Series: The Rise Or Fall Of A Nation [#2]
A NATION’S DESTRUCTION
Obadiah 1:10-16
Introduction:
As we begin our 2nd sermon in this series, I want to remind you that Obadiah wrote this shortest book of the Old Testament probably soon after the armies of Babylon destroyed Jerusalem. Our text shows that there are signs of a Nation’s path to destruction. This also applies to our individual lives.
Obadiah 1:10-14 (NIV)
10 Because of the violence against your brother Jacob, you will be covered with shame; you will be destroyed forever. 11On the day you stood aloof while strangers carried off his wealth and foreigners entered his gates and cast lots for Jerusalem, you were like one of them. 12 You should not gloat over your brother in the day of his misfortune, nor rejoice over the people of Judah in the day of their destruction, nor boast so much in the day of their trouble. 13You should not march through the gates of my people in the day of their disaster, nor gloat over them in their calamity in the day of their disaster, nor seize their wealth in the day of their disaster. 14You should not wait at the crossroads to cut down their fugitives, nor hand over their survivors in the day of their trouble.
A path to destruction is…
1. Complacency.
When you think that you have everything figured out, and you are overly satisfied with your life; you begin to not realize the truth. You stop trying to grow and improve. You begin to have the attitude of, “I don’t care what you do as long as it doesn’t affect me”. The Edomites sat and watched their relatives be destroyed and they didn’t even care. In fact, they probably believed that the Israelites had it coming. They just turned a “blind eye” to what was going on.
Christians, we must understand that when we become comfortable, we become complacent. If you are trying to protect your little part of the world while ignoring all that is going on, you have a problem. Complacency is built upon pride; and pride goes before the fall.
A path to destruction is…
2. Complicity.
The word complicit is a legal term that means to be a part of a crime. Standing and watching something unjust happen and doing nothing is just as bad as committing the crime. Not only did the Moabites stand and watch the Babylonians kill, steal, and destroy without doing a thing to help; they also would hand them over to the Babylonians.
Christians, we cannot sit and watch all of the evil in our Nation and do nothing. The 1st thing you must do is pray. Then, you need to allow God to work in you and through you. That means that we must 1st deal with the things in our own lives that keep us from being who God has called us to be. Then, we must encourage one another in our service to God and lift up Jesus Christ so that more will be saved.
Obadiah 1:15-16 (NIV)
15 “The day of the Lord is near for all nations. As you have done, it will be done to you; your deeds will return upon your own head. 16Just as you drank on my holy hill, so all the nations will drink continually; they will drink and drink and be as if they had never been.
A path to destruction is…
3. Condemnation.
While God is love, He is also a just and righteous God. A Nation reaps what it sows; but I don’t think most people even consider that. There are consequences to sin. Now, we must remember that it is God’s job to judge; not ours.
Conclusion:
Romans 8:1-2 (NIV)
1 Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, 2because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death.
At the beginning of the sermon, I said that this applied to us as individuals as well as our Nation. Christians, Romans 8:1-2 is good news for us; but it is not for those who are unsaved.
John 3:16-18 (NIV)
16 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. 18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.
