The Electoral College was established to balance the power between the states and the federal government.
(1)No single state could dominate the election process.
Illus: For example, three or four swing states could get together an elect a president because of their large population.
(2)The system also aimed to prevent any one candidate a majority of the popular vote, thereby reducing the risk of a single party dictatorship.
The Electoral College consists of 538 electors. A majority of 270 electoral votes is required to elect the President.
• Each State has the same number of electors as it does Members in its Congressional delegation.
• One for each Member in the House of Representatives plus two Senators.
• The District of Columbia is allocated 3 electors and treated like a State for purposes of the Electoral College under the 23rd Amendment of the Constitution.
The Electoral College is a protection of power for the smaller states (Population) to be equal to the larger states (Population).
This was a safety-net that has proven to be a very wise thing that our fore-fathers did.
God also has provided a safety-net for His church.
That is, God’s church regardless of the size of its membership can have the presence of God as much as a large church.
The requirement is they…
1. Will Acknowledge God.
2. Worship God.
3. Obey God.
Will never be as RISK!
This is the safety-net God has placed for the church; such a church will never be at risk!
However, whenever any church turns it back on God, God will turn his back on them.
We can see that very clearly in the scriptures in a few minutes.
Let me show you THREE things in this text today.
Look first at-
I THE DESIRE OF GOD.
It has always been the desire of God for His church to be a strong godly influence in molding and shaping this nation to be what God would have it to become.
HOW CAN THE CHURCH BECOME A STRONG INFLUENCE IN DOING THAT?
It can only happen as God's Church is empowered by the Holy Spirit of God.
Whenever God's people will:
• Acknowledge God.
• Worship God.
• Obey God.
They will be a church that God can use to influence a nation.
In America we have this silly notion, if you build a church building and have a worship service God is obligated to be there.
Listen, the only time God has obligated Himself to be in any church is where people have come together to acknowledge Him, worship Him, and obey Him.
Matthew 18:20, For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I in the midst of them.
Anytime God finds a church where you find these three ingredients you will find God in the midst of them.
For example:
• When MOSES acknowledge, worshipped and obeyed God, God revealed Himself to him in such a way that those who saw him afterward noticed he glowed
• When ISRAEL acknowledged, worshipped and obeyed God, God sent the shekinah glory of God on the ark of the covenant in the tabernacle for nearly five hundred years.
• When the TEMPLE was built God moved into the temple and dwelled there for four hundred years.
For almost a thousand years, God's presence was with Israel.
However, when Israel cease to acknowleged God, Worship God, and Obey God there came a time when God withdrew His shekinah glory from among Israel.
WHY?
They trusted in a false security, that is, God would never leave Israel, BUT HE DID!
We have looked at THE DESIRE OF GOD
Let us look at-
II. THE DEPARTURE OF GOD.
WHEN DID IT HAPPEN?
The Babylonian empire had become the super power of that day in the near East and they were beginning to threaten the kingdom of Judah.
Prophets like Jeremiah, Daniel, and Ezekiel tried to warn the people of God of the impending danger.
During the next ten years the people of God refuse to repent, instead they went further into worshipping idols.
Than we read these startling words in II Choronicles 36:14-16, we read, "Moreover all the chief of the priests, and the people, transgressed very much after all the abominations of the heathen; and polluted the house of the Lord which He had hallowed in Jerusalem. And the LORD God of their fathers sent to them by His messengers, rising up betimes, and sending; because He had compassion on His people, and on His dwelling place: But they mocked the messengers of God, and despised His words, and misused His prophets, until the wrath of the Lord arose against His people, till there was no remedy."
Look at those words,"…There was no remedy."
Why?
• From the priest on down to the people they had forsaken God and now God says Israel and God's relationship was beyond repair.
• Than the Bible says God decided He had been on the RECEIVNG END long enough and he was going to start be on the GIVING END.
The situation was now irreparable!
Look at Ezekiel 5:8-9, God who was their glory and was always with them, now says, "..Behold, I, even I, am against thee..."
Once God was against them, look what happened to them in chapter Ezekiel chapter eight.
Through a special vision God showed Ezekiel what was going to transpire.
• Look Ezekiel 8:3-4, we read, "And he put forth the form of an hand, and took me by a lock of mine head; and the spirit lifted me up between the earth and the heaven, and brought me in the visions of god to Jerusalem, to the door of the inner gate that looketh toward the north; where was the seat of the image of jealousy, which provoketh to jealousy. And, behold, the glory of the God of Israel was there, according to the vision that I saw in the plain."
The important thing I want you to notice in Ezekiel 8:3-4 as God picked Ezekiel up in this vision by a lock of HIS hair on his head and placed him between heaven and earth to look toward the temple.
• The scriptures says in verse 4, we read, “...And, behold, the glory of the God of Israel was there, according to the vision that I saw in the plain."
However, he was shocked not to only see God was there, he also saw the Pagan Babylonian idol an "Image of jealousy” at the altar.
“The image of Jealousy” is believed to be the goddess of Tammuz.
Then God tore a hole in the wall of the Holy Place (Temple) and let Ezekiel see inside.
• Than look at verses 8-10, we read, “Then said he unto me, Son of man, dig now in the wall: and when I had digged in the wall, behold a door. And he said unto me, Go in, and behold the wicked abominations that they do here. So I went in and saw: and behold every form of creeping things, and abominable beasts, and all the idols of the house of Israel, portrayed upon the wall round about.
Ezekiel said once he got inside the walls of secrecy he saw, behold every form of creeping things, and abominable beasts, and all the idols of the house of Israel, portrayed upon the wall round about.
• Than look at verse 14, we read of the WOMEN, "Than he brought me to the door of the gate of the Lord's house which was toward the north: and, behold, there sat women weeping for Tammuz.”
Tammuz was an Assyrian goddess and conjecture has it that these were shameless prostitutes weeping before the god they served.
• Than look at verse 16, we read of the MEN, "And he brought me into the inner court of the Lord's house, and behold, at the door of the temple of the Lord, between the porch and the altar, were about five and twenty men, with their backs toward the temple of the Lord, and their faces toward the east; and they worshipped the sun toward the east."
God today wants to find CLERGYMAN, MEN and WOMEN that he can tear holes in the inner most part of God's church and reveal to them that the church today is in trouble the same way he did with Ezekiel.
Ezekiel must have been shocked to have seen what God saw. He was seeing things the way God saw them.
Than Ezkiel saw something happened he thought he would never see happened. He saw the glory of God depart from the house of God
It did not happened over night, it happened in THREE stages: Notice these three stages as God departed from the temple of God.
1. Look at Ezkiel 10:4, we read, "Than the glory of the Lord went up from the Cherub, and stood over the threshold of the house...’
2. Look at Ezkiel 10:18, we read, "Than the glory of the Lord departed from off the threshold of the house, and stood over the cherubim’s."
3. Look at Ezekiel 11:23, we read, "And the glory of the Lord went up from the midst of the city, and stood upon the mountain which is on the east side of the city"
For the first time in a thousand years the SHEKINAH GLORY OF GOD began to:
• Move off the wings of the cherubim’s,
• And it began to move a way until the temple was left void of the presence of God.
God had completely moved out of the temple. They continued to come to the temple, but God was not there.
Illus: This is exactly what has happened to some church. One time their church was on fire for God
• Christians were excited what God was doing and they would go out and compel the lost to come to the house of God.
• Christians sung with a heart full of joy.
• Christians prayed prayers from their heart.
• God’s Word was preached.
But over a period of time, gradually they began to lose the presence of God.
And now all over this nation people go to their churches and they go through their ritualistic worship services BUT GOD IS NOT THERE.
Illus: Back in the days when C.H. Spurgeon preached in London, England God was there in a special way. While God's men was preaching the Word of God literally hundreds of men were in the basement praying for the power and presence of God in the 300 services. God came and dwelt in that place that literally thousands were flocking into the tabernacle. On one occasion Mr. Spurgeon requested that the Christians please stay home for the evening service to make room for all the sinners who were wanting to get inside to hear about the Savior who died for their sins. What is shocking today if you visit that same church where once thousands horn acknowledge, worship and obeyed God now only a hand full of people are there.
This is exactly what happened at the temple, God once filled it with His presence, but now He has departed. However, they were so busy living their selfish lives they never were aware that God had departed.
Illus: When the high priest went into the holy of holies he did not see the shekinah glory of God that filled the temple anymore. He had to lie to the people and tell them HE was there, but it was a lie. He told them what they wanted to hear.
Today across this vast land of ours preachers are doing the same thing that priest did, they are lying to the people. They are not preaching the truth of God's Word that God has left the church and they need to fall on their faces before God and repent of their sins and ask the Lord to return to the house of God.
Instead, they are telling them what they want to hear that God will dwell among a selfish and sinful people.
The church today is going right along with all their rituals and programs as if God is there, but God has long departed many of our churches.
God has departed for the same reason he departed from Israel - they left God and God now has left them!
We have looked at:
I. The Desire
II.The Departure
But now let us look at…
III. THE DESTRUCTION.
Isaiah who prophesied a century before Ezkiel told them what they could expect once God would depart.
• Isaiah 1:7 the land would be overthrown by strangers.
• Isaiah 1:7 the cities would be burned with fire.
• Isaiah 1:11 God would reject their sacrifices.
• Isaiah 1:15 God would refuse to hear and answer their prayers.
• Isaiah 2:6 God would forsake those who had forsaken him.
• Isaiah 3:1 their society would collapse into poverty and ruin.
• Isaiah 3:2-4 there would be a scarcity of spiritual, political, and social leadership.
• Isaiah 3:15 God's people would be abused and the poor would be oppressed.
This is exactly what happened to the people of God.
When the Babylonians defeated Jerusalem, they literally tore the town down stone by stone. They wrecked the temple and burned it to the ground.
Conclusion:
Many believe that America has become like Israel - beyond remedy!
Illus: In his book, "Ablaze with His Glory" Del Fehsenfeld Jr., said,
• "The problem with American Christianity is that we want to control God instead of letting God control us.
• We have replaced absolute surrender with conditional commitment to His will.
• We want to approach God with a carefully detailed contract instead of turning our lives over to Him as a blank check to do with as He wishes."
Many churches today has been derailed and needs to recognize her pathetic condition and quit finding comfort in her false security - GOD WOULD NEVER LEAVE THE CHURCH. This is what Israel thought, but GOD DEPARTED.
The only hope for America is for God to send REAL REVIVAL.
That will not transpire until we return back to God's Word.
In II Chronicles 7:14, we read, "If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land"
The glory of the church is God's presence and when we lose the glory of His presence all we can glory in is our:
• Buildings.
• Finances.
• Programs.
• Activities.
That is exactly why we hear so much about these things these days, because many churches have lost the PRESENCE OF THE LORD.
I. THE DESIRE OF GOD.
II. THE DEPARTURE OF GOD.
III. THE DESTRUCTION OF GOD.
17:31
How Nebuchadnezzar Invaded Jerusalem and Destroyed the Temple
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SPIRITUAL JOURNEY
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