Legend of the Fall
Sunday, October 11, 2009 AM
By Pastor Jim May
What is a legend? The first response that would probably come to mind is that it is a story that has been passed down through the years of some great deed or a great hero of the past. Legends often carry with them a great deal of exaggeration and often the truth is much less than the legend states. Legends often make great stories and have happy endings and they serve to motivate us to reach a little higher to accomplish things in life.
But that isn’t the kind of legend that I am speaking of this morning. The legend that I am referring to is another kind of legend.
If you have ever looked at a map and noticed in the corner that there was a table, or a chart, listing and explaining the symbols used on the map – that table or chart, sometimes called a key, is also known as a Legend. So today I have the legend of a map, and there is a good deal of symbolism of this map, that pertains to where we are right now.
The map of course is God’s Word as found in the Book of Jeremiah chapter 8, and the legend is the symbolic course of events that we see happening in those verses.
Understand this – God uses Israel throughout the Old Testament and on into the New Testament, as examples for us to learn from. Israel made many mistakes, yet God keeps dealing with them because of His great love and because He has promised that there will be a remnant of the Jews that will be saved. Even though God has given these promises and loves Israel, there came a time when God had to send judgment upon them because they would not repent of their unfaithfulness to God.
God will contend with man only to a point. There is a point in time when God will say, “That’s enough. You won’t heed my warnings, so now I have no choice but to send judgment because my Holiness and Justice cannot tolerate your unfaithfulness any longer.”
We saw the patience of God reach its end in the Book of Genesis when He saw that there was no hope of men repenting of their sin, so He sent the flood to destroy them from the face of the earth. Only 8 people out of hundreds of thousands, perhaps even millions, survived God’s judgment. We also saw God’s patience with Israel run out when he allowed the nation to be destroyed the Jews scattered around the globe for over 1500 years. From 70 AD until 1948 there was no Israel, but God’s mercy is still extended and those Jews who will one day accept Jesus as Lord will be saved. Every other Jew will be in the fires of judgment because they continued to reject the Savior.
There’s another judgment coming soon. I believe that God has just about reached His limits of patience with sinful men. I sense in my spirit, and according the Word of God, the next great judgment won’t be long in coming. The next time God’s judgment will fall it won’t be in the form of a flood, but of fire. The earth and everything in it will burn as in an oven. The fires of purification will burn away every taint of sin from this world and it’s atmosphere, and God will create a new heaven and a new earth free from sin and death, where only those who have been faithful will be permitted to dwell. That number will be very small in comparison to those who are cast into the fiery pit. Even as only eight people survived the flood, very few will survive the fire.
But before that final judgment of God comes, God is still dealing with the hearts of men, trying to bring them back to Him in repentance.
2 Peter 3:9 says that, “The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.”
God’s great love and mercy are still extended today, yet the hearts of men reject every attempt of God to turn them around. With every passing day men shake their fist in the face of God and dare Him to make them change their ways. Those who do such things are treading on dangerous ground.
Jonathan Edwards, a preacher from the early 1700’s said it this way in his sermon titled “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God”: The only thing holding us up from falling into the fiery pits of judgment at any given moment is the mercy and grace of God. At any moment, God’s patience may run out, His mercy and grace will be retracted, and nothing we can do will keep us from falling into the flames.” That’s about as clear a picture as anyone can draw. The man, woman or youth that has not chosen to follow Jesus and turn from their sinful ways are living on an invisible hand of the Grace of God that could move at any second. We never know just how far God will allow us to go. When will His patience with your sin run out? What hour has God appointed for you to leave this world? None of us have a promise of tomorrow. Now is the day of salvation. Who knows if we will get another chance?
You might be sitting there saying, “Preacher, you’re just trying to scare me into getting saved.” You know what, YOU ARE RIGHT! I am trying to scare you into coming to Christ. It’s a scary thing to face the judgments of God. The Bible says that it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of a Living God, especially when His hands are filled with wrath at our unfaithfulness. I still shudder every time I think of the fact that some people I know, and even some that I love, may spend eternity in the fires of judgment. I cringe at the thought that I could be there too if I don’t remain faithful to God. I lie awake at night thinking of how those who are there in that awful Lake of Fire, scream day and night in torment, and will never be heard or able to get out. You get one shot at life and that’s it. There’s no “mulligans” like in golf, no “do overs”, no second chance. When it’s over it’s over, and then there’s eternity with the consequences. If I can scare anyone into missing hell by accepting Jesus, then I will surely do it.
God is still dealing with the hearts of men. His mercy and grace are extended to you this morning. All over the world God is trying to get men to turn to Him in repentance. Missionaries are in every country on the globe, preaching the gospel and building churches; getting people ready to meet God.
Every day, God is reaching out to people in America. Every day God is dealing with you. If you are saved, His Spirit is ever trying to lead you closer to Jesus. If you aren’t saved, then God sees to it that you are given warning after warning, and right now is one of those times. God’s grace is extended; the Holy Spirit says “Come, drink of the Water of Life, eat of the Bread of Life freely”, today is your day of salvation so don’t cast it aside; take advantage of it.
God deals with each of us on an individual basis. While the judgments of God will one day deal with the entire human race and all of Creation, right now God is dealing with you, and you alone. He still reaches out to you; but if you, as an individual keep turning away; then God will also deal with you individually in judgment. Right now that judgment could come in an effort to get you to repent. Later on, if you refuse, that judgment will come in the form of punishment. Judgment isn’t always meant to destroy. Sometimes its meant to correct.
When a child misbehaves, judgment will fall on him at the hands of the parents in the form of a spanking, or time out, or something else that they hope will get his attention and force him to do right. That child can either change his ways and reap the rewards of good behavior, or, if the bad behavior continues, the judgments will continue and the punishments will get worse. All of these punishments are never meant to destroy the child. They are given because of the love of the parents for that child in hope that he will become a good citizen. But no matter how much the parent may punish the child, if sin is bound in that child and they refuse to change no matter what the parent does, there will come a day when a greater judgment will fall on them. Perhaps the courts of the land will deal harshly with them and they’ll pay the price behind bars, or even face the penalty of death. Man’s tolerance for crime, like that of the God that created him, eventually comes to an end and final judgment must fall to uphold justice in the land. That’s the way God deals with people too.
You may be facing things today that have come in the form of a corrective judgment from God. Not all of our troubles are judgments, sometimes we are allowed to face tests to strengthen our faith in God. But sometimes the troubles are the result of our continued rejection of God. If we will turn to Him in repentance for sin, and then be faithful in serving the Lord, then often the effects of the judgment are overcome in time.
In Jeremiah chapter 8 we can sense the sorrow in Jeremiah’s heart as he writes what the Holy Spirit has inspired him to say about Israel. I can identify with what he is saying, just as those whose heart is breaking because of the lost condition of man, and the condition of our dying nation. Sometimes it feels almost hopeless; and we can hope beyond hope that somehow it will turn around.
Jeremiah 8:18 When I would comfort myself against sorrow, my heart is faint in me.
Jeremiah was called “The Weeping Prophet” because he lived in a time when Israel was backslidden and far from God. Impending judgment faced them every day and yet they would not turn back to God. Jeremiah could see it coming. He preached to the people every day, but none would hear.
On the other hand we hear the sadness in God’s voice as He says in
Jeremiah 8:19 … Is not the LORD in Zion? is not her king in her? Why have they provoked me to anger with their graven images, and with strange vanities?
Jeremiah again bewails the condition of his people when he says in Jeremiah 8:20 The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved.
Jeremiah 8:21 For the hurt of the daughter of my people am I hurt; I am black; astonishment hath taken hold on me.
The heart of the prophet was broken. The heart of God was broken. Israel rejected everything that God could do to bring them back. They were on the brink of judgment and would not repent. Oh why can’t they hear? Why don’t they listen? Can they not see what’s coming? I’ve preached the truth, revealed to them what is about to happen, and I’ve done it for months now. All summer long I have preached. All summer I have begged and cried for them to heed God’s warnings. Now the summer is gone. It’s time for the harvest, but the harvest that’s coming is not going to be for the good of my people. This harvest will be a harvest of destruction and judgment. Oh, Israel, can’t you hear it? Can’t you see it coming! Repent while you can!
Jeremiah 8:22 Is there no balm in Gilead; is there no physician there? why then is not the health of the daughter of my people recovered?
Is there not a God in Israel that can heal your broken heart? Is there not a God that loves you, His people, and desires that you serve Him? Is there not a God who can make you whole again? Is there not a God that wants to bless you? If there is, and believe me, that’s the kind of God that we serve; He only wants good things for you; if God is there, then why haven’t we heard His call?
Jeremiah’s broken heart was more than he could stand. He saw what was coming and he felt the pain that his people would bear and he hurt for them.
Jeremiah 9:1 Oh that my head were waters, and mine eyes a fountain of tears, that I might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people!
The pain in his heart for Israel was so great that he was physically weak. There were times when he just wanted to get away and forget it all. He had the call of God on his life to preach to Israel, but so many times he felt that his words were falling on deaf ears. It was so discouraging to watch his nation fall apart before his very eyes and not be able to convince them to change and follow God.
I believe that this is the way so many of God’s people feel today. How often do I wish that this could all be over! How often do I think, “Jesus, please come soon. Come and stop all of this madness; this rush to judgment.”
But still we try to keep reaching out to the lost in hope that maybe one will answer God’s call and come to Christ. Week after week we preach the gospel. Time after time no one answers. But we have to keep on. Maybe there’s one; just one that will get saved. That will make all of it worthwhile.
Jeremiah 9:2 Oh that I had in the wilderness a lodging place of wayfaring men; that I might leave my people, and go from them! for they be all adulterers, an assembly of treacherous men.
Jeremiah 9:6 Thine habitation is in the midst of deceit; through deceit they refuse to know me, saith the LORD.
God had to keep reminding Jeremiah that it wasn’t Jeremiah that they were rejecting. It’s not my sermons that people won’t hear. It’s not my personality that makes the difference. Those who reject Christ and doing do because they refuse to know the Lord. They are rejecting Him and that’s why judgment must come.
Jeremiah 9:7 Therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts, Behold, I will melt them, and try them; for how shall I do for the daughter of my people?
There’s the Legend of the Fall:
A man turns his back on God, refuses to heed the warnings, can see the judgment coming, the church cries out for lost sinners, weeps over the condition of the hearts of men, cries out for the Lord to put an end to it all, begs for men to come to Christ, but inevitable must watch the final judgment come. That’s the pattern, but it can be changed through repentance for sin and obedience to God’s Word.
Oh sinner, heed this warning! Don’t turn away from God! Fall on your face before Him and let Jesus be the Lord of your life!
Right now Jesus wants to be the Lord your Savior, but if you continue to refuse, there will come a time when He will become your Lord of Hosts. The Lord of Hosts is a military term that says Jesus will lead the armies of Heaven to reign down judgment for sin. In that day there will be no more repentance for sin. The die will have been cast and only punishment will follow.
The day is coming when all resistance against Christ will be melted away in a fervent heat. All men will be tried, convicted and sentenced to everlasting punishment if they have not accepted Jesus. Their end is too terrible to contemplate.
Will you turn to Jesus now? Will you repent of sin and allow Jesus to reign in your heart? Come to Jesus today.
