the ways of the Lord are right and pleasant and holy and godly. And God says everything that I do, I do for your benefit. It's to help and not to hurt. And all God requires is obedience.
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Thirdly, I want you to observe that the reason of withholding the mercy is laid to their neglect of duty. God said, if they had hearkened unto me, that is, if they had listened to me, I should have soon subdued their enemies. Now listen carefully. National sin or national disobedience is the great and only thing that retards and obstructs national deliverance. You cannot have a national deliverance until you have a national repentance. God said, "When I would have healed Israel," Hosea 7 verse 1, "When I would have healed Israel," that is, when I had set everything right among them, "then the iniquity of Ephraim was discovered." God said, I was about to restore them, and then the idolatry of Ephraim came up, and that put a stop to it. What is it that puts a stop to God restoring our country? Our sin. Our rebellion. Our wickedness. Now, the question is not "Can God give up America?" The question is, "Will He give us up?"
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Or has He already given us up? Listen. National repentance must begin with individual repentance. Because a nation is made up of individuals. When individuals repent, that then can lead to familial or family repentance. When families get right, guess what? That can lead to ecclesiastical or church-wide repentance. And when churches get right, that can lead to national repentance. But let me tell you something, folks. It has to begin somewhere. And each of us should say, "Lord, let it begin in me. And Lord, make me just as obedient and as holy and as godly as I can be by your infinite grace and mercy."
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Horrible words. When God says, "So I gave them up." When our Lord says, "Let them alone." If we want an awakening, we must seek to be awakened ourselves. If we want a national repentance, we must be willing to repent ourselves. And I shall tell you truthfully, folks, if we do not repent, God will give us up. No, that doesn't mean that real, genuine Christians are going to be lost. But it does mean our country is going to be lost. It does mean that we're going to be persecuted. It does mean that we're going to have problems like you've never even dreamed about. God always has the elect. God always has a remnant. But that elect and that remnant many times suffer when God gives up a nation, when God gives up a people.
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Let's determine, by God's grace, we shall repent and be obedient and be holy and godly. Let's pray. Father, we ask in the name of Jesus Christ that you would help us. What an awesome thought when you give up a people, when you say, "Let them alone." The greatest curse is to be left to our own lusts, left to our own sins and wicked thoughts and imaginations. Father, we beg Thee for mercy. We ask Thee for repentance. We ask Thee for faith. We ask Thee for obedience. May we not sin against Thee. May we not grieve Thee or quench Thee or vex Thee. Lord, we do pray for each of these blessings that you've mentioned to us. But yet, Lord, we realize they're only ours through obedience. May we hearken to your word, and may we have all that we can get of thee. In the name of Jesus Christ, we ask it. Amen.
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deepseek | deepseek-v4-pro | clean_readable_transcript | 2026-06-05T22:15:47Z

When God Gives Up His People

John Weaver | Freedom Ministries

John Weaver examines Psalm 81 to explore the sobering reality that God sometimes gives up His own professing people to their own hearts' lusts and counsels when they persistently disobey. He demonstrates from Scripture that this can happen to individuals, families, churches, and nations. The sermon contrasts the blessings of obedience—subdued enemies, submission of haters, enduring prosperity, and abundant provision—with the curse of being left to one's own devices. Weaver calls for personal and national repentance, warning that America may already be under such judgment.

Introduction: The Phrase 'God Gave Them Up'

Weaver introduces the topic by noting that Christians associate 'God gave them up' with the wicked in Romans 1, but asks whether God ever gives up His own people.

Scripture Reading — Psalm 81:1-16

"Sing aloud unto God our strength, make a joyful noise unto the God of Jacob. Take a psalm and bring hither the timbrel, the pleasant harp with the psaltery." "Blow up the trumpet in the new moon, in the time appointed, on our solemn feast day. For this was a statute for Israel, and a law of the God of Jacob. This he ordained in Joseph for a testimony, when he went out through the land of Egypt, where I heard a language that I understood not. I removed his shoulder from the burden, and his hands were delivered from the pots. Thou calledst in trouble, and I delivered thee; I answered thee in the secret place of thunder, and I proved thee at the waters of Meribah. Hear, O my people, and I will testify unto thee: O Israel, if thou wilt hearken unto me; there shall no strange god be in thee, neither shalt thou worship any strange god. I am the Lord thy God, who brought thee out of the land of Egypt. Open thy mouth wide, and I will fill it. But my people would not hearken to my voice, and Israel would none of me." "So I gave them up unto their own hearts' lust, and they walked in their own counsels. Oh, that my people had hearkened unto me, and Israel had walked in my ways! I should soon have subdued their enemies, and turned my hand against their adversaries. The haters of the Lord should have submitted themselves unto him, but their time should have endured forever. He should have fed them also with the finest of the wheat, and with honey out of the rock should I have satisfied thee."

Now twice the Bible says in verse 24 and verse 26, "God gave them up." And in verse 28 the Bible says "God gave them over." Now Scripture specifically and emphatically states that God gave them up.

God Gives Up Individuals, Families, Churches, and Nations

Using Romans 1, Jeremiah 22, Revelation 2, and 1 Samuel 4, Weaver argues that Scripture shows God giving up individuals, families, churches, and nations.

Scripture Reading — 1 Samuel 4:20-22

"And about the time of her death the women that stood by her said unto her, Fear not; for thou hast born a son. But she answered not, neither did she regard it. And she named the child Ichabod, saying, The glory is departed from Israel: because the ark of God was taken, and because of her father in law and her husband. And she said, The glory is departed from Israel: for the ark of God is taken."

Historical Examples of God Giving Up His People

Weaver cites 2 Chronicles 30 and Acts 7 to show that God gave up Israel to desolation and idolatry because of their rebellion.

The Rescue and Restoration of Israel (Psalm 81:1-7)

God delivered Israel from Egypt and commanded joyful worship as a statute, but the people turned to false gods.

Scripture Reading — Deuteronomy 7:9

Now, Israel had been in Egypt 430 years and God graciously rescues them and restores them for which He should be constantly and continually praised. Now, what in the world, or from what did He rescue them? Well, the answer is He rescued them from slavery, from servitude, from constant drudgery and bondage. What did He do? He brought them out of all of that into His glorious liberty and freedom of His grace and mercy. Look in verses 6 and 7. Here's what God says, "I did for you. I removed his shoulder from the burden: his hands were delivered from the pots. Thou calledst in trouble, and I delivered thee; I answered thee in the secret place of thunder: I proved thee at the waters of Meribah." When they called, He answered. When they were in trouble, He delivered. You know why? Deuteronomy 7 tells us He is the faithful God. And God certainly is faithful. God graciously, sovereignly delivered them. Now, a problem arose. However, the problem was not with God. The problem was not with God's deliverance, because His work is perfect. The problem was with the people. The problem was they did not want to give up their false gods, their strange gods, their foreign gods. They worshipped and served a god or gods of their own making instead of the one true and living God. Look in verse 8 and 9. Look what God says. "Hear, O my people, and I will testify unto thee: O Israel, if thou wilt hearken unto me;"

God's Gracious Offer and Israel's Refusal (Psalm 81:8-11)

God promised to fill their mouths if they obeyed, but they would not hearken and wanted none of Him.

I gave you my law. I gave you my statute. I delivered you. I told you not to do this. And yet, you did.

Scripture Reading — Romans 15:4

"For whatsoever things were written aforetime,"

that is in the Old Testament,

Scripture Reading — Romans 15:4

"were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope."

Huh? What did he say? Everything that was written in the Old Testament was written, what? For our learning.

Scripture Reading — 1 Corinthians 10:11

"Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come."

Surely this must make us think of the words of our Lord in Matthew 23 and verse 37, when He said,

Scripture Reading — Matthew 23:37

"O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not!"

The Results of Being Given Up (Psalm 81:12)

God gave them up to their own hearts' lusts and counsels—a judgment worse than being given to enemies.

Look in your Bibles to the book of Numbers, chapter 15. Numbers, chapter 15. Beginning there with verse 29. Numbers 15, verse 29. Look what God says.

Scripture Reading — Numbers 15:29-31

"Ye shall have one law for him that sinneth through ignorance, both for him that is born among the children of Israel, and for the stranger that sojourneth among them. But the soul that doeth ought presumptuously, whether he be born in the land, or a stranger, the same reproacheth the Lord."

Now note,

Scripture Reading — Numbers 15:29-31

"the same reproacheth the Lord, and that soul shall be cut off from among his people."

Now, I'm not going to ask that you turn there, but I'm going to quote for you Hosea 4 and verse 17. You know what God said about Ephraim? Listen to what he said.

Scripture Reading — Hosea 4:17

"Ephraim is joined to idols: let him alone."

God said, I'm not going to mess with him anymore. Just let him alone. He wants idols? Let him have them. You know what the Bible said? What our Lord said in, I think it's Matthew 15.

The Ramifications of Disobedience: Lost Blessings (Psalm 81:13-16)

Had Israel obeyed, God would have subdued enemies, made haters submit, established them forever, and fed them with the finest wheat and honey.

Scripture Reading — Lamentations 3:33

"For he doth not afflict willingly nor grieve the children of men."

And so they just simply submit to him. You know what the Bible says in Proverbs 21 and verse 1? The Bible tells us

Scripture Reading — Proverbs 21:1

"The king's heart is in the hand of the Lord, as the rivers of water: he turneth it whithersoever he will."

Applications: The Need for Repentance

Weaver applies the psalm to America, warning that national disobedience obstructs deliverance and calling for individual and corporate repentance.

Scripture Reading — Hosea 7:1

"When I would have healed Israel,"

Hosea 7 verse 1,

Scripture Reading — Hosea 7:1

"When I would have healed Israel,"

that is, when I had set everything right among them,

Scripture Reading — Hosea 7:1

"then the iniquity of Ephraim was discovered."

When God Gives Up His People

John Weaver | SermonAudio

Lecture Metadata	Details
Speaker	John Weaver
Source	SermonAudio
Media ID	140572516
Subject	Covenant Theology
Course	Covenant Theology: Blessings, Curses, and Sanctions: The Hallelujah of Confession
Genre	Sermon
Date	2004-12-26
Dictation Name
Book	Book 042: Covenant Theology: Blessings, Curses, and Sanctions: God's Answer to America's Problems — Chapter 4
Source Timed Segments	84

Lecture Guide

Outline

Introduction: The Phrase 'God Gave Them Up': Weaver introduces the topic by noting that Christians associate 'God gave them up' with the wicked in Romans 1, but asks whether God ever gives up His own people.
God Gives Up Individuals, Families, Churches, and Nations: Using Romans 1, Jeremiah 22, Revelation 2, and 1 Samuel 4, Weaver argues that Scripture shows God giving up individuals, families, churches, and nations.
Historical Examples of God Giving Up His People: Weaver cites 2 Chronicles 30 and Acts 7 to show that God gave up Israel to desolation and idolatry because of their rebellion.
The Rescue and Restoration of Israel (Psalm 81:1-7): God delivered Israel from Egypt and commanded joyful worship as a statute, but the people turned to false gods.
God's Gracious Offer and Israel's Refusal (Psalm 81:8-11): God promised to fill their mouths if they obeyed, but they would not hearken and wanted none of Him.
The Results of Being Given Up (Psalm 81:12): God gave them up to their own hearts' lusts and counsels—a judgment worse than being given to enemies.
The Ramifications of Disobedience: Lost Blessings (Psalm 81:13-16): Had Israel obeyed, God would have subdued enemies, made haters submit, established them forever, and fed them with the finest wheat and honey.
Applications: The Need for Repentance: Weaver applies the psalm to America, warning that national disobedience obstructs deliverance and calling for individual and corporate repentance.

Major Themes

Key Arguments

God gives up His own professing people when they persist in disobedience.

Psalm 81 shows God giving up Israel, His covenant people, because they would not hearken.

Psalm 81:11-12: 'But my people would not hearken to my voice... So I gave them up...'

Being given up to one's own lusts is a worse judgment than external affliction.

God's abandonment to sinful desires leads to ruin, whereas chastisement may lead to repentance.

Weaver quotes John Gill: 'to be delivered up unto their own hearts' lust is worse than... being delivered unto Satan.'

Obedience would have brought immediate and lasting blessings.

God laments that if Israel had obeyed, He would have subdued enemies, made haters submit, and provided abundantly.

Psalm 81:13-16: 'I should soon have subdued their enemies... He should have fed them also with the finest of the wheat.'

National sin obstructs national deliverance.

God's healing of a nation is hindered by the discovery of iniquity, as in Hosea 7:1.

Weaver says, 'National sin or national disobedience is the great and only thing that retards and obstructs national deliverance.'

Repentance must start with the individual.

Corporate repentance begins when individuals turn from sin.

Weaver states, 'National repentance must begin with individual repentance.'

Scripture References

Psalm 81:1-16: The entire psalm is read and expounded as the basis for the message.
Romans 1:22-28: Shows God giving up the wicked to uncleanness, vile affections, and a reprobate mind.
1 John 5:16: Mentioned to introduce the concept of a 'sin unto death' as possible for believers.
Romans 9:6: Not all Israel are of Israel; distinction between professing and possessing people.
Jeremiah 22:28-30: God writes off Coniah's family line, showing familial judgment.
Revelation 2:5: Threat of removing the church's candlestick for lack of repentance.
1 Samuel 4:20-22: Ichabod: the glory departed from Israel, illustrating national abandonment.
2 Chronicles 30:1-9: Hezekiah's letter says God gave their fathers up to desolation.
Acts 7:39-43: Stephen recounts God giving Israel up to worship the host of heaven.
Deuteronomy 7:9: God is faithful; referenced in context of His deliverance.
Romans 15:4: Old Testament written for our learning.
1 Corinthians 10:11: Old Testament events are examples for our admonition.
Matthew 23:37: Jesus' lament over Jerusalem: 'ye would not!'
2 Samuel 12:9-10: David despised God by despising His commandment.
Numbers 15:29-31: Presumptuous sin reproaches the Lord.
Hosea 4:17: Ephraim joined to idols; God says 'let him alone.'
Matthew 15:14: Jesus says of Pharisees: 'Let them alone: they be blind leaders of the blind.'
Lamentations 3:33: God does not afflict willingly.
Proverbs 21:1: The king's heart is in the hand of the Lord.
Hosea 7:1: When God would have healed Israel, iniquity was discovered.

Historical References

Sodomites in Romans 1: Weaver notes that Christians immediately think of the Sodomites when hearing 'God gave them up.'
Israel's deliverance from Egypt: God rescued Israel from 430 years of slavery; commemorated by statutes and feast days.
Golden calf incident: Israel's idolatry with the golden calf is mentioned as an example of walking in their own counsels.
Babylonian captivity: God gave the southern kingdom up to Babylon because of continued idolatry.
Persian custom of filling the mouth: Weaver illustrates 'open thy mouth wide' with a Persian custom where the king filled a subject's mouth with sweetmeat or gold.
Commentators John Gill, Matthew Poole, John Trapp: Weaver quotes these historical commentators on Psalm 81:12 to emphasize the severity of being given up.
Southern history and 'What if the South had won the war?': Weaver draws an analogy to the question of what might have been if Israel had obeyed.
Modern cultural references: Saturnalia, Kwanzaa, 'Happy Holidays': Weaver laments businesses forbidding 'Merry Christmas' while allowing other cultural expressions.

Important Quotes

So I gave them up unto their own hearts' lust, and they walked in their own counsels.

This is the central verse of the sermon, summarizing God's judgment of abandonment.

Oh that my people had hearkened unto me, and Israel had walked in my ways!

Reveals God's heart cry and desire for obedience, highlighting the lost blessings.

I should soon have subdued their enemies, and turned my hand against their adversaries.

Shows the specific blessing of victory that obedience would have secured.

He should have fed them also with the finest of the wheat: and with honey out of the rock should I have satisfied thee.

Illustrates the abundant provision God would have given.

National sin or national disobedience is the great and only thing that retards and obstructs national deliverance.

Key application: sin is the obstacle to God's blessing on a nation.

National repentance must begin with individual repentance.

Practical call to personal responsibility in seeking revival.

The greatest judgment that God can cast upon any people is to let them alone.

Summarizes the severity of being given up to one's own ways.

You cannot despise the words of God without despising God Himself.

Connects rejection of Scripture with rejection of God.

Discussion Questions

[Question]

What does it mean for God to 'give up' a person or a people? How is this different from ordinary chastisement?

[Context]

Weaver explains that being given up to one's own lusts is a worse judgment than being given to enemies.

[Question]

In what ways might we, as individuals or as a church, be in danger of God giving us up?

[Context]

The sermon applies the warning to modern believers and churches.

[Question]

How does Psalm 81:13-16 challenge our typical prayer requests? Are we missing blessings because of disobedience?

[Context]

Weaver contrasts what we pray for with what God promises to the obedient.

[Question]

What is the relationship between despising God's Word and despising God Himself? How should this affect our view of Scripture?

[Context]

Weaver uses 2 Samuel 12 and Numbers 15 to show the connection.

[Question]

Why is individual repentance essential for national or corporate revival?

[Context]

Weaver argues that national repentance must begin with individuals.

[Question]

How can we cultivate a heart that 'hearkens' to God rather than walking in our own counsels?

[Context]

The sermon emphasizes the importance of listening to God's voice.

[Question]

What evidence might indicate that a church or nation has already been given up by God?

[Context]

Weaver asks whether America has been given up and points to cultural signs.

[Question]

How does the promise 'open thy mouth wide, and I will fill it' encourage us in our walk with God?

[Context]

Weaver uses the illustration of baby birds to show God's willingness to provide.

Applications

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