[0:00] Take your Bibles, if you would, and turn with me to the book of Jeremiah, chapter 6. I travel quite a bit, and I talk to churches about what churches are supposed to do.
[0:11] And churches are given a commission, and that commission is to take the gospel to the entire world. Most of our churches, most churches, don't take that near as seriously as you do, and I really appreciate that.
[0:23] If the Lord were here and he said, all power is given unto me in heaven and earth, I can tell you anything I want to tell you, and then he would say, go and teach all nations and baptize them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost.
[0:35] I think we'd all say, yes, sir, he was here. But it's just as well to be here. We got his word. The fact is, I think his written word would be more powerful than a visible evidence because it's written down.
[0:47] I'll take a written contract over a verbal contract any day. I got the word of God. Amen? And so I thank the Lord for what you're doing. I think we're living a dream, and I'm just blessed by you.
[0:59] Turn with me to Jeremiah chapter 6 and verse 8. Now, I'm going to tell you that I'm fixing to preach a very positive message from a very negative chapter. And if you have pericopes in your Bible, you know those headlines above everything, chapter 6 starts off and says, destruction from the north.
[1:17] God's going to bring a whole country down, a very cruel country down, and they're going to destroy the nation of Israel. And in verse 9 above that in my Bible, these are just the headings that people have put.
[1:28] It says, God is weary of holding his fury. God's tired of not letting go of his anger. And in verse 16, the pericope in my Bible say, their sacrifices were unacceptable.
[1:41] And in verse 21, it was sending a merciless nation. And what he's going to tell them to do in this passage of Scripture is to be instructed. And they are not going to be instructed.
[1:51] But I thought, as I read it, why don't we look at these people who are getting the living slop beat out of them and say, I don't want that to happen to me.
[2:02] I want to be instructed. They weren't instructed. You know, the book of Proverbs says that if you will discipline a fool, the wise will take notice.
[2:15] So if a guy that's dumb in the room gets a good swat, the guys that are smart ought to go, I don't want that to happen to me. And so tonight, I'm going to show you the dingbat getting whipped.
[2:26] And we're going to say, I'm taking warning. Amen. And I'm going to be instructed. Read with me verse 8, if you would. Jeremiah chapter 6 and verse 8. It's a beautiful chapter. I mean, I like all of them. I know I say that too much.
[2:37] I don't know if you can say it too much, but it's a great chapter. And I really hope you'll keep your Bible open there. Jeremiah 6, 8 says, Those are horrible words.
[2:59] He said, Listen to what I'm teaching you. Act on what I'm teaching you. Pay attention to me and do what I say or else. You know, some of you had parents that said that.
[3:12] Do what I say or else. In my family, that meant a razor strap is about three or four inches wide. And I've had those marks upon my body many a time.
[3:24] They were not applied all that lovingly nor all that kindly. And it was long before the child abuse laws. Because I think I could have had my parents put in jail. Amen. But it made me want to do right.
[3:34] Be instructed. Look at the Bible verse. Lest. God said, Lest my soul depart from you. Do you really want God to pull away? And he's not talking to an individual.
[3:45] You don't lose your salvation. But you can lose his blessing. You can lose what God's going to do in your life. Then he said, Lest I make thee desolate. Lest I take away my blessings on the nation of Israel.
[3:55] And all of a sudden, this beautiful and fertile country becomes a barren country. It becomes a country where people aren't living and blessings aren't there. And the briars and the brambles take over a country that God meant great things for.
[4:08] So I want to pray. And then I want you to go with me through several things here. But we want to be instructed. I'm just going to give you the headings of it, basically. And we'll be through this chapter.
[4:18] Father, I love you. And I take you for serious real. I believe in you. And I believe in this book with all my heart. And I believe that we do hear from you.
[4:31] And I believe, Holy Spirit, that you speak. And dear God, I pray that you would help us to let this chapter speak to us. And that we as a church would grow in grace and act upon your will for our lives.
[4:42] That your name would be glorified. I'll give you all honor and glory and praise. In Jesus' name, amen. So just let me walk you through several things first. Number one, go with me to chapter 6 and verse 19 and write this down.
[4:55] Sin has consequences. Sin has consequences. You know, I think because we live in the age of grace and the day of grace.
[5:05] And we know and we hear preached all the time that God is good. God is merciful. God is full of grace. That we can almost begin to live like it doesn't matter what God thinks.
[5:18] We can almost begin to not take God seriously. But sin has consequence. Look at Jeremiah 6, 19. Hear, O earth. Behold, listen and pay attention.
[5:31] And underline this. I will bring evil upon this people. Underline that. I will bring evil. Do you realize what God said? He said, I'm tired of you not loving me.
[5:43] I'm tired of you not honoring me. I'm tired of you walking away from me to other gods. I'm tired of the apostasy. I'm tired of the backsliding. I'm tired of you pulling away from me.
[5:54] I will bring evil on this people. Even the fruit of their thoughts. Even the fruit of their thoughts. You want wrong. You think wrong.
[6:05] You're acting wrong. And I will bring evil. Because they have not hearkened unto my words nor to my law but rejected it. God's people thought and did evil.
[6:16] Now Babylon is coming down to destroy them. What's really exciting in chapter 6, which is the opposite of exciting, is that God has instructed Babylon in the best way to attack.
[6:29] Did you know when Babylon is on their way down? He says, you will surround the city this way and you'll build this kind of armaments and this is how you'll take the city. These are the enemies of God. And he said, you've disobeyed me long enough that I'm going to send an enemy and I will tell them even how to attack.
[6:45] You can't sin and think nothing's going to happen. You can't sin and think nothing's going to happen. And because you're born again, it doesn't give you a right to think you can sin and nothing's going to happen.
[6:59] In fact, as in all honesty, I would say to you that when you're in the family of God, spankings will come quicker. And spankings will come more often on us because we are his.
[7:11] I grew up in a godly family. I went to a little church up in Wrigley, Tennessee. And I mean, I don't know, I bet on a big day we would have had less than 100.
[7:24] And my daddy could snap his two big old massive fingers loud enough, the whole room seemed to ring with that. And when he snapped those fingers, every kid in that room dodged.
[7:35] We all ducked our head because he was well known for just thumping the back of your head. And when he thumped your head, it felt like a baseball bat hitting you. You know, and my dad was always meaner to me than he was to anybody.
[7:46] My dad was always meaner to me than he was to anybody. But you know why? Because he was my dad and I was his kid and I was his responsibility. And when you got saved and put in the family of God, you cannot think that he takes sin lightly.
[7:59] In 1 Corinthians, he wrote to the church and said, y'all have been taking the Lord's Supper flippantly. And that's why some of you are weak and some are sick and some are sleeping or dead. That's why in Hebrews chapter 12, he said, you know what?
[8:12] That if you don't receive discipline, then you're not a legitimate son. Sin gets discipline. If you are truly the son of God, if you are truly the daughter of God, you need to know this.
[8:25] You are not allowed to get away with sin. Can I hear an amen right there? And you can say, well, I know plenty of people getting away with it. Either they're not his or you don't know all the story. Number two, go with me to Jeremiah chapter 6 and verse 22.
[8:41] I think this is a great Bible truth that you can see all through the scriptures, but I want you to notice this. God is moving in the affairs of men and nations. Did you know that God rules above the UN?
[8:54] Did you know that God's in charge of the entire planet? Did you know that God moves among these countries and does things, and we don't see it and we don't understand it? Look at what it says in chapter 6 and verse 22.
[9:05] Thus saith the Lord, Behold, a people comes from the north country and a great nation. And I want you to understand and notice the tense of the verb, shall be raised, shall be raised.
[9:19] He's going to raise them up. God is going to bring Babylon against them, and God is going to cause them to be punished. They shall be raised up from the sides of the earth.
[9:30] They shall lay on bow and spear. They are cruel and they have no mercy. Their voice roars like the sea. They ride upon horses and set in array as men for war against thee.
[9:42] Listen to this. O daughter Zion. That's an amazing thing, but when you read the scriptures, you're going to find that God often dealt with the nation of Israel raising up a nation and saying, Go on over there and whip them.
[9:55] Go over there and take them captive. Go over there and destroy their things. Because God wanted his people focused on him. I just need you to understand this. God's bigger than the president.
[10:06] And God's bigger than the United Nations. And God's bigger than all the countries and what they think is going on. And when you see Britain doing something, or you see the United States doing something, or you see Mexico doing something, what you don't know is often we won't know this because unless we have scripture to tell us, God's at work doing something.
[10:23] He moves. God moves Babylon and come against his own people. The heart of the king is in the hand of the Lord, and he turns it whichever way he wants. While we see things happening on the political scene, we may never consider that God is actually working.
[10:40] I arrived in Otiquipa, Peru in January of 1988. And when we arrived in Otiquipa, Peru, we didn't know that, but man, it was bad. The situation was horrendous.
[10:51] There were literally policemen with machine guns on every corner and everywhere you turn. There were military people all the time. On a trip from Otiquipa to Lima one time, my wife and family were in the car, and we were probably stopped over 50 times to be inspected in a 600-mile trip.
[11:10] And everybody might think, well, that was poor country, that banana republic, those poor people and what's going on. But because I see a Bible picture of my God, I thought, I wonder what God's doing in this country.
[11:21] And what ends up happening is those people become hungry because they're in need and they're hurting. And I step up and preach, and like in no other time or place, it was just the right time and the right place, God had prepared hearts.
[11:34] We look around the world right now, Chile is in trouble. That's good. Just to be blunt honest, I wouldn't doubt God's stirring that up. Ecuador is in trouble. Argentina is in trouble.
[11:45] Bolivia is in trouble. Venezuela is in trouble. Even China is having some junk going on. I don't know what God's saying. Shake them up, move them around, and get them ready. Now send my preachers because God is at work.
[11:58] Chapter 6, verse 21. God moves among the nations in the affairs of men, but God is in control. Jeremiah chapter 6 and verse 21.
[12:09] Therefore, thus saith the Lord, behold, I will lay stumbling blocks before this people, and the fathers and the sons together shall fall upon them, and the neighbor and his friends shall perish. I just want you to notice, because if you read the whole chapter and spend the time, you'll see this, but I'm just picking one verse.
[12:25] Look at this. The Lord said, I will. The Lord said, I will. He wasn't up in heaven saying, I wonder what those nations are going to do. I wonder what's happening.
[12:36] I wonder what's happening in Cuba. I wonder what's happening. God in heaven said, I will. Because he's in charge. I think maybe a verse helps you see that more than anywhere.
[12:47] So Daniel chapter 4 and verse 17. I wish you'd look this verse up. If not, when they put it on the screen for you, mark it down and look it up later. You see, God is moving, and he does as he will, because he is God, and he is in control.
[13:02] We are little specks on a little planet in a great big universe. Why would God even think about us? What is man that thou art mindful of him? Psalm chapter 8 and Daniel 4, 17.
[13:14] The Bible says, this matters by the decree of the watchers and the demand by the word of the holy ones. Listen. To the intent that the living may know. The living, that's you, that's me, that's people that are alive may know.
[13:28] Are you ready? That the most high ruleth in the kingdom of men. That the most high rules in the kingdom of men and gives it to whomsoever he will, and he sets up over it the basest of men.
[13:47] God's in charge. How do you never forget that? God's in charge. God moves nations and people. No one is greater than God.
[13:57] No one else can be like him. He knows the numbers of the hairs on your head. And some of us seem to keep him busy with the count. Say amen. He knows the hairs on your head.
[14:08] He knows when a small bird dies. He knows the past and the future is what were this very second. He is God. And he's in control. I'm really headed to my message. This is all just introduction. Try to get you to see the chapter.
[14:20] Jeremiah chapter 6 and verse 11. God is angry even though he's patient. You're going to have to take both sides of this story.
[14:36] Sometimes we want to act like God's such a sweet and loving Santa Claus. We want to turn him in to make you rich and make you happy, and he never would get angry.
[14:48] But you haven't read the Bible. You haven't read the Bible. The wrath of God abides on them. John 3, 36. We saw it this morning. Lord, help me.
[14:58] These verses right here are horrendous. Jeremiah chapter 6 and verse 11. Therefore, I am full of the fury of the Lord, and I am weary with holding it in.
[15:12] God was angry with his people. He's not some statue that has no feelings. He was angry with his people, and he was tired of holding it in.
[15:28] And in verse 11, he's going to pour it out. And in verse 12, he said, I will stretch out my hand upon the inhabitants of the land, says the Lord. They have bad leadership.
[15:40] Look at Jeremiah chapter 6 and verse 13. They have bad leadership and have bad followers due to money motivation. You and I need to be very aware that money can easily take control of our lives.
[15:58] Look at what the Bible says in Jeremiah chapter 6 and verse 13. From the least of them, even to the greatest, from the poorest guy to the richest guy, from the smallest little guy on the backside of nowhere to the biggest shot you know, everyone is given to covetousness.
[16:15] This is really sad to me. From the prophet, even unto the priest, everyone deals falsely. So everybody was hungry for money.
[16:26] Everybody's covetous. Nobody's satisfied with their wife. They want your wife. No one's satisfied with their car. They want your car. No one's satisfied with their money. They want more money. No one's ever satisfied that God is enough.
[16:37] And if there's a lesson in Job, here's our lesson in Job. God's enough. God's enough. If I lose my wife, I lose my children, I lose my money, I lose my health.
[16:48] God is enough. But I can't go over this passage of Scripture without talking to us just a little bit about money. In Isaiah chapter 56 and verse 11, wicked spiritual leaders, yea, they are greedy dogs and can never have enough.
[17:07] They are greedy dogs and can never have enough. Kind of reminds me of the dog in Aesop's fable. He has the bone in his mouth and walks across the bridge and looks down and sees his reflection in the water and is angry that the other dog in the water's got a bone.
[17:23] He doesn't realize it's his reflection, so he barks and tries to get the bone, and they both lose their bone. Greedy dogs can never have enough. They are shepherds that cannot understand.
[17:38] Shepherds that don't know God. Shepherds that don't spend time alone with God. They all look to their own way. I just want to take care of number one. I don't want to take care of number one. I just want to take care of me.
[17:49] Everyone for his own gain. Everyone for his gain from his quarter. In Micah 3, verse 11, the heads thereof judge for reward.
[18:00] So the judges say, I'm here for the bribe. I know that story. We were in Idaquipa Proust. Some people invaded our land. I had to have 12 stitches put on the top of my head.
[18:12] Nine of us went to the hospital when we got beat up. And it went all the way up to the Supreme Court. We got to the Supreme Court. We got a phone call. And they said, the other side's offering this much money for the judgment.
[18:22] What do you offer? Judge for the reward. Money. And the priests teach for hire. The priests are like, you pay me? I'll say what you want me to say.
[18:33] And the prophets divine for money. You pay me and I'll tell you what God's will is. 1 Timothy 6 and verse 9, that money can have an evil effect on people.
[18:46] 1 Timothy 6 and verse 9 says, They that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare. And I need you to underline in the verse, will be rich. One of the things they used to say to me in Peru is, hey, that's not about us.
[19:00] We're not rich. And rich people, they're the ones that fall into temptation and a snare. And I had to say to them, it doesn't say rich people. It says they that will be. They that will be. And that gets all of us.
[19:12] Most of us got the willbes. Most of us got them. We want it. They that will be rich fall into temptation, testing trials and hurts and a snare traps.
[19:22] And into foolish and hurtful lust. Things that hurt you and things that are foolish and things that mess you up. They drown men in destruction and perdition. They send men to hell.
[19:33] Money does that. For the love of money is the root of all evil. And I don't care how anybody tries to change that verse. When you love money, you are going to get in trouble.
[19:47] In Matthew chapter 6 and verse 24, you have to love God and hate money or love money and hate God. It's the love of money is the root of all evil. Some coveted after and they erred from the faith.
[19:58] They got off target and they pierced themselves through with many sorrows. Covetousness is idolatry. If money is your goal and making money is your goal, you can never please God.
[20:12] There are times you need to just say, hey, I can make less money, but I'm going to honor God in this. I can make less money, but I'm going to do what's right here. I can make less money, but God's watching and that's where real value is.
[20:25] Almost the real message. Number six out of this chapter. God can reject his own people from service and blessing. That's a horrible thought because in this goody, goody God that's so sweet and nice and kind, we can almost think that God would say, y'all do anything you want.
[20:41] I'm just a good God. I'm just like a doting grandmama. Y'all just do what you want and I don't care. Mama may spank you and daddy may spank you, but I don't care. I'm just going to be a nice guy. But in Jeremiah chapter 6 and verse 30, the Bible says, God said, I'm not going to use you, Israel.
[21:03] I am through with you. You see that come true in the book of Romans in chapter 11 and verse 21, when God is working with the nation of Israel and they are the people that were supposed to carry the message.
[21:14] But in Romans 11, 21, it said, Do you realize what happened?
[21:35] Israel was supposed to be the messenger to the world with the gospel message. That was God's plan. But Israel chose not to do what God wants. So God puts them to the side and he says, You're rejected and I'm not going to use you and I'm going to bring in the church.
[21:48] And he brings in the church and he lets the church do the job Israel was supposed to do. And then churches decide they won't do that. God chose the church of Jerusalem in Acts chapter 1 through Acts chapter 11.
[22:01] And Jerusalem is the church. But Jerusalem is only interested in their own people, the ones that speak their language, the ones that have the right skin color, the ones that fit in with their people. And that's all Jerusalem worries about.
[22:12] And they don't want to go outside the boundaries of their country. So God sends persecution and the gospel spreads. And by Acts chapter 11, the Jerusalem church is going hungry.
[22:23] And the church on the mission field thrives and goes forward. Antioch becomes the church. As a Christian, you could get to the point that God would say, I'm not going to use you.
[22:34] What a horrible thing. It's like the pitcher in the ball game when he looks over and sees the coach or whatever that guy's name is. He comes walking out to the mound and says, you're out of the game.
[22:46] You're not playing anymore. I'll bring someone in to take your place. It's like being in the game and being called off. The Bible says in 1 Corinthians chapter 9 and verse 24, run that you may obtain. He says in verse 26, I'm not playing here.
[23:00] I'm not just beating the air. I'm not shadow boxing. In verse 27, I keep under my body and bring it under subjection. Lest that by any means when I have preached to others, I myself shall be a castaway.
[23:13] It doesn't mean you go to hell. It just means you're rejected. You're not going to be used of God. It means Jerusalem, you're set aside. And the church takes your place. It means the church of Antioch takes your place. It means Israel, you were meant to be used of God, but God puts you aside and he brings in the church.
[23:27] It means preachers that might be used of God. It means Sunday school teachers that might be used of God. And you mess up and God says, that's it. I'm not using you. Don't play with sin.
[23:39] Don't play with sin. Now I'm to the message. That's all introduction. I'd like to give you some points right here out of Jeremiah chapter 6. Number one, here are truths that really work in your life.
[23:52] Number one, do what the scriptures say. You should write these down. These are the good ones. Do what the scriptures say. That's a good one. Look at Jeremiah chapter 6 and verse 8. Be instructed.
[24:04] Oh, Jerusalem, be instructed. To be instructed means to be taught what to do and to do it. It means to be taught what to do and to do it.
[24:14] If they refuse to be instructed, he would remove his blessing and his soul should depart from them. If they refuse, he would allow sin to destroy their land.
[24:26] Now listen to this. Knowing Bible is worthless. The devil knows the Bible. And when the devil came to meet with Jesus and tempted him in Luke chapter 4, he came speaking the Bible.
[24:39] The devil knows there is a God. He believes there is a God. But he doesn't act on what he knows. And you and I go to church and we have gone through half the Bible. We read the Bible every service.
[24:51] We preach the Bible every service. But you can't just listen. You have to be instructed. That means you have to do what it says. It's not about what you know. It's about what you apply.
[25:02] Amen. That means when we hear a message, we ought to say, I hear that. I see how that works in my life. I get on my face before God and I'm going to do what the Word of God says. Do what the Bible says.
[25:14] Number two. Go with me if you would to Jeremiah chapter 6 and verse 10. Live what you're taught. Write that down. Live what you're taught.
[25:25] Jeremiah chapter 6 and verse 10. To whom shall I speak and give warning that they may hear? Behold, their ear is uncircumcised and they cannot hearken.
[25:38] I'm going to read the verse slowly because I want you to get it. What in the world is it? How can an ear be uncircumcised? If you even understand the word circumcised, it had nothing to do with ears. But you know what it amounts to is that circumcision was a saying of cutting away the past, of cutting away the world, of separating yourself from regular people and becoming marked as one of the people of God.
[25:59] It was somebody saying, I won't do what's easy and comfortable. I will do what God says. And so what we do is we say, I'm going to listen. And I'm not going to listen like a lost person listens.
[26:10] When lost people approach the Bible, they approach a book of history. They approach a book of stories. They approach a book of interesting truths. But they don't want to approach the book like God is talking.
[26:24] I don't know if I could ever get you to understand this, but you ought to hold the Bible in your hands like I am holding the very word of God. I think you ought to stand in awe and sit in awe and touch the Bible in awe.
[26:38] You ought to say, boy, this is the stuff. But their ear was uncircumcised. They lived like the world. They could not hearken. Look what the Bible says about them. The word of the Lord is unto them a reproach.
[26:50] A reproach. It's embarrassment. It's an embarrassment. Kind of like how, you know, sometimes you're kind of embarrassed. You're embarrassed about belonging to Jesus.
[27:02] You know, if you're a Christian, you're a weirdo. You know, if you're a Christian, you're a weirdo, the majority of the world is going to go to hell when they die. The majority of people don't believe in God. The majority of people would say to you, let's coexist.
[27:13] It works better. But you and I know something they don't know. We know the God of the Bible. And we are to live what we know to be true. Quit trying to fit into the world.
[27:23] Quit trying to be with the uncircumcised. Quit trying to act like them. Their ears were worldly. They still heard things like a lost person.
[27:36] They didn't love the Bible. They found it to be a burden. Old book. A lot of ridiculous rules. But God's people don't ever think like that about the book.
[27:47] You need this verse. You need this verse. Look it up. Mark it down. Right in the margin of the Bible. 1 John 5 and verse 3. You need this verse. In 1 John 5 and verse 3.
[27:57] The word of God says. For this is the love of God. That we keep his commandments. By the way. If you love him. If you love me. What? Come on help me. If you love me. Keep my commandments. And it says. And his commandments are not.
[28:09] Help me. Are not. His commandments are not what? You know what? They're good. They don't make me sad. They don't bring me grief. They're not harsh. They're not unrealistic.
[28:20] They're not difficult. They're not placed on me. It's not like God is coming at me like a taskmaster. I love him. Amen. I love him. He is worthy.
[28:32] I love him. But his people here said. The Bible's rough. It's a reproach. It's an embarrassment. They thought and acted like that.
[28:42] So number one. Do what the scriptures say. Number two. Live what you're taught. You ought to come to this Bible every day of your life and say. God teach me. You don't know how to have a family.
[28:54] You don't know how to. You don't know how to manage your money. You don't know how to manage your time. You're a human living in a polluted and a corrupt and a filthy world. And these people do not care what God says.
[29:05] But the Bible speaks volumes about every part of my life. That's why you ought not miss church services. You ought not let your children miss church services. That's why you ought to get involved in discipleship.
[29:15] Whether you're getting it or giving it. But you ought to always be where you're swimming in the word. The word ought to be every part of your life. It ought to be memorized and thought about. Live what you're taught.
[29:26] Love the word. Love the word. I left that last part of that verse out on purpose. I look at it. Are you looking at it in Jeremiah chapter 6 and verse 10? They have no delight in it.
[29:37] But we do. Amen. We do. Well, I got it. I got it. There was this girl in school. I'm not sure if she's still alive. She was in my church back in McEwen when I was a little boy. Church I went to until I graduated.
[29:51] Her name was Gail Gibbs. She got married. I don't know who she married. But in our youth department, she used to carry her Bible around. She'd take one of them old tapes where you could squeeze the letters out and make words on that little tape.
[30:02] And stick it on your Bible. And hers said, God's love letters to Gail. So you always knew who Gail's Bible was. Look on there. It's stuck around in front of it. God's love letters to Gail was a delight.
[30:14] We should love what God has to say. The Bible says in Psalm 1, 2, his delight is in the law of the Lord. Glory to God. Give me the book. Glory to God.
[30:25] Give me the book. And in his law, doth he meditate day and night. 2 Corinthians chapter 5 and verse 9, we should hunger and desire to please God.
[30:36] Did you know you and I ought to live our lives wanting to please God? The Bible says in verse 9, we labor. We labor. Present or absent, that we may be accepted of him.
[30:49] I am accepted. I am accepted. But I want to be accepted. It's not that hard to understand. You may try to make it hard. August the 18th, 1973, my wife accepted me.
[31:03] But I live every day thinking about what she wants. I'm accepted. I've been married to her so long. Good night. I've been married to her longer. Most of you have been alive. But I'm accepted. But I want to be accepted. She loves me.
[31:14] She's accepted me. But I think about her all the time. If I hear something come out of her mouth, I think to myself, I want to do that. I want to help her with that. I want to be a blessing to her. I want her to be happy being my wife.
[31:27] How in the world can we look at our God and not say, I know you've accepted me, but I labor. I just want you to be proud of me. I just want you to be proud of me. The Bible says in Ephesians 5, 10, proving what's acceptable unto the Lord.
[31:42] I don't care what the world thinks. I don't care what the world thinks. I don't care what you think. I don't care what I think. What's he think? As Christians, as Christians, we love the word.
[31:55] Because that's how I know what God thinks. You know God doesn't speak to you any other way. Whenever God speaks, he speaks Bibleese. Huh? God doesn't come to you and give you something hidden in the book.
[32:06] He speaks to you from the book through the book. It's the book. That doesn't mean he can't deal with you on a daily basis. But all your life, you ought to be living going, look, God, what do you want? How do you like this? How do you feel about this? God, what's your opinion on this?
[32:18] How does a Christian not live that way? Number one, do what the scriptures say. Number two, live what you're taught. Number three, love the word. Number four, hate sin.
[32:31] Hate sin. Young, carnal Christians are often trying to fit in. Now I've got four minutes and three pages. I'll hurry. Look at verse 15.
[32:43] Were they ashamed when they committed an abomination? Do you realize that we ought to be embarrassed when we do wrong? When we don't please God? Nay, they were not at all ashamed.
[33:00] Neither could they blush. How in the world do we not get embarrassed when we don't honor our God? Hate sin.
[33:12] How can you claim to love God and not hate what he hates and love what he loves? How is it that we're not embarrassed when we sin? How does our sin not cause us to blush before God and others instead of thinking of our sin as almost a badge of honor?
[33:31] Only for the sake of time, because I try to honor you with that, I'll take you to Jerry, because I'd like to say more about it. We ought to hate sin. Go with me, if you would, to Jeremiah 6.16.
[33:43] Get back to your first love. Get back to your first love. The younger people today hate the old paths, but God told them to get back to the old paths.
[33:55] Look at Jeremiah 6.16. I love this verse. Thus says the Lord, stand you in the ways and see and ask for the old paths. You know what the old paths were?
[34:05] We're in the book of Jeremiah, and they're all acting like a bunch of jerks and doing what they want and ignoring God and living wrong. But there was a time. You remember how in the book of Jeremiah, God started off by saying, I remember when we first got together, and I remember how you loved me like a newlywed.
[34:19] But now you don't love me like that anymore. Let's get back to the old paths. Let's get back to when you used to love me. Let's get back to when you had a first love for me. Get back to the old paths and the good way and walk therein and find rest for your souls.
[34:34] But they said, nope, we're not going to do that. We remember when people were like hanging on every word you said, God, but not us anymore. We should want to return to the way we used to love God before we grew cold.
[34:48] You remember how you used to be? You know, we ought to be on a plane where we're going up. We ought not be going up and then down. I don't know. Some of us hit our peak years ago, and our love has grown cold, and we're just sitting on a bench waiting to die and not in love with God.
[35:04] Get back to the old paths. Get back to the old paths. Revelation 2, 4, Nevertheless, I have somewhat against thee. You have left your first love. I'm going to go over tonight. Y'all can fire me. It's okay.
[35:15] I'm 65. Time. Look at this. Next, be sensitive to the Lord's direction in your life. Be sensitive to the Lord's direction in your life. Jeremiah, this is stinking good.
[35:26] Not my preaching. This chapter is great. Jeremiah 6, verse 17 says, I set a watchman over you saying, Hearken to the sound of the trumpet. And they said, We will not hearken.
[35:39] You know what God said? Pay attention to me. Respond to my bugle call. When I say charge, you charge. And when I say retreat, you retreat. You listen and you pay attention.
[35:50] In other words, be sensitive to the Lord's direction. That means we focus on hearing and obeying what God is showing us. Romans 8, 5. They that are in the flesh, mind the things of the flesh.
[36:03] But they that are after the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. You know what? While lost people are thinking, Man, what does lost people do? We ought to be thinking, What does God want? We ought to be thinking that. We ought to expect His direction.
[36:14] In Romans 8, verse 14, For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, They're the sons of it. Do you know God leads His children along? Do you know God will direct your path and show you what to do?
[36:26] He'll teach you how to give. He'll teach you how to love your wife. He'll teach you how to love your children. He'll teach you how to love your parents. Do you know God will do that? Be led. Do not grieve Him. Do you know He can be grieved?
[36:38] Do you realize that means He's trying to talk to you and we're ignoring Him? It says in Ephesians 4, 30, Grieve not the Holy Spirit of God. 1 Thessalonians 5, verse 19, Quench not the Spirit.
[36:49] Quench not the Spirit. The Holy Spirit of God is working in our life. It comes invitation time and you're like, Hey, it's already late, Austin. Quit. We ought to be saying, God, what do you want? God, what do you want?
[37:00] Direct me and lead my path. Stay in the Scripture. And ask God to guide and direct your life. We ought to be sensitive. From the older couples in this room and the several grand dads in this room, do you know we know what our wife's thinking without her saying it?
[37:18] It's scary. I mean, you can look across the room and she goes, I got you. She doesn't say nothing. That's all right. I know. Because when you walk with somebody long enough, you know what they're thinking.
[37:31] Are you walking with Jesus? Get in the Word. Two more and I'll quit. Get in the Word. Get in the Word. Jeremiah 6, 19. Hear, O earth.
[37:42] Behold, I will bring evil upon this people, even the fruit of their thoughts, because they have not hearkened unto my words, nor to my law. They rejected it. So I don't want to reject it. I want to do the opposite. I want to get in the Word. We may hear and listen to preaching and read the Bible, but do we hearken and listen and apply it?
[38:00] That's probably the most frustrating thing I have as I teach and preach the Bible is, am I just teaching you a bunch of facts and you're like, man, we've been through all the Bible. It ain't changed nothing in my life, but we've been through it.
[38:11] I've heard it all preached, but it's not affecting me none. Do we think that the Bible is just good thought material or in truth the very Word of God? You know, some people stand up and holler, this is a Bible.
[38:24] You know, we do something even better than that. We open it. And we read it verse by verse and chapter by chapter because it is the Word of God. How is your relationship with the Word of God and God as He speaks to you through it?
[38:37] Last one. 602. Worship God. Jeremiah chapter 6 and verse 20. To what purpose comes there to me incense from Sheba?
[38:48] Why don't you all go to Sheba and get me junk? I want nothing from Sheba. Your burnt offerings are not acceptable, nor are your sacrifices sweetened to me. And what they were doing, they're trying to worship God like lost people worship God.
[39:02] You see, lost people worship God for a good, excited feeling. The fact is, you can get excited and happy on Sunday and live like the devil on Monday. But God's worship says, you know what?
[39:14] Whatever I happen to hear and learn on Sunday affects me on Saturday night too. It works all the week in my life. God didn't want worship like they did with their other gods or in other countries. God told them He wants them to worship like He wants it.
[39:27] Is your worship honoring God? So I end by saying this, be instructed. In this chapter, this whole nation is saying, we will not be instructed.
[39:39] But as Christians, we want to be instructed. I want to do what pleases Him. Hey, you know, it's a wonderful thing when you live in a house and your wife and you are happy and there's like this whole spirit in the house, like this is a happy place.
[39:54] Because she's living and pleasing me and I'm living and pleasing her. And you just walk in there like, Lord, God, this is home and this is sweet. That's what God wants with us. God wants us to go around and go, oh, I love you, Jesus.
[40:06] I love your book. I like thinking about you. I like thinking, I just love putting into practice what your word says. And then we can live in this beautiful, wonderful relationship with an awesome God.
[40:18] Be instructed.