The. World is on fire.
The world is on fire. Those are the words that flashed
on one of my devices from a report issued from one of the
leading news organizations in our country.
And I'm sure you as well are being bombarded by barrage of
breaking news and incoming stories on almost an hourly
basis. But this particular statement
gripped me. It caught my attention because I
find it to be a very compelling, compelling and powerful
description of how the world today perceives what's happening
in the. World, The world is on fire.
And as I thought about this, I thought.
That's probably how some people here feel as well, that no
matter what direction you look into, no matter what sphere in
society, something is up in flames.
Something is up in flames, whether that's metaphorical or
literal, and these fires are projected to only spread and to
generate and cause untold damage and destruction.
And if there isn't a fire, in an obvious sense, if there isn't
clear turbulence, then there is smoke, There's smoke signaling a
fire to come. And that's producing in this
generation an overwhelming and eerie sense that there is no
longer a safe place to go to in this world.
We feel surrounded. It's not just a little spark
here, a little spark there, the whole building.
Is up. In flames.
And this is the day that you and I are living in, and it is
escalated quickly and the emotions range from total
outrage to people living on edge, wondering how the events
that we are seeing will unfold and how they will determine the
trajectory, if not our own lives, then the lives of the
children and grandchildren that we love so deeply.
Where is this all going? What is this all going to lead
to? International wars, famines,
earthquakes, Mass shootings that almost seem to be numbing now
because they just are expected disease and pestilences and
immoral education system on all levels.
The invasion of Marxism? A blatant and outright corrupt
and dysfunctional political. System The looming threats of
terrorism. More and more, we're hearing
about how terrorists are flooding into our borders and
through our borders. Natural disasters that are just
becoming more intense and more common.
And the cherry on top is just the overall moral decay.
And all of these things seem to just be coming closer and
closer, surrounding us as a generation, and it's almost
suffocating. But while the world is
helplessly and, dare I say, frantically looking for a
solution or solutions, you and I, the Church of Jesus Christ,
are not hopeless. We are very hopeful because we
have many reasons to be hopeful. And one of those reasons why we
can be at rest is because the modern tragedies and the modern
trends that are disturbing are not without explanation for the
Christian. Because in the possession of the
Christian is a eternal, unchanging, timeless word, the
word that belongs to God and comes from God.
And in that word, we have answers.
We have answers, and with those answers we have the only
solution for the problems that we're seeing and facing today.
Now the overall consensus, the general opinion of the believer
today is that we are racing towards the.
End that. That.
That's undeniable. But I don't want that to be the
only answer we have for ourselves or for others.
Because yes, the world may be confused.
We are confident the the world may be in hysteria.
You and I know rest. The world might be in darkness.
We surely have the light, but we want to also feed into our
confidence with greater truth. I I want us to dig deeper into
the mind of God, to find even more precise commentary of what
is actually happening here. Why is it happening?
How is this being caused? Why is it only getting worse and
worse? There are answers here.
We don't just have to brush it off by saying, well, this is
just the last days. No, there's even more to that.
There's more to what we're seeing today.
Let me say this way, There is a message from God to the people
that are living in this time of history.
There is a message from God himself, and I don't stand
before you as a prophet who has subjective words from God.
I stand to you as. A simple mailman with God's word
that's already been given and that relates to and connects to
what we are experiencing. And so I invite you to pursue
that with me by coming to the book of Second Chronicles in
Chapter 15. If you haven't caught on yet,
we're taking a pause on Mark Second Chronicles Chapter 15 and
come with me to verse 5. Here's the context of this
passage. You have a prophet named Azariah
and he with the Spirit of God coming upon him approaches a
king. King of Judah at this time was
ASA. ASA up to this point was a man
of God. He had a tender heart for God.
He was dependent upon God and he displayed that through his
prayer life. But the prophet Azariah by the
Spirit wants to encourage him to not make the same self defeating
mistakes that the nation of Israel has made in former times.
And so he's going to exhort the king and he's going to exhort
the king by giving a brief history lesson.
And this history lesson is from a unspecified time period in
Israel's resume. But interestingly, as you're
going to hear this, it's not just pertaining to Israel's
unstable past. It actually speaks of an era
when the world was on fire, when the world when the neighboring
nations, when the inhabitants of not just one land but multiple
lands were also troubled and disturbed.
And here's what it says in verse in verse 3.
For a long time, Israel was without the true God and without
a teaching priests and without law.
But when in their distress they turned to the Lord, the God of
Israel, and sought him, He was found by them.
And here's the main text in verse 5.
In those times there was no peace to him who went out or to
him who came in, For great disturbances afflicted all the
inhabitants of the lands. They were broken in pieces.
Nation was crushed by nation and city by city, for God troubled
them with every sort of distress.
Father, we ask that you help us understand your word, your voice
for today give us ears to hear what the Spirit says to the
churches in Jesus name. Amen.
Again, you and I here see that these circumstances that Azariah
is alluding to is not just focused on the nation of Israel.
And people wonder where and when these things, these
circumstances occurred, right? He's very general in verse five.
He just says in those times, well, what times based on the
characteristics, many believe that he's speaking about the
times of the judges, which is a very good case to make.
But it's ambiguous. And it's it's ambiguous because
Israel has known a cycle of apostasy throughout its history.
But I want you, more importantly, to look at the
descriptions of those times. Look at how the Bible is so
specific. And as you discover this, you
will see how unparalleled, how rather paralleled it is to our
own time. The first thing that he says
here in verse 5 is that there was no peace to him who went out
or to him who came in. There was no peace for him who
came out or to him who would come in.
In other words, there was a general fear in the atmosphere
and the main reason for that fear is because there was
criminal activity rampant causing citizens to be fearful
of being in the public of traveling.
They were hesitant to even leave their own homes.
And in Judges Chapter 5 verse six, you don't have to turn
there. But in Judges 5-6, as a
reference for you, there's even more light shed on this where we
were told there that the highways in Israel were
abandoned and people went about through the byways.
In other words, there was so much evil that people avoided
public places, high traffic areas.
They would take the longer route home because criminals at this
point took advantage of these strategic places, robbers and
thieves and murderers, to satisfy their evil pursuits.
And so it caught on. These are these are the places
to avoid and to watch out for. And there was no officials to
regulate this, to supervise this, to deal with this.
Is that not the reality that you and I are in today?
Especially for us in Illinois, especially for us near Chicago,
You have people today that want to avoid parades, that think
twice about going to concerts. You have many people who are
willing to rely on online shopping than to risk being a
victim of another random act of murder, mass murder at a mall.
So let me just click, click and get it.
Come to my front door. There's fear.
There's no peace. That's why you don't drive in
certain neighborhoods at certain times of the day, and in our
city it's at any time of the day.
In some places, this is what is being told to us.
There is an. Environment and atmosphere of
evil that's causing innocent civilians and citizens to pay a
price to their regular day-to-day experience.
But from there, we read something else.
We read about nation crushing another nation, so international
distress and turmoil, but not just international notices, he
says. City against city, we're talking
about demographic, we're talking about internal conflict and
combat. So this is civil war.
This is death and division and tension among people who
represent a group or a nation or a people.
And so you have now streets. You have territorial and tribal
antagonism, and Israel is not unfamiliar with skirmishes among
their own tribes. And neither are we, because you
and I are being programmed every single day in our universities,
in our media, from books and celebrities and everything in
between, that you belong to a social class.
You are a part of a subgroup, and here let's help us identify
you to a subgroup. And on top of that, let's show
you the other subgroups in your context that are opposite of
you, that are obstacles not just to you, but obstacles to the
thriving of this culture. These other groups are
hindrances to the urban utopia that we want to reach as a
people. And so we're worried about
gangs. We're creating gangs out of our
own civilians, and we can't have discourse anymore.
We now resort to violence. And you can't express yourself
without being threatened, either being punched in the mouth or
have a gun pulled out on you having your house vandalized.
If you post the wrong thing, you have to get up and move and
leave the whole place altogether.
And I can give you more and more examples from these texts, but
let me just summarize it the way Azariah does here.
He says in verse 5. In those times there was no
peace to him who went out or to him who came in.
For great disturbances, plural afflicted all the inhabitants of
the lands. Meaning here that there were
many factors that contributed to the global anarchy of that day
and it affected absolutely everyone in some way, shape or
form. No one was out of reach from
feeling the effects. Of this disorder and growing
mayhem, and that's true of you and I as well.
We all are feeling something, and I'm persuaded that it's only
going to get more intense unless a miracle happens.
And if you thought that these uncanny similarities from this
text are shocking, prepare to be shocked further by the final
statement that Azariah gives here and verse.
Six. Look at the last part of verse
6, for God troubled them with every sort of distress.
Who's in charge of all of this? Who's in charge of the lack of
peace? Who's in charge of nations and
nations coming against each other, city against city?
Who's in charge? It's not Satan.
It's not politicians. It's not Hollywood God.
God was the one that troubled them with every sort of
distress. Is that ruffle with your
theology? God's not apologizing for it.
The Spirit of God comes upon Ezra to say that unequivocally,
God is behind this. Should we think any differently
today? I'm convinced, No, not that we
have to be careful. God is the author of evil.
He's far from the author of evil, but in his wisdom and in
his power and in his justice, he is often the permitter of it.
God, who is the great restrainer from time to time, will remove
his restraining grace and allow a generation to devour one
another. God.
God troubled them with every sort of distress, And if God is
the one that they were dealing with, then we're that much
closer to finding reprieve. We're that much closer to
hopefully finding a true solution here, because what
we're seeing right now is interview and podcasts of people
trying to figure out how do we find an answer and here's the
word of God. Well, if you know the 'cause,
then you come that much closer to a solution.
God is the one troubling, You know, the nations today can save
themselves a lot of time, a lot of energy, a lot of resources,
and they can even save a lot of lives if they just but realize
and accept now, except today, not as a history lesson now.
That who they're dealing with is God.
Accept that there is a transcendent, holy being that is
orchestrating these events. That's undeniable.
But is there an explanation? Yes, In the very same text there
is an explanation. You and I received clarification
to the Why. Why would a good and holy God, a
God of peace, God of forgiveness, God of mercy?
Why would such a God allow the world to be set on fire?
Why wouldn't he stop it at a spark?
Why is it only destroying and wreaking more havoc?
And in the same text, you actually get three reasons why.
There are three reasons why for why God troubled them, and why
God today, I believe, is allowing what's happening across
the globe. Maybe you saw it, but if you
didn't go back to verse three with me.
Here's what Azariah says. For a long time, Israel he's
focusing on Israel now was without the true God number 1/2,
and without a teaching priest and three and without law.
Those are the three reasons. The reason why God troubled them
with every distress was because Israel was without the true God.
Let's deal with that one first. What do you mean without the
true God? Did they become atheist?
No. Azariah is specific.
He didn't say that they weren't without God.
Without what? The true God.
And so we're not being told here that Israel stopped believing in
God. We're not talking about a
postmodern age. We're not talking about a post
truth age. We're not even talking about a
people who stop performing sacrifices and observing
rituals. It's that the object of their
submission, the object of their worship, was not toward the one
and true God. So the primary reason for why
God troubled this generation was with distress was because of
idolatry. Idolatry.
Which means what? Well, there's many ways that you
and I can create an idol in our lives.
We can, like the Israelites early in the wilderness journey,
create a golden calf and give it the name Yahweh.
So it has the right name, but it's a totally different being.
Or we can abandoned the idea of Yahweh altogether and just raise
up different false gods. And a false God can be anything.
Anything that you find your source of guidance and
satisfaction from ultimately is an idol.
And what you're seeing here is as this generation has turned
their back on the true God. Not the idea of God, not even
the participation in spiritual activity or the willingness to
even claim to be religious. That is not true.
If you just read Judges and First Samuel and Kings, you'd
realize that from the surface they were very religious.
They participated in much, but it was illegitimate worship.
They did not honor God the way he revealed himself to be.
Instead they found liberty to define God the way they wanted
him to be defined. And when you abandon the true
God, it's inevitable that chaos will ensue.
And one of the reasons why the true God the main reason here
according to the Holy Spirit in this verse.
Why the true God was not acknowledged and revered and
pursued was because of point #2. They weren't just without the
true God. They were what?
Without a teaching priest. And again, the Holy Spirit is
specific. He didn't say that they were
without priests. There was plenty of priests
throughout Israel's history, but one of the forgotten roles of
the priest was that a priest was not just called the Levitical
priest was not just called to supervise sacrifices and help
screen what was coming in the the temple or Tabernacle.
The priest, according to the law, also had a responsibility
to verbally instruct the people about the law of God.
And if you need a reference for that, there are many.
There's one in Leviticus, there's one in Malachi, and
here's one from Deuteronomy. In Deuteronomy 3310, the Levites
were called to instruct people with the written word of God,
but in those times there was no teaching priests.
So what does that mean? Well, there were priests who are
present. Additionally, there were even
priests who are performing. But there was virtually no
priest proclaiming the word of God, and God says that is a
reason why I am going to trouble the world with distress, namely
my people. Well, how does this work?
I mean, who would have thought? Think about this.
This is what? Blew my mind late last night.
Who would have thought that the havoc and the mayhem in cities
was due to a vacancy in the pulpit?
That's what God does. Stop me.
God is pointing to the pulpits and he's saying, where is my
word? Where is the word of God being
taught? Here's how it works.
The pulpit proclaims the Word of God.
The church is enlightened and empowered by that proclaimed
Word. Then the empowered church goes
out into the world and operates as a purifying and preventative
agent in the culture. That's how that works.
Do you see how it trickles down word receiving the word?
And as you guys are scattered, as all of us are scattered into
our unique context, your presence, your salt, your light
puts a level of restraint on our culture from going headlong,
diving headlong into depravity. But what happens when the priest
is not teaching? Well then the the priest is not
proclaiming the word of God. And in those times a lot of it
was just personal dreams or experiences or or gross
misinterpretations and interpretations of the scripture
to fit the needs of the people, what they think are their needs.
So the word is not proclaimed. And when the word is not
proclaimed, overtime what happens?
The people are no longer nourished.
And when they're not nourished, what happens?
Well, they become weak. And when they become weak, what
happens? More?
Susceptible to deception without the true God.
More vulnerable to temptation, Not representing the true God's
character. And in the long term, this
entity that was called to be the moral conscience of a culture
fails to operate as such, and this culture now accelerates
into collapse. That's how that works, you know.
Jeremiah was told by God in chapter 23 and you don't have to
turn there. He criticizes the false prophets
and he says where are those who stood in my counsel and proclaim
my words that the people may turn from their evil?
That's a fascinating insight because the the possibility of
people repenting and changing and being renewed is absolutely
inseparable from the transaction of the word of God.
People are convinced that if I can, if I can just get the
emotions, if I can just relate, if I can just help you with this
one problem in your life, then I can help you and God can help
you. That's not the case.
Just give the word of God and let.
The word do its work. It's not enough to have a Bible
and a pulpit. It's not enough to even give
footnotes to certain statements you make from the pulpit.
People need to be taught what the word of God is, what it's
saying, what it means, how it applies.
That needs to happen regularly, and God says there was no
teaching. Priest I'll let you interpret
that for today, if you need help seeing how that.
Today, just look for the most popular sermons on the Internet
and you'll get what I mean. Thank God there are voices today
that are giving the truth. I praise God and you know those
ministries as well. But it's unfortunate that not
every pulpit has a teaching priest.
America is a big country. There are 1,000,000 upon
hundreds of millions of people. We need more than just six
reputable ministries. We need every state, every city
to have teaching priests. And what event eventually
happens, Well, the deterioration will intensify also because of
the final thing mentioned here by Azariah, that they were
without law, that they were without law.
And so now, over time, when you don't have the true God, when
you don't have teaching priests, we don't have the Church
speaking to the powers, the politics, the policies, the evil
agendas and agents of evil, where people lose track of
what's right and wrong. And just like the days of
judges, everybody begins to do what is right in their own eyes.
And what did Jesus say would be the mark?
One of the marks of the last days in Matthew 24 that
lawlessness will increase, lawlessness will increase, so
there will be. Less and less of a fear and
recognition of objective right and wrong.
And now we are making rules and making laws based on what you
feel is right. And I don't want to keep going
there, You hear that all the time.
But I find amazing here is that it starts as a minority of
lawless people. Then over time, that minority
becomes the majority and that majority.
Then vehemently begins to snuff out any remnant who holds to the
truth, whether or not there are teaching priests or not.
That's how it tends to go. Now I just want to give you one
example of what happens when a society or culture no longer has
the true God, no longer has teaching priests, no longer has
law. God gets their attention by
troubling them with all kinds of distress, and He's very specific
in how He does it with his tragedies.
Let me give you one example. This is one that you probably
never heard in Sunday school, but turn with me to 2nd Kings
Chapter 2. And look here with me in verse
23, just to give you an idea, this is speaking about Elijah,
not Elijah. Elijah was transported into
heaven. In a miraculous way, this is now
Elijah who has received his mantle, a double portion of his
anointing, and he is now walking in that power as the prophet for
the nation of Israel. And this is an interesting
occurrence that takes place while he's on route as a prophet
in Second Kings 2/23. He, being Elijah, went up from
there to Bethel and while he was going up on the way, some small
boys. That's not the best translation.
Some small boys came out of the city and jeered at him, saying
go up you bald head, go up you bald head.
And he turned around and when he saw them he cursed them in the
name of the Lord. And two she bears came out of
the woods and. Tore 42 of the boys.
I told you, you didn't hear this in Sunday school.
That's in the Bible. And here's how most This is why
most believers who know the story are disturbed by because
they they just see a bunch of kids probably playing around
with with sticks, and they're there on on the side street
outside of the borders of the city of Bethel.
And the prophet had a very long ministry journey and he dealt
with many miracles and problems and he just wants to get home
quietly and peaceably. And now you have these little
kids calling him out for his receding hairline.
Hey bald head. Hey, And they're just joking.
They're a little rude and insensitive.
And here's an irritated prophet who turns around and calls a
curse upon them and two bears come out of nowhere mall. 42 of
them. Is that what's going on here?
This is why you have to read slowly and not just read slowly,
but read the whole Bible or us. Things like this, if you read
them in isolation, don't make sense.
And then atheists make blog posts talking about how vicious
our God is. Let's read this together slowly.
Yeah, Verse 23. He went up from there to where?
Bethel. Good.
So now we know the location of this place.
Does Bethel have a rich spiritual heritage?
Yes, it does have a rich spiritual heritage.
Bethel is where Jacob encountered God while he was on
the run from his brother Esau. And he encountered God in such a
personal and special way that he called that place the House of
God, which means Bethel. But unfortunately, Bethel did
not continue to hold up to that rich spiritual heritage, because
when the Kingdom of Israel was divided into two kingdoms, you
have a northern Kingdom and a southern Kingdom.
The king of the northern Kingdom, Jeroboam, was nervous
about the southern Kingdom. He was nervous because the place
of worship was Jerusalem, and he didn't want his people to go
down there and to lose his allegiance with them.
And so he comes up with a devilish but clever idea.
I'm going to create two other places of worship so that my
people don't have to travel down to the Southern Kingdom.
And so I'm going to raise up a place of worship in the city
called Dan. I'm going to put a golden calf
there. Have you seen that before?
And I'm going to raise up another golden calf in a place
called Where? Bethel And from that time Bethel
became not the House of God, but the House of idolatry, and years
and decades go by. And this place, unfortunately
now we become a den. Of apostates.
And that hasn't changed here. In Second Kings chapter 223.
You're talking about a people. You're talking about young boys
whose parents very likely worship false gods and whose
parents probably had a great disdain for the true God and the
true messengers of God, one of them being Elisha.
Secondly, we're told here that as Elisha travels by this
idolatrous place, small boys came out of the city.
Now, I told you earlier that small boys isn't the best
translation because the Hebrew word can describe a wide range
of different kind of boys. So one strong example of that is
in Genesis 37 two, where we're told that Joseph was a lad, he
was a young man. It's the same Hebrew word and
we're told in that same verse that he was how old, 17 years
old. So based on that, that truth
concerning the Hebrew word, the wide range of it and its
meaning, and the activity of these children, they're very
likely preteen or teenagers. We're not talking about
kindergarten kids that are just a little bit disrespectful here.
We're talking about a band of young men that can pose a
threat, and they're obviously intuitive enough to make these
remarks go up, you bald head. Are they just criticizing his
headpiece? No, they're not.
What are they referring to? They're referring to what
happened with Elijah. Just a few verses earlier,
Elijah was taken up into heaven by Chariots of fire, And there
were people who heard about this, and the reports clearly
spread about it, and it came even to Bethel.
But instead of it being a testimony that encouraged
greater faithfulness and love to the true God, it became a reason
to scorn God more. And maybe this is a remark of
disbelief, but here's what they're saying.
Hey Elijah, the same way your mentor was removed from us, why
don't you join him and get out of our face?
We want nothing to do with you or your ministry.
We don't care what kind of miracles you perform.
Go up, you bald head. Get out of here.
So this is not this is more than just personal insult.
This is rejection of the true God and the messenger of God.
This is just solidifying the truth that these children as
well are apostates. And what does Elijah do?
Elijah do? Even the language here in verse
20, he turned around, so he's just walking and he's going
about his way. But they came up behind him
because usually problems start with words and they tend to lead
to physical altercation with troublemakers at least.
And Elisha stops. He turns around and he curses
them. And if it's stopped there, you
might have more problems. But he curses them in the name
of the Lord and two she bears come out.
Here's the thing you have to understand.
Elisha is not just speaking out of frustration.
Elisha doesn't just have this personal ability to cause nature
to work in his favor. Elisha pronounces a curse in the
name of the Lord and guess who heard and accepted it?
God. God answers that, and he moves
in to defend his servant. And we think, OK, so, so we we
have to look at God's character then.
No, you have to. Understand that there's
something deeper going on here. This is clearly the most
disturbing part. So God is behind this.
But it wasn't spontaneous even. No, this is God fulfilling an
ancient warning that he gave long ago concerning his people
if they remained in an unrepentant state of apostasy.
Let me put it this way. What happened to those children
was warned about many, many, many years ago before they even
existed. Let me show you that.
Go to Leviticus, the thrilling Book of Leviticus.
I say that because people don't think it's thrilling, and I
think it's absolutely fascinating.
In Leviticus chapter 26. Here, the Lord gives promises
and rewards for obedience and staggering warnings for
persistent disobedience. And let's qualify the kind of
disobedience that God is speaking about here.
He's not speaking about you and I stumbling.
He's not speaking about you and I.
In a brief period of coldness of heart in verse 14 of chapter 26,
here's what he is speaking about.
But if you will not listen to me and will not do all these
commandments, if you spurn my statutes and if your soul abhors
my rules, do you hear the language here?
If you spurn my statutes, if you you're so abhorred, like you
have discussed towards the word of God, you have absolute
disdain for the truths of God, so that you will not do all my
commandments, but break my covenant.
So that is the level of disobedience we're speaking
about, being steeped in stubborn rebellion.
And for the rest of this chapter, you know what God does?
He gives cycles of warning. In other words, he says, if you
stay in this kind of condition, let me put it this way, if you
turn your back on the true God and refuse to hear the truth and
refuse to live without my law long enough, I'm going to give
you a series of distress. Different degrees of distress.
And one of those categories is later on in verse 21.
Then if you walk contrary to me and will not listen to me, I
will continue striking you. So pause there.
Remember, he's talking about I'm going to turn up the heat more
and more because you're not listening to me.
I'm trying to get your attention here, and here's one way he'll
do it. I will continue striking you
sevenfold for your sins, and I will let loose the wild beast
against you which shall bereave you of your children and destroy
your livestock and make you few in numbers, so that your Rd.
shall be deserted. Do you see this?
Back before the people even entered into the promised land,
God gave a warning that if you walk away from me long enough,
I'm going to try to get your attention, and I will allow it
to get to the point where the wild beast will come out and
bereave you of your own children.
And that happened in Second Kings 223 to 25 S Again, this
isn't random. This isn't spontaneous.
This was predicted. This was God fulfilling his
part. Of the warning when the people,
like the people of Bethel, walk contrary to his law.
Do you know what I take from this though, in terms of
principle? When a nation rejects God, when
a nation rejects the true God, children pay a heavy price.
Children will pay a heavy price. And again, this is just one
example of many of how God will trouble a land.
But with what goal in mind does he have?
Does he have a goal? Is there an aim for all of this?
Absolutely. Go back to Second Chronicles 15
and let's look at verse three and four again.
For a long time Israel was without the true God, and
without a teaching priest, and without law now verse 4 But when
in their distress they turned to the Lord, the God of Israel, and
sought him, he was found by them.
For God troubled them. He troubled them with great
disturbances, afflicting all the inhabitants of land.
Why does he trouble them with every sort of distress so that
in? Their distress?
They would turn to God. Unfortunately, so many people
only understand the language of distress before they bend their
knee. Before they even consider God.
Is there distress in your life? If you're walking with the Lord
and there is trials and tribulations, then you could
take comfort to know that he is only purifying you further and
that he's going to sanctify you through that.
But if you have turned your back on God, and you are not walking
for the true God without his law, perhaps the distress in
your life. Is God trying to get your
attention? Are you listening to that?
In His love, He will let your world crumble so that you can
come back to him and stay close to Him.
In their distress, they turn to the Lord.
That's why he allows it, because we're very, very stubborn
people. Here's the thing I'm worried
about, though. Personally, it's true for the
testimony of Israel, and unfortunately, I think it's very
true of our generation, especially here in America.
Many people and many nations have a very high tolerance for
pain, and that's not a good thing.
That's not a good thing. I've said this before.
I don't mean to repeat myself, but I know some strong people,
and that's not a good thing. What I mean by strong is.
It takes a lot for them to surrender.
They find a lot of inner strength and fortitude, not to
be faithful but to remain in a place of faithlessness.
And it concerns me because I wonder, what else does God need
to do in your life for you to wake up, America?
What else does God need to do for you to wake up?
And to call upon him in your distress, because look here
verse 3 again, for a long time Israel that's so important.
Lord doesn't resort to disasters immediately.
He waits, He waits, and there you are, walking further and
further away from the true God He waits.
And more and more we're seeing less teaching priests occupying
pulpits and churches. He waits.
As we become more and more and more lawless, he waits.
He waits. But there comes a time.
We're in his brimming love, he says.
I have to get their attention. And so he.
Troubles them with every sort of distress, shaking our world so
that we can look up. But here's the problem.
You see, just because these are the divine designs of these
disturbances, it does not mean that they always produce what
they were intended to produce. And that's not God's fault.
I believe with all of my heart that God is speaking to this
generation with what we're seeing.
Will they listen? Let me show you something in our
final text in Jeremiah chapter 18.
Let's go to verse seven of Jeremiah 18.
Some might accuse a message like this of being oversimplistic or
misapplication because God had a special covenant with Israel, so
it makes sense for him to deal with them in this way.
It was a theocracy. They were elected with a special
privilege, but with that privilege came great
responsibility. So how can you take these things
that relate to Israel and apply them to us?
Well, here's your answer from Jeremiah 18.
Seven If at any time, what do you think any time means?
It means anytime. Nothing special about the Hebrew
either. If at any time lean into this
now. My brother, my sister, I declare
concerning a nation. Did he say my nation, a nation
or a Kingdom? So he's talking about any
nation, any Kingdom, at any time that I will pluck up and break
down and destroy it. And if that nation did he say my
nation? No.
If that nation concerning which I have spoken turns from its
evil, I will relent of the disaster that I intended to.
Do to it. And if at any time can you be
any more clear? And if at any time I declare
concerning a nation, not my nation, a nation or a Kingdom,
that I will build and plant it, and if it does, evil in my
sight, not listening to my. Voice.
Well, I thought you just spoke to Israel.
No, a nation, a Kingdom. If they don't listen to my
voice. Well, how does God speak?
He troubles them with many distress.
Then I will relent of the good that I had intended to do to it.
It's clear even in this covenantal age where God had a
special relationship with one nation, though, they had unique
features and unique rewards. Because of that relationship,
there are certain things. That apply not just to them but
to the whole world. And here's one of those things.
Any nation that knows of my word, that knows of my law, that
knows of who the true God is, turns their back on it and does
not relent from doing it's evil, I will deal with that nation.
So second Chronicles 15 verses three to six is just as
relevant. To America in 2023 than it was
King ASA few 100 years before Christ.
Just as relevant. And what did this generation and
Jeremias do in response to this? Look at verse 11 and 12.
Now therefore say to the men of Judah and the inhabitants of
Jerusalem. Thus says the Lord.
Behold, I am, I am, I am. Shaping disaster against you and
devising a plan against you. I'm, I'm, I'm shaping something
catastrophic against you. I don't want to go there.
And so here's the rest of it. Return everyone from his evil
way and amend your ways and your deeds.
Now look at this verse 12. But they say that is in vain.
We will follow our own plans and will everyone act according to
the stubbornness of his evil heart.
So if somehow, miraculously, a message like this gets to the
Oval Office. And our president and our
officials hear the clear word of God, but they answer in the same
way. Vain.
We're staying on the path that we're in.
This is what God is saying to this world today.
Return everyone from his evil way and amend your ways and your
deeds. I know that a lot of people
today, as we're looking out into this world that is burning,
they're also. Priests of our day who are
speaking, and I'm from time to time listening to what is being
said, maybe you are too, and praise God that there are
faithful messengers of God out there.
But here's here's what's going out there in terms of majority.
So far. There's a lot of talk of
prophecy. Is this prophetic fulfillment
what we're seeing in the Middle East?
Is this is this fit in the timeline of the Last Days
somewhere? Which is fine, it's important to
clarify that. But my concern is there is
little exhortation for people to posture their hearts toward God.
A lot of explanation, very little exhortation, posturing
their hearts toward God in this time of great.
Distress. What can we do?
We're just this tiny faithful church in Norridge, IL.
Well, we worship the true God, and we by God's grace make this
a place of teaching. And we live according to the law
of God, and we honor the righteous laws of our land.
And we do our part in God's Providence to be a purifying and
preventative agent in this distressing time in world
history. And maybe for you today, in this
place, your life is in shambles, but you don't know God.
Or you once walk with God, and it has been months and years
since you have pursued him, loved him, obeyed him, sought to
understand him. Could it be that in his great
love he is troubling you to bring you closer to him again?
Will you listen to him? Will you?
In Luke 13, I made mention of this last Friday.
Two days ago and Luke 13, a few Jews came up to Jesus and they
brought up a terrorist attack. Some Galileans were were slain,
and their blood was mixed with the blood of the sacrifices.
This was the doing of Pilate and Jesus simply looks at them and
says do you think that there were worse sinners than you?
Because the Jews of that they had a concept that if tragedy
happened it means that you did something very bad to deserve
it. And if you walk in righteousness
and if you do good, then you escape such things.
And Jesus clarifies that very briefly, and then he goes.
Into something else, he goes into a message of repentance.
And this is what somebody said, and I love to borrow it, just to
share it with you when we hear of tragedies, when we hear of.
Terrorist attacks when we hear of natural disasters, right?
Because it wasn't just the guy leans.
The Tower of Siloam fell and killed 18 people.
Jesus brought that up too. People have a lot of questions
and sometimes part of those questions is how can I protect?
Myself from this How can I avoid this?
How can I escape this? And you know what Jesus saying
in that you want to know the safest place in a world like
this. Where there can be tragedies and
there can be evil men who have power and take advantage of that
power, you know you want to know the safest place.
Repent. That's the safest place.
You want to know how you can assure the greatest security for
your future? Repent.
That's what you do. Not about accumulating this.
Not about hiding there. Not about moving there.
Making sure that your heart is right with God.
This is my heart this afternoon. Because we have to read the
writing on the wall. I get it.
Every generation says Jesus is coming back.
I understand. Well, one of these times
somebody's going to get it right.
I understand, but there is still though.
We don't call for dates, and though we don't ask people to do
ridiculous things under the pretense of get ready for the
apocalypse, if there's anything that needs to be done is to call
people to get right with God. OK, teach.
Teach about prophecy in the Bible.
Teach about how current events may be explained in the
scriptures. Do it, but exhort the people.
Get ready. Get ready.
The Lord is coming. The Lord is speaking on a
megaphone. So when I get caught up with
little things, trinkets, and trivial ideas, hear what God is
saying. Oh, I pray that America would
hear what God is saying because He's speaking.
And this God, who does perform many distressing things, is a
God who's willing to bring rest to that land that calls back to
him. I closed my Bible, but I have to
show you that here it is in Second Chronicles 15, verse 15,
When ASA encouraged the people to pursue reform and to pursue
obedience, they got rid of idols.
I mean, this man even got rid of his mother.
The Queen Mother, because she had made a detestable image for
Ashra. And notice what we're told here
in Second Chronicles 1515 and all Judah rejoiced over the
oath. For they had sworn with all
their heart and it sought him with their whole desire, and he
was found by them, and the Lord gave them rest all around again.
I believe the God of this Bible is alive today.
I do. I really believe that what a
tragedy would be for any preacher to come up here to just
give some inspirational lesson, not believe that it applies
today, It applies today. And here's how much I believe in
that if this nation would have enough sense to respond to
distressing times that we're in and call out to God this God in
heaven, the same God in Second Chronicles 15 will bring rest to
this nation. He can.
And until then, hold on tight. Hold on tight.
Not gritting your teeth, not bracing for impact, but a heart
full of joy because you are a repentant people.
We are a repented people, are we not?
We stand righteous before God in Christ Jesus.
We have hope. Don't worry about your
possessions. Don't worry about your mortgage.
Don't worry about your children. Just put your hand in the hand
of him who has control over all things, and you will be more
than OK. It shall indeed be good for the
righteous. And so we have hope, even as the
world is burning. We are like Goshen, where there
is light and life, though everything around us is death
and dark. We are in Goshen who points to
Jesus Christ, positionally safe and practically experientially
safe because he is a real living God who walks with us.
He walks with us not just when it is bright and dandy.
He walks with us even where through the fire and in the
water. Nothing will overtake us,
Saints, nothing will overtake us.
Cast all your fears, anxieties on him.
Let every news headline and breaking story just cause you to
break forth and praise. Why?
Because we serve the One who is not surprised by these things.
We were surprised on October 7th, 2023.
King Jesus wasn't. And I have a hunch that there
will be many surprises on the way.
But I take comfort to know that I am shielded by the One who
knows tomorrow, and He leads you and I what a blessed Savior we
serve. I'm done.
Let's pray. Lord, we thank you that we have
the truth. We thank you that your word is
truth. We thank you that you have
called us for such a time as this.
Help us stay close to you. That is, the ground rumbles
beneath our feet, and as the walls shake around us, that we
would take refuge in you, for you are an ever present help in
trouble. We do pray for all the distress,
and though you may be behind it, Lord, we ask that the purpose of
it would find fruition in our generation.
Give the grace for people to see and hear you.
And to not let one more disaster go by before they call out to
you. We pray for our governing
officials. We pray for our President.
We pray for our vice President. We pray for our mayors.
We pray for our governors. May they see the writing on the
wall, and Lord, may they see it in a way where it's not too
late. But as an invitation to make
things right, we pray for our new House Speaker.
That he would stand for truth and righteousness.
That he would be unashamed of the gospel, unashamed of the
decrees and the testimonies of the Word of God.
We ask Lord for what's happening around the world, that your
wisdom would be deposited in our hearts and how to interpret it,
and that you would, Lord, redeem those in the midst of it.
But we know that these things will happen, and they will
increase until you return and bring peace on the earth.
So we say one more time with all of our hearts.
On the Sunday afternoon come Lord Jesus, and make everything
right. And with all this mess and all
this burning and all the fire, may you find in our bosoms a
passion that would bless you. So we sing to you now, asking
that you would be pleased with what you see in here, in this
place and other places on the Sunday afternoon that are
honoring you. Because they have teaching
priests and they have the true God.
Empower our brothers and sisters across the lands.
Empower those pastors to be prophets, to speak forth the
word of the Lord so that people would get right with the God.
We thank you and we rejoice in you with all the personal
problems we have. All the issues, all the worries.
Help us see them in the light of eternity.
You will wipe away every tear you'll remove, every disease.
You will crown us with a crown imperishable.
You will clothe us with a white raiment that will never be
stained, and you will bring us into your arms for all of
eternity. Thank you for reminding us of
our inheritance in Christ. In Jesus name we pray.
Amen. Let's stand and worship the King
of Kings and the Lord of Lords who reigns forevermore.