An Unmitigated Disaster

The term unmitigated disaster came to my mind as I was studying our chosen text for this morning in Jeremiah chapter 5.

The term which we often hear associated with serious disaster that is almost beyond repair, that is truly hopeless. This particular text I tagged as a potential future sermon in July 1998 and dropped it into my file 22 years ago. The coven interruption avoided the opportunity to examine this text as I interrupted my expository series in 2 Corinthians and have been taking up shorter portions of God's word for our consideration. These words were spoken by Jeremiah, the Old Testament prophet, to Israel, the national people of God, but they also have important, very important applications for us today. We know that all scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, reproof, correction, instruction, and righteousness, all scripture. And when Paul by the Holy Spirit wrote those words, most of the scripture that was available to him and to the people of God in that day was the Old Testament. All scripture, including the Old Testament, in fact in that context, all scripture, especially the Old Testament, is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, reproof, correction, for instruction, and righteousness. And therefore, we do not hesitate to consider this Old Testament passage this morning and see what God had in these words for His people in Jeremiah's day and what God has for us in this day of the 21st century.

We shall examine first of all the background, secondly the text, and thirdly some applications. As the background, let me quickly give you some of the historical setting as the backdrop against which Jeremiah wrote. Jeremiah prophesied during the last 45 years of Judah's history right up to the Babylonian captivity and to the physical destruction of the city of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar. He began his prophetic ministry in 627 B.C. in the 13th year of King Josiah, who turned out to be the last good king of Judah before its destruction. And he continued his ministry until 582 B.C.

or perhaps even for a year or two beyond that. And who is Jeremiah? Most Christians know Jeremiah as the weeping prophet. The book of Lamentations was written by Jeremiah. That is a book of weeping, a book of Lamentations as he weeps over the condition of Israel and particularly the city of Jerusalem. But if by understanding Jeremiah to be the weeping prophet, you think he was a weak and infeminate man, you are very, very, very mistaken.

He was strong, he was bold, he was courageous, almost beyond understanding. Only God could have sustained him in the ministry that he pursued. Jeremiah was a Levitical priest by birth and by lineage and became a prophet by the divine call of God. We learn this in the opening words of the book of Jeremiah.

The word of Jeremiah, the son of Hilkiah, of the priests who were in Anathoth in the land of Benjamin. His call beginning in verse 5, God said, Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you. Before you were born, I sanctified you. I ordained you a prophet to the nations. Then said I, Ah, Lord God, behold, I cannot speak, for I am a youth. But the Lord said to me, Do not say, I am a youth, for you shall go to all whom I send you.

And whatever I command you, you shall speak. Do not be afraid of their faces, for I am with you to deliver you, says the Lord. And so Jeremiah took up his prophetic ministry, a ministry primarily one of warning against judgment, impending judgment against the nation of Israel. Notice these words in chapter 3, beginning in verse 12. Go and proclaim these words toward the north, that's the northern kingdom of Israel, and say, Return backsliding Israel, says the Lord. I will not cause my anger to fall on you, for I am merciful, says the Lord.

I will not remain angry forever, only acknowledge your iniquity, that you have transgressed against the Lord your God and have scattered your charms to alien deities under every green tree. And you have not obeyed my voice, says the Lord. And so Jeremiah was a prophet to the northern kingdom of Israel. In fact, chapters 2, 3, and 4 are pretty much taken up with his words to Israel. But Jeremiah was also, and even more preeminently, a prophet to the southern kingdom of Judah that we see in verses 15 and 16 of chapter 1. For behold, I am calling the families of all the kingdoms of the north, says the Lord, they shall come, each one set, and each one set his throne at the entrance of the gates of Jerusalem, against all its walls all around. And against all the cities of Judah, I will utter my judgments concerning the wickedness, or concerning all their wickedness, because they have forsaken me, burned incense to other gods, and worshiped the works of their own hands. So Jeremiah's ministry was wide reaching. It was to the northern kingdom of Israel already undergoing judgment and destruction.

It was to the southern kingdom of Judah, which would soon experience similar destruction. And it was in part to all the nations of the earth, as we read in the opening words. Verse 5, I ordained you a prophet to the nations. Verse 9, then the Lord put forth his hand and touched my mouth. The Lord said to me, behold, I have put my words in your mouth.

See, I have this day set you over the nations and over the kingdoms to root out and to pull down, to destroy and to throw down, to build and to plant. He had a big assignment. And I can tell you, and you already know this if you have read the book of Jeremiah carefully, that Jeremiah was not popular with the people to whom he ministered.

That's an understatement. He was strongly opposed. In fact, we can only identify two people who became followers of his message, of the truth which he proclaimed in all the 45 years that are recorded of his ministry throughout this book. But he was faithful, and God promised to protect him and to deliver him, and God did exactly that. Now, what was Jeremiah dealing with? Well, he was dealing, obviously, with the rebellion of God's national people, Israel, as we've already read. The northern kingdom, Israel's spiritual adultery and judgment that is detailed in chapters 2, 3, and 4. And Judah's rebellion, as we shall look at some of those elements in chapter 5, for example, as God commissioned Jeremiah to search throughout Jerusalem and Judah to find one righteous person. And he couldn't do it.

Incredible. Chapter 5, verse 1, run to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem and see and know and seek in her open places. If you can find a man, if there is anyone who executes judgment, who seeks the truth, and I will pardon her. Not I will pardon him. I will pardon her. Find one man who's faithful, and I will hold back the judgment.

And on it goes. Reminds us of Abraham's prayer for Sodom. If Abraham had had Jeremiah's prophecy, he might have gone a little lower in praying for the Lord.

If you can find, what did he get down to? Is it 10 when he stopped? If you can find 10 righteous men in Sodom, will you withhold judgment? And God said, if I find 10, I will withhold judgment. We don't know what would have happened if Abraham had said, if you can find one. He didn't go that low.

He didn't dare. God told Jeremiah, if you can find one faithful man, one man who obeys me, one man who trusts me throughout the land of Judah, I will hold back my judgment. And Jeremiah couldn't find that person. And Jeremiah assumes that what God spoke about not being able to find a faithful man applies only to the lower classes. He's thinking, surely this is true of the poor people, the uneducated people, the riffraff, we might call them. You see that in verse 4.

Therefore I said, surely these are poor. These people can't find a righteous man. They are foolish. They do not know the way of the Lord, the judgment of their God. I will go, verse 5, to the great men and speak to them. For they have known the way of the Lord, the judgment of their God, but these have altogether broken the yoke and burst the bonds.

He found out it wasn't restricted to the lower classes. It also applied to the upper classes, to the rulers, to the rich, to the ones that society considers to be great. There were no righteous people among them. In this chapter, he describes the rampant sexual immorality that characterized that day. Verse 7, they have committed, halfway through the verse, they have committed adultery and assembled themselves by troops in harlots' houses.

They were like well-fed, lusty stallions, everyone neighing after his neighbor's wife. Shall I not punish them for these things, says the Lord? And shall I not avenge myself on such a nation as this? He found widespread idolatry all throughout the land, these people who had been clearly told not to make any graven images, not to bow down to any god except the Lord God.

They knew the commandments, but they ignored them completely. Notice verse 18. Nevertheless, in those days, says the Lord, I will not make a complete end of you. And it will be when you say, Why does the Lord God do all these things to us? Then you shall answer them, just as you have forsaken me and served gods in your land, served foreign gods in your land. So you shall serve aliens in a land that is not yours, speaking of the coming captivity.

There was general lawlessness all throughout society. That's what God is getting at in these words of Jeremiah in verses 22 and following. Do you not fear me, says the Lord? Will you not tremble at my presence, I who have placed the sands as the bound of the sea by a perpetual decree that it cannot pass beyond it? And though its waves toss to and fro, yet they cannot prevail. Though they roar, they cannot pass over it. But this people has a defiant and rebellious heart. They have revolted and departed. And on he goes.

What's he saying? He's saying, When it comes to the ocean, I have built boundaries. I put the ocean in the basins that I prepared for it, and I erected boundaries so that it could not cover the whole earth. There's certainly enough water to do that, and it did so in the flood.

In fact, it did so in the earliest days of Creation Week. But God scooped out ocean basins, and he commanded the waters to go to their place, and he put shorelines and boundaries over which the waters would not pass. And God is saying, The waters obey me, but I have erected boundaries for my people. I have given them commandments. I have given them instructions. I have given them thou shalt nots and thou shalts. These are boundaries, which they have totally ignored. They refuse to submit to the boundaries that I have given.

They are a lawless people. And finally, he accuses them of exploitation. You have made yourself rich, and oftentimes by taking advantage of the poor, the widows, the orphans, the defenseless, you have exploited them for your own gain.

And you think I won't judge you for these things? That's the background. And now we come to the text in verses 30 and 31. An astonishing and horrible thing has been committed in the land. The prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests rule by their own power.

And my people love to have it so, but what will you do in the end? This is the text that explains much of what we've seen in the earlier chapters. This text contains exposure.

It reveals, it pulls back the covers to show what's really going on in the hearts of people, in spite of what may be going on outwardly, externally, and ceremonially. It is a text of explanation. We come to understand why the nation of Israel has come to the terrible conditions, the appalling conditions that it is now experiencing.

It is a text of warning. It is a text that tells us unmitigated disaster has already begun to fall and will continue to fall unless you heed the words of the prophet. And so in our text of verses 30 and 31 we see first a tragedy declared, second a problem described, and third the consequences considered. And what is the tragedy that is declared? Well, he calls it an appalling and horrible thing has happened. An appalling, the old King James says, wonderful, but that's certainly a misleading translation in our understanding of the English language today. That day it meant anything that created great wonder could be good or bad.

Now we consider it only that which is good. But the Hebrew word means that which is astonishing, stupefying, shocking. An appalling thing has happened. And secondly, it is called a horrible thing. It causes horror to those who view it. That's the tragedy that is declared. Something is terrible, something is appalling, something is horrible.

And what is this? What is this horrible thing that has come to the land of Israel and Judah? Is it a plague that is destroying people that they're dying like flies?

Is it COVID-19 times 100? Is it an invasion of foreign armies that have come? And the answer is no, not yet.

That will come, but it has not come yet. Is it a famine that's come to the land? And again, not yet. Up until now, God says, you have taken the rains that I have sent, the former and the latter rains, and have enjoyed the harvest and have not given me the honor that I'm due for giving these things to you. Is it an economic depression?

No, not yet. There are wealthy people in the land who are enjoying the good things of life. Well, what is this appalling and horrible thing that has happened to the land?

Because the problem is described. The prophets prophesy falsely. The priests rule by their own power.

And my people love to have it so. What's the problem, this horrible appalling thing that has happened? It is, number one, God's word is corrupted. Number two, God's authority is displaced.

And number three, God's people are complicit. God's word is corrupted. The prophets prophesy falsely. They're prophesying, but they're not prophesying God's word.

They're prophesying falsely. Ezekiel talked about something similar in his prophecy. And by the way, Ezekiel and Jeremiah's ministry overlapped in part. And while Ezekiel was in captivity by the river Kibar, Jeremiah was back in the land prophesying to the people there.

But here's what Ezekiel says in a similar vein in chapter 13. And the word of the Lord came to me saying, Son of man, prophesy against the prophets of Israel who prophesy and say to those who prophesy out of their own heart, hear the word of the Lord. Thus says the Lord God, go to the foolish prophets who follow their own spirit and have seen nothing. They haven't had a vision from God. Oh, Israel, your prophets are like foxes in the desert. You have not gone up into the gaps to build a wall for the house of Israel to stand in battle in the day of the Lord. You're not holding up a bulwark to hold back corruption and to maintain the ways of God. They have envisioned futility and false divination, saying, thus says the Lord, but the Lord has not sent them, yet they hope that the word may be confirmed.

He goes on to talk in this vein. And then he says in verse 10, because indeed, because they have seduced my people saying, peace, when there is no peace. They are comforting people when there ought to be warning. It's a time for warning, but instead they are speaking false peace. So God's word is corrupted by the prophets who are prophesying falsely. They haven't abandoned their prophetic function. They're still speaking, they're still preaching, but they have altered their message. Instead of proclaiming the word of God, they're proclaiming things out of their own heart. They are telling people what they want to hear instead of what they need to hear. They are avoiding anything that is discomforting, messages about sin, about the need of repentance or the need of God's people to sacrifice, to honor God.

These things are strangely lacking from all of their prophecies, but instead they are soothing people. They are saying, peace, peace, when there is no peace. Have you ever noticed how many phrases from the Bible have been picked up and used in the political realm over the years?

And this is one of them back in the early years of our country when Patrick Henry was trying to stir up support to rebel against England for the Revolutionary War. He picked this word out of the Bible. He said these people who are saying peace, peace are saying it falsely. They say peace, peace, when there is no peace. The war has already begun.

Come on, wake up. And he uses that in the political context. That often happens, but sadly, so many times, people are even willing to take words from the Bible about liberty, freedom, all kinds of things and use them in the political realm, but ignore the original message, ignore the biblical context, ignore what God is actually saying to people. They don't want to hear that.

They want to hear something else. And so in this way, God's word is corrupted. Secondly, God's authority is displaced, we are told. The priests rule by their own power, or they rule by their own authority.

The word power there has the idea of authority. They are ignoring divine regulations that they don't welcome and that the people don't welcome, and they are substituting in their place humanly manufactured rules, in most cases, humanly manufactured ceremonies and ways to carry out the Jewish religion. Malachi was dealing with something similar a little bit later on after the Babylonian captivity, after the Restoration, when he talked about the priests who were offering on the altars animals that did not qualify according to the word of God, the lame, the sick, the ones that God said would not be received, but they ignored the regulations of God. They are instead ruling by their own authority and saying, we're willing to accept this, and it made the people happy, they could worship God more cheaply, no sacrifice needed. And that made the priests popular, the people were happy with the priests, and so you scratch my back, I scratch yours, that's what's going on. As the priests are substituting humanly manufactured rules in the place of God's law, things that usually require little inconvenience or sacrifice. And, we're not done with the description of the problem, the prophets are prophesying falsely, the priests are ruling by their own authority, but thirdly, God's people are complicit. My people, what, are appalled by these things? My people are resisting these things? My people are calling out to the priests and prophets to please give us the word of God?

No. My people love to have it so. They love it. Now, who are these people? Well, they're God's people by external identification, they were all identified as the people of God because they were part of the nation of Israel, but as we've already seen, Jeremiah searched through the nation and couldn't even find one whose heart was truly right with God. Are these God's people?

Well, they are, we would call them today, professing Christians, and in many cases, church members who are unconverted, calling themselves Christians, but know nothing of the grace of God, no change of heart, no new birth. God's people, by external identification, love a religion that feeds, not opposes their fleshly desires. Feel good religion, people love it, they like it. Just turn on your television to the program that comes out of, I think it's Houston, the largest church in the United States of America, you know who I'm talking about, and listen to the feel good religion that comes out of that setting and the 25,000 people, the crowd into that stadium to be a part of that.

Oh, they love it, they love it. And this one, Joel Osteen said years ago on television, when asked specifically, did he ever preach about sin, he said, oh, no, no, no. People are dealing with negative things all week long. When they come to church, they need something to make them feel good.

They need positive things, they don't need negative things. No, I don't ever preach about sin. Well, Jeremiah described that how many hundreds of years before Joel Osteen ever came along. And so God's people in name only love a religion that makes them feel good and encourages their fleshly desires.

I am amazed, I have to break in here with an application that I don't have written down and probably therefore wouldn't get to later on. But I'm amazed at how many people who go to churches that are identified as evangelical churches, we're not talking about mainline liberal churches, we're not talking about churches that nearly everybody understands have departed a long time ago in our apostate, but people who go to churches that are generally independent churches, evangelical churches, and don't think there's anything wrong with unmarried people living together without the benefit of marriage. In fact, a poll said that 47% of evangelicals, people who identify themselves as evangelicals, think there's nothing wrong with that as long as they are committed to each other. Well, what do you think marriage is? That's the commitment.

If you're not willing to be married, you're not committed to each other. Come on, wake up, ding dong! Stupid, foolish, deceived people. God's people love to have it so. And thus they despise, avoid, and ridicule two prophets who tell them the word of God. How many times I've heard people say, I hope you aren't one of those, you know what's coming next, hellfire and brimstone preachers. I used to think they were talking about somebody who stomped around on the platform and spit. I learned all they're talking about is somebody who talks about sin and the need for repentance and the need for change and sacrifice. That's a hellfire and brimstone preacher. I don't want to hear that. No, you don't.

Neither did they. God's people love to have it so and don't realize that they are apostate, they are deceived, they are condemned, they are on their way to eternal destruction. That's the problem described. And what are the consequences? One line describes it so well, but what will you do in the end?

There are temporal consequences and there are eternal consequences, temporal consequences. When this kind of activity goes on for a while, what's it doing to your country? What's it doing to your nation? What's it doing to your society? You're having more and more people who pay no attention to law and order and to morality and so society becomes more and more disrupted and dangerous. And when that permeates all of society, then in all integrity is gone, honesty is gone, you can't trust people, you can't trust anybody, you can't depend upon law enforcement because we want to defund the police.

When that goes on for a while, how will you keep your nation from utter ruin? How will you get your values and standards back when you come to the place where you realize, uh-oh, we went too far and shouldn't have let them go? What will you do in the end when you find out that these things are not brought back easily?

In fact, they're not brought back at all apart from divine aid and that's your whole problem. You wanted to ignore God all along. You'd love to bring back the things that will make society prosperous and blessed, but you don't want to bring back the law of Almighty God and surrender to Him. So what are you going to do? When this kind of feel-good religion has ruined your nation.

And that's the milder consequences. What about the eternal consequences? What will you do in the end? What will you do in the day of judgment? What will you do when your religion is exposed as a false religion that has no saving merit whatsoever, which leaves you without a plea as you stand before a holy God and are called into account? What will you do when you find out that all that you have called your Christianity is a bunch of lies and it's too late now to repent, it's too late to go find the truth, it's too late to cling to Christ and to the gospel?

What will you do in the end? Well, obviously I've already spilled over into some applications. I couldn't help it, but let me give you several more. Jeremiah talks about prophets and priests. A prophet is one who professes to speak God's word to the people. And a priest is one who pointed the way to God, who assists people in their relationship with God.

In the Old Testament, of course, they did this at the temple, the tabernacle of the temple, and through the sacrifices and through teaching. But those general ideas are actually combined in the office of pastor today, or loosely subsumed under the word we use when we talk about preacher. That's a good old southern term for a pastor or an evangelist or anybody who preaches the word of God, preacher.

I like that. What we need are preachers who are preachers. What we need are preachers who not only profess to speak the word of God, but actually speak the word of God. What we need are preachers who point people to God and assist people in their relationship to God, rather than actually prevent them or put barriers in the way of their coming to God. So by way of application, first of all, let me mention what is the preacher's primary duty.

I hope that's clear from this passage. In our day, the preacher's primary duty is not to make people feel good. I think many times when you come to church and hear truth that you believe and revel in, it makes you feel good.

But that's not the main purpose. People whose hearts are right with God and love the truth that they are hearing, it does make them feel good. Sometimes I have preached what I thought were very hard and harsh messages, and I've had people tell me, oh, that was so encouraging. And I'm thinking, really? I didn't intend for it to be.

I didn't think it would be. But it was because their hearts resonated with the truth, and they found much comfort and peace in hearing the word of God and knowing of the mercy of God. But even though that happens, and I think it happens regularly, that's not the preacher's primary purpose is to make people feel good.

And it's certainly not the preacher's primary purpose to make people like him. I'm sorry. I hope you'll like me, but if you don't, it's okay.

It really is. People do get mad at me sometimes. I hope it's for the right reasons. I know I'm a sinner, and I'm sure sometimes people get mad at me for reasons that are connected with my own Adamic nature rather than for truth. But by God's help and grace, may it always be that when people get mad with me that it's because I will not budge on truth that they are not willing to accept.

And so we've come to a... That's not pleasant. And I'm afraid there are many preachers who aren't willing to stand for truth when people don't like it and when it makes them disliked by the people. But it's not the preacher's primary duty to make people feel good, and it's not the preacher's primary duty to make people like him. It's not, listen to me now, the preacher's primary duty to be your friend.

Again, it's fine. I'm not saying the preacher should try not to be your friend, should try to keep himself from being your friend, but that's not his primary duty. A lot of people, that's what they want. They want their pastor to be their friend. Well, that's good, up to a point.

But as we'll see in the next application, there are reasons why there's a limit to that. You've got to understand that's not the preacher's primary responsibility is to be your friend. What is his primary responsibility? To proclaim God's truth to you.

That's it. To proclaim God's truth to you in season, out of season. Truth that you like, truth that you don't like. All the Word of God. To preach the truth, to preach the truth that you love, and to preach the truth that you would rather avoid.

But if he's a faithful preacher, he's going to preach it all, and he's going to help you, hopefully, to change, to repent, and to change in those areas where the truth is rubbing the wrong way. What did Oliver Green say? I miss that man. Long with the Lord, long now with the Lord, an interesting man. Some of you know who I'm talking about. He probably wasn't the first one to say it, but he said, if you're rubbing the cat the wrong way, turn the cat around.

The problem is with the rubbing, if you're rubbing truth the right way, and it's ruffling the fur, then turn the cat around. That's the preacher's responsibility. But I'm going to give you a second application that occurred to me in studying this passage, and you'll wonder where this came from, because it doesn't seem to be in the passage, but I think you'll see it. I think this passage also not only tells us something about the preacher's primary duty, but it also tells us something about a parent's primary duty, because it's similar. A parent's primary responsibility to their children is not to be liked by your children. Again, you'd rather be, and there's no reason to deliberately try to make them dislike you.

That would be wrong as well. But I see too many modern parents who seem to be so worried that they may do or say something that will make their children dislike them, that they aren't able to parent their children according to the Word of God. Your primary responsibility is not to make your children like you, nor is your primary responsibility to make sure that the way you deal with your children is approved by your friends. If your friends are basing their ideas on the Bible, well and good, but if they are basing their ideas on modern psychology opposed to the Word of God, then it doesn't matter whether they approve of your parenting style or not. Your responsibility is to be true to God's Word, not to substitute the latest sociological techniques in the place of God's Word.

Yoo-hoo! It's your parental responsibility to teach and model and practice God's Word in your life and for your children. And if you don't, what will you do in the end when your children are grown and you realize your mistake?

Uh-oh, too late. If you don't, what will you do when children seek popular religion instead of the Bible? Where did they learn that? I took them to church. I taught them the Gospel. Yes, but you modeled a willingness to alter the Word of God when it wasn't desirable.

And guess what? Now your children are doing the same thing, and they're just doing it to a greater degree. There are consequences to abandoning the Word of God.

Application number three. Popular religion is worse than no religion at all. It's more deceptive. It's more difficult to abandon, to shake loose from. People who have no religion oftentimes, and again this is only by the work of God's Spirit, but many times I've had them say, I've gone this way long enough, it's about time for me to get into church. But people who are caught up in popular religion generally take the position I'm in church. I'm fine.

Don't talk to me. Popular religion is worse than no religion. Popular religion may be represented by the megachurch, and I'm not saying all megachurches are this way, but a lot of them are, where people crowd in for the show, for the rock music, for the smoke machine, yeah. And it makes them feel good.

Sometimes it's a megachurch that is deceptive and worse than no religion at all, or sometimes it's a little family church, the community church that's been there for decades and decades and decades, and it's the one your parents went to and your grandparents went to, and nothing wrong with this. This is part of our heritage. This is part of our culture.

This is part of our community. Yes, but the Word of God was abandoned a long time ago, and God's Word is not being proclaimed, and all you're hearing is useless pablum to make you feel good, and all of your religion consists of is do good, be a good person, and be a good neighbor, and be good in society, and everything will be all right, and you are terribly deceived, and what are you going to do in the end? What are you going to do when you stand before the day of judgment and have no atonement for your sins?

My final application is short and sweet and to the point, but it is this. Ignoring truth does not banish it. It's still there, and it's going to face you someday. I don't know how many people seem to have this crazy idea that if I say I don't believe something, then it's gone. I don't have to worry about it. I've had people tell me, talking to them about the gospel, trying to get them to see their need, trying to get them to have some sense of concern for their soul, and maybe mention to them that hell awaits those who don't turn in repentance and faith to Christ, and they say, well, I don't believe in hell. It's like, well, that's the end of the story. If I don't believe in hell, it's nothing to worry about. I don't have to think about that.

Friends, you may not believe in hurricanes, but if one comes through, it'll flatten you just as much as the guy who does. Ignoring truth does not banish it. God's truth is unchanging. God's truth is indestructible.

God's truth is forever, and God's truth will be vindicated at the appointed time. The day is coming when every knee shall bow and every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. To the glory of God the Father, everyone will do that. Every non-religious person will do that, acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord. Every religious person who abandoned the true lordship of Christ in their life will have to acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord and that they have rebuilt sinfully against Him.

Ignoring truth does not banish it. God's truth is unchanging and forever, and God's truth will face you on the day of judgment. Therefore, I plead with you as Jeremiah pled with the people of his day. Hear the word of the Lord. Hear the warnings of God. Recognize where you are straying from God's word. Quit justifying your sinfulness. Acknowledge your sin, repent of your sin, and turn to God with your whole heart. Shall we pray? Father, take your word and apply it to our lives today as only your spirit can do. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.