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Man, Jeremiah chapter 21, beginning in verse number 1, the Bible reads, The word which came unto Jeremiah from the Lord, when King Zedekiah sent unto him Pashur the son of Melchiah, and Zephaniah the son of Maasiah the priest, saying, Enquire, I pray thee, of the Lord for us. For Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, maketh war against us, if so be that the Lord will deal with us according to all his wondrous works, that he may go up from us. Then said Jeremiah unto them, Thus shall you say to Zedekiah, Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, Behold, I will turn back the weapons of war that are in your hands, wherewith you fight against the king of Babylon and against the Chaldeans, which besiege you without the walls, and I will assemble them into the midst of this city, and I myself will fight against you with an outstretched hand and with a strong arm, even in anger and in fury and in great wrath. Now at the beginning of the chapter here, these men come to question Jeremiah. This man's name is Pashur. It's not the same Pashur from the previous chapter. That Pashur was known as the son of Imur the priest. This man is a man named Pashur, the son of Melchiah, but he's of the same ilk. He's one of these priests of the house of God, one of these apostate false teachers and false prophets, and they've been sent by Zedekiah. Now, King Zedekiah knows that Jeremiah is a real man of God. Even though Jeremiah is hated and persecuted, in the last chapter Jeremiah had just gotten arrested, if you remember, and he spent overnight in the stocks with his head and his hands locked into the wood because he'd been arrested by one of the chief priests, just as Jesus Christ himself would later be rejected of the chief priests and arrested by them. But Zedekiah, and you'll see this later on in the book of Jeremiah as well, he knows deep down that Jeremiah is a real man of God. He realizes that he's preaching the true word of God and that these other guys are phonies. I mean, if he wanted to know what the word of the Lord is, why didn't he just ask these priests? I mean, the guys that he's sending are preachers, they're priests, they're men of God, supposedly, but he knows that they're full of baloney, so he says, go ask Jeremiah what God actually has to say. Later on, we find out a little bit more about Zedekiah's character that Zedekiah is fearful to obey the word of the Lord, and he doesn't want anybody to know that he's kind of a fan of Jeremiah. He calls in Jeremiah later in the book of Jeremiah, and he gets advice from him, and he tells him, hey, look, don't tell anybody that we had this conversation, and don't tell them why you were in here, because he didn't want people to know that he sought counsel at that point at the mouth of Jeremiah, okay? It's sort of like in the time of Jesus Christ, the Bible says that many of the chief priests believed on Jesus, but for fear of the Pharisees, they didn't want to be put out of the synagogue, they didn't want to be mocked or rejected or hated or persecuted. They would not confess Jesus openly, and the Bible says that they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God. Now, I believe that those people were truly saved, because the Bible tells in the Gospel of John, it says they believed on Jesus, they believed on him, and guess what? That's all you have to do to be saved. The Bible says that whosoever believeth on him should not perish, but have eternal life. The Bible says believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. Even those who are truly saved, even those who believe on Jesus Christ can sometimes be cowardly and afraid to stand up for Jesus. Perfect example of that is the Apostle Peter, who denied the Lord three times. I don't think anyone would try to tell me that Peter did not believe in Jesus or was not saved or was not on his way to heaven, but yet he, in a moment of weakness, in a moment of fear and cowardice, denied the Lord thrice, and when he thought thereon, he went out and wept bitterly. I spoke one time to a Christian that I know very well, who talked about being very backslidden and being at a worldly party, and at one time, people were mocking Christianity and said to this person, you're not a Christian, are you? And they just said, oh, no, no, I'm not. Even though they really were, which is really similar to what Peter did. I mean, they basically denied the Lord in that sense. That doesn't make that person unsaved, but it does make them a coward. It does make them ashamed of the cause of Christ. It does make them guilty of a major sin of denying Christ or being ashamed of Christ and being fearful and not having the faith to stand up for Christ and let the chips fall where they may. So that's the kind of guy that Zedekiah was. He was one who, inside his heart, he believed the word of the Lord. He believed the word that Jeremiah was preaching. He knew that Jeremiah was a man of God. He wanted to hear what this guy had to say, but when it came down to actually putting Jeremiah's advice into practice, he wouldn't do it. And so he ended up getting his eyes poked out later in the book of Jeremiah. Zedekiah's eyes are going to be poked out. His children are going to be murdered and he's going to be carried away into another country captive and he's going to die there. Why? Because even if you believe in Christ, even if you're saved and even if you're on your way to heaven, but yet you disobey the word of the Lord and you live a life not following his commandments, not doing what the Bible tells us to do, you can mess up your life on this earth. Pretty bad. See, that's what people don't understand. When we go out and preach the gospel and we teach people that once they believe on Christ, there's nothing that they could ever do to lose their salvation because God gives us everlasting life. He said he'll never leave us nor forsake us. He said, I give unto them eternal life and they shall never perish. Neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. He said that we're sealed by the Holy Ghost under the day of redemption, that nothing can separate us from the love of God and on and on and on. People will often say, well, does that mean you can just do whatever you want? Now, here's the thing. You can do whatever you want and you'll still get to heaven by the blood of Christ. But guess what? You will mess up your life on this earth because the Bible says whom the Lord loveth, he chaseneth and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. And the Bible says that even those who are saved can often end, you know, in a rough life, mess up their life. I mean, there are numerous examples in the Bible of people who were saved, but they messed up their life on this earth because, you know, the Bible says, Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. And that doesn't just apply to the unsaved. That applies to the saved as well. If we want God to bless us in our Christian lives, we have to obey the Bible. We have to keep his commandments to be blessed, but to be saved, all we all we need is faith, just believing in Christ. The Bible says, By grace are you saved through faith and that not of yourselves. It is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. So here we see that Zedekiah the king sends these guys under Jeremiah. They're probably not that jazzed about going and talking to Jeremiah. Because they don't like Jeremiah because they're phony preachers, and he's a real preacher. And if there's one thing that phony preachers hate, it's the real preacher because he makes them look bad by preaching the truth. And if there's one thing a real preacher hates, it's phony preachers, you know, and here's the thing. The Bible says that the just is an abomination to the wicked and the wicked is an abomination to the just. It tells us in Proverbs. And so just as Jeremiah is an abomination to these guys, these guys are an abomination to Jeremiah. So Zedekiah sends these guys and they come to Jeremiah with this message from the king. And the message is, inquire, I pray thee of the Lord for us. For Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, maketh war against us. If so be that the Lord will deal with us according to all his wondrous works, that he may go up from us. So they're saying, you know, we want God to get involved in this battle and we want God to do a miracle. We want to see the wondrous works of God because we've read in the Bible how he parted the Red Sea and brought the children of Israel across on dry land and defeated the Egyptians. And then he brought down the walls of Jericho and he defeated all the Canaanites and the Amorites and the Perizzites and the Hivites and the Jebusites and all those people who lived in Canaan. And in the book of Judges, every time they would turn to the Lord and worship the Lord, he would step in and send a deliverer and they'd win the battle. And they knew the stories of David and Goliath or other stories of great victory where God's people defeated the enemy. They said, yeah, we want to see some of those miracles. We want God to step in and do some of his wondrous works. God's answer is basically, well, yeah, I'll be glad to get involved in this battle on the other side fighting against you. I mean, that's the answer that he gives pretty much the worst possible answer that he could give these people. These people are trying to enlist God's help. And God says, you know what I'm going to do? I'm going to get involved in this battle. I'm going to take a role in this on the opposing side and I will personally fight against you. Now, that's a pretty negative rebuke here. That's a pretty strong message that he's sending. Now, this is something that should be told unto those today who think that Israel can do no wrong. And it's this cognitive dissonance where they just forget all this stuff in the Bible about how in order to be blessed by God, in order to be protected by God, in order to have God on their side, they had to actually believe in the Lord and actually follow the Lord. They throw all that out the window and just say, well, because they're Israel, God's going to fight for them. Well, why would God fight for them? Because they're Israel, because he's the God of Israel. I mean, look what the Bible says here. Then said Jeremiah unto them, verse three, Thus shall you say to Zedekiah, Thus saith the Lord God of Israel. So he's the God of Israel. All right, behold, I will turn back the weapons of war that are in your hands, wherewith the fight against the king of Babylon and against the Chaldeans, which besiege you without the walls. And I will assemble them into the midst of this city. And I myself will fight against you with an outstretched hand and with a strong arm, even in anger and in fury and in great wrath. Imagine warfare going on. Imagine two armies fighting with each other and imagine one particular warrior, where if you looked at that warrior, you would say this man is fighting with a strong arm. And then you'd say this man is fighting in anger. He's fighting in fury. He's fighting in great wrath. I mean, just picture the warrior picture a man's face. Just, you know, just fighting and just, I mean, just fighting with fury wrath. You know, God basically says that's how I'm going to fight against you. Think about what he's saying. Imagine that. Imagine just an angry, furious, wrathful, strong warrior just running into battle. Just just slashing and kill. I mean, God says that's me against you, Israel. Why? Because they forsaken the Lord because they're wicked, because they're committing all these abominations. See, people today want the blessings of God. They want the miracles of God. They love the great stories of God's provision and God's protection and God's anointing and God's power. But they don't want to obey his commandments. They don't want to get the sin out of their life. They don't want to do what he tells them to do. You can't just disobey God. And then when you're in a jam, you just look to God and say, OK, God, just like you did for David. Let's do it. You know, David and Goliath. Here I am, Lord. Wrong answer. He says, no, I'm going to help Goliath kill you. I mean, that's basically what he's saying here. He says with a strong arm, even in anger, you say, well, I don't know. That's not the God that I believe in. OK, well, what God do you believe in? Zeus. What God do you believe in? You know, some other false God or something. I mean, there is only one God. And he's a God who, when you push him too far, he'll fight against you in anger, in fury and in great wrath. It's a fearful thing, the Bible says in the New Testament. It's a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. Bible says our God is a consuming fire. Verse six, and I'll smite the inhabitants of this city, both man and beast. They shall die of a great pestilence. He's saying, look, just just in case you escape the sword of the Babylonians, I'm just going to follow it up with a pestilence. I'm going to follow it up with the disease just to kill everybody who's left. I mean, is God angry or what? It's furious. And afterwards, saith the Lord, I will deliver Zedekiah, king of Judah, and his servants and the people. And such as are left in this city from the pestilence, from the sword and from the famine into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, and into the hand of their enemies and into the hand of those that seek their life. And he shall smite them with the edge of the sword. He shall not spare them, neither have pity nor have mercy. That's the answer to Zedekiah and the priests. Verse eight, and unto this people, thou shalt say, thus saith the Lord, behold, I set before you the way of life and the way of death. And listen to me, that's the same choice that God sets before all of us today. That's the choice that is set before the people of America. And it's not Hillary versus Trump. That's not the way of life versus the way of death. God is setting before us today as a nation, the way of life and the way of death. Those are the two choices today. And the Bible gives this choice many times in the Bible. In Deuteronomy, he gives this choice and he gives those famous words, choose life, which has become a slogan to a lot of people. Choose life. He says, I've set before you this day a blessing and a curse, life or death. Choose life. He says, I'm giving you the way of life and I'm giving you the way of death. Now, in this case, the way of life was if they would surrender to the Babylonians, God would let them live. If they would just have faith in his word and obey the Lord and surrender to the king of Babylon, they will live. And if they stay in the city and fight, they will all die, either of sword or pestilence or whatever. That's not a very popular message, because imagine today if the United States were being attacked, right? And a preacher gets up and says, hey, thus sayeth the Lord. You know, pick a country who's who's the most likely to come invade us or kill us or who's a China or what? Canada. I think we can handle that. I don't know if we even I don't even know if we need the Lord's help. No, I'm just kidding. Anyway, just kidding. But anyway, you know, let's say China, you know, China read the Red Army from China comes over here and they're invading us, right? Can you imagine a preacher? Just stop and think about what God is telling Jeremiah to preach. Can you imagine a preacher getting up and saying, thus sayeth the Lord? The only way to survive is to surrender to the red Chinese. If you surrender to the Chinese, everything will be fine. Just turn in your weapons and go turn yourself into the Chinese. And if you try and resist them, you're all going to die. Can you imagine how unpopular of that message that message would be? And can you imagine how you get arrested? That's why he does later get arrested in the Book of Jeremiah, because here's what they say. You're being paid off by the Babylonians. They told him, you're not preaching the word of God. They're paying you to say this stuff. You are a turncoat. You've fallen to the Chaldeans and Jeremiah says, no, I promise I haven't. I'm just preaching what God tells me to preach. They're like, yeah, right. You're a traitor. This is treason. I mean, put yourself in Jeremiah's position. I mean, he's being put in a tough place. I mean, God's telling him to preach the last thing that anybody wants to hear. It just makes him look like a total traitor. Like he's just committing treason against his nation and so forth. When in reality, he's just telling the truth and just preaching the Bible. But that's not what it looks like to those who don't believe, to the unbelievers. That's why he gets arrested multiple times. That's why he ends up in a dungeon, sinking in the mire. That's why he ends up almost starving to death later in the book, because they stopped feeding him in prison and all the bad things that Jeremiah is going to go through, because he's preaching this really unpopular message. And the Bible says, the way of life and the way of death. Verse 9, he that bideth in the city shall die by the sword and by the famine and by the pestilence. But he that goeth out and falleth to the Chaldeans that beseech you, he shall live. And his life shall be unto him for a pray. For I have set my face against this city for evil and not for good, saith the Lord. It shall be given into the hand of the king of Babylon and he shall burn it with fire. And touching the house of the king of Judah, say, Hear ye the word of the Lord, O house of David. Thus saith the Lord, Execute judgment in the morning and deliver him that is spoiled out of the hand of the oppressor, lest my fury go out like fire and burn that none can quench it. Watch this, because of the evil of your doings. Behold, I am against thee, O inhabitant of the valley and rock of the plains, saith the Lord, which say, Who shall come down against us or who shall enter into our habitation? But I will punish you according to the fruit of your doing, saith the Lord, and I will kindle a fire in the forest thereof and it shall devour all things round about it. You see, God can execute judgment upon anyone, no matter how secure they think they are. See, in this passage, the people who were the inhabitants of the valley and rock of the plain, they felt like they had geography on their side and they felt that they could not be defeated. They felt that the enemy would not be able to approach them there. You know, the people in Jerusalem, okay, they're going to get taken down. But we are in a position of security. But when God's bringing judgment, he can bring it to where you live, no matter where you hide. The Bible says in Amos, when God was going to bring judgment, he said, even if they dig down into hell, I'll reach down and grab them and pull them out. They climb up to heaven, I'll bring them down. They can go hide in the bottom of the sea. They can go hide there or there. I'll find them anywhere. God will punish who he wants to punish on this earth. And the punishment comes because of the evil of our doings. America today has a way set before them that is a way of life and there's a way that is a way of death. Now the Bible says, there's a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death. The so-called American way might seem right. But the Bible says, just because it seems right to man, the end thereof are the ways of death. God said, my thoughts are not your thoughts. Neither are my ways your ways. As the heaven is higher than the earth, so are my thoughts above your thoughts. And so we think that we're smarter than God sometimes and we rationalize and say, well, what's wrong with this sin or what's wrong with that sin? We don't realize that we don't get to decide what right and wrong is. Right and wrong has already been laid out in this book, the Bible, and we just need to read it, study it, obey it, love it, and not sit there and try to rationalize our own morality as if we were some kind of an atheist just making it up on the fly. Because we have no foundation. We have no moral authority or moral compass that's based upon a rock. You see, the morality of America or the morality of the world that we live in is based on sifting sands that change from generation to generation. The things that are considered right today were not considered right 60, 70, 80 years ago. But now they are considered right. Well, what's going to be considered right 20 or 30 years from now? We don't know because we're on a shifting sand. We're just sliding all over the place, being tossed to and fro with whatever the media and Hollywood and Madison Avenue cook up for us. We're just going to go along with it and whatever. And Americans today, they think that they're so smart and that they think for themselves and that they're these independent free thinkers, but they all just magically have the same opinions. And 40 years ago, they all magically had the same opinions that were completely different. But then they all just happen to accept the same sin at the same time. But it's only because it's a plan where the devil has a plan. Remember the devil, who is known as that great serpent in the in the Book of Revelation, called the devil and Satan. This is what the Bible says about him, which deceiveth the whole world. That's what he does. He deceives the whole world. How does he deceive people? You see, it's not a deception to say, hey, I'm the devil. Worship Satan, do bad stuff. That's not a deception. Here's a deception telling you to do something bad and making it seem right. That's deception, right? See, deception is when you think something is good that is actually bad. If it's bad and you know it's bad and everybody's saying it's bad and you go out and do it anyway, you're not deceived at that point. You're just sinning. You're just doing bad. But that's not what the devil does. The devil deceives the world. Remember what it said about Adam in the Garden of Eden? It says that the woman was deceived, meaning Eve in the Garden of Eden, she was deceived. But it said Adam was not deceived. And he was in the transgression. He was not deceived. He knew when he ate of that fruit that he was doing wrong. He knew that he was committing sin. He didn't believe the devil's lie, but he just did it. It was wrong, but he just did it anyway. But the devil deceived Eve. The serpent, the Bible says in I believe 2 Corinthians 11, that the serpent beguiled Eve. And the serpent today, the devil, he beguiles the whole world. He tricks the world. He deceives the world into thinking that things are right that are not right at all. And you run into people all the time where they hear biblical preaching straight out of the Bible, chapter and verse, to back up everything that's said. And then they'll say, that just doesn't seem right. That just doesn't seem right to me. Well, yeah, that's because you've been brainwashed your whole life. And then they'll hear all the lies. They'll hear the smooth things that the false prophets have to preach, all the smooth, soft sermons. And here's what they say, you know, it just seems right. And then they'll claim it's the Holy Spirit that led them. Well, I just have peace about it. So that must be the Holy Spirit leading me. But here's the thing. If what you believe or accept or do does not line up with scripture, that's not the Holy Spirit leading you. I don't care what you feel or think or experience. This is black and white right here. This is what we can trust. This is what we can anchor our soul to as a rock. And the Bible says who so trusted in his own heart is a fool. You can't just trust your feelings and trust your heart. You've got to read the Bible and test all things. Prove all things against the word, against the scripture. Yeah, the Holy Spirit is going to guide you into all truth through the word of God. The Bible says the Holy Spirit will not speak of himself, meaning he doesn't come up with things on his own that are different. It says he will take of mine and show it to you. He will bring, he said, the comforter when he has come, the Holy Ghost, he will bring all things into remembrance whatsoever I have told you. So here's what God told us. Here's the word of God. These are the words of Christ. The Holy Spirit will bring these things to our remembers. That's why the Bible is called the sword of the Spirit. Why is the Bible called the sword of the Spirit? What does sword of the Spirit mean? It means the sword that belongs to the Spirit. What about the sword of Goliath? What did that mean? Hey, we got the sword of Goliath here and David said there's none like it. What's the sword of Goliath? The one that Goliath used and owned. So guess what the sword of the Spirit is? It's what the Spirit is going to use. It's his sword. This is what the Holy Spirit uses to talk to you. This is what the Holy Spirit brings to your remembrance. And by the way, he can't bring things to your remembrance that Christ told you if Christ never told you those things. And if you're not reading this book, Christ didn't tell you anything. Because Christ speaks to you through this book. This is the word of God. And so Christ speaks through this book. The Holy Spirit teaches us with these words. That's why the Apostle Paul said, Which things also we speak, not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth, comparing spiritual things with spiritual. How can we compare spiritual things with spiritual? And how can we use the words which the Holy Ghost teacheth? Well, here's the thing. If we compare Scripture with Scripture, we're comparing spiritual with spiritual. Because all Scripture is given by inspiration of God. See the Spirit there? Okay, how about this? Jesus said, The words that I say unto you, they are spirit and they are life. So the Bible is teaching us here that the words that the Holy Ghost teacheth are the words of the Bible. These are the words that the Holy Ghost teacheth. And God wants us to use these words to speak and to preach and to teach. So we have to read the Bible. And the more we read the Bible, the more the Holy Spirit's going to be able to bring the Bible to our remembrance. Think about the times that you've been out soul winning. And you're giving somebody the gospel. And, you know, the person has a particular hang up. Or there's a particular situation. And all of a sudden the perfect verse just pops into your mind. Right? Lots of you could probably relate to that and say, Oh man, the perfect verse. I haven't thought about that verse in a long time. The perfect verse popped into my mind. And I was able to give them that verse that they needed. Or maybe in a different situation. Let's say someone just asked you for advice. Or just somebody struggling with a particular sin or a particular decision. And then just BAM! That perfect verse pops into your mind. And you quote that verse. And it's the perfect verse for the decision. Or for yourself. You're trying to make a decision. And you're struggling. What do I do? Or you're faced with temptation. And then that perfect verse pops into your mind. BAM! You know, that's never going to happen if you never read those verses or heard those verses. There are going to be a lot more opportunities for the Holy Spirit to bring the perfect verse to your remembrance. When you got a bunch of perfect verses in your arsenal. You know, you got to have those tucked away and ready so that the Holy Ghost can pull those things out. Especially if you're a preacher. I'll be preaching a sermon. And all of a sudden the perfect verse will pop into my... Something that's not in my notes. Something that's not planned. And it's just... Boom! That's exactly the point that I'm trying to get across. And the verse will pop into my mind. That's the Holy Ghost bringing things to our remembrance. And bringing things out that we can use. The Holy Ghost doesn't just appear to us and talk to us and say all these random things to us. And, you know, constantly people are saying, Well, God told me this and God told me that. But it's not anything that's in the Bible. Like they're just getting some private special revelation. And, you know, I'm always extremely skeptical of that. Extremely skeptical because a lot of people are feigning these things out of their own heart. And the Bible warns about that a lot. Where people are just out of their own heart. Oh, well, God's telling me to do this or God's leading me to do this or God revealed this to me. No, no, no. Why don't you just go with what the Bible says? Why don't we forget about your little revelation? Why don't you tell me what the Holy Spirit showed you while you were reading your Bible and you're like, You know, this is the kind of Holy Spirit revelation I want to hear about. You know, I was reading my Bible and this verse just jumped out at me. And it was like God just showed me this verse that this is exactly what he wanted me to do. So I'm going to do what this verse says to do. Yeah, exactly. I read this verse and it told me not to do stuff that I was going to do. So I didn't do it. Why don't these revelations always come off like that? These random word of knowledge that have nothing to do with what the Bible says. They're not legitimate. They're figment of people's imagination. People just, you know, get emotional and just and here's the thing. You say, well, why are you saying that? Look, there are all kinds of unsaved people who have all these revelations and the spirits telling them this and spirits telling them that. They're Islamic people like that. Roman Catholics will tell you the same thing. Oh, yeah, God told me this. God told me God just led me this. Let me that. Look, how do you know who to believe? How do you know? You know, why don't you try the spirits whether they're of God? And, you know, if we test things with scripture, this book never changes. Everybody's private revelations and interpretations and dreams change all the time. This book is the rock right here that we can test everything with. And so the Holy Ghost of God, he uses the scripture. That's why the Bible says in Ephesians chapter five, be not drunk with wine. We're in his excess, but be filled with the spirit, speaking to yourselves in Psalms and hymns and spiritual songs. Then there's a verse that's almost exactly the same over in Colossians three sixteen, where it says, let the word of Christ dwell in you richly with all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another with Psalms and hymns and spiritual songs. So notice the latter part of the verse, the same teaching and admonishing one another in Psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, speaking to yourselves in Psalms hymns and spiritual songs. What's different? The first half, Ephesians five says, be filled with the spirit. Colossians three sixteen says, let the word of Christ dwell with you richly in all wisdom. Why? Because those things are hand in hand. If the word of Christ dwells in you richly with all wisdom, that's going to be a spirit filled person and vice versa. You see, a person who's spirit filled is also going to have the word of Christ dwelling in them with all wisdom, because don't tell me that somebody who's spirit filled who doesn't read the Bible, who doesn't know the Bible, who doesn't quote the Bible. The Bible says he that is of God speak at the words of God, for God giveth not the spirit by measure unto him. John Chapter three. So you see that the person who is spirit filled speaks the word of God. So if the word of God's not coming out of people's mouth, how can you say that they're spirit filled when they don't know the Bible to even quote scripture to speak God's word? God's word is the lamp to our feet, the light to our path. God's word is what tells us what is right and what is wrong. Now, can somebody explain to me how I got off on that? I mean, it was all biblical stuff, but how did we get off on that? Help me out. We might need to go back further than that in the sermon. That was a serious rabbit trail. What's that? The sword. Okay, how did we get off on the sword? Whoa, you're making a whole new sermon there. You want to come finish this? He's angry. Japan? Oh, man, where did it? Yeah, OK, let's just you know what? Let's just kind of let's just kind of cap off that rabbit trail. Let's just kind of close that segment of the sermon. Let's just start a whole new point. All right, we're going to put I'm going to put a whole new train on the tracks right now. All right. Oh, I just can't see. See, all you have to do is just once you give up, because if you try too hard to remember, it doesn't come to you. Once you give up and you're like, I don't know, I'll just preach something different. And then boom, it came back to me. OK, this is what it was the way that seems right. Because of feelings and oh, I'm led and I have peace about whatever. No, no, the way of life is found in scripture, because in Deuteronomy, when God set forth the way of life and way of death, he said the way of life is if you keep these commandments and he gives all the commandments. And the way of death is if you forsake all these commandments and disobey. So America today thinks that they're doing right in many cases because American morality seems right to us. Of course it does. We're Americans. And if we lived in China, Chinese morality and Buddhism would seem right. And if we were living on some, you know, God-forsaken island somewhere with a bunch of cannibal natives, we'd think cannibalism seemed right. There's a way that seems right unto a man and in the end there are the ways of death. People growing up in an Islamic country, they look around at their Islamic society and they say, this seems right. Why? Because they're raised with it. That's why we can't trust that. We have to go to the word of God. There are so many things that I preach from this pulpit that go against the grain with the modern American listener and they just say that just doesn't seem right. But it doesn't matter whether it seems right or not. If it's biblical, it's right. It's not biblical. It's wrong. America today is on the way of death, not on the way of life. When America continually, every single year, without taking one step backward, every single year, the United States of America becomes a more immoral place than it was last year. You know that's the truth. And I'm not talking about churches and Christians and God's people because we shouldn't be on that program. We should be on our own program where we continue day in, day out, year in, year out, still believing fornication is wrong, still believing that drinking is wrong, still believing that we should be pure on our wedding day, still believing that adultery is wicked, still being against the sodomites, still being against lying and murder, whether you call it abortion or day after pill or whatever. You know, we as Christians should stay on that same path. But the world today is accepting these things more and more every day. And in 2016, I'm telling you, the world, and especially the United States of America, is more ungodly than it was in 2015. I mean, the way of death that we're on today has accelerated to the point where you can actually see the difference almost from year to year. It's happening that fast. It's not a frog in the hot water anymore where it's just slowly being turned up. Now that kettle is just whistling like. I mean, that thing's boiling over. I mean, you can't ignore it. I mean, look, I've been a pastor since 2005. I've been preaching three times a week since 2005. And I'm going to tell you something. This country is way different even since 2005. As unbelievable as that is, I was born in 1981. And this country is dramatically different even since 1981. I mean, I'm a young man and yet I've watched those that are in the auditorium that are older than me. You should be able to recognize it even more than I can and say, oh, man, it's like a totally different place. Everything has changed. All of morality has been turned upside down. And here's the thing. These people, when they're in trouble, what's this chapter about? They turn to God when they're in trouble and say, God, show us the wondrous works. Fight for us. Get involved. Do something for us. Right. But that's exactly what we would say in America if bad things happened to us. Think about when 9-11 happened. And you have all the atheistic, God hating politicians forming a little choir. Do you remember that? And they all joined together and acquired just the most evil, godless senators and congressmen and women. And they joined together and they're like, God bless America. Remember that? Form a little choir. My dad always warned me that the choir members are the most liberal church members. But anyway, you know, they all joined together and formed this little choir. And then I remember even the bars. Even bars and taverns and pubs had banners. Pray for America. God bless America. You remember that? Remember it lasted for what, like five or six days? It didn't last long. You remember, though? I mean, for a few days, people were calling out to the Lord and because they didn't know what was going to happen. They didn't know that it was just an isolated incident. They were thinking, and I know, I remember when I got the phone call about 9-11 because I was working late the night before. Because I was working second shift on a certain job where we were working on a school. So we couldn't be there during the daytime. So we worked late. So I was still asleep because I had worked real late and I didn't start work until, you know, I think, I don't know, 3 or 4 o'clock or something. So I'm laying in bed and we had this phone. It was an old phone. It was a land line. But it also, it was older than that, though. It was the one where you turn the thing and it goes... And when it rang, it sounded like a school bell. And I, you know, my wife didn't understand why I did this, but I turned it to the loudest. It had a spectrum and I always wanted it on the loudest, you know. I don't want to miss it. You know, it's so bizarre. I used to not want to miss phone calls. Now I want to miss phone calls. I turn it as quiet as you can and put it somewhere and forget about it. But, you know, when you're young, you want the phone to ring. So my wife and I are laying in bed and she was pregnant with our first child. You know, she was like highly pregnant, nine months pregnant or eight and a half months pregnant or whatever. And it's just like... And we're like, whoa, you know, grab the phone. Hello? Hello? My dad's on the other line and he says, Steve, come over to the house right now. Planes are crashing all over the United States. He said, we're under attack. Skyscrapers are crashing down. Planes are crashing into buildings all over America. This is like the end of the world. It's World War Three. I'm like, oh man, let's go. I thought like, it's the tribulation. It's the apocalypse. That's literally, I mean, my dad literally said, Planes are coming down all over America. Planes are, major cities, planes are crashing. I was like, oh no, you know, because when it first happened, people didn't know. Oh, there's another one. There's a third one. You know, it's just, so we hop in the car. We drive over there and we get there. I walk in the door. You know, it took us like 20 minutes to get there or something, 25 minutes. We walk through the door and my dad's like, oh, well, it turns out it was just a couple, you know. I go, okay, you know, but I remember that was on a Tuesday, right? Wasn't it Tuesday? I remember going to church that Sunday. And I mean, people in church were tense and they were worried. Everybody, I mean, people were praying and crying out to God. And the pastor preached like twice as hard as he normally preached. And all these, all these famous TV preachers were even coming out and coming on TV and saying, God's judging America for our wickedness. You know, God's, God's brought this as a punishment. And I mean, just for a few days, but literally within a week or two, that all died away. And everybody's just like, oh, we're safe. We're good. We got this under control. Everything's good. But for a minute there, people were kind of seeking God for a minute. You remember that? That's the way it was where I lived. That's, that's what I experienced. That's what I observed. I don't know if you observed the same thing, but I remember that. And then all the preachers that said that, then they started apologizing. And I remember watching one of my, I think it was, I don't know if it was Jerry Falwell or whatever. I remember he's on TV with some Jewish talk show host is just, what were you thinking? You complete idiot. Why did you say such a stupid thing? And he's just like, I know, I know. I'm sorry. It was stupid. I'm sorry. Please hit me again. Please punish me. Please punish me for telling the truth for once in my life. And he's just letting this Jewish TV guy just dress him down and just walk all over him. Cause he had to like do penance to the media for, for telling the truth one time. The TV preacher, you know, the televangelist. But what I'm saying is when bad things happen and then we turn to God like, oh God help us. But there was no real change though. There was no real repentance. There was no real, you know, turning. It was just sort of a emotional, oh, let's pray and God bless America. We're sorry, God, please don't judge us. And that's kind of where they're at in this chapter, isn't it? It's kind of the same thing. Go, go talk to Jeremiah. Let's see if we can, you know, uh, get things right with God. Let's see if maybe God will be on our side and so forth. And God just says, no, no, it's too late. You know, you should have sought me back when I warned you. And then he warns the people. He says, now the only way of life is going to be for you to fall away to the Chaldeans. And if you stay here, it's just certain way of death. And so this passage is very relevant. Like all the passages in Jeremiah to our condition in the United States. And that's what's so interesting about the book of Jeremiah. Is that it's about a nation that was once the people of God and were once on a righteous path. Now they've turned away from that. God's angry, God's furious, God's bringing his wrath. And I believe that that's the exact situation that we find ourselves in the United States. And the answer today is not in the White House. The answer is in the church house. You know, we need to raise up not one Jeremiah, not two Jeremiah's. We need a whole army of Jeremiah's. Why? Because we're living in the United States, which is way bigger than Israel. You know how far it is from Dan to Beersheba? You know, when they talk about the whole nation of Israel, they say from Dan even to Beersheba when you read the Bible. That's 144 miles. 144 miles. I mean, that'd be like saying from Flagstaff even to Phoenix. You know, I mean, that's about, you know, similar distance, right? But now look at the whole nation of the United States. We need a Jeremiah in every city. We need a whole army of Jeremiah's standing up and preaching to people the way of life. Now, thankfully, we're not to the point yet where there's an invading army and God's telling us. Hey, you have to surrender to this invading army because that's not what I want to hear. Is that what you want to hear? No, I don't think anybody wants to hear that. They sure didn't want to hear when Jeremiah preached it. Thankfully, we're not to that point yet. We need to call this nation back to God and listen, it's not just preaching the gospel. That's not enough. I'm tired of being told that I just need to just preach the gospel only. Just preach salvation. Just preach the go. Look, the gospel is not going to fix this nation because listen, even if people get saved. If they don't obey God, judgments still coming on America. I mean, think about it. Even in parts of America where most people or lots of people are Baptist and a lot of them are saved and the gospel is being preached and everything. If we were to go to the Bible Belt and find the most biblical bastion in the Bible Belt of God's word and true salvation, if those people are living a sinful life, God's still going to punish. This isn't about heaven and hell. Nations don't go to heaven or hell. Individuals go to heaven or hell. You know, the famous saying goes that nations are not judged in the next world. Nations are judged in this world. Individuals go to heaven and hell based on whether or not they believe on Jesus Christ. Look, I strongly believe in soul winning. That's why we go out every that's why I was out this afternoon. That's why we go out constantly knocking doors, telling people about Jesus, telling people the gospel of Jesus Christ, getting them saved. Obviously, that step one is just getting people saved, just getting people on their way to heaven. But when it comes to that, that's going to save the soul and amen for that. But when it comes to saving a nation, you have to actually preach the entire Bible, not just the gospel. I don't see Jeremiah preaching the gospel in this chapter. I didn't see the gospel in the last chapter. I didn't see the gospel in the chapter before that. I didn't see the gospel in the chapter before that either. And you know what? I'm not seeing the gospel in a lot of these chapters in Jeremiah because there's the gospel and then there's everything else. And the Bible God wants us to preach all of it. And by the way, I don't know about you. I'm already saved. Who in here saved? Yeah, doesn't look like we need a gospel sermon. Looks like we need a sermon against sin. Most people here are already saved. Let's go out. You say, well, I like here in the gospel. Oh, good. Then come with me. So any and we can go tell it to a lost person all the times are listed in the bulletin. But when it comes to God's house, we need the church houses of America to Thunder forth the way of life, not the way of death, the way of life. And we need to teach the commandments. And we need to preach against murder and preach against stealing and preach against usury and preach against abortion and preach against drunkenness and preach against fornication. And preach against adultery and preach against blasphemy and preach against every sin we can think of that our country indulges in and purify unto God a peculiar people, zealous of good works. And the Bible says, 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. That's what we need. Do we need the gospel to get to heaven? Yes. To get the people around us to heaven. Yes. But in order to turn our nation around, we need hard preaching. We need more than just every Sunday to be on the gospel and the love of Christ. There's a place for that, but there's also a place for fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. We need to preach the whole balance message. Jeremiah was a man of God that preached an unpopular message. And we need some Jeremiah's today to raise, to rise up in our nation, to set forth the way of life, the path of life. And you know what? It's not always easy to get on that way of life. It wasn't easy for them, but we need to obey the Lord. Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer. Father, we thank you so much for this chapter, Lord. And we thank you for the example that it gives to our nation today, Lord. There's so much that's applicable to the United States today. Lord, help us never to look at these old Testament books as somehow outdated, Lord. They're so relevant. They're exactly what America needs to hear today. Lord, help us as we read to just substitute our own lives and substitute our own nation and to let these words sink down into our ears. And in Jesus name, we pray. Amen.