Romans: Sin, Judgment, and Gospel Foundations: Prepared Hearts

Is America A Lost Nation?

Transcript: AI Transcript

Professor: John Weaver

Subject: New Testament Studies

Genre: Sermon

Dictation Name:

Date: 2005-07-31

Synopsis: John Weaver examines Jeremiah 18 to ask whether America, like ancient Israel, has become a lost nation. He argues that nations are judged when they forget God and refuse to repent. The sermon identifies three critical losses: the means of recovery (repentance and faith), the message of recovery (God's Word and the old paths), and the messengers of recovery (faithful preachers). Weaver contends that America has lost the duty and desire to repent, has abandoned biblical truth for false gospels, and lacks godly leaders who proclaim the whole counsel of God. The message calls for individual and national repentance, warning that rejecting God's means, message, and messengers leads to judgment.

[John Weaver] Jeremiah chapter 18 and let's read the first 16 verses. We're going to be looking at really and truly all of this chapter, but we're going to read the first 16 verses. And the title of the message is. Is America a lost nation? Jeremiah chapter 18 verse one, the word which came to Jeremiah from the Lord saying. I rise and go down to the potter's house, and there I will cause thee to hear my words. Then I went down to the potter's house, and behold, he wrought a work on the wheels.

[John Weaver] And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter, so I made it again another vessel that seemed good to the potter to make it. Then the word of the Lord came to me, saying, O house of Israel, count what I do with you as this potter saith the Lord. Behold, as the clay is in the potter's hand, so are you in mine hand, O house of Israel.

[John Weaver] At what instant I shall speak concerning a nation and concerning a kingdom to pluck up and to pull down and destroy it. If that nation against whom I have pronounced turn from their evil, I will repent of the evil that I thought to do unto them. And at what instant I shall speak concerning a nation and concerning a kingdom to build and plant it, if it do evil in my sight that it may not my voice, then I will repent of the good wherewith I said I would benefit them.

[John Weaver] Now, therefore, go to speak to the men of Judah and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying, Thus saith the Lord. Behold, I frame evil against you and devise a device against you. Return you now, everyone, from his evil way and make your ways and your doings good. And they said, There is no hope, but we will walk after our own devices and we will, everyone, do the imagination of his evil heart. Therefore, thus saith the Lord, ask you now among the heathen who have heard such things.

[John Weaver] The virgin of Israel hath done a very horrible thing. Will a man leave the snow of Lebanon which cometh from the rock of the field? Or shall the cold flowing waters that come from another place be forsaken? Because my people have forgotten me, they have burned incense to vanity, and they have caused them to stumble in their ways from the ancient paths to walking paths in a way not catched up.

[John Weaver] to make their land desolate and a perpetual hissing, everyone that passeth thereby shall be astonished and wag his head." It is a miracle lost as a nation. Let me ask you a question concerning, I'm sure, that which you've experienced. Have you ever wondered how people get themselves in the messes that they're in constantly and continually? Maybe you don't hear what I hear and do not receive the phone calls that I receive.

[John Weaver] But I am so absolutely amazed. I came home last night, there were 23 messages waiting for me, all important. Some of them were from people I have known for years, getting a divorce, involved in sin, involved in wickedness. I have been flabbergasted over and over the situations that people get themselves into. An additional shock comes when you realize that now once they have gotten themselves in these situations, they now expect you and everyone else to help get them out of those situations, regardless of the time, expense, and effort that it takes. And then the knockout blow comes when you make the amazing discovery that most people who are in those situations who want your help do not really want to do that which is necessary, that is from a biblical perspective, to extricate themselves from the problems that they're in. In other words, they do not really want a biblical remedy. They want a humanistic remedy. They want help, but they only want it upon their terms. They do not want to acknowledge their sins, repent, or make restitution, and certainly not obey God.

[John Weaver] Now, the truth of the matter is, most of them had rather remain in their sins and face the judgment of God rather than do that which is right and holy. Do you realize that nations are exactly the same? Just like people born, live, and die, So do nations. Think just for a moment with me of the great nations and the great civilizations of the past and ask yourself this question, where are they?

[John Weaver] Why did they disappear from the scene of history? Why did they sink into oblivion? Why were they destroyed? And the answer comes back. They sinned against God. They refused to repent and they met his judgment.

[John Weaver] Now, Jeremiah chapter 18 explains why nations are judged. They forget God and they forget God's law. Jeremiah 18 teaches us that just as God is capable of building and planting and molding nations, that He is also quite adept at plucking up, pulling down and destroying nations. In fact, if you look at verse 7, God said at what instant I shall speak concerning a nation and concerning a kingdom to pluck up and to pull down and to destroy. And then verse 9, at what instant I shall speak concerning a nation and concerning a kingdom to build and to plant it. So God can either build and plant or God can pluck up and destroy.

[John Weaver] You see, it is sinful attitudes and unscriptural actions that lead to desolation. And that is true, not just in the individual realm, the family realm, the ecclesiastical realm, but it's also true in the national realm.

[John Weaver] Now, when you read Jeremiah, chapter 18, God sends Jeremiah down to the potter's house to learn a particular lesson. Look, if you would please, in verse two, God tells him arise, go down to the potter's house and there I will cause you to hear my words. And I want you to know what Jeremiah perceived. He said in verse three that I went down to the potter's house.

[John Weaver] Behold, he wrought a work on the wheels and the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter. So I made it again. Another vessel seemed good to the potter to make it. Then the word of the Lord came to me saying, now, here's the simple lesson that Jeremiah learned that men, families, churches and nations are all in God's hands. He is the potter. We are the clay. It is God's sovereign prerogative to make us either a vessel of honor or a vessel of dishonor.

[John Weaver] God is in absolute and total control. Now, I want you to hold Jeremiah 18, but look in your Bibles to Romans 9, because I want you to see that the Apostle Paul learned this lesson that I've just enunciated from Jeremiah, because he repeats it in Romans 9, beginning there with verse 14. Look carefully. Romans 9, verse 14. What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? God forbid, that is, perish the thought. Don't even let that thought enter into your mind. Is there unrighteousness with God? God forbid. For he said to Moses, what did God tell Moses?

[John Weaver] I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. In other words, it's totally, completely, solely, and absolutely up to God. So it makes its conclusion in verse 16. So then, it is not of him that will it, nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy. For the Scripture saith unto Pharaoh, even for this same purpose have I raised thee up, that I might show my power in thee, and that my name might be declared throughout all the earth. Therefore, here's the conclusion, hath he mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will, he hearteneth. Thou shalt say unto me then, that is, if God is sovereign and if God does not please us, thou wilt say to me then, why doth he yet find fault? Lord, how can he find fault? For who hath resisted his will? Look what he says, Nay, but, O man, who art thou that replyest against God? Shall the thing formed, say to him that formed it, why hast thou made me thus?

[John Weaver] Have not the potter power over the clay of the same lump? to make one a vessel into honor and another into dishonor? What if God, willing to show His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction, and that He might make known the riches of His glory on the vessels of mercy which He had before prepared unto glory? Note what the Apostle Paul says, that God is sovereign, and it is God's prerogative to make a vessel of honor or a vessel of dishonor.

[John Weaver] The problem is simply this, folks. Too few people have really learned and really understood that it is God who is in absolute and total control. He is the Master. He is the Creator. He is the Sovereign. He is the Lord. He is the Judge of all the Earth.

[John Weaver] Now, as you go back to Jeremiah chapter 18, listen carefully. As individuals are lost without God in His Word, equally so are nations lost without God in His Word. There is no man who is able to be saved apart from Jesus Christ or apart from the Word of God. Likewise, there is no nation that is able to be saved apart from Jesus Christ and apart from the revelation of His Word. Nations are lost for exactly the same reason that individuals are lost. They do not know God or His Word. It is either their ignorance or their rebellion and stubborn refusal to bow to Him and submit to His divine revelation and His Word that demonstrates their wickedness and their sin. And I can assure you that most often It is not the ignorance that condemns the nations, it is their stubborn refusal to submit and bow to the sovereign God of the universe. Now, Jeremiah chapter 18 can be applied to individuals. It can be applied to families. It can be applied to churches.

[John Weaver] But I want you to note something. I want you to note in the context, primarily, the reference is to nations. Look if you would please at verse 6. O house of Israel, so he's talking to a nation. Count on I do with you as this potter saith the Lord. Behold as the clay is in the potter's hand, so are you in my hand, O house of Israel, the nation. Watch verse 7. At one instant I shall speak concerning a nation and concerning a kingdom. Verse 8. If that nation Look in verse 9, and at one instance I shall speak concerning a nation and concerning a kingdom. Look in verse 10, if it do evil in my sight, that it obey not my voice, that I repent of the good wherewith I said I would benefit them. The it in verse 10 refers back to the nation or the kingdom. And then when you get to verse 11, God says now therefore go to speak to the men of Judah and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem saying why then if he's talking about nations does he in verse 11 say speak to the men of Judah and men of Jerusalem because it is individuals who

[John Weaver] make up nations. But in the context he is basically referring to a nation.

[John Weaver] Now let me demonstrate something from verse 11. You know, you and I could sit here literally all day long saying, wicked Washington politics, ungodly, corrupt judicial system, filthy, corrupt legislative systems. We could talk all day long about that. But I want you to note that here in verse 11, God is not demanding a top down repentance, but a bottom up. repentance. He's beginning with the men, with the people of Judah and Jerusalem.

[John Weaver] Now, listen, when people change, they will demand changes in their rulers. The reason we have such wicked, unbiblical and unconstitutional rulers in our country is that by and large, as a whole, we have a wicked, unbiblical and unconstitutional populace. And the truth is this, when we repent and turn back to God as individuals, as families and churches, then we will have ground to demand that our leaders repent or that we will have the moral fortitude to replace them. But until we repent. We cannot expect them to repent.

[John Weaver] Now, the title of this message is, is America lost as a nation? Is America a lost nation? I want to give you three principles from Jeremiah chapter 18 and let you examine what is happening in our land today in light of these three principles. And I want you to draw your own conclusion based from the word of God. I realize there are exceptions to these principles. In some areas. But I'm talking about generally speaking as a nation. Is America lost? I want you to look in verses 11 and 12.

[John Weaver] The first point is this. We have lost the means of recovery. We have lost the means of recovery. God says in verse 11 to Jeremiah, Now, therefore, go to speak to the men of Judah and to the house, the inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying, Thus saith the Lord. Now watch what Jeremiah tells them. Thus saith the Lord. Behold, I frame evil against you and advise a device against you. Return you now, everyone, from his evil way and make your ways good and make your ways and your doings good. And they said, after Jeremiah told them what God demanded, and they said, There is no hope, but we will walk after our own devices and we will everyone do the imagination of his evil heart.

[John Weaver] Now, I want you to stop and think with me. Here's the very first point. We have lost the means of recovery. We do not realize how important this truth really is. Here's my question. How in the world can you possibly recover anything If you do not have the means to do so. How can you possibly recover anything if you do not have the means to do so? What are the means of recovery?

[John Weaver] Listen carefully for individuals, for families, for churches, for nations. What is the means of recovery? Here it is. repentance, and faith. Look in verse 11.

[John Weaver] Now, therefore, go to speak to the men of Judah, to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying, Thus saith the Lord. Behold, I frame evil against you and devise advice against you. Return now everyone from his evil way and make your ways and your doings good. What is God saying? God is saying, I have devised evil against you. I'm going to come hard upon you in judgment. And there's only one thing that's going to thwart that judgment, and that is repentance. Every one of you says, God, you turn from your evil way and from the evil of your doings and you repent and do good works.

[John Weaver] You see, this is the same truth that is revealed in 1 Thessalonians 1 and verse 9. The Apostle Paul talking about those Thessalonians said this, and how you turn to God from idols to serve the living and true God. What do you do? You repent of your idolatry and you turn to God and the evidence that you have turned to God is that you serve the living and the true God.

[John Weaver] Now, let me cover two thoughts under this. It's the second one that is really scary. But here are the two thoughts, number one. We have lost the duty of repentance. We have lost the duty of repentance. We have failed to understand that repentance on our part is a duty. It is a duty simply because God commands it. I want you to hold Jeremiah 18, but look in your Bibles to Acts 17, verses 30 and 31. I can quote this passage, but I want you to see it. Acts 17, verses 30 and 31.

[John Weaver] The Apostle Paul has been preaching on Mars Hill And he makes this conclusion. Acts 17, verses 30 and 31. Look what he says. And the times of this ignorance God winked at. Now watch. But now commandeth all men everywhere to repent. God commands all men everywhere to repent. Why? Here's why. Because He hath appointed a day into which He will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom He hath ordained, where he had given assurance unto all men, and that he had raised him from the dead. Now, why does God command people to repent? Simply because, first of all, God is God, and He has a right to do whatever He wants to do. So He commands people to repent. Here's why He commands them to repent. Because He's appointed a day of judgment in which He's going to judge the world in righteousness, by Jesus Christ. And look what God says. God says, I've given assurance to all men everywhere that I'm going to do this, in that I've raised Jesus Christ from the dead.

[John Weaver] So just as surely as God has raised Jesus Christ from the dead, just as surely God's going to judge me. And God says, therefore, I command you to repent. Did you know the Bible tells us in the book of Mark, chapter 1 and verse 15, that when our Lord began his ministry, let me read to you what the Bible says, verse 15, and saying the time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent ye and believe the gospel.

[John Weaver] Now, what I'm trying to tell you today is this. It is our responsibility to repent. Since God is our creator, we owe him honor and glory. Since we are sinners and since we rebelled against him and disobeyed him, we owe him repentance.

[John Weaver] Now, let me clear something up. Many people get this confused. I told you that repentance is a duty. God commands it, but just simply because repentance is a duty does not mean that we have the ability. to repent. Repentance may be our responsibility. But it is not in our ability. Let me give you an illustration. Here's a man that's a drunkard. You say God commands you to repent, repent right now. Guess what? He does not have the ability to repent. He can't stop being a drunkard. Any more than a man can stop being an adulterer, or stop being a liar, or stop being a sinner. Now he may have the responsibility to repent, but may I tell you that repentance is a gift of God. Just like faith is a gift of God.

[John Weaver] Look in your Bibles to Acts chapter 5 and verses 30 and 31. Let me show you three passages very clearly that teach repentance is a gift of God. In Acts 5, The Bible is speaking about the fact how that God raised up Jesus Christ and seated Him in His own right hand. And look what the Bible says. Acts 5, verse 30. The apostle Peter said, The God of our fathers raised up Jesus, who used to and hanged on a tree. Now watch what the Bible says. Him hath God exalted with or at His right hand to be a prince and a Savior, for to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins. In other words, repentance is a gift. Christ must actually give it. Look at Acts 11 and verse 18. After Cornelius and those in his house repented and turned to God in faith, look at the expression of the believers in Jerusalem. Acts 11 verse 18, When they heard these things, they held their peace and glorified God, saying, Then hath God also to the Gentiles granted or given repentance unto life?

[John Weaver] Who gave them repentance? God did. It was His gift. Then if you'll look in your Bibles to 2 Timothy chapter 2. 2 Timothy chapter 2 and begin there with verse 24. 2 Timothy chapter 2. Notice, if you would, how plainly this is stated. 2 Timothy 2 verse 24, And the servant of the Lord must not strive, but be gentle unto all men, apt to teach, patient. Why? In meekness instructing those that oppose themselves, here it is, God, peradventure, will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth.

[John Weaver] Now let me ask you a question. When do men acknowledge the truth? What's the answer? In verse 25, when they repent. Now let me ask you another question. When do men repent? When God gives them repentance. In other words, repentance is God's gift.

[John Weaver] Now, let me try to tie it together for you. Repentance is our duty. It is our responsibility. But we cannot repent savingly in and of ourselves. It is the gift and the grace of God. What does that mean? That means that we're obligated to seek God for His grace and His gift to turn us from our sins. That's why all through the Bible, the psalmist and many of the prophets say, turn us, O God, and we shall be turned.

[John Weaver] Heal us and we shall be healed. In other words, to God belongs the ability, to us belongs the responsibility. We're duty bound to seek God for repentance and faith. We owe him repentance because we've sinned against him and violated his word.

[John Weaver] Now, I told you that under this point, we've lost the means of recovery. Under the means of recovery, we've lost the duty of repentance. Do you realize the sad truth today is this? Very few people, very few preachers deal with repentance. Do you know what the attitude of the average church is? We want to be non-confrontational. We want to Provide a place of safety and comfort and repose for sinners. The attitude is that we now pacify sinners. We coddle wicked men. And in our evangelism, we try to slip up on sinners and ease them into the confession of faith without ever them experiencing any painful conviction. We want to make it as easy and as painless as we possibly can to become a Christian. Why? All you have to do in the average church is just raise your hand or walk down an aisle or say a little prayer or join the church. The truth is simple. Listen to me, folks. There is no salvation without repentance. I don't care how many churches you join.

[John Weaver] I don't care how often you've been baptized. I don't care how many times you've prayed the sinner's prayer. I don't care how often you've raised your hand. If you've never repented, you've never, ever been saved. It's just that simple. Do you remember Luke chapter 13? When those men came to our Lord and said, Lord, did you hear about those individuals upon whom the tower of Sodom fell and killed those 18 men? Our Lord looked at him and said, Do you suppose that they were sinners exceedingly, that is, above everyone else?

[John Weaver] I tell you, nay, but except you repent, you shall likewise perish. Well, Lord, did you hear about those men whose blood Pilate mingled with their sacrifices? They were sacrificing and Pilate had them killed. Our Lord said, Do you think they were sinners exceedingly? I tell you, nay, but except you repent, you shall likewise perish. What is our Lord saying? No one can be saved unless he repents.

[John Weaver] There is no painless way to become a child of God. We have to be honest with our sins. We have to deal with our sins. And no one can savingly believe upon Jesus Christ who has not repented of his sins. Put it like this. Repentance and faith are the two sides of one coin. The man who is savingly repented has also savingly believed on Jesus Christ. The man who is savingly believed on Jesus Christ has also savingly repented. You cannot have real saving faith without repentance.

[John Weaver] Now, let me ask you this question. How can we expect our nation to repent when the duty of repentance is not laid upon sinners? How can you perform your duty, folks, if you don't even know what your duty is? How can you seek God for His gift of repentance if you're ignorant of His requirement to seek Him for repentance? In our age of political correctness and religious tolerations, we are told that it really doesn't matter what you believe, just so you believe it sincerely.

[John Weaver] Let me be kind in saying this. That's a bald-faced lie. What did our Lord say in John 14, verse 6? I am the way, the truth, and the life, and no man cometh to the Father but by me. And the Bible says very plainly in Acts 3, verse 19, Repent ye therefore, and be converted. The only God there is is the God who is revealed in Scripture. The only God that there is has revealed Himself in Jesus Christ. The only salvation there is is in Jesus Christ. And it's our duty. It's our responsibility to tell men they have a duty and responsibility to repent.

[John Weaver] Now, how can you recover? If you've lost the means of recovery. Look back in Jeremiah, Chapter 18, because here's the second thing, and this is what really, really is frightening. It's not just simply we have lost the duty for repentance. It is also we have lost the desire for repentance. Look in verse 11. God says, Now, therefore, go to speak to the men of Judah and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying, Thus saith the Lord, Behold, I pray evil against you and devise a device against you. God says, I'm fixing to give you a knockout blow. Here's the only thing that's going to stop it. Return you now, everyone, from this evil way and make your ways and your doings good. Now, remember, God spoke to the nation. God said, I'm going to take you out unless you repent. Watch the answer, verse 12, and they said. There is no hope. But we will walk after our own devices and we will everyone do the imagination of his evil heart. Let me tell you something, dear friend, the frightening thing to me is this.

[John Weaver] We have not just lost the duty of repentance. We have lost the desire for repentance. We do not want to change. What did these people say? There is no hope. Why was there no hope? Because we will walk after our own devices and we will everyone do the imagination of his evil heart. Why is there no hope? Simply because there was no desire to change, no desire to repent. Men loved darkness rather than light, and they loved evil more than good and sin more than righteousness.

[John Weaver] Let me tell you what they were saying, in essence, in verse 12. Here's what they were saying. We will walk after our own devices. God may take his way and we will take ours. He has devised evil against us, you say? Let him bring it to pass if he pleases. We have devised sin, and we will go on in it. No one is stopping us. We will do every one after the imagination of its evil hearts. Whatever our hearts suggest to us that is pleasant and agreeable, that shall we do.

[John Weaver] Let the issue be what it will. We're going to do what we want to do.

[John Weaver] Now, let me tell you something, you don't have to literally voice those words for those words to be true, because those words are expressed in attitudes and in actions. I want you to notice carefully. According to verse 11. And also. According to verse eight. It was not that there was no hope in the grace and the mercy of God, For God had declared that upon their repentance and reformation, he would turn from his stretch in judgment.

[John Weaver] The problem was that they were so hardened in their sins, so fixed in their wicked courses, and so determined to go on in them that there was no room for Jeremiah to believe that his preaching would ever reclaim them. Preaching, exhortation and admonition was useless. Regardless of whether Jeremiah preached to them or not, regardless of whether God judged them or not, they were going to go on exactly as they were going. Do you realize in Jeremiah 18? The people had no desire to change, no desire to repent, no desire to honor God, And thus they refused him and refused to submit to his law. Do you realize when one will not repent, truly all hope is lost.

[John Weaver] These men rightly expressed the situation that they were in naturally. They said in verse 11, there is no hope. And the reason there was no hope is because they did not have a single desire to repent and obey God. Do you realize when one loses hope, all is lost? You know, when people die, when they lose hope. You know, when nations die, when they lose hope, when one thinks that he can do absolutely nothing, That's exactly what he will do. Nothing. When one thinks that the situation is useless. That's exactly what he will be useless. When someone thinks the situation is hopeless, that's exactly what he will be an individual without hope when one will not repent. There is no hope and there is no help. Are you listening? Nations, like individuals, lose hope. When a nation loses the duty and the desire to repent, all hope of recovery is gone. Now, the question that you must ask yourself, have we in America, like the nation of Israel in Jeremiah's day, lost the means of recovery?

[John Weaver] Have we lost the duty and the desire to repent? I want you to note second, we've also lost the message of recovery. Look in verse 13. Therefore, thus saith the Lord, ask you now among the heathen who have heard such a thing. The virgin of Israel hath done a horrible thing. Will a man leave the snow of Lebanon which cometh from the rock of the field? Or shall the cold flowing waters that come from another place be forgotten?

[John Weaver] Because my people have forgotten me, they have burned incense to vanity, that is to idols, and they have caused them to stumble in their ways from the ancient paths to walking paths in a way not cast out. I want you to note what God does in these verses. In verses 16 and 17, he says, His judgment upon them is going to be, he's going to make their land desolate. They're going to be hissing. Everybody's going to pass by. They'll be astonished. God says in verse 17, I will scatter them as with an east wind before the enemy.

[John Weaver] I will show them the back and not the face in the day of their calamity. God reveals how unbelievable and how preposterous it was for Israel to do what it had done. By the same token, we can see how unbelievable and how preposterous it is for America to do what she has done. God asked the question, He says in verse 14, Will a man leave the snow of Lebanon, which cometh from the rock of the field, or shall the cold flowing waters that come from another place be forsaken? Who in their right mind would leave cold, clear, fresh water to drink from a scum-filled, swampy, stagnated pond. God says that's exactly what my people have done. It's unbelievable. It's preposterous.

[John Weaver] They've left me the one true and living God and they have turned to idols. By the way, You ask yourself this question. Why would anyone swap the one true the living God for a false God? Why would anyone swap the one true gospel for a false gospel? See, that's exactly what Israel did in Jeremiah 18. That's exactly what America has done. And consequently, we're walking as they did in uncharted paths. Look in verse 15.

[John Weaver] He says, because my people have forgotten me, they have burned incense to vanity. They have caused them to stumble in their way from the ancient past, a walking past in a way not cast up. In other words, you're walking, says God, on a slippery footpath. It's unproven. Unchartered. And in a way that you should not be walking. Let me just ask that you turn back to Jeremiah 6 and look at verse 16. Jeremiah preached to the people.

[John Weaver] And I want you to note what he proclaimed and what their response was. Jeremiah 6 and verse 16. One of the saddest verses in the Bible. Jeremiah 6 verse 16. Thus saith the Lord. Here's what God says. stands you in the ways unseen.

[John Weaver] Now watch and ask for the old paths where it is the good way and walk therein and you shall find rest for your souls." But they said, what? We will not walk therein. God, we don't want to obey You. We don't want Your Word. We don't want to honor You. We don't want the old way. If one will not walk in the true path, then the only paths left open to him are false paths. If one will not walk in the true gospel, then the only gospels left open to him are false gospels, which lead to death and destruction. That's why Paul said in Galatians 1, verses 8 and 9, But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let it be a curse. As we said before, so say I now again, if any man preaching the other gospel, you then that you have received, let him be accursed. By the way, the word accursed in Galatians 1 verses eight and nine.

[John Weaver] Means to be set apart and marked out for certain and sure death and destruction. So if anyone will not Preach the one true in the living gospel and believe that one true gospel and follow that one true path. He says, let him be marked out for certain and sure destruction.

[John Weaver] Now, look at it back in Jeremiah 18. Go back, if you would, please, to verse 15, the latter part, because they've left God. Look what he says. Because my people have forgotten me, they have burned incense to vanity. They've caused them to stumble in their ways from the ancient paths. That is, they're not following those old paths. to walk in paths in a way not cast up. So since they're walking in uncharted waters and unsailable waters previously, look what's going to happen.

[John Weaver] To make their land desolate and a perpetual hissing, everyone that passes by shall be astonished and wag his head. I will scatter them as with an east wind before the enemy. I will show them the back and not the face in the day of their calamity. What's God saying? I will destroy them. Why? They've left the old paths. They don't want my ways. Have you ever stopped to think this? This amazes me. Maybe it amazes me more because maybe I study history more than you. I don't know. But it just amazes me that how we have left our history, our heritage and our God.

[John Weaver] How far we have fallen. The true gospel of Jesus Christ is law. His sovereignty are ignored and despised and rejected in this country. Stop and think this nation was begun to honor Him and to glorify Him and we have ingloriously and wickedly turned our back upon Him and upon His truth. It's like Zechariah chapter 13 and verse 6. Someone asked the Messiah, What are these wounds in thine hands?

[John Weaver] Then he shall answer, Those with which I was wounded in the house of my friends. We who began in this nation as the friends of justice, righteousness, holiness, and obedience have now turned our backs upon the very One who gave us life and holds our lives in His hands. How can we ever be recovered if we've lost the means of recovery, and if we've lost the message of recovery? Look very quickly in your Bibles to Isaiah 30 and verse 21. Isaiah 30 and verse 21. I want you to note, as we obey God, We are never, ever left without direction. Look what God says. Isaiah 30, verse 21, And thine ears shall hear a word behind thee, saying, This is the way, walk you in it, when you turn to the right hand and when you turn to the left. In other words, as we obey God, God does not leave us directionless. He does not leave us lost. He does not leave us without hope. God said, I will tell you, this is the way, walk ye in it.

[John Weaver] If we are left without directions, if we are left without the true way, how can we be recovered as a nation? That's the question. What have we lost in this country? First of all, we've lost the means of recovery. Repentance and faith. We've lost the message of recovery. Because only a very few really, truly want the Word of God. But thirdly, we have even lost the messengers of recovery. Look in verse 18. Then say they, in other words, Jeremiah is preaching what God has told him to preach. Then said they, come and let us devise devices against Jeremiah. For the law shall not perish from the priest, nor the counsel from the wise, nor the word from the prophet. Come and let us smite him with the tongue, and let us not give heed to any of his words. What? Here's a man. That has been preaching, praying, crying.

[John Weaver] And they said, I tell you what we'll do. Since God has said he's going to devise devices against us, we're going to get rid of this preacher. We'll do the same thing to Jeremiah. We'll teach him. We'll show him. Let me ask you a question. You don't have to turn to this passage. But do you remember the passage in Acts chapter 8? When Philip approached the Ethiopian eunuch in the chariot. And he asked the eunuch.

[John Weaver] Understand this thou what thou readest. You remember that? And he was reading from Isaiah 53. What was the eunuch's response? How Can I accept some man guiding me? And then Philip got in the chariot with him and began to preach and teach Jesus Christ to him.

[John Weaver] Now let me ask you, as a whole, generally speaking, where are our guides in this country who lead us and teach us in the way of God according to His Word? And he asked, how many honest, faithful, and true preachers can you name that live in Florida? How many honest and faithful and true preachers can you name that live in Georgia? You know, one of the problems I have everywhere I go is people ask me, can you tell me where a good church is in Montana? Can you tell me where a good church is in Canada or New York? Where are our preachers? Where are our messengers? We have plenty of preachers, but the sad truth is this, folks, most of them couldn't preach their way out of the wet paper bag. They don't know the truth and they can't preach the truth. Do you realize the average pastor stays at the average church? Help me out now. Do you know? Two years. How can you teach the word of God in two years?

[John Weaver] I can't even, it takes me almost that long just to clear my throat. I mean, I was on the book of Hosea for a year and a half. But the average preacher stays at the average church two years and then he moves on. And guess what? When he goes to the next church instead of studying, And continuing to study. He just preaches the same two years worth of messages. And when he leaves there, he goes to the church and does the same thing. And I'm just assuming that other denominations are like the Baptist. But if you go to a fundamental Bible believing Baptist church, usually you're going to hear a sermon either on sin, salvation, separation or soul winning. And that's it. And most of the Baptist preachers, when they lose those or leave those four fields, they don't have anything to preach. Where are. Our messages.

[John Weaver] And where are our messengers? Do you realize very few pastors ever deal with doctrinal issues? They never teach doctrine.

[John Weaver] Now, let me take that back. They do teach doctrine, but not biblical doctrine. Every time you teach, you're teaching some doctrine. But it's just not biblical doctrine. A guide cannot be a guide if he does not know the way. Let me just read Isaiah 56, verse 10 to you. This verse accurately describes most of our men today. Here's what Isaiah 56, 10 says. His watchmen are blind. They're all ignorant. They're all dumb dogs that cannot bark, sleeping, lying down, loving to slumber. Now, here's my question. What good is a blind watchman? And what good is a dog that cannot bark? How would you know that danger is approaching? How would you know that company is coming? You wouldn't.

[John Weaver] I want you to turn in your Bibles to Acts chapter 20. Let me show you something. Acts chapter 20. What is the responsibility of pastor teachers? And the answer is, our responsibility is to teach the whole counsel of God. Acts 20. And that's chapter 20. The Apostle Paul has summoned all the elders, all the pastors there to Ephesus, and he's preaching to them. And look what he says in verse 20. In fact, let's read verse 19. He says, serving the Lord with all humility of mind and with many tears and temptations which befell me by the lying in the way of the Jews.

[John Weaver] Now, look what he says and how I kept back nothing that was profitable unto you, but I've showed you and have taught you publicly and from house to house. Now, Paul said, I kept back absolutely nothing that was profitable unto you. Well, Do you remember 2nd Timothy 316? Don't turn there, but let me just put it for you. All Scripture is given by inspiration of God and is what? Profitable. Now, Paul kept back nothing that was profitable, and if all Scripture is profitable, what did he teach? All the Scripture.

[John Weaver] Now, let me show you something else here. This is this is. Amazing to me. Verse 26. Paul's talking to these preachers and he says this, Wherefore, I take you to record this day that I'm pure from the blood of all men. How in the world could the Apostle Paul get pure from the blood of all men? Let me tell you what I have been taught all my life. All my life, I've been taught that you are obligated to witness to every person that you see. Because if you don't witness to them, their blood is on your hands and you'll face them at the judgment seat of Christ. And they'll say, why didn't you witness to me? Now, let me tell you something, folks, that interpretation is absolutely stupid. Can I tell you why it is absolutely stupid?

[John Weaver] Let's suppose my wife tells me tomorrow, sweetheart, we're out of milk, we're out of bread, and actually we're out of milk because we don't even drink milk, but we're out of milk, we're out of bread, etc. Would you please go to the store and bring us back some milk and bread? And I said, sure. And remember now, I've got to witness every person that I see or their blood's on my hands. Would you please tell me when I'm ever going to return home? Be honest with me. If I haven't witnessed every person I see, when would I ever return home? The truth is I would leave her and never, ever come home. It's impossible. How did Paul say How did Paul say, verse 26, Wherefore, I take you to record this day that I'm pure from the blood of all men. Here's how, verse 27, For I have not shunned in declaring to you all the counsel of God. Paul said, I'm free from the blood of all men because I preach the totality of Scripture.

[John Weaver] We get free from the blood of all men by preaching the total Word of God, and pastors can witness till they faint and fall down in it, but if they do not preach the totality of the Word of God, blood is on their hands. Now, the point I'm trying to make is this, folks. We have lost in this country the messengers of recovery. We've lost men who will stand up and say, thus saith the Lord. Jeremiah was a true prophet of God.

[John Weaver] He was a prayer warrior. He was a weeping prophet. Everyone would have thought that, man, what a pastor Jeremiah would be. Everybody would be delighted to have Pastor Jeremiah around. But they said, oh no. We're going to devise devices against him. We're going to make it where nobody will listen to him, and a little bit later, they'll even try to kill him. You'll find that in chapter 20, verse 10.

[John Weaver] Don't have to turn there. Now, let me ask you, what happened in Jeremiah 18? I want to show you. Watch this very carefully. God sent Jeremiah down to the potter's house to learn one lesson that God is in control. God controls nations and God demands nations to repent. And God says, Jeremiah, you go and tell them. Jeremiah went and told them. They would not listen. They would not heed. They would not hear.

[John Weaver] And so they decide, since we despise the means of recovery and since we despise the message of recovery, Well, the thing for us to do is to silence the messenger of recovery. We'll just shut him up. And so they plan to kill him. Go back to Jeremiah, chapter 18, and look, if you would please, after Let's read verse 18 again, Jeremiah 18 verse 18 Then they said come and let us devise devices against Jeremiah For the law shall not perish from the priest or the council from the wives nor the word from the prophet to the words all these preaching and teaching is worthless It's useless that God's gonna keep on like he always has come and let us mighty with the tongue and let us not give heed to any of his words Look what the messenger who was sent to be their help Turned into verse 19, Jeremiah prays, Give heed to me, O Lord, and hearken to the voice of them that contend with me.

[John Weaver] Shall evil be recompensed for good? For they have digged a pit for my soul. Remember that I stood before thee to speak good for them and to turn away thy wrath from them. Therefore, since they refuse the message, since they refuse the means, since they're refusing the messenger. Therefore deliver up their children to the famine and pour out their blood by the force of the sword and let their wives be bereaved of their children and be widows and let their men be put to death and let their young men be slain by the sword in battle. Let a cry be heard from their houses when thou shalt bring a troop suddenly upon them for they have digged a pit to take me and hid snares for my feet. Yet, Lord, thou knowest all their counsel against me to slay me. Forgive not their iniquity, neither blot out their sin from thy sight, but let them be overthrown before thee. Deal thus with them in the time of thy anger." Oh, the man who was sent for their good.

[John Weaver] But he and his message and the means were rejected. turned out to be an intercessor against them. I want you to turn in your Bibles to 2 Chronicles 36. And just let me show you how. The message and the messenger are ultimately bound together. Listen carefully. We need to learn that to despise the message of God is to despise the messenger of God. To despise the messenger of God is to despise the message of God, which would also include the means of recovery. So in 2 Chronicles chapter 35 or 36 it is, 2 Chronicles 36 verse 15. Watch what God says. And the Lord God of their father sent to them by his messengers So he's sending to his people his messengers rising up in times and sending. Why did God send these preachers? Because he had compassion on his people and on his dwelling place. But what happened? But they mocked the messengers of God and despised his, that is God's words, and misused his prophets until the wrath of the Lord arose against his people till there was no remedy.

[John Weaver] Therefore, he brought upon them the king of the Calvary's who slew their young men with a sword in the house of their sanctuary and had no compassion upon young men, or they no manner in this to rage. He gave them all into his hand. So the men that were sent for their profit. Turned out to be men. For their judgment. Why? Because they despised the message. And the means.

[John Weaver] Now, I want you to turn in your Bibles to 2 Corinthians 2. Let me show you the same truth from the New Testament. 2 Corinthians 2, and let's begin reading there with verse 14. 2 Corinthians 2, verse 14. Note what the Apostle Paul says. 2 Corinthians 2, verse 14.

[John Weaver] Now, thanks be unto God, who always causes us to triumph in Christ and make it manifest the saver of his knowledge, God's in every place. Now, I want you to note particularly the Apostle Paul says that God always makes us triumph in Jesus Christ. Does that mean that people are saved every time we preach? No. Does that mean that people get right and repent every time we preach? No. Watch. He says, now thanks be to God who always causes us to triumph in Christ and make it manifest the savor of His knowledge of us in every place. Now look what he says, for we, he's talking about the preachers, for we are unto God a sweet savor of Christ in them that are saved and in them that perish.

[John Weaver] To the one we are the savor of death unto death and to the other the savor of life unto life and who is sufficient for these things. Now what is he saying? Here's what he said. The man of God comes and preaches the message of God. Declaring the means. Of recovery, repentance and faith, and someone or some group says, oh man, that's God's word, that's the truth, and we repent of our sins and we fall on our faces to Jesus Christ and they give a mercy and God says, That's a sweet smelling savor. My son is preached. But then you have the same preacher with the same message and he's using the same means and people shake their fists and they say, we hate that Christ.

[John Weaver] We'll not have him reign over us. And furthermore, we'll kill you if you keep preaching about him. And God says. That's a sweet smelling savor. My son is preached. To the one salvation, to the other, condemnation. And only God decides which is for reconciliation and which is for condemnation. Let me tie it together for you. We have to remember God's Word never returns void. It always accomplishes the mission that God sends it upon. But that mission is determined by God. What does God say in Isaiah 55, verses 10 and 11? My word shall not return in these boys, saith the Lord, but it shall accomplish that whereunto I send it and that whereunto I purpose it.

[John Weaver] So that word which comes as an instrument of life, when men reject it and despise it and refuse to repent, becomes an instrument of death. That is true individually, it is true familially, it is true ecclesiastically, and it is true nationally. You see, what we must learn is to value the means that God has ordained in conversion, in edification, in teaching, evangelism, in preaching the word of God, do you realize without a comprehension of the importance of the means of recovery, the message of recovery, and the messenger's recovery, without a comprehension of those

[John Weaver] things, we too, as God's people, will become slothful, indolent, and spiritually deficient. We must understand the means, the message and the messenger are all part of God's desire and all part of God's design. God is the one who ordained the preaching of his word. We've got to remember that man who was sent for the good of the people. Can turn around and be for their evil and for their judgment, In Romans 11 and verse 2, let me just quote it. Know you not what the Scripture says of Elias, that is of Elijah, how he made an intercession to God against Israel. When one refuses the means, he also refuses the message and the messenger. delivered the means.

[John Weaver] What is our duty individually, familiarly, ecclesiastically and nationally? Our duty is to repent and to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and honor and glorify God. God holds us answerable and accountable. And when the nation turns her back upon God, just like when individuals turn their back upon God, God judges them. God destroys them. We must always, if we want to be blessed by God, be reminded of the means of recovery, the message of recovery, and the messengers of recovery. Let's pray.

[John Weaver] Father, we do ask that you would teach us Build us up in the most holy faith. Help us, Lord, to see the importance of Your Word and the importance of preaching and teaching the Word of God. Father, we do cry that Thou wouldst indeed raise up men in this country that will preach the Word of God unashamedly and declare Thy truth and hold our nation accountable. I pray, Father, if it please Thee, now grant us repentance and grant us faith that we may honor Thee in every area of our lives, in our churches, in our families, and in our nations. In Christ's name we pray, Amen.

Is America A Lost Nation?

John Weaver | SermonAudio

Lecture Metadata	Details
Speaker	John Weaver
Source	SermonAudio
Media ID	8605133250
Subject	New Testament Studies
Course	Romans: Sin, Judgment, and Gospel Foundations: Prepared Hearts
Genre	Sermon
Date	2005-07-31
Dictation Name
Book	Book 136: Romans: Sin, Judgment, and Gospel Foundations - Volume 1 — Chapter 7
Source Timed Segments	89

Formatted Transcript

Introduction: The Potter and the Clay

God sends Jeremiah to the potter's house to learn that He is sovereign over nations, able to build or destroy. The lesson applies to individuals, families, churches, and nations.

Jeremiah chapter 18, and let's read the first 16 verses. We're going to be looking at really and truly all of this chapter, but we're going to read the first 16 verses. And the title of the message is, "Is America a Lost Nation?" Jeremiah chapter 18, verse 1:

Scripture Reading — Jeremiah 18:1-16

"The word which came to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying, Arise, and go down to the potter's house, and there I will cause thee to hear my words. Then I went down to the potter's house, and, behold, he wrought a work on the wheels." "And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter: so he made it again another vessel, as seemed good to the potter to make it. Then the word of the Lord came to me, saying, O house of Israel, cannot I do with you as this potter? saith the Lord. Behold, as the clay is in the potter's hand, so are ye in mine hand, O house of Israel." "At what instant I shall speak concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to pluck up, and to pull down, and to destroy it; if that nation, against whom I have pronounced, turn from their evil, I will repent of the evil that I thought to do unto them. And at what instant I shall speak concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to build and to plant it; if it do evil in my sight, that it obey not my voice, then I will repent of the good, wherewith I said I would benefit them." "Now therefore go to, speak to the men of Judah, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying, Thus saith the Lord; Behold, I frame evil against you, and devise a device against you: return ye now every one from his evil way, and make your ways and your doings good. And they said, There is no hope: but we will walk after our own devices, and we will every one do the imagination of his evil heart. Therefore thus saith the Lord; Ask ye now among the heathen, who hath heard such things." "The virgin of Israel hath done a very horrible thing. Will a man leave the snow of Lebanon which cometh from the rock of the field? or shall the cold flowing waters that come from another place be forsaken? Because my people have forgotten me, they have burned incense to vanity, and they have caused them to stumble in their ways from the ancient paths, to walk in paths, in a way not cast up." "To make their land desolate, and a perpetual hissing; every one that passeth thereby shall be astonished, and wag his head."

Is America a lost nation? Let me ask you a question concerning, I'm sure, that which you've experienced. Have you ever wondered how people get themselves in the messes that they're in constantly and continually? Maybe you don't hear what I hear and do not receive the phone calls that I receive.

We Have Lost the Means of Recovery

The means of recovery is repentance and faith. America has lost both the duty to repent (God commands it) and the desire to repent (people refuse to change).

Now, the title of this message is, "Is America a Lost Nation?" Is America a lost nation? I want to give you three principles from Jeremiah chapter 18 and let you examine what is happening in our land today in light of these three principles. And I want you to draw your own conclusion based from the word of God. I realize there are exceptions to these principles in some areas. But I'm talking about generally speaking as a nation. Is America lost? I want you to look in verses 11 and 12.

The first point is this. We have lost the means of recovery. We have lost the means of recovery. God says in verse 11 to Jeremiah, "Now therefore go to, speak to the men of Judah, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying, Thus saith the Lord." Now watch what Jeremiah tells them. "Thus saith the Lord; Behold, I frame evil against you, and devise a device against you: return ye now every one from his evil way, and make your ways and your doings good. And they said," after Jeremiah told them what God demanded, "and they said, There is no hope: but we will walk after our own devices, and we will every one do the imagination of his evil heart."

Now, I want you to stop and think with me. Here's the very first point. We have lost the means of recovery. We do not realize how important this truth really is. Here's my question. How in the world can you possibly recover anything if you do not have the means to do so? How can you possibly recover anything if you do not have the means to do so? What are the means of recovery?

Listen carefully: for individuals, for families, for churches, for nations. What is the means of recovery? Here it is: repentance and faith. Look in verse 11. "Now therefore go to, speak to the men of Judah, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying, Thus saith the Lord; Behold, I frame evil against you, and devise a device against you: return ye now every one from his evil way, and make your ways and your doings good." What is God saying? God is saying, I have devised evil against you. I'm going to come hard upon you in judgment. And there's only one thing that's going to thwart that judgment, and that is repentance. Every one of you, says God, you turn from your evil way and from the evil of your doings and you repent and do good works.

You see, this is the same truth that is revealed in 1 Thessalonians 1 and verse 9. The Apostle Paul talking about those Thessalonians said this,

Scripture Reading — 1 Thessalonians 1:9

"and how ye turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God."

What do you do? You repent of your idolatry and you turn to God and the evidence that you have turned to God is that you serve the living and the true God. Now, let me cover two thoughts under this. It's the second one that is really scary. But here are the two thoughts, number one. We have lost the duty of repentance. We have lost the duty of repentance. We have failed to understand that repentance on our part is a duty. It is a duty simply because God commands it. I want you to hold Jeremiah 18, but look in your Bibles to Acts 17, verses 30 and 31. I can quote this passage, but I want you to see it. Acts 17, verses 30 and 31.

The Apostle Paul has been preaching on Mars Hill and he makes this conclusion. Acts 17, verses 30 and 31. Look what he says. "And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men every where to repent." God commands all men everywhere to repent. Why? Here's why. "Because he hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead." Now, why does God command people to repent? Simply because, first of all, God is God, and He has a right to do whatever He wants to do. So He commands people to repent. Here's why He commands them to repent. Because He's appointed a day of judgment in which He's going to judge the world in righteousness, by Jesus Christ. And look what God says. God says, I've given assurance to all men everywhere that I'm going to do this, in that I've raised Jesus Christ from the dead.

So just as surely as God has raised Jesus Christ from the dead, just as surely God's going to judge me. And God says, therefore, I command you to repent. Did you know the Bible tells us in the book of Mark, chapter 1 and verse 15, that when our Lord began his ministry, let me read to you what the Bible says, verse 15, "And saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel." Now, what I'm trying to tell you today is this. It is our responsibility to repent. Since God is our creator, we owe him honor and glory. Since we are sinners and since we rebelled against him and disobeyed him, we owe him repentance.

Now, let me clear something up. Many people get this confused. I told you that repentance is a duty. God commands it, but just simply because repentance is a duty does not mean that we have the ability to repent. Repentance may be our responsibility, but it is not in our ability. Let me give you an illustration. Here's a man that's a drunkard. You say God commands you to repent, repent right now. Guess what? He does not have the ability to repent. He can't stop being a drunkard any more than a man can stop being an adulterer, or stop being a liar, or stop being a sinner. Now he may have the responsibility to repent, but may I tell you that repentance is a gift of God. Just like faith is a gift of God.

Look in your Bibles to Acts chapter 5 and verses 30 and 31. Let me show you three passages very clearly that teach repentance is a gift of God. In Acts 5, the Bible is speaking about the fact how that God raised up Jesus Christ and seated Him in His own right hand. And look what the Bible says. Acts 5, verse 30. The apostle Peter said,

Scripture Reading — Acts 5:30-31

"The God of our fathers raised up Jesus, whom ye slew and hanged on a tree."

Now watch what the Bible says.

Scripture Reading — Acts 5:30-31

"Him hath God exalted with his right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour, for to give repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins."

In other words, repentance is a gift. Christ must actually give it. Look at Acts 11 and verse 18. After Cornelius and those in his house repented and turned to God in faith, look at the expression of the believers in Jerusalem. Acts 11 verse 18, "When they heard these things, they held their peace, and glorified God, saying, Then hath God also to the Gentiles granted repentance unto life."

Who gave them repentance? God did. It was His gift. Then if you'll look in your Bibles to 2 Timothy chapter 2. 2 Timothy chapter 2 and begin there with verse 24. 2 Timothy chapter 2. Notice, if you would, how plainly this is stated. 2 Timothy 2 verse 24, "And the servant of the Lord must not strive; but be gentle unto all men, apt to teach, patient, in meekness instructing those that oppose themselves; if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth."

Now let me ask you a question. When do men acknowledge the truth? What's the answer? In verse 25, when they repent. Now let me ask you another question. When do men repent? When God gives them repentance. In other words, repentance is God's gift.

Now, let me try to tie it together for you. Repentance is our duty. It is our responsibility. But we cannot repent savingly in and of ourselves. It is the gift and the grace of God. What does that mean? That means that we're obligated to seek God for His grace and His gift to turn us from our sins. That's why all through the Bible, the psalmist and many of the prophets say, "Turn us, O God, and we shall be turned."

"Heal us and we shall be healed." In other words, to God belongs the ability, to us belongs the responsibility. We're duty bound to seek God for repentance and faith. We owe him repentance because we've sinned against him and violated his word. Now, I told you that under this point, we've lost the means of recovery. Under the means of recovery, we've lost the duty of repentance. Do you realize the sad truth today is this? Very few people, very few preachers deal with repentance. Do you know what the attitude of the average church is? We want to be non-confrontational. We want to provide a place of safety and comfort and repose for sinners. The attitude is that we now pacify sinners. We coddle wicked men. And in our evangelism, we try to slip up on sinners and ease them into the confession of faith without ever them experiencing any painful conviction. We want to make it as easy and as painless as we possibly can to become a Christian. Why? All you have to do in the average church is just raise your hand or walk down an aisle or say a little prayer or join the church. The truth is simple. Listen to me, folks. There is no salvation without repentance. I don't care how many churches you join.

I don't care how often you've been baptized. I don't care how many times you've prayed the sinner's prayer. I don't care how often you've raised your hand. If you've never repented, you've never, ever been saved. It's just that simple. Do you remember Luke chapter 13? When those men came to our Lord and said, "Lord, did you hear about those individuals upon whom the tower of Siloam fell and killed those 18 men?" Our Lord looked at him and said, "Do you suppose that they were sinners exceedingly, that is, above everyone else?"

"I tell you, nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish." "Well, Lord, did you hear about those men whose blood Pilate mingled with their sacrifices? They were sacrificing and Pilate had them killed." Our Lord said, "Do you think they were sinners exceedingly? I tell you, nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish." What is our Lord saying? No one can be saved unless he repents.

There is no painless way to become a child of God. We have to be honest with our sins. We have to deal with our sins. And no one can savingly believe upon Jesus Christ who has not repented of his sins. Put it like this. Repentance and faith are the two sides of one coin. The man who has savingly repented has also savingly believed on Jesus Christ. The man who has savingly believed on Jesus Christ has also savingly repented. You cannot have real saving faith without repentance.

Now, let me ask you this question. How can we expect our nation to repent when the duty of repentance is not laid upon sinners? How can you perform your duty, folks, if you don't even know what your duty is? How can you seek God for His gift of repentance if you're ignorant of His requirement to seek Him for repentance? In our age of political correctness and religious toleration, we are told that it really doesn't matter what you believe, just so you believe it sincerely. Let me be kind in saying this. That's a bald-faced lie. What did our Lord say in John 14, verse 6? "I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me." And the Bible says very plainly in Acts 3, verse 19, "Repent ye therefore, and be converted." The only God there is is the God who is revealed in Scripture. The only God that there is has revealed Himself in Jesus Christ. The only salvation there is is in Jesus Christ. And it's our duty. It's our responsibility to tell men they have a duty and responsibility to repent.

Now, how can you recover if you've lost the means of recovery? Look back in Jeremiah chapter 18, because here's the second thing, and this is what really, really is frightening. It's not just simply we have lost the duty for repentance. It is also we have lost the desire for repentance. Look in verse 11. God says, "Now therefore go to, speak to the men of Judah, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying, Thus saith the Lord; Behold, I frame evil against you, and devise a device against you." God says, I'm fixing to give you a knockout blow. Here's the only thing that's going to stop it. "Return ye now every one from his evil way, and make your ways and your doings good." Now, remember, God spoke to the nation. God said, I'm going to take you out unless you repent. Watch the answer, verse 12, "And they said, There is no hope: but we will walk after our own devices, and we will every one do the imagination of his evil heart." Let me tell you something, dear friend, the frightening thing to me is this.

We have not just lost the duty of repentance. We have lost the desire for repentance. We do not want to change. What did these people say? "There is no hope." Why was there no hope? Because "we will walk after our own devices, and we will every one do the imagination of his evil heart." Why is there no hope? Simply because there was no desire to change, no desire to repent. Men loved darkness rather than light, and they loved evil more than good and sin more than righteousness.

Let me tell you what they were saying, in essence, in verse 12. Here's what they were saying. "We will walk after our own devices." God may take his way and we will take ours. He has devised evil against us, you say? Let him bring it to pass if he pleases. We have devised sin, and we will go on in it. No one is stopping us. We will do every one after the imagination of his evil heart. Whatever our hearts suggest to us that is pleasant and agreeable, that shall we do.

Let the issue be what it will. We're going to do what we want to do. Now, let me tell you something, you don't have to literally voice those words for those words to be true, because those words are expressed in attitudes and in actions. I want you to notice carefully. According to verse 11, and also according to verse 8, it was not that there was no hope in the grace and the mercy of God, for God had declared that upon their repentance and reformation, he would turn from his stretched-out judgment. The problem was that they were so hardened in their sins, so fixed in their wicked courses, and so determined to go on in them that there was no room for Jeremiah to believe that his preaching would ever reclaim them. Preaching, exhortation and admonition was useless. Regardless of whether Jeremiah preached to them or not, regardless of whether God judged them or not, they were going to go on exactly as they were going. Do you realize in Jeremiah 18, the people had no desire to change, no desire to repent, no desire to honor God, and thus they refused him and refused to submit to his law. Do you realize when one will not repent, truly all hope is lost.

These men rightly expressed the situation that they were in naturally. They said in verse 11, "There is no hope." And the reason there was no hope is because they did not have a single desire to repent and obey God. Do you realize when one loses hope, all is lost? You know, when people die, when they lose hope. You know, when nations die, when they lose hope, when one thinks that he can do absolutely nothing, that's exactly what he will do. Nothing. When one thinks that the situation is useless, that's exactly what he will be—useless. When someone thinks the situation is hopeless, that's exactly what he will be—an individual without hope. When one will not repent, there is no hope and there is no help. Are you listening? Nations, like individuals, lose hope. When a nation loses the duty and the desire to repent, all hope of recovery is gone. Now, the question that you must ask yourself, have we in America, like the nation of Israel in Jeremiah's day, lost the means of recovery?

Have we lost the duty and the desire to repent? I want you to note second, we've also lost the message of recovery. Look in verse 13. "Therefore thus saith the Lord; Ask ye now among the heathen, who hath heard such things: the virgin of Israel hath done a very horrible thing. Will a man leave the snow of Lebanon which cometh from the rock of the field? or shall the cold flowing waters that come from another place be forsaken?"

We Have Lost the Message of Recovery

Israel forsook God for idols, leaving the ancient paths. America has similarly abandoned the true gospel and God's law, walking in uncharted, destructive ways.

"Because my people have forgotten me, they have burned incense to vanity," that is to idols, "and they have caused them to stumble in their ways from the ancient paths, to walk in paths, in a way not cast up." I want you to note what God does in these verses. In verses 16 and 17, he says, His judgment upon them is going to be, he's going to make their land desolate. They're going to be a hissing. Everybody's going to pass by. They'll be astonished. God says in verse 17, "I will scatter them as with an east wind before the enemy." "I will shew them the back, and not the face, in the day of their calamity." God reveals how unbelievable and how preposterous it was for Israel to do what it had done. By the same token, we can see how unbelievable and how preposterous it is for America to do what she has done. God asked the question, He says in verse 14, "Will a man leave the snow of Lebanon, which cometh from the rock of the field? or shall the cold flowing waters that come from another place be forsaken?" Who in their right mind would leave cold, clear, fresh water to drink from a scum-filled, swampy, stagnated pond? God says that's exactly what my people have done. It's unbelievable. It's preposterous.

They've left me the one true and living God and they have turned to idols. By the way, you ask yourself this question. Why would anyone swap the one true and living God for a false God? Why would anyone swap the one true gospel for a false gospel? See, that's exactly what Israel did in Jeremiah 18. That's exactly what America has done. And consequently, we're walking as they did in uncharted paths. Look in verse 15.

He says, "Because my people have forgotten me, they have burned incense to vanity, and they have caused them to stumble in their ways from the ancient paths, to walk in paths, in a way not cast up." In other words, you're walking, says God, on a slippery footpath. It's unproven. Uncharted. And in a way that you should not be walking. Let me just ask that you turn back to Jeremiah 6 and look at verse 16. Jeremiah preached to the people. And I want you to note what he proclaimed and what their response was. Jeremiah 6 and verse 16. One of the saddest verses in the Bible. Jeremiah 6 verse 16. "Thus saith the Lord." Here's what God says. "Stand ye in the ways, and see."

Now watch, "and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls. But they said, We will not walk therein." God, we don't want to obey You. We don't want Your Word. We don't want to honor You. We don't want the old way. If one will not walk in the true path, then the only paths left open to him are false paths. If one will not walk in the true gospel, then the only gospels left open to him are false gospels, which lead to death and destruction. That's why Paul said in Galatians 1, verses 8 and 9, "But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed. As we said before, so say I now again, If any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed." By the way, the word "accursed" in Galatians 1 verses 8 and 9

means to be set apart and marked out for certain and sure death and destruction. So if anyone will not preach the one true and living gospel and believe that one true gospel and follow that one true path, he says, let him be marked out for certain and sure destruction. Now, look at it back in Jeremiah 18. Go back, if you would, please, to verse 15, the latter part, because they've left God. Look what he says. "Because my people have forgotten me, they have burned incense to vanity, and they have caused them to stumble in their ways from the ancient paths," that is, they're not following those old paths, "to walk in paths, in a way not cast up." So since they're walking in uncharted waters and unsailable waters previously, look what's going to happen.

"To make their land desolate, and a perpetual hissing; every one that passeth thereby shall be astonished, and wag his head. I will scatter them as with an east wind before the enemy; I will shew them the back, and not the face, in the day of their calamity." What's God saying? I will destroy them. Why? They've left the old paths. They don't want my ways. Have you ever stopped to think this? This amazes me. Maybe it amazes me more because maybe I study history more than you. I don't know. But it just amazes me that how we have left our history, our heritage and our God.

How far we have fallen. The true gospel of Jesus Christ, His law, His sovereignty are ignored and despised and rejected in this country. Stop and think: this nation was begun to honor Him and to glorify Him and we have ingloriously and wickedly turned our back upon Him and upon His truth. It's like Zechariah chapter 13 and verse 6. Someone asked the Messiah, "What are these wounds in thine hands?"

Then he shall answer, "Those with which I was wounded in the house of my friends." We who began in this nation as the friends of justice, righteousness, holiness, and obedience have now turned our backs upon the very One who gave us life and holds our lives in His hands. How can we ever be recovered if we've lost the means of recovery, and if we've lost the message of recovery? Look very quickly in your Bibles to Isaiah 30 and verse 21. Isaiah 30 and verse 21. I want you to note, as we obey God, we are never, ever left without direction. Look what God says. Isaiah 30, verse 21, "And thine ears shall hear a word behind thee, saying, This is the way, walk ye in it, when ye turn to the right hand, and when ye turn to the left." In other words, as we obey God, God does not leave us directionless. He does not leave us lost. He does not leave us without hope. God said, I will tell you, "This is the way, walk ye in it."

If we are left without directions, if we are left without the true way, how can we be recovered as a nation? That's the question. What have we lost in this country? First of all, we've lost the means of recovery: repentance and faith. We've lost the message of recovery, because only a very few really, truly want the Word of God. But thirdly, we have even lost the messengers of recovery. Look in verse 18. "Then said they," in other words, Jeremiah is preaching what God has told him to preach. "Then said they, Come, and let us devise devices against Jeremiah; for the law shall not perish from the priest, nor counsel from the wise, nor the word from the prophet. Come, and let us smite him with the tongue, and let us not give heed to any of his words." What? Here's a man that has been preaching, praying, crying.

We Have Lost the Messengers of Recovery

Faithful preachers like Jeremiah are rejected. America lacks guides who teach the whole counsel of God; most pastors are blind watchmen who fail to declare truth.

And they said, I tell you what we'll do. Since God has said he's going to devise devices against us, we're going to get rid of this preacher. We'll do the same thing to Jeremiah. We'll teach him. We'll show him. Let me ask you a question. You don't have to turn to this passage. But do you remember the passage in Acts chapter 8? When Philip approached the Ethiopian eunuch in the chariot, and he asked the eunuch,

"Understandest thou what thou readest?" You remember that? And he was reading from Isaiah 53. What was the eunuch's response? "How can I, except some man should guide me?" And then Philip got in the chariot with him and began to preach and teach Jesus Christ to him.

Now let me ask you, as a whole, generally speaking, where are our guides in this country who lead us and teach us in the way of God according to His Word? And he asked, how many honest, faithful, and true preachers can you name that live in Florida? How many honest and faithful and true preachers can you name that live in Georgia? You know, one of the problems I have everywhere I go is people ask me, can you tell me where a good church is in Montana? Can you tell me where a good church is in Canada or New York? Where are our preachers? Where are our messengers? We have plenty of preachers, but the sad truth is this, folks, most of them couldn't preach their way out of a wet paper bag. They don't know the truth and they can't preach the truth. Do you realize the average pastor stays at the average church—help me out now—do you know? Two years. How can you teach the word of God in two years?

I can't even—it takes me almost that long just to clear my throat. I mean, I was on the book of Hosea for a year and a half. But the average preacher stays at the average church two years and then he moves on. And guess what? When he goes to the next church instead of studying and continuing to study, he just preaches the same two years' worth of messages. And when he leaves there, he goes to the next church and does the same thing. And I'm just assuming that other denominations are like the Baptist. But if you go to a fundamental Bible-believing Baptist church, usually you're going to hear a sermon either on sin, salvation, separation or soul winning. And that's it. And most of the Baptist preachers, when they lose those or leave those four fields, they don't have anything to preach. Where are our messages?

And where are our messengers? Do you realize very few pastors ever deal with doctrinal issues? They never teach doctrine. Now, let me take that back. They do teach doctrine, but not biblical doctrine. Every time you teach, you're teaching some doctrine. But it's just not biblical doctrine. A guide cannot be a guide if he does not know the way. Let me just read Isaiah 56, verse 10 to you. This verse accurately describes most of our men today. Here's what Isaiah 56:10 says:

Scripture Reading — Isaiah 56:10

"His watchmen are blind: they are all ignorant, they are all dumb dogs, they cannot bark; sleeping, lying down, loving to slumber."

Now, here's my question. What good is a blind watchman? And what good is a dog that cannot bark? How would you know that danger is approaching? How would you know that company is coming? You wouldn't.

I want you to turn in your Bibles to Acts chapter 20. Let me show you something. Acts chapter 20. What is the responsibility of pastor-teachers? And the answer is, our responsibility is to teach the whole counsel of God. Acts 20—and that's chapter 20. The Apostle Paul has summoned all the elders, all the pastors there to Ephesus, and he's preaching to them. And look what he says in verse 20. In fact, let's read verse 19. He says, "Serving the Lord with all humility of mind, and with many tears, and temptations, which befell me by the lying in wait of the Jews."

Now, look what he says: "And how I kept back nothing that was profitable unto you, but have shewed you, and have taught you publickly, and from house to house." Now, Paul said, I kept back absolutely nothing that was profitable unto you. Well, do you remember 2 Timothy 3:16? Don't turn there, but let me just put it for you. "All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable." Now, Paul kept back nothing that was profitable, and if all Scripture is profitable, what did he teach? All the Scripture.

Now, let me show you something else here. This is—this is amazing to me. Verse 26. Paul's talking to these preachers and he says this, "Wherefore I take you to record this day, that I am pure from the blood of all men." How in the world could the Apostle Paul get pure from the blood of all men? Let me tell you what I have been taught all my life. All my life, I've been taught that you are obligated to witness to every person that you see. Because if you don't witness to them, their blood is on your hands and you'll face them at the judgment seat of Christ. And they'll say, why didn't you witness to me? Now, let me tell you something, folks, that interpretation is absolutely stupid. Can I tell you why it is absolutely stupid?

Let's suppose my wife tells me tomorrow, "Sweetheart, we're out of milk, we're out of bread," and actually we're out of milk because we don't even drink milk, but we're out of milk, we're out of bread, etc. "Would you please go to the store and bring us back some milk and bread?" And I said, "Sure." And remember now, I've got to witness to every person that I see or their blood's on my hands. Would you please tell me when I'm ever going to return home? Be honest with me. If I haven't witnessed to every person I see, when would I ever return home? The truth is I would leave her and never, ever come home. It's impossible. How did Paul say—how did Paul say, verse 26, "Wherefore I take you to record this day, that I am pure from the blood of all men." Here's how, verse 27, "For I have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God." Paul said, I'm free from the blood of all men because I preach the totality of Scripture.

We get free from the blood of all men by preaching the total Word of God, and pastors can witness till they faint and fall down in it, but if they do not preach the totality of the Word of God, blood is on their hands. Now, the point I'm trying to make is this, folks. We have lost in this country the messengers of recovery. We've lost men who will stand up and say, "Thus saith the Lord." Jeremiah was a true prophet of God. He was a prayer warrior. He was a weeping prophet. Everyone would have thought that, man, what a pastor Jeremiah would be. Everybody would be delighted to have Pastor Jeremiah around. But they said, oh no. We're going to devise devices against him. We're going to make it where nobody will listen to him, and a little bit later, they'll even try to kill him. You'll find that in chapter 20, verse 10.

Don't have to turn there. Now, let me ask you, what happened in Jeremiah 18? I want to show you. Watch this very carefully. God sent Jeremiah down to the potter's house to learn one lesson: that God is in control. God controls nations and God demands nations to repent. And God says, Jeremiah, you go and tell them. Jeremiah went and told them. They would not listen. They would not heed. They would not hear.

The Consequence of Rejecting God's Means, Message, and Messengers

When people reject God's provision, the messenger becomes an intercessor against them. The same word that brings life to some brings death to those who refuse to repent.

And so they decide, since we despise the means of recovery and since we despise the message of recovery, well, the thing for us to do is to silence the messenger of recovery. We'll just shut him up. And so they plan to kill him. Go back to Jeremiah chapter 18, and look, if you would please, after—let's read verse 18 again. Jeremiah 18 verse 18: "Then said they, Come, and let us devise devices against Jeremiah; for the law shall not perish from the priest, nor counsel from the wise, nor the word from the prophet. Come, and let us smite him with the tongue, and let us not give heed to any of his words." Look what the messenger who was sent to be their help turned into. Verse 19, Jeremiah prays, "Give heed to me, O Lord, and hearken to the voice of them that contend with me."

"Shall evil be recompensed for good? for they have digged a pit for my soul. Remember that I stood before thee to speak good for them, and to turn away thy wrath from them. Therefore deliver up their children to the famine, and pour out their blood by the force of the sword; and let their wives be bereaved of their children, and be widows; and let their men be put to death; let their young men be slain by the sword in battle. Let a cry be heard from their houses, when thou shalt bring a troop suddenly upon them: for they have digged a pit to take me, and hid snares for my feet. Yet, Lord, thou knowest all their counsel against me to slay me: forgive not their iniquity, neither blot out their sin from thy sight, but let them be overthrown before thee: deal thus with them in the time of thine anger." Oh, the man who was sent for their good.

But he and his message and the means were rejected, turned out to be an intercessor against them. I want you to turn in your Bibles to 2 Chronicles 36. And just let me show you how the message and the messenger are ultimately bound together. Listen carefully. We need to learn that to despise the message of God is to despise the messenger of God. To despise the messenger of God is to despise the message of God, which would also include the means of recovery. So in 2 Chronicles chapter 35 or 36 it is, 2 Chronicles 36 verse 15. Watch what God says. "And the Lord God of their fathers sent to them by his messengers," so He's sending to His people His messengers, "rising up betimes, and sending." Why did God send these preachers? "Because he had compassion on his people, and on his dwelling place." But what happened? "But they mocked the messengers of God, and despised his words," that is God's words, "and misused his prophets, until the wrath of the Lord arose against his people, till there was no remedy."

"Therefore he brought upon them the king of the Chaldees, who slew their young men with the sword in the house of their sanctuary, and had no compassion upon young man or maiden, old man, or him that stooped for age: he gave them all into his hand." So the men that were sent for their profit turned out to be men for their judgment. Why? Because they despised the message and the means. Now, I want you to turn in your Bibles to 2 Corinthians 2. Let me show you the same truth from the New Testament. 2 Corinthians 2, and let's begin reading there with verse 14. 2 Corinthians 2, verse 14. Note what the Apostle Paul says. 2 Corinthians 2, verse 14.

"Now thanks be unto God, which always causeth us to triumph in Christ, and maketh manifest the savour of his knowledge by us in every place." Now, I want you to note particularly the Apostle Paul says that God always makes us triumph in Jesus Christ. Does that mean that people are saved every time we preach? No. Does that mean that people get right and repent every time we preach? No. Watch. He says, "Now thanks be unto God, which always causeth us to triumph in Christ, and maketh manifest the savour of his knowledge by us in every place." Now look what he says, "For we are unto God a sweet savour of Christ, in them that are saved, and in them that perish."

"To the one we are the savour of death unto death; and to the other the savour of life unto life. And who is sufficient for these things?" Now what is he saying? Here's what he said. The man of God comes and preaches the message of God, declaring the means of recovery, repentance and faith, and someone or some group says, "Oh man, that's God's word, that's the truth," and we repent of our sins and we fall on our faces to Jesus Christ and they give a mercy and God says, "That's a sweet smelling savour. My son is preached." But then you have the same preacher with the same message and he's using the same means and people shake their fists and they say, "We hate that Christ." "We'll not have him reign over us. And furthermore, we'll kill you if you keep preaching about him." And God says, "That's a sweet smelling savour. My son is preached." To the one salvation, to the other, condemnation. And only God decides which is for reconciliation and which is for condemnation. Let me tie it together for you. We have to remember God's Word never returns void. It always accomplishes the mission that God sends it upon. But that mission is determined by God. What does God say in Isaiah 55, verses 10 and 11? "My word shall not return unto me void, saith the Lord, but it shall accomplish that whereunto I send it, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it."

So that word which comes as an instrument of life, when men reject it and despise it and refuse to repent, becomes an instrument of death. That is true individually, it is true familially, it is true ecclesiastically, and it is true nationally. You see, what we must learn is to value the means that God has ordained in conversion, in edification, in teaching, evangelism, in preaching the word of God. Do you realize without a comprehension of the importance of the means of recovery, the message of recovery, and the messengers of recovery, without a comprehension of those

Conclusion: Our Duty to Repent

Individuals, families, churches, and the nation must repent and believe in Christ. God holds all accountable, and blessing comes only through honoring His ordained means.

things, we too, as God's people, will become slothful, indolent, and spiritually deficient. We must understand the means, the message and the messenger are all part of God's desire and all part of God's design. God is the one who ordained the preaching of his word. We've got to remember that man who was sent for the good of the people can turn around and be for their evil and for their judgment. In Romans 11 and verse 2, let me just quote it. "Know ye not what the scripture saith of Elias?" that is of Elijah, "how he maketh intercession to God against Israel." When one refuses the means, he also refuses the message and the messenger. What is our duty individually, familially, ecclesiastically and nationally? Our duty is to repent and to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and honor and glorify God. God holds us answerable and accountable. And when the nation turns her back upon God, just like when individuals turn their back upon God, God judges them. God destroys them. We must always, if we want to be blessed by God, be reminded of the means of recovery, the message of recovery, and the messengers of recovery. Let's pray.

Father, we do ask that you would teach us. Build us up in the most holy faith. Help us, Lord, to see the importance of Your Word and the importance of preaching and teaching the Word of God. Father, we do cry that Thou wouldst indeed raise up men in this country that will preach the Word of God unashamedly and declare Thy truth and hold our nation accountable. I pray, Father, if it please Thee, now grant us repentance and grant us faith that we may honor Thee in every area of our lives, in our churches, in our families, and in our nations. In Christ's name we pray, Amen.

Study Guide

Major Themes

God's Sovereignty Over Nations

Summary: God is the potter; nations are clay in His hands. He has the right to build up or tear down according to His will.

Evidence: Jeremiah 18:6-10; Romans 9:20-21. Weaver states, 'God is in absolute and total control.'

Repentance as the Means of Recovery

Summary: Repentance is a duty commanded by God and a gift He grants. Without repentance, there is no salvation or national recovery.

Evidence: Jeremiah 18:11; Acts 17:30-31. Weaver says, 'There is no salvation without repentance.'

Loss of Desire to Repent

Summary: People refuse to change, saying 'There is no hope' and choosing their own evil ways. This hard-heartedness makes recovery impossible.

Evidence: Jeremiah 18:12. Weaver explains, 'We have lost the desire for repentance. We do not want to change.'

Abandoning the Ancient Paths

Summary: Nations fall when they forsake God's revealed truth for false gospels and idols. America has left its Christian heritage.

Evidence: Jeremiah 18:15; Jeremiah 6:16. Weaver notes, 'They've left the old paths. They don't want my ways.'

The Scarcity of Faithful Messengers

Summary: True preachers who declare the whole counsel of God are rare. Many pastors are blind watchmen who fail to guide the nation.

Evidence: Isaiah 56:10; Acts 20:27. Weaver laments, 'Where are our preachers? Where are our messengers?'

The Dual Effect of God's Word

Summary: The same message of the gospel brings life to those who believe and death to those who reject. Rejecting the messenger is rejecting God.

Evidence: 2 Corinthians 2:14-16; 2 Chronicles 36:15-16. Weaver says, 'To the one salvation, to the other, condemnation.'

Key Arguments

Nations are judged for the same reasons as individuals: sin and refusal to repent.

Summary: Just as individuals face God's judgment for unrepentant sin, so do nations. America's moral decline mirrors ancient Israel's rebellion.

Evidence: Weaver states, 'Nations are lost for exactly the same reason that individuals are lost. They do not know God or His Word.'

Repentance is both a duty and a gift, and America has lost both the understanding and the desire for it.

Summary: God commands all men to repent, yet repentance is impossible without His grace. America no longer preaches the duty of repentance, and people lack the will to turn from sin.

Evidence: Weaver argues, 'We have lost the duty of repentance... we have lost the desire for repentance.'

A nation that abandons God's Word for false ideologies is walking in uncharted, destructive paths.

Summary: Leaving the 'ancient paths' of biblical truth leads to desolation. America has exchanged the true gospel for humanistic and false religious systems.

Evidence: Weaver says, 'They've left me the one true and living God and they have turned to idols... That's exactly what America has done.'

The lack of faithful preachers who teach the whole counsel of God contributes to national decay.

Summary: Without guides who proclaim all of Scripture, people remain ignorant of God's requirements. Most pastors today are doctrinally shallow and fail to confront sin.

Evidence: Weaver states, 'We have lost in this country the messengers of recovery. We've lost men who will stand up and say, Thus saith the Lord.'

Rejecting God's messenger and message turns the preacher from an intercessor for good to an agent of judgment.

Summary: When people despise God's word, the very message meant for their salvation becomes a testimony against them. Jeremiah's prayer shifted from intercession to imprecation.

Evidence: Weaver explains, 'The man who was sent for their good... turned out to be an intercessor against them.'

Scripture References

Jeremiah 18:1-16

Context: The primary text of the sermon, read at the beginning. Describes the potter's house and God's message to Israel.

Jeremiah 18:6-10

Context: God declares His sovereignty over nations to build or destroy based on their response to His word.

Jeremiah 18:11-12

Context: God calls for repentance, but the people refuse, saying they will follow their own evil hearts.

Jeremiah 18:13-17

Context: God questions Israel's forsaking of Him for idols and announces coming desolation.

Jeremiah 18:18

Context: The people plot against Jeremiah, rejecting his message.

Jeremiah 18:19-23

Context: Jeremiah's imprecatory prayer against those who sought his life.

Romans 9:14-23

Context: Paul uses the potter and clay analogy to teach God's sovereign right over vessels of honor and dishonor.

Acts 17:30-31

Context: God commands all men everywhere to repent because He has appointed a day of judgment.

Acts 5:30-31

Context: Christ is exalted to give repentance and forgiveness of sins to Israel.

Acts 11:18

Context: The early church glorified God for granting repentance to the Gentiles.

2 Timothy 2:24-25

Context: God may grant repentance leading to the knowledge of the truth.

Jeremiah 6:16

Context: God calls His people to ask for the old paths and walk in them, but they refuse.

Isaiah 30:21

Context: God promises guidance to those who obey: 'This is the way, walk ye in it.'

Isaiah 56:10

Context: Describes blind watchmen and dumb dogs who cannot bark, applied to unfaithful pastors.

Acts 20:20, 26-27

Context: Paul declares he is pure from the blood of all men because he declared the whole counsel of God.

2 Chronicles 36:15-17

Context: God sent messengers, but the people mocked them until there was no remedy, leading to judgment.

2 Corinthians 2:14-16

Context: Believers are a fragrance of Christ: to some an aroma of life, to others an aroma of death.

Isaiah 55:10-11

Context: God's word will not return void but will accomplish His purpose.

Galatians 1:8-9

Context: Anyone preaching a different gospel is to be accursed.

1 Thessalonians 1:9

Context: The Thessalonians turned from idols to serve the living God.

Historical References

Ancient Israel in Jeremiah's day

Context: The nation that refused to repent, forsook God for idols, and faced Babylonian judgment.

Great nations and civilizations of the past

Context: Weaver asks where past great nations are, answering they sinned against God and were destroyed.

America's Christian founding

Context: Weaver states the nation was begun to honor and glorify God but has turned its back on Him.

Important Quotes

There is no salvation without repentance.

Significance: Summarizes the non-negotiable requirement for individual and national recovery.

We have lost the desire for repentance. We do not want to change.

Significance: Highlights the core problem of hard-heartedness that makes judgment inevitable.

They've left the old paths. They don't want my ways.

Significance: Captures the essence of national apostasy: abandoning God's revealed truth.

We have lost in this country the messengers of recovery. We've lost men who will stand up and say, Thus saith the Lord.

Significance: Identifies the lack of faithful preachers as a key factor in America's spiritual decline.

To the one we are the savour of death unto death; and to the other the savour of life unto life.

Significance: Explains the dual effect of the gospel message depending on the hearer's response.

When one will not repent, there is no hope and there is no help.

Significance: States the absolute necessity of repentance for any recovery.

Discussion Questions

In what ways have we as a nation lost the duty and desire to repent, and how can we recover them?

Context: Based on the first point about losing the means of recovery.

What are some examples of 'ancient paths' that America has abandoned, and what have we replaced them with?

Context: Related to the message of recovery and Jeremiah 6:16.

Why is it so difficult to find pastors who preach the whole counsel of God today, and what can we do to encourage such ministry?

Context: Stemming from the loss of messengers of recovery.

How should we respond when we see our nation rejecting God's messengers and message?

Context: Drawing from Jeremiah's experience and 2 Chronicles 36.

What does it mean that the same gospel can be an aroma of life to some and death to others, and how should that affect our evangelism?

Context: Based on 2 Corinthians 2:14-16.

Applications

Personal Repentance

Summary: Examine your own life for unrepentant sin. Repentance is a duty; seek God for the gift of repentance and faith.

Evidence: Weaver says, 'Our duty is to repent and to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and honor and glorify God.'

Value God's Ordained Means

Summary: Recognize the importance of biblical preaching, the message of the gospel, and faithful messengers. Do not despise them.

Evidence: Weaver warns, 'We must understand the means, the message and the messenger are all part of God's desire and all part of God's design.'

Pray for Faithful Preachers

Summary: Ask God to raise up men who will preach the whole counsel of God unashamedly and hold the nation accountable.

Evidence: Weaver prays, 'Father, we do cry that Thou wouldst indeed raise up men in this country that will preach the Word of God unashamedly.'

Return to the Ancient Paths

Summary: As individuals and churches, commit to walking in the old paths of biblical truth rather than the uncharted ways of modern culture.

Evidence: Weaver cites Jeremiah 6:16 and says, 'If one will not walk in the true path, then the only paths left open to him are false paths.'

deepseek | deepseek-v4-pro | clean_readable_transcript | 2026-06-06T02:16:24Z

deepseek | deepseek-v4-pro | weaver_study | 2026-06-06T15:47:39Z

Clean Transcript

Is America A Lost Nation?

Clean readable transcript. This view follows the Commentary.net cleaned segment text while preserving timestamps for audio follow-along.

Jeremiah chapter 18, and let's read the first 16 verses. We're going to be looking at really and truly all of this chapter, but we're going to read the first 16 verses. And the title of the message is, "Is America a Lost Nation?" Jeremiah chapter 18, verse 1: "The word which came to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying, Arise, and go down to the potter's house, and there I will cause thee to hear my words. Then I went down to the potter's house, and, behold, he wrought a work on the wheels."
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"And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter: so he made it again another vessel, as seemed good to the potter to make it. Then the word of the Lord came to me, saying, O house of Israel, cannot I do with you as this potter? saith the Lord. Behold, as the clay is in the potter's hand, so are ye in mine hand, O house of Israel."
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"At what instant I shall speak concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to pluck up, and to pull down, and to destroy it; if that nation, against whom I have pronounced, turn from their evil, I will repent of the evil that I thought to do unto them. And at what instant I shall speak concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to build and to plant it; if it do evil in my sight, that it obey not my voice, then I will repent of the good, wherewith I said I would benefit them."
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"Now therefore go to, speak to the men of Judah, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying, Thus saith the Lord; Behold, I frame evil against you, and devise a device against you: return ye now every one from his evil way, and make your ways and your doings good. And they said, There is no hope: but we will walk after our own devices, and we will every one do the imagination of his evil heart. Therefore thus saith the Lord; Ask ye now among the heathen, who hath heard such things."
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"The virgin of Israel hath done a very horrible thing. Will a man leave the snow of Lebanon which cometh from the rock of the field? or shall the cold flowing waters that come from another place be forsaken? Because my people have forgotten me, they have burned incense to vanity, and they have caused them to stumble in their ways from the ancient paths, to walk in paths, in a way not cast up."
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"To make their land desolate, and a perpetual hissing; every one that passeth thereby shall be astonished, and wag his head." Is America a lost nation? Let me ask you a question concerning, I'm sure, that which you've experienced. Have you ever wondered how people get themselves in the messes that they're in constantly and continually? Maybe you don't hear what I hear and do not receive the phone calls that I receive.
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But I am so absolutely amazed. I came home last night, there were 23 messages waiting for me, all important. Some of them were from people I have known for years, getting a divorce, involved in sin, involved in wickedness. I have been flabbergasted over and over the situations that people get themselves into. An additional shock comes when you realize that now once they have gotten themselves in these situations, they now expect you and everyone else to help get them out of those situations, regardless of the time, expense, and effort that it takes. And then the knockout blow comes when you make the amazing discovery that most people who are in those situations who want your help do not really want to do that which is necessary, that is from a biblical perspective, to extricate themselves from the problems that they're in. In other words, they do not really want a biblical remedy. They want a humanistic remedy. They want help, but they only want it upon their terms. They do not want to acknowledge their sins, repent, or make restitution, and certainly not obey God.
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Now, the truth of the matter is, most of them had rather remain in their sins and face the judgment of God rather than do that which is right and holy. Do you realize that nations are exactly the same? Just like people born, live, and die, so do nations. Think just for a moment with me of the great nations and the great civilizations of the past and ask yourself this question, where are they?
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Why did they disappear from the scene of history? Why did they sink into oblivion? Why were they destroyed? And the answer comes back. They sinned against God. They refused to repent and they met his judgment.
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Now, Jeremiah chapter 18 explains why nations are judged. They forget God and they forget God's law. Jeremiah 18 teaches us that just as God is capable of building and planting and molding nations, that He is also quite adept at plucking up, pulling down and destroying nations. In fact, if you look at verse 7, God said, "At what instant I shall speak concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to pluck up, and to pull down, and to destroy." And then verse 9, "At what instant I shall speak concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to build and to plant it." So God can either build and plant or God can pluck up and destroy.
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You see, it is sinful attitudes and unscriptural actions that lead to desolation. And that is true, not just in the individual realm, the family realm, the ecclesiastical realm, but it's also true in the national realm.
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Now, when you read Jeremiah chapter 18, God sends Jeremiah down to the potter's house to learn a particular lesson. Look, if you would please, in verse 2, God tells him, "Arise, and go down to the potter's house, and there I will cause thee to hear my words." And I want you to know what Jeremiah perceived. He said in verse 3 that "I went down to the potter's house."
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"Behold, he wrought a work on the wheels. And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter: so he made it again another vessel, as seemed good to the potter to make it. Then the word of the Lord came to me, saying," now, here's the simple lesson that Jeremiah learned: that men, families, churches and nations are all in God's hands. He is the potter. We are the clay. It is God's sovereign prerogative to make us either a vessel of honor or a vessel of dishonor.
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God is in absolute and total control. Now, I want you to hold Jeremiah 18, but look in your Bibles to Romans 9, because I want you to see that the Apostle Paul learned this lesson that I've just enunciated from Jeremiah, because he repeats it in Romans 9, beginning there with verse 14. Look carefully. Romans 9, verse 14. "What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? God forbid," that is, perish the thought. Don't even let that thought enter into your mind. Is there unrighteousness with God? God forbid. "For he saith to Moses," what did God tell Moses?
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"I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion." In other words, it's totally, completely, solely, and absolutely up to God. So he makes his conclusion in verse 16. "So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy. For the scripture saith unto Pharaoh, Even for this same purpose have I raised thee up, that I might shew my power in thee, and that my name might be declared throughout all the earth. Therefore hath he mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will he hardeneth. Thou wilt say then unto me," that is, if God is sovereign and if God does not please us, "thou wilt say then unto me, Why doth he yet find fault? For who hath resisted his will?" Look what he says, "Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus?"
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"Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honour, and another unto dishonour? What if God, willing to shew his wrath, and to make his power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction: and that he might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy, which he had afore prepared unto glory?" Note what the Apostle Paul says, that God is sovereign, and it is God's prerogative to make a vessel of honor or a vessel of dishonor.
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The problem is simply this, folks. Too few people have really learned and really understood that it is God who is in absolute and total control. He is the Master. He is the Creator. He is the Sovereign. He is the Lord. He is the Judge of all the Earth.
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Now, as you go back to Jeremiah chapter 18, listen carefully. As individuals are lost without God and His Word, equally so are nations lost without God and His Word. There is no man who is able to be saved apart from Jesus Christ or apart from the Word of God. Likewise, there is no nation that is able to be saved apart from Jesus Christ and apart from the revelation of His Word. Nations are lost for exactly the same reason that individuals are lost. They do not know God or His Word. It is either their ignorance or their rebellion and stubborn refusal to bow to Him and submit to His divine revelation and His Word that demonstrates their wickedness and their sin. And I can assure you that most often it is not the ignorance that condemns the nations, it is their stubborn refusal to submit and bow to the sovereign God of the universe. Now, Jeremiah chapter 18 can be applied to individuals. It can be applied to families. It can be applied to churches.
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But I want you to note something. I want you to note in the context, primarily, the reference is to nations. Look if you would please at verse 6. "O house of Israel," so he's talking to a nation. "Cannot I do with you as this potter? saith the Lord. Behold, as the clay is in the potter's hand, so are ye in mine hand, O house of Israel," the nation. Watch verse 7. "At what instant I shall speak concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom." Verse 8. "If that nation"—look in verse 9, "And at what instant I shall speak concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom." Look in verse 10, "If it do evil in my sight, that it obey not my voice, then I will repent of the good, wherewith I said I would benefit them." The "it" in verse 10 refers back to the nation or the kingdom. And then when you get to verse 11, God says, "Now therefore go to, speak to the men of Judah, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying," why then if he's talking about nations does he in verse 11 say speak to the men of Judah and men of Jerusalem? Because it is individuals who
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make up nations. But in the context he is basically referring to a nation.
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Now let me demonstrate something from verse 11. You know, you and I could sit here literally all day long saying, wicked Washington politics, ungodly, corrupt judicial system, filthy, corrupt legislative systems. We could talk all day long about that. But I want you to note that here in verse 11, God is not demanding a top-down repentance, but a bottom-up repentance. He's beginning with the men, with the people of Judah and Jerusalem.
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Now, listen, when people change, they will demand changes in their rulers. The reason we have such wicked, unbiblical and unconstitutional rulers in our country is that by and large, as a whole, we have a wicked, unbiblical and unconstitutional populace. And the truth is this, when we repent and turn back to God as individuals, as families and churches, then we will have ground to demand that our leaders repent or that we will have the moral fortitude to replace them. But until we repent, we cannot expect them to repent.
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Now, the title of this message is, "Is America a Lost Nation?" Is America a lost nation? I want to give you three principles from Jeremiah chapter 18 and let you examine what is happening in our land today in light of these three principles. And I want you to draw your own conclusion based from the word of God. I realize there are exceptions to these principles in some areas. But I'm talking about generally speaking as a nation. Is America lost? I want you to look in verses 11 and 12.
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The first point is this. We have lost the means of recovery. We have lost the means of recovery. God says in verse 11 to Jeremiah, "Now therefore go to, speak to the men of Judah, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying, Thus saith the Lord." Now watch what Jeremiah tells them. "Thus saith the Lord; Behold, I frame evil against you, and devise a device against you: return ye now every one from his evil way, and make your ways and your doings good. And they said," after Jeremiah told them what God demanded, "and they said, There is no hope: but we will walk after our own devices, and we will every one do the imagination of his evil heart."
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Now, I want you to stop and think with me. Here's the very first point. We have lost the means of recovery. We do not realize how important this truth really is. Here's my question. How in the world can you possibly recover anything if you do not have the means to do so? How can you possibly recover anything if you do not have the means to do so? What are the means of recovery?
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Listen carefully: for individuals, for families, for churches, for nations. What is the means of recovery? Here it is: repentance and faith. Look in verse 11.
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"Now therefore go to, speak to the men of Judah, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying, Thus saith the Lord; Behold, I frame evil against you, and devise a device against you: return ye now every one from his evil way, and make your ways and your doings good." What is God saying? God is saying, I have devised evil against you. I'm going to come hard upon you in judgment. And there's only one thing that's going to thwart that judgment, and that is repentance. Every one of you, says God, you turn from your evil way and from the evil of your doings and you repent and do good works.
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You see, this is the same truth that is revealed in 1 Thessalonians 1 and verse 9. The Apostle Paul talking about those Thessalonians said this, "and how ye turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God." What do you do? You repent of your idolatry and you turn to God and the evidence that you have turned to God is that you serve the living and the true God.
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Now, let me cover two thoughts under this. It's the second one that is really scary. But here are the two thoughts, number one. We have lost the duty of repentance. We have lost the duty of repentance. We have failed to understand that repentance on our part is a duty. It is a duty simply because God commands it. I want you to hold Jeremiah 18, but look in your Bibles to Acts 17, verses 30 and 31. I can quote this passage, but I want you to see it. Acts 17, verses 30 and 31.
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The Apostle Paul has been preaching on Mars Hill and he makes this conclusion. Acts 17, verses 30 and 31. Look what he says. "And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men every where to repent." God commands all men everywhere to repent. Why? Here's why. "Because he hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead." Now, why does God command people to repent? Simply because, first of all, God is God, and He has a right to do whatever He wants to do. So He commands people to repent. Here's why He commands them to repent. Because He's appointed a day of judgment in which He's going to judge the world in righteousness, by Jesus Christ. And look what God says. God says, I've given assurance to all men everywhere that I'm going to do this, in that I've raised Jesus Christ from the dead.
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So just as surely as God has raised Jesus Christ from the dead, just as surely God's going to judge me. And God says, therefore, I command you to repent. Did you know the Bible tells us in the book of Mark, chapter 1 and verse 15, that when our Lord began his ministry, let me read to you what the Bible says, verse 15, "And saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel."
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Now, what I'm trying to tell you today is this. It is our responsibility to repent. Since God is our creator, we owe him honor and glory. Since we are sinners and since we rebelled against him and disobeyed him, we owe him repentance.
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Now, let me clear something up. Many people get this confused. I told you that repentance is a duty. God commands it, but just simply because repentance is a duty does not mean that we have the ability to repent. Repentance may be our responsibility, but it is not in our ability. Let me give you an illustration. Here's a man that's a drunkard. You say God commands you to repent, repent right now. Guess what? He does not have the ability to repent. He can't stop being a drunkard any more than a man can stop being an adulterer, or stop being a liar, or stop being a sinner. Now he may have the responsibility to repent, but may I tell you that repentance is a gift of God. Just like faith is a gift of God.
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Look in your Bibles to Acts chapter 5 and verses 30 and 31. Let me show you three passages very clearly that teach repentance is a gift of God. In Acts 5, the Bible is speaking about the fact how that God raised up Jesus Christ and seated Him in His own right hand. And look what the Bible says. Acts 5, verse 30. The apostle Peter said, "The God of our fathers raised up Jesus, whom ye slew and hanged on a tree." Now watch what the Bible says. "Him hath God exalted with his right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour, for to give repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins." In other words, repentance is a gift. Christ must actually give it. Look at Acts 11 and verse 18. After Cornelius and those in his house repented and turned to God in faith, look at the expression of the believers in Jerusalem. Acts 11 verse 18, "When they heard these things, they held their peace, and glorified God, saying, Then hath God also to the Gentiles granted repentance unto life."
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Who gave them repentance? God did. It was His gift. Then if you'll look in your Bibles to 2 Timothy chapter 2. 2 Timothy chapter 2 and begin there with verse 24. 2 Timothy chapter 2. Notice, if you would, how plainly this is stated. 2 Timothy 2 verse 24, "And the servant of the Lord must not strive; but be gentle unto all men, apt to teach, patient, in meekness instructing those that oppose themselves; if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth."
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Now let me ask you a question. When do men acknowledge the truth? What's the answer? In verse 25, when they repent. Now let me ask you another question. When do men repent? When God gives them repentance. In other words, repentance is God's gift.
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Now, let me try to tie it together for you. Repentance is our duty. It is our responsibility. But we cannot repent savingly in and of ourselves. It is the gift and the grace of God. What does that mean? That means that we're obligated to seek God for His grace and His gift to turn us from our sins. That's why all through the Bible, the psalmist and many of the prophets say, "Turn us, O God, and we shall be turned."
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"Heal us and we shall be healed." In other words, to God belongs the ability, to us belongs the responsibility. We're duty bound to seek God for repentance and faith. We owe him repentance because we've sinned against him and violated his word.
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Now, I told you that under this point, we've lost the means of recovery. Under the means of recovery, we've lost the duty of repentance. Do you realize the sad truth today is this? Very few people, very few preachers deal with repentance. Do you know what the attitude of the average church is? We want to be non-confrontational. We want to provide a place of safety and comfort and repose for sinners. The attitude is that we now pacify sinners. We coddle wicked men. And in our evangelism, we try to slip up on sinners and ease them into the confession of faith without ever them experiencing any painful conviction. We want to make it as easy and as painless as we possibly can to become a Christian. Why? All you have to do in the average church is just raise your hand or walk down an aisle or say a little prayer or join the church. The truth is simple. Listen to me, folks. There is no salvation without repentance. I don't care how many churches you join.
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I don't care how often you've been baptized. I don't care how many times you've prayed the sinner's prayer. I don't care how often you've raised your hand. If you've never repented, you've never, ever been saved. It's just that simple. Do you remember Luke chapter 13? When those men came to our Lord and said, "Lord, did you hear about those individuals upon whom the tower of Siloam fell and killed those 18 men?" Our Lord looked at him and said, "Do you suppose that they were sinners exceedingly, that is, above everyone else?"
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"I tell you, nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish." "Well, Lord, did you hear about those men whose blood Pilate mingled with their sacrifices? They were sacrificing and Pilate had them killed." Our Lord said, "Do you think they were sinners exceedingly? I tell you, nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish." What is our Lord saying? No one can be saved unless he repents.
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There is no painless way to become a child of God. We have to be honest with our sins. We have to deal with our sins. And no one can savingly believe upon Jesus Christ who has not repented of his sins. Put it like this. Repentance and faith are the two sides of one coin. The man who has savingly repented has also savingly believed on Jesus Christ. The man who has savingly believed on Jesus Christ has also savingly repented. You cannot have real saving faith without repentance.
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Now, let me ask you this question. How can we expect our nation to repent when the duty of repentance is not laid upon sinners? How can you perform your duty, folks, if you don't even know what your duty is? How can you seek God for His gift of repentance if you're ignorant of His requirement to seek Him for repentance? In our age of political correctness and religious toleration, we are told that it really doesn't matter what you believe, just so you believe it sincerely.
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Let me be kind in saying this. That's a bald-faced lie. What did our Lord say in John 14, verse 6? "I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me." And the Bible says very plainly in Acts 3, verse 19, "Repent ye therefore, and be converted." The only God there is is the God who is revealed in Scripture. The only God that there is has revealed Himself in Jesus Christ. The only salvation there is is in Jesus Christ. And it's our duty. It's our responsibility to tell men they have a duty and responsibility to repent.
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Now, how can you recover if you've lost the means of recovery? Look back in Jeremiah chapter 18, because here's the second thing, and this is what really, really is frightening. It's not just simply we have lost the duty for repentance. It is also we have lost the desire for repentance. Look in verse 11. God says, "Now therefore go to, speak to the men of Judah, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying, Thus saith the Lord; Behold, I frame evil against you, and devise a device against you." God says, I'm fixing to give you a knockout blow. Here's the only thing that's going to stop it. "Return ye now every one from his evil way, and make your ways and your doings good." Now, remember, God spoke to the nation. God said, I'm going to take you out unless you repent. Watch the answer, verse 12, "And they said, There is no hope: but we will walk after our own devices, and we will every one do the imagination of his evil heart." Let me tell you something, dear friend, the frightening thing to me is this.
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We have not just lost the duty of repentance. We have lost the desire for repentance. We do not want to change. What did these people say? "There is no hope." Why was there no hope? Because "we will walk after our own devices, and we will every one do the imagination of his evil heart." Why is there no hope? Simply because there was no desire to change, no desire to repent. Men loved darkness rather than light, and they loved evil more than good and sin more than righteousness.
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Let me tell you what they were saying, in essence, in verse 12. Here's what they were saying. "We will walk after our own devices." God may take his way and we will take ours. He has devised evil against us, you say? Let him bring it to pass if he pleases. We have devised sin, and we will go on in it. No one is stopping us. We will do every one after the imagination of his evil heart. Whatever our hearts suggest to us that is pleasant and agreeable, that shall we do.
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Let the issue be what it will. We're going to do what we want to do.
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Now, let me tell you something, you don't have to literally voice those words for those words to be true, because those words are expressed in attitudes and in actions. I want you to notice carefully. According to verse 11, and also according to verse 8, it was not that there was no hope in the grace and the mercy of God, for God had declared that upon their repentance and reformation, he would turn from his stretched-out judgment.
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The problem was that they were so hardened in their sins, so fixed in their wicked courses, and so determined to go on in them that there was no room for Jeremiah to believe that his preaching would ever reclaim them. Preaching, exhortation and admonition was useless. Regardless of whether Jeremiah preached to them or not, regardless of whether God judged them or not, they were going to go on exactly as they were going. Do you realize in Jeremiah 18, the people had no desire to change, no desire to repent, no desire to honor God, and thus they refused him and refused to submit to his law. Do you realize when one will not repent, truly all hope is lost.
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These men rightly expressed the situation that they were in naturally. They said in verse 11, "There is no hope." And the reason there was no hope is because they did not have a single desire to repent and obey God. Do you realize when one loses hope, all is lost? You know, when people die, when they lose hope. You know, when nations die, when they lose hope, when one thinks that he can do absolutely nothing, that's exactly what he will do. Nothing. When one thinks that the situation is useless, that's exactly what he will be—useless. When someone thinks the situation is hopeless, that's exactly what he will be—an individual without hope. When one will not repent, there is no hope and there is no help. Are you listening? Nations, like individuals, lose hope. When a nation loses the duty and the desire to repent, all hope of recovery is gone. Now, the question that you must ask yourself, have we in America, like the nation of Israel in Jeremiah's day, lost the means of recovery?
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Have we lost the duty and the desire to repent? I want you to note second, we've also lost the message of recovery. Look in verse 13. "Therefore thus saith the Lord; Ask ye now among the heathen, who hath heard such things: the virgin of Israel hath done a very horrible thing. Will a man leave the snow of Lebanon which cometh from the rock of the field? or shall the cold flowing waters that come from another place be forsaken?"
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"Because my people have forgotten me, they have burned incense to vanity," that is to idols, "and they have caused them to stumble in their ways from the ancient paths, to walk in paths, in a way not cast up." I want you to note what God does in these verses. In verses 16 and 17, he says, His judgment upon them is going to be, he's going to make their land desolate. They're going to be a hissing. Everybody's going to pass by. They'll be astonished. God says in verse 17, "I will scatter them as with an east wind before the enemy."
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"I will shew them the back, and not the face, in the day of their calamity." God reveals how unbelievable and how preposterous it was for Israel to do what it had done. By the same token, we can see how unbelievable and how preposterous it is for America to do what she has done. God asked the question, He says in verse 14, "Will a man leave the snow of Lebanon, which cometh from the rock of the field? or shall the cold flowing waters that come from another place be forsaken?" Who in their right mind would leave cold, clear, fresh water to drink from a scum-filled, swampy, stagnated pond? God says that's exactly what my people have done. It's unbelievable. It's preposterous.
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They've left me the one true and living God and they have turned to idols. By the way, you ask yourself this question. Why would anyone swap the one true and living God for a false God? Why would anyone swap the one true gospel for a false gospel? See, that's exactly what Israel did in Jeremiah 18. That's exactly what America has done. And consequently, we're walking as they did in uncharted paths. Look in verse 15.
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He says, "Because my people have forgotten me, they have burned incense to vanity, and they have caused them to stumble in their ways from the ancient paths, to walk in paths, in a way not cast up." In other words, you're walking, says God, on a slippery footpath. It's unproven. Uncharted. And in a way that you should not be walking. Let me just ask that you turn back to Jeremiah 6 and look at verse 16. Jeremiah preached to the people.
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And I want you to note what he proclaimed and what their response was. Jeremiah 6 and verse 16. One of the saddest verses in the Bible. Jeremiah 6 verse 16. "Thus saith the Lord." Here's what God says. "Stand ye in the ways, and see."
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Now watch, "and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls. But they said, We will not walk therein." God, we don't want to obey You. We don't want Your Word. We don't want to honor You. We don't want the old way. If one will not walk in the true path, then the only paths left open to him are false paths. If one will not walk in the true gospel, then the only gospels left open to him are false gospels, which lead to death and destruction. That's why Paul said in Galatians 1, verses 8 and 9, "But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed. As we said before, so say I now again, If any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed." By the way, the word "accursed" in Galatians 1 verses 8 and 9
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means to be set apart and marked out for certain and sure death and destruction. So if anyone will not preach the one true and living gospel and believe that one true gospel and follow that one true path, he says, let him be marked out for certain and sure destruction.
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Now, look at it back in Jeremiah 18. Go back, if you would, please, to verse 15, the latter part, because they've left God. Look what he says. "Because my people have forgotten me, they have burned incense to vanity, and they have caused them to stumble in their ways from the ancient paths," that is, they're not following those old paths, "to walk in paths, in a way not cast up." So since they're walking in uncharted waters and unsailable waters previously, look what's going to happen.
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"To make their land desolate, and a perpetual hissing; every one that passeth thereby shall be astonished, and wag his head. I will scatter them as with an east wind before the enemy; I will shew them the back, and not the face, in the day of their calamity." What's God saying? I will destroy them. Why? They've left the old paths. They don't want my ways. Have you ever stopped to think this? This amazes me. Maybe it amazes me more because maybe I study history more than you. I don't know. But it just amazes me that how we have left our history, our heritage and our God.
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How far we have fallen. The true gospel of Jesus Christ, His law, His sovereignty are ignored and despised and rejected in this country. Stop and think: this nation was begun to honor Him and to glorify Him and we have ingloriously and wickedly turned our back upon Him and upon His truth. It's like Zechariah chapter 13 and verse 6. Someone asked the Messiah, "What are these wounds in thine hands?"
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Then he shall answer, "Those with which I was wounded in the house of my friends." We who began in this nation as the friends of justice, righteousness, holiness, and obedience have now turned our backs upon the very One who gave us life and holds our lives in His hands. How can we ever be recovered if we've lost the means of recovery, and if we've lost the message of recovery? Look very quickly in your Bibles to Isaiah 30 and verse 21. Isaiah 30 and verse 21. I want you to note, as we obey God, we are never, ever left without direction. Look what God says. Isaiah 30, verse 21, "And thine ears shall hear a word behind thee, saying, This is the way, walk ye in it, when ye turn to the right hand, and when ye turn to the left." In other words, as we obey God, God does not leave us directionless. He does not leave us lost. He does not leave us without hope. God said, I will tell you, "This is the way, walk ye in it."
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If we are left without directions, if we are left without the true way, how can we be recovered as a nation? That's the question. What have we lost in this country? First of all, we've lost the means of recovery: repentance and faith. We've lost the message of recovery, because only a very few really, truly want the Word of God. But thirdly, we have even lost the messengers of recovery. Look in verse 18. "Then said they," in other words, Jeremiah is preaching what God has told him to preach. "Then said they, Come, and let us devise devices against Jeremiah; for the law shall not perish from the priest, nor counsel from the wise, nor the word from the prophet. Come, and let us smite him with the tongue, and let us not give heed to any of his words." What? Here's a man that has been preaching, praying, crying.
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And they said, I tell you what we'll do. Since God has said he's going to devise devices against us, we're going to get rid of this preacher. We'll do the same thing to Jeremiah. We'll teach him. We'll show him. Let me ask you a question. You don't have to turn to this passage. But do you remember the passage in Acts chapter 8? When Philip approached the Ethiopian eunuch in the chariot, and he asked the eunuch,
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"Understandest thou what thou readest?" You remember that? And he was reading from Isaiah 53. What was the eunuch's response? "How can I, except some man should guide me?" And then Philip got in the chariot with him and began to preach and teach Jesus Christ to him.
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Now let me ask you, as a whole, generally speaking, where are our guides in this country who lead us and teach us in the way of God according to His Word? And he asked, how many honest, faithful, and true preachers can you name that live in Florida? How many honest and faithful and true preachers can you name that live in Georgia? You know, one of the problems I have everywhere I go is people ask me, can you tell me where a good church is in Montana? Can you tell me where a good church is in Canada or New York? Where are our preachers? Where are our messengers? We have plenty of preachers, but the sad truth is this, folks, most of them couldn't preach their way out of a wet paper bag. They don't know the truth and they can't preach the truth. Do you realize the average pastor stays at the average church—help me out now—do you know? Two years. How can you teach the word of God in two years?
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I can't even—it takes me almost that long just to clear my throat. I mean, I was on the book of Hosea for a year and a half. But the average preacher stays at the average church two years and then he moves on. And guess what? When he goes to the next church instead of studying and continuing to study, he just preaches the same two years' worth of messages. And when he leaves there, he goes to the next church and does the same thing. And I'm just assuming that other denominations are like the Baptist. But if you go to a fundamental Bible-believing Baptist church, usually you're going to hear a sermon either on sin, salvation, separation or soul winning. And that's it. And most of the Baptist preachers, when they lose those or leave those four fields, they don't have anything to preach. Where are our messages?
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And where are our messengers? Do you realize very few pastors ever deal with doctrinal issues? They never teach doctrine.
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Now, let me take that back. They do teach doctrine, but not biblical doctrine. Every time you teach, you're teaching some doctrine. But it's just not biblical doctrine. A guide cannot be a guide if he does not know the way. Let me just read Isaiah 56, verse 10 to you. This verse accurately describes most of our men today. Here's what Isaiah 56:10 says: "His watchmen are blind: they are all ignorant, they are all dumb dogs, they cannot bark; sleeping, lying down, loving to slumber." Now, here's my question. What good is a blind watchman? And what good is a dog that cannot bark? How would you know that danger is approaching? How would you know that company is coming? You wouldn't.
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I want you to turn in your Bibles to Acts chapter 20. Let me show you something. Acts chapter 20. What is the responsibility of pastor-teachers? And the answer is, our responsibility is to teach the whole counsel of God. Acts 20—and that's chapter 20. The Apostle Paul has summoned all the elders, all the pastors there to Ephesus, and he's preaching to them. And look what he says in verse 20. In fact, let's read verse 19. He says, "Serving the Lord with all humility of mind, and with many tears, and temptations, which befell me by the lying in wait of the Jews."
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Now, look what he says: "And how I kept back nothing that was profitable unto you, but have shewed you, and have taught you publickly, and from house to house." Now, Paul said, I kept back absolutely nothing that was profitable unto you. Well, do you remember 2 Timothy 3:16? Don't turn there, but let me just put it for you. "All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable." Now, Paul kept back nothing that was profitable, and if all Scripture is profitable, what did he teach? All the Scripture.
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Now, let me show you something else here. This is—this is amazing to me. Verse 26. Paul's talking to these preachers and he says this, "Wherefore I take you to record this day, that I am pure from the blood of all men." How in the world could the Apostle Paul get pure from the blood of all men? Let me tell you what I have been taught all my life. All my life, I've been taught that you are obligated to witness to every person that you see. Because if you don't witness to them, their blood is on your hands and you'll face them at the judgment seat of Christ. And they'll say, why didn't you witness to me? Now, let me tell you something, folks, that interpretation is absolutely stupid. Can I tell you why it is absolutely stupid?
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Let's suppose my wife tells me tomorrow, "Sweetheart, we're out of milk, we're out of bread," and actually we're out of milk because we don't even drink milk, but we're out of milk, we're out of bread, etc. "Would you please go to the store and bring us back some milk and bread?" And I said, "Sure." And remember now, I've got to witness to every person that I see or their blood's on my hands. Would you please tell me when I'm ever going to return home? Be honest with me. If I haven't witnessed to every person I see, when would I ever return home? The truth is I would leave her and never, ever come home. It's impossible. How did Paul say—how did Paul say, verse 26, "Wherefore I take you to record this day, that I am pure from the blood of all men." Here's how, verse 27, "For I have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God." Paul said, I'm free from the blood of all men because I preach the totality of Scripture.
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We get free from the blood of all men by preaching the total Word of God, and pastors can witness till they faint and fall down in it, but if they do not preach the totality of the Word of God, blood is on their hands. Now, the point I'm trying to make is this, folks. We have lost in this country the messengers of recovery. We've lost men who will stand up and say, "Thus saith the Lord." Jeremiah was a true prophet of God.
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He was a prayer warrior. He was a weeping prophet. Everyone would have thought that, man, what a pastor Jeremiah would be. Everybody would be delighted to have Pastor Jeremiah around. But they said, oh no. We're going to devise devices against him. We're going to make it where nobody will listen to him, and a little bit later, they'll even try to kill him. You'll find that in chapter 20, verse 10.
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Don't have to turn there. Now, let me ask you, what happened in Jeremiah 18? I want to show you. Watch this very carefully. God sent Jeremiah down to the potter's house to learn one lesson: that God is in control. God controls nations and God demands nations to repent. And God says, Jeremiah, you go and tell them. Jeremiah went and told them. They would not listen. They would not heed. They would not hear.
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And so they decide, since we despise the means of recovery and since we despise the message of recovery, well, the thing for us to do is to silence the messenger of recovery. We'll just shut him up. And so they plan to kill him. Go back to Jeremiah chapter 18, and look, if you would please, after—let's read verse 18 again. Jeremiah 18 verse 18: "Then said they, Come, and let us devise devices against Jeremiah; for the law shall not perish from the priest, nor counsel from the wise, nor the word from the prophet. Come, and let us smite him with the tongue, and let us not give heed to any of his words." Look what the messenger who was sent to be their help turned into. Verse 19, Jeremiah prays, "Give heed to me, O Lord, and hearken to the voice of them that contend with me."
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"Shall evil be recompensed for good? for they have digged a pit for my soul. Remember that I stood before thee to speak good for them, and to turn away thy wrath from them. Therefore deliver up their children to the famine, and pour out their blood by the force of the sword; and let their wives be bereaved of their children, and be widows; and let their men be put to death; let their young men be slain by the sword in battle. Let a cry be heard from their houses, when thou shalt bring a troop suddenly upon them: for they have digged a pit to take me, and hid snares for my feet. Yet, Lord, thou knowest all their counsel against me to slay me: forgive not their iniquity, neither blot out their sin from thy sight, but let them be overthrown before thee: deal thus with them in the time of thine anger." Oh, the man who was sent for their good.
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But he and his message and the means were rejected, turned out to be an intercessor against them. I want you to turn in your Bibles to 2 Chronicles 36. And just let me show you how the message and the messenger are ultimately bound together. Listen carefully. We need to learn that to despise the message of God is to despise the messenger of God. To despise the messenger of God is to despise the message of God, which would also include the means of recovery. So in 2 Chronicles chapter 35 or 36 it is, 2 Chronicles 36 verse 15. Watch what God says. "And the Lord God of their fathers sent to them by his messengers," so He's sending to His people His messengers, "rising up betimes, and sending." Why did God send these preachers? "Because he had compassion on his people, and on his dwelling place." But what happened? "But they mocked the messengers of God, and despised his words," that is God's words, "and misused his prophets, until the wrath of the Lord arose against his people, till there was no remedy."
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"Therefore he brought upon them the king of the Chaldees, who slew their young men with the sword in the house of their sanctuary, and had no compassion upon young man or maiden, old man, or him that stooped for age: he gave them all into his hand." So the men that were sent for their profit turned out to be men for their judgment. Why? Because they despised the message and the means.
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Now, I want you to turn in your Bibles to 2 Corinthians 2. Let me show you the same truth from the New Testament. 2 Corinthians 2, and let's begin reading there with verse 14. 2 Corinthians 2, verse 14. Note what the Apostle Paul says. 2 Corinthians 2, verse 14.
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"Now thanks be unto God, which always causeth us to triumph in Christ, and maketh manifest the savour of his knowledge by us in every place." Now, I want you to note particularly the Apostle Paul says that God always makes us triumph in Jesus Christ. Does that mean that people are saved every time we preach? No. Does that mean that people get right and repent every time we preach? No. Watch. He says, "Now thanks be unto God, which always causeth us to triumph in Christ, and maketh manifest the savour of his knowledge by us in every place." Now look what he says, "For we are unto God a sweet savour of Christ, in them that are saved, and in them that perish."
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"To the one we are the savour of death unto death; and to the other the savour of life unto life. And who is sufficient for these things?" Now what is he saying? Here's what he said. The man of God comes and preaches the message of God, declaring the means of recovery, repentance and faith, and someone or some group says, "Oh man, that's God's word, that's the truth," and we repent of our sins and we fall on our faces to Jesus Christ and they give a mercy and God says, "That's a sweet smelling savour. My son is preached." But then you have the same preacher with the same message and he's using the same means and people shake their fists and they say, "We hate that Christ."
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"We'll not have him reign over us. And furthermore, we'll kill you if you keep preaching about him." And God says, "That's a sweet smelling savour. My son is preached." To the one salvation, to the other, condemnation. And only God decides which is for reconciliation and which is for condemnation. Let me tie it together for you. We have to remember God's Word never returns void. It always accomplishes the mission that God sends it upon. But that mission is determined by God. What does God say in Isaiah 55, verses 10 and 11? "My word shall not return unto me void, saith the Lord, but it shall accomplish that whereunto I send it, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it."
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So that word which comes as an instrument of life, when men reject it and despise it and refuse to repent, becomes an instrument of death. That is true individually, it is true familially, it is true ecclesiastically, and it is true nationally. You see, what we must learn is to value the means that God has ordained in conversion, in edification, in teaching, evangelism, in preaching the word of God. Do you realize without a comprehension of the importance of the means of recovery, the message of recovery, and the messengers of recovery, without a comprehension of those
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things, we too, as God's people, will become slothful, indolent, and spiritually deficient. We must understand the means, the message and the messenger are all part of God's desire and all part of God's design. God is the one who ordained the preaching of his word. We've got to remember that man who was sent for the good of the people can turn around and be for their evil and for their judgment. In Romans 11 and verse 2, let me just quote it. "Know ye not what the scripture saith of Elias?" that is of Elijah, "how he maketh intercession to God against Israel." When one refuses the means, he also refuses the message and the messenger.
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What is our duty individually, familially, ecclesiastically and nationally? Our duty is to repent and to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and honor and glorify God. God holds us answerable and accountable. And when the nation turns her back upon God, just like when individuals turn their back upon God, God judges them. God destroys them. We must always, if we want to be blessed by God, be reminded of the means of recovery, the message of recovery, and the messengers of recovery. Let's pray.
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Father, we do ask that you would teach us. Build us up in the most holy faith. Help us, Lord, to see the importance of Your Word and the importance of preaching and teaching the Word of God. Father, we do cry that Thou wouldst indeed raise up men in this country that will preach the Word of God unashamedly and declare Thy truth and hold our nation accountable. I pray, Father, if it please Thee, now grant us repentance and grant us faith that we may honor Thee in every area of our lives, in our churches, in our families, and in our nations. In Christ's name we pray, Amen.
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deepseek | deepseek-v4-pro | clean_readable_transcript | 2026-06-06T02:16:24Z

Is America A Lost Nation?

John Weaver | Freedom Ministries

John Weaver examines Jeremiah 18 to ask whether America, like ancient Israel, has become a lost nation. He argues that nations are judged when they forget God and refuse to repent. The sermon identifies three critical losses: the means of recovery (repentance and faith), the message of recovery (God's Word and the old paths), and the messengers of recovery (faithful preachers). Weaver contends that America has lost the duty and desire to repent, has abandoned biblical truth for false gospels, and lacks godly leaders who proclaim the whole counsel of God. The message calls for individual and national repentance, warning that rejecting God's means, message, and messengers leads to judgment.

Introduction: The Potter and the Clay

God sends Jeremiah to the potter's house to learn that He is sovereign over nations, able to build or destroy. The lesson applies to individuals, families, churches, and nations.

Scripture Reading — Jeremiah 18:1-16

"The word which came to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying, Arise, and go down to the potter's house, and there I will cause thee to hear my words. Then I went down to the potter's house, and, behold, he wrought a work on the wheels." "And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter: so he made it again another vessel, as seemed good to the potter to make it. Then the word of the Lord came to me, saying, O house of Israel, cannot I do with you as this potter? saith the Lord. Behold, as the clay is in the potter's hand, so are ye in mine hand, O house of Israel." "At what instant I shall speak concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to pluck up, and to pull down, and to destroy it; if that nation, against whom I have pronounced, turn from their evil, I will repent of the evil that I thought to do unto them. And at what instant I shall speak concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to build and to plant it; if it do evil in my sight, that it obey not my voice, then I will repent of the good, wherewith I said I would benefit them." "Now therefore go to, speak to the men of Judah, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying, Thus saith the Lord; Behold, I frame evil against you, and devise a device against you: return ye now every one from his evil way, and make your ways and your doings good. And they said, There is no hope: but we will walk after our own devices, and we will every one do the imagination of his evil heart. Therefore thus saith the Lord; Ask ye now among the heathen, who hath heard such things." "The virgin of Israel hath done a very horrible thing. Will a man leave the snow of Lebanon which cometh from the rock of the field? or shall the cold flowing waters that come from another place be forsaken? Because my people have forgotten me, they have burned incense to vanity, and they have caused them to stumble in their ways from the ancient paths, to walk in paths, in a way not cast up." "To make their land desolate, and a perpetual hissing; every one that passeth thereby shall be astonished, and wag his head."

We Have Lost the Means of Recovery

The means of recovery is repentance and faith. America has lost both the duty to repent (God commands it) and the desire to repent (people refuse to change).

You see, this is the same truth that is revealed in 1 Thessalonians 1 and verse 9. The Apostle Paul talking about those Thessalonians said this,

Scripture Reading — 1 Thessalonians 1:9

"and how ye turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God."

Scripture Reading — Acts 5:30-31

"The God of our fathers raised up Jesus, whom ye slew and hanged on a tree."

Now watch what the Bible says.

Scripture Reading — Acts 5:30-31

"Him hath God exalted with his right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour, for to give repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins."

We Have Lost the Message of Recovery

Israel forsook God for idols, leaving the ancient paths. America has similarly abandoned the true gospel and God's law, walking in uncharted, destructive ways.

We Have Lost the Messengers of Recovery

Faithful preachers like Jeremiah are rejected. America lacks guides who teach the whole counsel of God; most pastors are blind watchmen who fail to declare truth.

Scripture Reading — Isaiah 56:10

"His watchmen are blind: they are all ignorant, they are all dumb dogs, they cannot bark; sleeping, lying down, loving to slumber."

The Consequence of Rejecting God's Means, Message, and Messengers

When people reject God's provision, the messenger becomes an intercessor against them. The same word that brings life to some brings death to those who refuse to repent.

Conclusion: Our Duty to Repent

Individuals, families, churches, and the nation must repent and believe in Christ. God holds all accountable, and blessing comes only through honoring His ordained means.

Is America A Lost Nation?

John Weaver | SermonAudio

Lecture Metadata	Details
Speaker	John Weaver
Source	SermonAudio
Media ID	8605133250
Subject	New Testament Studies
Course	Romans: Sin, Judgment, and Gospel Foundations: Prepared Hearts
Genre	Sermon
Date	2005-07-31
Dictation Name
Book	Book 136: Romans: Sin, Judgment, and Gospel Foundations - Volume 1 — Chapter 7
Source Timed Segments	89

Lecture Guide

Outline

Introduction: The Potter and the Clay: God sends Jeremiah to the potter's house to learn that He is sovereign over nations, able to build or destroy. The lesson applies to individuals, families, churches, and nations.
We Have Lost the Means of Recovery: The means of recovery is repentance and faith. America has lost both the duty to repent (God commands it) and the desire to repent (people refuse to change).
We Have Lost the Message of Recovery: Israel forsook God for idols, leaving the ancient paths. America has similarly abandoned the true gospel and God's law, walking in uncharted, destructive ways.
We Have Lost the Messengers of Recovery: Faithful preachers like Jeremiah are rejected. America lacks guides who teach the whole counsel of God; most pastors are blind watchmen who fail to declare truth.
The Consequence of Rejecting God's Means, Message, and Messengers: When people reject God's provision, the messenger becomes an intercessor against them. The same word that brings life to some brings death to those who refuse to repent.
Conclusion: Our Duty to Repent: Individuals, families, churches, and the nation must repent and believe in Christ. God holds all accountable, and blessing comes only through honoring His ordained means.

Major Themes

Key Arguments

Nations are judged for the same reasons as individuals: sin and refusal to repent.

Just as individuals face God's judgment for unrepentant sin, so do nations. America's moral decline mirrors ancient Israel's rebellion.

Weaver states, 'Nations are lost for exactly the same reason that individuals are lost. They do not know God or His Word.'

Repentance is both a duty and a gift, and America has lost both the understanding and the desire for it.

God commands all men to repent, yet repentance is impossible without His grace. America no longer preaches the duty of repentance, and people lack the will to turn from sin.

Weaver argues, 'We have lost the duty of repentance... we have lost the desire for repentance.'

A nation that abandons God's Word for false ideologies is walking in uncharted, destructive paths.

Leaving the 'ancient paths' of biblical truth leads to desolation. America has exchanged the true gospel for humanistic and false religious systems.

Weaver says, 'They've left me the one true and living God and they have turned to idols... That's exactly what America has done.'

The lack of faithful preachers who teach the whole counsel of God contributes to national decay.

Without guides who proclaim all of Scripture, people remain ignorant of God's requirements. Most pastors today are doctrinally shallow and fail to confront sin.

Weaver states, 'We have lost in this country the messengers of recovery. We've lost men who will stand up and say, Thus saith the Lord.'

Rejecting God's messenger and message turns the preacher from an intercessor for good to an agent of judgment.

When people despise God's word, the very message meant for their salvation becomes a testimony against them. Jeremiah's prayer shifted from intercession to imprecation.

Weaver explains, 'The man who was sent for their good... turned out to be an intercessor against them.'

Scripture References

Jeremiah 18:1-16: The primary text of the sermon, read at the beginning. Describes the potter's house and God's message to Israel.
Jeremiah 18:6-10: God declares His sovereignty over nations to build or destroy based on their response to His word.
Jeremiah 18:11-12: God calls for repentance, but the people refuse, saying they will follow their own evil hearts.
Jeremiah 18:13-17: God questions Israel's forsaking of Him for idols and announces coming desolation.
Jeremiah 18:18: The people plot against Jeremiah, rejecting his message.
Jeremiah 18:19-23: Jeremiah's imprecatory prayer against those who sought his life.
Romans 9:14-23: Paul uses the potter and clay analogy to teach God's sovereign right over vessels of honor and dishonor.
Acts 17:30-31: God commands all men everywhere to repent because He has appointed a day of judgment.
Acts 5:30-31: Christ is exalted to give repentance and forgiveness of sins to Israel.
Acts 11:18: The early church glorified God for granting repentance to the Gentiles.
2 Timothy 2:24-25: God may grant repentance leading to the knowledge of the truth.
Jeremiah 6:16: God calls His people to ask for the old paths and walk in them, but they refuse.
Isaiah 30:21: God promises guidance to those who obey: 'This is the way, walk ye in it.'
Isaiah 56:10: Describes blind watchmen and dumb dogs who cannot bark, applied to unfaithful pastors.
Acts 20:20, 26-27: Paul declares he is pure from the blood of all men because he declared the whole counsel of God.
2 Chronicles 36:15-17: God sent messengers, but the people mocked them until there was no remedy, leading to judgment.
2 Corinthians 2:14-16: Believers are a fragrance of Christ: to some an aroma of life, to others an aroma of death.
Isaiah 55:10-11: God's word will not return void but will accomplish His purpose.
Galatians 1:8-9: Anyone preaching a different gospel is to be accursed.
1 Thessalonians 1:9: The Thessalonians turned from idols to serve the living God.

Historical References

Ancient Israel in Jeremiah's day: The nation that refused to repent, forsook God for idols, and faced Babylonian judgment.
Great nations and civilizations of the past: Weaver asks where past great nations are, answering they sinned against God and were destroyed.
America's Christian founding: Weaver states the nation was begun to honor and glorify God but has turned its back on Him.

Important Quotes

There is no salvation without repentance.

Summarizes the non-negotiable requirement for individual and national recovery.

We have lost the desire for repentance. We do not want to change.

Highlights the core problem of hard-heartedness that makes judgment inevitable.

They've left the old paths. They don't want my ways.

Captures the essence of national apostasy: abandoning God's revealed truth.

We have lost in this country the messengers of recovery. We've lost men who will stand up and say, Thus saith the Lord.

Identifies the lack of faithful preachers as a key factor in America's spiritual decline.

To the one we are the savour of death unto death; and to the other the savour of life unto life.

Explains the dual effect of the gospel message depending on the hearer's response.

When one will not repent, there is no hope and there is no help.

States the absolute necessity of repentance for any recovery.

Discussion Questions

[Question]

In what ways have we as a nation lost the duty and desire to repent, and how can we recover them?

[Context]

Based on the first point about losing the means of recovery.

[Question]

What are some examples of 'ancient paths' that America has abandoned, and what have we replaced them with?

[Context]

Related to the message of recovery and Jeremiah 6:16.

[Question]

Why is it so difficult to find pastors who preach the whole counsel of God today, and what can we do to encourage such ministry?

[Context]

Stemming from the loss of messengers of recovery.

[Question]

How should we respond when we see our nation rejecting God's messengers and message?

[Context]

Drawing from Jeremiah's experience and 2 Chronicles 36.

[Question]

What does it mean that the same gospel can be an aroma of life to some and death to others, and how should that affect our evangelism?

[Context]

Based on 2 Corinthians 2:14-16.

Applications

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