Jeremiah’s Forecast For The 2012 Elections
If You Feel This Lesson is an Endorsement Of Any Political Party Of The 2012 Elections …. You Are Very Wrong. Not Only Has The Democrat Party And Republican Party … But Every Party Has Let Down The Evangelical Christian Community. And Worse … They Have All Become A Huge Disappointment To Jehovah God.
Do Not Get Me Wrong …. I AM Trying To Influence Your Vote!!! But Not For A Person Or Party But For A Principle!!!
ILL: In All Of My Papa’s Public Prayers …(When He Was Alive) … He Quoted The Passage: “Righteousness Exalts A Nation … But Sin Is A Reproach To Any People.”
I Want To Influence You To Vote For Righteousness!!!
Stand For Righteousness!!!
Listen To God’s Voice / God’s Word / God’s Spirit And Guidance
Use Your Vote To Stand Up For Jesus / Stand On Truth / Stand In Righteousness
Stand For Our Future Generations
Please …. To Leave A Legacy Of Righteousness For Your Family
The Israelites Had Lived In The Promised Land (The 2nd Time) For Close To 900 Years.
Lead By A Godly Joshua Who (With 1 Foot In The Wilderness And 1 Foot In The Promised Land} Challenged The Children Of Israel To Choose This Day …They Crossed Over & Conquered The Promised Land
Period Of Judges
3 Kings United Kingdom
Divided Kingdom
However …. Continued Further And Further From God …
By The Time Of Our Texts For Today …The Kingdom Of Israel Had Already Been Carried Off By The Assyrians …As Prophesied By Isaiah
Then … Just Before 600 BC … A Young Man Was Born In Anathoth (3 Miles NE Of Jerusalem) To A Priest. God Had Chosen Him Before He Was Conceived
And Set Him Apart Before He Was Born To Be 1 Of The Major Characters Of Old Testament History.
As It Turned Out … His Life Was To Be A Lonely Life Of Dedication To God’s Service. He Could Attend No Feasts. He Could Take No Wife For Himself. Have No Children (Therefore No Lineage Of His Own). His Love Would Be God’s People. His Life Would Be Wrapped In Their Future
However As Sad As That Life Sounds … It Was Only The Beginning Of An Even More Unpleasant Ministry. His Message Was So Negative / Unpopular / Dismal That He Wanted To Quit Preaching. His Message Was 1 Distasteful Prediction Of Slaughter And Destruction After The Other. His Own Words Were So Unpleasant (By His Own Evaluation) That He Decided To Prophesy No More.
However He Could Not Carry Out His Plan Because The Word Of God Became Like A Fire In His Bones And Although He Continued To Prophesy What God Wanted … He Wished He Had Never Been Born.
His Overall Message Of 45 Years Was Doom & Gloom. God’s People Had Forsaken Him. She Followed After Other Gods (That Were No Gods At All). God’s People Had Abandoned Justice / Mercy. They Forgot The Fatherless / Widows. They Loved Money And Were Greedy For It. They Were About To Be Invaded And Conquered. Their Capitol Jerusalem Was Soon To Fall. And It’s Destruction Would Not Be Pretty Or Pleasant
Some Of The Visions Of Jerusalem’s Destruction Were So Terrible That Jeremiah Cried Out And Wept Before The Lord …Thus Earning Him The Title “The Weeping Prophet”. And Such Was The Condition Of Judah At The Time Of The Prophet Jeremiah.
His Life Was A Life Spent Warning A Nation Of Impending Disaster …. Unless They Returned To God.
I Believe Jeremiah Has Much To Say About The State Of The United Stated Today. As A Warning From God And The Past … I Want To Take What Jeremiah Prophesied Concerning Judah And God’s People In 585 BC And See How Accurate It Is In America 2012.
I Will Make Only 2 Changes In Jeremiah’s Words
#1 Instead Of Referring To Judah (Jews) … I Will Be Referring To Us As Americans
#2 {Remember They Were A Theocracy … Thus Their Religious Leaders Were Their Politicians} So Instead Of Using The Titles Of Prophets And Priests I Will Use The Term “Politician”
As I Read These Passages … Ask Yourself … How Accurately Do These Accusations (Spoken 2500 Years Ago) … Describe Us In America Today????
Do The Crises We Americans See Happening To Our Beloved Country Today Compare To Jeremiah’s Day? What God Was Telling Judah? Many Do Not Even Realize That Today In America … We Are Seriously Transgressing God's Spiritual Law. What Does The Hebrew Prophet Jeremiah Reveal About Our Lives Today— And Where We Are Headed In The Future?
I Will Divide These Words From Jeremiah Into 2 Categories: Signs Of The Times / The Politician’s Response
SIGNS OF THE TIMES
Jeremiah 2:11
America … You are a nation that changed its God
ILL: Our Coins
2:33 America As a Culture …
How skilled you are at pursuing Sexual Matters!
Even the worst of women can learn from your ways.
Think About This … Years Ago … To Look Slutty, Women In Hollywood Dressed Like Prostitutes …Now The Prostitutes Are Dressing Like Hollywood
3:3 Yet you have the brazen look of a prostitute;
you refuse to blush with shame.
Where Is The Shame??? How Far Have We Travel Down A Bad Road???
Nobody Is Embarrassed Anymore!!! What People Wear … Underwear Has Become Outer Wear ….
ILL: Jokes / Cool To Use Ugly Words
4:22 America You Have Become skilled in doing evil;
You Do Not even know not how to do good.”
Not Just Doing Evil ….. SKILLED At IT!!!
5:7 America … You commit adultery and throng to the houses of prostitutes.
5:8 You are well-fed, lusty stallions, each neighing for another man’s wife.
A Description Of Evening Programing On Cable
5:28 America … Your evil deeds have no limit;
How Many Times Lately Have You Said … “I Can Not Believe That” / “I Can Not Believe My Ears / Eyes”
5:28 You do not plead the case of the fatherless to win it,
Who More Helpless Than Child In Womb??
5:28 You do not defend the rights of the poor.
Widows
ILL: 97 Year Old Beaten / Cut / Left For Dead … Know What She Remembers … The Ugly Words He Kept Calling Her
6:15 America … You have no shame at all;
You do not even know how to blush.
8:9 America You have rejected the word of the LORD
The Bible Has Become Offensive
ILL: Cheerleaders … Signs
9:3 America …You go from one sin to another
Chain Sinning (Like Chain Smoking)
9:5 America … You weary yourselves with sinning.
POLITICIAN’S RESPONSE
5:13 The Politicians are but wind and the word is not in them
We Tune Them Out When They Open their Mouth … Because … Nothing But Wind / Every Party = “Wind And Spin”
2:35 you Politicians say, ‘I am innocent; [God] is not angry with me.’
First response To Bad Press … Deny / Deny / Deny
5:31 The Politicians Speak lies,
Last Part Of This Verse Says … And The People Like It Like That Politicians Typically … Say What They Decide The People Want to Hear And Many People Today Had Rather Hear A Lie Than Be Confronted With The truth
Example: DO We Challenge People To Be Financially Responsible Or Tell Them They Can Continue Their Irresponsible Behavior Yet Face No Adverse Consequences
5:31 the Politicians rule by their own authority
Law Matters Little … Make Up The Rules As They Go / Live Without Self Imposed Rules Such as Fiscal responsibility Consequences For Bad Actions
5:31 and my people love it this way
Many seem addicted to falsehood, preferring deceit to truth. People usually don't like being disturbed by unvarnished truths. People Love Politicians That Play To them / Help Their State / Champion Their Case / Support Their Issue /
RAY OF HOPE
Jer 5:1 “Go up and down the streets of Jerusalem, look around and consider, search through her squares. If you can find but one person who deals honestly and seeks the truth, I will forgive this city.
At Least I Do Not Believe Washington D.C. Is That Bad Yet!
CONCLUSION
Again … What does the Hebrew prophet Jeremiah reveal about our lives today—
and where we are headed in the future?
Near The End Of Jeremiah’s Life … He Saw All He Had Prophesied Concerning Judah’s Fate Come About The Babylonians Came Thru And Destroyed Killed And Carried Off the Jews. Jerusalem Was Left A Smoldering Ash Heap. And Sitting On Top Of The Ruins Of His Beloved Capital City … Jeremiah Wept Aloud …
Lamentations 2:11 My eyes fail from weeping, I am in torment within, my heart is poured out on the ground because my people are destroyed, because children and infants faint in the streets of the city.
12 They say to their mothers, “Where is bread and wine?” as their lives ebb away in their mothers’ arms. Should women eat their offspring, the children they have cared for? Should priest and prophet be killed in the sanctuary of the Lord?
2:21 “Young and old lie together in the dust of the streets; my young men and maidens have fallen by the sword. You have slain them in the day of your anger; you have slaughtered them without pity.
Jeremiah lived a long time ago. Over 2,500 years have passed since he walked the streets of Jerusalem, courageously warning ancient Judah about its increasingly bad behavior—and what would surely happen if the nation were to allow it to continue unabated.
Yes God is a God of infinite mercy …. But He Is Also … A God Of Justice
ILL: Preacher Once Said …If God Does Not Soon Judge America …He Will Have To Apologize To Sodom And Gomorrah
