Sermon Notes 2/22/26: A Message For America Concerning The Coming Days And Where Hope is Found Part 2

A Message For America Concerning The Coming Days And Where Hope is Found Part 2

Last week we began to look at some of the quotes by our founding fathers and how different our leaders are today from those who began this nation

But as we look at America and its future the question is, can hope be found anywhere in this nation and the world

I believe the answer is yes

As we continue to look at the book of Jeremiah we see that God’s correction and discipline concerning Israel would be crippling

God was not motivated by simply anger and wrath, but ultimately He was motivated by love

Without God’s intervention Israel would be consumed by its wickedness and sin

Jeremiah 7:1-20

The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord: ² “Stand in the gate of the Lord’s house, and proclaim there this word, and say,

·     It was done in a place where all would hear

Hear the word of the Lord, all you men of Judah who enter these gates to worship the Lord.

·     This was not Jeremiah’s opinion, this was the very word of the Lord from Heaven

³ Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Amend your ways and your deeds, and I will let you dwell in this place. ⁴ Do not trust in these deceptive words: ‘This is the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord.’

·     Israel believed they were safe no matter what they did because they lived in covenant with the Living God

·     But the covenant established by God requires you to live in obedience to His word

⁵ “For if you truly amend your ways and your deeds, if you truly execute justice one with another, ⁶ if you do not oppress the sojourner, the fatherless, or the widow, or shed innocent blood in this place, and if you do not go after other gods to your own harm, ⁷ then I will let you dwell in this place, in the land that I gave of old to your fathers forever.

·     God’s calling of Israel was always one of repentance

⁸ “Behold, you trust in deceptive words to no avail. ⁹ Will you steal, murder, commit adultery, swear falsely, make offerings to Baal, and go after other gods that you have not known, ¹⁰ and then come and stand before me in this house, which is called by my name, and say, ‘We are delivered!’—only to go on doing all these abominations?

·     One of the great dangers of compromised preaching is it lauls God’s people to sleep

·     They live in sin and believe there are no real consequences

¹¹ Has this house, which is called by my name, become a den of robbers in your eyes? Behold, I myself have seen it, declares the Lord. ¹² Go now to my place that was in Shiloh, where I made my name dwell at first, and see what I did to it because of the evil of my people Israel.

·     Shiloh is where the tabernacle dwelt along with the ark of the covenant

·     In 1 Samuel 4 The Lord allowed the Philistines to devastate it because of the sin of God’s people at that time

·     They are once again repeating history

¹³ And now, because you have done all these things, declares the Lord, and when I spoke to you persistently you did not listen, and when I called you, you did not answer, ¹⁴ therefore I will do to the house that is called by my name, and in which you trust, and to the place that I gave to you and to your fathers, as I did to Shiloh. ¹⁵ And I will cast you out of my sight, as I cast out all your kinsmen, all the offspring of Ephraim.

·     God spoke to them persistently

·     God called and they did not answer

·     King Saul began to reign in 1047 BC and Judah was sent into exile in 586 BC

·     461 years of prophets and God’s word going forth

¹⁶ “As for you, do not pray for this people, or lift up a cry or prayer for them, and do not intercede with me, for I will not hear you. ¹⁷ Do you not see what they are doing in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem? ¹⁸ The children gather wood, the fathers kindle fire, and the women knead dough, to make cakes for the queen of heaven. And they pour out drink offerings to other gods, to provoke me to anger. ¹⁹ Is it I whom they provoke? declares the Lord. Is it not themselves, to their own shame? ²⁰ Therefore thus says the Lord God: Behold, my anger and my wrath will be poured out on this place, upon man and beast, upon the trees of the field and the fruit of the ground; it will burn and not be quenched.” ^[1]

·     Israel choose to reject God

·     God’s offer of repentance was given over and over again

·     Think about the world today how many have heard the gospel over and over again

·     But they love this world, their sin, and the gods of this age more than the God of Heaven

Israel’s issue was continued sin

I believe in Psalm 106:34-39 we find a key that points to when judgement full comes on a people and a nation

³⁴  They did not destroy the peoples,

as the Lord commanded them,

 ³⁵  but they mixed with the nations

and learned to do as they did.

 ³⁶  They served their idols,

which became a snare to them.

 ³⁷  They sacrificed their sons

and their daughters to the demons;

 ³⁸  they poured out innocent blood,

the blood of their sons and daughters,

    whom they sacrificed to the idols of Canaan,

and the land was polluted with blood.

 ³⁹  Thus they became unclean by their acts,

and played the whore in their deeds. ^[2]

·     What opens the door to sacrificing children is idolatry

·     When a people and nation embrace the gods of Baal, Asherah, and Molech it ultimately leads to the destruction of children

·     Some believe these so called gods only existed in the past in the bible

·     But today they are alive and well in our nation and the deeper in sin we go as a nation, the more children suffer

The precursor to a nation being judged I believe is what they do to their children

When children become discarded the judgement of Almighty God is at the door step

Jeremiah 19:4-6

⁴ Because the people have forsaken me and have profaned this place by making offerings in it to other gods whom neither they nor their fathers nor the kings of Judah have known; and because they have filled this place with the blood of innocents, ⁵ and have built the high places of Baal to burn their sons in the fire as burnt offerings to Baal, which I did not command or decree, nor did it come into my mind— ⁶ therefore, behold, days are coming, declares the Lord, when this place shall no more be called Topheth, or the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, but the Valley of Slaughter.^[3]

The wicked, godless practices that Israel embraced ultimately led to them indulging in child sacrifice

They had no regard for the next generation or the children God had blessed them with

As Israel walked way from the God of Heaven it left a void that would be filled by evil and darkness

It seems that America has taken a very similar path

(From William Bradford's Of Plymouth Plantation, recounting the moment they reached a safe harbor at Cape Cod.)

"Being thus arrived in a good harbor, and brought safe to land, they fell upon their knees and blessed the God of Heaven, who had brought them over the vast and furious ocean, and delivered them from all the perils and mysteries thereof to again set their feet on the firm and stable earth, their proper element. ... What could now sustain them but the Spirit of God and His grace? May not and ought not the children of these fathers rightly say: 'Our fathers were Englishmen which came over this great ocean, and were ready to perish in this wilderness; but they cried unto the Lord, and He heard their voice and looked on their adversity,' etc. 'Let them therefore praise the Lord, because He is good: and His mercies endure forever.'"

America is not the new Israel

God never established a covenant with America

But I believe at our founding, God guided the direction of this nation

The major purpose throughout its history has always been liberty, freedom, and the propagation of the gospel

Many will say that America is not a Christian nation and I don’t believe any nation could be considered Christian

But I believe America was uniquely influenced by the Bible and the leading of The Holy Spirit

As we find ourselves in this place now in which it seems that wickedness and darkness fills every place in our nation

Our only answer and hope is to turn our hearts fully to the Living God

To be people who honor His word

People who make prayer the priority of our lives

People who share the gospel and make disciples

I believe that return of Jesus Christ is very soon

I believe that many of the things that Jesus said would proceed His coming are before us

But does this mean that our hearts and minds are fixed on the wickedness of our day?

I believe the answer is no

I believe God is calling us in this hour to draw near and to go before Him in prayer

To pray for His righteousness and justice

To pray and intercede that many hearts and lives would turn to Him

I close today with a prayer from the prophet Daniel that I believe would reveal what a heart of intercession truly looks like

Daniel 9:3-19

³ Then I turned my face to the Lord God, seeking him by prayer and pleas for mercy with fasting and sackcloth and ashes.

·     Daniel is a single man who fully consecrates himself to the Lord and His purposes

⁴ I prayed to the Lord my God and made confession, saying, “O Lord, the great and awesome God, who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments,

·     Daniel knew the one who He was praying to because He knew the word of God

⁵ we have sinned and done wrong and acted wickedly and rebelled, turning aside from your commandments and rules. ⁶ We have not listened to your servants the prophets, who spoke in your name to our kings, our princes, and our fathers, and to all the people of the land. ⁷ To you, O Lord, belongs righteousness, but to us open shame, as at this day, to the men of Judah, to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and to all Israel, those who are near and those who are far away, in all the lands to which you have driven them, because of the treachery that they have committed against you. ⁸ To us, O Lord, belongs open shame, to our kings, to our princes, and to our fathers, because we have sinned against you. ⁹ To the Lord our God belong mercy and forgiveness, for we have rebelled against him ¹⁰ and have not obeyed the voice of the Lord our God by walking in his laws, which he set before us by his servants the prophets. ¹¹ All Israel has transgressed your law and turned aside, refusing to obey your voice. And the curse and oath that are written in the Law of Moses the servant of God have been poured out upon us, because we have sinned against him. ¹² He has confirmed his words, which he spoke against us and against our rulers who ruled us, by bringing upon us a great calamity. For under the whole heaven there has not been done anything like what has been done against Jerusalem. ¹³ As it is written in the Law of Moses, all this calamity has come upon us; yet we have not entreated the favor of the Lord our God, turning from our iniquities and gaining insight by your truth. ¹⁴ Therefore the Lord has kept ready the calamity and has brought it upon us, for the Lord our God is righteous in all the works that he has done, and we have not obeyed his voice. ¹⁵ And now, O Lord our God, who brought your people out of the land of Egypt with a mighty hand, and have made a name for yourself, as at this day, we have sinned, we have done wickedly.

·     How many times did Daniel use the word we and us

·     Daniel was a man consecrated to the Lord, but he stands in the place of intercession for a people who have rebelled against the Living God

·     I believe Daniel’s life was pivotal to the purposes of God

·     I believe from a young age God shaped and molded Daniel for this moment

·     How many of us have been set apart for this hour in history?

¹⁶ “O Lord, according to all your righteous acts, let your anger and your wrath turn away from your city Jerusalem, your holy hill, because for our sins, and for the iniquities of our fathers, Jerusalem and your people have become a byword among all who are around us. ¹⁷ Now therefore, O our God, listen to the prayer of your servant and to his pleas for mercy, and for your own sake, O Lord, make your face to shine upon your sanctuary, which is desolate. ¹⁸ O my God, incline your ear and hear. Open your eyes and see our desolations, and the city that is called by your name. For we do not present our pleas before you because of our righteousness, but because of your great mercy. ¹⁹ O Lord, hear; O Lord, forgive. O Lord, pay attention and act. Delay not, for your own sake, O my God, because your city and your people are called by your name.” ^[4]

The greatest privilege and honor we have in this hour is to intercede before the throne of God

To pray and intercede for those who are in darkness

Do you have a burden for the lost?

Or has Christianity simply become a Sunday morning thing?

Sadly I believe for some in this place that the extent of serving Christ doesn’t include evangelism, discipleship, or interceding for the lost, but simply a few moments on a Sunday morning

The hope we have in this hour is Jesus Christ

Our missions is:

To reach out to those who are broken and lost

To point people to the hope that is found alone in Jesus Christ.

He is the only one who can save

He is the only one who can redeem

^[1] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2025), Je 7:1–20.

^[2] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2025), Ps 106:34–39.

^[3] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2025), Je 19:4–6.

^[4] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2025), Da 9:3–19.