Clean Transcript

Rejected And Forsaken

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• Our Bibles today to the book of Jeremiah chapter 7. Some of you may have received this outline, but I've never preached this message here. I did preach it to our people in Waycross about a month ago, and I was thinking this morning that probably needs to be dealt with. And I think most of you are quite aware of where we really are in this land today, but I just wanted to show you a theological concept that most people have never really considered. The title of the message is "Rejected and Forsaken." So if you'll look in Jeremiah 7 and verse 29, just one verse, we'll come back and get the context.

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• God says, "Cut off thine hair, O Jerusalem, and cast it away, and take up lamentation on thy places. For the Lord hath rejected and forsaken the generation of his wrath." Now the words "rejected" and "forsaken" sound ominously hurtful and despicable to all who hear them. When we hear these words, we can't help but think of men and women that have rejected and forsook their spouses. I have known couples that have been married anywhere from 30 to 50 years.

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• And for some reason or the other, one just simply forsakes and leaves the other. I suppose that is probably the apex of hurt, disappointment, and embarrassment, as well as a sense of inability and frustration in human relations. I cannot conceive in my mind of anything that would be more hurtful. And it's not just men who leave their wives. Some wives leave their husbands as well. In fact, Alice and I have always kind of laughed at this in one sense of the word. But we've often said it looks as if when some people reach a certain age, they just go start raving crazy. I mean, you know, and they're no longer concerned about their spouses or their family or anything else, just only themselves and their desires.

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• I have known of women who walked out on their dying husbands and left them to die alone. Likewise, I've known of men who've left their sickly wives and divorced them and ran off and married a younger, healthier woman. So, coping with such tragic rejection, even in marriage vows, is quite difficult, to say the least. I suppose it's probably one of the most difficult things that anyone could ever face.

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• In fact, the individual especially that is forsaken has to deal with a lot of issues. They begin asking themselves, like, "Am I a horrible person? I mean, what's wrong with me? Why can't I sustain a healthy relationship?" And they go through all kinds of things like that. And sometimes it literally takes them a year or two before they get back what you and I would just simply recall, their self-confidence and their ability to communicate and to socialize.

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• But the point I'm trying to make is this. It is strange that while we mourn over and are concerned about the forsaking and the rejection in a human relationship, seemingly such a rejection and forsaking from a divine perspective does not seem to bother us. When is the last time that you've heard anyone proclaim their fear and mortification over the fact that our sins separate us from God? When is the last time that you've ever heard anyone mourn or be concerned with a theological or a divine rejection? Or when is the last time you've ever heard anyone complain with frustration and discouragement that God just simply could not be found? And when you think about forsaking from a theological position, may I remind you that which sent horror into the divine soul of the Son of God was that concept.

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• For in Psalm 22 and verse 1, it was prophesied, and of course it was fulfilled in Matthew 27, where he cried, "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? And why art thou so far from the voice of my roaring?" So of course it was deep into his heart and soul. David prayed in Psalm 38 verse 1, "Forsake me not, O Lord; O my God, be not far from me."

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• Now I want to point out it is certainly not God who is unfaithful to His covenant. Because the scripture tells us that He is indeed the faithful God. Well, what has happened? Let me show you. Hold Jeremiah 7, but look in your Bibles first to the book of Isaiah chapter 59 and verses 1 and 2. Just a few pages back. Isaiah 59. And look at verses 1 and 2.

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• It cannot be stated any more clearly, I think, than this. But I will show you a couple of other illustrations. But notice Isaiah 59 verse 1: "Behold, the Lord's hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither his ear heavy, that it cannot hear: but your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear." So it's not the problem with the Lord. His hand is not shortened. His ear is not heavy. No, no. He said it's your iniquities and your sins that have separated you and have hidden his face from you. If you look in your Bibles to 2 Chronicles chapter 12—1st and 2nd Kings, 1st and 2nd Chronicles—2 Chronicles chapter 12. And look if you would please at verse 5. 2 Chronicles 12 verse 5. Then we'll go to chapter 24. 2 Chronicles 12 verse 5.

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• "Then came Shemaiah the prophet to Rehoboam and to the princes of Judah that were gathered together to Jerusalem because of Shishak, and said unto them, Thus saith the Lord, Ye have forsaken me, and therefore have I also left you in the hand of Shishak." In other words, you forsook me, so I forsook you. And if you will look in 2 Chronicles chapter 24 and verse 20, 2 Chronicles 24 and verse 20, "And the Spirit of God came upon Zechariah the son of Jehoiada the priest, which stood above the people, and said unto them, Thus saith God, Why transgress ye the commandments of the Lord, that ye cannot prosper? Because ye have forsaken the Lord, he hath also forsaken you." Now, if you'll go back in your Bible to Jeremiah chapter 7, I want to just pick up the context and show you that this is exactly what has happened. The people have forsaken God. So Jeremiah chapter 7, let's begin reading with verse 3. "Thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, Amend your ways and your doings, and I will cause you to dwell in this place."

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• "Trust ye not in lying words, saying, The temple of the Lord, The temple of the Lord, The temple of the Lord, are these." Don't depend upon the remnant or the artifacts or whatever you have around you or your religiosity. No, no, no. He says don't do that. "For if ye thoroughly amend your ways and your doings; if ye thoroughly execute judgment between a man and his neighbour; if ye oppress not the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow, and shed not innocent blood in this place, neither walk after other gods to your hurt: then will I cause you to dwell in this place, in the land that I gave to your fathers, for ever and ever. Behold, ye trust in lying words, that cannot profit."

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• "Will ye steal, murder, and commit adultery, and swear falsely, and burn incense unto Baal, and walk after other gods whom ye know not; and come and stand before me in this house, which is called by my name, and say, We are delivered to do all these abominations? Is this house, which is called by my name, become a den of robbers in your eyes? Behold, even I have seen it, saith the Lord. But go ye now unto my place which was in Shiloh, where I set my name at the first, and see what I did to it for the wickedness of my people Israel. And now, because ye have done all these works, saith the Lord, and I spake unto you, rising up early and speaking, but ye heard not; and I called you, but ye answered not; therefore will I do unto this house, which is called by my name, wherein ye trust, and unto the place which I gave to you and to your fathers, as I have done to Shiloh."

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• "And I will cast you out of my sight, as I have cast out all your brethren, even the whole seed of Ephraim. Therefore pray not thou for this people, neither lift up cry nor prayer for them, neither make intercession to me: for I will not hear thee. Seest thou not what they do in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem? The children gather wood, and the fathers kindle the fire, and the women knead their dough, to make cakes to the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink offerings unto other gods, that they may provoke me to anger. Do they provoke me to anger? saith the Lord: do they not provoke themselves to the confusion of their own faces? Therefore thus saith the Lord God; Behold, mine anger and my fury shall be poured out upon this place, upon man, and upon beast, and upon the trees of the field,

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• and upon the fruit of the ground; and it shall burn, and shall not be quenched. Thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel; Put your burnt offerings unto your sacrifices, and eat flesh." Skip down to verse 23. He said, "But this thing commanded I them, saying, Obey my voice, and I will be your God, and ye shall be my people: and walk ye in all the ways that I have commanded you, that it may be well unto you. But they hearkened not,

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• nor inclined their ear, but walked in the counsels and the imagination of their evil heart, and went backward, and not forward. Since the day that your fathers came forth out of the land of Egypt unto this day, I have even sent unto you all my servants the prophets, daily rising up early and sending them: but they hearkened not unto me, nor inclined their ear, but hardened their neck: they did worse than their fathers. Therefore thou shalt speak all these words unto them; but they will not hearken to thee: thou shalt also call unto them; but they will not answer thee. But thou shalt say unto them,

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• "This is a nation"—what's that?—"This is a nation that obeyeth not the voice of the Lord their God, nor receiveth correction: truth is perished, and is cut off from their mouth. Cut off thine hair, O Jerusalem, and cast it away, and take up a lamentation on high places; for the Lord hath rejected and forsaken the generation of his wrath." Now, I want to point something out just simply by way of consideration, first of all.

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• Do you realize that God's rejections of persons may be singular and individual? God's rejection of persons may be singular and individual. What do I mean by that? Well, Romans 9 verse 13, "As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated." So God chose Jacob and He rejected Esau. When you get to 1 Samuel chapter 15 and verse 23, Samuel said to Saul, "For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because thou hast rejected the word of the Lord, he hath also rejected thee." That's singular and individual. Secondly, God's rejection of persons may be what you and I would call governmental and vocational. Now when I say governmental, when you get to 1 Samuel chapter 16 verse 1, now what did God say? "I have rejected him from being king." That is a vocational rejection.

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• also a governmental rejection. And then you have to consider in Hosea 4 and verse 6, everybody can quote the first part where he says, "My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge." But then he goes on to say this, "Because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me." So that is a vocational rejection. And then you have to stop and think. In Numbers chapter 16, God rejected Dathan, Abiram, and Korah. Then of course God also rejected Eli and his house in 1 Samuel chapter 2. So God's rejection can be individual and singular; it can be governmental and vocational. And thirdly, God's rejection of persons may be societal, national, and generational. This passage in Jeremiah chapter 7—look in verse 28, "But thou shalt say unto them, This is a nation." And then if you'll skip down to verse 29, the latter part, "for the Lord hath rejected and forsaken the generation of his wrath." Wow. Now let me show you something. I want you to turn, hold Jeremiah chapter 7.

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• We're coming right back. But look in 2 Kings chapter 17. I want you to understand that God oftentimes does indeed reject an entire society, an entire nation, or an entire generation. 2 Kings chapter 17, look if you would please at verse 20. 2 Kings 17 verse 20: "And the Lord rejected all the seed of Israel, and afflicted them, and delivered them into the hand of spoilers, until he had cast them out of his sight." How many did he reject? He rejected all the seed of Israel. If you'll look in your Bibles to Jeremiah chapter 6 and look at verse 30—and by the way, in this context now, He's talking about Judah and Jerusalem, because Jeremiah is prophesying to Judah and Jerusalem—but in Jeremiah 6 and verse 30, look what he says: "Reprobate silver shall men call them, because the Lord hath rejected them." And then when you look back at Jeremiah 7 verse 29, he says, "for the Lord hath rejected and forsaken the generation of his wrath."

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• Now the Hebrew word for "generation" here is translated as "generation" 133 times in our Bibles. But the Hebrew word actually means a period, an age, generation, or a period of time, or those who are living during that period of time. Hence, it could also refer then to a society or a nation. So, God here has rejected the generation of His wrath.

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• Now, look in Jeremiah 7 and verse 12. We read this earlier. I'm just pointing out a few things. In fact, look in verse 2 first, Jeremiah 7 verse 2. God tells Jeremiah, "Stand in the gate of the Lord's house, and proclaim there this word, and say, Hear the word of the Lord, all ye of Judah, that enter in at these gates to worship the Lord." So he's talking to the Judahites, all the people in the southern kingdom, and all of Israel who would come to worship there as well. Now, look what he tells them in verse 12. He says, "But go ye now unto my place which was in Shiloh, where I set my name at the first, and see what I did to it for the wickedness of my people Israel." So God says, you want an illustration of what it looks like to be forsaken and rejected? Go to my place that was in Shiloh. Now skip down to verse 14: "Therefore will I do unto this house"—that is the temple—"which is called by my name, wherein ye trust"—they didn't trust in God.

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• They trusted in the temple—"and unto the place which I gave to you and to your fathers, as I have done to Shiloh." So God said, I'm going to do to this temple exactly what I did to Shiloh. Now look in Jeremiah 26 and verse 6. Jeremiah 26 and verse 6. Again God says, "Then will I make this house like Shiloh, and will make this city a curse to all the nations of the earth." Now let me tell you something about Shiloh. Shiloh was where the tabernacle was first set up when the children of Israel came into the land of Canaan. Shiloh was where Joshua and the elders divided the land for possession to the children of Israel. Shiloh was where God's ministry and God's worship was neglected and perverted under the hands of Hophni and Phinehas, who were the sons of Eli. So idolatry, fornication, corruption, perverseness, rebellion flourished at Shiloh. Now I want you to look in your Bibles to Psalm 78. We're going to come back to this passage. So if you want to mark it, that's fine, but look in Psalm 78 and let's begin reading there with verse 58. Psalm 78 verse 58. We're talking about what Israel did to God: "For they provoked him to anger with their high places, and moved him to jealousy with their graven images." Which is

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• all idolatry. "When God heard this, he was wroth, and greatly abhorred Israel: so that he forsook the tabernacle of Shiloh, the tent which he placed among men; and delivered his strength into captivity, and his glory into the enemy's hand." Wow. So God said he forsook the tabernacle at Shiloh. God said, I'm not gonna have anything to do with it. Why? Because the people had forsaken God. They had turned to idolatry. They had turned to corruption. Context in Jeremiah chapter 7, which we just read from verse 3 through verse 29, you see exactly the same thing. You see a society, you see a nation, you see a generation of people who basically have forsaken God and His worship, and they have turned to idolatry, to corruption, to rebellion, to doing their own thing.

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• Now, let me show you. Look in Jeremiah chapter 8 and verse 6. Jeremiah 8 and verse 6. At this point, Jeremiah had been preaching to the people, and look what he said. Jeremiah 8 and verse 6. He said, "I hearkened and heard, but they spake not aright: no man repented him of his wickedness, saying, What have I done? Every one turned to his course, as the horse rusheth into the battle." Now watch. No man repented of his wickedness, saying, "What have I done?" The point I want to make is, interestingly, our day—it's much like Jeremiah's day.

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• Hardly anyone ever acknowledges sin. Very few actually admit to sin or confess his sin or even recognize his sin.

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• Now, stop and think about this. We are living in a generation today when anything goes and everything goes. What did he say? He says, "No man repented him of his wickedness, saying, What have I done?" Now listen, "every one turned to his course, as the horse rusheth into the battle." In other words, when the horse is excited—and I have been on a fast horse in my life.

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• You cannot believe me, but you can ask my wife. My horse could run so fast that the tears would come out of your eyes and go back like this. She could start off so fast, if you weren't holding on you would be on the ground. So what is God saying? Everyone turns to his own course like a furious, agitated horse—could care less about the consequences, could care less about who's involved or what's involved.

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• This is just what I choose. This is what I want. So, you look and analyze our society today. You look and analyze our generation today. Individually, corporately, even governmentally, we're absolutely corrupt. Our government, our own government, not only condones, but subsidizes and magnifies sodomy, transgenderism, and a host of other perversions and sins. And they not only subsidize it, they legalize it. And if you have been reading anything on the educational front, they're now taking kindergartners and first graders and teaching them the transgender lifestyle and the fact that everything is okay if somebody is a sodomite.

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• So-and-so has two mommies. So-and-so has two daddies. Is it any wonder that most people in this day and time cannot distinguish right from wrong? Look what they have been taught all of their lives. I've quoted this verse before, but I want you to see it. Look in Psalm 94 at verses 20 and 21. Psalm 94. You see, one of the problems that we have in our generation is the same problem that Jeremiah had in his generation, and that is we have an idolatrous civil government. So in Psalm 94 and verse 20, the question is asked, "Shall the throne of iniquity have fellowship with thee, which frameth mischief by a law?" So note the word "throne," which means it is a government, it is a power, it is authority. Then he asks, "Shall the throne of iniquity?" So it is a wicked government, it is a wicked authority. Shall that wicked civil government have fellowship with God, with thee, when that wicked civil government frames mischief by law? And the word "mischief" in the Bible is another word for sin. So the question is, shall a wicked civil government have fellowship with

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• God when that wicked civil government makes sin legal? And the answer, of course, is no, because look at verse 21. And what does a wicked civil government do? "They gather themselves together against the soul of the righteous, and condemn the innocent blood." So, you have to ask yourself this question. Why would our government condone, promote, and praise abortion, sodomy, a transgender lifestyle, pedophilia, socialism, fascism, communism, Marxism? Now, you have to ask, can there possibly be a logical reason or a logical answer why they are doing these things and why they're promoting these things? Why are churches doing some of the same things? Why are corporations doing the same thing? Is there an answer? And the answer is yes. And it's a very simple answer. The reason we are in the mess that we're in today in America is because of the same reason that Judah and Jerusalem were in the mess that they were in in Jeremiah's day. So if you look in Jeremiah chapter 9, we will see the answer. Jeremiah 9, and let's begin there with verse 13. Jeremiah 9 verse 13. "And the Lord saith"—are you looking? Here's the answer right now—"And the Lord saith, Because they have forsaken my law which I set before them, and

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• have not obeyed my voice, neither walked therein; but have walked after the imagination of their own heart, and after Baalim, which their fathers taught them: therefore thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel; Behold, I will feed them, even this people, with wormwood, and give them water of gall to drink. And I will scatter them also among the heathen, whom neither they nor their fathers have known:

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• and I will send a sword after them, till I have consumed them. Thus saith the Lord of hosts, Consider ye, and call for the mourning women, that they may come; and send for cunning women, that they may come: and let them make haste, and take up a wailing for us, that our eyes may run down with tears, and our eyelids gush out with waters. For a voice of wailing is heard out of Zion,

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• "How are we spoiled? we are greatly confounded, because we have forsaken the land, because our dwellings have cast us out." Now why did their dwellings cast them out? Why were they confounded? Why were they confused? Why were they spoiled? And the answer comes back at verse 13: "Because they have forsaken my law which I set before them." I don't know if you've ever thought about this or not, but man has to have a standard. He has to have an objective standard, something outside of himself. And when you discard God's law as the objective standard, then anything does go. If God's law is no more, then if Gary wants to do whatever Gary wants to do, who can say it's wrong? If James wants to do what James wants to do, who can say it's wrong? There would be no objective. Yeah, Mama. Yeah. Thank you, Mama. But the reason Mama would say it's wrong is because she has an objective standard.

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• You see, it's kind of like the interview I heard years ago, and I despise these talk shows. We don't have TV, but I despise them when we did have a TV and I'd never watch them. But we were in a motel somewhere. And I was flipping through the channels trying to find some news. And this interview between the talk show host and this pretty little teenage girl who was already a movie star. And this teenage girl was living with a married man.

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• It was not her husband, some other woman's husband. And the talk show host asked her, "Well, don't you think that's wrong?" And I've never forgotten her answer. Well, she said, "It may be wrong for other people, but it's all right for me. I'm a law to myself. I do what I want to do. God's law does not apply to me."

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• Now you see, that's exactly where we are today. Now, I hope you're beginning to understand why in Jeremiah chapter 7 in verse 29, the Bible says, "For the Lord hath rejected and forsaken the generation of his wrath." In fact, in Isaiah chapter 34 and verse 5, they're called "the people of my curse." Now if you think for one minute that God is not serious about what he says—he's going to forsake the generation of his wrath—I want you to look in Jeremiah 23. Look what he's talking to the same people now. Look in Jeremiah 23 and let's begin there with verse 39. Jeremiah 23 verse 39. Look what he says: "Therefore, behold, I, even I, will utterly forget you, and I will forsake you,

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• and the city that I gave you and your fathers, and cast you out of my presence: and I will bring an everlasting reproach upon you, and a perpetual shame, which shall not be forgotten." Wow. What did he say? "Behold, I, even I, will utterly forget you, and I will forsake you, and the city that I gave you and your fathers, and cast you out of my presence: and I will bring an everlasting reproach upon you, and a perpetual shame, which shall not be forgotten." So when you look at Jeremiah 7 and verse 29, God is now forsaking and rejecting the generation of his wrath. Now, here's my question. What happens to a society, to a nation, to a generation that God rejects and forsakes? I want you to go back to Psalm 78. I told you we would come back there. Because don't you remember? God says, "I'm gonna do to this house, to this temple, I'm gonna do to this generation, to this society, to this nation, exactly what I did to my house in Shiloh."

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• So Psalm 78, notice verse 58: "For they provoked him to anger with their high places, and moved him to jealousy with their graven images. When God heard this, he was wroth, and greatly abhorred Israel: so that he forsook the tabernacle of Shiloh, the tent which he placed among men; and delivered his strength into captivity, and his glory into the enemy's hand. He gave his people over also unto the sword; and was wroth with his inheritance. The fire consumed their young men; and their maidens were not given to marriage. Their priests fell by the sword; and their widows made no lamentation." What is God doing? He's destroying the people, the generation of Israel. He's delivering them over to destruction.

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• All you have to do is read the book of Judges. Every time the people committed idolatry and sin and rebelled against God, what did God do? He delivered them over to the hands of their enemies. Sometimes seven years, sometimes 14 years, sometimes longer. And then the people began to cry and beg and repent, and God would send a judge, a savior. If you look in your Bibles to the book of Leviticus, you're going to find that God told them exactly what was going to happen if they rebelled. Look in Leviticus 26, beginning there verse 14. Leviticus 26 verse 14. He tells his people, "But if ye will not hearken unto me, and will not do all these commandments;

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• and if ye shall despise my statutes, or if your soul abhor my judgments, so that ye will not do all my commandments, but that ye break my covenant: I also will do this unto you; I will even appoint over you terror, consumption, and the burning ague, that shall consume the eyes, and cause sorrow of heart: and ye shall sow your seed in vain, for your enemies shall eat it. And I will set my face against you, and ye shall be slain before your enemies:

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• they that hate you shall reign over you; and ye shall flee when none pursueth you. And if ye will not yet for all this hearken unto me, then I will punish you seven times more for your sins." Wow. Now, I don't know about you, but if you analyze verse 16 and just try to make an application—look at the sicknesses that we have in our land, the diseases that we have in our land. Now, I'm not saying that cancer is something entirely new.

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• But there's more cases of it today than there have been since I was a boy. You hardly ever heard—I don't ever remember hearing people die of cancer when I was a boy. I'm sure some did, somewhere. So God says, "I'm gonna send all this upon you." Then he said, "You're gonna sow your seed in vain, and your enemy shall eat it." Oh, do we have to be invaded for our enemies to eat up our gain? Of course not. Look at all the tax monies that are being confiscated and given to the enemies of God and all their sins being promoted. God said, "I'll set my face against you, and you shall be slain before your enemies."

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• And I tell you what, you try to have a war without a just cause and without God involved in it and see what happens to you. And with all of our corrupt, evil, wicked politicians trying to poke Putin in the eye and Russia in the eye, just hang on. We've sired a generation that are so pathetic. It is unbelievable. So, he said, this is what's going to happen. I'm not going to take the time to read it, but in Deuteronomy 28, verses 25 and 26, it's the same thing. God said, if you don't obey me, you're going to fall. It's just that simple.

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• So, here's what you have to ask. Did God fulfill His judgments? Did God fulfill His promises? And the answer is yes. He used the Babylonians to take care of Judah and Jerusalem, for instance. Look in your Bibles to 2 Chronicles chapter 36. 2 Chronicles 36. And I want you to notice particularly what is said when God sent the Babylonians. 2 Chronicles chapter 36, and let's begin reading there with verse 15. 2 Chronicles 36 verse 15: "And the Lord God of their fathers sent to them by his messengers, rising up betimes, and sending; because he had compassion on his people, and on his dwelling place: but they mocked the messengers of God, and despised his 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:

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• he gave them all into his hand." And then he talks about all the vessels and all the temple that was destroyed as well. Did God deliver them into his hand? Yes. And he used the Assyrians to judge the 10 northern tribes, Israel. And in Isaiah chapter 10 verses 5 and 6 he said, "O Assyrian, the rod of mine anger, and the staff in their hand is mine indignation.

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• I will send him against an hypocritical nation, and against the people of my wrath will I give him a charge, to take the spoil, and to take the prey, and to tread them down like the mire of the streets." He called them "the people of my wrath." So my question is this: does God change? And the answer is no. God is immutable. He does not change. And consequently, His judgments do not change. The same God that took care of Judah and Jerusalem, the same God that took care of Israel, is the same God that will take care of America. And if you believe in American exceptionalism, just wait and see. Because you can't thumb your nose at God and get by with it. We are already under the judgment of God. Most people just simply do not recognize it.

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• I want you to look at Jeremiah chapter 23. Jeremiah 23, and I want you to look at verse 33. Jeremiah 23 verse 33: "And when this people, or the prophet, or a priest, shall ask thee, saying, What is the burden of the Lord? thou shalt then say unto them, What burden? I will even forsake you, saith the Lord." What? What burden? What's the burden of the Lord?

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• God said, "I don't have one. I got rid of you. I'll forsake you." Pastor Bob McCurry, who's been a friend of mine for many, many years, who used to put out a written letter called "The Temple Times"—now it's electronic and it's called "The Wake-Up Herald"—and Brother Bob is now in his 80s. He and Evelyn were married for 67 years. He preached for probably nearly 70 years. But he wrote in one of his articles in the Wake-Up Herald this, listen carefully.

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• The title of the article was "Asleep." He wrote, "There is nothing more to say. There is nothing but destruction to come on this once great nation. We have put the enemy into public office to destroy us from within and still the churches are silent. I know from my study of history that the churches were once a power in America. No longer. They've been infiltrated by the enemies of Jesus Christ and the gospel perverted. And while all this was going on, Christians sat in their pews asleep." Is he right? And of course he's right.

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• So you have to ask this question. What is it like to be rejected and forsaken by God as a society? As a nation? As a generation? Even as a church? Or as an individual? The answer is it is nothing less than destruction and devastation. You know, I've often said this. You remember, I preached a message many years back that I entitled "The Perfect Enemy." And of course, the perfect enemy is God himself.

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• Because He knows all of our weaknesses. He knows all of our plans. He knows everything. How can you fight against someone who is omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipresent? It's impossible. And yet men try to fight against Him. Have you ever stopped to think, if God really wanted to destroy us, all He has to do is leave us alone and we'll destroy ourselves. But now can you imagine what it will be like when God

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• comes in arms against us because we're the generation of his wrath? Wow. I want you to look one last passage in the book of Nahum. Little book of Nahum chapter 1. Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk. Notice if you would Nahum chapter 1 and let's begin reading there with verse 2. Nahum 1 in verse 2. Watch carefully. "God is jealous"—boy, we need to remember that—"God is jealous, and the Lord revengeth; the Lord revengeth, and is furious; the Lord will take vengeance on his adversaries, and he reserveth wrath for his enemies. The Lord is slow to anger"—thankfully—"and great in power,

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• and will not at all acquit the wicked: the Lord hath his way in the whirlwind and in the storm, and the clouds are the dust of his feet. He rebuketh the sea, and maketh it dry, and drieth up all the rivers: Bashan languisheth, and Carmel, and the flower of Lebanon languisheth. The mountains quake at him, and the hills melt, and the earth is burned at his presence, yea, the world, and all that dwell therein.

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• Who can stand before his indignation? and who can abide in the fierceness of his anger? his fury is poured out like fire, and the rocks are thrown down by him." Notice, "Who can stand before his indignation? And who can abide the fierceness of his anger?" Wow. Which leads me to this. Individually, corporately, societally, governmentally, nationally, if we want to avert the judgment of God, we must repent. We must repent.

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• And in repentance, we turn back to Him. And in repentance, we evidence that our repentance is true and genuine by obedience to Him and by worshipping Him and Him alone. So the point of this message, I think, is very simple. If you look around at our society, at our nation, at our government, if you look around at individual lives, we've really just about reached the place—I would say we have reached the place—where it's either return or burn, repent or perish. It's just that simple.

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• Let me put it like this. When it comes to repentance and obedience and worship, we have to start with ourselves. I might count Steve a good friend and a dear brother in Christ, just like I would all of you. But I can't repent for him. I can't live for him. I can't make him do anything. The only one that I have control over is this one. And if I am not willing to repent and if I am not willing to obey, why should I expect you to repent and obey? Why should I expect you to do what's right if I'm unwilling to do what's right myself?

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• We have to come back to individual responsibility. And once you have individual responsibility, then you can say, yes, there's family responsibility, and yes, there's corporate responsibility, and there's society responsibility, and there's governmental responsibility, and there's national responsibility. But it all has to start with number one. Why? Because our families are made up of individuals. Our churches are made up of individuals. Our society is made up of individuals. Our government is made up of individuals, and our nation is made up of individuals. So if individuals are not willing to do what's right—so that means this: we've got to determine in our hearts that we're going to do what's right. I know one thing for sure.

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• I don't want to stand before His fury and His indignation. And I don't want to be the recipient of His righteous anger and vengeance. Which means then, I must personally repent, be obedient in my life, and worship Him and Him alone. What did he say concerning these people that he rejected and forsook? "The generation of his wrath." And he identified that as a nation. I think it puts our predicament, our situation, in more of a theological

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• light than thinking, "Well, this is just happening." Yeah, it's just happening. But it is because God is either leaving us to ourselves or getting ready to judge us mightily. Father, in the name of Jesus Christ, we bow before thee. We pray and ask for your grace and your mercy. We do know, Lord, that Judah and Jerusalem were classified as the generation of thy wrath and the people of thy curse.

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• You abhorred them and set them aside. You did to Judah and Jerusalem exactly what you did to Shiloh. And thou art God, and thou art immutable, and thou dost not change. Give us wisdom to know what is happening. Give us eyes to see and ears to hear and a mind to understand and comprehend. And give us, Lord, a heart that beats for Thee, that loves Thee, that worships Thee, adores Thee, and stands for Thee in Thy truth.

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• Help us to be obedient in every area of our lives. In the name of Jesus Christ, we ask and pray. Amen.

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• so

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deepseek | deepseek-v4-pro | clean_readable_transcript | 2026-06-04T19:07:44Z