The World is On Fire | 2 Chronicles 15:3-6 | Pastor Daniel Batarseh

The world is on fire. The world is on fire. Those are the words that flashed on one of my devices from a report issued from one of the leading news organizations in our country. And I'm sure you as well are being bombarded by a barrage of breaking news and incoming stories on almost an hourly basis, but this particular statement gripped me. It caught my attention because I find it to be a very compelling and powerful description of how the world today perceives what's happening in the world.

The world is on fire. And as I thought about this, I I thought that's probably how some people here feel as well, that no matter what direction you look into, no matter what sphere in society, something is up in flames. Something is up in flames, whether that's metaphorical or literal, and these fires are projected to only spread and to generate and cause untold damage and destruction. And if there isn't a fire, in an obvious sense, if there isn't clear turbulence, then there is smoke. There's smoke signaling a fire to come, and that's producing in this generation an overwhelming and eerie sense that there is no longer a safe place to go to in this world.

We feel surrounded. It's not just a little spark here, a little spark there. The whole building is up in flames. And this is the day that you and I are living in. And it is escalated quickly, and the emotions range from total outrage to people living on edge wondering how the events that we are seeing will unfold and how they will determine the trajectory, if not our own lives, then the lives of the children and grandchildren that we love so deeply.

Where is this all going? What is this all going to lead to? International wars, famines, earthquakes, mass shootings that almost seem to be numbing now because they just are expected. Disease and pestilences and immoral education system on all levels. The invasion of Marxism, a blatant and outright corrupt and dysfunctional political system.

The looming threats of terrorism. More and more, we're hearing about how terrorists are flooding into our borders and through our borders. Natural disasters that are just becoming more intense and more common, and the cherry on top is just the overall moral decay. And all of these things seem to just be coming closer and closer surrounding us as a generation, and it's almost suffocating. But while the world is, helplessly and, dare I say, frantically looking for a solution or solutions, you and I as a church of Jesus Christ are not hopeless.

We are very hopeful because we have many reasons to be hopeful. And one of those reasons why we can be at rest is because the modern tragedies and the modern trends that are disturbing are not without explanation for the Christian. Because in the possession of the Christian is a eternal, unchanging, timeless word, the word that belongs to God and comes from God. And in that word, we have answers. We have answers.

And with those answers, we have the only solution for the problems that we're seeing and facing today. Now the overall consensus, the general opinion of the believer today is that we are racing towards the end. That that that's undeniable. But I don't want that to be the only answer we have for ourselves or for others. Because, yes, the world may be confused.

We are confident. The the world may be in hysteria. You and I know rest. The world might be in darkness. We surely have the light, but we want to also feed into our confidence with greater truth.

I I want us to dig deeper into the mind of God to find even more precise commentary of what is actually happening here. Why is it happening? How is this being caused? Why is it only getting worse and worse? There are answers here.

We don't just have to brush it off by saying, well, this is just the last days. No. There's even more to that. There's more to what we're seeing today. The let me say it this way.

There is a message from God to the people that are living in this time of history. There is a message from God himself. And I don't stand before you as a prophet who has subjective words from God. I stand to you as a simple mailman with God's word that's already been given and that relates to and connects to what we are experiencing. And so I invite you to pursue that with me by coming to the book of second Chronicles in chapter 15.

If you haven't caught on yet, we're taking a pause on Mark. Second Chronicles chapter 15, and come with me to verse five. Here's the context of this passage. You have a prophet named Azariah, and he, with the spirit of God coming upon him, approaches a king. King of Judah at this time was Asa.

Asa, up to this point, was a man of God. He had a tender heart for God. He was dependent upon God, and he displayed that through his prayer life. But the prophet Azariah, by the spirit, wants to encourage him to not make the same self defeating mistakes that the nation of Israel has made in former times. And so he's going to exhort the king, And he's going to exhort the king by giving a brief history lesson, and this history lesson is from a unspecified time period in Israel's, resume.

But interestingly, as you're gonna hear this, it's not just pertaining to Israel's unstable past, it actually speaks of an era when the world was on fire. When the world when the neighboring nations, when the inhabitants of not just one land but multiple lands were also troubled and disturbed. And here's what it says in verse in verse three. For a long time, Israel was without the true God and without a teaching priest and without law. But when in their distress, they turned to the Lord, the God of Israel and sought him, he was found by them.

And here's the main text in verse five. In those times, there was no peace to him who went out or to him who came in, for great disturbances afflicted all the inhabitants of the lands. They were broken in pieces. Nation was crushed by nation and city by city, for God troubled them with every sort of distress. Father, we ask that you help us understand your word, your voice for today.

Give us ears to hear what the spirit says to the churches. In Jesus' name, amen. Again, you and I here see that these circumstances that Azariah is alluding to is not just focused on the nation of Israel. And people wonder where and when these things, these circumstances occurred. Right?

He's very general in verse five. He just says, in those times. Well, what times? Based on the characteristics, many believe that he's speaking about the times of the judges, which is, a very good case to make. But it's ambiguous.

And it's, it's ambiguous because Israel has known a cycle of apostasy throughout its history. But I want you, more importantly, to look at the descriptions of those times. Look at how the Bible is so specific. And as you discover this, you will see how unparalleled, how rather parallel it is to our own time. The first thing that he says here in verse five is that there was no peace to him who went out or to him who came in.

There was no peace for him who came out or to him who would come in. In other words, there was a general fear in the atmosphere. And the main reason for that fear is because there was criminal activity rampant causing citizens to be fearful of being in the public, of traveling. They were hesitant to even leave their own homes. And in Judges chapter five verse six, you don't have to turn there, but in Judges five six as a reference for you, there's even more light shed on this where we were told there that the highways in Israel were abandoned and people went about through the byways.

In other words, there was so much evil that people avoided public places, high traffic areas. They would take the longer route home because criminals at this point took advantage of these strategic places, robbers and thieves and murderers to satisfy their evil pursuits. And so it caught on, these are these are the places to avoid and to watch out for. And there was no officials to regulate this, to supervise this, to deal with this. Is that not the reality that you and I are in today?

Especially for us in Illinois, especially for us near Chicago. You have people today that wanna avoid parades, that think twice about going to concerts. You have many people who are willing to rely on online shopping than to risk being a victim of another random act of murder, mass murder at a mall. So let me just click click and get it come to my front door. There's fear.

There's no peace. That's why you don't drive in certain neighborhoods at certain times of the day. And in our city, it's at any time of the day in some places. This is what is being told to us. There is an environment and atmosphere of evil that's causing innocent civilians and citizens to pay a price to their regular day to day experience.

But from there we read something else. We read about nation crushing another nation. So international distress and turmoil. But not just international. Notice this, he says city against city.

We're talking about demographic. We're talking about internal conflict and combat. So this is civil war. This is death and division and tension among people who represent a group or a nation or a people. And so you have now streets, you have territorial and tribal antagonism.

And Israel is not unfamiliar with skirmishes among their own tribes and neither are we. Because you and I are being programmed every single day in our universities, in our media, from books and celebrities and everything in between that you belong to a social class. You are a part of a subgroup. And here, let's help us identify you to a subgroup. And on top of that, let's show you the other subgroups in your context that are opposite of you, that are obstacles not just to you, but obstacles to the thriving of this culture.

These other groups are hindrances to the urban utopia that we want to reach as a people. And so we're worried about gangs. We're creating gangs out of our own civilians. And we can't have discourse anymore. We now resort to violence and you can't express yourself without being threatened, either being punched in the mouth or have a gun pulled out on you, having your house vandalized if you post the wrong thing.

You have to get up and move and leave the whole place altogether. And I can give you more and more examples from these texts, but let me just summarize it the way Azariah does here. He says in verse five, in those times, there was no peace to him who went out or to him who came in for great disturbances, plural, afflicted all the inhabitants of the lands. Meaning here that there were many factors that contributed to the global anarchy of that day and it affected absolutely everyone in some way, shape, or form. No one was out of reach from feeling the effects of this disorder and growing mayhem.

And that's true of you and I as well. We all are feeling something, and I'm persuaded that it's only gonna get more intense unless a miracle happens. And if you thought that these uncanny similarities, from this text are shocking, prepare to be shocked further by the final statement that Azariah gives here in verse six. Look at the last part of verse six. For God troubled them with every sort of distress.

Who's in charge of all of this? Who's in charge of the lack of peace? Who's in charge of nations and nations coming against each other? City against city. Who's in charge?

It's not Satan. It's not politicians. It's not Hollywood. God. God was the one that troubled them with every sort of distress.

Does that ruffle with your theology? God's not apologizing for it. The spirit of God comes upon Ezra to say that unequivocally. God is behind this. Should we think any differently today?

I'm convinced no. Not that we have to be careful. God is the author of evil. He's far from the author of evil. But in his wisdom and in his power and in his justice, he is often the permitter of it.

God, who is the great restrainer from time to time will remove his restraining grace and allow a generation to devour one another. God. God troubled them with every sort of distress. And if God is the one that they were dealing with, then we're that much closer to finding reprieve. We're that much closer to hopefully finding a true solution here.

Because what we're seeing right now is interview and podcasts of people trying to figure out how do we find an answer. And here's the word of God. Well, if you know the cause, then you come that much closer to a solution. God is the one troubling. You know, the nations today can save themselves a lot of time, a lot of energy, a lot of resources, and they can even save a lot of lives if they just but realize and accept now, accept today, not as a history lesson, now that who they're dealing with is God.

To accept that there is a transcendent holy being that is orchestrating these events. That's undeniable. But is there an explanation? Yes. In the very same text, there is an explanation.

You and I receive clarification to the why. Why would a good and holy God, a God of peace, a God of forgiveness, a God of mercy, why would such a God allow the world to be set on fire? Why wouldn't he stop it at a spark? Why is it only destroying and wreaking more havoc? And in the same text, you actually get three reasons why.

There are three reasons why. For why God troubled them and why God today, I believe, is allowing what's happening across the globe. Maybe you saw it, but if you didn't, go back to verse three with me. Here's what Azariah says. For a long time Israel, he's he's focusing on Israel now, was without the true God, number one.

Two, and without a teaching priest. And three, and without law. Those are the three reasons. The reason why God troubled them with every distress was because Israel was without the true God. Let's deal with that one first.

What do you mean without the true God? Did they become atheist? No. Azariah is specific. He didn't say that they weren't without God.

Without what? The true God. And so we're not being told here that, Israel stopped believing in God. We're not talking about a postmodern age. We're not talking about a post truth age.

We're we're not even talking about a people who stop performing sacrifices and observing rituals. It's that the object of their submission, the object of their worship was not toward the one and true God. So the primary reason for why God troubled this generation was with distress was because of idolatry. Idolatry. Which means what?

Well, there's many ways that you and I can create an idol in our lives. We can, like the Israelites early in the wilderness journey, create a golden calf and give it the name Yahweh. So it has the right name, but it's a totally different being. Or we can abandon the idea of Yahweh altogether and just raise up different false gods. And a false god can be anything.

Anything that you find your source of guidance and satisfaction from, ultimately, is an idol. And what you're seeing here is as this generation has turned their back on the true God. Not the idea of God, not even the participation in spiritual activity or the willingness to even claim to be religious. That is not true. If you just read Judges and first Samuel and Kings, you would realize that from the surface, they were very religious.

They participated in much, but it was illegitimate worship. They did not honor God the way he revealed himself to be. Instead, they found liberty to define God the way they wanted him to be defined. And when you abandon the true God, it's inevitable that chaos will ensue. And one of the reasons why the true God, the main reason here according to the Holy Spirit in this verse, why the true God was not acknowledged and revered and pursued was because of point number two.

They weren't just without the true God, they were what? Without a teaching priest. And again, the Holy Spirit is specific. He didn't say that they were without priest. There was plenty of priest throughout Israel's history.

But one of the forgotten roles of the priest was that a priest was not just called the Levitical priest was not just called to supervise sacrifices and help screen what was coming in the the temple or the tabernacle. The priest according to the law also had a responsibility to verbally instruct the people about the law of God. And if you need a reference for that, there are many. There's one in Leviticus, there's one in Malachi, and here's one from Deuteronomy in Deuteronomy thirty three ten. The Levites were called to instruct people with the written word of God.

But in those times, there was no teaching priest. So what does that mean? Well, there were priests who were present. Additionally, there were even priests priests who were performing. But there was virtually no priest proclaiming the word of God.

And God says, that is a reason why I am going to trouble the world with distress, namely my people. Well, how does this work? I mean, who would have thought, Think about this. This is what blew my mind late last night. Who would have thought that the havoc and the mayhem in cities was due to a vacancy in the pulpit?

That's what God does. It's not me. God is pointing to the pulpits and he's saying, where is my word? Where is the word of God being taught? Here's how it works.

The pulpit proclaims the word of God. The church is enlightened and empowered by that proclaimed word. Then the empowered church goes out into the world and operates as a purifying and preventative agent in the culture. That's how that works. Do you see how it trickles down?

Word, receiving the word, and as you guys are scattered, as all of us are scattered into our unique context, your presence, your salt, your light puts a level of restraint on our culture from going headlong, diving headlong into depravity. But what happens when the priest is not teaching? Well then, the the priest is not proclaiming the word of God. And in those times, a lot of it was just personal dreams or experiences or or gross misinterpretations and interpretations of the scripture to fit the needs of the people, what they think are their needs. So the word is not proclaimed.

And when the word is not proclaimed over time, what happens? The people are no longer nourished. And when they're not nourished, what happens? Well, they become weak. And when they become weak, what happens?

More susceptible to deception without the true God. More vulnerable to temptation, not representing the true God's character. And in the long term, this entity that was called to be the moral conscience of a culture fails to operate as such and this culture now accelerates into collapse. That's how that works. You know, Jeremiah was told by God in chapter 23, and you don't have to turn there.

He criticizes the false prophets, and he says, where are those who stood in my counsel and proclaim my words that the people may turn from their evil? That's a a fascinating insight because the the possibility of people repenting and changing and being renewed is absolutely inseparable from the transaction of the word of God. People are convinced that if I can if I can just get the emotions, if I can just relate, if I can just help you with this one problem in your life, then I can help you and God can help you. That's not the case. Just give the word of God and let the word do its work.

It's not enough to have a Bible in a pulpit. It's not enough to even give footnotes to certain statements you make from the pulpit. People need to be taught what the word of God is, what it's saying, what it means, how it applies that needs to happen regularly. And God says, there was no teaching priest. I'll let you interpret that for today.

If you need help seeing how that applies today, just look for the most popular sermons on the internet and you'll get what I mean. Thank God there are voices today that are giving the truth. I praise God and you know those ministries as well. But it's unfortunate that not every pulpit has a teaching priest. America is a big country.

There are millions upon hundreds of millions of people. We need more than just six reputable ministries. We need every state, every city to have teaching priests. And what in that event eventually happens? Well, that deterioration will intensify also because of the final thing mentioned here by Azariah that they were without law.

That they were without law. And so now over time when you don't have the true God, when you don't have teaching priest, when you don't have the church speaking to the powers, the politics, the policies, the evil agendas and agents of evil. Well, people lose track of what's right and wrong and just like the days of judges, everybody begins to do what is right in their own eyes. And what did Jesus say would be the mark one of the marks of the last days in Matthew 24? That lawlessness will increase.

Lawlessness will increase. So there'll be less and less of a fear and recognition of objective right and wrong. And now we are making rules and making laws based on what you feel is right. And I don't wanna keep going there, you hear that all the time. What I find amazing here is that it starts as a minority of lawless people, then over time that minority becomes the majority, and that majority then vehemently begins to snuff out any remnant who holds to the truth whether or not there are teaching priest or not.

That's how it tends to go. I just wanna give you one example of what happens when a society or culture no longer has the true God, no longer has teaching priests, no longer has law. God gets their attention by troubling them with all kinds of distress. And he he he's very specific in how he does it with his tragedies. Let me give you one example.

This is one that you probably never heard in Sunday school. But turn with me to second Kings chapter two and look here with me in verse 23, just to give you an idea. This is speaking about Elisha, not Elijah. Elijah was transported into heaven in a miraculous way. This is now Elisha who has received his mantle, a double portion of his anointing, and he is now walking in that power as the prophet for the nation of Israel.

And this is an interesting occurrence that takes place while he's en route as a prophet. In second Kings two twenty three, he being Elisha went up from there to Bethel. And while he was going up on the way, some small boys that's not the best translation. Some small boys came out of the city and jeered at him saying, go up you bald head. Go up you bald head.

And he turned around and when he saw them, he cursed them in the name of the Lord. And two she bears came out of the woods and tore 42 of the boys. Told you, you didn't hear this in Sunday school. That's in the bible. And here's how most this is why most believers who know this story are disturbed by it because they they just see a bunch of kids probably playing around with with sticks and they're there on on the side street outside of the borders of the city of Bethel.

And, the prophet had a very long ministry journey, and he he dealt with many miracles and problems, and he just wants to get home quietly and peaceably. And now you have these little kids calling him out for his receding hairline. Hey, bald head. Hey and then they're just joking. They're a little rude and insensitive and here's an irritated prophet who turns around and calls a curse upon them and two bears come out of nowhere and maul 42 of them.

Is that what's going on here? This is why you have to read slowly and not just read slowly, but read the whole bible. Or as things like this, if you read them in isolation, don't make sense. And then the atheist make blog posts talking about how vicious our god is. Let's read this together slowly.

Yeah? Verse 23. He went up from there to where? Bethel. Good.

So now we know the location of this place. Does Bethel have a rich spiritual heritage? Yes. It does have a rich spiritual heritage. Bethel is where Jacob encountered God while he was on the run from his brother Esau, and he encountered God in such a personal and special way that he called that place the house of God, which means Bethel.

But unfortunately, Bethel did not continue to hold up to that rich spiritual heritage because when the Kingdom Of Israel was divided into two kingdoms, you have a Northern Kingdom and a Southern Kingdom, The king of the Northern Kingdom Jeroboam was nervous about the Southern Kingdom. He was nervous because the place of worship was Jerusalem. And he didn't want his people to go down there and to lose his allegiance with them. And so he comes up with a devilish but clever idea. I'm going to create two other places of worship.

So that my people don't have to travel down to the Southern Kingdom. And so I'm going to raise up a place of worship in the city called Dan. I'm gonna put a golden calf there. Have you seen that before? And I'm gonna raise up another golden calf in a place called where?

Bethel. And from that time Bethel became not the house of God, but the house of idolatry. And years and decades go by, and this place unfortunately now we become a den of apostates. And that hasn't changed here in second Kings chapter two twenty three. You're talking about a people, you're talking about young boys whose parents very likely worship false gods.

And whose parents probably had a great disdain for the true God and the true messengers of God, one of them being Elisha. Secondly, we're told here that as Elisha travels by this idolatrous place, small boys came out of the city. Now I told you earlier that small boys isn't the best translation because the Hebrew word can describe a wide range of different kind of boys. So one strong example of that is in Genesis thirty seven two where we're told that Joseph was a lad. He was a young man.

It's the same Hebrew word and we're told in that same verse that he was how old? 17 years old. So based on that that truth concerning the Hebrew word, the wide range of it and its meaning and the activity of these children, they're very likely preteen or teenagers. We're not talking about kindergarten kids that are just a little bit disrespectful here. We're talking about a band of young men that can pose a threat.

And they're obviously intuitive enough to make these remarks. Go up you bald head. Are they just criticizing his headpiece? No, they're not. What are they referring to?

They're referring to what happened with Elijah just a few verses earlier. Elijah was taken up into heaven by chariots of fire. And there are people who heard about this and the reports clearly spread about it and it came even to Bethel. But instead of it being a testimony that encouraged greater faithfulness and love to the true God, it became a reason to scorn God more. And maybe this is a remark of disbelief.

But here's what they're saying. Hey, Elisha, the same way your mentor was removed from us, why don't you join him and get out of our face? We want nothing to do with you or your ministry. We don't care what kind of miracles you perform. Go up, you bald head.

Get out of here. So this is not this is more than just personal insult. This is rejection of the true God and the messenger of God. This is just solidifying the truth that these children as well are apostates. And what does Elijah do?

Elisha do? Even the language here in verse 21, he turned around. So he he's just walking and he's going about his way, but they came up behind him. Because usually problems start with words and they tend to lead to physical altercation with troublemakers at least. And Elisha stops, he turns around, and he curses them.

And if it stopped there, you might have more problems, but he curses them in the name of the Lord. And two she bears come out. Here's the thing you have to understand. Elisha is not just speaking out of frustration. Elisha doesn't just have this personal ability to cause nature to work in his favor.

Elisha pronounces a curse in the name of the Lord and guess who heard and accepted it? God. God answers that and he moves in to defend his servant. And we think, okay. So so we we have to look at God's character then.

No. You have to understand that there's something deeper going on here. This is clearly the most disturbing part. So God is behind this. But it wasn't spontaneous even.

No. This is God fulfilling an ancient warning that he gave long ago concerning his people if they remained in an unrepentant state of apostasy. Let me put it this way. What happened to those children was warned about many, many, many years ago before they even existed. Let me show you that.

Go to Leviticus, the thrilling book of Leviticus. I say that because people don't think it's thrilling and I think it's absolutely fascinating. In Leviticus chapter 26, here the Lord gives promises and rewards for obedience and staggering warnings for persistent disobedience. And let's qualify the kind of disobedience that God is speaking about here. He's not speaking about you and I stumbling.

He's not speaking about you and I in a brief period of coldness of heart. In verse 14 of chapter 26, here's what he is speaking about. But if you will not listen to me and will not do all these commandments, if you spurn my statutes and if your soul abhors my rules do you hear the language here? If you spurn my statues, if you your soul abhor like you have discussed towards the word of God. You have absolute disdain for the truths of God.

So that you will not do all my commandments, but break my covenant. So that is the level of disobedience we're speaking about, being steeped in stubborn rebellion. And for the rest of this chapter, you know what God does? He gives cycles of warning. In other words, he says, if you stay in this kind of condition Let me put it this way.

If you turn your back on the true God and refuse to hear the truth and refuse to live without my law long enough, I'm going to give you a series of distress. Different degrees of distress. And one of those categories is later on in verse 21. Then if you walk contrary to me and will not listen to me, I will continue striking you. So pause there.

Remember, he's he's talking about, I'm going to turn up the heat more and more because you're not listening to me. I'm trying to get your attention here. And here's one way he'll do it. I will continue striking you sevenfold for your sins and I will let loose the wild beast against you which shall bereave you of your children. And destroy your livestock and make you few in numbers so that your roads shall be deserted.

Do you see this? Back before the people even entered into the promised land, God gave a warning that if you walk away from me long enough, I'm gonna try to get your attention, and I will allow it to get to the point where the wild beast will come out and bereave you of your own children. And that happened in second Kings two twenty three to 25. So again, this isn't random. This isn't spontaneous.

This was predicted. This was God fulfilling his part of the warning when the people, like the people of Bethel, walk contrary to his law. Do you know what I take from this though? In terms of principle, when a nation rejects God, when a nation rejects the true God, children pay a heavy price. Children will pay a heavy price.

And again, this is just one example of many of how God will trouble a land. But with what goal in mind? Does he have does he have a goal? Is there an aim for all of this? Absolutely.

Go back to second Chronicles 15 and let's look at verse three and four again. For a long time, Israel was without the true God and without a teaching priest and without law. Now verse four, but when in their distress they turned to the Lord, the God of Israel, and sought him, he was found by them. For God troubled them, He troubled them with great disturbances afflicting all the inhabitants of land. Why does he trouble them with every sort of distress?

So that in their distress they would turn to God. Unfortunately, so many people only understand the language of distress before they bend their knee, before they even consider God. Is there distress in your life? If you're walking with the Lord and there is trials and tribulations, then you could take comfort to know that he is only purifying you further and that he is going to sanctify you through that. But if you have turned your back on God and you are not walking for the true God without his law, perhaps the distress in your life is God trying to get your attention.

Are you listening to that? In his love, he will let your world crumble so that you can come back to him and stay close to him. In their distress, they turn to the Lord. That's why he allows it. Because we're very very stubborn people.

Here's the thing I'm worried about though, personally. It's true for the testimony of Israel and an unfortunately, I think it's very true of our generation, especially here in America. Many people and many nations have a very high tolerance for pain, and that's not a good thing. That's not a good thing. I've said this before.

I don't mean to repeat myself, but I know some strong people and that's not a good thing. What I mean by strong is it takes a lot for them to surrender. They find a lot of inner strength and fortitude not to be faithful, but to remain in a place of faithlessness. And it concerns me because I wonder what else does God need to do in your life for you to wake up. America, what else does God need to do for you to wake up and to call upon him in your distress?

Because look here at verse three again, for a long time Israel, that's so important. Lord doesn't resort to disasters immediately. He waits. He waits. And there you are walking further and further away from the true God.

He waits and more and more we're seeing less teaching priests occupying pulpits and churches. He waits as we become more and more and more lawless. He waits. He waits. But there comes a time wherein his brimming love, he says, I have to get their attention.

And so he troubles them with every sort of distress, shaking our world so that we can look up. But here's the problem you see, just because these are the divine designs of these disturbances, it does not mean that they always produce what they were intended to produce. And that's not God's fault. I believe with all of my heart that God is speaking to this generation with what we're seeing. Well, would they listen?

Let me show you something in our final text in Jeremiah chapter 18. Let's go to verse seven of Jeremiah 18. Some might accuse a message like this of being over simplistic or misapplication because God had a special covenant with Israel, so it makes sense for him to deal with them in this way. It was a theocracy. They were elected with a special privilege, but with that privilege came great responsibility.

So, how can you take these things that relate to Israel and apply them to us? Well, here's your answer from Jeremiah eighteen seven. If at any time what do you think any time means? It means any time. Nothing special about the Hebrew either.

If at any time, lean into this now my brother, my sister, I declare concerning a nation. Did he say my nation? A nation or a kingdom. So he's talking about any nation, any kingdom at any time. That I will pluck up and break down and destroy it.

And if that nation Did he say my nation? No. If that nation concerning which I have spoken, turns from its evil, I will relent of the disaster that I intended to do to it. And if at any time Can you be any more clear? And if at any time I declare concerning a nation, not my nation, a nation or a kingdom, that I will build and plant it.

And if it does evil in my sight, not listening to my voice Woah. I thought you just spoke to Israel. No. A nation, a kingdom, if they don't listen to my voice Well, how does God speak? He troubles them with many distress.

Then I will relent of the good that I had intended to do to it. It's clear. Even in this covenantal age where God had a special relationship with one nation, Though they had unique features and unique rewards because of that relationship, there are certain things that apply not just to them but to the whole world. And here's one of those things. Any nation that knows of my word, that knows of my law, that knows of who the true God is, turns their back on it, and does not relent from doing its evil, I will deal with that nation.

So second Chronicles 15 verses three to six is just as relevant to America in 2023 than it was King Asa. Few hundred years before Christ. Just as relevant. And what did this generation in Jeremiah's do in response to this? Look at verse eleven and twelve.

Now therefore say to the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, thus says the Lord, behold I am I am I am shaping disaster against you and devising a plan against you. I'm I'm shaping something catastrophic against you. I don't want to go there. And so here's the rest of it, return everyone from his evil way and amend your ways and your deeds. Now look at this, verse 12.

But they say that is in vain. We will follow our own plans and will everyone act according to the stubbornness of his evil heart. So if somehow, miraculously, a message like this gets to the Oval Office, And our president and our officials hear the clear word of God. But they answer in the same way. Vain.

We're staying on the path that we're in. This is what God is saying to this world today. Return everyone from his evil way and amend your ways and your deeds. I know that a lot of people today, as we're looking out into this world that is burning, there are also priests of our day who are speaking. And I'm, from time to time, listening to what is being said.

Maybe you are too. And praise God that there are faithful messengers of God out there. But here's here's what's going out there in terms of majority. So far there's a lot of talk of prophecy. Is this prophetic fulfillment what we're seeing in The Middle East?

Is this is this fit in a timeline of the last days somewhere? Which is fine. It's important to clarify that. But my concern is there is little exhortation for people to posture their hearts toward God. A lot of explanation, very little exhortation.

Posturing their hearts toward God in this time of great distress. What can we do? We're just this tiny faithful church in Norwich, Illinois. Well, we worship the true God And we by God's grace make this a place of teaching and we live according to the law of God and we honor the righteous laws of our land and we do our part in God's providence to be a purifying and preventative agent in this distressing time in world history. And maybe for you today in this place, your life is in shambles, but you don't know God or you once walk with God and it has been months and years since you have pursued him, loved him, obeyed him, sought to understand him.

Could it be that in his great love, he is troubling you to bring you closer to him again? Will you listen to him? Will you? In Luke 13, I made mention of this last Friday, two days ago. In Luke 13, a few Jews came up to Jesus and they brought up a terrorist attack.

Some Galileans were were slain and their blood was mixed with the blood of the sacrifices. This was the doing of Pilate. And Jesus simply looks at them and says, do you think that, they were worse sinners than you? Because the Jews said that they had a concept that if tragedy happened, it means that you did something very bad to deserve it. And if you walk in righteousness and if you do good, then you escape such things.

And Jesus clarifies that very briefly. And then he goes into something else. He goes into a message of repentance. And and this is what somebody said and I and I love to borrow it just to share it with you. When we hear of tragedies, when we hear of terrorist attacks, when we hear of natural disasters, right?

Because it wasn't just the Galileans, the Tower Of Siloam fell and killed 18 people. Jesus brought that up too. People have a lot of questions and and and sometimes part of those questions is, how can I protect myself from this? How can I avoid this? How can I escape this?

And you know what Jesus is saying in that? You wanna know the safest place in a world like this where there can be tragedies and there can be evil men who have power and take advantage of that power? You know, you want to know the safest place? Repent. That's the safest place.

You wanna know how you can assure the greatest security for your future? Repent. That's what you do. Not about accumulating this, not about hiding there, not about moving there. Making sure that your heart is right with God.

This is my heart this afternoon because we have to read the writing on the wall. I get it. Every generation says Jesus is coming back. I understand. Well, one of these times somebody's gonna get it right.

I understand. But there is still, though we don't call for dates and though we don't ask people to do ridiculous things under the pretense of get ready for the apocalypse. If there's anything that needs to be done is to call people to get right with God. Okay. Teach teach about prophecy in the Bible.

Teach about how current events may be explained in the scriptures. Do it, but exhort the people. Get ready. Get ready. The Lord is coming.

The Lord is speaking on a megaphone. So don't get caught up with little things, trinkets and trivial ideas. Hear what God is saying. Oh, I pray that America would hear what God is saying because he's speaking. And this god who does perform many distressing things is a god who's willing to bring rest to that land that calls back to him.

I closed my bible, but I have to show you that. Here it is in second Chronicles 15 verse 15, when Asa encouraged the people to pursue reform and to pursue obedience, they got rid of idols. I mean, this man even got rid of his mother, the queen mother, because she had made a detestable image for Asherah. And notice what we're told here in second Chronicles fifteen fifteen, and all Judah rejoiced over the oath for they had sworn with all their heart and had sought him with their whole desire, and he was found by them. And the Lord gave them rest all around.

Again, I believe the God of this Bible is alive today. I do. I really believe that. What a tragedy would be for any preacher to come up here to just give some inspirational lesson, not believe that it applies today. It applies today.

And here's how much I believe it. That if this nation would have enough sense to respond to the stressing times that we're in and call out to God, this God in heaven, the same God in second Chronicles 15 will bring rest to this nation. He can. And until then, hold on tight. Hold on tight, not gritting your teeth, not bracing for impact, but a heart full of joy because you are a repentant people.

We are a repentant people, are we not? We stand righteous before God in Christ Jesus. We have hope. Don't worry about your possessions. Don't worry about your mortgage.

Don't worry about your children. Just put your hand in the hand of him who has control over all things. And you will be more than okay. It shall indeed be good for the righteous. And so we have hope even as the world is burning.

We are like Goshen where there is light and life, though everything around us is death and dark. We are in Goshen who points to Jesus Christ, positionally safe and practically experientially safe because he is a real living God who walks with us. He walks with us not just when it is bright and dandy, he walks with us even where? Through the fire and in the water. Nothing will overtake us, saints.

Nothing will overtake us. Cast all your fears, anxieties on him. Let every news headline and breaking story just cause you to break forth in praise. Why? Because we serve the one who is not surprised by these things.

We were surprised on 10/07/2023. King Jesus wasn't. And I have a hunch that there will be many surprises on the way, but I take comfort to know that I am shielded by the one who knows tomorrow, and he leads you in I. What a blessed savior we serve. I'm done.

Let's pray. Lord, we thank you that we have the truth. We thank you that your word is truth. We thank you that you have called us for such a time as this. Help us stay close to you.

That as the ground rumbles beneath our feet and as the walls shake around us, that we would take refuge in you for you are an ever present help in trouble. We do pray for all the distress. And though you may be behind it, Lord, we ask that the purpose of it would find fruition in our generation. Give the grace for people to see and hear you and to not let one more disaster go by before they call out to you. We pray for our governing officials.

We pray for our president. We pray for our vice president. We pray for our mayors. We pray for our governors. May they see the writing on the wall.

And, Lord, may they see it in a way where it's not too late, but as an invitation to make things right. We pray for our new house speaker that he would stand for truth and righteousness. That he would be unashamed of the gospel, unashamed of the decrees and the testimonies of the word of God. We ask, Lord, for what's happening around the world, that your wisdom would be deposited in our hearts and how to interpret it and that you would, Lord, redeem those in the midst of it. But we know that these things will happen and they will increase until you return and bring peace on the earth.

So we say one more time with all of our hearts on the Sunday afternoon, come Lord Jesus and make everything right. And with all this mess and all this burning and all the fire, may you find in our bosoms a passion that would bless you. So we sing to you now asking that you would be pleased with what you see and hear in this place and on other places on this Sunday afternoon that are honoring you because they have teaching priests and they have the true God. Empower our brothers and sisters across the lands. Empower those pastors to be prophets, to speak forth the word of the Lord so that people would get right with God.

We thank you and we rejoice in you. With all the personal problems we have, all the issues, all the worries, help us see them in the light of eternity. You will wipe away every tear. You will remove every disease. You will crown us with a crown imperishable.

You will clothe us with a white raiment that will never be stained, and you will bring us into your arms for all of eternity. Thank you for reminding us of our inheritance in Christ. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Let's stand and worship the king of kings and the lord of lords who reigns forevermore.