Jeremiah chapter 25 beginning verse number 1 the Bible reads
the word that came to Jeremiah concerning all the people of Judah
in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah
that was the first year of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon
the which Jeremiah the prophet spake unto all the people of Judah and to all the
inhabitants of Jerusalem saying
from the thirteenth year of Josiah the son of
Ammon king of Judah even unto this day that is the three and twentieth year
the word of the Lord hath come unto me and I have spoken unto you
rising early in speaking but you have not hearkened. Now
a few things I want to point out about these verses that first of all
the book of Jeremiah is not written in chronological order
that's why throughout the book of Jeremiah there will be these little
resets or reboots
where he gives us a time frame of when this prophecy was preached
because some other things in the book of Jeremiah are out of order
so it gives us the context of when these things were stated
and that's the way some books of the Bible are because they're organized
thematically they're organized by subject and not strictly by
chronology. Now what he says here when he says
from the thirteenth year of Josiah the son of Ammon king of Judah in verse three
even unto this day that is the three and twentieth year
the word of the Lord hath come unto me. If you do the math of the kings that he's
referring to there
he's basically saying that he's in his twenty third year
of saying I've been preaching to you for twenty three years that's a pretty long
time
so he's been faithfully preaching God's word now for twenty three years and he
keeps warning them and warning them over and over
the Bible says in verse number three at the end there
I've spoken unto you for twenty three years he's saying
rising early and speaking but you've not
hearkened he's saying you didn't listen you didn't take heed unto what I preached
verse four and the Lord hath sent unto you all his servants the prophets
rising early and sending them but you've not hearkened
nor inclined your ear to hear. Now this term
incline your ear is similar to another term that's found in the book of Proverbs
and elsewhere
about bowing your ear incline
if you think about that is a slant right
think about if you lift weights and you do the incline press
right that's where you have a slant going on the bench
so inclining your ear or bending your ear means to basically
you know lean in and try to listen very
carefully you know we hear God's word being preached
we should be careful to listen to what's being said we should hang on every word
when we're reading our Bibles we should pay attention to what
is being said he said in verse five about all the prophets that the Lord sent
they said verse five turn ye again now
everyone from his evil way and from the evil of your doing
stop right there God is saying that every prophet that he sent
told people to turn from their evil ways and from the evil of their doings
that tells me that the positive only preachers are not sent from God
the preachers who won't tell you that you're living in sin
that won't tell you to get the sin out of your life
that won't preach hard against sin and tell you to turn from the
evil of your hands and your evil they're not sent by God because
all of the prophets that God sent that's the preaching that they did according to
this verse
they said and this is again all God's servants the prophets all the prophets
are actually serving God
and not just serving themselves and serving their own wallets and serving
their own bellies
by preaching what people wanted to hear they said turn ye again now everyone
from his evil way and from the evil of your doings
and dwell in the land that the Lord has given unto you
and to your fathers forever and ever meaning that if they don't turn from
their evil way
they're not going to dwell in that land that God gave them because God giving
that land was always conditional upon their
faith and obedience both he said in verse number six and go not after other
gods to serve them and to worship them
and provoke me not to anger with the works of your hands
and I will do you no hurt meaning if you don't
turn away from these other gods I will come hurt you
I won't hurt you if you turn from the false gods he says
verse number seven yet you've not hearken unto me sayeth the Lord
that you might provoke me to anger with the works
of your hands to your own hurt
so according to the Bible when we do wrong we commit sin when we have
evil in our hands we're hurting ourselves the person that gets hurt
the most is ourself and we also of course hurt the people
around us but that's why God says in Revelation 22 11 he that is unjust let
him be unjust still
he that is filthy let him be filthy still he that is righteous let him be
righteous still and he that is holy let him be holy still
you know it's really even though God loves us and and God cares about us and
God
laments for us when we do wrong you know in the end though
it's really no skin off his back because in the end of the day
he's still holy he's still true and the people who are living a good life and
following God's rules
they're still going to be blessed the people who turn aside from the paths of
righteousness
are hurting themselves they're shooting themselves in the foot
and it's funny because sometimes they get this attitude backslidden Christians
like
well I'll show them I'll quit the church
you know or I'll show my parents I'm gonna go out and and get drunk and party
and fornicate
and get pregnant and do whatever you know but while you're showing the church
and showing
God or showing your parents you know those people are still being blessed
and you're the one who's gonna have to live with the consequences
of your actions so when you turn away from the Lord and his commandments and
his word
you're doing it to your own hurt it's to your own destruction
the Bible says the way of transgressors is hard
you wanna live a hard life you wanna hurt yourself you want God to hurt you
then just go out and live a sinful life
the Bible says in verse 8 therefore thus saith the Lord of hosts because
you've not heard my words behold I will send and take all the families of the
North saith the Lord
and Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon so all the families of the North
this is the Medes also and the Babylonians other nations
that are affiliated with the Babylonians in the North
he says and Nebuchadnezzar himself the king of Babylon my servant
and will bring them against this land and against the inhabitants thereof and
against
all these nations roundabout and will utterly destroy them
and make them an astonishment and in hissing and perpetual
desolations moreover I will take from them the voice of mirth
and the voice of gladness the voice the bridegroom the voice to the bride
the sound of the millstone and the light of the candle
and this whole land shall be a desolation and an astonishment
and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon
seventy years now let me just stop right here
this is a pretty straightforward scripture that we just read
it's basically just saying the same thing that's been said over and over
again
in the book of Jeremiah that they're gonna be judged they're gonna be
punished that the Babylonians are gonna come
as a result of the wrath of God and take the captive
and they're gonna be captive for seventy years I mean nothing new here
I mean this is over and over again in the book of Jeremiah and that's what he's saying
I've been preaching this for 23 years
I've been saying the same thing but I want to point out here is that
this scripture uses wording that is similar
to the wording that's used about the destruction of Babylon
in Revelation 18 if you want to flip over to Revelation 18 let me show you that
Revelation chapter 18 uses actually the same wording
at the end of the chapter look at
verse number 21 of Revelation chapter 18 let's do a little comparison here
and a mighty angel took up a stone like a great millstone and cast it into the
sea saying
thus with violence shall that great city Babylon be thrown down and shall be
found no more at all. Look at verse 22
and the voice of harpers and musicians and trumpeters
shall be heard no more at all in thee
and no craftsman of whatsoever craft he be shall be found any more in thee
and the sound of a millstone shall be heard no more at all in thee
and the light of a candle shall shine no more at all in thee and the voice of the
bridegroom and of the bride shall be heard no more at all in thee
for thy merchants were the great men of the earth and by thy
sorceries were all nations deceived
and in her was found the blood of prophets and of saints and all
of all that were slain upon the earth. So it's interesting that some of the same
things are mentioned you notice for example
the light of the candle is found no more at all
the sound of the millstone the voice the bridegroom the voice the bride
so you see a lot of the same elements there what's interesting about that is
that in Jeremiah 25 it's Babylon
that is carrying out this judgment
they're wiping out and leaving desolation and destruction
to where these different things are no longer heard anymore at all
and then spiritual Babylon in Revelation 18 which is obviously not a literal
Babylon since the literal city of Babylon no longer exists today
there's no one living there at all is receiving basically the same judgment
upon itself that it doled out in Jeremiah 25
so in Jeremiah 25 we have Babylon
doling out this type of destruction and desolation
and in Revelation 18 we have Babylon receiving
that type of desolation and destruction and I think what's being symbolized here
is that you reap what you sow you know Babylon
is not a righteous nation Babylon
is a tool that God is using to punish
his people to punish the land of Judah and others
and so they are the tool in his hand Nebuchadnezzar is his servant in the
sense that he's using Nebuchadnezzar
to carry out his will but that doesn't make Babylon a righteous nation
Babylon is a wicked nation and Babylon will get what's coming to them
now of course 70 years later the Babylonian Empire is going to fall to the
Medes and the Persians
in the days of Belshazzar the king but then if we go even further into the
future
we see spiritually the recompense upon Babylon
in Revelation chapter 18 and notice
the same wording is used why because he that leadeth into captivity
shall go into captivity and he that killeth with the sword must be killed
with the sword this is the patience and the faith
at the same I want to point out another thing here because of this correlation
here this is something
that people have used to propagate this wrong theory
that Jerusalem is Babylon in Revelation 18 now
here's the thing about that theory there's no scripture that teaches
anything like that anywhere
but they make a case based upon circumstantial evidence
in the sense that they'll take things that just sound similar or sound the
same
and just kinda pin it on Jerusalem
you know here's what I mean by circumstantial evidence let's say there
was a murder
right and let's say a woman is murdered
and the killer was identified
fleeing the scene of the crime and he had brown hair and he was of a medium build
the murder weapon was
a great plumbing wrench right well Joe
is a brown haired plumber who lives nearby
ergo Joe must be guilty of this murder
that is circumstantial evidence of you know killer has brown hair
Joe has brown hair killer used a plumbing ranch Joe owns many plumbing
wrenches
killer lives in that subdivision Joe lives in that subdivision
you know book him Danno well no here's the thing that is a totally
circumstantial case
there's really nothing that clearly pins Joe to the crime
it's just a bunch of things that could be a coincidence okay
circumstantial evidence so this is the type of case that people will make
for this half-baked theory of Jerusalem is Babylon they'll say things like
well you know Babylon's called
that great city and Jerusalem's called the great city
great city great city course Nineveh was called a great city
other cities that you've never even heard of were called great city in the
Bible
because great in the Bible is usually referring to size
a big city Phoenix is a great city New York is a great city
you know Fort Worth is a great city I mean we can name cities all day long
just great city Mexico City Tokyo that great city
right it's huge so we could go on and on with all these great city great city
great city
and then this I've had people hitting me with this scripture a whole bunch of
times
as a just case closed I mean light of a candle no more at all in Jerusalem
light of a candle no more at all I mean it was the murder was done with the
candlestick
you know so it's circumstantial evidence but here's the problem
with pinning this murder on Joe
Joe's got a rock-solid alibi
okay Joe's alibi
is rock solid and just like Jerusalem
is in a different place at a different time
okay go if you would to Revelation 16 I think you're already in Revelation 18
and look I'm not gonna re-preach my sermon called Babylon in the end times
that's where I really just chewed up that theory and spat it out
and you know if you actually think that Jerusalem is Babylon
just listen to that Babylon in the end time sermon for the love of all that's holy
because I can't see how anybody could listen to that sermon and still believe in it
because I disproved it six ways to Sunday
but here in Revelation 16
it says right here in verse 19 it says
and the great city and in Revelation when it says the great city it's
referring to Jerusalem
like in Revelation 11 8 other places
and the great city which is referring to Jerusalem
was divided into three parts and the cities of the nations fell
now these other cities of the nations that fall these are gigantic cities
across America
and across the world that have skyscrapers in them right so imagine
when God sends this great
earthquake with the seventh vial because the end of verse 18
it says there was a great
earthquake such as was not since men were upon the earth
so mighty an earthquake and so great so when God sends this colossal
earthquake skyscrapers are going to be coming down all over the world
right I mean think about the shaking and then the cities of the nations fell
I mean can you imagine what it's going to be like when all those buildings are
coming down all over the world
so he says first of all that the great city referring to Jerusalem is divided
into three parts
and the cities of the nations fell and great Babylon
came in remembrance before God to give under her the cup of the wine of the
fierceness of his wrath
so in this verse it's obvious to anyone that Babylon
and the great city are not the same place because there are three distinct
events here that are happening
we already look Joe's already got an alibi
he's already at the beginning of the verse right here the great cities
divided into three parts
and the cities of the nations fell and great Babylon came
these are separate judgments on three different localities
judgment on Jerusalem judgment upon the cities of the nations and then Babylon
comes in remembrance before God
to give under her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of his wrath
I don't see how any person could read this verse and walk away saying
that the great city in that verse is Babylon
it's Jerusalem which is separate from Babylon okay
but when we go back to Jeremiah chapter 25
we find that even this piece of circumstantial evidence falls apart
it turns out Joe's not even a plumber he's a sprinkler pipe fitter
and he used a totally separate toolkit
of what a plumber would use he doesn't have the same type of wrench he has different
type of tools
but somebody in their haste just assumed that a sprinkler pipe fitter is a plumber
no these are two different trades look down at your Bible
and let me call the jury's attention to verse number eight
of Jeremiah chapter 25 before we just railroad Joe here
to the death penalty here and just and just you know just
throw them under the bus here
counsel for the defense would like to point out Jeremiah 25 verse 8 therefore
thus saith the Lord of hosts
because you've not heard my words behold I will send and take all the families of
the north saith the Lord and Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon my servant
and will bring them against this land and against the inhabitants thereof
watch this and against all these nations so are we talking about Jerusalem
we're talking about Judah here are we talking about all the nations
read it and against the inhabitants thereof and against
all these nations round about and will utterly destroy them
and make them an astonishment and an hissing and perpetual desolations
moreover I will take from them take from whom
all the nations I will take from them all the nations
the voice of mirth the voice of gladness the voice the bridegroom the voice of
the bride sound of the millstones in the light of
the candle and this whole land shall be a desolation and an astonishment
and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon 70 years
and by the way these nations are listed in verses 19 through 26 it lists all
the nations that he's talking about so even this piece
you know the hey sound of a millstone sound of a millstone
great city great city candle candle well here's the thing
you actually look a little closer this has nothing this verse has nothing to
do with Jerusalem so that piece of evidence just completely
falls apart and you know if the glove don't fit
you must have quit all right you know it just isn't there folks
but I can't even and you say oh you're just making this up no I probably have
had 10 people email me with this verse it's
just oh case closed it's Jerusalem's Babylon
now look when we talk about end times bible prophecy
obviously we don't know exactly how things are going to play out we see
through a glass darkly when it comes to how it fits in with
the world that we live in you know I believe that it's crystal
clear that if this were to happen in our lifetime
and that's a big if although I believe that we can see the signs of times
that if the end times events were to happen in our lifetime
there's no question that Babylon is referring to the United States of
America since the main thing that's emphasized
in Revelation 18 is the merchandise he goes on and on
all the merchants the ship masters the shipment nobody buys the merchandise
anymore because they were all shipping it to
this great wealthy powerful empire
city of Babylon which what's the world empire today there's only one world
empire we went we flew around the country and talked to historians and
experts and everybody everybody agreed they scoffed at anyone
saying that any other nation was a world empire right now except the
United States because it's just that clear so
obviously Babylon was a world empire Persia
Greece Rome and the Bible calls Rome Babylon and refers Rome to Babylon
so obviously if we were to fast forward to 2016 the nation that fits that bill
is the USA now if it's beyond our lifetime then all
bets are off but I will tell you one thing though
I will tell you one thing I don't care if it's a million years from now it
would never be Jerusalem because that contradicts what the Bible
teaches in Revelation okay so even if we don't know even if we
don't know that bill is the killer okay whether or not you believe bill has
committed the crime is not relevant to Joe's innocence
Joe has a rock-solid alibi we know it wasn't him
maybe it was bill maybe it wasn't but Joe's not guilty does everybody
understand what I'm saying he's off the hook folks because he's
already somewhere else now look does Joe have a violent past yeah
I mean has Joe look does Joe have a few domestic
violence calls on his right yeah he sure does
but propensity to violence is not admissible as evidence against Joe
and therefore Joe is not guilty
but the Bible says here that Babylon is going to come in and bring a judgment
upon all of these nations that are all listed
from 19 through 26 and that the voice of the bridegroom the
voice of the bride the light of a candle the sound of millstone are not going to
be in all the nations none of this is directed specifically
at Jerusalem therefore that's just silly look at verse
number 12 and it shall come to pass when 70 years are
excuse me accomplish that I will punish the king of Babylon and that nation say
at the Lord for their iniquity in the land of the Chaldeans and I will
make it perpetual desolation so again in verse third
verse 12 he follows it up by saying I'm going to punish
Babylon and make them a perpetual desolation so
God uses one nation to punish another and then he punishes the nation that he
used to do the punishing right because they were wicked as well look
at verse 13 and I will bring upon that land all my words which I have
pronounced against it even all that is written in this book which Jeremiah
prophesied against all the nations for many nations and great kings shall
serve themselves of them also and I will recompense them according to
their deeds and according to the works of their own
hands for thus saith the Lord God of Israel
unto me take the wine cup of this fury at my hand and cause
all the nations to whom I send thee to drink it again the reference to all the
nations which is going to continue throughout the rest of this chapter and
the main thing about and again I'm not listen to my sermon Babylon in the end
times but the main thing I want to point out
about this Jerusalem theory that people float out there of oh
Babylon's Jerusalem and here's the thing look I'm as anti-Judaism and anti-Jew
as anybody my credentials speak for themselves all
right I've got a whole litany of sermons and
I've got the marching design film that I participated in
and so you know that's not the point here just because you got a hammer in
your hand doesn't mean that everything's a nail my friend
and here's the thing about this theory it's a half-baked theory
meaning that they want to put Joe at the crime scene committing this
murder but here's the thing they can't tell us
how he got to the crime scene they can't tell us what Joe's motive is
they can't tell us where he got a hold of a plumbing wrench when he's a
sprinkler pipe fitter and when you talk to people who have
this theory and you start pinning them down on specifics that will explain this
explain this it's just a lot of I don't know I don't know
I don't know they can't flesh out the whole book of revelation with this
theory they just have some stuff that kind of
points to Jerusalem oh see it's Jerusalem but they can't
break it down to you verse by verse they can't go verse by verse
every verse of revelation 17 and every verse of revelation 18
and coherently teach this doctrine it's just something that's just thrown out
there by people that get too excited about being anti-Jewish and look I'm
anti-Muslim I'm anti-Jewish I'm anti-Mormons I'm
anti-Catholic I'm anti-Orthodox I'm anti-Buddhist I'm
anti-Hindu I'm just you name it I'm against it if
it's not Christianity okay but but I'm not just gonna every
sermon I preach is somehow against the Jews or else oh
Pastor Anderson is a secret Zionist you know I'll tell you what there are a
lot of people in this world that go overboard on a lot of things and let me
tell you we as Christians need to strive for balance
in our lives and not just become a one issue preacher
or a one issue Christian think about how many people that you've met and
known that are a one issue person no matter what you talk to them about it
all comes back to that one thing have you known people like that I mean
I've talked to people that are so into freedom and liberty and patriotism
that just everything goes back to liberty I mean look
there are pastors where every sermon they preach they tie it in with the
United States and liberty and freedom I mean the whole bible is a freedom
struggle I mean from Genesis to Revelation it's just it's all about
freedom from tyrants I mean that's the way they see the bible
right and then other people just everything is just the Jews that's all
they talk about the Jews this the Jews that it's just all
just all they talk about and then there are other people
all that they can talk about all that they can think about is the King James
versus other versions and that's all they talk about all it's
like a hobby horse that they just keep coming back to
you know all they want to talk about is bible prophecy
or all they want to talk about is creation versus evolution or all they
want to you know we need to make sure that we get a
well-rounded view of scripture and not just go off on a certain hobby
horse where we just pick one thing and we just
want to pin every tail on that donkey
right just everything everything's the Jews or here's how about the Catholics
if you're one of these people are just everything's the Catholics everything's
the Roman Catholic every chapter in the bible is about
Catholicism I mean who's run into those types everything's
the Jesuits Jesuits you know and then if it's not the Jesuits Jesuits
Jesuits it's Jews Jews Jews you know blah blah blah it's just they
just fixate on certain things why don't we
attack everybody equally
you know yeah let's attack Judaism Islam the homos Mormons
fact Gnostics atheists and every everything
I mean equal opportunity face ripping not just focusing on one
thing and just running it into the ground
I mean look I'm telling you I you talk to people who go to churches that are
like that and they get bored after six months like they first get
there like oh it's great I'm learning new things real interesting
and then it's just kind of like ho hum here we go again
you got to branch out you know I would hate to be
I would hate to just be known for just one thing oh
pastor Anderson that's just that guy who's just
always talking about you know the the tribulation
he's that after the tribulation guy that's all he talks I mean nobody could
really say that because I also talk about the King James bible issue
and wait a minute what about that movie against the Jews and wait a minute
what about the stuff I did against the homos what about
the you know the border patrol incident you know so
what about the liberty movement what about the conspiracy that
what about the sermons on prayer what about the sermons on bible reading what
about the bible memorization what about soul winning
isn't his big thing soul winning I thought he talks all about soul winning
all the time but see here's the thing which if I
asked 20 different people the one thing I'm
known for I'd probably get 20 different answers because of the fact
that I'm trying to have balance in my life I don't want to just become this
guy who's just beating the same drum every
time just the same thing same very one dimensional you know we
need to branch out and understand that this world
has a lot of evil in it and it can't all just be concentrated
to one group see the devil controls all of these groups I mean are
you going to tell me the devil's not behind islam
but how many people do you know that that's all they talk about
everything's islam all evil in the world goes back to islam right
you know it's out there a lot of these conservative talk radio types
that's all they want to talk about all day long and they're like when are you
going to preach on islam why don't you preach against islam for a
change huh you don't ever talk about it's like okay well here's a list of all
the sermons I preach against islam but yeah but that was like three months
ago that you covered it
because they just want to keep hearing about it again they're like a little kid
who wants to keep watching the same movie over and over again isn't that
what little kids do little kids is hey you you want to see
something different no I want to watch that one again
and again and again and I know because I was a little kid once
and I watched the same movie every day every day every day and then the little
toddler who gives the storybook to their parents
read it to me again read it again read it why don't we read
something different nope this is the one I want to read read it
again read it again read it again and then I remember my son Solomon one
time he just fixated on one page and I would say to him we've already
read this page he would turn to the page and then turn back
like as a reboot he thought that he could trick me
that we hadn't just read that page so he kind of flipped some pages around like
oh yeah we're going to other parts of the book oh
how about this page dad
it was this book called a fly went by the name of the book was a fly went by
and oh I know which page it was because I read 100 bucks
oh naughty fox oh shame on you oh shame shame shame for what you do you want to
kill the little cow you stop or I will whip you now
all right read it again read it again read it again read it again why
that's how a little kid but you know what that's how babes in christ are
oh tell me about the tribulation again again again again again it's like no
why don't we talk about your drinking problem
why you know you do your work you don't talk about the end times
why don't we talk about your sin no no no let's not talk about myself let's
talk about how the king james is perfect amen
yeah why because the king james being perfect doesn't require you to change
anything about the way that you live right except to just switch bibles to
the right one see people really like to fixate on
these doctors that are real convenient like hey we didn't evolve
you know i mean that that doesn't require a lot of changing but here's the
thing you know they don't necessarily want to
hear when they're a babe in christ when you start getting on their sins and you
start really you know hitting them where it
hurts they just want to keep on hearing about
how about you know they or they just want to hear about how bad the homos are
all day long it's like well no i'm kind of sick of talking about that it gets a
little old but people just they just want to hear
it over and over and over it's childish we we should want to hear
a variety of get a get a variety in our diet not just
wake up every day and eat the same thing for
breakfast same thing for lunch same thing for dinner because then we're
going to miss out on nutrients that are in other meals
and that's kind of one of the things i like about wednesday night is it forces
me to preach on stuff that i might not have thought to preach on
because we're just going chapter by chapter so you know whatever's in the
chapter sometimes oh man i wouldn't have thought about
preaching that but you do and then on the sunday sermons i really
strive for variety and if you look at the list of sermons you'll see that
there there's variety there and one of the
biggest things whenever i'm picking a sermon
is just what have i not preached on a long time what have i not covered lately
because we want to cover everything and not just
keep on with the same old thing and i'm telling you
some people that just it's like if you're not preaching against catholicism
every week you're a secret jesuit and if you're not ripping on islam every
single week well then you know you're just part of the global jihad
and if you aren't ripping on the jews every single week well you're a secret
i mean somebody literally called me last week you that i'm a zionist
are you insane but it i mean it's true though
because you just can't say enough for them they just want the same thing over
and over and over and over and over it's ridiculous
branch out a little bit folks there's other evil in this world
besides your pet evil you know you need to branch out
your your hate life no i'm just kidding just kidding
you need to branch out your you know the things that you're against
all right or just people that just pro-life that's all they talk about
all they do is just constant just pro-life protesting abortion play
okay but what about everything else you know let's let and i'm not saying not to
be against these things i'm against all of them i strive to
to fight against them all but we need to make sure we don't become a one
issue christian and we live in a day of specialists
see in the 21st century everybody's a specialist
and look when it comes to preachers i say beware of specialists
watch out for the specialists now every once in a while you get a good
specialist but most specialists they can't see the
forest for the trees they're just an imbalanced over the top on one issue
instead of studying the whole bible and getting a
a balanced view we just have these people that are just an expert and
these are not usually pastors of churches they're
usually like a parachurch ministry like a ministry all about homeschooling
or a ministry all about the family or a ministry all about
you know bible prophecy or a ministry that's just all about you know
the pre-trib research center you know in texas or whatever
you know instead of just living a normal christian life and learning
all subjects learning the whole bible we live in a day of specialization
and we ought to strive to be general practitioners even in our personal lives
we should strive to have balance you know there are people out there
that are very athletic but they don't cultivate their brain
and so they become a big dumb animal
right right and then there are people out there
who just cultivate the brain all day long but they don't
work on their body at all and it's like they
are just these kind of dweeby like pale
their skin doesn't get enough sunlight they're skinny
they're weak they're frail they're unhealthy because they're not getting
out and doing anything physical it's just all they're just reading or
you know doing other mental activities even even even things that are more
brainless than reading like you know video games or tv or whatever
just things that only engage their mind and
you know if you watch a lot of tv it makes you tired but have you really
done any physical activity no so you go to bed feeling like oh man
i'm tired but your whole body is atrophying
it's not healthy right so we don't want to be the big dumb animal
but we also don't want to walk around with a big swollen head full of
information and our body is weak and frail to even
hold the thing up okay or you know people that go
overboard on art and music but then it's like they have no
practical knowledge or practical skills so they're this penniless starving
artist you know busking by the side of the road
with a can for people to throw a few bucks in and they can't hold down a job
and they can't support their family but boy are they a wonderful artist
and a musician but here's the thing we need balance in our lives we need to
be musical we need to get some exercise we need to you know get some smarts and
we need to be spiritual and we need to read our bibles yes we
need to pray we need to go soul winning we need to go
to church we need to sing the hymns not just a whole bunch of bible study
with no soul winning that's these seminaries and theological
ivory towers out there or what about this a whole bunch of
soul winning and no bible reading oh that's out there
and then what happens false doctrine because you're not rooted in the truth
you're carried about with every trendy new wind of doctrine
okay whole bunch of prayer with no bible reading you're praying
about stuff that god already told you isn't even
legitimate you're praying all the wrong things
or praying that people will be saved but not going out and getting them saved
you know these are imbalances okay in our personal lives we should strive to
work on our weaknesses look if you're a person who is just
physically weak and frail as a man you need to get stronger
i only got one amen on that and the whole lot of time
thank you brother charlie you need to get stronger
you say oh what are you talking about what do i need that for
well you know what all the guys in the bible were strong
i don't see any frail weakling men in the bible they were all strong
bible says a wise man is strong yeah a man of understanding increases strength
and you and by the way it's for your health maybe it'll add 10 years to your
life if you actually get some physical activity
and get out there get outside quit listening to the american cancer
association and get some sun amen get a tan
and look if you're just some big dumb animal oh reading's not my thing well
make it your thing because god gave you a book to read
the bible it's not a dvd it's not a workout
you know it's a bible well music's not my thing well
you show up to church and you sing out as loud as you can until it becomes your
thing make a joyful noise in the lord let
everything that breath praise the lord you know we need to balance ourselves
out here people let's look in the bible here i'm getting
off on a rabbit trail here but the bible says in verse number 15 for
thus saith the lord god of israel and i really like this passage that's coming
up here for thus saith the lord god of israel
unto me take the wine cup of this fury at my hand and cause all the nations to
whom i send thee to drink it and they shall drink and be moved and be
mad mad means crazy because of the sword that i will send
among them then took i the cup at the lord's hand
had made all the nations to drink unto whom the lord had sent me to wit
jerusalem and the cities of judah and the kings thereof and the princes
thereof to make them a desolation an astonishment
and hissing and a curse as it is this day pharaoh king of egypt
and his servants and his princes and all his people
now here's what i like about this is it shows that the preaching of god's word
wasn't just to israel in the old testament
god got his word out to all nations i mean jeremiah the prophet in chapter
one was ordained a prophet to the nations
not a prophet to judah prophet to the nations
and all throughout the old testaments we have examples of god's word going out to
the whole world so this idea that god was only
interested in israel people are only being saved in israel no no
people all over the world got saved through the preaching of god's word
look at this list of where it went besides egypt and and israel
it says in verse 20 all the mingled people
and all the kings of the land of us and all the kings of the land of the
philistines and ashkelon and aza and ekron and the remnants of
ashtad edom and moab and the children of ammon
and all the kings of tyros and all the kings of zidane and the
kings of the isles which are beyond the sea now the sea
there is referring to the mediterranean sea
tyre and zidane are on the coast of the mediterranean sea
just north of israel so he's working his way out like tyre zidane
and then all the isles beyond the sea isles or coasts because sometimes when
the bible used the word isle it doesn't necessarily mean island but
just you know geography that's along the water
maybe on three sides for example like what we would call a peninsula
and if you think about places like greece and italy
and even into spain you know they would fit that bill these different coasts and
isles beyond tyre and zidane
god even sent jeremiah to preach unto them
the bible says besides the kings of the isles which are beyond the sea
didan and teema and buzz and all that are in the utmost
corners i mean talk about the uttermost part of the earth right
and all the kings of arabia and all the kings of the mingled people that dwell
in the desert and all the kings of zimrai and all the
kings of elum and all the kings of the meads and all
the kings of the north far and near one with another and all the kingdoms of the
world which are upon the face of the earth
and the king of shishak shall drink after them so he's like
everybody in the whole world and the king of shishak whoever that is
therefore thou shalt say unto them thus saith the lord of hosts the god of
israel drink ye and be drunken and spew and
fall and rise no more because of the sword which i will send among you
and it shall be if they refuse to take the cup at thine hand and drink
then thou shalt say unto them thus sayeth the lord of hosts ye shall
certainly drink so he's bringing a literal cup of wine to them saying
drink this and be drunken and spew and fall down
drink it and throw up and pass out and if they say
no we don't want to drink that he'll say oh you're gonna drink it
you will drink it whether you drink this physical cup that i'm holding by way of
illustration or not you're gonna drink the cup of the wine
of the wrath of god god's fierce anger so he went around all
these nations and preached this sermon of destruction and he brought the cup as
a as a symbol see all throughout jeremiah uses object
lessons like he wears a yoke for part of the time
or he's got a cup or you know ezekiel sets up little army men and and sets up
a battle i mean all throughout the bible men of god would use sometimes physical
illustrations to to really drive in the message
and he says in verse 29 for lo i begin to bring evil on the city which is
called by my name which is jerusalem and shall ye be
utterly unpunished ye shall not be unpunished for i will
call for a sword upon all the inhabitants of the earth
sayeth the lord of hosts therefore prophesy thou against them all these
words and say unto them the lord shall roar from on high and
utter his voice from his holy habitation he shall mightily roar upon his
habitation he shall give a shout as they that
tread the grapes against all the inhabitants of the earth
a noise shall come even to the ends of the earth
for the lord has a controversy with the nations he will plead with all flesh
he will give them that are wicked to the sword saith the lord i mean god's got a
bone to pick with everybody that's what it's saying here he's got a
controversy with the nations he will plead with all flesh verse 32
thus saith the lord of hosts behold evil shall go forth from nation to nation
and a great whirlwind shall be raised up from the coast of the earth
and the slain of the lord shall be at that day from
one end of the earth even under the other end of the earth
they shall not be lamented neither gathered nor buried
they shall be dung upon the ground howl ye shepherds and cry
and wallow yourselves in the ashes ye principle of the flock
for the days of your slaughter and of your dispersions are accomplished
and ye shall fall like a pleasant vessel and the shepherds
shall have no way to flee nor the principle of the flock to escape
a voice of the cry of the shepherds and an howling of the principle of the flock
shall be heard for the lord hath spoiled their pasture
and the peaceable avocations are cut down because of the fierce
anger of the lord he hath forsaken his covert as the lion
for their land is desolate because of the fierceness of the oppressor
and because of his fierce anger so god here is likened unto a lion
that's hidden in a covert some kind of a covering
and it's like he just comes out with a vengeance just
ready to just rip something apart and that's how god is sometimes
god hides himself and we see evil prosper and we see people get away with
wickedness and they think that they're getting away
with it and that god's not going to judge
god has forgotten but in reality he's just waiting
until the time is right when he's just going to pounce
and he's going to rip them apart and you know god
has a different timetable than us because with god a day is like a thousand
years so we might think that god is allowing
evil to prosper for so long but for him it's just a short time
because he knows that in just a few years
he's going to cloud up and rain on these people so the world doesn't understand
that and they continue in their wickedness
thinking oh look i haven't been judged yet
but once it comes down on them like a ton of bricks then it's too late
and even in our personal lives we need to not just sit and wait
see you we don't want to put our foot in the water of sin
test it see nothing bad's happening look i'm up to my knees nothing bad
see everything's fine you know hey look i'm out up to my waist now everything's
good you know look i'm all the way under my back
you know the alligator the alligator comes and rips us apart
that's life that's life people just go and just say
oh yeah this is great until it all isn't great
and then they say oh i'm such an idiot look
how many people could we find who are old who could just tell you what an
idiot they've been
right we could find all the old drunks and we could find all the old drug
addicts and we could find the old fornicators and the old adulterers and
everything you know i mean how many do you need to
talk to why don't you just trust the lord that he said
that that that that that way of life is doomed
and why don't you just trust in the lord that if we do what's right
we're going to be blessed spire heads and have a word of prayer father we
thank you so much for jeremiah chapter 25 lord
and thank you that you you you want your word to go to all the nations lord
and i know that even today in 2016 you want the message
of the gospel to go to all nations lord but i i believe that you want the whole
message of the bible to go to all nations
that which is positive and that which is negative lord i pray that your word
would circle this globe lord and that people would hear
your word your wrath your love your long suffering all of it lord i pray
that they would hear all of it in this generation in every
nation and tongue on this earth lord just like you did in the days of
jeremiah lord i pray that you'd raise up men like
jeremiah that would thunder out the word of the lord to all nations and
all people lord and i pray that you would help us to
hearken unto your word that we might lead a quiet and peaceable
life in all godliness and honesty lord and i pray that no
child or teenager that's in this church would go out of here and live a foolish
wicked sinful life lord because i believe that they'll be judged
doubly for the preaching that they've heard because unto whom much is given of
him shall much be required and lord i pray that that saying would
sink down into their ears lord that they would never forget those words
of jesus and it's in your name we pray amen
please turn with me to song 174