Title: When God Does Power Point
Bible Book: Jeremiah 13
Author: Johnny L. Sanders
Subject: God's Visual Aids
Objective:
INTRODUCTION
My good friend Charles Roberts tells me he gets to his study early every morning so he can prepare his sermon and turn it over to a staff member Thursday morning so it will be who will set for the Power Point presentation the following Sunday. Power Point is becoming more and more popular, as applications are being expanded in business, education, and in the church.
Thinking about this reminded me that God has been in the power point business for a lot longer than modern man. He didn’t have to wait around for the technology to catch up with Him. Let me just mention a few of the power points God has used to illustrate His message:
1. There is the Tree of Life.
2. There is the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.
3. There is the Ark.
4. There is the command for circumcision given to Abraham.
5. There is the dry path through the parted waters of the Red Sea
6. There is the smoke on the mountain at Sinai.
7. There is tabernacle.
8. There is the dry path through the parted waters of the Jordan River.
9. There is Samuel, God’s prophet and a pivotal character in God’s plan for Israel.
10. There is David - the stars over his head, Goliath at his feet, victories God would grant him.
Preachers are always looking for a good illustration, and sometimes find them in some interesting places, the home, the work place, the hospital, or the prison they visit. There is the man I will call Mr. Edwards. He was in maximum security in the Hinds County Jail in Jackson, MS. I had read about him in the Clarion Ledger before meeting him. This was one tough character, but he listened as I presented God’s message of salvation. Finally, when I asked him if he would like to pray for forgiveness and ask the Lord to save him, he said, “I am a three-time loser and when I go into court I have a lot of lying to do, and I can’t become a Christian and do all that lying.” At least, he understood that. I wish some Christians knew that.
I remember the irate farmer who rushed into the Quitman County, Mississippi ASCS office demanding to know why he had to plow up a half acre of cotton. He angrily announced, “Last year I had a ten acres cotton allotment. This year, you gave me another acre. I planted eleven acres of cotton, and now you are going to make me plow up half an acre. Last year, my field was 69 fishing poles long and this year it is 74 fishing poles long!” He stood back as though he had made his point. How does that do for illustrating a standard of measurement!
Preachers find their illustrations. God creates His! Jeremiah reveals some of God’s power points.
I. THE FIRST POWER POINT WAS AN ITEM OF LINEN UNDERWEAR, JER. 13:1-11.
A. First, Look at the sign.
“This is what the Lord said to me: “Go and buy yourself linen underwear and put it on, but don’t get it wet.” So I bought underwear as the Lord instructed me and put it on” (Jer. 13:1-2, HCSB).
“Then the word of the Lord came to me a second time: “Take the underwear that you bought and are wearing, and go at once to the Euphrates River and hide it in a rocky crevice.” So I went and hid it by the Euphrates, as the Lord commanded me.
A long time later the Lord said to me, “Go at once to the Euphrates and get the underwear that I commanded you to hide there.” So I went to the Euphrates and dug up the underwear and got it from the place where I had hidden it, but it was ruined—of no use whatsoever” (13:3-7).
The Lord commanded Jeremiah to go buy himself some linen underwear and put it on, but, He said, “Don’t get it wet.” Buy it, and put it on, but do not wash it. The linen underwear, or sash (NKJV) was wrapped snugly around the body, and in this case it symbolized the intimate relationship the Lord had always desired with His Chosen People. The command not to wash the underwear denotes the soiled condition of the Covenant People before the Lord. He had chosen them to be a nation of priests, and through them He would reach out to the nations of the world. They interpreted His choice as a position but not a ministry. They were religious, but desperately evil. If God held this same standard up to the average church, how many of our members pass His test? Believe me, if we are sinning against a greater light we face a greater condemnation. I am convinced that if the Lord judged - and He is judging - there is a lot going on under the umbrella of religion that God views as evil. God forbid that you and I should be guilty of such evil under the cover of religion.
The Lord told Jeremiah to take the linen underwear all the way to the Euphrates and hide it in a rocky crevice. The Euphrates was chosen, not so much because of the distance Jeremiah had to travel, but because it was to Babylon (modern Iraq) that the Israelites would be taken into captivity for seventy years. A long time later, the Lord told him to go retrieve the linen underwear. Jeremiah obeyed and when he retrieved it, it was “it was ruined—of no use whatsoever.”
B. Now, Look at the Message.
“...This is what the Lord says: Just like this I will ruin the great pride of both Judah and Jerusalem. These evil people, who refuse to listen to Me, who walk in the stubbornness of their own hearts, and who have followed other gods to serve and worship—they will be like this underwear, of no use whatsoever. Just as underwear clings to one’s waist, so I fastened the whole house of Israel and of Judah to Me” —[this is the Lord’s declaration] —“so that they might be My people for My fame, praise, and glory, but they would not obey” (13:8-11).
God’s Chosen People had refused an intimate relationship with Him. They rebelled against Him and became as worthless to His purpose, and to His Messianic Covenant, as that filthy garment no one would even consider wearing.
C. There Is a Lesson in This for Us Today.
Let me mention a “sign” I saw every day, in every classroom, when I was growing up in the Mississippi Delta. When we sat in the classroom, there was one picture you could count on seeing on the front wall behind the teacher’s desk. That was a picture of George Washington, the first, and possibly the greatest of all presidents of the United States. That picture was hanging there because he was victorious in the Revolutionary War, and he was our first president. At that time, I did not know anyone who have been offended if we had been told that he was also a committed Christian, who according to his granddaughter, Nelly Custis-Lewis, did not welcome company on Sunday because that was the Lord’s day and they would be in church. She added, in her letter of 1833:
“It was his custom to retire to his library at nine or ten o'clock where he remained an hour before he went to his chamber. He always rose before the sun and remained in his library until called to breakfast. I never witnessed his private devotions. I never inquired about them. I should have thought it the greatest heresy to doubt his firm belief in Christianity. His life, his writings, prove that he was a Christian. He was not one of those who act or pray, "that they may be seen of men" [Matthew 6:5]. He communed with his God in secret [Matthew 6:6]” (emphasis added).
I had great respect for George Washington. Failure to respect George Washington would have seemed anti-American to me. I love a book I bought a number of years ago about George Washington. The title, ALL CLOUDLESS GLORY, seems especially appropriate.
There is a story that has been handed down from generation in my family. Irish Billy Murphy was standing near George Washington at the end of the Revolutionary War as the General shaved before heading to Washington. When Washington finished shaving, he rinse his razor, shook off the water, and turned and handed the razor to his sergeant. Billy Murphy gave the razor to one of his two sons, according to early family reports, the irresponsible son. This son actually shaved with that razor and at one time, he turned to sling off lather and hit something and it left a gap in the blade. The razor was lost in a house fire.
Now fast forward. President George W. Bush, a committed Christian is president of the United States. The first week in March, 2006, a mock trial is staged in a New Jersey classroom in which President George W. Bush is put on trial for war crimes. In Colorado, students leave the classroom in protest following the suspension of a geography teacher who made an absurd claim that President Bush sounded like Adolph Hitler when he gave reasons for the war in Iraq. There was an ad on TV years ago, I think it may have been for some cigarette, that concluded, “You’ve come a long way, Baby.” We have come a long way from George Washington’s day to 2006.
II. THE SECOND POWERPOINT WAS JAR MARRED AND REMADE, 18:1-11.
A. There Is the Sign.
“[This is] the word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord: 2 “Go down at once to the potter’s house; there I will reveal My words to you.” 3 So I went down to the potter’s house, and there he was, working away at the wheel. 4 But the jar that he was making from the clay became flawed in the potter’s hand, so he made it into another jar, as it seemed right for him to do” (Jer 18:1-4).
This was a simple command from the Lord to Jeremiah. Go down to the potter’s house and observe him. The potter was forming a jar, which became flawed as he worked with it. That was no problem for the potter. He simply kneaded the clay and made another jar.
B. There is the Message.
“The word of the Lord came to me: 6 “House of Israel, can I not treat you as this potter [treats his clay] ?”—[this is] the Lord’s declaration. “Just like clay in the potter’s hand, so are you in My hand, house of Israel. 7 At one moment I might announce concerning a nation or a kingdom that I will uproot, tear down, and destroy [it]” (18:5-7).
Judah was a flawed nation. The Lord might decide to crush the nation and begin all over, molding a people according to His purpose, for His pleasure. On the other hand, there is still hope, if they will only repent.
“However, if that nation I have made an announcement about, turns from its evil, I will not bring the disaster on it I had planned. 9 At [another] time I announce that I will build and plant a nation or a kingdom. 10 However, if it does what is evil in My sight by not listening to My voice, I will not bring the good I had said I would do to it. 11 So now, say to the men of Judah and to the residents of Jerusalem: This is what the Lord says: I am about to bring harm to you and make plans against you. Turn now, each from your evil way, and correct your ways and your deeds. 12 But they will say: It’s hopeless. We will continue to follow our plans, and each of us will continue to act according to the stubbornness of his evil heart” (Jer 18:8-12).
Like a lot of modern day Americans, those ancient Israelites were more interested in praising the Lord than in obeying Him. They might give their offerings, but they would not give themselves.
C. There Is the Message for Us Today.
Following the senate’s approval of his appointment to serve on the US Supreme Court, Justice Alito sent out thank you notes to some people who supported him through the process. One thank you note was sent to Dr. James Dopson of Focus on the Family. In that note Justice Alito thanked Dr. Dopson for his support and asked prayer that he would do his best to see that those who supported him would not be disappointed. Bill O’Reilly read the note and then asked the Rev. Barry Lynn on to comment on what Alito has written. Now, if I were going to point to a sign that illustrates how far America has fallen since the time of the Founders, I could point to the Rev. Barry Lynn! Lynn, who is with Americans for Separation of Church and State, was very critical of Justice Alito, claiming that the note meant, “You can count on me - ‘wink, wink’ - to push the right-wing Christian agenda.” Lynn was so far out that O’Reilly called him crazy, or something of that nature.
III. THE THIRD POWERPOINT WAS A BROKEN JAR, 19:10-11.
A. There Is the Sign.
“This is what the Lord says: “Go, buy a potter’s clay jug. Take some of the elders of the people and some of the elders of the priests and go out to the Valley of Hinnom near the entrance of the Potsherd Gate. Proclaim there the words I speak to you. Say: Hear the word of the Lord, kings of Judah and residents of Jerusalem. This is what the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: I am going to bring such disaster on this place that everyone who hears about it will shudder because they have abandoned Me and made this a foreign place. They have burned incense in it to other gods that they, their fathers, and the kings of Judah have never known. They have filled this place with the blood of the innocent. They have built high places to Baal on which to burn their children in the fire as burnt offerings to Baal, something I have never commanded or mentioned; I never entertained the thought” (Jer 19:1-5).
“Then you are to shatter the jug in the presence of the people traveling with you, 11 and you are to proclaim to them: This is what the Lord of Hosts says: I will shatter these people and this city, like one shatters a potter’s jar that can never again be mended” (Jer 19:10-11).
B. There Is the Message.
There is a major difference between the jar in chapter 18 and the jar in chapter 19. In chapter 18 the jar could be marred and remade because it had not been fired. In this case, the jar had been fired and once shattered it could never be put back together. In chapter 18, hope is held out - if they will only repent God could remold them into the people, the vessel, He wanted them to be. Now it is too late. Destruction is coming and the nation would be defeated and the people taken into captivity for seventy years. He has already stated the reason for this sign: (1) they have abandoned Me; (2) they have “made this a foreign place;” (3) “they have burned incense in it to other gods;” (4) “They have filled this place with the blood of the innocent;” and (5) “They have built high places to Baal on which to burn their children in the fire as burnt offerings to Baal.”
C. There Is the Message for Us Today.
Everywhere we look, there are signs that America as a nation is in the process of rejecting our Lord. We are still religious. Make that “spiritual.” Liberal and New Age types are not offended by terms like “religious’ or “spiritual” as long as we leave Jesus Christ out of it. A Jewish Rabbi announced on one news program that all the conflict between religions started centuries ago when Christians began telling people that you had to go through Jesus to go to heaven. The greatest virtue to some is diversity, the greatest evil is intolerance. What do we do? We must stay with the Word of God, which tells us “There is no other name known among men whereby you must be saved.”
There is evidence everywhere that all who claim to be religious or spiritual are not obedient. Moody Adams, in a newsletter dated, 3/1/06, commented on a recent poll that indicates that Americans today know more about “The Simpsons” than the Bill of Rights or the Bible.
More people can name the three judges on the TV show American Idol than can identify three First Amendment rights.
Worse, “Only one in four Americans can name more than one of the five freedoms guaranteed by the First Amendment (freedom of speech, religion, press, assembly and petition for redress of grievances.),” the research firm Synovate found.
Far worse, it found that 22% of Americans could name the five Simpson family members while only one in 1,000 could name all five freedoms.
Far, far worse, another survey showed almost one out of 10 believes that Moses was one of Jesus’ 12 Apostles, and do not know what Easter commemorates. Two thirds of teens could not correctly identify quotes from the Sermon on the Mount, and 81 percent indicated that people could be saved without hearing the gospel.
The Bible tells us that Satan will successfully deceive those that do not love His Word enough to learn it: “Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan … with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved” (2 Thessalonians 2:9, 10).
IV. THE THIRD POWERPOINT INVOLVED TWO BASKETS OF FIGS, 24:1-10.
A. There Is the Sign.
“After Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had deported Jeconiah son of Jehoiakim king of Judah, the officials of Judah, and the craftsmen and metalsmiths from Jerusalem and had brought them to Babylon, the Lord showed me two baskets of figs placed before the temple of the Lord. One basket [contained] very good figs, like early figs, but the other basket contained very bad figs, so bad they were inedible. The Lord said to me, “What do you see, Jeremiah?” I said, “Figs! The good figs are very good, but the bad figs are extremely bad, so bad they are inedible” (Jer 24:1-3).
Jeremiah records the historical setting. This occurred after the second deportation of captives from Judah to Babylon in 597 B.C. The first deportation was in 606 B. C, at which time Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Obednigo were taken to Babylon.
B. There Is the Message.
“The word of the Lord came to me: “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: Like these good figs, so I regard as good the exiles from Judah I sent away from this place to the land of the Chaldeans. I will keep My eyes on them for their good and will return them to this land. I will build them up and not demolish them; I will plant them and not uproot them. I will give them a heart to know Me, that I am the Lord. They will be My people, and I will be their God because they will return to Me with all their heart” (24:4-7).
“But as for the bad figs, so bad they are inedible, this is what the Lord says: in this way I will deal with Zedekiah king of Judah, his officials, and the remnant of Jerusalem—those remaining in this land and those living in the land of Egypt. I will make them an object of horror and disaster to all the kingdoms of the earth, a disgrace, an object of scorn, ridicule, and cursing, wherever I have banished them. I will send the sword, famine, and plague against them until they have perished from the land I gave to them and their ancestors” (Jer 24:8-10).
The object lesson here is a contrast between two baskets of figs. One basket was filled with figs that were very good and the other with figs that were very bad. Those who had been deported would live in Babylon as colonists, with privileges and opportunities for a good life there. God would watch over them to bless them. False prophets were still prophesying lies, telling the people remaining in Judah that the captives would soon return. In truth, Jeremiah is commissioned to tell them, those who were taken into captivity would live a very good life under less than desirable circumstances. Those who remained in Judah for the next eleven years, from 597 - 586 B. C., would face some really bad times. There would be the siege of Jerusalem, the destruction of the walls, the destruction of the temple that they believed would force God to defend them, and finally, a third deportation.
C. There Is the Message for Today.
America was founded on Christian principles, and the only way to deny that is to rewrite history - or to read history that has already been rewritten. I filed the following e-mail newsletter a few years ago and when I checked it, I could not find the source. I have seen it a number of time and perhaps you have, too.
James Madison, the fourth president, known as "The Father of Our Constitution" made the following statement "We have staked the whole of all our political institutions upon the capacity of mankind for self-government, upon the capacity of each and all of us to govern ourselves, to control ourselves, to sustain ourselves according to the Ten Commandments of God."
Patrick Henry, that patriot and Founding Father of our country said, "It cannot be emphasized too strongly or too often that this great nation was founded not by religionists but by Christians, not on religions but on the Gospel of Jesus Christ".
Every session of Congress begins with a prayer by a paid preacher, whose salary has been paid by the taxpayer since 1777.
Fifty-two of the 55 founders of the Constitution were members of the established orthodox churches in the colonies.
Thomas Jefferson worried that the Courts would overstep their authority and instead of interpreting the law would begin making law....an oligarchy....the rule of few over many.
The very first Supreme Court Justice, John Jay, said, "Americans should select and prefer Christians as their rulers."
How, then, have we gotten to the point that everything we have done for 220 years in this country is now suddenly wrong and unconstitutional?
If we walk with the Lord in humility we will be permitted to eat very good figs, or what ever fruit you prefer. If, however, we continue to reject Him, we may be looking at a basket of very bad figs.
V. THE FIFTH POWERPOINT CONTRASTS TWO YOKES, CHS. 27 & 28.
A. There Is the Message.
“At the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah son of Josiah, king of Judah, this word came to Jeremiah from the Lord: “This is what the Lord said to me: Make fetters and yoke bars for yourself and put them on your neck” (Jer 27:1-2).
B. There Is the Message.
“I spoke to Zedekiah king of Judah in the same way: “Put your necks under the yoke of the king of Babylon, serve him and his people, and live! Why should you and your people die by the sword, famine, or plague as the Lord has threatened against any nation that does not serve the king of Babylon? Do not listen to the words of the prophets who are telling you, ‘You must not serve the king of Babylon,’ for they are prophesying a lie to you” (Jer 27:12-14).
The Lord had told Jeremiah to send word to surrounding nations that if they would subject themselves to the yoke of Babylon they would be spared, but if they refused to do so they would be destroyed. Then, he urged King Zedekiah to submit to Babylon. He urged him not to listen to the false prophets who prophesied lies. I don’t know about you, but I am really glad the Lord eliminated all those false prophets 2500 years ago! Surely we do not have any modern day false prophets out there today who are prophesying lies. How will you know that if you are not testing everything they say by the Word of God, as those saints in Berea did when Paul and Silas preached to them.
The message was simple: Place your neck in the yoke of Babylon and live, refuse to do so and face the sword of Babylon. One false prophet took the yoke from Jeremiah and broke it, after declaring that the Lord had told him that He was about the break the yoke of Babylon and return the captives.
The next scene is very dramatic. Hannaniah had broken the wooden yoke in dramatic fashion, but his was not the final word. Please remember that the test for a true prophet in the Mosaic law was one hundred percent accuracy, and the penalty for a false prophet was death by stoning. Look again at chapter 28, beginning with verse 12:
“The word of the Lord came to Jeremiah after Hananiah the prophet had broken the yoke bar from the neck of Jeremiah the prophet: ‘Go say to Hananiah: This is what the Lord says: You broke a wooden yoke bar, but in its place you will make an iron yoke bar. For this is what the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: I have put an iron yoke on the neck of all these nations that they might serve Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and they will serve him...” (32:12-14).
“The prophet Jeremiah said to the prophet Hananiah, ‘Listen, Hananiah! The Lord did not send you, but you have led these people to trust in a lie. Therefore, this is what the Lord says: ‘I am about to send you off the face of the earth. You will die this year because you have spoken rebellion against the Lord.’ And the prophet Hananiah died that year in the seventh month” (Jer 28:15-17).
C. There Is the Message for Today.
There may not be a modern parallel that fits this sign perfectly, but there is a message in it for us. That message is that we must submit to the yoke of the Lord daily. We must obey Him in all things. Jesus said: “Come to Me, all of you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. All of you, take up My yoke and learn from Me, because I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for yourselves. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light” (Matt 11:28-30).
VI. THE SIXTH POWERPOINT WAS A LAND PURCHASE, 32:6-44.
A. There Is the Sign.
“Jeremiah replied, ‘The word of the Lord came to me: ‘Watch! Hanamel, the son of your uncle Shallum, is coming to you to say: Buy my field in Anathoth for yourself, for you own the right of redemption to buy it.’ Then my cousin Hanamel [came] to the guard’s courtyard as the Lord had said and urged me, ‘Please buy my field in Anathoth in the land of Benjamin, for you own the right of inheritance and redemption. Buy it for yourself.’ Then I knew that this was the word of the Lord” (Jer 32:6-8).
If ever there was a good time to sell property it was when Hanamel saw the Babylonians coming. If ever there was a bad time to buy a farm it was when the Babylonians were coming. Hanamel asked Jeremiah to buy the property, and Jeremiah bought it because, “this was the word of the Lord.”
B. There Is the Message.
Since this is a lengthy passage, I will summarize it briefly. Babylon had come and defeated Judah, taking away captives in 606 and 597 B. C. Jerusalem would be destroyed in 586 and the temple would be looted and destroyed. Why would anyone buy a field, or a farm if the Babylonians were coming and the deed to the land would be of no value. This was a special object lesson, a dramatic power point the people should have appreciated, but did not. This time the emphasis is upon the fact that God was going to bring back a remnant of the people and reestablish His people in the land of Israel. Jeremiah would not be alive to take possession of the land, but according to the law, a relative could redeem the land after the return. Jeremiah was simply showing his faith in the Lord’s promise.
C. There is the Message for Today.
On March 6, 2006, Laura Ingram interviewed Captain Flagg Youngblood after learning that aformer spokesman for the Taliban has enrolled as a pre-collegiate student at Yale. Flagg Youngblood said that when he was a student at Yale, he had to drive seventy miles to another university in order to participate in ROTC because Yale would not permit it on campus. On the same day, March 6, 2006, the US Supreme Court handed down the unanimous decision that if a university receives federal money it must allow military recruiters on campus. Yale was founded to prepare called servants of the Lord to preach the Gospel. Now they enroll a Taliban man, and kick the ROTC off the campus! That is a sign of something, but I think we will agree that this is not a good sign!
There is more. Hollywood lost it sense of decency a long time ago, but it is in a downward spiral right now. Walt Disney provided clean entertainment, but Disney today feeds children one New Age movie or program after another. The Lion King was but one example. Violence is spreading. Pornography has reached epidemic proportions in America. Terrorists are living among us. What is going to happen?
There is an answer. What God designs, God creates. What God plans, God accomplishes. What God promises, God fulfills. Jeremiah said, “After I had given the purchase agreement to Baruch, son of Neriah, I prayed to the Lord: Ah, Lord God! You Yourself made the heavens and earth by Your great power and with Your outstretched arm. Nothing is too difficult for You!” (Jer 32:16-17). Nothing is too hard for God!
The Lord promises to save those who believe in Him. Jesus said, “Everyone the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will never cast out” (John 6:37). He promises to bless those who obey Him and carry out His commandments, and He promises to keep those whom He saves: “I give them eternal life, and they will never perish—ever! No one will snatch them out of My hand” (John 10:28).
VII. THE SEVENTH POWERPOINT SAW A MESSAGE IN STONE IN EGYPT, 43:8-10.
A. There Is the Sign.
After the Babylonians came back for the final time, Jeremiah tried to persuade the remaining leaders of the people to submit to Babylon. He spoke all the words the Lord had given him, but they accused him of prophesying a lie, and forced them to go to Egypt with them. They thought they were safe from Babylon in Egypt, but the Lord had another sign for them.
“Then the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah at Tahpanhes: 9 “Pick up some large stones and set them in the mortar of the brick pavement that is at the opening of Pharaoh’s palace at Tahpanhes” (Jer 43:8-9).
B. There is the Message.
“This is what the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: I will send for My servant Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and I will place his throne on these stones that I have embedded, and he will pitch his pavilion over them. He will come and strike down the land of Egypt—those [destined] for death, to death; those [destined] for captivity, to captivity; and those [destined] for the sword, to the sword. I will kindle a fire in the temples of Egypt’s gods, and he will burn them and take them prisoner. He will clean the land of Egypt as a shepherd picks lice off his garment, and he will leave there unscathed. He will smash the sacred pillars of the sun temple in the land of Egypt and burn down the temples of the Egyptian gods” (Jer 43:10-13).
They had placed all their hope for survival in Egypt. Had they forgotten their ancestors’ experience with Egypt? Did they think they could run away from the wrath of God? Their safe haven would become just another place Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, would place his throne. Those destined for God’s judgment would face Him in judgment.
C. There Is the Message for Today.
God is love. It is in His love that salvation is offered to those who believe in Him. God is also holy. It is the holiness of God that cannot excuse sin. All sin must be punished. Jesus paid the price for our salvation. He died for your sins and for mine. He had none Himself. If you trust Jesus your sins are covered by the blood He poured out at Calvary. If, however, you reject Him, you will surely stand before Him in judgment to receive your sentence of conscious, eternal torment in a place called hell.
CONCLUSION
When I was very young in the ministry, I had a number of people ask me, “Don’t you believe the signs are being fulfilled?” They were talking about end-time issues. I knew that. What I didn’t know was exactly what signs they had in mind. I once knew a man who was so adamant about his signs that he tried to have me labeled as a heretic. After failing to get any support, he left the church, only to return two years later to explain that he had been wrong because “some of those countries over there didn’t do what I expected them to do.”
A lot of those countries “over there” do not do what I expect them to do, but right now, more than ever in my life, I am looking “over there” for the next indication that our Lord is about to return for His church, at which time many of the prophecies of Scripture will be fulfilled. As a matter of fact, I have stopped looking for signs and started listening for the shout!
I know of nothing that could prevent our Lord’s return any time the Father is ready. Rather than looking for God’s sign - God’s power point - today, I would urge you to look to a promise:
“For God loved the world in this way: He gave His One and Only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send His Son into the world that He might judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him. Anyone who believes in Him is not judged, but anyone who does not believe is already judged, because he has not believed in the name of the One and Only Son of God” (John 3:16-18).
