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All right, well let me just begin by saying that if you expect a Christmas sermon this morning. You're not going to get one. I'm sorry Because we've got 52 chapters of Jeremiah to preach through and we've got 52 weeks over here So if I miss a week, we're going to fall behind I'm not going to get through the whole book you know I mean So I am planning on preaching a Christmas sermon on the Thursday though because we do have church here on Thursday on Christmas Eve I know not everybody's going to be here, but if you did want to hear Christmas sermon And that's the day to come all right, so we're still here in Jeremiah And look at verse number nine there Jeremiah chapter 11 verse number nine. It says in the Lord said unto me a Conspiracy is found among the men of Judah the title for the sermon this morning is a conspiracy is found Now you know There are things that people talk about when it comes to You know conspiracies And you know there's a lot of there's a lot of beliefs and there's a lot of ideas of what people would often term as conspiracy theories in this world Right and I think a lot of you guys or I even myself we've looked into a lot of these conspiracies And look here's the thing about the the truth of God's Word if you don't believe in conspiracies You don't really believe the Bible because something's very clear here. You know a conspiracy is found now Here's the thing about a conspiracy. You know conspiracies are a secret a secret plans. That's what it means to you know to Conspiracies are to conspire you know people come with secret agendas and secret plans For whatever their wicked pledges are their wicked devices and people do these things secretly to deceive and to cause people And churches and entire nations to turn against God or to you know You know to make you know billions and millions of dollars those conspiracies truly exist There are wicked people like this in this world And you know there was a conspiracy in the land of Judah at this point in time It says the conspiracy was found okay, so it was a secret and then and then it was discovered what this secret was okay? And we're going to definitely look into this, but one thing I do want to make very clear Even though there's a lot of true conspiracy theories out there Okay One thing I I really warn you as your pastor someone that cares for you for your mental state is Don't go down this rabbit hole and believe every conspiracy that's out there Okay, cuz it looks even if it's true it can corrupt your mind, okay? Cuz there's a lot of wicked things in this world You know the Lord wants us to be focused on his word. You know his word tells us already there are conspiracies We don't need to go down this rabbit hole and learn about all the wicked agendas and all the satanic Practices because it's just going to bring fears It's just going to bring confusion And you're not going to really be able to function and think very clearly in this world You know whatever whatever whatever weakness is going on whatever conspiracies are going on You know you don't need to know what those things all are to live in this world You just need to know God's word and just live according to God's principles, and you'll be fine. You'll be fine Okay, God gives us everything we need in his word and what's great about his word We know it's 100% true the conspiracies that out there We don't know if they're true many are true, but there are a lot of lies There are a lot of hypotheses or a lot of theories out there that are not necessarily true And when you get addicted to those conspiracy theories you're going to start absorbing and consuming a lot of lies that you've mixed up with The truth okay, so I'm just telling you as your pastor be careful of going down that that rabbit Hole a lot of people that have gone down that rabbit hole Regret doing that and just wish they didn't you know they just focus on what God says and just understand that yeah There are definitely conspiracies out there and just leave it at that and let God tell us in his word How we ought to behave in this world okay, so let's go there in verse number one Let's start there Jeremiah chapter 11 verse number one Begins by saying the word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord saying so if you've been here for the Jeremiah series so far You know that this would mean that God has now given Jeremiah a new prophecy something new to preach right and so It's a it's a brand new prophecy that is preaching now What does it say verse number two hear ye the words of this covenant and speak unto the men of Judah and to the inhabitants of? Jerusalem so God's telling Jeremiah Can you remind? My people here in Judah about the covenant that I have between me and them So what we're going to learn here is that Jeremiah just repeats the same covenant that God gave to Moses It's so Jeremiah look remind them tell them again And we'll cover this in the men's class on on Friday with the Bible study and Bible preaching that sometimes things have to be repeated You know over and over again and God's on Jeremiah Repeat the same things that Moses told this nation in the past Verses number three and say thou unto them thus saith the Lord God of Israel Cursed be the man that obeyeth not the words of this covenant So we learn something about the old covenant something that's quite different or it's similar to the new covenant But basically if you were an Israelite And you were under the old covenant in the Old Testament days if you did not obey the Lord if your nation Became disobedient to the covenants and to the laws of God they would become cursed by God Okay, and we often think about the blessings of God and look God bless that nation richly You know if they were obeying God, you know God will bless them on the land They won't have problems enemies that are surrounding them. They're gonna be fruitful. They're gonna be productive They're gonna be have happy lives, but when they disobey God will curse them verse number four Which I commanded your fathers in the day that I brought them forth out of the land of Egypt from the iron furnace saying Obey my voice and do them according to all which I command you So shall you be my people and I will be your God Now this is very clear here. God is saying look. I will only be your God You will only be my people so long as you obey my commandments So long as you keep this covenant between you and I and look God did not force them to enter into that covenant After God presented the Covenant to to the people of Israel through Moses the people of Israel said yes We agree we want to be part of that covenant They were obviously looking at the blessings and they were looking at God's miracles and they thought yes We're going to be able to keep this covenant and serve God, but as the generations went by you know You can see that they in fact that same generation, you know Because they didn't go into the Promised Land remember they doubted They didn't have faith in the Lord that he would be able to bring them into the Promised Land even that same Generation that said yes, Lord I'm going to obey found themselves in disobedience and then wandering into the wilderness for four for 40 years and So brethren you know what does God want from us as we look at this and we want to take the application for us God wants us to obey his word right his laws his work He wants us to obey, but what do we learn that we can become disobedient very very easily You know I've seen many times when you know you'd have churches and you have evangelists Powerful preachers come behind the pulpit, and then it's like you know that they'll preach some you know Maybe they'll preach to young people and they'll say look you know commit your life to to mission work You know come and give your life before the Lord not for salvation But you know to serve the Lord all the days of your life And and you'd see people come down before the altar if you know what I'm talking about and they'll start praying You know before the pulpit, and they're just there may be tears, and they're committing their life to God and they're promising Lord I'm just going to obey I'm going to do everything that you want me to do from this day forward how many of those now are not even in church How many of those people you know may have gone into Bible college and then quit Bible college or they went into that that system? Wanting to serve God full-time, and they're not even doing anything for the Lord now. I mean look we have to be careful when we make Vows and promises to God in fact Jesus says don't make any vows Because he knows how he knows our nature that we can promise things to God and then just quickly back out of them That's not a good place to be though. That's not a good thing. You know it's better And so just you know getting emotional just committing your whole life to God to serve him for the rest of your days And just our Lord I'm you know I'll get into full-time ministry for you instead of doing that just be the type of Christian that takes one step At a time one step at a time one step at a time Just commit that one step that you need to do for the Lord Lord, okay? You've given me this commandment. I see this law. Yes, Lord I'm gonna walk in that way in that way that you've got me, okay It's not just giving this grandos You know promise to God and just come and and failing like the the Old Testament saints did okay? Just one step at a time That's the God that's the that's the secret of the Christian life the successful Christian life is not go full-on out there 100% just just one thing at a time as the Lord shows you as you're able to mature and grow in the Lord and Listen if you just take one step at a time you're gonna be miles ahead of many Christians that committed their entire lives to serve God okay now if you can keep your finger there, and let's go to Deuteronomy chapter 28 Deuteronomy please the book of Deuteronomy chapter 28 in verse number one because I want to take you back to this time When God made these promises or sorry sorry um how he promised that he would bless them on the on the on the land if they Obeyed and how God will curse them, and I just want to show you some amazing truths here But in Deuteronomy chapter 28 verse number one it says and it shall come to pass if thou shall hearken diligently unto the voice of the Lord thy God and Observe and to do all his commandments Which I command thee this day that the Lord thy God will set thee on high Above all nations of the earth and all these blessings shall come on thee and Overtake thee and thou shall hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God So if they just listen and obey God's words God says I'm gonna bless you you're gonna be blessed above all the nations of the earth Okay, now we're not gonna read the whole chapter But from from from a verse number three all the way to verse number 14, so let's just say all 14 verses there God explained how he's gonna bless them on the land you can read that in your own time Okay, but God's promised them so many wonderful things that if they just obey God God will bless them Okay But now drop down to verse number 15 And now God explains what's going to happen to them if they disobey the Lord in verse number 15 It says but it shall come to pass if thou will not hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God To observe to do all his commandments and his statutes which I command thee this day that all these curses shall come upon thee and Overtake thee and so God now starts to list all the curse ins that will fall upon them and they're horrible They're horrible curse ins again read this in your own time if you want But I want to show you that basically from verse number 15 all the way to the end of the chapter verse number 68 God lists all the curses that he would bring upon those people so when you take that entire chapter in view you've basically got 14 verses on blessings and 54 verses on the curse ins I mean the curse ins as far you know clearly outweigh You know what the blessings are and what I mean by that is this Many times in order for us to walk in God's right paths You know it's one thing for God to say well You know if you walk in my ways you'll be blessed and there's a lot of preaching like that You know a lot of preaching like that You know just just obey God and God will bless you and do good unto you And that's the kind of sermons that we like But you'll find that when that's the kind of preaching that you hear all the time You will fall away from the Lord and so many times you also need to hear about the curse ins of the Lord Okay In fact many more times than the blessings because when you hear about how how things can fall apart for you You know how you can go through trials and difficulties if you don't obey God's Word That's going to keep you from going that way the first place right usually It's it's the negative things that that that cause you to stay away from going into that life And so you know there are churches that that may not even preach against sin They may not even say the word hell You know that they don't warn people of God's judgment and God's curse ins and so for them It's like well, you know what I can be blessed by God if I do what's right? But what's going to happen to me if I do if I don't obey God nothing? They're not familiar with that side of God and God makes it very clear that he's a God that curses And if you just understand that that's going to help you stay away from a from an unbiblical Unlawful wicked path you know understanding how God can curse and how God can allow he even his own people to struggle in life I Just wanted to show that because that's we're going to build on that so let's go back to Jeremiah chapter 11 verse number 5 Jeremiah chapter 11 verse number 5 Now many times you know as we're looking for Jeremiah It can be difficult to absorb even I find it difficult Even Jeremiah finds it difficult to understand and absorb God's coming judgment To those of Judah, okay, but I want to see how Jeremiah responds to what God is saying here in verse number 5 God says that I may perform the oath Which I have sworn unto your fathers to give them a land flown with milk and honey as it is this day Then answered I so now Jeremiah's answering God and said so be it Oh Lord so be it Oh Lord And so you know one thing you need to understand when things seem a little bit too heavy Have you ever spoken to somebody about the Bible and they say well? I like the God of the New Testament You know I like Jesus in the New Testament because it's full of love and mercy But I don't like the God of the Old Testament that often say right, but Jesus is the God of the Old Testament You know Jesus Christ is the Word of God, and then the Bible is the Word of God right these are God's words These are the words of Jesus Christ But I just want you to notice that you know when it's difficult to stomach God's Word You know as long as we know it's coming from his word We ought to be like Jeremiah and say well so be it Oh Lord so be it Oh Lord You know Jeremiah sees well God you actually wanted to bless us You wanted us to be a great nation You wanted us to be a light in this world and and give the gospel to the Gentiles Lord But I can now see how far we've fallen from the covenant that we agreed into and now Jeremiah Just realizing well even though this judgments hard to swallow He realizes by knowing God's Word that it is just that it is righteous that these Cursons and this judgment will fall upon the nation and so he says so be it Oh Lord You know it's kind of like what we say when you hear good preaching, and you agree with some truth Well often say hey, amen so be it you know Lord if that's the truth of your word You know the more we know God's Word we understand that God's judgments and God's curses are actually right You know from God's perspective even though it may seem very harsh from us You know and so that's something we need to learn you know just be able to say so be it Lord you read something in the Bible you know it Embarrasses you because you know you're not living the way God wants you to live you just need to say well so be it Oh Lord if that's your standard, and I come short of that Lord. I need to work on that Lord Can you help me so be it Lord you know we need to take the attitude instead of saying well Lord I don't want to hear that part of it Just accept what God's Word is you know just accepting that's going to help you be able to make the changes you need to live Godly to obey his laws verse number six Then the Lord said unto me proclaim all these words in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem saying hear the words of this covenant and Do them all right? I want us to turn to another passage now. Let's keep our fingers there Let's go to Galatians chapter 3 Galatians chapter 3 and Matisse can you just give me a cup of water or a bottle or something all right Galatians chapter 3, please and So we've seen in the Old Testament Okay, how God's people if they disobeyed they'd be cursed if they obeyed they would be blessed well things are similar In the New Testament, but a little bit different as well, so that's something I want to show you here Galatians chapter 3 and verse number 8 Galatians chapter 3 and verse number 8 It says and the scripture for seeing that God would justify the heathen through faith Preached before the gospel unto Abraham. Hey did Abraham know the gospel? Yeah, right there was preached to Abraham. You know some people say well the Old Testament saints They didn't know about the sacrifice of Christ Absolutely they did that is the gospel the gospel is the death burial and resurrection of Christ so Abraham knew about it Okay, sometimes we don't give credit to the Old Testament saints of how much they knew you know But you see that the gospel was preached unto Abraham saying in thee shall all nations be blessed And I haven't got time to cover this right now But the blessing that would come upon the nations is the sacrifice of Christ That there are people across all nations in this earth that are saved and blessed today Because of Christ because of the gospel message, but verse number 9 so then they which they which be of faith are blessed With faithful Abraham So how are we blessed in the New Testament now that Christ has come you know is it through obedience? Oh, yes to an extent okay, but even more so not your own personal obedience Not your own personal righteousness your faith The same faith that was from Abraham that will bless you Let's keep going verse number 10 for as many as are the works of the law are under the curse for it is written Cursed is everyone that continue if not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them Now before I keep reading. I just want to bring back to remembrance something that I've preached before That you know in our Christian life. We have kind of have two states. You know we have our position before God Okay, and once you're saved you are you know you're robed in the righteousness of Jesus Christ You know no matter how wicked you are no matter how sinful you are this is your position before God When he looks down at you he sees perfect righteousness because it's the righteousness of Christ Received through faith, so that's one part of us. That's the new man Okay, but then we have the flesh don't we we have this flesh This is the the daily life that we live and it's sometimes. It's good. You know you're in church this morning Hey, that's a good start to the week. It's the best way to start the week being in the house of God It's a great way right because you know the flesh doesn't want to be in church But the the new man wants to be in church But then you know as we go for the week the the flesh has its lusts and has its weakness and it seems that it It travels after and so while positionally we're always right with God 100% our walk is not always right with God Okay, and so positionally we are blessed we receive the blessings of Abraham because we're saved Okay, and we saw how in the Old Testament. They were blessed if they obeyed now listen I know you never obey 100% of the time, but here's the good thing Jesus obeyed 100% of the time and if you're in Jesus Christ, God sees you in that perfect obedience. That's the new man Okay, so that's what it's referring to here that we're blessed in that sense But then it talks about those that are trying to get saved by their own righteousness By following the law and God is saying listen if you want to be saved by the law you have to keep every point of the law otherwise you're cursed and Brethren so we do have this idea here in our in our New Testament days As well as the Old Testament that you know if in order for you to be blessed by God You must be saved and those that are not saved the unbelievers They are under the curse of God that will ultimately be fulfilled in the lake of fire Okay, ultimately they will go to hell if they do not believe in the Lord Jesus Christ And they will suffer for all eternity the curses of God But let me just say we've already escaped the curses of God because we're blessed with faithful Abraham, okay? Let's keep going there in verse number 11 But but that no man is justified by the law in the sight of God it is evident for The just shall live by faith and the law is not a faith But the man that doeth them shall live in them then look at verse number 13 Christ have redeemed us from the curse of the law Man, we cannot be cursed by God anymore He's redeemed us from the curse of the law. Do you see that? It says here being made a curse for us for it is written Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree So brethren let me just say to you you cannot be cursed by God because Jesus Christ became the curse for us You know all the all our disobedience all our sins has already been nailed to the cross of Jesus Christ He took on our curse You know not only do we receive the blessings because of his obedience Jesus Christ received our curse because of our disobedience What an amazing swap that we had with the Lord God right so we cannot be cursed by God You know in the New Testament days because we're not part of this our old covenant in fact the better covenant is even better Now some people misunderstand and say well hold on don't you start you believe that we can be chastised by God Absolutely, but don't forget. We're talking here about our position Okay, which cannot be cursed because we're perfect the new man is always perfect, but then we have our walk We have a walk with the Lord, but here's what's great about a walk in the Lord You know even when we disobey we're still children of God. God does not curse us. He blesses us with chastisement Chastisement is supposed to be a blessing right. I mean you know children that are that are not disciplined children that are not chastised Right they're gonna grow up to be spoiled kids They're gonna grow up to be rebellious spoiled kids. It's a blessing to be chastised all right, and so you know yes We get corrected I'm not saying we don't get corrected in our walk because we're far from the Lord But you know what's wonderful about the New Testament days. We're not gonna be cursed because Christ became the curse for us Okay, that's one of the key differences between the Old Testament and the New Testament We are under a better covenant You know the covenant that we have the Lord God is a spiritual covenant, not a physical one Okay, and so their blessings and curses were based on their their their their walk their physical relationship there or Fellowship with God, but our blessings and curses fall upon the spiritual element which comes from a new man You know with the Lord God and of course that is because of Jesus Christ Let's keep going to verse number 14 that the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ That we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith, okay, so let me just summarize very quickly Does God still curse today? Absolutely, okay, but it's dependent on whether you have believed or rejected the Lord Jesus Christ if you believe the Lord Jesus Christ You're being blessed with faithful Abraham. You're keeping the commandments 100% not because of you, but because of Christ Okay, but those that are trying to get saved by their own works by some false religion by some false gospel They are still under God's curse And it's our job to bring them out of that curse right and say look Christ became the curse for you Come and enter into the blessings through Jesus Christ righteousness Okay back to our Jeremiah chapter 11 verse number 7 Jeremiah chapter 11 verse number 7 God says for I earnestly Protested unto your fathers in the day that I brought them up out of the land of Egypt even unto this day Rising early and protesting saying obey my voice God is saying look time and time again. I've been sending you prophets. I've been protesting Hey, wake up. Come and obey the the laws of God, you know when God's judgment falls like this It's been a long time coming, you know We can't turn around and say well God why are you allowing this stuff? You know things to happen It's been a long time coming, you know for them They've this nation has been in disobedience to God time and time again God's given them chance of the chance of the chance, you know Jeremiah is just one prophet of a long line of preachers that have come through trying to get that nation back on track verse number eight Yet they obeyed not nor inclined their ear but walked everyone in the imagination of the evil heart Therefore I will bring upon them all the words of this covenant Which I command them to do but they did them not so look I'm gonna bring all the words, right? What are the words of the cursings right because you've not been in obedience verse number nine and the Lord said unto me a Conspiracy is found among the men of Judah and among the inhabitants of Jerusalem So God is saying there are people in Jerusalem that have had a secret plan they've been conspiring they've created conspiracy You say what is that about? Well look at verse number 10 They are turned back to the iniquities of their forefathers Which refused to hear my words and they went after other gods to serve them The house of Israel and the house of Judah have broken my covenant, which I made with their fathers What do we learn there? We learn that this whole idea of turning against the Lord and worshiping idols wasn't some organic process It wasn't some natural process where somehow gods let them down and they're like well, where is God well Maybe we need to find God somewhere else No, the reason the nation went this way is because there was a conspiracy There were people on that land that purposely secretly planned. Hey, we don't like God, you know These would be reprobates. These will be people that hate God and they're like, you know what? We don't like that our nation is serving God and sacrificing to God We need to come up with a plan to turn our entire nation away from the God of Israel onto these false gods So it wasn't some organic thing. There was a conspiracy there was a secret plan by wicked people turn it, you know, the nation's heart against the Lord and Brethren, why does Australia why in Australia? Why is it that our laws that are being passed? Why are they constantly against God's Word? Why are they undoing the things where our laws used to be in line with God's laws? Why why they turn against that brethren? Is it just naturally we just need to you know We just need to change things up. I tell you why things are changing because there's a conspiracy in our land There are wicked people in Australia that are purposely trying to take our nation Away from the God of Israel and to worship false gods or to just to hate God All right, just to be in disobedience to God these things happen because there are wicked people conspiring Okay, so man, I've got to go on YouTube and find out all these conspiracies are don't bother God just tells us in his word. This is what happens. There must be good enough for us Okay, there are wicked people doing these things Okay And just be aware be aware that the reason nations turn against God is because wicked people are in this nation Purposely trying to cause us to turn against the Lord. Yes, the media is involved, you know, yes Powers and and lobby groups are involved. Yes, you know these things are going on Yes, many religious leaders in many churches are involved in this conspiracy to turn our nation against God You know that there are there are people in power that are doing this and you say well Kevin you sound like a conspiracy not I just believe the Bible. Okay, if this happened in the land of Judah with a with a more godly Supposedly they had the right God. Okay. I mean Australia's never been really a Christian nation At least these guys were truly a nation that had covenant with God if this happened there. It's definitely happening here It's definitely happening to the nations that were once considered a nation that was Christian, you know They've just had wicked people come in create plans and they deceived the nation to turn against the Lord But brethren knowing this knowing this that our nation is purposely turning against the Lord That doesn't mean we need to go down the same way. Okay, that just means well, hey, that's the situation We're gonna stand steadfast. We're gonna stand with the Lord. We're gonna continue serving the Lord no matter what happens Can you please turn to Acts chapter 20 Acts chapter 20 again, keep your finger there in Jeremiah Acts chapter 20 in verse number 28 You know many years ago when I started to understand this idea and Understand that people are so wicked that really hate God and actually want others to hate God as well It was hard for me to understand In fact, it's still difficult for me to understand you're turning to Acts chapter 20 Acts chapter 20 It's still a little bit difficult to understand, right? Because I don't know why I just I guess especially as a pastor you kind of have to think best of people, right? and you know The Bible warns us time and time again that there are going to be people that creep into churches To conspire, you know people that are actually wicked that were you know to find pleasure in spending an hour two hours at church For the purpose to cause cause division for the purpose to turn the church against the Lord and just to destroy That institution of the church and we need to be aware of this because you know I can't really understand why people will do it and so I can fall into the trap of thinking well I don't understand why people will do it. Therefore. It doesn't happen. No, it happens. It definitely happens Okay, Acts chapter 20 verse number 28 Acts chapter 20 verse number 28 We have Paul here speaking to Our pastors he says take heed therefore unto yourselves and to all the flock Over the the which the Holy Ghost have made you overseers to feed the Church of God Which you have purchased with his own blood but look what he says in verse number 29 for I know this That after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you not sparing the flock You know, they're wolves that come into God's Church to hurt the flock of God I mean why I mean if I wanted to cause damage the last thing I would be thinking about is going to church And destroying people that just love God, but people can be so wicked where they just come into church They look like a sheep. They look like a brother-in-law We might even call them brother and sister for a while only for eventually those Ears of the wolves to pop out and you know that they've come in the church to conspire to cause problems to hurt God's people look at verse number 30 Also of your own selves shall men arise speak in perverse things to draw away disciples after them Therefore watch and remember and by the space of three years. I cease not to warn everyone night and day with tears Listen Paul was preaching Every single day for three years day and night preaching preach and preaching warning people against false Prophets warning people against the wolves that will enter God's house. We need to be aware of this brethren I know we're a small church, but it can happen. We don't know there might be someone today It's possible. What did it say also of your own selves shall men arise? Speak in perverse things to draw away disciples after them Okay, and so listen there can be conspiracies even in the house of God You know if someone takes you aside and wants to whisper in your ear all right and cause you to you know feel I? Don't know unhappy in the church You know trying to find every little problem instead of being instead of looking at the blessings of God They just want to sort out you know find every little issue every little problem Start whining and complaining your ear you know start start saying rumors and and gossiping about people in the church Or gossiping about the pastor brethren be alerts be aware, okay? Don't be part of that conspiracy Okay, don't be part of it Okay, because there there can be people like that that just come into church for the purpose of destroying the church Just like they're in Judah people in that land purposely conspiring secret plans to destroy the nation Okay, let's go back to Jeremiah chapter 11 verse number 11 Jeremiah chapter 11 verse number 11 God says therefore thus saith the Lord behold I will bring evil upon them which they shall not be able to escape and Though they shall cry unto me. I will not hearken unto them So we've seen this topic before that you know even in turmoil people that worship false religions worship false Gods when things get hard for them. They're still going to call out to God They're still going to pray out to God and ask him for help But God says hey if you're that wicked and you're turning the people's hearts against me I'm not even going to listen to you Okay, God can get to a point where he will not listen to the prayers of people that hate him verse number 12 Then shall the cities of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem go and cry unto the gods Unto whom they offer incense, but they shall not save them at all in the time of their trouble Hey, so we've covered that we've seen this many times already that they go to their false gods ask the false gods for help They're not going to help. They're dead gods right that they can't answer prayers verse number 13 for according to the number of thy cities Were thy gods oh Judah and according to the number of the streets of Jerusalem have they set up altars to that shameful thing Even altars to burn incense unto Baal so God saying here look all the cities You know even all the streets had these idols had these altars had sacrifices I mean this whole place Jerusalem had really become you know a you know if we walked into Jerusalem during that day We would not see any resemblance of a Christian nation of Christian people It would be like it just be like entering some pagan land right I guess it'd be like walking into some of the cities in India right where we Hinduism is the main Religion and just walking and seeing all these idols and statues and seeing all these crazy you say well What how is this the nation of God right things had become so bad look at verse number 14? And God says to Jeremiah therefore pray not thou for this people Neither lift up a cry or pray for them for I will not hear them in the time that they cry unto me for their trouble I've covered this already how God you know will sometimes you know ask his people Don't even pray for those that are exceedingly wicked Now Brethren I'm just going to read to you from Proverbs 28 verse number 9 You don't have to turn they'll just read to you Proverbs 28 in verse number 9 It says he that turneth away his ear from hearing the law Even his prayer shall be abomination Now Brethren I do not want your prayers to God to be abomination to him, okay? So what do we have to do when we hear God's laws? Don't turn your ear away from them Okay, don't listen if you you know know what God wants from you, and you're purposely disobeying the Lord, okay? You're purposely turning you away from the Lord You're purposely walking away from the Lord and you get to a point where you need to pray God I actually need your help well that prayer is going to be an abomination to God. What a strong word an abomination to God Okay, and so this is what you do you know if you're far from God I've said it many times you've got to confess your sins. You've got to humble yourself You've got to be broken and go to God and help me. Please forgive me for my sins Help me walk in your ways Then go and ask of the Lord what you need okay get right with God settle things with the Lord right be close with the Lord Then you can bring your prayers before him. You know make sure your prayers are not an abomination verse number 15 What have my beloved to do in mine house? Seeing she have rude lewdness with many and the holy flesh is passed from thee when thou doest evil Then thou rejoicest Okay, so that is not the time to pray to the Lord That is not the time to go and ask God for help when you're rejoicing in evil when you're enjoying the sin of this world No first John 1 6 says for if we say that we have fellowship with him and walk in darkness We lie and do not the truth Okay, you cannot be in a place of darkness Rejoicing in weakness rejoicing in sin and think you can just pray to God like a genie and he'll just answer your prayers It's not going to happen. You have to humble yourself. You have to go to God with a contrite heart ask him for forgiveness Okay, then bring your prayers and supplications before God okay Let's make sure that our prayers are actually received by God and can be answered all right We have to do it in the right place We have to do it through the new man, not while we're enjoying the lust and the sins that this flesh enjoys verse number 16 The Lord called thy name a green olive tree So the Lord he is referring to the nation of Israel as this olive tree Okay fair so fair means beautiful and of goodly fruit So it's producing good fruit with the noise of a great tomelet tomelet He have kindled fire upon it and the branches of it are broken so Israel was once this beautiful olive tree very fruitful But now it's been burnt up and branches are breaking off it right verse number 17 for the Lord of hosts have planted thee Have pronounced that sorry that planted thee have pronounced evil against thee for the evil of the house of Israel And of the house of Judah which they have done against themselves to provoke me to anger in offering incense unto Baal Now let's understand this let's turn to John chapter 15 Please let's go to John chapter 15 because when you think about a tree and branches being broken off that tree What reference do you kind of think about in the New Testament? Anyone want to give me an idea? All of it discourse well, yeah, because it's got a tree there right it's got a tree No, I'm not thinking about that one. I'm thinking about branches being broken off Does anyone know that reference in the New Testament? Sorry? It's it's in Romans yeah, I don't think it's referred to as a yeah Romans 11 Yeah, Romans 11, but before we return to Romans 11. Let's turn to John 15, so let's understand this Okay, because I don't want to end up in this sermon thinking that you can lose your salvation something like that Okay, obviously you cannot lose your salvation. Okay, but let's turn to John 15 verse 5 very quickly John 15 verse 5 Because This same teaching is taught in the New Testament Where there is a tree and branches can be broken off, but in John 15 verse 5 Jesus says I am the vine ye are the branches so we are branches forever We are the branches of the Lord Jesus Christ He that abideth in me and I in him the same bring forth much fruits for without me You can do nothing so God said hey the olive tree Yeah, you had you were very fruitful before right so if we abide in Christ we can bring forth much fruits You know how you get many people saved? You abide in Christ You're close to God God can use you to be very fruitful and bring others into the kingdom of God But look at verse number 17 sorry verse number a six if a man abide not in me He is cast forth as a branch and is withered and men gather them and cast them into the fire and they are burned Okay, so this is not teaching you can lose your salvation. If you don't abide in Christ. It's saying hey This is part of our walk not our position our position is perfect all right But our walk we can be far from God already cover this where if you're so far from God You can get to a point where the salt has lost its savor Or where the tree can no longer bring forth fruits and you become a waste You know even as a Christian you become a complete waste for God And you've lost your opportunity to do anything for God and so as it is in this illustration You're like a branch that well. It's not producing the fruit anymore. This is cast it away Let's just break it off the tree and just burn it in the fire Okay, and let other branches grow in that tree that can be fruitful for God Okay, so this is not teaching you can lose your salvation because positionally you're 100% with God But our walk with God can get so far from him where we are no longer any use to God That's what John chapter 15 is speaking about okay again speaking about believers now Let's turn to Romans chapter 11 Romans chapter 11 verse number 16 It is so important it is so basic But it is so important that you understand the difference between your position and your walk Because you're going to read passages in the Bible, and if you don't understand what it's talking about You're going to end up thinking you can lose your salvation or something like that Okay, because you can lose you can get far from God in a walk, right? But you can never lose your position okay, but Romans 11 verse 16 Romans 11 verse 16 Again, this is speaking about the Old Testament Israelites It says for if the first fruit be holy the lump is also holy and if the root be holy So are the branches so the the first fruits or the root speaking about Christ and if Christ is holy So are we holy right because we're in his righteousness You know we can be as holy as Christ is Positionally before God when God looks at us. He sees us in the holiness and the righteousness of Jesus Christ but look at verse number 17 and If some of the branches be broken off and thou be in a wild olive tree What graft in among them and with them partake us of the roots and fatness of the olive tree? Says boast not against the branches, but if thou boast thou bearest not the roots, but the roots thee That will say then the branches were broken off that I might be grafted in Okay, so what we're learning here in the New Testament that we have this olive tree where we it's a while We're like this wild olive tree You know the nation of Israel is kind of like this this olive tree that God planted No, it's it's planted by a gardener and then God compares the Gentiles you know because we were we were not a people of God Yeah, we're an olive tree as well But this where this wild olive tree that it's kind of just grew out of the wilderness like nobody really planted it It just grew out of the wilderness right and so that's kind of like us And it's saying that some of those branches of the of the tree Were broken off so we can be grafted in to that tree Okay, and we say why were they broken off or look at this in verse number 20? It says well, so well yeah, you're right You know you are right that those branches were broken off So you would be grafted in right a well because of unbelief they were broken off that thou that thou standest by faith Be not high minded, but fear For if God spared not the natural branches take heed lest he also spare not thee So brethren this is what God is saying. He's saying look God did not spare the natural branches You know what if they were not believing in Christ if they would not you know cuz how do we get saved? By believing right well those people those branches the the Old Testament's I wouldn't say saints because I won't say but the Old Testament Israelites that were broken off They were broken off that nation the nation of Israel because they had unbelief they did not believe in the Lord Jesus Christ But then you can take wild branches like us Gentiles that do believe in Jesus Christ, and we're added to that tree Okay, and we're with Christ we abide with Christ and so yet Romans chapter 11 is basically Explaining what Jeremiah was teaching in Jeremiah chapter 11 because many of those people were being broken off as branches They were still part of the nation physically But they'll be they were broken off because they were dying as unsaved people they were worshiping false gods They were not believers of God they were not believers of Jesus Christ, so they were being broken off that tree You know hey, what's wonderful about us we can be brought into that tree, okay, and some people see this is again This is the problem with dispensational theology Those say well the nation of Israel is just totally separate body and where some you know That's the that's Israel, and we're like the church. No okay if we believe in Christ We're part of one tree Christ is the root of it all okay, and so anyway I want to show you this because then it says in verse number 21 If God sped not the natural branches take heed also He also spared not thee behold therefore the goodness and severity of God on them which fells severity But toward the goodness if thou continue in his goodness Otherwise thou also shall be cut off and they also if they abide not still in unbelief Shall be grafted in for God is able to graft them in again, so it says look yes The the Jews today, they're not part of that tree. They're not God's special people. They don't abide in Christ They're not God's people at all But if they don't abide in unbelief in other words if they believe They will be brought back into that branch themselves if they believe in the Lord Jesus Christ Okay, now listen sometimes when you preach this you know you're accused of hating the Jews or something like that How dare you say that about the Jews? It's like no. It's just that they're the same as anybody else You know if they don't believe They're not part of the tree They're not part of the other tree, but if Jew Gentiles Australians, New Zealanders You know South Americans European whatever wherever you're from brethren if you believe you're grafted into that tree But did you notice that it said there that? You know in verse number 22 Sorry, let's read verse number 21 and verse number 22 again if God spared not the natural branches take heed lest He also spared not thee. He's saying look just like he didn't spare them. He might not do it to you All right this number 22 behold therefore the goodness and severity of God of them which felt severity But toward the goodness if thou continue in his goodness Otherwise thou also shall be cut off and so we say well hold on does that mean we can be broken off that tree and lose our salvation No, don't don't forget. What is it that gets us saved our faith our belief so positionally? Okay, we're always saved Okay, but again if we don't up was it If thou continue in his goodness, so if we continue in his goodness We're always going to be in the presence of God where I was going to receive his blessings But if we don't follow his laws if we don't listen to his word in our walk We can get far from God and as it were as we read there in John 15 We can be like that branch that is broken off, and it's only worth being burnt up. Okay, but that's our walk That's our walk. Okay. That's not our salvation And so that you need to understand these two ideas of the Christian faith right your position Which never changes and your walk which you can get really far from God where you can become completely useless You know salt that has lost its savour, okay? This is not teaching that you can lose your salvation And so what we learn here when we go back to Jeremiah chapter 11 is the reason these branches were being broken off Okay, was because yes because of their weakness, but many of these were not even saved Okay, they're not even saved. Yeah, they're part of the physical nation, but if they died anyway, they would still go to hell Okay, yes They were God's people in in that sense because they were in that old covenant But again if they were not saved if they were not believers of Jesus Christ They would be broken off and and sent to hell. Okay. Anyway, let's go back there Jeremiah 11 verse 18 and The Lord have given me knowledge of it, and I know it then there should I should Showed us me their doings. So Jeremiah saying God has given me the knowledge of the conspiracy Now now I know it. Okay, so Jeremiah did not go to YouTube Okay to learn about the conspiracies of the land. Okay. He said no God told me about the conspiracy Okay through his word So you want to learn about conspiracies brethren you go to God's Word you learn about what's going on And then he won't surprise you so much what's going on in this world? Okay, because it's ready. It's very played out for us in the Bible Okay, God's you know God knows how much we can absorb how much we can take how much is going to help us live A clean and pure life so it gives us what we need in his word We don't need to be file our minds with what's going on in the conspiracy land on YouTube God gives us a knowledge Okay, and and what it was a knowledge the conspiracy of the nation turning against the Lord but also a conspiracy to kill Jeremiah conspiracy to persecute God's saved people verse number 19 Says but I was like a lamb or an ox that is brought to the slaughter and I knew not that they had devised Devices against me okay, so Jeremiah says I didn't know these people were trying to kill me But now God's revealed it to me this conspiracy that there are people trying to persecute God's people so brethren Let me tell you now there are people in Australia. I don't want to surprise you But just listen to God's Word there are people in this land that hate God so much that actually want to persecute Blessed hope Baptist Church they actually want to persecute each one of us our families and hurt us and destroy our lives There are people like this in this world Okay, you say how do you know because God just taught us okay? God's told Jeremiah What's it say for us? It's the same for God's people as we see our nation get into further weakness Understand that there are people in this land that want to hurt God's people. There's a conspiracy against us There's a conspiracy against every church that names Christ that is a true believer of Christ There is a conspiracy okay, and if that worries you don't worry. We've got God is greater than all these things God God knows. It's not a secret. You think it's a secret to God in fact God laughs about it Okay, you read read Psalm chapter 2 when you have time God laughing at the conspiracy theories He thinks this joke is mocking at them. Okay, so if God's able to laugh. I'm gonna laugh with God Okay, we've got God as our defense all right And then it says there so I knew not that they had devised Devices against me saying let us destroy the tree with the fruit thereof and let us cast Sorry cut him off from the land of the living that his name may be no more remembered. So what's Jeremiah? Here's a tree that produces fruit. What did God say about the nation there were a tree that had lost produced Not presents fruit anymore. Okay, so brethren look Australia might be considered by God. You know like a tree. That's not fruitful Okay, but hey that doesn't have to stop us from not being fruitful We can still be soul winners We can still you know allow the fruits of the spirits work in our lives to be more Christlike and and be a witness unto God we don't need to worry about how wicked this world gets we can still be fruitful for God Okay Now what I love about verse number 19 is their goal was to cause Jeremiah's name look at the end of verse number 19 That his name be may be no more remembered. They wanted nobody to remember Jeremiah's name Well some 2,600 years later, we're still talking about Jeremiah So God can do amazing things who cares about the conspiracies that are against us You know I mean their names aren't even mentioned We didn't know who they are their names have been forgotten But Jeremiah's name in fact not only is it going to be remembered today and tomorrow and next week when people preach about Jeremiah And ten years from now when people preach about Jeremiah, but for all eternity his name He's got a whole book named after him. You know if God's book is eternal well Jeremiah's name is gonna be eternal forever It's gonna be remembered for all eternity So praise God for Jeremiah right verse number 20 but a lot of hosts thou judgest righteously and Tries the reins and the heart let me see thy vengeance on them and unto thee have I revealed my cause All right, so important that we turn to this passage keep your finger then let's go to Romans chapter 12 Romans chapter 12 So God's I mean Jeremiah says well Lord Yep, you revealed this conspiracy to me the conspiracy for the nation the conspiracy that people trying to kill me He says well, let me see thy vengeance on them The Jeremiah say you know what Lord now that I know that these people trying to hurt me. I'm gonna take vengeance You know what I'm gonna do them evil because they're trying to do me evil was that Jeremiah's response I says God you know what you judge righteously I'm gonna leave in your hands Lord, and I'm gonna see your vengeance thy vengeance on them Let me see it as a little bit like I wanted to see how God will step in and take care of him Okay But this is important for us to remember because you know when you fill your minds with conspiracy theories You're gonna think you have to do something right. I've got to do something to overcome this conspiracy in the land Listen God knows let him judge righteously Leave it in God's hands all right, and we ask God can you have been to your own vengeance Lord upon that? Romans chapter 12 verse number 19 Romans chapter 12 verse number 19 dearly beloved Avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath for it is written Vengeance is mine. I will repay saith the Lord Vengeance is the Lord's Pastor Kevin do you truly believe there are people trying to hurt our church? Absolutely, do you really believe there are people trying to hurt each of our families in this church absolutely that gets me Worried listen God knows okay ask God Lord. You know what I'm gonna. Let you take care of it vengeance is yours Lord Okay, and I'm gonna look instead of avenging myself. I'm gonna give place unto wrath God I'm gonna allow you to use your wrath right to avenge me Lord I want you to seven who knows how many times, but I don't know It's very possible that many attempts have already been made to hurt our church Maybe many attempts have been made to hurt you and your families You don't even know because God's already stepped in and taken care of it You don't even know right who knows how many times people have tried to hurt us and God has taken care of it for us Okay, we won't know until we get to heaven okay, but God lets us know here for Jeremiah. Hey, there are conspiracies a Jeremiah did not know about it now. He does it says well Lord vengeance is yours. I'm not gonna do anything about it I'm just gonna continue doing what I'm doing Lord, and I'm gonna let you take care of those that are trying to hurt me Verse number 21 Back in sorry Jeremiah 11 21 Jeremiah 11 21 Therefore thus saith the Lord of the men of Anathoth that seek thy life Sane prophesy not in the name of the Lord that thou died not by our hand So what it's saying here is that the men that are conspires conspiring against Jeremiah are from Anathoth, okay? so what is Anathoth go back to Jeremiah chapter 1 Jeremiah chapter 1 and Verse number 1 Jeremiah chapter 1 and verse number 1 It begins by saying the words of Jeremiah the son of Hilkiah of the priests so Jeremiah was a son of a priests that were In Anathoth in the land of Benjamin, so Jeremiah was from Anathoth, okay? So what it's saying here there are people in his own from his own town from his own community that actually want to hurt him Okay, and that reminds me of the words of Jesus Christ, so just read it to you in mark 6 4 It says, but Jesus said unto them a prophet is not without honor, but in his own country and among his own King And among his own King kin and in his own house So Jesus Christ says that for whatever reason this is the case well if you got a preacher you got a prophet of God People generally from other places want to hear and preach But those from his own town those that know him well those that grew up with him those are met Maybe over his own family will not honor him like will not give credence to what he's preaching Okay, and this is part of the reason. I didn't want to start a church in Sydney Part of the reason I went to the Sunshine Coast Because I wanted to be a prophet that that's honored you know that what I'm not that out for me But that what I'm preaching is effective that people will listen and say well. That's the Word of God I want to make those change because if you don't honor the prophet you're not going to even pay attention to what he's saying Okay, and anyway praise God that we've got a church here. You know it wasn't my original plan, but we're here But you know this is just like for some reason you know sometimes you'll find that you know as a Christian as someone that's trying To live godly for the people that grew up with you those that know you best will try to discredit you Okay, again. It can come from your own family right you're trying to be godly come on man I know you what you got up to in your teenage years right you're preaching God's Word I know where you're like that's not you know and so you kind of lose that credibility, but even these people they even try to Cause Jeremiah to be killed you know Jeremiah's just preaching God's Word I guess he defended them that much that they thought it'd be best to shut him shut him up But verse number 22 back in Jeremiah 11 verse 22 Therefore thus saith the Lord of hosts behold I will punish them the young men shall die by the sword Their sons and their daughters shall die by famine and there shall be no remnant of them For I will bring evil upon the men of Anathoth even the year of their visitation so God promises Jeremiah Don't worry those that are conspirants conspiring against you those are trying to kill you. I'll take care of them I'll punish them not just them, but their entire families are going to be a die They're gonna die during this time and again even the year of their visitation again that that terminology means when I come and bring judgment Upon them it's gonna happen God promises that he's going to judge those that were trying to hurt Jeremiah and Brethren I don't know if this gives you comfort or not it should but those that are trying to hurt you Okay, God will judge them God will bring them low God will destroy them okay God's got the time even the year of their visits I don't know what year that is but there's coming a time when God will judge our enemies those that are trying to hurt us Okay, we ought to love our enemies We ought to do good unto our enemies okay not to take vengeance on them But let God be the one that takes advantage of them all right let God be the one that is wrathful toward them So Brethren let me just conclude by saying yes, there's a lot of conspiracies Okay, our nation will turn against the Lord more and more people will strive to try to hurt our church We will have wolves that will creep into our church from time to time that will try to destroy us Brethren But don't forget you don't need to be fearful you don't need to worry Okay be walking with the Lord be close to God and ask God well Lord This is the case there are conspiracies Lord. I'm not going to invest my mind in these in this junk I'm not going to invest my time in these things that just start bring sorrow and fear and sadness Lord I just want to focus on you focus on your word vengeance is yours Lord. Please take care of my enemies We leave it in God's hands amen Okay, let's pray Heavenly Father