[Steve Myers] The man stood and reined in his horses. He stood there in his chariot and gazed across a muddy river at an ancient bridge. Thought for a moment, muttered a few words as he was near this obscure village in northern Italy. Seemed insignificant, but the entire history of the world hinged at that very moment. The year, 49 BC. The man, Julius Caesar. And the river, the Rubicon. The Rubicon. Crossing the Rubicon was a significant event because, by law, no Roman general could lead armed troops into Rome. But for just a moment, Julius paused and then led his 13th Legion across the Rubicon River into Italy. The die was cast. This was an act of treason, an insurrection. This meant that both he and his men became outlaws. They could be hunted down and executed. And the impact of Caesar's decision is irreversible. It could not be undone. And so as a result, war broke out, civil war for years and years until Julius finally became the absolute dictator of the Roman Empire. Of course, since that day, crossing the Rubicon means making a huge decision that affects all of life, a decision from which there is no retreat, there's no going back. It's a metaphor. It's a metaphor for something that is irreversible, an irreversible act, an unalterable action.

And considering that, there's a question for today. Have we crossed the Rubicon? Has our country crossed the Rubicon? Has our world crossed the Rubicon? And what is our perspective when it comes to what is happening in our world around us? But is there any doubt? There is a monumental struggle going on for control, control over our country, control over its values. It's not just a political fight. It is a culture war, a culture war. There is an absolute relentless battle that is going on for your mind, for our lives, for our values. And we have to face it. Everything we see, everything we watch, everything we look at, and our notifications, point us in those directions that shape the way we look at the world. And don't kid yourself. Corporations, our education system, science, politicians, all of them are tools in this war. I mean, have you noticed it? Have you noticed how suddenly there's just been a dramatic realignment in our world, in our country that we've got a term for it? Polarization. I'm on this side. You are on that side. And there's no ground in between. And it has transformed politics in our country. It has transformed our society and our culture, and values. Our values have become so far removed from God that they're no longer in sight. We are just thinking in wrong ways and have wrong policies.

And has it come to mind at all that it's possible? It is possible to ignore the warning signs of that wrong way of life for so long that suddenly it's too late. It's too late. Is that possible? Well, the Bible certainly speaks to this. There's a section in the book of Lamentations if you'd like to turn there with me. Lamentations 2:14. Interesting book, Lamentations, because it pictures a man, most likely Jeremiah. And he is recognizing the results of evil. He's recognizing the suffering that wrong ways of life have impacted his world. And he expresses the humiliation. He expresses the suffering and the despair of Jerusalem because Jerusalem ignored God and what followed was the destruction of the city by the Babylonians. And so Lamentations paints this awful imagery of a devastated city. And here we find what happened. What happened? Well, Judah had crossed the Rubicon. The die was cast. The nation could no longer repent. That was no longer an option. They were no longer able to avoid being taken captive by the Babylonians.

So, in Lamentations 2:14, we see the results of that. Notice what happened. It says, "Your prophets have seen for you false and deceptive visions; they have not uncovered your iniquity, to bring back your captives, but have envisioned for you false prophecies and delusions." I mean, in this very short passage, we see a number of issues that they refused to recognize. And in fact, when we read these words, I think we get the idea. This doesn't only apply to Judah. This isn't just some ancient prophecy that applied to them alone. This applies to us. This is a warning for us and our world. Our world has crossed the Rubicon. We have false and deceptive visions. Where are leaders taking us? Do they have the proper vision for this world, for our country? Do they understand the truth of God? Do they promote truth? I mean, it used to be truth, justice, and the American way. Does that apply any longer? I think Superman would be disappointed, wouldn't he? When you recognize this, we have that deception today. There's so much inequality, inequity meaning, this isn't the lawlessness inequity, this is the perverse iniquity, depravity. It's talking about the guilt from sin. That's what this is talking about. False prophecy. Well, if we only do these things, our country will be so much better. We'll be in so much better condition. If we just do these. That's a false vision. That is a delusion. That is a sham.

We have to recognize that's not where the answers lie, because what is our country promoted? Well, same-sex marriage is a great thing. We have proper justice. Do we? Is justice a word that we fulfill in our country today? And what about the discrimination? What about economic opportunity? Oh, we've got all these great ideas, but do they ever follow through? And what happened to the rule of law? Is there any rule of law in our country today? We recognize inequality. We recognize the challenges of poverty. And we get into our arguments over masks or no masks or vaccines or no vaccines. We fall into the same problems that ancient Judah faced. And we have to say to ourselves, "Are we recognizing the warning signs, the warning signs that that way of life, that way of thinking is leading us?" You see, when we really face the facts, I think we have to come to the conclusion. Our world, our society has worked its way into a predicament that they cannot get out of. They can't get out of it. You can't put the toothpaste back in the tube. You can't unring a bell and the bell has rung. And all you have to do is look at the world around us. Look at the news around us. Look at the statistics of what people believe these days.

I ran across an interesting study that was done. I mean, it used to be in the United States of America you could say we were unique. Might even be able to say we were devout. And we had a religious country. And statistics show from 1937 to 1998, polls show that church membership was almost constant during that whole time, decade after decade after decade. Seventy percent of Americans would say they belong to a church, 70%. All those decades, '37 to '98. But today, how many? How many? Not even that say they're a church member. How many people in America even just identify with a church? It's an all-time low, less than half even identify with any church, with any religious belief in that sense. And in fact, the nones, not the N-U-N-S, not the Catholic nuns, but the nones, the atheist, the agnostics, those that have absolutely no religion. Guess what's happened to that group in the last few years. It has skyrocketed. More than a quarter of Americans, nothing. Nothing. No connection whatsoever.

And so what's amazing about that, not only has religion been at a low, because after all, it wasn't the truth. They didn't understand God's truth of the Bible. They didn't understand God's plan. They didn't understand what he was… Yeah. But there was a sense of morality. There was a sense of right and wrong. So, not only has religion plummeted through the floor, so did its values, the values of religion. And so all of that points to the fact that we've crossed the Rubicon. And when we read about what happened to Judah in Lamentations, it's not an isolated event, when we recognize this is talking also about what would happen in the future? What would happen before Christ's return? And here it is, right before our eyes, it's been happening. And God speaks to this over and over because he doesn't want us to cross. He wants us on his side, and yet, what was the history of his people? There's another account of this scenario and how it played out in the life of another nation. And you can find that in the book of Amos.

If you turn with me over to Amos 4, notice verse 6. Here in the book of Amos, God is speaking to people who have already crossed the Rubicon. Now they are in this perilous position. This situation is an ominous one. Why? Because they chose it. It didn't just happen to them. It just didn't fall upon them. This situation came about because of their own choices. And God was warning this kingdom of Israel, the northern kingdom of Israel, and you would think they would have recognized the signs. By this time, you might think it would have been a horrible place to be. But actually, during Amos's time, times were good. The economy was great. You could say that economic engine was just purring along. People were profiting. And it seemed life was good. Now, to say that morality was in decline would probably be a gross understatement because when we read about that time, this is a time of depravity. This is a time of degeneracy. This is a time of arrogance and idolatry and self-righteousness. And they were into things. They were into materialism. And they had reached the point they were no longer hearing God. God was crying out to them through His prophets. They couldn't hear it. They ignored it. And they came to this point that there was no coming back.

And so here in the book of Amos, we find God holding the people accountable because the die was cast, the damage was already done.

And so when we read verse 6, at Amos 4, God said, "Here's a couple of the warnings that I gave you. Yeah. Even though times were good, once in a while, I gave you cleanness of teeth in all your cities.” Of course if your teeth are clean, you haven't been eating. Right? "I took your food away. There was a lack of bread.” Now you think that might cause people to cry out to God? Come back to God." God's telling them, "Hey, I'm the Ultimate Supplier. It's not your hand that earns all these things." But what happened? He says, "Yet you have not returned to Me." He goes on, another time, "I withheld rain when there was three months to the harvest." Well, that's not a good time to go without rain just before the crops are just maturing. Would that cause the people to turn back to God? I mean, they had shut down. They had shut down, and so we see end of verse 8, "Yet you have not returned to Me." They wouldn't listen. In fact, by this time, it seems they couldn't hear it. And so what's left? What's left after we've shut our eyes and we refuse to hear?

Now verse 12. “'Therefore, thus will I do to you, O Israel; because I will do this to you, prepare to meet your God, O Israel!’ For behold, He who forms mountains, and creates the wind, who declares to man what his thought is, and makes the morning darkness, who treads upon the high places of the earth— the Lord of hosts is His name." All that was left was coming judgment. That's what remained because Israel had forgotten how to do the right thing. That sound vaguely familiar to what's going on today. I mean, Israel had tolerated sin for so long, so long, they no longer knew what was right. They couldn't identify the difference between right and wrong. And I believe most, if not most of our world, maybe even all the world, have they forgotten? Have they forgotten how to do what's right? Do they even know the difference, what's right and what's wrong? I mean, when we look and we really see what we find here in Amos, what we find in Lamentations, what we'll see throughout the Bible. God can be provoked once too often. Once too much, he can. And sometimes he does say, "That's the last straw. That is it.”

And what we read here in Amos is a record of that very fact, and a prophecy for our time. Here, God's patience ran out. And it certainly is a reminder, this is a situation our world is in. And what a reminder? What a great reminder because the lesson throughout the Old Testament, throughout ancient Israel, Judah, when you obey God, there will be blessings that follow. And when you disobey, disobedience brings judgment and curses. And that hasn't changed. That hasn't changed. And when we look around our culture today, even though religion and, I think, we can say morality is an all-time low, there is something in America that is as fervent as ever. Have you noticed it? I mean, what once seemed to be connected to religion and religious belief, now it's kind of transferred to political belief, political opinions, political ideologies. And so as religious faith has declined and declined, ideological intensity has gotten that much greater that people are locked into their position, what they believe, and what they think. And fragmentation of you believe this and they believe that and I hate them because what they believe. Hasn’t that become evident in our world? I think more and more so. We can't be a part of that. As God's people, He has called us out of that.

And today, it seems like in America, we have religion without religion. It's not religion. In fact, I was reading an article in The Atlantic from a writer called Shadi Hamid. And he wrote that America itself is “almost a religion.” Maybe step back and think for a minute. That's really interesting. I mean, after all, we have our own profits, don't we? Our founding fathers. We have our scripture, the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution. Is that possible that that now has become a religion in America? I think in a way we've found expression in an entirely different way. Now it's a secular commitment. Now it's conservatism, or it's liberalism, or it's nationalism. I mean, isn't it true? I mean, you've watched the news. You've noticed the notifications on your phone. If I'm a conservative, conservatives believe they are faithful to the American ideals. And those liberals, they're betraying it. Yeah. They cry about it, don't they? And what do the liberals say? "We are the ones that are faithful to America. We support the American ideals. And those conservatives, they are the ones. They are the ones that are betraying America." Isn’t that obvious? I mean, whatever happened to free speech in America? Do we have free… You can't say things in America. I'm sure what I'm saying today would be classified as hate speech, the canceled culture.

You see, this ideological battle is something we can't afford to dip our toe into. We are citizens of another country. We are citizens that are loyal to the King of Kings. And we recognize this world, this government, this way of thinking is only temporary, and we cannot even think about falling into those values. And we don't want to be held captive the way this world is to the ways of thinking that are directly opposed to God, because they have crossed the Rubicon. It's also interesting. That's not the only phrase that reflects that way of thinking, not only as our world crossed the Rubicon, there was another phrase, similar phrase that came to being used in World War II. And it came into use in the air force. They made this, most kind of frightening phrase, a popular one phrase. "The point of no return. The point of no return." If you were in the Air Force and on an aircraft carrier and they sent you out on a mission, if you use more than half of your fuel before you were on your way back to the carrier, you had basically one option. You're going to crash. You're not going to make it. You crossed that halfway point and you hadn't done your mission yet, the only other option was to crash in enemy territory. Can't afford to do that. You can't do that. And so when we recognize that, we have to turn back. We can't allow ourselves to pass the point of no return. If we pass the point of no return, there is no hope. And in fact, I believe our world has passed that point, passed the point of no return. Evidence?

Hold your place here in Amos. We'll come back in just a moment. But turn to the New Testament. Turn over to Romans 1. Romans 1:18 spells out very clearly. Now, this is almost 2,000 years ago. We're reading what the apostle Paul was inspired to write about the culture of his day. But how does that reflect today? How does this apply to us and the world that we live in? Paul writes some phenomenal things under the inspiration of God. Romans 1:18. Is he describing our world? He writes this, "The wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness." So, question. Do people suppress the truth in our world today? I mean, suppress it. They're holding it back. They're hindering it. They're keeping it. They're restraining the truth so that it cannot go out? I believe, absolutely. I mean, have you considered, why can't we be more successful as we preach the gospel? I mean, this is the good news of God's plan, His truth, His love, His mercy, His way. And where does it go? Nowhere. So little progress in this world. But I think God is telling us why. Well it’s because of sin. It's because of wickedness. People are directly resisting the truth. They don't want to hear it. They're not going to believe it. And of course, why not?

Well, if I believe that, that means I've got to give up sin. I've got to give up that way that I like. I have to resolve to change. And so the result is they resist the gospel. And so it's pride and its vanity. And they indulge their passions, no doubt. And they're not going to yield. They're not going to yield to God, not to His word, nor to His truth. And so the wicked, the proud, the vain, the worldly. We're being told the same. It's what we read in Lamentations. The same of what we read in Amos. Here, Paul, in Romans is saying the same thing. They're responsible for their own sins. But not only that, they're also suppressing the truth. They're holding it back. And in fact, we read in verse 20, “Since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen,” kind of like, "Didn't I give you cleanness of teeth? Didn't I show you some things? Didn't I warn you? Wasn't I trying to make it obvious to you?” That's kind of what he's saying here. He says these attributes were clearly seen being understood by the things that are made, even as eternal power and Godhead. So, they are without excuse.

Of course, the Creator God is minimized in our creation. Are you kidding me? Evolution is the way. Of course, science has proved it, hasn't it? I don't think so. Not at all. You hardly ever hear the theory attached to that concept any longer. This is what is fact. But what we see here is, it should be obvious. It should be obvious. Now, this verse 20 doesn't mean that every single human being has had their opportunity for eternal life. That is not what he's talking about. When he says that attributes are clearly seen, it says there without excuse. It doesn't mean that they've had their opportunities for salvation as yet. But it is telling us there is clear evidence of God's existence. If people are truly honest with themselves, there's no excuse for idolatry. There's no excuse for hindering the truth by your sin, God is saying. I mean, a good example. What book is found in almost every home in America? It's the Bible. The Word of God is within reach. How many are reaching for God's Word?

So, there is the opportunity there. Boy, we like to use excuses, don't we? We like to use excuses. And of course, we've been hearing about this amazing landing on Mars and how there's drones and now can fly over the landscape of… Wow. Awesome. Amazing. Isn't science wonderful? Well, who created science after all? Well, we deny the Creator. Oh, no, this just happened. Just happenstance. Just an amazing accident. And we deny and we suppress the truth. That's not showing any indication of God, but he's telling us here, "Yes, there is. There's no excuse not to recognize there is a supreme being. There is a Creator God. So, as a result, because there's no excuse, what did God do in Lamentations? What did God do in Amos' time? What does God say he'll do? Verse 24. "Therefore God also gave them up to uncleanness, in the lusts of their hearts, to dishonor their bodies among themselves, who exchanged the truth of God for the lie,” the lie. Well, man knows the best way. Our government knows the best way. Science knows the best way. We can figure it out ourselves. We know what's right. We know what's best. And what does God say? "All right. That's what you want? You're going to ignore me?" God says, "Fine." God abandons them. He stops restraining them. And so we see, He says, "If that's what you want if you're not going to listen to Me, if you're going to ignore Me and turn your back, have at it. Have at it.”

And so verse 26, it says, "For this reason, God gave them up to vile passions, disgraceful desires." And He goes into specific detail of those sins. The most offensive, the most vile, the most degrading things that mankind can imagine, He lists for us. But what does our world call that kind of behavior? "This is wonderful. This is great. This is freedom. This is SOGI. This is my sexual orientation. I should be able to choose my orientation. I should be able to, you know, have my own gender identity. I have a free will to choose that. SOGI is a great thing that is becoming part of American law. You cannot discriminate. And the LGBTQ agenda that's out here. It's all about love. It's all about love. And isn't love good?" Well, God would be accused of hate speech because He reminds us, Isaiah 5:20, "Woe to those who call evil good." That's exactly what our world is doing. And the amazing part is it's taken the morality out of the argument. Have you noticed that? Well, now we pass laws. Same-sex marriage is legal. So, you discriminate against them. It's not a moral thing anymore. What is it? Now it's a legal issue. Now it's illegal to have the opinion that God has. It's illegal.

And so we've come that far. And it is amazing how quickly things have changed. Same-sex marriage, not all that long ago, passed by the Supreme Court. Yep, it's a good thing. How many people in America, what percentage of Americans actually supported same-sex marriages 1988? Only 11%, 11%. Fast forward, 2009, 20 years later, what percentages of Americans believe that's a good thing, would support the idea of same-sex marriage? We jumped from 11% in 20 years to 49%, 49% according to an ABC poll, 49%. Now, it's not very long ago, 2009. Okay. Come up to today. What percentage of Americans now support same-sex marriage? Seventy percent. Seventy percent. In just those few years. Have we crossed the Rubicon? Now, of course, we don't hate people. We don't hate individuals. That's unacceptable. But the behavior, the morality is unacceptable. And so God inspired Paul to tell it like it is. And so, as we read here, it says, "Even their women exchanged the natural use for what's against nature." Verse 27, "Also the men leaving the natural use of the woman burned in their lust for one another." God says that is wicked and sinful, unacceptable behavior. And that's it. There's no, "Well, what about love? Well, what about my preference?" No. God says, "This is the way it is.”

And in Corinthians, He says, "Anyone that practices these things will not be in the Kingdom of God." And He lays it out strong and clear. This is not hate speech. In fact, this is just the opposite. Think about that for a moment. As He maps this behavior out so clearly, he says, "Because of their wickedness and because of their choice to restrain God," verse 28, He says, "God gave them over to a debased mind." That means a shameful mind, a disgraceful mind. And he lists… It's not just sexual things. It's not just that. I mean, look at the list here in verse 29. He talks about wickedness, covetousness, so greediness, maliciousness. Boy, do we have that in our world that people want to get even and they take things over the top full of envy, strife, deceit, lies? Our government would never lie to us, would they? People would never… Violence. Boy, this is a listing of the latest news headlines, isn't it? And yes, they'd call this hate speech, but, ultimately, God's saying, "This is life speech. Get away from these things. Have nothing to do with these things and you will have life." And so it's just the opposite. And our world has turned those things around. And because of this, notice how God says we've crossed the Rubicon.

Verse 32. It says, "Knowing the righteous judgment of God," is what? "those who practice such things are deserving of death,” he says, "not only do they do the same…" So, we got to be careful here because we say, "Oh, what terrible behavior? What awful thing?" Yeah, I think we've got a lot of Americans that don't do those things. But how many of us say, "Well, if they want to do that, that's okay. That's good for them"? Well, what does God say about that attitude? Well, look what he says. "they don't only do the same but approve of those who practice them." We can't fall into that ditch and say, "Well, whatever they want to do. That's good. Good for them." No, it's not. It's evil. It's wrong. It's sinful. And so what we find happening here is God has put America and the world on notice. You have reached the point of no return. You've crossed the Rubicon. God says, "Go ahead. That's what you want? Have your way. Do your thing. Do what you want. Turn your back on Me and see what happens next. You won't listen to my warnings. You're just like Israel. You are so preoccupied with material things, with your own religious ideas, your own political venue, your own wants, your own desires, and you are so morally perverse that all that's left is to destroy the nation." That's what God is telling us.

And so I think it becomes obvious we've crossed the point of no return. And of course, as we consider that, we have to recognize it may be too late for the nation. It may be too late for the world, but it's not too late for us. It's not too late because God still calls out to us. He moves us by the power of His Spirit. In fact, He tells us… If you've still got a finger in the book of Amos, if you'll turn back to Amos for a moment, even after it was all a done deal for Israel, God still gives a call to repentance. He still gives a call to change. And in Amos 5:24, He tells us what it should be. He tells us, "This is the way that I envision a life for My people. This is how it should look. This is how it should manifest itself in the life of my people, My called out ones." And so He says, Amos 5:24, "Let justice run down like water, and righteousness like a mighty stream." Of course, as we read those words, we know that connection between water and God's Holy Spirit. Let God's Spirit run and it will produce a righteousness that is like a mighty river. And that's what God is wanting. That's what God seeks. That's what we should reflect in our lives. And in a way, it should be like Niagara Falls that is so amazing, so powerful.

Have you been to Niagara Falls? Anybody been to Niagara Falls? All right. Ever been in that cave behind the fall? Some of you have been. How would you describe that I mean, the sense of that water just roaring over those falls? I mean, it's hard to describe because it is such a raging waterfall and just the sound, the sound of it is almost overwhelming as you get close to the falls. And you would think looking at the falls that it's impossible that any force of any kind could be strong enough to stop that gigantic rush of water right over that rim. But it happened. It happened.

You know that for 30 long hours Niagara stopped. The river quit flowing.

Now if it happened a year or two ago, you would have heard about. It would have been on Facebook all over the place and they've been flying helicopters over the… Now, this is all the way back in 1848, 1848 before anybody could tweet about it for 30 hours. You can imagine this. The river stopped. It stopped. The falls dried up. And there were a few brave people that tried to walk across this river bed that was all rocky. A couple of people, it's recorded, tried to ride their horses over the rock floor of the channel. But history records how eerie the silence was that just feel the air, just a strangeness about it. In fact, it was such an oddity that droves of people ran to churches to pray because they thought, "Oh, boy, it must be over." And they panicked. Many people panicked because the river stopped. Now, it's interesting that it wasn't that long. Thirty hours later, suddenly there was this gigantic roar. And different accounts say that it was such a monumental sound that they felt it shook the foundations of the world. It's a way some people record it. And they record that a solid wall of water suddenly came rushing down the channel. And it was at such an amazing height. They couldn't imagine how tall this water wave that came at them was blasting down the riverbed. And they say that it just curved and wound its way and then just crashed over the falls itself. Must have been a remarkable experience because then Niagara was back.

What was the explanation? Why did that happen? How could that be possible? Well, they couldn't find out instantly. It took days to sort out what had actually happened. But they sorted it out and they found out that high winds at Lake Erie had caused millions and millions of tons of ice to block the source of the river. So, this ice became impacted right there where the lake flowed into the river and it blocked the channel completely. But it didn't last forever. Finally, that energy that just could not relent, it shifted, that ice moved, and all of that pent up energy and weight of this water, boom, it breaks through and couldn't help but flow down that river. I think there's an interesting lesson in that story because our world is in a situation like this right now that God's justice, His righteousness might be held back for a moment or two, maybe for a little bit of time. But undoubtedly, eventually, just like that mighty Niagara, it's going to break. This is going to shift. And the force behind that pent-up weight, not of water, but of justice will run down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream. It is going to happen because God is telling us through this passage and Amos, through maybe the lesson of Niagara, that purity is what God calls for just like that rushing water. And He calls for that in us. He wants to see that in us because judgment and righteousness will flow. It cannot be stopped. But what a great reminder for us.

It may very well be we've crossed the Rubicon, but individually, that idea of reaching the point of no return should be something we keep in mind. We keep in mind in… It should be a real, real event, real thought that comes to our mind because the Bible is clear. It's very clear. One day every one of us, every one of us will answer to God, every one of us. So, when we see the depravity of this world, we can't just point the finger. We better recognize we're accountable. We're accountable for the way that we choose to live our life. And the story of Romans, the story of Amos, the story of Lamentations should all be a reminder to be that much more diligent to stay close to God. We have to always keep in mind. We've got to avoid the point of no return. And if we're going to avoid that point, we've got to turn to the solution. In fact, there's only one solution. That solution is a spiritual one. Our world turns to all these physical ways to try to solve their problems and come up with bigger, better ideas, new ways of sinning. But there's only one solution, and it's a spiritual solution. And we're going to find more and more. The more we strive to live by God's way, it will automatically put us in opposition to the lifestyles of this world. Can't help but do that. It will put us against the prevailing philosophies and the ways of this world just by striving to live God's way. And so as we try to honor and glorify and exalt God, no matter what, I think it's a call, a call to us, a reminder to us.

We quit worrying about being politically correct. God is telling us that. He's saying, "Be biblically correct. That's what it's about. Be biblically correct. Follow My word, My standard, what works for a spiritual approach to life. Come out of this culture. Come out of this society." Because if we're to avoid the point of no return, we can't just sit back and relax and just think we can watch the world around us decay. And it's not what God wants us to do. We can't be content with where we're at. I mean, can you imagine that? Are we going to say, "Well, I guess I'm good enough. I'm spiritual enough. I'm fine." I mean, if we're content with where we're at, that means I'm never going to be more spiritual than I am right now. Is that what God wants us to think? I think if we fall into that frame of mind, we're going to fall backwards because we're reminded over to hunger and thirst for righteousness. And if you're going to live tomorrow, you've got to eat today. You've got to… It's got to be an ongoing thing. And so if we're to avoid the point of no return, that means I can't wait. I can't wait till tomorrow. I've got to stop thinking, "I got some time. We're not at the tribulation yet." God says, "No. Now's the time to light a fire. Now's the time." If we're going to avoid the point of no return, we cannot afford to take sin lightly.

And when we see selfishness in this world, we got to turn that around and recognize, "Is there selfishness in my life, in my thinking?" We see pride out there. "Well, am I prideful? How does pride demonstrate itself in my thinking, in my attitude? Am I envious? Am I complacent?" You see, I have to realize, "Is this in me too?" because there's no doubt sin has the capacity to overwhelm us. And we don't want to be taken in. We have to remember this is dangerous stuff. Our eternal life is at stake. And so we find ourselves at the edge of the Rubicon. What do we do? Well, you don't want to stick your toe in the river. If we're flying along and we recognize, "I'm going the wrong direction. I'm running out of fuel." Immediately recognize, right the first realization, now is the time to turn, now is the time to change, now is the time to repent. Don't let it go on. Choose. Choose to change. And it can help us to turn things around. I mean, we've just coming out of this pandemic, so it's been called. Well, think about sin. Think about sin as the ultimate infection and every instant of unbelief is like a virus. And we don't do something about that sin, we don't do something about that infection, we don't do something about that virus, it can spread throughout our entire being until we are infected beyond cure. That's the lesson from Lamentations and Amos and Romans.

But the good news, God's given us the cure. We have the cure. We've been given the power of God's Holy Spirit. We have mighty waters. We've been given those mighty waters. We've got everything it takes by the grace of God to overcome. We can face sin and take it on by the power of God. And we can do it when we see it first coming. We want to make sure that when we first see it, we're not going to flirt with it. We're not going to allow that… when that temptation comes up, we are going to beat it down when it first begins to rise in our mind because we will not accept it. We want nothing to do with the ways of this world, not even entertain that idea, because if we are going to avoid the point of no return, that means individually, I have to do whatever it takes to stay close to God. But it also means collectively, we, as the Body of Christ, as the collective Body of Christ, we have to determine to be together. We have to determine to fellowship together. And don't forget our fellowship, most importantly, begins with fellowship with the Father and with His Son, Jesus Christ. That's where it begins. And that means if I'm fellowshipping with the Father, with Jesus Christ, I have to fellowship with my brothers and sisters in Christ. I have to come together.

We are the Body of Christ and we share and we participate. That's what we're doing, fellowshipping. And we are partners. And we are participants together. We are a community of the believers of God. We are the Body of Christ. We are the called ones that are out of this world. And we are not only called out, we're brought together and that's the meaning of the word for church in the New Testament. We are called out and brought together. It's time to come together. It is time to be together. Now is the time to stop neglecting the assembling of ourselves together. We have to be together. We must be together. That is a biblical, godly command. If we're going to avoid crossing the Rubicon and avoid the point of no return, now's the time. Now is the time. And what a blessing. What a blessing because it's not too late for us. It's maybe too late for this world, but it's not too late for us. So, let's make a conscious decision to never fall in line with the values that are just plummeting all around us. Let's make a deliberate choice. Never, never to allow this way of the world to distract us and get us off track. And let's have an intentional resolve, an intentional resolve to guard our hearts and to guard our minds because as we determine to stay close to God, He's promised to give us the power. He's promised it. He will give us the power to avoid crossing the Rubicon.

[Steve Myers] Well, the question of the week is probably, what in the world is going on? Did that come to mind to you this week? I think the other phrase is chaos at the Capitol. We've seen that. We've seen violence in our streets before, but a pretty shocking scene to see that right at the Capitol Building. Of course, you add that to things that have happened over the last few months with violence, and rioting, and racism, and injustice, it almost seems overwhelming. And perhaps that passage in 2 Timothy 3 came to your mind. You know it, it says, "In the last days, perilous times will come." Perilous times, horrible times, difficult times, times that wear on us with many troubles and tribulations. And it goes on in Timothy to list those character traits of being unloving, and unforgiving, and no self-control, words that describe the things that have been happening over the last several months. And those are things we want nothing to do with that. We don't want to come near any of those things. Perhaps the Coronavirus protocols were getting us ready for some of this because we don't want to be close to any of this. We better keep our distance.

And so that's been I think the word of the day, that we don't want to come near it or touch any of those types of things because these tumultuous times that we're living in, certainly show, this is an uncertain world. And so as we watch these things unfold before us, what should our perspective be? As a Christian, what about our viewpoint? How should we face the challenges of violence, and racism, and partisanship? How do we deal with those things that just seem to surround us? I thought it might be helpful this afternoon, to take a look at that basic spiritual principle that God gives us, that should guide our viewpoint, that should really help us to have the proper focus. And not only that in these difficult times, to really give us some encouragement, as we face the challenges that lie ahead of us. There are three basic Biblical passages that I think can help us to do that. And so I've, kind of, organized the sermon by those three specific passages that can help us to face those challenges and give us that guidance, give us that perspective that we need, as we face the days ahead.

The first one is found in 2 Corinthians 6:17 if you'll turn there with me. You could even say, this is the theme Scripture of the day, 2 Corinthians 6:17. Now, of course, in this particular section of Scripture, Paul's writing to Corinth, and they have so many issues and so many problems. The Church was a divided church. And they were dealing with the issues of partnering with the world. And Paul talked about, "Don't be unequally yoked." He said, "What fellowship does light have with darkness? What communion does Belial have with Christ? What part does the temple of God have with idols?" And he's dealing with much of the same issues that we're facing today. What agreement is there between these things? And as a result, he comes to the conclusion in chapter 6 verse 17 of what we and what the Corinthians had to do. What do we have to do about these things? Well, verse 17 says, "Come out from among them and be separate," says the Lord. "Do not touch what is unclean, and I will receive you." And so a pretty short, concise, simple direction that God inspired Paul to give us.

He starts by saying, "Come out." Now, if you were to look that up in a Greek dictionary, a word dictionary, the definition would be pretty straightforward. Yeah, it means to come out but it gets to the point of departing or even takes it to the level of escaping. If we're going to come out, we've got to escape from the pulls and the draws of this world. He just got down telling us the influence of unbelievers, the influence of wrong ways of thinking, the wrong ways of idolatry has to be something we escape from, we depart from. We get away from this. And then He emphasizes that fact by saying, "Be separate. Be separate." And the connotation of that Greek word means we've got to set a limit. There has to be a limit to the contact that we allow this outside influence to affect us. In fact, the word has a sense of making a boundary. This is as far as I go. And there is a boundary between my thinking and the influence of culture and society around me, and that effect it might have on me. And so, it has this sense of, keep your distance, keep your distance.

And, of course, we should be good at this right now, since we've been social distancing for a while. Do we recognize that? So we don't contract the illness of sin of this society, set a boundary, get away from it, sever yourself from that influence. That's what that word for separate really gets down to, that corrupting influence of society, the corrupting influence of government, the corrupting influence of politics, and entertainment, and the world around us. We've got to be set apart from it. We've got to make that choice ourselves. To the extent, Paul says here, "Don't even touch it. Don't touch it. Don't touch." And, of course, when you think of this word for touching, what does that imply? Well, what do we do when we come into services these days? Okay. We, kind of, stopped touching and now maybe we do a, you know, elbow bump or something like that. But normally, when you love people, you hug them, and you hold them, and you touch them. Why? Because we care. Because we care. And I'm attached to these people so I show it by touching.

Now, on the other hand, what we find here, it says, "Don't touch. Don't attach yourself to this world's way." Don't have a relationship because that's an implied relationship, really what it's getting at here. So, you don't stick to this vain world. You don't attach yourself to this pollution of society that we're surrounded by. Don't have close connection. He just got done saying, "Don't have fellowship. Don't have koinonia. Don't have a partnership. Don't have a communion with those that are ungodly, those that are false worshipers. Those that are in the dark." He tells us don't have that kind of a relationship. We've got to stay detached from that. And don't let society stick to you because after all, we're a part of the Ecclesia. We are the Church of God. We are a separate community of believers. So we don't touch immorality. We don't touch the impurities of this world. And so he reminds us that this world is just that. It is unclean. So, don't touch what is unclean. We're reminded of that. It's impure. Literally, that's what the word means. It's foul. It's nothing you want to come near.

So we cannot attach ourselves to the same things that culture, society, and this world attaches itself to. Our priorities, they have to be different. They have to be different choices. And so, what do we see all around us? I mean, all we see around us is division. We see division over the coronavirus. "Oh, it's all a fake. It's all a phony. It isn't real." "Well, no, it's killing people. Thousands and Thousands are dying." "A mask? You don't have to wear a mask. That doesn't help." "Oh boy, you better wear a mask because it's what's going to save you." And so we see the divide. And that spills over to so many areas. We've seen it with injustice and racial tensions, rioting, chaos at the Capitol, all of those things. All of those things are indications of the impurities of the world that we live in. Those impurities have infected the society around us. Now, in contrast, we as God's people, our life is to represent something totally different. Our life is to picture and symbolize a time when the world will be severed from unclean and unrighteous actions and ideas. And our lives should reflect that right now.

So as God's people, we condemn violence in all of its forms. We condemn rioting. We condemn lawlessness in whatever form it takes. And we stand against the political systems of this world. We must. We must. And so we recognize that the governments of this world, governments of man, are not the governments of God. They're not. They're not. And so it should cause us to ask ourselves, "How attached am I to this world?" I mean, what did our Savior say? What did Christ say? When confronted with that concept, He said, "My Kingdom is not of this world. It's not of this world, otherwise, my servants would fight," is what He said. But that's not what He was all about. He said, "My Kingdom is not from here." You see, He had an entirely different perspective. And as we try to live our lives, we recognize this culture, the society around us, continues to push us further and further away from God. And these events that we recognize, show this continuous spiral downhill. And so it's absolutely critical that we as Christians, not follow that downward slope. We can't get caught up into that. We are to be citizens of the Kingdom of God.

That is our calling. That is our citizenship. And so, we are told… In fact, as we look at 2 Corinthians 6:17, God doesn't say, "Well, it would be a nice idea if you did this." I mean, He doesn't say, "Well, I'd like to request this of you or just ask that you consider." No, what does He say? He gives us a command. He commands us to come out of the world and be separate, to be different. And so our calling as Christians, as God's people, it's not just to be a little bit better than the world. Is that what God's called us to? Well, just try to be a little better. No, He says, get out of it. Get away from it. Escape it. In fact, if you were to think about it, when Christ returns, what is He going to do? Well, oftentimes, we might think, well, the systems of man, they're horrible. When Christ returns, He's going to get rid of communism. Totalitarianism is awful, right? Totalitarianism? It's unacceptable. And of course, socialism. That is an obvious evil.

And so when Christ comes, He'll fix democracy? Is that what He's going to do? No, He said, come out of the world. When Christ returns, is He going to be a political conservative? Is He going to be a political liberal? Is that what He's going to be? I don't think so. When you recognize what Daniel 2:44 says, it makes it very plain. When Christ comes and establishes the Kingdom of God, we're told “it will break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, all these kingdoms.” And that word for break there is absolutely crush. And so it doesn't matter what the system of man is. It's going to be totally annihilated when Jesus Christ comes to set up God's Kingdom. And that should begin to give us a much clearer perspective on what we need to do. Because not only are we told it once, here in 2 Corinthians 6, this is actually a quotation from Isaiah 52. So, a second passage. Let's take a look at Isaiah 52. And here we'll find the section of Scripture that the apostle Paul is quoting. He's quoting and summarizing some of the thoughts that are mentioned in Isaiah 52. And it is a powerful section of Scripture. Of course, Isaiah was prophesying to Judah. Israel, the northern kingdom was already in captivity, and God sends Isaiah to prophesy to Judah.

And it's interesting, as this chapter begins, look at the words of Isaiah that were inspired by God. Isaiah tells them, “Awake, awake!” Wake up, in other words, he says, "Put on your strength, O Zion." Of course, Zion being Jerusalem, representative of God's people, the Jews at that time. Of course, think about Zion today. Who is Zion today? Well, it's us. It's the true Church of God. It is the Church of God. So, imagine God calling out to us as His people, "Wake up, Wake up! And put on your strength." And so, Paul quotes this. And in fact, a little bit more specifically, down in verse 11, Isaiah says, “Depart! Depart! Go out from there, touch no unclean thing; go out from the midst of her." And so, here's Isaiah, under God's inspiration, telling us exactly what needs to do if we're going to wake up if we're going to strive to be godly people. If we truly are God's Church and putting on the strength that only comes from God, we've got to get out of here. We can't let the influence of this world infect us.

And, of course, this section of Scripture has multiple implications here because you can think back in time, was there ever a time for God's people before this that they had to get out and maybe wander a while in the wilderness? Yeah. God's people had to get out of Egypt. That represented satanic rulership, the rulership of Pharaoh, and the satanic culture of Egypt. It represented sin. They have to get out of there. And, of course, moving forward just a little bit. What about the other representations that this could have? Well, we could think back even to another. Another one back in time, of course, was Lot and Sodom and Gomorrah. He had to depart. He had to get out. He had to escape. Could they hang on to things and touch things or even look back? No, you can't be doing that. This has implications certainly for today, like the apostle Paul was quoting, and encouraging, and trying to convict us all in that way. Most scholars feel it probably most is connected to Babylon. Because here's Isaiah, warning the people of Judah that if they don't change, if they don't disconnect from the idolatrous world around them, they're going to end up in captivity, under Nebuchadnezzar in Babylon.

And so if you can imagine that, this call to depart from Babylon, "Wake up and get out of there." Now, that would have been probably pretty simple, right? I mean, the captivity in Babylon would it last like a couple years or so, maybe 5, 10? Oh, no, it was decades. How long was that captivity for Judah in Babylon? Seventy years, 70 years. So think about 70 years. That's a long time. Many of us in this room haven't been around for 70 years. That is a long time. So what happened to God's people as they're in Babylon, year after year, decade after decade after decade? You think some of them might have become a little attached to the idea of living there? You think that they might not have wanted to return to Jerusalem? I mean, think about that. Most of the captives that were brought to Babylon initially, would have died by now before the release. It's the children, the ones who were born in Babylon, who would be the ones to return.

Now, for them, well, they'd only heard about Jerusalem. They'd only heard about what it was like to actually have a godly community and what the temple might have been like, right in the midst of them, the Promised Land? That is so far away. That's in this distant land. How could you ever think of going back there? Because Babylon, it's our home. We've lived here. Going there, that's a long, long perilous journey. In fact, you have to cross the desert to get to Zion. I mean, we've been born here. This is our home. And so you can imagine the kind of thinking that would have been very difficult to overcome. I mean, some of them had jobs, some of them had good jobs. We read about guys that were advisors to the king, Jews that had prominent positions in Babylon. Yeah, there were a bunch of them. Daniel, for one. How about the three guys that got thrown in the furnace? Yeah, we've got some connections there where they had profitable positions. And no doubt, many of the Jews had property and had lands.

So do you think they might have been a little reluctant to get out, a little reluctant to leave? I mean, undoubtedly, some improper connections, some wrong attachments had been made. And some didn't want to give them up. So when the decree finally came, what happened? Cyrus makes the decree that you can return to Jerusalem. So they all went back. Right? They all went back to… No. No. Read history. It shows, a pretty small number of the Jews actually ever left Babylon to go back to Zion. But Babylon was supposed to be temporary. That wasn't supposed to be real life. That wasn't supposed to be your home. Jerusalem, Zion was your home. And I'm sure it must have been pretty difficult, especially when family or friends decided, "I'm not going." To still make that choice to return. Well, it sure brings home the lesson. It doesn't matter what somebody else decides to do, you better do what's right. You better depart. You better awake. You better come out. And you better separate yourselves and don't touch anything to bring that filth along with you.

And so, that lesson just rang so true today, doesn't it? That we have to separate ourselves completely from the values of this world. Because face it, we live in an idolatrous nation. Sadly, that's the way our country has become. And God says, preserve yourself, pure. Separate from the wrong influence of culture and society. Don't forget as God's people, as Christians, we're pilgrims. We're like those captives in Babylon. This isn't home. We're not residents. We're supposed to be aliens. We're sojourners. We are on a journey. We are on a journey to Zion. We are looking for the Kingdom of God. And so, we can never forget this. This world around us is just temporary. Life is temporary. Physical life is temporary. So instead of being attached to it, we have to consciously detach ourselves. Detach ourselves from everything that looks like it's real, seems like it's real. We have to detach from the visible, from the scene, and separate ourselves from all that is around us, what's present. Because when we recognize that, we cannot allow ourselves to be polluted and become drug into society and its ways.

We have to be like those in Hebrews 11, that looked for Zion, looked for the city, looked for the Kingdom of God. And so, the way we see things, the way we live our life, there has to be that stark difference between the lifestyle of a true Christian and those who attach themselves to this life. And that's the challenge. I mean, no doubt, there's uncertainty all around us. I mean, no doubt the political situation in America has been a volatile issue. It has been an uproar, hasn't it? But what about us? You see, we've got to make sure we are separate. We should never equate our faith with a political party. We can't do it. I mean, think about how Christ got things done. How did He do things? Did He do things and get things done by manipulating the political process? He worked with the Romans and then He worked with the Sanhedrin? He worked with the Pharisees so that they could accomplish? No. What did Christ do? He washed feet. That's what Christ did. You know, how do you defeat principalities? How do you defeat the powers that come against us? Do we do that by the force of man's law? It's not going to happen. Christ did it by a sacrifice, by sacrificing, ultimately giving His life.

And that's how He subverted this world's modus operandi. He was not about to participate in any way because human governments cannot properly administer sound, beneficial, spiritual governance that works for everyone, for good. Man just can't do it. So that's why God the Father will send Jesus Christ as King of Kings and Lord of Lords. And that will change government forever. And as a response to the plan of God and our calling, and receiving God's Holy Spirit, we have to come out of this world's way of thinking. And it pushes us. It tries to force us its way. And it stresses us out. I mean, how can we describe the events of the last year? I mean, it's disturbing. Some of it's shocking. Some of it's depressing and discouraging. In the last program that I recorded, I cited a stress in America survey that was just done a couple of months ago. And the results that were done by the American Psychological Association were really astounding. It polled people in America and the stressors they face.

Did you know that that survey found that 77% of us felt that the future of our nation is a significant stressor in their life? Seventy-seven percent, not just a few of us, the vast majority, over three-quarters of us. A huge majority are stressed. And it doesn't matter what race they are, the poll says, but they are stressed and say that police violence toward minorities is a significant source of stress in their life. And the list goes on and on and on. In fact, 7 in 10, 71% of Americans say this is the lowest point in our nation's history. That's how stressed they feel over these things. And, of course, that stress impacts us too. Yeah, we feel the stress of these things. So, our response, what do we do? How do we handle these things? Well, a third passage that relates is found over in the book of Revelation. We looked at the first-century church and its instructions. We looked back at the instructions God gave to ancient Judah and Israel. Here in the book of Revelation, we look to the future. We look to the future.

And in Revelation 18:2, see if any of this sounds vaguely familiar because it talks about this time that a great beast power, a huge government is going to control the world. And ultimately, it's a government of man and it cannot last. And so, in verse 2, we're told an angel cried mightily with a loud voice, saying, "Babylon the great is fallen, and it's become a dwelling place of demons, a prison for every foul spirit,” but notice the influence, the influence of this great power, verse 3, "All the nations have drunk the wine of the wrath of her fornication, the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her,  the merchants of the earth have become rich through the abundance of her luxury." So, things were pretty good. Things were pretty peaceful for a while. The impact of that, it had affected culture. It affected society. It affected the people's perspective. Probably much like ancient Babylon. Are you going to get out of that? Well, this coming Babylon, notice the instructions that are given. Verse 4, "I heard another voice from heaven saying, 'Come out of her, my people, lest you share in her sins, lest you receive of her plagues.'"

Yeah, sounds like 2 Corinthians 6, sounds like Isaiah 52, because once again, the command is given to the people of God. As people of God, get out, escape from the influence. Don't let that overwhelm you. Set a boundary. Stay away. Sever yourself from this and don't even touch it. Don't attach yourself. Don't have a relationship, in that sense, with this evil world. It means as a Christian, for us, today, it means we cannot be a part of this corrupt world around us. That means our behavior has to be different. It means we don't post on social media about the horrors of those awful Republicans. We don't post on Facebook, "Oh, those Democrats, those liberals, they're a bunch of maniacs." We detach from this world. We don't talk about this political system that is bound to fail. We don't write about, "Oh, how righteous the Republicans are. Oh, the Conservatives are the best. How could you not support the Conservatives? The Conservative movement in the United States is what really matters." That's what we're about? Do we write about that?

You see, the whole story here is about not attaching ourselves to a side because both sides are wrong. Both sides are wrong. We have to worry about, "Oh, the possible conspiracies of the Democrats or the Republicans or that coronavirus vaccine, that's the mark of the beast. I'm going to write about that on social media." Really? How ridiculous? We come out of all of that. This is not God's government. This is not God's system. And so as we consider that, we've got to recognize, first and foremost, God's way is not about legislating better laws in man's system. It's not what it's about. God's way is not about voting in godly political leaders. Are there any? Think about that. You see, instead, it's about us. It's about us living such remarkable spiritual lives, that others feel compelled to learn about God's way. It's about us. It's about our comments, our conversations that should ultimately lead people to God. It's about our shining example. It's about utilizing and submitting to God's Holy Spirit. So that shines through in everything that we do. So I can't help but wonder, have we been sidetracked? Have we become compromised or maybe just complicit? You see, we misplace our energies and we can begin to lose our way.

And when we're really committed to God, and we recognize His system is not man's system, we recognize we don't fit in. We don't fit into any worldly system, any two-party, three-party, whatever party you want to talk about. And you see, we fail. We fail if we are not a faithful witness and an example of God's way, a living, breathing, true Christian that supports every way of God. And so, when we look at these passages, I really do think it's a wake-up call. It's a wake-up call for all of us, that we re-engage the way of Christ. In fact, our name even says that, doesn't it? We are the Church of God. We are the Ecclesia of God. Ecclesia, that means the called out ones that are brought together. We are called out by God and brought together to serve Him, to honor Him, to worship Him, to be a witness to this world, that that is a dying culture out there. And the only answer is found through our Lord Jesus Christ. And that's it.

And so, we model justice. The Ecclesia live the things that make for peace. We show what true right relationships are all about. We live godly morality. In fact, our marriages are so strong and so healthy, who cares about the crazy relationships out there in the world? Because look, this way works. And we demonstrate a love, and a care, and a concern for each other. And so, we must speak, and we must teach, and we must preach, and act in a manner that shines that beacon of Jesus Christ to the world. That's our duty. That's our calling. And it must be one that inspires people. An example that truly shows we're not attached to the political systems of this world, we're not attached to worldly biases. In fact, we're not even attached to our own personal opinions. It's not about my viewpoint. It's not about my perspective. You see, we're not attached that way. We're not focused on what we think about who's right or what's right in this system of men. That's not what it's about. And so instead, we disconnect from today's perilous world. Yeah, we sigh and we cry over what's going on in our world today. It just shows forth the sin of materialism, self-centeredness, violence, cynicism, the reliance on wealth, and luxury, and pride, and self-sufficiency. That's all around us.

But it moves us to compassion and it moves us to love our neighbor. It moves us to serve our communities so we don't disconnect from people. But we demonstrate the true love of God to everyone we come in contact with because that's our God-given responsibility. That is our duty. Our duty then to recognize the difference between what's right and wrong, what's clean and unclean, between what's good and what's evil. And then take that power that God's given us to choose right. Utilize God's power to choose good. Submit to the power of God to do what's pure. Now, there is good news. I mean, the good news, it doesn't matter how uncertain the times are that we live in. That doesn't matter. We look back regardless what happened in 2020, regardless of what happened last summer, regardless of what happened in November, regardless of what happened this week. We've been given the precious promise of God's Holy Spirit. That is a phenomenal blessing. And we are the children of God. We are different. And we can confidently hold on to the precious promises that God has given us. God's in charge. He's in control. He's not going anywhere. And the Creator of this universe loves us and He cares about us.

In fact, He loves the world and can't wait for a better time to be established right here on earth. And He wants us to have the best, the best right now. And so He gives us an amazing promise. In fact, I just looked at one this afternoon, Psalms 32:8, God gives us a remarkable, really an unchangeable promise. That's a just short, succinct, right-to-the-point promise in Psalm 32:8. Notice here is God speaking. God's the one doing the talking here in Psalm 32:8. And He says something pretty special, something that can give us the confidence and assurance that we need in these difficult times. God says this, "I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will guide you with My eye." You see, God says that, and in His infinite wisdom, He promises to instruct us. Do we really recognize the power of that promise? I mean, here's God Himself, God Himself guarantees to instruct us, and lead us, and teach every single one of us.

And, of course, think about God for a minute. Here's the God of infinite wisdom. He knows all. He knows everything from the beginning to the very end. And what does He say? What does He vow? He says, "I'm going to be your personal Counselor. I'm going to be your Coach. I'm going to be your Instructor. I'll be your Professor. And I've got my eye on you. I've got my eye on you." I mean, it's a promise. In fact, it's undoubted, isn't it? Notice the words that He used there verse 8, "I will." It's not a question. "No, I will instruct and teach you. I will counsel you. I will guide you."

You see, so as a loving Father, we have an amazing God, who's our advisor, our leader, the guide, that will be with us every single step of the way, every minute of the day. And He says, "You can count on it." Take it to the bank, God will never forget to lead us. He'll never forget to watch over us. In fact, He says, "Not one second is going to pass where I take my eye off of you." And so we can have that confidence, we can have that assurance. When we submit to the Spirit of God, He promises the best will resolved. And we can succeed with the watchful eye of God.

And so, let's be good students. Let's learn from God. Let's maybe even earn a Master's degree or maybe a Doctorate for that matter, so that we can truly learn to discern between good and evil so that we can train our spiritual perception and learn to view life as God would have us view it, so that it begins to show in our thoughts, which can't help but then live in our actions, that we begin to filter life through the perspective of the one true God and we allow Him then to lead us and guide us every step of the way. So we become detached from this world and attached to Him. And when that happens, then we certainly won't touch the unclean thing.

[Steve Myers] This world this week has shown we need a Savior. Whether it's things happening in France, whether it's things happening in Turkey, whether it's things happening right here at home. It's been an amazing few weeks that we've been going through. It seems that you can't hardly go a week without some tragic event. Another crisis, another terrorist attack and oftentimes people ask the question, "Why? Why is this happening?" And all too often people don't associate these things with anything to do with the Bible, or what the Bible has to do with what's happening in our country today. 

Well, in fact, the Bible says a lot about it. God has a lot to say about circumstances that are swirling around us and, in fact, the prophet Jeremiah reveals much about our lives today and where we're heading in the future. Oftentimes, people say, “Well, the Bible is old, it's an old book, it doesn't really have any relevance to my life today. So, why should I bother to read it?” Well, even though Jeremiah lived more than 2500 years ago, it has plenty to say about life today. He warned Judah about its behavior and the consequences that would come from that behavior. What would happen to Judah if they continued in the way that they were going? And of course, they didn't heed Jeremiah and ultimately went into national captivity.

And yet Jeremiah's word also says that God is a God of love, that God is a God of mercy. And he's a God of justice. Jeremiah had a very special calling right at the very beginning of the book of Jeremiah if you turn with me to Jeremiah chapter 1, verse 4. God called Jeremiah for a very specific purpose, and He outlined that commission to him and told Jeremiah it actually started before he was actually born. So can you imagine having a commission from God before birth? Well, Jeremiah was one of those that did. In Jeremiah 1:4, Jeremiah writes this: “The word of the Lord came to me saying, ‘Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you. Before you were born, I sanctified you. I ordained you a prophet to the nations.’"

A couple of interesting things happening here right at the very beginning of Jeremiah's writings. He says that God knew him. God had a job for him to do. God gave him a commission that "I want you to fulfill these duties." And He outlined those things, He had him in his mind before Jeremiah was even born. That's an interesting concept. Even though Jeremiah had free choice, he could have denied that calling and God would have raised up someone else to take on that duty. But Jeremiah accepted that call, and it wasn't just a call to prophesy to Judah. Did you notice that in these few lines? It says that "I ordained you a prophet to the nations."

So Jeremiah was not just a prophet to Judah. He used nations as plural. His prophecies were for other nations. Jeremiah's commission was actually multifaceted. So, there were prophecies that went to the House of Israel, even though Israel was already in captivity. God had sent them away into captivity nearly a century before Jeremiah appeared on the scene. And so His word was to be more than just words to go to Judah. If we look down to verse 9, we see a little bit more of this multifaceted commission. Jeremiah 1:9, God says "Behold, I have put My words in your mouth. See, I have this day set you over the nations and over the kingdoms to root out, to pull down, to destroy and to throw down, to build and to plant."

So, God begins to show Jeremiah and by extension, He is showing us that these prophetic statements that Jeremiah would make were not only applicable to Judah. Oftentimes throughout prophecy, prophetic statements carry more than one fulfillment. So Bible prophecy oftentimes can be dual, or sometimes even more, in their very nature. So this initial first fulfillment would happen to Judah and yet it wasn't just for Judah. Oftentimes these prophecies have a later fulfillment, oftentimes at the end of the age, before the return of Jesus Christ, there will be a final ultimate fulfillment for those specific prophecies. And this is very true in the case of Jeremiah.

So, what God prophesied for ancient Judah also applies to America today. Also applies to English-speaking peoples of Britain, Canada, Australia. Because God has unfinished business with His people. God will bring about these prophecies to their ultimate fulfillment. And so, there are many passages throughout the book of Jeremiah that clearly refer to events at the end of the age. They clearly point to a time just before the return of Jesus Christ at the end of the age. And so God very specifically says these prophecies have a modern application. These apply to the descendants of the patriarch Joseph. In fact, if we just look ahead to chapter 2, verse 7. Does this sound like it could apply to the United States? Jeremiah 2:7. "I brought you into a bountiful country to eat its fruit and its goodness. But when you entered you defiled My land and made My heritage an abomination." 

Has that happened to America today? In fact, it's interesting, it points out something significant. Who owns the land anyway? Do we own it? God owns the land. Same thing it says in Psalm 24 where David said "The earth is the Lord's and all its fullness." God owns America and He says that it's been defiled. The land has been defiled, as well as His heritage. That also has been defiled and so as you begin to think about that, how has the land been defiled? How has God's heritage become an abomination? Once you begin to think about that, I think we could probably come up with quite a few ways that the land has been defiled. But this afternoon I'd just like to focus on two things. Two things that show how God's property, how America has been defiled. We will focus on the book of Jeremiah, we will make it easy this afternoon, I won't turn all over the Bible. 

If you turn to Jeremiah, we are going to stay in Jeremiah. We will stay there for the remainder of the sermon. So you don't have to go all over the place, we will stay right here in Jeremiah and look at the words that God prophesied, not only to Judah, to Israel but also to America today. So how do we defile the land today? We as Americans, how has the land become defiled? I think one important way that the land has become defiled is by our immorality. Our immorality has caused God's heritage to become an abomination. Jeremiah has prophesied so much about this very fact. If you just turn a page or two to chapter 3, verse 6. Jeremiah 3:6, he focuses in specifically on immorality. Immorality of a certain type is what he focuses in on here in chapter 3, verse 6. He says: "The Lord also said to me in the days of Josiah the King." So we have a little bit of a timeline during the time of Josiah. He says: "Have you seen what backsliding Israel has done?"

Where was Israel by this time? Well, Israel is already gone. And so He's posing that question: "Do you recognize what happened to Israel?” Says “She's gone up on every high mountain and under every green tree and they've played the harlot. And I said, after she had done all these things, ‘Return to Me.’" So, God wanted them back despite their behavior. He wanted them to come to Him, but He says, she did not return and her treacherous sister Judah saw it. But did she learn the lesson of what happened to Israel? Well, verse 8: "Then I saw that for all the causes for which backsliding Israel had committed adultery, I had her put away and given her a certificate of divorce. Yet her treacherous sister Judah did not fear, but went and played the harlot also. So, it came to pass through her casual harlotry that she defiled the land and committed adultery with stones and trees. And yet for all this, her treacherous sister Judah has not turned to Me with her whole heart but in pretense," says the Lord. 

So, there was a pretense of religiosity. A pretense that, well, we are godly people but in reality just the opposite was true. Yes, there was sexual immorality and He says this kind of sexual immorality was not just about sex but was about idolatry. Serving self, serving anything but the true God. Does that describe America today? We claim to be godly people and yet, are we? I ran across an interesting survey that was done by ChristianMingle. You've heard of ChristianMingle, it's a website that encourages dating between Christian singles. Well, they did a survey in 2014, just a little over a year ago and asked a couple of interesting questions to their people that visit their website. Here's the question, think in your own mind, how the Christians who go to this site, those who claim they're Christians, would answer this particular question? "What percentage of singles, who identify themselves as Christian, are willing to have casual sex without being in love?"

So those who say they're Christians, they're single how many would have casual sex without being in love? Okay, think about what that percentage should be, as opposed to what they answered. So these are people who answered willingly over themselves, they identified themselves as Christian. What percentage do you think that is? Sixty-one percent. Sixty-one percent who claim they're Christian would have sex outside of marriage. It's not that big a deal. Now, on the other hand, what percentage say they're waiting to have sex until they're married? Now, these are self-proclaimed Christian singles. What percentage do you think say they're waiting for marriage? Eleven percent. Eleven percent. Does that describe what our country is like? Is that any indication of where we are as a people? To be proclaiming to be Christians and yet that's our standard? See, that's just a little insight into where we're at in America. 

Now if you turn over to Jeremiah chapter 16, he focuses on this concept of adultery, both in terms of idolatry—putting something before the true God—and literal sexual immorality. Jeremiah chapter 16, verse 12. Remember, we got done talking about Israel as an example how it should have been an example and yet Judah ignored it. Jeremiah 16:12, it says "And you have done worse than your fathers. For behold each one follows the dictates of his own evil heart so that no one listens to Me. Therefore, I'll cast you out of this land into a land you do not know, neither you nor your fathers and there you shall serve other gods, day and night, where I will not show you favor.” Is that any indication of where we are at as a country? No one listens to God, we follow our own dictates. In fact, it's the American way, isn't it? That we are our own guide. Nobody chooses for me. Nobody tells me what to do. The American way is I follow my own heart. I'll do what I want. I don't want you, or God, or anybody else telling me what to do.

And so, God says the results of that, because you won't listen to the Creator, because you won't listen to the One who made you, because you won't listen to the One who knows best, wants the best for you. He says you're going to go to a place that you'll serve other gods, day and night. You will suffer the consequences of your own choices. So Jeremiah comes to the conclusion in chapter 23, verse 10, that this land is just full of adulterers. Not only sexual adulterers but just the whole flavor of the country becomes that. And of course, sometimes we say "Ah, what's the big deal? It's just sex, so what?" Sometimes our campers will say that, "You guys, you ministers you talk about that all the time. That's all you're worried about." Well, why is it a big deal? I think because we forget to put it in the perspective that it needs to be put in. Because when we talk about this, casual sex like this ChristianMingle survey, it absolutely destroys the picture of what our covenant with God is all about, that covenant between God and His people. It destroys that symbolic relationship because marriage is the metaphor that God has chosen to describe the relationship between Christ and the Church. And sex outside of marriage destroys that symbolism. It puts it to shame.

And so, sexual gratification, sexual sin, immorality is just one more way that people just gratify themselves and walk in the flesh, rather than choose to walk in the Spirit. It's what Galatians 5 talks about. It contrasts the works of the flesh versus the fruit of the Spirit. And so Judah decided of their own dictates, of their own heart, to choose their own ways, and America is doing exactly the same. And when we refuse God's guidance and we refuse His boundaries we choose to follow the dictates of our own heart and ultimately, God says that's not the way to go. Because what that leads to is all the other problems of our society. It contributes in so many ways sex that is misused, produces abortion. It produces fatherless children, it contributes to poverty, it contributes to divorce, it contributes to pornography, and the list goes on and on. So it is a big deal. It's just one more way that we accept immorality in our culture today.

You think that's true? There was a recent Gallup poll. It was called "The Values and Beliefs Poll." It was done a little bit over a year ago. They asked about 19 different moral topics and they polled American citizens, whether or not they would judge these different areas as morally acceptable or morally unacceptable, and so they posed a number of different questions on these 19 topics. Here's what the question went like. They asked individuals: "Please tell me whether you personally believe that in general, it's morally acceptable or morally wrong. How about this topic? Is this morally acceptable or morally wrong?" The topics, the 19 topics, they asked about gay and lesbian relationships. They asked about having a child out of wedlock. They asked about sex between unmarried men and women, sex between married women and men that are having affairs. They asked about polygamy, they asked about suicide, they asked about gambling, 19 different topics. 

You know what they found? Things have changed. And we're not talking about change from the '40s, or changes from the 1950s. So, imagine this: What percentage of Americans would say gay and lesbian relationships are acceptable today? What percentage of Americans would say gay or lesbian relationships are fine? Sixty-three percent of us say it's fine. Now, it's interesting. Gallup also did the same poll back in 2001, so about 14 years difference between the two polls. What percentage of Americans said it was okay back in 2001? Forty. So within 14 years we've changed 23 percentage points. We're not going back to the 1950s—within 14 years we've changed. A vast majority of Americans believe it's perfectly acceptable. That doesn't mean they participate in it, but they think it's acceptable. So, things have remarkably changed between 2001 and today. 

Having a child outside of wedlock, that was taboo in the '40s and '50s. Back in 2001, 45% of us would say that's morally acceptable, but today 61% of us say that's fine. And so that's changed by 16 percentage points. Similar results, sex between an unmarried man and unmarried woman, almost the same percentage-wise. Divorce, 71% of us today say it's perfectly acceptable. Things have remarkably changed in a very short time. There's been a 9% increase in those that say that polygamy is okay, between 2001 and today. Gambling, same kind of results. So over and over and over again, we show as a society things that used to be unacceptable, today it's not that big of a deal. Gallup itself said this: "Americans today appear to have a greater comfort with a host of issues or behaviors that at one time, they were a social enigma. And even among the most taboo behaviors, there's evidence of changing moral judgments."

That's the facts of where we are. That's the kind of society that we live in, despite the fact that a study that was done by Pew Research that same year 2014, shows that America is one of the most religious countries in the world. What percentage of Americans do you think believe in God? Now, we're not parsing over which God, or what God, or whatever, but what percentage of American adults say they believe in God? Eighty-nine percent of us say we believe in God, 89%. Now, that's down a little bit from 2007, 92%. And yet we say we believe in God, we say we're Christian. ChristianMingle says they're Christians and yet God's standard has gone by the wayside and survey after survey after survey shows that Christians are no better when it comes to behavior than their secular counterparts. No better, whatsoever.

I mean I can't help but think where do we fall when it comes to these kinds of things? I mean, no wonder God confronted Judah about their behavior, about their society. About...I mean they were His people, they were His people and yet notice what He says in Jeremiah chapter 7, verse 9. Jeremiah chapter 7, verse 9, the things that we find acceptable today are still unacceptable to God. They've always been unacceptable to God and they will always remain unacceptable. Whether society embraces it or not is not the question. Do we have God's perspective? Notice what God asks us today. Jeremiah 7:9: "Will you steal? Will you murder? Will you commit adultery? Will you swear falsely? Will you burn incense to Baal? Will you walk after other gods whom you do not know and then come and stand before Me, in this house which is called by My name and say, ‘We are delivered to do all these abominations’?" 

You see, the people said, well, murder is not that bad, or stealing is not a big deal or committing adultery, it's acceptable. Lying, that's certainly not anything to worry about. You see, if you read this in God's Word, verse 10, says: "You do all of these things and then you stand in My presence, in the house that's called by My name, and you think you're safe doing all these disgusting things?" God says it's unacceptable. Always was, always will be. "Don't defile My land by these things."

A second way that we defile the land today is through social injustice. Social injustice. It's something I think that eats away at our society like an infectious aggressive form of cancer. And so whether it's murder, or whether it's violence, or whether it's racism or greed, all of those things eat at the foundation of society and becomes a bigger and bigger issue and we have seen it lived out before our eyes, haven't we? And we know the cities. We know the names. Ferguson, Missouri, Michael Brown. More recently Baton Rouge, Alton Sterling. Just the other day Minneapolis, Philando Castile. Just last week, five police officers gunned down by a sniper in Dallas. We see this playing out in our world today, is this a reflection of the kind of society where injustice leads to bigger problems, bigger issues, issues that don't heal themselves, issues that just fester and become bigger problems.

If you saw some of the interviews with the Dallas Police Chief, David Brown, some remarkable things that he said after the tragedy of the police officers being gunned down in Dallas. He made an interesting observation. He said we're asking cops to do too much in this country. He said, "You're asking us to do too much. Every societal failure, we put it off on the cops to solve. Policing was never meant to solve all of those problems." And he's right. He's right. We can't expect to solve society's problems by policing because it's a bigger issue than any of those things. It's a bigger issue. The point leads us to the only fact that we can come to is that we live in a sin-sick society. That's the world we live in. Can the police solve our problems? They can't. Can the politicians solve our problems? Do we kid ourselves with those things? Can a coalition solve our problems? Can an association solve these issues?

Now, God tells us very plainly, doesn't work that way. Look at chapter 5, verse 28 in Jeremiah. God focuses in very specifically on the fact that man doesn't know how to solve his own problems. Jeremiah chapter 5. Notice what he says in verse 28, talking about our leadership. He says, “They have grown fat, they're sleek. Yes, they surpass the deeds of the wicked. They do not plead the cause.” But boy, there's a lot of causes that are being pled. But he says, wait a second, they're not getting right to the heart of the real issue. They're pleading all right, but not to the heart and core of the issue itself. He says, “They do not plead the cause, the cause of the fatherless. Yet, they prosper. And then there's the right of the needy they do not defend. ‘Shall I not punish them for these things?’ says the Lord. ‘Shall I not avenge myself on such a nation as this?’" Oh, but we say we're out for the poor or we say we're for equality. We say we're for fairness. 

If you were to read this section in The Message, it says: "My people are infiltrated by wicked men, unscrupulous men” and we could say women, “on the hunt, pretentious and powerful, and worse: they have no conscience." Goes on to say "Right and wrong mean nothing to them. They stand for nothing, they stand up for no one, they throw orphans to the wolves, they exploit the poor. ‘Do you think I'll stand by and do nothing about this?’ God says. God's decree: ‘Don't you think I'll take a serious measure against a people like this?’" 

God knows. God knows man doesn't know how to solve his own problems. And over and over and over again throughout Scripture, God gets to the heart and core of the problem. There are hundreds of verses that deal about social injustice, that deal with the poor, the deal with the orphan and the widow and how God is concerned deeply about those issues. About racism, about social injustice. Because there is no doubt, racism affects our society and it is unjust. It affects education. It affects employment. It affects healthcare. It affects criminal justice. And to deny that is to deny the truth, and we can claim to serve those that are affected by that, but all too often the people that say they're helping are doing exactly what Jeremiah recorded for. They're growing rich in supposedly pleading the cause and supposedly doing the things that are helping and yet, God says any of those aspects of social injustice, it's all unacceptable.

In fact, He gives us a mandate, I think, that we are to imitate. It was the mandate that Christ fulfilled. It’s that mandate when Christ first appeared on the scene and He quotes the prophet Isaiah when He said He was sent to preach the gospel and of course, if we stop there, we might miss the mandate. He said He was sent to preach the good news to who? To the poor. To the poor. Poor spiritually, but poor physically as well. He said He was sent to proclaim liberty to the captives, and we are a sin-captive society today. He was sent to preach recovery to the blind. We are blinded by our own dictates, by our own hearts. And He said He was sent to proclaim liberty to those who are oppressed. Any oppression is unacceptable to God, and ultimately to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord. 

And so like that mandate that Christ came to fulfill, I think we have that same mandate to fulfill as God's people, as Christians. We must stand for equality. We must stand for justice. We must stand for peace. We must stand against racism because any oppression is unacceptable to God, and that is not republican, that is not democratic. That is godly. That is godly, and we cannot allow ourselves to be taken in by the rhetoric that's out there. Because these issues are real and it's what's going on in our country today.

I read an amazing story that was in the New York Times. The title of the article was about race relations, and it caught my attention because it said, “race relations are at the lowest point in Obama presidency, poll finds.” That's not the way it should be and yet that's where we are, and it rehearsed the findings of a New York Times CBS News poll. And this news poll was just conducted last Friday, Friday to Tuesday. This last Friday to this previous Tuesday is when they polled people, and amazing stark findings. What the survey found was the fact that more than 40% of blacks say that police in their communities make them feel more anxious than safe. That's the country we live in. Is that the way it should be? I don't care what your political sway is, it shouldn't be that way.

Sixty-nine percent of Americans say race relations are generally bad. It's hard to find people that would disagree with that. Most Americans feel that race relations are getting worse. In fact, it's up almost 30 points from a year ago. And so when we look at these issues, we are a divided country. And I don't care where you stand when it comes to “Black Lives Matter,” because they do. They do. Seventy percent of African-Americans are sympathetic to that movement. And it's because of all these other things that we just talked about. Can we really step back and say, “I don't understand that”? I think as God's people we've got to look at that and say, “No wonder.” No wonder, because we live in an unjust society. This isn't God's world, is it? These problems can't be fixed, not by man's doing.

Sometimes we think a new president will solve our problems. Right? We're in a political cycle. But what's going to happen in Cleveland in a week or so? Who knows, who knows? Well, can a new president solve our problems? You know, what side of the aisle are you on? The Wall Street Journal had an article just this last week. It was written by James Toronto. And it was about this possible indictment for Hillary Clinton. And so he wrote an article about it. A couple of interesting things, just to show the society we live in. He detailed findings that prove most of Mrs. Clinton's public statements about her private e-mail server were lies. It's a fact. I don't care what side of the aisle you're on. But what did the FBI Director James Comey say? Here's what he said about this fact. He said, "To be clear, this is not to suggest that in similar circumstances a person who engaged in this activity would face no consequences. To the contrary, those individuals are often subject to security or administrative sanctions. But that is not what we're deciding now." The article concluded, by Mr. Toronto, saying, “In other words, laws are for little people." Jeremiah's words to the T?

I'm not trying to put down the Democrats because in another article from the Washington Post, just a little bit ago, this was written at the end of May. The article was by Dana Milbank, "Donald Trump," it was titled "The Welfare King." It said, "Several tax experts I spoke with said it's entirely possible that Trump has not continued to report or has not paid taxes since the '70s." How could a billionaire not pay taxes, right? Well, did God get it right? The article says, “They say it's likely that whatever taxes he does pay, if any,” the article says, “would be at a rate lower than the average worker pays.” The conclusion of the article: Only little people pay taxes. 

So, it doesn't matter what side of the aisle you're on, I think it shows we better not be on either side. I think it points out very clearly we don't have a political problem. We don't have a social problem. If you want to really get to the heart of the matter: We have a spiritual problem. That's the heart of the matter. We have a spiritual problem, and God is very specific on what we need to do about it. If you look at Jeremiah chapter 22, verse 3. He points out clearly, oh yeah, there are political problems, there are social problems, there is social injustice, there is immorality, but the root is spiritual. Jeremiah 22:3, God gets to the heart of the problem. Chapter 22, verse 3, he says, "Thus says the Lord, ‘Execute judgment and righteousness, and deliver the plundered out of the hand of the oppressor. Do no wrong, do no violence to the stranger, the fatherless, the widow nor shed innocent blood in this place. If you indeed do this thing, then shall enter the gates of this house riding on horses and in chariots, accompanied by servants and people, kings who sit on the throne of David.’" You do these things, it will be awesome. What a wonderful blessing if you would actually do these things.

And so, next week in Cleveland, later on at the Democratic convention, I'm sure we'll hear this as their number one platform. “This is what we're going to do.” You know that's not going to happen. That’s not going to happen So, verse 5, is this what fits? "’But if you will not hear these words, I swear by Myself,’ says the Lord, ‘that this house shall become a desolation.’" That's the prophecy. In fact, if you go down a little bit farther, down on to verse 11, he continues this prophecy: "Shallum the son of Josiah, king of Judas,” we’re after Josiah now, verse 15, “says, ‘Shall you reign because you enclose yourself in the White House?" Oh, it doesn't say White House... "In the walls of the Senate? Shall you reign because you enclose yourself in cedar? Did not your father eat and drink and do justice and righteousness?" Josiah was a good king, one of the very, very best. He says, “’Then it was well with him. He judged the cause. He judged the cause of the poor, of the needy. Then it was well. Was not this knowing Me?’ says the Lord.” 

Yet, verse 17, "Your eyes and your heart are for nothing but your covetousness, for shedding innocent blood, and practicing oppression and violence." And so we read these words, and God is asking, "America, what is your response?" And I suppose in a way, as God's Church, what is our response? What is our response to the prophecies of God? In fact, look at Jeremiah chapter 7. Go back to chapter 7 again, verse 28. Jeremiah chapter 7, verse 28. He lays it on the line, makes it totally clear. Jeremiah 7:28: "So you shall say to them, ‘This is a nation that does not obey the voice of the Lord their God, nor receive correction.’" And that's a sad part. We disobey but we're going to keep disobeying anyway, so they won't receive correction. It says, “The truth has perished and has been cut off from their mouth.” And it's not just lying. When it talks about the truth, it's talking about spiritual truth. "Thy Word is truth." John 17:17. The Word of God is truth. It's cut off from America today. It was cut off from Judah then, it was cut off from us today, and America has determined to continue to turn away from the truth of the Bible, from the truth of God's Word. 

And so, as a result, we turn a couple of pages to Jeremiah chapter 10, verse 14. Jeremiah chapter 10, verse 14. Does this describe the spiritual state of our country today? Jeremiah 10:14, God says, “Everyone is dull-hearted, without knowledge.” And it goes on to describe other things. Everyone is dull-hearted, without not just knowing things, not without knowing how to do, that's not what it's talking about. Without biblical understanding, without spiritual knowledge, our country is dull-hearted, and it's not just talking about the general population. He's getting to the heart and core about our leadership as well—our leadership is dull-hearted. Look down to verse 21. Says, “For the shepherds have become dull-hearted.” Our nation's leaders are dull-hearted. They don't want the truth of God, they don't want spiritual guidance. And the religious shepherds are dull-hearted. It's pointing right to our religious leaders. We're supposed to be a religious country, according to polls. And yet our religious leadership—it doesn't matter if they are white, black, Hispanic, whatever—God's judgment is that they're all dull-hearted. They've all turned from the truth. They won't accept the truth. They won't accept the handwriting on the wall, and so as we look at what God says, He makes it abundantly clear. And in fact, if we are shocked by the things that have been happening around us, Jeremiah was as well.

We look back at chapter 5 once again. Jeremiah chapter 5, verse 30. It's nothing to take lightly, our political leadership, our religious leadership in our country today. God says very clearly don't take this lightly. Verse 30 of chapter 5, He says, “An astonishing and horrible thing has been committed in the land.” An astonishing and horrible thing has been committed in the land. He says, “The prophets have prophesied falsely and the priests rule by their own power.” And then He says, “My people love to have it so.” But what will you do in the end? You see, God brings it back home. Because we can condemn society, we can condemn all the things that have been going on in this world, but it still comes back to us. What will we do? What will we do, despite the fact that our world around us relishes in things that are anti-God? What will we do? What kind of lives are we living? How is society affecting us?

When we look to chapter 9, verse 3, God challenges the people, challenges us about these astonishing things that are going on in our world today and the way that our world thinks around us. Jeremiah chapter 9, verse 3. It says "And like their bow, they've bent their tongues for lies." Yeah, look at that Gallup poll. Lying is not that big a deal. It's acceptable, morally. So, have we bent our tongues like a bow for lying? Especially when it comes to spiritual truth, it says, “’They are not valiant for the truth on the earth. They proceed from evil to evil, and they don't know me,’ says the Lord.” And so in a way it seems like we've become addicted to falsehood. Even though we know it's false, we seem to accept it. So, do we prefer deception over truth? Because most of the world doesn't like a straightforward, matter of fact, right out of the Bible truth.

They don't like it, and yet people look at what's going on in the world and oftentimes they are confused by it. They don't know why these things are happening. And so often it comes back. They don't understand the basic biblical principle of cause and effect. Christ uses the example of sowing and reaping: what you sow, you will reap. And so when we sow unbiblical, ungodly behavior, what can the only consequence be? Now, of course, we can lament all the problems and all the difficulties, and they become very evident, and in Jeremiah prophesies over and over and over again, and you can kind of see why sometimes the people got tired of hearing it. But they needed it because they didn't do anything about it. But the important aspect of all of these prophecies was not just the fact that this is the way that it is, but Jeremiah was also implored by God to tell the people the solution. 

Jeremiah just didn't preach doom and destruction. He preached about the fact that there is a solution. In fact, for America today, there is a national solution to our problems, and God reminded Judah and He reminds us today that there is a solution. Look over at Jeremiah chapter 7, verse 3. Jeremiah chapter 7, verse 3. God wants us to have a solution. He wants us to come out of this mire that we're stuck in. And so, Jeremiah prophesied about that, spoke God's words. Jeremiah 7:3: "Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, ‘Amend your ways and your doings, and I will cause you to dwell in this place.’" He says there is an answer. There is a solution to our problems. So, if you'll get up at your national convention and say, "America, change! Let's live God's way. We've tried everything else and it doesn't work!"

That's what God says, verse 5. "If you thoroughly amend your ways and your doings, if you thoroughly execute judgment between man and his name. If you thoroughly love your neighbor as yourself,” you wouldn't need your coalitions. You wouldn't need your political parties. You wouldn’t need your platforms. “If you execute judgment between one another." He goes on, "If you do not oppress the stranger, you do not oppress the fatherless, you do not oppress the widow, you do not shed innocent blood,” you don't murder. “You do no deadly violence.” He says you don't do that, and “if you don't walk after other gods.” No idolatry, put God first. “You do those things, I’ll cause you to dwell in this place, ultimately forever and ever."

There is the solution. God didn't just preach doom and destruction without showing the solution to our problems. And He lays it straight out. It's not political. It's not social. It's spiritual. And we have to have a changed heart, a changed mind. So, in Jeremiah 25, He built on that same thought. Jeremiah 25, verse 4. He says similar things, uses a little bit different wording. But nonetheless, He tells us the solution. Jeremiah chapter 25. Notice the way God inspired Jeremiah to prophesy in Jeremiah 25:4. He says, "And the Lord sent you, all his servants, the prophets, rising early and sending them." So, Jeremiah wasn't the only one. He says all the servants, all the prophets. In fact, He told Jeremiah "I have set you as a watchman." And God's Church today is a watchman, proclaiming the truth of God, proclaiming the true way, proclaiming the solutions to our problems. 

And so, God sent prophet after prophet to His people and He continues to do that today. And so, did the people listen? Well, we know Israel didn't listen. Judah didn't listen. But God sent them nonetheless, and God says in verse 4 of chapter 25 at the end, He says, "But you have not listened nor inclined your ear to hear." You can imagine, if you're trying to hear something, especially those of us who may be a little hard of hearing, you know, you turn your head, you try to hear. What's the implication there? I can't hear, and you know, I don't really want to. You turn away. They have inclined their ear, not to hear; just the opposite is happening. But nonetheless, even though we as a people don't want to hear, God wants all as a part of His Kingdom. Verse 5, here's what they said. "Repent now every one of his evil way and his evil doings, and dwell in the land that the Lord has given to you and your fathers forever and ever.” Ultimately, the Kingdom of God. It says, “Don't go after other gods to serve them or worship them. Don't provoke Me to anger with the works of your hands and I won't harm you." Verse 7, "’Yet, you have not listened to Me,’ says the Lord, ‘that you might provoke Me to anger with the works of your hands to your own hurt.’"

And so, God's judgment is on our arrogant national leadership. He says His judgment is upon irresponsible religious shepherds. And He says His judgment is upon an increasingly immoral society, and He says to all of us, “Repent.” Repent. And that message isn't just for America. It's not just for Britain or Canada or Australia. We have to be careful ourselves. Because any part of those attitudes and approaches are unacceptable to God. And you may have put Jeremiah 17:9 into your mind as a memory verse. We could turn over there just to remind ourselves. Because certainly, we don't want to say "Oh, look how bad they are, look how awful it is out there. Boy I'm sure glad I'm not in the world."

You see, we've got to be careful about that. And God inspired Jeremiah to remind us all not to think that way. So, in Jeremiah 17:9. Remember this verse? "The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. Who can know it?" We certainly have to have a realistic view of ourselves, don't we? We have to look at ourselves honestly because God's telling us through Jeremiah, our perception can be corrupt. Our view of ourselves can be deceptive, and maybe one of the most deceptive things is telling ourselves we're not too bad. Pretty good people. We are pretty good, aren't we? And so we fool ourselves into saying: "I'm a better person than I really am." You see, God says to be careful about that because that can be an illusion, it can be an illusion that we can fall into: not recognizing the issues, not recognizing the compassion that we need to have for the poor, the compassion that we need to have for those that are marginalized. That we have true justice in our own lives because as the people of God we must root out any immorality in our own life. 

It can't exist. God says it's unacceptable. God wants us to recommit our lives to him and amend our own ways, our own doings, and so He very clearly says, in our own lives, no violence, no anger. Not even in our thoughts can there be any bias or bigotry or prejudice. It is unacceptable. We have to strive to continue to live up to the mandate of Jesus Christ. To live up to His standard and fully commit every area of our life to Him and look to Him, and ultimately the solution, the ultimate solution as Christ comes back and establishes the Kingdom of God. But we have to be living by that standard today, right now, in every way. And Jeremiah is remarkable in that regard because not only does he preach about the consequences of ultimate disobedience to God, he also preaches a powerful positive message as well. 

If you look to Jeremiah chapter 17, verse 7, if you're still there, and verse 9 just got done telling us how deceitful our heart can be, how deceitful our thinking can be. Oftentimes we overlook verse 7, right before this, because it tells us a very positive message. It says, “Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord.” Sounds a lot like that song that we always sang, from Psalm 1, remember it? Remember the words that we sing? "Blessed and happy is the man who does never go astray." Right? Why not? Because we strive to follow God and His standard. And so, Jeremiah mirrors that song by saying "Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord and whose hope is in the Lord." And so, Jeremiah focuses on that hope, and the hope is that we live by that standard, we strive to obey God, we trust Him. We don't look to our own inclination, we look to God's leadership in our life, we look to His direction in our life. And God will direct and He will guide, and we're to be that shining example in this world of darkness, that God's way does work and God's way does lead to happiness.

And we may not have it on a country-, nationwide-type basis right now, but you know we can have it in the Church. We can have it in our individual lives. We can stand for honesty and justice and equality within the Church. We must! We must! And when we do that and as we do that, God says you can't help but be blessed. You can't help but to be happy because you're putting God's way into practice. Because we have set our hope on Him. And that helps us to look forward to the time that that hope will be evident to everyone, when Christ will establish God's government of justice and morality on this earth. So, let's never forget that. Let's never forget that. And let's strive that much more to put God's way into practice in our individual lives, and ultimately we heed the words that God gave to Jeremiah.