The Bible tells us that God will abandon you to your sinful choices if you continue in them. If you choose not to accept His salvation, He will allow you to go on in your sin: but there is a catch: God gives you the freedom to choose to sin, and even engage in the filthiewst of immorality, but He will not let you choose the consequences of your choices. In Galatians 6:7 and 8, the Apostle Paul says, "Be not deceived, God is not mocked; for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. For he that soweth to the flesh shall of the flesh reap coorruption; but he that soweth of the Spirit shall of the spirit reap life everlasting. " When God abandons a man to his immoral lifestyle, that man is headed for disaster.
I. First, we see that when God leaves you alone, He is judging you. We see this from God's dealings with the nation of Israel. After Moses and Joshua, the nation was ruled by judges, of whom the last and greatest was Samuel. Then came the United Kingdom, ruled by kings Saul, David, and Solomon. Solomon made bad choices of wives, and became the first king to allow their idols to be worshipped. After him the nation divided into the Northern Kingdom, which was sometimes called Ephraim, and the Southern Kingdom, called Judah. Ephraim had not even one good, godly king. Every one of their 19 kings worshipped idols, and the people followed their leaders. They were destroyed by the Assyrian Empire in 722 B. C. Judah had five of their 19 kings that were godly. They followed the Lord, and while they ruled, idols were not worshipped as much, and God's prophets were listened to more. Judah lasted until Babylon destroyed Jerusalem in 586 B. C. - over 100 years longer.
The Prophet Hosea prophecied near the end of the Northern Kingdom. In his book, chapter 4, verse 17, he said, Ephraim is joined to idols. Let him alone. They chose not to worship and obey the Lord, but to worship the gods of Canaan in addition to the Lord. So God let them go on in their own wickedness and degeneration right along with the Canaanites. In this verse, God was telling the Southern Kingdom, "Don't go there: Stay away from their influence."
Years later, Jesus spoke the parable of the Prodigal Son. It can be found in Luke 15. Look at verses 11-16: "And he said, A certain man had two sons: And the younger of them said to his father; Father, give me the portion of goods that falleth to me. And he divided unto him his living. And not many days after the younger son gathered all together, and took his journey into a far country, and there wasted his substance with riotous living. And when he had spent all, there arose a mighty famine in the land; and he began to be in want. And he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country: and he sent him into the fields to feed swine. And he would fain have filled his belly with the husks that the swine did eat: and no man gave unto him."
This boy took his inheritance while his father was still alive. Luke 15 tells us he wasted his money until a famine came and he had no more. Then he would up alone in a hog pen. In the Old Testament, working with unclean animals, especially pigs, was one of the worst things a Jew could do. But that is what the boy's sin had reduced him to.
Secondly, we see that when God leaves you alone, you are alone in your own sin. In Romans 1:21-28, Paul says, "Because that, when they knew God, thy glorified him not as God, neither were thankful, but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing theselves to be wise, they became fools. And changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an imaghe made like to corrupible man, and to birds, and to fourfooted beasts, and to creeping things. Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleannes through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonor their own bodies between themsellves: Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen. For this cause God gave them up to vile affections: for even their women did change the use into that which is against nature: And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust toward one another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompence of their error which is 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.
The heart of man is unchanged. This world is a cesspool of degeneration and violence.
In Hosea's time, sin was rampant. Idol worship predominated over the proper worship of the true God. Canaanite worhip involved ritual prostitution, so their places of worship were do different than whorehouses. Worship of false gods resulted in false living. Injustice, violence and ungodlinness prevailed.
The Lord's attitude is well-shown in Psalm 81:8-16: Hear, O my people, and I will testify unto thee: O Israel, if thou wilt hearken unto me; There shall be no strange god in thee: neither shalt thou worship any strange god. I am the Lord thy God, which brought thee out of the land of Egypt: open thy mouth 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. O 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 for ever. He should have fed them also with the finest of wheat: with honey out of the rock should I have satisfied them.
God left them alone. He wanted to bless Israel, but because of their sin and idolatry, He left them to their own devices. He left them to live in their own sinful lusts. Instead of having victory over their enemies, they had defeat. Instead of receiving the submission of the idolaters, they were forced to submit to them. Instead of having food, they wound up starving. This is what happened when God left them alone.
His father left the Prodigal Son alone, and he wasted his money on riotous, ungodly living. He probably got drunk every night, nad the Lord only knows what else he did when he had money. Instead of being at home witha wealthy father who cared for him, inm an uncaring world, he wound up feeding pigs for a living.
III. Finally, we see that when God leaves you alone, you have a choice to make. God made people, not robots. You may choose to sin or not to sin, and God will honor your choice. You may choose to live your life as a drunken, drug-abusing degenerate if that is what you will, and God will leave you alone to do so. But here is the problem you will have: God will not let you escape the consequenses of your bad choices. You will reap what you sow.
Ephraim fell to Assyria. They became slaves in that empire. A few hundred years later, by the time of Christ, all Israel had been under the domination of the Roman Empire for about 150 years. Because Israel sinned and would not follow God, they were left with the consequences of that choice, one of which was the loss of their inheritance fom God.
The Prodigal Son also lost his inheritance. He sinned away his wealth. But at least he did make one right choice: He went home. He returned to his father. Look at Luke 15:17-24: "And when he came to himself, he said, "How many hired servants of my father's have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger! I will arise and go to my father, and will say unto him, 'Father, I have sinned against heaven and before thee, and am no longer worthy to be called thy son: make me as one of thy hired servants.' And he arose, and came to his father. But when he wasyet a great way off, his father saw him and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him. And the son said to him, "Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in thy sight, and am no more worthy to be called thy son." But the Father said his servants, "Bring forth the best robe, and put it on him: and put ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet, and bring hither the fatted calf, and kill it: and let us eat and be merry: For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found." And they began to be merry.
Alone in the hog pen, says Luke 15:17, he came to himself. Arriving home, he confessed in verse 21, "Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in thy sight and am no longer worthy to be called thy son." His father rejioced and called for a celebration. The best robe. A ring for his hand. The fatted calf. Why rejoice? Verse 24: "For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found."
As the father waited patiently for the prodigal Son, so God patiently waits for the sinner to come home. He sent His Son to die to save you from your sins. He loved you that much. you might have the most degenerate lifestyle imaginable, but God wants you to came to yourself. He wants you to come to Him, even as unworthy as you are, and be made His son or daughter. You don't have to be alone in sin any more. There is an infinitely betterr choice. In Lukew 15:10, Jesus said, "There is joy in thhe presence of the angels over one sinner the repenteth." Sinner, make the angels rejoice! Come home.
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