Why Great Nations Fall Deut. 8:11-17 CLICK TITLE FOR AUDIO
This sermon examines why great nations fall. Apparently, there are a number of preachers in America that just can’t wait till America gets what’s coming to her in the way of God’s judgment. We are not among those preachers. From studying why great nations fall we understand that America is facing God’s judgment, but we are not looking forward to it.
America still has many Christians that pray for the lost, pray for the governors of this country, pray for their pastors, pray for their families, pray for the sick and give liberally to the work of the Lord. America is still the greatest nation in this world responsible for producing most of the missionaries supported and sent to the foreign fields. America still sends a great deal of humanitarian relief to countries in need.
It’s not that we don’t see what’s coming. We certainly warn Americans when we preach on the radio, on the street and in the pulpit that her day of judgment is coming, but we don’t “look forward” to it with the satisfaction that God will finally recompense our country for all of her sins. When this country suffers, we will all suffer.
The only reason we should desire to suffer under God’s judgment in this country is that God “might” use suffering and affliction to bring more souls to the Lord Jesus Christ. However, if you are doing nothing now to win them to the Lord when times are easier, then don’t worry about helping God out in a crisis. You’ll be too busy begging God for your personal relief!!
Why in the world, then, do nations that have been as blessed as we have go down? The reason is simple; they can’t handle the blessings without becoming proud and forgetting God. As the Bible says, “The LORD will destroy the house of the proud: but he will establish the border of the widow, (Prov 15:25).”
Take a look, for instance, at Israel. In Deut 8:11-17, God warned the Jews that when they had eaten to the full, had built nice houses, had multiplied their herds and flocks, and had accumulated great wealth, they would forget him and think that they had produced all of that wealth, themselves. In fact, that’s exactly what they did and they were destroyed for it (Hos 13:6-9).
In Sodom and Gomorrah, the problem was the same. You might be thinking that God destroyed them because of homosexuality. That certainly had a lot to do with the trouble, but that was only a part of the problem. In Eze 16:49-50, God listed the sins of Sodom that caused him to destroy them: pride, fullness of bread, abundance of idleness, and neglect of the poor. Because of these things they forgot God and he destroyed them.
When God destroyed the great Babylonian empire, he first pronounced his judgment against them. They were lifted up against the Lord, they praised the gods of their wealth (gold, silver, brass, iron, wood, and stone), and they didn’t glorify God (Dan 5:22-23). That sounds precisely like what God would say about our country. It’s deadly to forget the God that gave us all of our prosperity.
The same thing that brought these nations down will eventually bring down the United States of America. We haven’t been able to handle the blessings of God Almighty in this country without letting it go to our heads. This country doesn’t glorify God anymore; people simply use his name in various contexts to make an impression.
We put “in God we trust” on the dollar bill and then people trust the “almighty dollar” for their provisions. We say “under God” in the pledge of allegiance and then make judicial and legislative decisions in this country without regard to what God said about those things. Children are to grow in the nurture and admonition of the Lord but they can’t do that in any facility that is controlled by the government.
So, “the hand writing’s on the wall.” From studying other great nations before us, we see why great nations fall. There’s no getting around this country’s eventual fall without a national repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ (Acts 20:21). The likelihood of that is slim to none. The simple truth is that this nation has long ago begun to forget God. That’s what took the other great nations down before us and that’s what’ll take this nation down. Like the Lord said, “The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God,” (Ps 9:17). Forgetting God is why great nations fall.
Here’s what we must do about this. We must pray and we must help the people we know come to Jesus Christ. Only by praying for those in authority and by witnessing to individuals can we help our country not forget God.