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so what are these health inspectors anyway we're saving these two seats if they turn up they can sit right the front what's going on new south wiles health this is what happens when you work for the government all right and they're never on time they never get the job done right i mean they're just just frustrating to deal with sometimes these government departments what's that they'll be in six months that's that's what happens with the government departments okay getting donuts i don't think they're cops coming all right uh jeremiah chapter 8 verse number 13 uh if you have a look at that verse it says i will surely consume them sayeth the lord the title for the sermon this morning is i will surely consume them could you imagine the lord saying that about us don't forget you know as we're reading from jeremiah yes we are looking at a wicked nation but don't forget that the people the jews the people of israel this time were god's people now they aren't god's people today in the new testament but in the old testament they were still god's people all right and god is telling his people that i will surely consume them another way of saying that is i will surely destroy you okay and these are coming from the words of god and of course jeremiah as i've said many times is quite a negative book and if you were paying attention there toward the end jeremiah is feeling that you know jeremiah is really uh you know upset and concerned for his nation you know even though he's the one preaching these things at the same time he's not like yeah just just burn down you know this wicked nation just burn and and just just become destroyed he's really worried about it you see uh later as we go through this chapter just how concerned jeremiah becomes but let's start there in verse number one jeremiah chapter eight verse number one at that time saith the lord they that the day he are the babylonians so when the babylonians come in they shall bring out the bones of the kings of judah and the bones of his princes and the bones of the priests and the bones of the prophets and the bones of the inhabitants of jerusalem out of their graves what was telling us here babylonians are going to come in and they're going to go to the graveyard and basically dig up the graves they're going to open open up you know and take out the bones take out these dead bodies you know you know if you go to a grave site i'm sure there are many bones but also there'll be people that have recently died there's going to be decomposing flesh i mean get this idea in your head you know it's not just ransacking ransacking a city not just burning down a city but they're going to defile the land you know normally when you think about a place a grave you know you think of a place where where people go and pay their respects for those that have gone before the generation that have gone before you know you give people a burial you know to respect their body to respect their legacy as i said it's a place where you can go and think about you know maybe a loved one that has gone before and look these are kings these are princes these are these are prophets of the past so i'm sure many of these bodies are people that served god faithfully all right and so there's a there's a legacy there when the israelites look at their grave they say man look at the great prophets we had look at the great kings we had the babylonians going to come and defile it's like you think that's great you think your past is great we're just going to dig up the graves we just let the bodies decompose there on on the land all right and look at verse number two it says and they shall spread them that spread the bodies before the sun and the moon and all the hosts of heaven so the sun and the moon it's going to like cause the sun's going to decompose think about the stench right of these heat on these dead bodies and all the hosts of heaven you know that's the stars and so so the babylonians would worship the sun the moon the stars whom they have loved so they've loved those things and whom they have served and after whom they have walked and whom they have sought and whom they have worshiped so they were again they worship the sun moon and stars they shall not be gathered nor be buried for they shall be for done upon the face of the earth so these these bodies are just going to be done they're going to decompose on the land and it's kind of this idea that you know the jews in these days they would glory in their historical past as i said to you they would glory in their in their in their profits they would glory in their kings they would glory in the past say look what great nation we were in the past with the babylonians they glory or they worship the sun moon and stars and it's kind of like you're defiling the history of judah uh to appease your sun god and your moon god and your stars and it's kind of shown hey you know the things we worship have a greater priority over these things that are going to be smelling and decomposing so what we get out of that breath and a lesson that we can definitely get out of this is that we should not rely on past victories you know we should never be a church that says well you know we've gone over two years now you know yeah you know two years ago we did great works as a church you know two years ago we had this many people saved you know two years you know you know thinking about the past and thinking about the great days hey you know we're an independent fundamental baptist church you know it's it's not good to get stuck oh man you know the the baptist of the past and the 40s and the 50s the great missionary works why are we doing those kinds of things look forget the past the past is great the past is a great place to to be a stepping stone for the future but the jews here they were just fixed on the past they'll fix how god had served them how god had uh you know uh you know pulled you know got him out of the land of egypt how god had saw them uh uh sorry helped them through many victories and they're relying on that rather than thinking about the future rather than thinking hey what can we do from this day forward you know great the generations of the past are great hey but what can we do today what can we do tomorrow keep your finger there let's go to matthew chapter three let's go to matthew chapter three the past is good brethren but let's not live in the past okay let's look to the future and here's the the problem with the jews in these days they were stuck in the past you know and god was basically allowing the babylonians to just dig up your past and defile your past it means nothing because you're not serving me today all right in matthew chapter three verse number nine these are the words of john the baptist he says to the jews of those days and think not to say within yourselves we have abraham to our father for i say to you that god is able of these stones to raise up children unto abraham and so once again you see that the jews in this time they thought well we're descendants of abraham we're god's chosen people isn't that what they say today isn't that what they say today well we're children of abraham you know and god you know made all these promises to abraham and we deserve all those promises as well you know we're the special people of god listen stop living in the past the reason why you know your land is so messed up the reason why you know your religion is a false religion that doesn't worship the true god is because they're still living in the past and they're not ready to receive christ as savior and move on with their lives we can't become like that brethren we can't become like that okay because if we just live in the past expect god to come in and allow his judgment to fall and for the past to be ripped up and you're left with nothing all right and so what i what i get out of this especially for my children because you know my children are growing up as pastor's children's right pastor's kids and boy how many times have i seen pastor's kids be like the worst kids in the church i mean i don't know can anyone testify of that you know these are the pastor's kids and like the worst kids the most disobedient kids right they get they get into and here's the thing they might say well we have abraham to our father hey our dad's a pastor so what so what right you're still children you still have foolishness bound up in the heart you know heart of a child you can still the sure things you know god's not impressed that your father's a pastor god's impressed if you serve god god's impressed if you get you know uh you know submit yourself to the will of god and follow after god's ways you can't just rely on the past you can't just say well i grew up in a christian home oh i came from generations of christians you know my father was faithfully serving the church yeah but are you serving the church oh i used to be you know i used to be in the church uh i i used to be the sunday school teacher i used to sing in the church choir okay that's great that's the past but what are you doing today for the lord that's what matters you know god god i'm going to reward you for the past don't worry about that okay but you still have many days you have still have many years to serve god what are you doing with your time today so that's the lesson we can get out of this the jews were not serving god today they were relying on the past thinking well god's come through in the past before he's going to come through for us again it's not going to happen right let's go back to jeremiah chapter eight verse number three jeremiah chapter eight and verse number three and death shall be chosen rather than life by all the residue of them that remain of this evil family which remain in all the places whither i have driven them saith the lord what it's saying here after the destruction and the captivity people are going to wish they died instead of instead of living and being taken into captivity and being dispersed on the land people are just going to be like i wish i just died when the babylonians came okay i mean that's the kind of destruction you're going to think of right just the defiling of the land verse number four moreover thou shall say to them thus saith the lord they shall fall sorry shall they fall and not arise shall he turn away and not return god is saying look again you know don't forget the captivity the babylons come at the end of the chat at the end of this book chapter 52 of jeremiah we're still in the early days we're still in jeremiah chapter 8 even though all this destruction is being prophesied of god is still telling them there's still time there's still time before you become this rejected nation that's going to be in babylonian captivity for some 70 years there's still time and he's saying look it says look it's you know god's asking just a very basic common question shall they fall and not arise he's saying look when you fall down don't you just get back up normally like if you're walking and you trip and you fall are you just going to stay full are you going to stay in that state where you have fallen and look judah had fallen they had fallen in the eyes of god and god's saying look are you going to just stay in this same position aren't you going to get up listen little babies know they get up when they fall right little baby little toddlers that are learning to walk i'm sure you've all seen them when they start to they get up on their legs they're holding on eventually they let go and they start taking their steps listen they fall time and time again sometimes they even hurt themselves but listen if they don't get back up they're never going to walk are they you know if they just fall once say well this is too hard i'm going to just stay in a state of on the floor you know they're not going to grow they're not going to develop not common sense tells us when we fall we get back up but judah had got to a point where they were so fallen from god and they were not getting up they were not you know coming back to the lord and god's saying look can't you do this don't you understand this is a basic concept and in you know problems 24 verse 16 i'll just read it to you it says for a just man full of seven times a just man you know a just man is someone that is justified before before god this is a righteous man this is someone that serves god you know you can fall seven times you know you can we will continue to fall we will continue to sin we're going to continue to make mistakes in our life but when we make those mistakes it says for a just man full of seven time and rise up again that's what a just man does when you fall you get back up it says but the wicked shall fall into mischief so when the wicked fall okay when they get into a bad state when they commit wicked things they're going to stay in that wickedness okay but the just man our job reverend is to get back up you know dust the dust the you know the dirt off our feet right get back up and just serve god judah was not doing this and here's the danger verse number five the danger there in jeremiah 8 verse number five is this why then is this people of jerusalem slid them back now stop there for a moment slid them back what do you get what's your idea there backsliding yeah backsliding okay and we know that as christians we can backslide all right now i already preached on backsliding before but there's a real danger if you get to a place of backsliding if you don't get back up okay if you don't if you don't you know fix yourself you'll continue to backslide okay and think about think about a slide you know when you go down a slide you know i try not to go down slides too much now because i'm a lot heavier than i was before but you know you go down a slide you know it's a quick descent right it's a quick descent but here's the thing about a slide once you get off a slide you're done and you can get back on the slide and have fun go up the slide again well when it comes to backsliding the the real danger is i'll just read verse number five again it says here why then is this people jerusalem slid them back by a perpetual backsliding what does perpetual mean continuous it continues it never ends what god is saying here is if you get to a point where you're backslidden as a christian you've got time to get back up but if you keep sliding down there comes a time when it's a perpetual backsliding you just cannot get back up right you slide you backslide god's saying hey get back up get back up and get back up you're like no i'm not going to go to church no i'm going to stop reading my bible no i'm not going to pray i'm not going to pray at some point boom even as a christian you can just be completely out of the will of god and god's done with you it's a perpetual backsliding you can't get back up you're no longer are used to god is what i'm trying to say so you don't want to get to that point where you just fall off the cliff you know if you're backsliding let that be a warning to you and say i don't want to get to that point where it becomes perpetual right just i can't get back up you know and if you're in a backslidden state listen just just open up the bible confess your sins to god go and say sorry get back in church start reading your bible again start praying start going soul winning again hey just start serving god again and he'll get you back up where you used to be he'll help you get back where you are right but judah here perpetual backsliding it says here they hold fast deceit verse number five they refuse to return i hearkened and heard but they spake not aright no man repented of his wickedness they're doing wicked they don't repent they don't say sorry to god saying what have i done they're saying what what what wickedness i mean that's we talked about a reprobate now these aren't you know we know this became a reprobate nation again a lot of these people are that they are the people of god as far as the old covenant goes some are saved many are not saved okay but you get to a point where you know even when you're doing wickedness you know you get so used to your sin so used to your wicked behavior and you're like what have i done well it's all good right i mean you know a pastor might get behind the pulpit a preacher might get behind the pulpit and preach against your sin and you're like well it doesn't bother me you know that's that's the danger of being backslidden you don't you you start forgetting the laws of god you start forgetting what is right and wrong so we have to be careful right what have i done everyone turned to his course as the horse rushed into into battle all right can you please go to matthew chapter five for me matthew chapter five and again this is probably not a teaching that is commonly heard in your average church but as i said to you even a christian can get to a point where they backslide so much that they literally fall off the cliff never to get back up again no use to god ever again okay now they're saved they go into heaven praise god you can't lose your salvation i don't want to give you that idea but i'm just saying the service that you can do for god on this earth is over because you're that backslidden matthew chapter 5 verse number 13 matthew 5 13 reads ye are the salt of the earth now what do we use salt for normally for cooking right for flavor bring out the flavors maybe for my mom used to put salt on mosquito bites i get mosquito bites i get they get itchy and put a bit of salt there you know to help you overcome the itchiness right and kills any kind of germs and stuff like that hey salt has a lot of you know preservatives but so it has a lot of use and you know what we are the sort of the earth god has a lot of use for us you know we ought to we ought to be you know people that preserve this nation we ought to be people that add a bit of flavor to this to this wicked world right uh and uh sometimes salt can be irritating though right ever you know if you ever jumped in in uh in the ocean had a bit of swim you get that salt water in your eyes uh you know your eyes go red it's a bit irritating sometimes christians can be a bit irritating to the world so be it that's what salt does right all right you're the sort of the earth but look at this but if the salts have lost his savor wherewith shall it be salted it is henceforth good for nothing but to be cast out and to be trodden underfoot of men boy if you lose your savor if you lose your saltiness brethren what did it say there it says where wherewith shall it be salted it can't be salted again okay it is henceforth good for nothing boy if you get to that point of a perpetual backsliding but god's telling us you are good for nothing like you're walking the earth you know you're christian you're going to heaven but you're not able to do anything for god you're not useful to god anymore what a scary place to be as a christian all right like no more rewards in heaven you're not going to do anything you know i don't know how much god's going to protect you in that case you know you're good for that look to be cast out and to be trodden on the foot of men that's what you're good for just to be stepped on all right please go to john chapter 15 john chapter 15 verse number four john chapter 15 and verse number four brethren just get into the habit please get into the habit of just confessing your sins every single day just just get into the habit you sin every day i sin every day just get into the habit every day lord please forgive me for my sins name your sins name the wrong don't be or what have i done don't be like that say lord i've done these things i'm probably going to do them tomorrow because i'm a wicked man can you help me lord i'm sorry lord i'm you know i've got this sinful flesh with me but lord i don't want to get to that point where i'm perpetually backsliding at least if i come before you and confess my sins at least i know for that brief moment lord that i'm walking with you for that brief moment i know that my sins have been forgiven and we can have fellowship lord you know can you please help me so i don't get to that point where i just perpetually backslide you know but if you don't confess your sins brethren you know and you walk away from the lord who knows what could happen to you john chapter 15 verse 4 john chapter 15 verse 4 jesus says abide in me and i in you as the branch cannot bear fruit of itself except it abide in the vine no more can ye accept ye abide in me so jesus saying look abide in me stay with me stay in fellowship with me verse number five i am the vine ye are the branches he that abideth in me and i in him the same bring forth much fruit for without me ye can do nothing brethren we had a few souls saved yesterday you know we're able to bring forth some fruits yesterday you know why because those soul winners that went out were abiding in christ praise god all right hey yeah nothing wrong we can throw in the fruit of the spirit here if you want the more you abide in christ the more the holy spirit can work in your life and you can be more christ-like absolutely but we need to abide in christ we need to stay in fellowship with jesus christ right verse but look at verse number six if a man abide not in me he is cast forth as a branch and is withered you think well maybe this branch can be saved no and men gather them and cast them into the fire and they are burned okay so if you're a gardener and you you know you're trying to grow this tree and you notice like this tree is there the branches are withered what are you going to do you need that room for something that is fruitful you're going to you know break those those branches you're going to cut down that tree whatever it is you're going to throw it into the fire you're going to burn it up right and it's going to be useful no good for nothing you know god will replace you with somebody else that can be fruitful and again i'm not talking about salvation here just because it says burn with fire is not saying you're going to go to hell okay these are illustrations do we build our doctrines on illustrations alone absolutely not okay that's what i'm teaching the men on fridays you know that i've seen people take this passage and say we can lose your salvation if you lose yourself you're going to go to hell if you don't abide in christ it becomes a workspace you know uh gospel anyway you got to be careful with those kinds of illustrations but you see here that christians can get to a point in time where they are no longer fruitful for god they are no longer salty they've lost the saltiness you're better off you're no good for nothing except to be burnt like a like a like a branch okay that's a scary thought i don't want anybody in this church to get to that point you know i would be so saddened if anybody in this church got to a point where they were no longer any use to god and they're still walking this earth it's amazing back to jeremiah chapter eight verse number seven jeremiah chapter eight and verse number seven we're going to read a whole bunch of birds here it says yea the stork in the heaven knoweth her appointed times what we're looking at here the point of times you know how birds tend to migrate you know they kind of know the seasons and the weather and they know to uh you know to reproduce and uh to find food they have to migrate sometimes north and south things like that but that's what this is about okay yea the stork in the heaven knoweth her appointed times and the turtle it says turtle they're talking about the turtle dove not not the you know what is a turtle it's a reptile right it's a reptile it's not that not that kind of turtle but the turtle dove and it says and the crane and the swallow observe the time of their coming but my people know not the judgment of the lord okay so what this is teaching us is you know birds know as i said when to migrate there's something instinctive in a bird to know when they have to travel right and uh you know even when springtime comes something instinctive in birds you often see birds gathering uh twigs and sticks because they're they're ready to nest right they've got this instinct in them they know when the time is right right and so look even even dumb animals know when the time is when the time is you know for them to act and for them to move and when them to perform and do their duties but it says but my people know if not the judgment of the lord so he's saying look out god's people doesn't even know when god's judgment is falling upon them and i've had to meditate on this passage quite a lot you know thinking about jeremiah thinking about babylon thinking about our restrictions think that covid 19 and uh you know i've come to just my my own understanding this whole thing to me is the judgment of god on this wicked world i how much more wicked can this world get honestly how much more wicked can our nation get and expect god's judgment not to fall upon us now what whatever your thoughts are on covid 19 let's say it is a pestilence a legitimate pestilence i know it's real i know that's real i don't know how how real as far as the media portrays it to be it's definitely real right and we know that god sends pestilences as his judgment okay we definitely see that multiple times in the bible but even if you don't believe it's necessarily you know it's blown out of proportion i think it's blown out of proportion but even seen how the governments in this world right even the fact that we're going to be inspected by new sapphire's health okay by by the powers that be in this world right this can also be a judgment of god this can also be a judgment that falls upon uh god's people or the nations that are under god because again we see that it's the babylonians coming right the babylonians are coming and doing despicable things they're doing crazy things digging up dead bodies out of graves i mean how how crazy can you get i mean but god is sending the babylonians and so i've had to sort of think about this a little bit think about what is the judgment of god you know i don't want to be someone where god will say pastor kevin don't you know god's judgment has fallen don't you know hey even the birds know even they have an instinct even they understand when it's time to migrate and to nest etc now you know i've been brought to think about this right you know god's judgment what is god's judgment like and you know what jeremiah is a faithful man jeremiah is the prophet of god hey there are other prophets of god during this time doing great things there are i'm sure there are other priests in the temple that want to serve god properly but there's corruption lord in the house of god there's corruption in the government i'm sure there are great people of god in this land but listen as far as the nation goes it's been rejected by god god said in his judgment and unfortunately sometimes god's people are going to get caught in the middle of it now we expect god to look after these people you know what else you know when the babylon's come we know the story of that of daniel you know daniel's such a great man a lot of people love preaching about daniel god gave daniel so much wisdom so much knowledge we know the story of shadrach meshach and abednego his free friends okay these are all godly men all right who decided to just die in in the furnace if they had to you know instead of bowing down and worshiping a false idol all right these are great men hey but they were taken into captivity were they not hey that was stripped out of their homes that was stripped away from their families they were taken as young men right i'm sure they probably thought they had a great future for themselves in the land of judah that they were people that loved god but unfortunately sometimes god's people are just caught in the middle of god's judgments but even when you are caught in the middle of god's judgments god used those men in a powerful way did he not in the babylon kingdom yeah so you know who knows i don't know what to expect brethren i don't know if 2020 is going to be the end of it i don't know if 2021 is going to be back to normal part of me kind of starting to think maybe 2021 is going to be even worse i don't know do you think so brother could be could be okay and we just have to prepare ourselves i don't want to be like the like this but my people know not the judgment of the lord i think we need to just accept this may very well be god's judgment you know on australia not just australia but the whole world the whole world's going crazy verse number eight how do you say we are wise and the law of the lord is with us lo certainly in vain made he it's the pen of the scribes is in vain this is of course sarcasm it says lo certainly in vain made he it's talking about the law of god it's saying like god must have made his laurels laws in vain of course god did not make his laws in vain of course they serve a purpose of course they're profitable but the people of this land they're saying we are wise we've got the law of god we've got the bible we got the scriptures he says it's all in vain if you've got it all right and the pen of the scribes they're the copiers the people that were copying the manuscripts right you've all got a bible in your hands you know now we've used we have technology we have the printing press verse number nine the wise men are ashamed they are dismayed and taken lo they have rejected the word of the lord and what wisdom is in them so they have the word of the lord they think they're wise because they have the word of the lord all right but it says here they have rejected right they have rejected the word you know i i i my wife before she got saved she was a roman catholic and uh she used to tell me that she she had all these things she had all these uh the rosary beads she had some cloth thing that you put on uh she had all the all her statues and her images and uh she had she had it all you know she had it all but the one thing that she did also do she had a bible i don't know what kind of bible she had but she had a bible and she would leave it on her bedside table opened opened say why like for good luck you know uh you know for protection from from you know devils from demons particularly opened and if you ask my wife did you read the bible no it was there though right and that's what catholics thinks oh we got the boy got the word well it's not really the word of god that they hold but anyway they think they have the word of god that they they open it up it's going to give us luck it's going to give us protection they don't read the word of god they reject the word of god and so it is vain for them but brethren what about us i can see right now you all have a copy of the bible in your hands praise god i'm glad you bring it to church and i thank god for that that's awesome but what about at home is it open at home do you read the bible at home do you open it up in the morning and see what god has to say to you or is it all in vain you got the bible there you think of wise because you know a few things in the bible you know some doctrines but if you're not picking up and reading it brethren and not just reading it listening to what god has to say to you and doing what god has to say to you it's all in vain it's all in vain it's a sad thing because we all have bibles in that day and age they didn't all have bibles you know in the day of jesus christ you had to go to the synagogue to just hear god's word being preached because you know it had to be written down by scribes could you imagine you know making copies today we're blessed we have the printing press as i said we're blessed we have the whole bible all 66 books all the old testament all the new testament we have the king james bible we have the perfect word of god in our own language and it wouldn't surprise me people in our church still don't pick up their bibles and read it probably happens right maybe you can say to me there's been a day this week pastor kevin that i did not pick up my bible this week and read it maybe there's been two days three days four days five days in fact pastor kevin maybe sunday is the only day i brought my bible and opened it well that's that's a shame and it's all in vain okay it's all in vain so please love the word of god that you have in your hands let's not be let's learn the lessons from judo right let's not be those those people verse number 10 therefore will i give their wives unto others that's the saddest thing i think so wives are going to be stripped away from their husbands and given to other men during this captivity period and they're filled to them that shall inherit them for every one of the least even unto the greatest is given to covetousness from the prophet even unto the priest everyone dealeth falsely for they have healed the hurt of the daughter of my people slightly saying peace peace when there is no peace were they ashamed when they had committed abomination nay they were not all ashamed neither could they blush therefore shall they fall among them that fall in the time of their visitation they shall be cast down saith the lord so the reason i read all that is most of that is a repetition maybe you're familiar with those verses already it's a repetition of chapter 6 verses 13 to 15 which i've already preached a lot of that is very similar there is one key difference there that i want to talk about though and if you go back to verse number 10 it said halfway through for every one from the least even unto the greatest is given to covetousness so this entire nation had become covetous from the from the greatest from the one that has a lot of wealth even the poorest people were given to covetousness now please take your bibles and turn to uh hebrews chapter 13 again keep your finger there in jeremiah 8 but turn to hebrews 13 for me um isabel could you just bring me the bottle of water go to hebrews 13 and uh covetousness what is covetousness covetousness is desiring what somebody else has all right now it's it's one of the ten commandments i'll just read to you one of the ten commandments there exodus 20 verse 17 says there shall not covet thy neighbor's house hey that's covetousness you look at your neighbor they've got a wonderful double story mansion or something oh man i wish i had that hey that would be covetousness it says here they shall not covet thy neighbor's wife oh wow i can't believe he married that woman i'm not you know i wish that was my wife hey that's covetousness nor his man servant nor his maidservant nor his ox nor his ass okay so the things his possessions his he has servants all right he's got uh tools he's got you know the ox and the ass to plow the ground and to do work you know the things that he possesses oh man i wish i had what he has hey that's covetousness okay it's one of the ten commandments nor anything that is thy neighbors if you desire what somebody else has brethren that's covetousness say what is the problem with covetousness you're in hebrews 13 verse number five look at this hebrews 13 verse 5 it says let your conversation conversation is like your behavior your lifestyle let your conversation be without covetousness why should it be without covetousness and be content with such things as you have for he have said i will never leave thee nor for safety you know what the problem with covetousness is you're not going to be content with what you have and brevin how many australians are not content with what they have how many boy listen just go to africa listen go to one of these third world nations go to chile i wouldn't call chile a third world nation go go to one of these nations you guys know what i'm talking about just have brother you've been to brazil have you seen the poverty there listen just go somewhere else outside of australia well you can't go outside australia now can you you got to take the vaccination to go international go on youtube and look it up now okay go to youtube and look it up all right have a look how these people live have a look how they go hungry have a look how corrupt their governments are you think our government's corrupt boy go to one of these southeast asian countries and see how corrupt they are you want anything done by the government you've got to bribe these people that's common everyone knows you've got to bribe the government to have your documents you know certified or whatever i mean just go and have a look how wicked some of these nations are have have a look at how uh some of these gangs have basically taken over uh the the these worlds and their people are suffering you know some of these communist countries where people can't even have their own possessions right and then you come back to australia and i promise you this even if you don't own a house you know even if you're just a renter you're just going to be content with what you have you're going to look at the space you have in your house you thought he was small listen i thought my house was small it kind of is with you know 13 people but you know i thought he was smart so i went to chile and had a look at some of how they live you know it feels like you know probably this space they're probably happy to have this space that we have right here to live in you know but australians are not content they want more and more and more you want to buy a house it's going to cost you over a million dollars now in sydney to buy a house i mean people just want more and more and more and brevin is it no wonder that god's judgment has fallen upon this land we're not content with what we have we've been blessed by god we've been blessed by god god has blessed this nation but if we're not going to be content with what we have and we turn to covetousness then god's going to say well look if you're not happy with what i've given you let me take it all away let me dig up your graves let me dig up all the things you've had in the past and just lay it out there for waste back to jeremiah chapter 8 please covetousness please brevin be careful of covetousness nothing wrong with owning a house nothing wrong with having nice things brethren nothing wrong you work hard brevin god's blessed you you have a paycheck you're able to get yourself something nice praise god for it give thanks to god for it right but don't look on others and say man i wish i had what they have that would be covetousness right verse number 13 i will surely consume them that's the title for the sermon say if the lord there shall be no grapes on the vine nor figs on the fig tree and the leaf shall fade and the things that i have given them shall pass away from them why do you do we sit still assemble yourselves and let us enter into the defense cities and let us be silent there for the lord our god have put us to silence and give us given us water of gold to drink because we have sinned against the lord uh so you can see the take drinking uh waters of gold gold to drink that's uh bitter waters man look we still have this you'll tell me about the water you buy brother how pure it is now thank god we still have this water to drink imagine the judgment of god fallen upon you and you had no choice but to drink disgusting bitter dirty water you know that's what they have listen godson look wake up the judgment's coming get yourself defended get yourself in a place where you can get at least some level of protection you know god's warning his people he's put them to silence put them to silence i think about this uh five people limit whatever it was to sing in churches or some churches that i know of just a song leader singing has god put in his people to silence i don't know just just you know you know i'm studying for german i just think too many parallels now not to the extent that they have right not to that extent you know but i'm seeing these parallels and i just i just read german i just think this is this is australia this is this is 2020 this could be 2021 right get into your defensed cities right there's bitter water to drink you know the idea here is kind of like drink uh like take your own medicine you know that saying take your own medicine you know you you know as a nation we have turned our backs against god as a nation we're killing babies in the mother's womb as a nation we're allowing these freaks you know this lgbt abc community to to have all their rights and we're just allowing all this stuff to go ahead you know and and women we're forcing our wives to go and work to because we need to buy the big house you know instead of letting our mothers raise their children you know and you know in the nurture and admission of the lord you know we're doing so much weakness brethren in this land you know and sometimes you just go it's time to just take your own medicine that's what you wanted then that's what you're going to have you're going to be put to silence you're going to have to drink bitter waters it is bitter isn't it the restrictions are bitter they're bitter but i guess what we get out of that brethren is that you know jeremy's telling the people here hey get into the defended cities it's not time to fight you fight the babylonians you're going to lose sometimes it's time to just defend yourself right instead of going and fighting just get into the defensive position just take the take the medicine drink the bitter waters that's what you need to do in this situation that fine if that's what that needs to be that needs to happen then that's what needs to happen verse number 15 this is why i think 2021 might be worse we looked for peace i'm hoping 2021 is peaceful i'm hoping christmas is going to be wonderful i'm hoping all the restrictions are gone and things are back to normal we're looking for peace hey we ought to pray for peace right we ought to pray that we live a quiet and peaceful life don't forget nothing we still pray for those things right but we looked for peace but no good came and for a time of health but behold trouble so we're looking for things to get better but things may only get worse in fact for them things only got worse things only got worse so you know 2020 has been a challenging year no doubt challenging year but don't get comfortable thinking that 2021 is going to be better don't get comfortable it may get worse i'm not prophesying that it's going to get worse i'm not saying that we're just looking at the word of god so let's just get our heads you know settled let's make sure we're just we're mindful all right god i don't know this is a strange year strange things going on lord i'm sure it would have been strange to know that babylon's going to come in and wipe you out it's going to be strange to know that your graves are going to be digged up and bodies are just going to lay around decomposing it's all strange things but things may very well get worse may very well get worse so reverend just just get right with god just bow your head in prayer and ask god to protect his people get into the defended cities and you know our defense is god that's our defense you know here's our strong fortress here's our deliverer we ought to go to that defense all right we need god's defense verse number 16 the snorting of his horses was heard from dan the whole land trembled at the sound of the name of his strong ones for they are come and have devoured the land and all that is that is in it the city and those that dwell therein so the people of the land they're hearing the sound of war and destruction they're hearing the sound of the horses verse number 17 and behold i will say this is god i will send serpents cockatresses among you which will not be charmed and they shall bite you save the lord now i don't believe this is literal serpents at this point in time i think it's talking about just the babylonians are in that sense those vipers those serpents that are going to come and bite you right it says look which will not be charmed have you guys ever seen a snake charmer i watched this video just like just yesterday i was there was a video in india have you seen that yeah where they have a little i don't know the little instrument and they've got these uh you know what do you call the cobras right and they're like they're doing this kind of like you know thing and they're not striking they're not striking but you can see that the snakes are agitated you can see right but that's that's they call that a snake charmer they put the snake on the hypnosis or something they think some type of hypnosis with that kind of music and and like you know uh they don't strike out that's the idea behind it right and it's quite a show it's quite quite amazing but what it's saying here is that these serpents that are going to come you're not going to be able to charm them okay so i don't know when the health inspectors turn up we may not be able to charm them okay they might strike i don't know right you know they're expecting when the baboons come they maybe we can make peace with them maybe we can charm them maybe we can satisfy them hey maybe maybe hopefully hopefully they come we say hey look we surrender we don't want to fight leave us alone it's not going to happen you're not going to charm them they're still going to strike they're still going to attack get ready for it right get ready for it and then you can see verse number 18 jeremy's response when i would comfort myself against sorrow my heart is faint in me so look jeremy could not find comfort in in all this well you know it was a bit too much for him you know taking in this prophecy that god was given him right the lord's hand of blessings and protection has been removed from the land you know and so jeremy is struggling with this and brethren again you know if if you're if you're struggling and i've struggled you know i'll just be honest with you from the very beginning i've struggled with this whole thing you know i'm at peace don't get don't get me wrong i'm at peace today i'm not like ah man i can't but you know the first few weeks when we uh couldn't have church here and up there i could not sleep i could not sleep you know i'd be tossing and turning my bed i get up and i'd be like i'd just be miserable because i'm thinking man because i was like in queensland i'm like god i'm up in queensland all right i've left my comforts of sydney i've left my families my family and said i've left my friends in sydney i've gone up there lord to serve you to start this church and now i can't even have church like this is the reason i went up there okay i mean i i enjoy the place it's wonderful but lord the reason i'm here and not having church i felt useless now i was unsettled i was really unsettled by it i'm at peace now i'm just saying at the very beginning i was very unsettled right you see jeremiah he's unsettled and they can't find comfort and uh maybe you today still can't find comfort you know don't let that get you down you can see even a great man of god was struggling all right with the judgment of god that's fallen upon that's fallen upon his nation verse number 19 behold the voice of the cry of the daughter of my people because of them that dwell in a far country is not the lord in zion they're asking the question jerusalem's asking this question is god not here in zion isn't he going to protect us from the babylonians hey we saw this at the very beginning of jeremiah god had departed from them god was god was over it was it was over for them right god has left them it's 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 so they've got their false religion that they're they're graven images the strange vanities empty things that they worship whatever it is and then you're coming and asking where are you god isn't that what our nation does they hate god they they they they they're against the bible they mock christians but listen everybody in this land and in this world when they're going through difficulties they say god where are you why don't you help us i knock on the doors of people you say i don't believe anymore why oh because god did not help me in this situation you know i had a child or i had a wife i had someone that i love and they got lost and where was god and all that what do you think god is if you're worshipping false gods if you're turning your back against god you think you god's just gonna you just you just yell out to god he's just gonna turn up whenever you like that's what that's what they were behaving they knew god but they were worshiping these false gods and when trouble came now they were oh god where are you what you've got you know let those graven images save you then if that's what you want yeah verse number 20 the harvest is past the summer is ended and we are not saved so you're saying look things are over there's not going to be no more harvesting right the summer's over you know we now get get get used to the cold weather get used to you know some tough days coming up up ahead you know things are not going to return back to normal is what's happened what's being said there i hope things return back to normal for us i don't know if it's going to happen that's all right but things were not going to return back to normal you know even after they left the babylon captivity and came back and rebuilt everything it was not the same they did not regain all their glory you know in the nature that they once held but anyway things are not going to turn back to normal verse number 21 for the hurt of the daughter of my people am i hurt so this is jeremiah again so look you know just thinking about you know the daughters the the children the young ladies that are going to suffer right they're going to be taken away into captivity who knows what's going to happen to them jeremiah saying look i'm hurt because of that no he's feeling the pain right he says i am black it's kind of the idea of mourning he's upset he's mourning about it astonishment have taken hold of me it's it's too much to bear he's astonished at god's judgment and again i think christians in australia can be astonished at god's judgment because god's judgment is not preached just the love of god is preached everything's going to be fine brethren it's not like that all the time god's judgment is severe okay god hates sin god casts souls that reject jesus christ into fire to burn for all eternity think about his wrath for a minute and when you think about god's judgment and his wrath i don't want to be facing his wrath even as his child i just would protect me defend me lord help me walk with you let's not get into that perpetual backsliding state hope that never happens to you brethren but it happened to them happened to god's people here in the old testament verse number 22 there is no balm in gilead balm is like a soothing balm right it's like if you get sunburned maybe put up some type of balm you know to heal right he goes look there is no balm there is no healing is there no physician there there are no doctors like no one's going to fix this situation now for judah there's no no one's going to fix this pain okay why then is not the health of the daughter of my people recovered all right so as i said to you you know judah basically here has a terminal illness you know it's a terminal sickness that they go into they're going to perish okay there's nothing there's no medicine there's no balm there's no physician there's nobody that can help judah in this time because god god's judgment is falling upon that nation and they're going to be wiped out they're going to be destroyed many there's going to be great slaughter there's going to be destruction you know the the i i we can't see you know we don't know we don't have history books we don't have photographs we don't have videos of this time but as we go through this isn't it going to be horrible for them i mean it's a complete and utter destruction of the people of god all right and hey non-believers absolutely deserve it deserve the judgment of god don't forget that god's people are also caught up in this judgment and brethren 2020 god's people we are god's people we are caught up in this judgment we are caught up okay is it time to fight i've taught before you know and i think here no it's time to just find defense just find somewhere safe to get to and the safest place you can get to is just being god's will just just do what god asks us to do see it through you know i'm the pastor of this church this afternoon i'm going to be preaching on the the office of the of the sorry the order of the local church and you know it's my job at least to to help you guys to get through this time you know and help myself and my own family so you know if any of you guys are struggling with this and you know we're not always going to see eye to eye it's strange strange days right lots of opinions we're not always going to see eye to eye but you know please understand that i i love you as your pastor i love you guys and i hope you love me you know i'm praying for you guys every day every day i'm praying for you guys i hope you're praying for me as well you know and we just have to find the solution we have to find what are we going to do you know like jeremiah you get upset about these things right and sometimes well god's judgments coming and we're just going to have to take it we're just going to have to drink that medicine with the rest of this wicked nation and maybe it's it's a good thing we need the fear of god to come back to this land we really need the fear of god back in this world you know when we look at the the end times i'm not saying the end times around the corner i don't know when the end times are could be hundreds of years away who knows right but when the end times comes jesus says that the gospel of his kingdom will be preached throughout all the nations okay you know what when things get difficult that's going to be the time that god's people are going to be able to do the greatest works so let's just see this through let's just get into the defense right now okay let's just protect ourselves all right let's just walk closely with god let's not get in that backseat state okay and just accept that this is god's judgment okay let's not be like the people of god that don't know the judgment of god i think we need to wake up to it it is the judgment of god it is the judgment of god let's just do the best we can serve god and ask god to protect us and ask god that even if 2021 is worse than 2020 that it'll be the best year for us as god's people all right let's pray heavenly fire lord thank you for the great truths in jeremiah and lord it's hard to preach for these things it's hard to sort of absorb it lord and sometimes it's easy to read the bible lord thinking about well that's another nation that's another people but lord those things are written for our profit for our admonition lord and lord i just pray that we would pause and meditate on these words and consider where we are lord lord help us not to be people that are filled with covetousness