God's Prophets Speak to Such a Nation as This

Well, you know, when it comes to warning signs, you know, they come in many, many different ways, don't they? Sometimes it's as simple as an alarm clock that's going off, and the alarm is ringing, assuming we don't reach over and hit the snooze button.

But assuming we listen to that alarm, we get up, and maybe there's an important event or meeting that we need to go to. And sometimes it's the shrieking sound of a fire alarm, or something a little bit more important, like the emergency system that they have on television or radio. Maybe you've heard that beeping go off, and all of a sudden it gets your attention.

The regular programming stops. There's information that goes across the screen, and then you take a little breather of a sigh of relief. And you say, if this would have been an emergency, we would have instructed you on what to do. Sometimes it's the piercing shriek of a loudspeaker that indicates that there's an oncoming tornado. There's many different warning signs and sounds out there, but regardless of the form in which they come, these signs are basically, we know what they mean. They're intended for us to be alerted to something. Alerting to something maybe that's important, or alerting us to some approaching danger that we need to take steps in order to be safe.

Action that we need to take in order to remain safe. Sometimes the warning signs aren't so obvious. They're more, maybe a more oblivious. Instead of shouting in our faces or in our ears, it's a little bit more subtle. And if we're distracted by things, we may miss the warning signs. Could you, could I, as individuals, could even great nations remain blind to dangers that should be obvious?

Could we be ignoring warning signs that are actually shouting for our attention? You know, there's a disturbing theme that goes through the Old Testament prophets, and it speaks of a complete loss of leadership in a country or in a nation. Perhaps you, like me, are groaning about the moral decline that we're beginning to see in our country. You know, we begin to see a moral slide of standards in our nation here. But you know, I don't believe that we've fallen as far as God's nation of Israel did.

You know, they were his people. There was a time when they were blessed, but then there was a time they began to turn away from him. And I don't think we've fallen as low as they have, but I think it would be a mistake to pat ourselves on the back. Because we're heading in that same direction, really, Palmel, aren't we? That being said, brethren, we've just recently observed, just only eight days ago, the 238th anniversary of the beginning of our country. And you know, each year the United States president gives his State of the Union address. Perhaps you've heard of some of them. Maybe you've listened in to most of them over the years.

He gives that State of the Union address, and actually by extension it's not only to the Congress, it's also to the nation, and really it goes out to the whole world. Everyone's tuned in. It's typically filled with a lot of lofty ideals, or ideas that the president has that are on his agenda. But you know, despite what it's called, the speech seldom addresses the actual state of our nation. If we were to actually examine the state of our nation from God's perspective, from God's Word, what would we find?

You know, when he gives that speech on the rostrum, we don't usually see that. I don't know if the television cameras have ever shown it that I've seen it. Maybe it's been on there and I've missed it. But above the rostrum where he speaks, there's the words in God we trust. It's there in God we trust. And we know the president himself, when he's sworn into office, he puts his hand on the Bible, and among other things, he says, he pledges to carry out his duties, quote, so help me God, unquote.

So what would God be thinking about the current state of our nation, of America, of the United States of America? Let's turn over to Jeremiah chapter 5, because I think that addresses this issue of America, or really any nation, for that matter, of some of the characteristics that we're going to read about here in Jeremiah chapter 5.

We're actually going to spend quite a bit of time in Jeremiah today, mostly in chapter 5, but he'll be bouncing around to other books as well. But let's take a look at the book of Jeremiah, one of the prophets that God sent to his people. I think we're going to see as we go through some of the scriptures today, though, that God sent Jeremiah not just to his nation Israel, but actually to every nation. But let's begin here in Jeremiah chapter 5 and verse 1. And God is speaking to Jeremiah, or possibly through Jeremiah, and he says this.

Jeremiah chapter 5 and verse 1. He says, God says, Jeremiah, I want you to make a search. I want you to make a search. I want you to go all the way through this city and see if you can find a man if there is anyone who executes judgment, who seeks the truth, and I will pardon her. God says, I'll pardon the whole city. I'll pardon the whole city. If you can just find me one man, one man who wants to do the right thing. You know, I'll just read from the New Living Translation here. I think it speaks a little bit more in more of a modern English that may make sense to us.

It says, It says, Wow. Finally, just one just and honest person, one that will execute judgment and seek the truth, and I'll pardon the whole city. If you can find me, just one man. Let's go on to verse number two. And though they say, as the Lord lives, surely they swear falsely, God says, they come into court, they put their hand on the Bible, they swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, and then they don't tell the truth.

They lie. They lie. You know, several years ago, maybe you, like me, never expected to see someone who held the highest law enforcement position in the land do that very thing. And you know, there was a lot of commentary, TV commentators that were going on at that time that were talking about this on television, explaining why it was no big deal that the President of the United States committed perjury.

It wasn't a big deal. These people, these commentators said some of the following things. People swear to tell the truth all the time, and they lie in court, they said. And it's no big deal for an adulterer to lie. He kind of has to lie, doesn't he? So that his wife won't find out. Some of you that are older know which President I'm talking about.

Now, for the sake of power, and I think it's important for us to understand this, for the sake of power, those commentators came to us day after day, night after night, on television, to justify a liar. They wanted him to stay in power. For the sake of power, they were all on the same page, to justify a liar. Let's go on to verse number three. O Lord, heart not your eyes on the truth, you've stricken them, but they have ingrained. You've consumed them, but they have refused to receive correction. They have made their faces harder than rock.

They have refused to return. You know, that nation of Israel of old, they suffered calamity after calamity after calamity, and nobody stopped to ask. Maybe God's trying to tell us something. Nobody stopped to ask. Maybe there is something that we should learn from this. Nobody stopped to ask or say, Hey, is God trying to send us a message here? Or maybe shouldn't we think this over a little bit? Nobody was saying that. What they were saying is, Oh, no, this couldn't be. This isn't God's chastisement. This is just bad luck.

We've had a string of bad luck, and our luck is about to turn. It's bound to turn. We've had some difficult times, but it's bound to reverse. You know, in the next verse, we'll read that in a moment, verse 4. Jeremiah wasn't convinced that everybody was that way. It seemed like he couldn't believe deep down in his heart that everybody in the nation thought this way, that no one would pay attention, that no one would consider chastisement from God as possibly something that would help to turn people's lives around or turn the nation around.

Notice what he says in verse 4. Surely these are poor, they are foolish, for they do not know the way of the Lord, the judgment of their God, but I will go to the great men and speak to them, possibly implying the leaders, for they have known the way of the Lord, the judgment of their God.

But, no, these two have altogether broken the yoke and burst the bonds. Every restraint that had ever been put on them, they decided to ignore. Because, a funny thing sometimes, once you get to know the law of the land, or you're in a situation where you know how it works, and you begin to think that it applies to everyone else except for you. It applies to the ordinary folks, but not to you.

They start thinking they're above the law. Now, Jeremiah begins to realize that the great people, the leaders, had also broken the yoke. They cast off the restraints that God places on people.

So, when this begins to happen, where does this go? Where does this lead? What's this resulting?

You know, I heard a story about a psychiatrist. A psychiatrist. And he was on vacation, and he was in Hawaii. And he, as he was walking along the sandy beach, he saw this little bottle, and probably kicked it with his toe, picked it up, pulled off the cork, and out came a genie.

And the genie was just so glad to be out of this bottle. He said, I will give you any favor that you want, any wish that you can make one wish. So the psychiatrist kind of thought, for a while, and he thought, well, you know, he kind of laughed a little bit and thought, he says, you know, I always thought it would be neat to have a road between California and Hawaii. And the genie said, oh, no, no, we can't do that. He says, do you realize, you know, how deep, I mean, how many miles that is across the ocean part of that, and how deep the pilings would have to be to get all the way down to the ocean floor. And all the concrete that we'd all the paving that we'd have to have to be able to create that road. So the psychiatrist thought, well, that's reasonable. Well, you know what, I'll tell you what, then you just give me the sermon and understanding of all the people that I have to deal with, with all their problems that help me to understand where they're coming from and just what makes them tick.

The genie thought about that, and he said, well, do you want two or four lanes on that road?

You know, we can't always understand what makes people tick, and we can't always understand how people feel. But we can understand how God feels when it comes to certain things, because He tells us how He feels. Sometimes that strength talk, you know, they'll ask you, how do you feel? Now, how do you feel about that? That's kind of the way they approach things. Well, let's take a look at our country, our nation today, and let's ask ourselves the question, how does God feel about what's going on? We don't have to wonder, you know, we really don't, because He tells us, we don't have to guess, God tells us how He feels about certain kinds of conduct and certain things that people do. Because people really haven't changed over the course of several millennia. They haven't changed. There's nothing new under the sun, and God tells us in Scripture how He feels about it. Let's notice we're here in Jeremiah chapter 5. Let's take a look here at verse 6. You know, really, this is what the prophecies are all about. They tell us how God feels about it. It's a warning. He doesn't want to bring some of the things that He's going to talk about. It's a warning. He tells people ahead of time, but He lets us know very clearly of how He feels about certain things. Let's look at verse 6 of Jeremiah chapter 5. He's telling Jeremiah this. This is what I want you to tell the people.

The people have in a sense been backed up. They can't go into the wilderness. They can't go out of the cities. They're kind of barring themselves in to protect themselves and to keep their enemies out. And if they walk outside, they're dead. Something can happen to destroy them, to be torn into pieces. God says in verse 7, He says this, You know, God asks this question. God says, How shall I pardon you for this? Your children have forsaken me. They've sworn by those that are not gods when I fed them to the full. They committed adultery and notice, and they assembled themselves by troops in the harlot's houses. They were like well fed, lusty stallions, everyone knayed after his neighbor's wife. Wow, he's got a lot here in these two verses, doesn't he? Your children have forsaken me, and they've sworn, not by God, not by the true God, but by those that are not gods. You know, there was a time in this country when people, if they testified in court, they'd put their hand on the Bible, or they would take a note. You know, I swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, but then they even, in the past, they kissed the Bible. Later on, they put their hand on the Bible. I don't think that's done much anymore. I think the oath is still taken, you know, where they say, so help me God, I'm going to tell the truth, but they don't have to put their hand on it. I don't think that's done much anymore. But when God says in verse 7, He says, I fed them to the full. You know what? It isn't as though God didn't bless His nation, His people. It's not like He didn't leave us without anything. He didn't leave us hungry. He didn't leave us starving. He didn't leave us naked. He didn't leave us poor or blind. He gave us everything that really we could want. He gave them everything that they could want. And what do we do? So it says in verse 7, we committed adultery and assembled ourselves by troops in the harlot's houses. You know, sometimes when you watch television or you see a movie or you read a book or a novel or a magazine, you look at the popular culture of our country today, it seems like the signature sin of our nation today is the Seventh Commandment. You shall not commit adultery. And all of the various connected commandments that go with it, whether it be fornication, whether it be sexual immorality, whether it be homosexuality, you know, all these seem to be signature sins of our nation and our culture today.

Now, we've got examples in Scripture. What was the signature sin of Sodom, the mora? We're going to see in a moment as we go through the message today that these were some of the same signature sins of the nations of the Promised Land that God vomited them out of there so that His people could come in. We'll take a look at that in a moment. All these seem to be signature sins here of our society. It says, like well-fed lusty stallions, everyone nade after his neighbor's wife. We're going to talk about this trend in our nation in a moment. But then in verse 9, God says something very, very disturbing, profoundly disturbing. He says in verse 9 of Jeremiah 5, Shall I not punish them for these things, says the Lord? In one of the words, God says, Do you not think that I'm going to do something about this? And shall I not avenge myself on such a nation as this? That's the title for the message today. God's prophets speak to such a nation as this. He says, Shall I not avenge myself on such a nation as this? And I think what He's saying here, He's not just limiting it to the one nation, the children of Israel, the nation of Israel. He says, If I find a nation like this, do you think that I'm not going to do something about it? That I'm not going to punish them for these things? Shall I not avenge myself on a nation such as this?

Specifically, what I'd like to try to accomplish today in the message. Because I want to review the reality of what this nation is becoming. The reality of what our nation is becoming and what God thinks about it and where it's headed. And a second kind of a sub-point here as well is to assure ourselves that we're not being sucked in and dragged down by the influences of the culture that we find ourselves surrounded with. So, a couple of specific purpose points here today. To review the reality of this nation, what it's becoming, what God thinks about it, where it's headed, and to look at ourselves as well. To make sure we're not being affected by it, dragged down by it. So, let's begin by asking the question, how does God feel about the current state of our nation? Or any nation, for that matter, that has some of the trends that we're about to review here as we go forward?

Not too long ago, when we had our last major election, presidential election in this country, back in November of 2012. Not that long ago, less than two years ago. There were some things that happened in that election that began to reveal the mindset of our nation. For the first time, you may remember this, we talked about it, for the first time voters legalized same-sex marriage in the United States of America. Now, prior to that, there had been six states that had recognized same-sex marriage, but never by the voters. It had always been either through legislation or through the court system. But for the first time, voters legalized marriage between homosexuals in three different states. Maine, Maryland, and Washington. Rather than that, it means over 50% of the people that voted said, we think this is okay.

This is a significant shift, because prior to that time, it had gone to voters before in various states. It had gone to voters 32 different times since 1998, and each time the voters said, no. We're only going to recognize legal marriage between a man and a woman. 32 times since 1998. Voters said no. For the first time in November of 2012, voters said yes in three different states. Things have changed a lot in a short time. Things have changed a lot since those elections in November of 2012. Right after the election, there were six states. Now there were nine states. Immediately after the election, of 2012, there were nine states that recognized same-sex marriage. But guess what? The federal government still did not recognize it. Still did not recognize it. But it didn't take long. Seven months later, June of 2013, the Supreme Court struck down the law barring federal recognition of same-sex marriage. Now the federal government was required by law to recognize same-sex marriage. You know, since November of 2012, those elections, you know, there were nine states. Less than two years later, it's been more than double. We've added another ten states to those nine. We're up to 19 states today. Less than two years from November 2012, we've gone from six states to 19 states that recognize same-sex marriage, plus the District of Columbia, plus the federal government. Now that's a very significant change in a very short period of time.

How does God feel about these changes? Let's go to Leviticus chapter 18 and verse 22. Leviticus chapter 18 and verse 22. Things are changing quite rapidly in a very short period of time. Leviticus chapter 18.

Verse number 22. Well, God tells us how He feels. We don't have to guess. Leviticus chapter 18.

Verse number 22. I'm reading from the New King James Version, but every once in a while I'll read from a different translation. Leviticus chapter 18. Actually, on my Bible, you may not have this above verse 1. It has a caption that says, the laws of sexual morality. So we're going to jump to verse number 22. It says, you shall not lie with a male as with a woman. It is an abomination. You know, abomination is the strongest word that God can almost use. You know, other translations say detestable. It means shameful. It means abhorring. It's abominable. God can't use more graphic language to try to say that this is a very dangerous, corrupt, and terrible thing. The Good News Bible translates verse 22 this way. No man is to have sexual relations with another man. God hates that. The New Living Translation says this. Don't practice homosexuality. Having sex with another man as with a woman is a detestable sin.

So we know how God feels about it. Verse number 24. Do not defile yourselves with any of these things. Now, we've been talking about... I haven't spent the time to go through here, but we're talking about sexual morality throughout this whole chapter. And then we start to come to some of the thoughts that God has in verse 24. Don't defile yourself with any of these things, for by all these things, the nations are defiled, which I'm casting out before you. Isn't it amazing they had a lot of these sexual sins? Verse 25. For the land is defiled. God says, therefore I visit the punishment of its iniquity upon it. God says, do you think I'm not going to visit this? I am going to visit the punishment of its iniquity upon it. And the land vomits out its inhabitants. A very graphic way that God says, I'm going to spew you out like vomit. These nations that were there before the children of Israel came. Verse 26. You shall therefore keep my statutes and my judgments and shall not commit any of these detestable or vomitable things. Either any of your own nation or any stranger who dwells among you. If you've got a Gentile that's there, don't allow that. You don't do it. The stranger doesn't do it in this land. Verse 27. He basically says the same thing again. For all of these abominations the men of the land have done who were before you, and the land is defiled. So don't do it, God says, lest the land vomit you out. God says, if you do the same things that they do, I'm going to treat you the same way. God's not a respecter of persons. He says, I'll vomit you out as I vomited the nations out that were before you. Verse 28. Let's jump to verse 30. Therefore you shall keep my ordinance so that you do not commit any of these abominable customs which were committed before you. Don't do what they did. And that you do not defile yourselves by those abominable things. I am the Lord your God.

Let's go over to Romans, New Testament. Romans chapter 1 verse 24. Let's notice God hasn't changed his mind on this as we move from the Old Testament to the New Testament. Romans chapter 1 verse 24. Romans chapter 1 and verse number 24. Therefore God also gave them up to uncleanness in the lusts of their hearts to dishonor their bodies among themselves. I'm going to read from the New Living Translation verse 24. So God abandoned them to do whatever shameful things their hearts desired, and as a result they did vile and degrading things with each other's bodies. Verse 25, back to the New King James. Who exchanged the truth of God for the lie, and they worshiped and served the creature rather than the creator, who is blessed forever. Amen. For this reason, verse 26, God gave them up to vile passions, for even their women exchanged the natural use for what is against nature. Likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the women, they burned in their lusts for one another, men with men committing what is shameful, and receiving in themselves the penalty of their error, which was due. You know, it's a shameful thing God says, but you know, far from being ashamed from such behavior, it seems that many pride themselves on accepting it, tolerating it.

You've heard of the country's many gay pride marches, rather than being shameful or prideful. Let's take a look at Isaiah chapter 3 and verse 9. I wonder if that could be a prophecy for our nation today. Isaiah chapter 3 and verse number 9.

The gay pride movement, the marches, the parades.

What does God feel about them? Well, I think we'll find out pretty clearly. Isaiah chapter 3 and verse 9.

Isaiah chapter 3 and verse 9.

God says, you know, the look on their countenance is a witness against them, and they declare their sin as Sodom, who touched on Sodom and Gomorrah as one of the sins that they had were these sexual sins. They don't hide it.

I'm going to read from the new international version here. Verse 9 of Isaiah 3. It says, The look on their faces testifies against them. They parade their sin like Sodom. They do not hide it. Woe to them because they have brought disaster upon themselves.

Rather than shameful, they're prideful. They parade. They don't hide it. There was a time when they did, but not anymore. And, brethren, we have to ask ourselves a question a little bit as we go along here. As the world changes, are we becoming more tolerant? We have to ask ourselves that question. Are we becoming more tolerant in acceptance of things that we shouldn't be? Because God doesn't tolerate them or accept them. Some of these sinful acts that we're reading about. No, there was a couple of states we touched on this year in the last few months, too. Colorado and Washington, also, in these elections, November 2012, approved possession and recreational use of marijuana, which is a hallucinative drug. I mean, it's potentially dangerous to drive or what have you. Other states allow it for...

Get this word wrong. Jalinda, could you help me? Medicinal purposes. Other states allow the use of marijuana. I think I said, medicinal purposes when I gave the sermon in the cross last Saturday. Medicinal reasons for that purpose. And some states allow that. But we're talking about something totally different. A totally different trend now, where we can just use it for recreational use in a couple of states.

And even for those that use it for health reasons, you know, they use that as an excuse to use it for recreational use as well.

You know, marijuana, of course, isn't directly mentioned in the Scriptures. But God's Word clearly condemns intoxication of income. Let's notice 1 Corinthians 6 and verse 9. 1 Corinthians 6 and verse 9. Now, voters for the first time have approved possession and recreational use of marijuana. Which, by the way, still remains illegal at the federal level. Kind of confusing what's going on, isn't it? Two states say it's okay if federal government says no, it's not. 1 Corinthians 6 and verse 9.

Don't you know that the unrighteous won't inherit the King of God? Don't be deceived. So there's a possibility that we could be. Fornicators, which we've talked about, touched on. Idolaters, adulterers, homosexual sodomites, we've touched on those. Thieves, covetous, nor drunkards. I'm talking about drunkards here, in a way. Intoxification. Nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the King of God. And such were some of you. So we know that at the time that this was written, that there were people that had come out of this culture, that had come out of this background. You know, whether they be drunkards, whether they were in various areas of intoxication, whether they were sexual sins, they'd come out of that. Such were some of you, but you were washed, and you were sanctified, which means set apart, and you were justified, which means brought into a right relationship with God, in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God.

Let's go back to Jeremiah chapter 5. Pick it up in verse 9. Back to Jeremiah.

Jeremiah chapter 5.

Picking up where we left off here, when we were here last.

Again, what he's saying here, he's not just limiting this to one nation. We're going to see this in a moment as we go forward into Jeremiah. We're going to see he's not just talking about the nation of Israel. He's talking about any kind of nation that is like this. He's not going to exclude anybody. He will do something about it. So he's not just talking about just the nation of Israel.

Verse number 10. Go up on her walls and destroy. Take that hedge of protection away. Walls typically are providing safe and security for a city or a nation. Go up on her walls and destroy. But don't make a complete end. Take away her branches, for they are not the Lord's. For the house of Israel and the house of Judas, so he's talking about actually two different nations here, have dealt very treacherously with me, says the Lord. They have lied about the Lord and have said, it's not He. Neither will evil come upon us, nor will we see the sword, which is a vindication of armies coming, nor will we see famine. In other words, it's not God's judgment on us. This isn't His chastisement. It's just bad luck. We're going to be okay.

And you know, any nation that has been blessed by God, and if you look around, you see the blessings that we have in this nation. You see the wealth. You see the food. You see all the goodness that He's given to a people who in their initial steps of knowing God at the beginning of this nation were faithful to Him, acknowledged Him, and said, we hold these truths to be self-evident that men are created. All men are created equal and endowed by their Creator with certain uneatable rights. And when a nation is chastised by God, they turn their back and refuse to hear Him, and they say, well, you know, these bad things aren't because of the way we are living. It's not because of God's chastisement. It's just bad luck. We'll just be fine. Our luck's bound to turn around. Well, God is going to respond to a nation like that. And looking around in the world today, it might be time to brace ourselves. It might be time. I'm not setting any gates. But you know, you would think, as things started to progress along this line, that there would be prophets at every street corner, that there'd be ministers, pastors in the churches that would be saying, hey, wait a minute! You know, we need to be saying the same thing that Jeremiah is saying. We're headed in a dangerous direction. You'd think that that would be out there, wouldn't it? That there'd be people out there that would be trying to turn people back to God. But surprisingly, it seems just the opposite takes place. Jeremiah says this in verse 13. And the prophets have become wind, for the Word is not in them. Talking about God's Word. God says, so this is what's going to be done to them, verse 14. Therefore, thus says the Lord God of hosts, because you speak this Word, behold, I will make my words in your mouth fire. And this people would, and it's going to devour them. You know, I'm not exactly sure how to take this, but one thing seems to be abundantly clear to me is that God is pointing the finger at the preachers who ought to be telling people of God about the Word of God and what they should be doing. Mainly, these people are ignoring the commandments and the laws of God. They're ignoring the moral precepts that ought to be preached to people. Let's look at verse number 15. Behold, I will bring a nation against you from afar. Oh, house of Israel. So he's talking about the nation of Israel here. It's a mighty nation. It's an ancient nation. A nation whose language that you don't know, nor can you understand what they say. Their quiver is like an open tomb. Some translations say sepulchre. In other words, they have unlimited ammunition. They are all mighty men. Verse 17, and they're going to eat up your harvest and your bread, which your sons and daughters should eat. They're going to eat up your flocks and your herds. They're going to eat up your vines and your fig trees. They're going to destroy your fortified cities in which you trust. And they're going to do it with a sword. We're basically talking about an army coming in with military equipment.

You know, I sit here and think about our vulnerabilities, and I think we have some of the greatest armies and navies in the world. We have the power to defend our country, it seems like, with any type of military might. And yet, at the same time, we are actually very, very vulnerable. The terrorist attacks, right here in our own nation. And it surprises me that we haven't had more of them as the open society that we have. But you know, if God takes away that hedge of protection, it wouldn't take long. It wouldn't take long for those types of things to begin to change our lives the way that we think about living. How have we gotten ourselves into this? As a people, as a nation? You know, how have we gotten to this point? Well, Jeremiah and the other prophets, you don't want to know how God feels about a nation that lives its life like this? We have the answer. God doesn't please. And he's going to take away the protection. He's going to take away the hedge. Things that have protected us from our enemies year in and year out over the years. It's because we haven't made God our strength. We haven't made God our refuge. We're on our own, then. And I'll tell you, if you look around, being on our own, I don't think it's our best option. But that's where we're headed. That's where we're headed. Let's go to Isaiah 5 and verse 20. Isaiah 5 and verse 20.

Any nation, any nation, can bring curses on itself when it turns its back on biblical values. It doesn't matter whether it's Sodom, it doesn't matter whether it's Gomorrah, it doesn't matter if it's the nations that were in the Promised Land that had to be booted out before the children of Israel came in. It doesn't matter when they accept sin as a normal and commonplace thing, thinking themselves to be enlightened.

You know, people in reality only show how short-sighted and blind they are to the consequences of those choices. They don't realize that it's not going to continue. They fail to take into account God's view and the way that He feels about it in Isaiah 5 and verse 20. Let's read it here. Woe to those who call evil good and good evil. You know, they call what's evil, they call it good.

And really what's good, they say that's bad. That's wrong. That's evil. God says, woe to them who call evil good and good evil and who put darkness for light. The things that are wrong, the things that are darkness, the things that are totally unrighteous, but that's light. Let's tolerate some of these things. That's what's good. God says, woe to those who do that and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter. I'll tell you a story.

Quite a few years ago, Jelinda was serving on the school board when our kids were still in school. They were in the midst of contract negotiations. You know, most of these contracts at least go for at least two years, and they were in the midst of contract negotiations. Jelinda sat representing the school board on one side, and of course the teachers unions on the other side. The teachers union wanted health insurance and other medical benefits for same-sex partners. You know, these benefits have already been provided for. If you were an employee of the school district and you had medical insurance and medical benefits, your spouse would also get some of those same benefits. But now they wanted these benefits, health insurance and other medical benefits, for same-sex partners. And I can tell you that one of the negotiators for the union was a lesbian. So, you know, not that it makes any difference, but that's what they wanted. And they've been negotiating this for several different times in negotiations, and each time the school board had not gone along with it. But the culture was starting to change. The culture was starting to change. Now, I think what's interesting is, is they weren't asking for these benefits for unmarried couples that were male and female. You know, people that weren't married, that were living together, they weren't, you know, if you were an employee and you had someone living with you but you didn't, were not married to them and they were the opposite sex, they weren't asking for them for these benefits. Isn't that interesting? They were asking for the benefits for same-sex partners, not opposite-sex partners. So that's an interesting dynamic all of its own. Well, one of the school board members told my wife this. She said, I'm not for it. I'm not for what they're asking. But on the other hand, I don't want to be thought of as a bigot. See, the culture was changing. The culture was changing. She said, if I don't acquiesce to this, people are going to think of me as a bigot.

You know, if you stand up today against, well, same-sex marriage, for example, you can be thought of as a bigot. You can be thought of as intolerant. You can be thought of as a dictator. Because you're wanting to dictate to others how they should live their life. Here's the thought today. This is a thought today, and this is by somebody who's never been, grew up in the Church of God, actually, never been baptized, I don't believe. But there's a thought today that I think she says very well. And this is how she believes now. She doesn't share our beliefs. This is how she believes, and I think this sums up really, really well the culture of our time as far as how most of the people in our culture believe. The thought today is, how can you decide for everybody else who they should love?

How can you decide for anybody else who they should love? That's a pretty clever argument, isn't it? When you think about it. It's a clever, it's a satanic way of arguing. It's a clever argument. But that's a thought that's out there today. Well, you know, how would you respond to that? You have to think about that. If you were in a discussion with someone, how would you respond to that? Well, maybe that's something that, you know, I've got some thoughts on that, but maybe you do too. Maybe we can talk about that later on. But see, God knows where some of this stuff leads, and He doesn't want us to go there. He knows it corrupts people. He knows it changes people. And it doesn't change them in a good way.

Verse 20, what are those who call evil good and good evil? And we're seeing that today, aren't we? It's better to tolerate people. Let's accept them. This is the way they were born. This is the way that they are. We don't want to tell them who they can marry. We don't want to tell them who they should love. Verse 21, woe to those who were wise in their own eyes and prudent in their own sight. Let's jump to verse 24. Therefore, as the fire devours the stubble and the flame consumes the chaff, so their root will be rottenness. And their blossom is going to descend like dust. Why? Because they rejected God in His way. They've rejected the law of the Lord of hosts, and they have despised the word of the Holy One of Israel. God says, verse 25, Therefore the anger of the Lord is aroused against His people. He's going to stretch out His hand against them and will strike them, stricken them. You know, we could know how God feels about what's going on. He makes it very clear. Let's notice some of the trends in our country today of what's happening in families, in this nation. Families. Some of the trends here. So I'm going to get into some statistics. I'm going to try not to be too boring here. But I can tell you, we had the opportunity to go overseas for the feast one year. We actually went over to Turkey, where they have all seven of the different church areas that were on the letter route. You know, Ephesus, Sardis, Philadelphia, Laodicea, Vyretira, and some of those. And while we were along the way, sometimes we hear from some of the ministers and they make certain comments. And one of the ministers said, you know what? We were talking about different great empires. He said it doesn't matter which of the empires that you look at, whether it be Babylon, whether it be the Media Persian Empire, whether it be the Macedonian Greek Empire, whether it be the Roman Empire. He said they all had one thing in common. They started, as they began to be powerful, they started with strong families. They started with strong families. That was a basis for their society and their empires. They began to grow. And in every single case, without exception, eventually the family began to disintegrate. And we start seeing some of the things that we've been talking about or reading about. The breakdown of the family, and it eventually took that empire, world ruling empire, down. And he said once that trend started, you know, they built up and then they started to decline. He said once that downward trend started, when the breakdown of the family, not one of those empires could reverse the trend. Not one. We've seen the family, we've seen broken marriages, which actually produce broken families, and through extension produce a broken nation, a broken society. Marriage and family are the building blocks of society. That's why God designed it that way. He knows how important family is. He knows how important a marriage is. And so our enemy knows the same. He knows as well. So what's the state of marriage in our country today? What's the state of the family? And what have the trends been, even fairly recently? Let's talk about some of those. According to the United States Census figures, between 1960 and 2000, so we're talking about a 40-year period, the number of unmarried couples living together in this country increased tenfold. One generation, 40 years being a generation, from 1960 to 2000, 40-year period, the number of unmarried couples living in this country increased tenfold.

What happened in the next decade, from 2000 to 2010? Well, it had already increased tenfold. In ten years, it doubled. In ten years, it doubled. Let me give you some statistics here. In 1960, less than 1% of U.S. households had unmarried couples living together. Less than 1%. In fact, it was barely over a half percent. It's 0.6% of families in the United States had couples that were unmarried.

That's about 375,000 unmarried couples in the whole country in 1960. About 375 households had unmarried couples in those households. Today, today as we speak, we've gone from .006, which is 6 tenths of 1% of households, we are now presently at 12%. 12%. So a little over one half of 1% to 12%. We've gone from 375,000 households in the United States to 7.5 million households in this country now have unmarried people that are raising children. You know, this hasn't been a formula for stability. What's been some of the fruit of all of this? Let's look at a few more. In fact, this has not been really a formula for stability for living together and being able to stay together.

About 40% of couples who move in together separate before marriage. So they try it. 40% of couples that try to come together before they get married, they're already separated. And those who do marry, studies show the divorce rate ranges 50 to 80% higher than those who chose not to live together before marriage. So this hasn't been a formula for stability in the family. The fruits aren't good. We're going to take a look at some of those fruits of breaking God's commandment. Exodus 20, verse 4, you shall not commit adultery. We're going to look at the fruits in a moment. A few more statistics. In the United States, in this country, 1 in 4 females ages 15 to 19 have at least one sexually transmitted disease. These are young girls! 15 to 19, 1 in 4 have at least one sexually transmitted disease. And each year, more than 750,000 15 to 19 year olds, the same age group, become pregnant, the vast majority unintended. So what's the fruit of some of this? Because we know it says, by the year of fruits, you shall know them. With so many showing disregard for God's instruction regarding sex and marriage, we've got a couple of curses going on. We've got abortions, murders going on, and we have a lot of illegitimate children. You know that we're illegitimate? A lot of people don't even know what that means anymore. What does illegitimate mean? Well, it means you were born to parents that were not married. We're going to talk about some statistics of how many illegitimate children here in a moment.

According to the U.S. Center for Disease Control, almost one in five pregnancies in America and in abortion of the unborn baby, that translates to an annual death toll ranging from 750,000 to 1 million innocent children each year. Let's put that in perspective. Remember 9-1-1, September 9-1-1? When we had the twin towers were attacked and 3,000 people lost their lives either in those towers or in the planes that crashed. Pentagon, one in the Pennsylvania field. 3,000 people died in one day. And I'm not trying to say that wasn't tragic because it was tragic. But, brethren, if we translate these figures here on abortions, that's about how many we have every day. 3,365 days of the year.

Every day. Today.

Where are the tears shed for those people? For those children? Another sad fruit of the nation's promiscuity is the percentage of births that are illegitimate. I told you I'd come back to that. And that used to be a pretty rare thing. Illigitimate children. Of the first births to mothers of age 15-44 today, pretty much the childbearing years. You know how much percentage now are illegitimate? As a percentage? 46 percent. 46 percent. Thank you, Jelinda. 46 percent, nearly half today. That's the trend where we're headed. And that statistic is increasing. When's it going to pass 50 percent? It's probably a matter of time the way we're headed.

Brethren, where's the outrage, though? Where's the outrage? Maybe we have to ask ourselves, too. Where's our outrage? You know, what does this tell us about the present moral state of a nation such as this?

Hebrews 13.4. We don't have to wonder what God thinks about it. God tells us how He feels and what He will do. Hebrews 13.4. Pretty familiar Scripture, but we haven't tied it into this particular topic probably for a long time. Hebrews 13.4. Here's what God feels about it and what He will do. God says, marriage is honorable, which means if you're not married, that's not honorable. God says, marriage is honorable among all and the bed is undefiled. In other words, non-marriage beds are defiled. God makes it clear. He says, but fornicators and adulterers, I am going to judge. God says, do you think I'm not going to do anything about it?

But fornicators and adulterers, God will judge. Let's go back to Jeremiah 5. Probably should have had you keep your finger there or a piece of paper there. Jeremiah 5.

We've not seen trends accelerate like this so quickly. Jeremiah 5 will pick it up here in verse number 18. God says, I'm going to do something, but He says, nevertheless, in those days, says the Lord, I'm not going to make a complete end of you. And it will be when you say, why does the Lord our God do all of these things to us? Why is God... Apparently some are going to possibly get the message here. Why does the Lord our God do all these things to us? Why me, Lord? Why us, Lord? In other words, they begin to ask that type of question as things get worse. God says, then you shall answer them, just as you have forsaken me and served foreign gods in your land, so you shall serve foreigners in a land that is not yours. God says, because you forsaken me. You forsaken me. He says, just as you served foreign gods in your land, so you shall serve foreigners or aliens in a land that is not yours. God says, I'm going to move you out of this place.

I'll tell you what this meant for the nation of Israel. It meant that their enemies came in. You know, a third of the nation of Israel died of famine and they never enough to eat. A third of them died of pestilence, diseases, and a third of them went into captivity. And some of them died, but died by the sword. But the rest of them that did survive, whether the famine, whether the disease and pestilence or the sword, the rest of them went into a captivity. Now, we look at our country today, and it's true that there still are some God-curing people out there. It's true. They look to God. They have high moral standards. There are people in this country that still believe that God is the God of the Bible. But I can tell you that there is an overwhelming trend right now in our society of increasing secularization.

We see that right now. That there are people that are opposed to the idea of God. And they want Him stamped out of anything that has to do with God. They want Him stamped out. They even use our own Constitution to drive God out of every part of our society, out of our schools, out of the public square. Any place that God may be seen, they are trying to drive Him out. And so far, it seems like they're allowing us to have Him in our churches and in our homes, but that is about it. They don't want Him anywhere else.

You know, I don't know if it has to be that every man and woman has to come to a point in a nation where they don't believe in God. If it has to go down that far, where God eventually turns His back on us and removes that hedge of protection that He's given to us, I don't know how far it has to go. And that hedge, of course, being removed indicates that we're open to our enemies, whatever they may be. Why has God done all of this? Or why will He do all of this? Because, as it says in verse 17, because you have forsaken Me. You know, America is under a curse, as warned, actually, centuries ago in the pages of Scripture. Leviticus 26, Deuteronomy 28 talks about blessings and cursings. And you know, it's a pretty simple section of Scripture that God says, if you will obey Me, I will bless you in ways that you cannot imagine. You will be blessed everywhere you go, everything you touch, agriculturally, spiritually, every other way you can imagine. But if you live your life a certain other way, God said, I'm going to curse you. And you know, some of those curses we bring on ourselves. It's just the way that it works. Sin corrupts us, it destroys us, it doesn't bring blessings. But God apparently is going to have His hand involved as well in some of the cursings. Let's go to Deuteronomy chapter 28, verse 15. Deuteronomy 28 is one of the chapters that records the blessings that God promised that would come to a nation that would honor and obey Him, and the curses that would come when they dishonor and disobey. And you know, for most of the first two centuries, America has enjoyed abundant blessings that were actually foretold. But then, yet, God warned here in verse 15 of Deuteronomy chapter 28. So let's take a look. Deuteronomy chapter 28, verse 15.

What's the state of our cities in this country? Many are bankrupt. Many are ridden with crime, with poverty, with schools that are struggling, with aliens that are coming in from other nations that are trying to put them up, which is just adding to the financial instability of a lot of these cities. Millions of people want to flee the cities, and a lot of people wish they could get out that they can't get out. Verse 17. Curse shall be your basket and your kneading bowl. Well, this represents food sources. My wife's telling me to speed up. I'm running out of time. I might go a little over time.

This represents our food sources, and study after study is saying our food isn't as safe as it used to be, and in some cases, it isn't even good or healthy for us. So things are changing when it comes to that. It could be dangerous to our health. Verse 18. Curse shall be the fruit of your body. We've already talked about children in a way and what's happening in the family. Birth rates are declining. The legalization of abortion, what that has done, we viewed our own children as curses in this country and have actually killed them.

And you know the ones that we don't kill, we talk about curse shall be the fruit of your body. This is an interesting statistic I was not aware of. For American children that are born, one in six has some kind of developmental disability. One in six. And that number is growing. That percentage is changing. Verse 18. Curse shall be the produce of your land, the increase of your cattle, the offspring of your flocks.

We're talking about agriculture, we're talking about cattle, we're talking about meat. Only a few years ago, the United States was among the largest exporters of food, primarily wheat, corn, and meat. Guess what? That's no longer true. That has also now changed.

That's reversed. Now, the United States actually imports now more food than it exports. We used to be a major exporter. Now we're an importer. Let's go to verse 21 here in Deuteronomy 28. Verse 21. The Lord will make the plague cling to you, He will strike you with consumption, with fever, with inflammation, with severe burning. They shall pursue you until you perish. Wow. I mean, this is... I don't have the sheet that I need here.

It's probably just as well because I'm running out of time. But it's an article that was in May of 2014, and it was the World Health Organization. Jillena, could you open up my briefcase? The World Health Organization talks about superbugs, and it's talking about the fact that these common diseases are mutating. Ones that we thought were okay, where we've got antibiotics that are enough to cover, we've got some common ones.

Is it there, Jillena? You can't find it. I thought I got it here. I wanted to read it to you. I've got it. World Health Organization sounds alarm on a superbug. Here's what it says. This is USA Today. This is May of 2014, within the last couple of months. Disease-causing bacteria that resists antibiotic treatment are now widespread in every part of the world and have reached alarming levels in many areas.

It says the first global report on the issue from the World Health Organization. Quote, The problem is so serious that it threatens the achievements of modern medicine, a post-antibiotic era in which common infections and minor injuries can kill, is a very real possibility for the 21st century. What does all this mean? Well, I can tell you, our daughter had MRSA. This has been actually a few years ago, just before she got married, probably three years ago. MRSA is a very strong infection. They have an antibiotic that can still deal with it. But the doctor that we talked to right there at Albert Lee Clinic said, you know what?

We as physicians know that as these bacteria continue to evolve, that we're going to have a bacteria that we do not have a virus for. Excuse me, an anti-virus for. A virus that we don't have an antibiotic for. That this is a real possibility. I'm going to continue to go on. Thanks in part to antibiotic overuse and the dearth of new drugs, some bugs that were once easily curable now even resist the latest, most powerful antibiotics.

So some things that we thought were cured or were curable are beginning to evolve to a point where what we have now is not going to take care of it. The report goes on to say that's because the bugs are always evolving even when the medicines are not. If no action is taken, I don't know what action they can do, but if no action is taken today in order to reduce the spread of antibiotic-resistant microbes and find new solutions, so I guess they're talking about finding new antibiotics, we may reach the point where some infections will not be treatable.

Plague. It's a situation similar to a plague. Doctors in the United States, including those at the U.S. Center for Disease Control, have used similarly strong words of late about so-called superbugs and nightmare bacteria. They applauded the World Health Association for sounding the alarm. And I got this after I started preparing for this message. It ties in with the alarm. Sounding the alarm. So diseases, pestilences, very possible whenever God chooses to remove the edge of protection.

Let's go to Jeremiah chapter 25. Jeremiah chapter 25. Okay, I'm going to take you over time. Jeremiah chapter 25. God says, I'm going to avenge myself on a nation such as this. It's just not the nation of Israel. It's just not the nation of America. But any nation. Let's make sure we understand that. Jeremiah chapter 25 and verse 15. This isn't well known. Jeremiah chapter 25 and verse number 15.

For thus says the Lord God of Israel to me. So God is speaking to Jeremiah. He's telling Jeremiah, take this wine cup of fury from my hand. We know how God feels about it. He's angry. Take this cup of fury from my hand and cause notice all nations to whom I send you to drink it. So which nations did he send it to? Well, let's read on. You can read about some of the nations. Notice verse 19. I'm going to skip along here. Egypt is listed in verse 19. That was one of the nations. Notice in verse 21, we see the nation of Edom. We see the nation of Moab, the nation of Ammon. And there are several other nations that are listed in verses 22 through 25. What I really want you to focus on is verse number 26 because we're going to see that God covers all the nations of the world, which are on the face of the earth. Notice that here in verse number 26. It says, all the kings of the north far and near, one with another. And notice, and all the kingdoms of the world which are on the face of the earth.

Well, I think that pretty much covers it. Don't you? Let's jump to verse 29. And for behold, I begin to bring calamity on the city which is called by my name. He's talking about Jerusalem. And should you be utterly unpunished? In other words, I'm not just going to do it on Jerusalem. I'm just not going to do it on Israel. You know, I'm going to punish Jerusalem. I'm going to punish Israel. And the United States, if you read the booklet written in the United States in prophecy, we are a descendant nation of Israel. We were founded with a lot of Israelite-ish people. But notice, it's going to be other nations that are going to go and be punished as well. The latter part of verse 29, how far does this go? You shall not be unpunished, for I will call for a sword on all the inhabitants of the earth. Wow! Now we're getting right down to the individuals, aren't we? All of the inhabitants of the earth, says the Lord. Every single person. You know, what about you and me? You know, because we can be influenced by our nation, by our culture, by the culture of our time. You know, I'll just refer for the sake of time to Revelation 18, verse 4. You can turn there if you like, but write it down. Revelation 18, verse 4. A prophecy, I heard another voice from heaven saying, Come out of her, my people. Come out of her, my people, that lest you share in her sins, unless you receive of her plagues. So God is warning his people, don't get caught up in it. Come out of it and stay out of it. Let's notice 1 Thessalonians, chapter 5. 1 Thessalonians, chapter 5. Verse 5.

Brethren, the alarms are going off. It's not a time for us to hit the snooze button. It's not a time for us to do that. It's not a time to sleep. 1 Thessalonians, chapter 5 and verse 5. The Apostle Paul wrote to our brothers and sisters in Thessalonik, I said, You are all sons of light. You're the sons of God. You're sons of light.

You're sons of the day. We are not of the night or of the darkness that some are trying to put for light. No, we're not of that. And notice the latter part of that. Therefore, let us not sleep as others do. It's not a time to go to sleep. But let us watch and be sober. Not to be prideful, of course, but to be sober. Brethren, spiritually speaking, we don't want to hit the snooze button.

God says, don't sleep. Let's consider, just for a moment here, the enormous calling that God has given to us. He's called us out of darkness. He's called us out of this world. He's invited us to participate in the most important work, really, in all of human history. Besides being called to proclaim His greatness, we get the opportunity to participate in teaching others about His ways and about His coming Kingdom. In addition, we have the astounding personal opportunity to inherit eternal life and to share rulership with Him as kings and priests with Christ for a thousand years and beyond.

For those of us that are called now, this is our unique moment. This is a unique moment. This is a special time. Winston Churchill, I'm a very big fan of his, as you may have noticed over the years. He was the Prime Minister during World War II of England. This is what he wrote. He said, to each, there comes in their lifetime a special moment when they are figuratively tapped on the shoulder and offered the chance to do a very special thing unique to them and fitted to their talents.

What a tragedy if that moment finds them unprepared or unqualified for that which would have been their finest hour. Brethren, I think God's trying to tell us He wants us this to be our finest hour. Rather than to be succumbed, rather to have the culture overwhelm us, rather not to be able to rule sin as we talk about in the Days of Unleavened Bread and all the lessons that we learn from that, we can. With God's help and with His Spirit, we can change.

Are we completely awake to the vocation that God has called us to? To be equipped and ready, prepared to follow Christ's example? It's not a time for us to sleep. It's not a time for us to hit the snooze button. Let's go to Luke 21, verse 34. Luke 21, verse 34. Christ was a prophet. Among the many titles that He had, He was a prophet.

He warned you and me. He warned His people to be watching. And not to let the pleasures or the problems of this life lull us into not paying attention to the urgency of our time and of our calling. Luke 21, verse 34. But take heed to yourselves, lest your hearts be weighed down with crowsing, with drunkenness, and the cares of this life. And notice, and that day come on you unexpectedly.

Whether it isn't Christ warning us, isn't God warning us through His Son, Jesus Christ, to be careful not to adhere to the world's standards? A couple of stories here. I'm going to hopefully keep you awake since I'm taking you over time. You know, what kind of movies do you watch? Or what kind of movies are you allowing into your home or into your mind or into your memory bank? Now, our son, Jamie, who has a career now in video production, there was a time when he was still in school, in high school, and one of his classes, they wanted to show certain movies.

And they were sending this list home with the children to their parents so they could see what they were going to watch to see if that was okay. Several of those movies were rated R. Okay? R rated. Which means they had to have parental approval to watch them in class.

Well, Jillian and I said, no! Okay. You're not going to watch them. You know? He was 15 or 16, and these were, yeah, to be 17. To watch them. We said, no. You know, not without approval. We're not giving them approval. Here's his argument. He protested. He said, but these movies were made back in the 60s and the 70s, and they wouldn't be rated R today. Isn't that interesting? Even he, as a young person, could see that the standards had changed.

They wouldn't be rated R today. Jillinda was involved in a lot with, and so was I, with parent-teacher conferences and PTOs, parent-teacher organizations, and that type of thing. And there was another mother that had some of the same thoughts and concerns about movies as she and I did. And she was having a conversation with his other mother. And here's the situation here. Her children, at that time, were 11 and 12, and they wanted to watch a PG-13 film with their friends. She said, the movies have been rated, you know, they have certain standards, and they said, in the industry, that it is not appropriate for you to watch this.

And my personal standards are a whole lot higher than the movies industry's. You know, we're all influenced, though, aren't we? We could all be influenced by the culture of our time. You know, the words that we speak, things that we talk about, are we showing respect to our elderly? Do we show respect to the teachers, to our grandparents? You know, to senior citizens?

You know what's true? Sometimes you'll hear grandparents say, you never would have seen me speak to my parents like that. You know, things have changed. But we have to let God's standards and not the standards of the culture in which we live guide our decision. Another story here. I know I'm going overtime. Our son and our daughter are arguing with us, having a discussion about dating and marriage. And say, well, you know, they observe other adults that may be married outside of church. And they say, well, you know, that seemed to work out.

Well, sometimes it does, and sometimes it doesn't. But we taught them God's standards. God says, don't be unequally yoked. We talked about how the wives of Solomon eventually corrupted him and took him out of the truth of God and possibly out of a relationship with God. And who knows where that's all going to lead for him. But we said, you know, you can't argue with us. We basically put God in the scripture says, don't be unequally yoked.

If you want to argue with someone, argue with God. You know, we have to follow what he says. Same thing about the Sabbath. We can't compromise with God's law, but I've heard some parents say, I'll let my children decide if they want to come to services. You know, do we let them decide if it's okay to kill?

Do we let them decide it's okay to steal? Well, then why would we let them decide if it's okay to break the Sabbath or to play games on the Sabbath? You know? Or do we obey God? And what he says, do we decide for ourselves? On the Sabbath day, well, we'll just stay at home and watch a DVD. Or do we listen to what the scripture says, that it's a holy convocation, Leviticus 23, verse 2, holy convocation, convocation is a public assembly for God's people come together and appear before him.

We listen to Hebrews 10, which talks about, don't forsake the assembling of yourselves together. But exhort one another and so much more as you see the day approaching. There's a thought out there right now that you can keep the Sabbath at home. There are some people that think you can just keep the Sabbath at home. But what does God say? What does he say? So we have to ask ourselves, what are our standards? I've had to counsel people about different things, and they ask, well, Dave, what do you think?

And I say, well, you know, what's not important is what I think. It's what important is what God thinks. It's what he says. That's our standard. That's our guide. And you know, we zealously let God lead us. Some of those Laodicean thoughts will start to disappear. And we're cautioned about. But this world and Satan, who's the God of this world, is going to try to influence you and me and our family and the choices that we make.

He wants us to compromise. He does. Thinking our way is better. But you know, you're God's children. You are children of the Most High. You are sons and daughters of the Light. You know, in looking at... Go back to Luke 21, verse 34. Take heed to yourselves. This is a warning from our elder brother. Take heed to yourselves. Kind of comes down to the individual level.

If you don't have these things and that day comes upon you unexpectedly, looking at church history, it's interesting to note that when a part of the true church cease to be a part of the true church, there's some commonality there. A common thread down through history is when the church begins to become entangled with the affairs and the cares of this world, then compromises eventually begin to be made, which eventually lead to the rejection of core elements of the commandments and the laws of God. Let's go to verse 35. Because it will come as a snare. Notice on all those who dwell on the face of the earth.

Talking about a trap. Every individual. It can be a snare. It's potentially a snare for you and for me. Sounds like what we read in Jeremiah chapter 25. All the inhabitants of the earth. Christ says it shall come as a snare on those that dwell on the face of the earth. Brother, we do have to be focused, don't we? We have to be awake.

We have to be seeking first the kingdom of God and His righteousness. It talks about Matthew 6, 33. Back in Luke 21, verse 36, watch therefore, and pray always that you may be counted worthy to escape all of these things that are going to come to pass and to stand before the Son of Man. Let's wrap it up. Revelation chapter 3, verse 14, last section of scripture. Revelation chapter 3, verse 14. Jesus Christ was a prophet. That's one of the titles that He had.

Do the messages of the prophets, whether it be the Old Testament or the New Testament, do they apply to you and me? Could we be sleeping through the alarms? I wanted to cover both areas, not only our nation, but also us as individuals. Revelation chapter 3, verse 14. And to the angel of the church of Laodicea write, these things says the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God.

I know your works. You're neither hot, or excuse me, you're neither cold nor hot, and I wish you were one or the other. If you ever drank coffee that had cooled off, it's not cold, it's not hot, man, you can't stand it. You ever had soda that gets down to room temperature and loses, you know, it's terrible. You're not going to drink that. And Christ is trying to tell us here that I wish you were cold or hot, because you're neither one. You're right in the middle, and that's not a good place to be.

Verse 16. So then, because you're lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I'm going to vomit you out of my mouth. He's talking to his people now. He's not talking about the nations. This is very similar language when he talks about they vomited them out of the land before the children of Israel came in. Now he's talking to you and to me that there's a potential he could vomit us out.

Take some translation, say, spew you out. You know, we went to Laodicea on this...we went to every church area on this feast, and we went to Laodicea. There's a spring that's there. They've got water that you can drink. And this must be exactly the way it was back then. Christ would use the thing that was happening on the ground to help people understand certain things. And there's a spring there. We all went up.

We took a drink. Everybody was spitting it out. It was an unusual spring. It wasn't cold. It wasn't hot. There was a funny taste. You just didn't want it in your mouth. Jelena said, when I drink it, I'm going to swallow it. She took some and spit it all out, didn't you? It's amazing how Christ can take something that's actually happening on the ground where people can understand a little bit more about what he's trying to say.

That spring is still there today. Terrible. Terrible water. Verse 17, because you say, I'm rich, I got it figured out. I'm wealthy. I have need of nothing. Was he talking about physical riches? They think they're spiritually rich. You know, again, this was a city that was pretty strong financially. They had quite an industry of wool. They had some special eye salve that was sold and people come from all around it to help their eyes.

This is, again, part of what Christ was probably doing, tying all this together. And they also had a clothing industry there. He said, you don't know that you're wretched, you're poor, miserable, blind and naked.

Then he says in verse 18, what we should do, we've been personally ignoring the alarms. What do we do? Verse 18, I counsel you to buy for me gold refined in the fire, that you may be rich. So they, I think he's talking about spiritually, don't you? And white garments, the righteousness of the saints, the white clothing, that you may be clothed in that shame of your nakedness may not be revealed. And anoint your eyes with eye salve that you may see. And then he says, because he loves us, because for as many as I love, I rebuke, I spank, I punish, I chasten, because he loves us. Therefore, be zealous and repent.

Behold, I stand at the door and I knock. If anyone hears my voice and he opens the door, I will come in. He's close. He stands at the door. I will come in and I'll dine with him and him with me. I'm going to read verses 19 and 20 again from a different translation. It's called the message. It says, the people I love, I call to an account. I prod them, I correct them, I guide them, so they will live at their best. So up on your feet, about face, run after God. Look at me. I stand at the door and I knock. And if you hear me call and open the door, I will come right in. And I will sit down to suffer with you.

Brethren, the alarms are going off. Do we hear the sound?

Let's not sleep. Let's make this our finest hour. As we go forward, doing the work that God has called us to do.