(Through the Bible) Jeremiah 11-15 — Chuck Smith

Jeremiah 11: The Broken Covenant and Its Curses

So we turn to Jeremiah, the 11th chapter, as we continue our study through the book of Jeremiah. Chapter 11 begins a new section of the book, not a whole new division, but it's a new message. And Jeremiah is divided into many messages that the Lord gave to him.

With chapter 10, we concluded the message of the Lord to Jeremiah that he was to give at the temple gate. Now he is to give a message to the people concerning their broken covenant with God. Now you remember when God brought the children of Israel into the land, it was on a conditional basis.

It was conditioned upon their obedience to God and to his commandments. So they were commanded, when you come into the country, you take it over, there in the valley where Shechem is, there are two hills.

One is Gerizim, one is Mount Ebal. And a part of the tribes were to, some of the men from the tribes were to stand on Mount Gerizim, others were to stand on Mount Ebal. And from Mount Ebal, they were to cry out the curses that would come upon the people if they disobeyed the covenant and the commandments of God.

Cursed be he. And all the people down the valley, as these guys would yell out these various curses that would come upon those that turned from God, they would answer or respond, Amen, Amen. And then from the other side, Gerizim, they pronounce the blessings.

And of course, these are found in Deuteronomy, as God laid forth for them the covenant and really the conditions by which you will inherit this land. Blessed are they that obey the law of the Lord. Amen, Amen.

Blessed are they that walk in his statutes. Blessed are they. And so it must have been quite a scene as more than a million people gathered in the valley and these guys were calling down these curses and blessings, which were the basis, the covenant, the basis by which they were to inherit this land that God had promised unto Abraham.

Now, God is officially declaring to them that they have broken that covenant. So God is no longer bound by that covenant to give to them this land for they have broken the covenant of God. And so this is the word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord saying, Hear ye the words of this covenant and speak unto the men of Judah and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, Cursed be the man that obeyeth not the words of this covenant.

Now this is one of the curses that was cried from Mount Ebal. And so he is repeating the one cry from Ebal. When I commended your fathers in the day that I brought them forth out of the land of Egypt from the iron furnace saying, Obey my voice and do them according to all which I command you.

So shall you be my people and I will be your God. That's the condition. If you will obey these commandments and do them. Now, Paul speaks of one of the mistakes that the Jews had made in his epistle to the Romans.

And that it was having the law just because they had the law. They felt they were all right. But he said it isn't having the law. It's keeping the law that it's important. Just because you have the law really doesn't mean anything.

In fact, it could be greater condemnation if you're not keeping it. James said, be doers of the word and not hearers only because that's deceptive. So many times because we do hear the law of God, because we know the law of God, because God has given us his commandments.

We feel that's enough. No, with knowledge is responsibility and the greater the knowledge, the greater the responsibility. The responsibility to obey and to do what we know is right. He that knoweth to do good and doeth it not.

It's evil. So it isn't just having the law of God. It isn't just having the covenant. It is keeping. It is obeying and the emphasis doing that which God has commanded. Now, God said the commandment that I gave to your fathers when I said, obey my voice and do them according to all which I command you.

So shall you be my people on this basis. You will be my people. I will be your God. This is the basis upon which I will claim you as my people, upon which you can claim me as your God, that I may perform the oath which I have sworn unto your fathers to give them a land that is flowing with milk and honey as it is this day.

Now, I promise to give them a land flowing with milk and honey. Look around. The land is flowing with milk and honey. I've kept my part of the covenant, God is saying. I've kept my promise, the oath that I made to Abraham when I said, I will give to you and your seed this land.

God said, I've kept my part of the covenant, but the people have broken their part. Then answered I and said, Amen. Oh Lord. So be it means or a man means so be it. And in the Hebrew, it is a man. Oh Lord.

So he responded with the cry that the people cried out there in the valley at Shechem. When the guys were up on a mountain, giving the curses and the blessings, he responded as the people did. As God said to him, you know, this is the basis upon which I'll be your God and you'll be my people.

And he says, Amen. So be it. Oh Lord. Then the Lord said unto me, proclaim all of these words in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem saying, hear ye the words of this covenant and do them.

So it isn't enough to hear we must be doers. For I earnestly protested under your fathers in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, even unto this day, rising early and protesting saying, obey my voice.

Yet they obeyed not nor incline their ear, but walked every man or everyone in the imagination of their evil heart. Therefore, I will bring upon them all of the words of this covenant, which I commanded them to do, but they did them not.

So God is speaking to the nation in an official sense concerning their having broken that covenant and thus they can expect those curses that were pronounced upon them from Mount Ebal and the, the curses that would befall them for their breaking of that covenant of God.

Now, if you go back into Deuteronomy, the 28th chapter here in, well, beginning with chapter 27, the verse nine, it tells you about this incident there at Mount Ebal and how that these shall stand on Mount Gerizim to bless the people.

And then on verse 13, the tribes that were to stand on Mount Ebal to pronounce the curses. And so in verse 15, cursed be the man that makes any graven image and abomination to the Lord. Well, God is telling in the broken covenant here that as, as many as are their cities, that's how many gods they have that they've in Jerusalem on every corner have built an altar to some pagan deity.

And so the very first thing that God pronounces a curse upon they're guilty of these false gods that they were worshiping. And so all of these curses, you notice each verse beginning with 16 on to the end of the chapter begins with a curse upon them if they would break the covenant and it tells the covenant and all.

Now in chapter 28, God enumerates what the curses will be. Uh, and, uh, in verse 16, cursed shall thou be in the city and in the field cursed shall be thy basket and thy store or their, their food supplies would run low.

Cursed shall be the fruit of thy body, the fruit of the land, the increase of your cattle and flocks, sheep. Cursed shall thou be when you come in. Cursed shall thou be when you go out and the Lord will send upon you the cursing vexation and so forth.

He'll make the pestilence to cleave to you. He'll smite you with consumption. Verse 22 and verse 25, he'll cause you to be smitten before your enemies. Uh, the Lord will smite you. Verse 27 with a botch of Egypt, whatever that was.

And, but it doesn't sound good, does it? And, uh, so, uh, he tells all of these things that are going to transpire if they break the covenant. Now, Jeremiah is pronouncing, you've done it. You've broken the covenant of God.

Therefore, the curses are going to be coming upon you because they obeyed, not nor inclined their ear, but they walked everyone in the imagination of their evil heart. Therefore, I will bring upon them words, the words of the covenant, which I commanded them to do, but they did them not.

Jeremiah 11: Idolatry, Judgment, and the Prophet’s Persecution

And the Lord said unto me, a conspiracy is found among the men of Judah. Among the inhabitants of Jerusalem, they are turned back to the iniquities of their forefathers, which refused to hear my words.

And they went after other gods to serve them. The house of Israel and the house of Judah have broken my covenant, which I made with their fathers. Therefore, thus sayeth the Lord behold, I will bring evil upon them, which they shall not be able to escape.

And though they shall cry unto me, I will not hearken unto them. What a tragic position for a person to get into where he has gone so far that God says, that's it. Even when they cry unto me, I'm not going to listen.

They've gone too far. They've, they've taken that step over and it's gone too far. And even though they cry unto me, I will not listen. Very, very tragic indeed. And, and we find God even telling Jeremiah, look, don't even pray for them anymore.

Just that's it. They've had it. I've had it. And I'm not going to handle it anymore. Now, you remember this morning, we explained to you the historic background. Josiah, the king, a good king who had reigned for 31 years, who had brought the spiritual reforms, had died in a battle against Pharaoh Necho there at Megiddo.

And he was killed in that battle. And so Jehoiah has seized the throne. Now, Jehoiah has was an extremely wicked man and immediately reintroduced the worship of Bel and all of these other gods that Josiah had sort of cleansed out of the land.

Now Manasseh, the son of Hezekiah was the most wicked king of all. He was the one that really started the whole downward trend into that never never land of oblivion away from God. But Josiah had instituted reforms.

But now Jehoiah has plunges them right back in to the sins of your forefathers or the sins that were brought upon them by Manasseh. And so God complains to them, they have broken the covenant which I made with your fathers because you've turned back to the iniquities of your forefathers.

That would be during the time of Manasseh. So God declares, then shall verse 12, then shall the cities of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem go and cry unto the gods. If they cry to me, I'm not going to hear.

Let them cry unto their gods unto whom they offer incense, but they shall not save them at all in the time of their trouble. These little gods that they were worshiping had no power to help to hear. Actually, you remember how that so often in the Psalms and in the prophecy of Isaiah, God spoke out or the psalmist spoke out against the worship of these false gods and showed the idiocy of it all.

Because a man would take a stick and from the stick carve out a little idol and with part of the stick, he would kindle his fire to bake his bread. And yet to this part of the stick that he carved out as a little God, he says, that's my God.

But with the same stick, part of it is being burned in the fire, being consumed. And yet, you know, the idiocy to say, hey, this little wood thing is a God, you know, and to pray to it and to worship and so forth.

It's a work of his hands. He's created it himself. And he put eyes on it, the psalmist said, but they can't see. He put ears on it, but he can't hear. He put feet on it, but they can't walk. How foolish.

You've got a God that can't hear, you've got a God that can't see, a God that can't talk. So they'll cry unto their gods, but they won't hear. Why? Because they can't hear. They are not really gods. But that's when, of course, when the chips are down, when trouble comes, that's when you really want to call upon God.

But it's tragic if you've turned your back upon God so long that when you get to that place of desperation and you call upon God, you say, oh God, God, help me. And he just shakes his head and said, I'm not your God.

You haven't been worshiping me. You've been living after your own pleasure. You've been walking after your own desires. You're not serving me. Don't call unto me. I'm not your God. Don't call me God. I haven't been your God.

Oh, that would be tragic indeed. And yet God said, that's what's going to happen. They'll call unto me, but I say, hey, I'm not your God. You call unto your gods that you've been worshiping because I'm not going to hear you.

I'm. We're also thy gods, oh Judah, according to the number of the streets in Jerusalem, have you set up altars to that shameful thing, even altars to burn incense to bell? Now, isn't that horrible? Here in the city of God, glorious Jerusalem, on every corner, an altar and incense burning unto the God bell.

Therefore, God said, don't pray to me for this people. Jeremiah, just don't pray to me anymore about them. Neither lift up a cry or a prayer for them, for I will not hear them in the time that they cry unto me because of their trouble.

So Jeremiah is commanded not to pray for them anymore. I mean, a person is really out when God says, hey, don't pray for them anymore. Another place, God said, don't pray for their good. If you do, I'm not going to hear you.

How tragic when a God, when God says of a person, that's it, that's enough. Don't even pray for them anymore. They've gone too far. You say, is it possible for a man to go that far? The scripture teaches.

It is. God said, my spirit will not always strive with man. Man can go so far in his rejection of Jesus Christ that God says, okay, that's it. You want to live that way. You want to walk that way, have at it, but never call unto me for if you do, I won't even listen.

Therefore, they could not believe John says in 1238 of his gospel. So Israel had gone over the line from which there is no return. What hath my beloved to do in my house? God said, seeing she has wrought lewdness with many and the holy flesh has passed from the, when you do evil, you rejoice in it.

The Lord called by name, a green olive tree, fair and of goodly fruit and the noise of a great tumult. He's kindled fire upon it and the branches of it are broken for the Lord of hosts that planted. They have pronounced evil against the, for the evil of the house of Israel and the house of Judah, which they have done against themselves to provoke me to anger and offering incense and to bow.

And the Lord has given me knowledge of it and I know it. Then thou showed us me their doings. So this is, is the message that Jeremiah had to take to the people. No wonder the people didn't like it. No wonder they were going to kill him.

Man, he was saying harsh things. So Jeremiah now in verse 19 speaks of himself and the problems that he was running into. But I was like a lamb or an ox that is brought to the slaughter. And I knew that they had been devising devices against me saying, let us destroy the tree with the fruit thereof.

Let us cut him off from the land of the living that his name will be no longer remembered. So there were, there were men that were conspiring to kill him. But the Lord of hosts that judges righteously, that tries the reins.

Now the reins are, you know, that which guides and directs the, the animal. You use the reins for leading or guiding. And so that is the, the guiding area of your life. And, and a lot of people haven't given the reins over to the Lord.

They're trying to guide their lives themselves. But God tries the reins in the heart. Let me see thy vengeance. And now Jeremiah's praying, Oh God, let me see your vengeance on the, they're plotting to kill me, Lord.

Now let me see your vengeance on them for unto thee have I revealed my cause. There is within the Christian circles today, sort of a, I feel it's a, it's a, it's a phony kind of a, you know, Oh, but we're to love everybody, brother, you know, and, and even the wicked and all.

And, and, and, you know, we're never to think any thoughts of vengeance or we're never to think any thoughts of, you know, God destroyed the wicked kind of a thing. But, and there's almost a weakness in our position against wickedness and against sin because of this prevailing attitude.

Oh, well, we ought to be forgiving and all. Yes, we ought to be forgiving. Yes, we ought to love. And I don't deny that. And I'm not denying that. But there is also a time when we need to be calling for God's righteous judgment.

And I think that a part of our whole moral laxity in, in the nation today has come from a very tolerant, soft attitude towards evil, towards wickedness. And I think that that's a dangerous attitude. And so Jeremiah is saying, God, let me see your vengeance on them.

For unto thee have I revealed my cause. God, let me see you wipe them out. Therefore, thus saith the Lord, God answers Jeremiah, of the men of Anathoth that seek your life saying, prophesy not in the name of the Lord that you die not by our hands.

Quit prophesying in God's name, we're going to kill you. Therefore, thus saith the Lord of hosts, behold, I will punish them. The young men shall die by the sword, their sons and their daughters shall die by a famine, and there shall be no remnant of them.

Jeremiah 12: Why Do the Wicked Prosper?

For I will bring evil upon the men of Anathoth, even the year of their visitation. So God promises he's going to bring judgment upon these who had conspired to kill the prophet of God. Now, Jeremiah goes on and he is talking now about the situation, the wicked man Jehoiah has that is in power.

And he begins by saying, righteous art thou, O Lord, when I plead with thee. Starting from a base, from a foundation that is very important. Know this, that God is righteous and God is fair. Now, I will not always understand the righteousness of God or the judge, justice or judgments of God.

You see, as a Christian, we have problems because I believe that God is righteous because I believe that God is love. I have difficulty understanding a lot of things that are happening in the world because it seems that if God is a God of love, then why would he allow these things to take place?

If God is a fair God, if he is just, then why is it that wicked people oftentimes prosper, have great prosperity? And so many times good, righteous people are hurting, suffering. Now, if I were God, I would bless all the righteous people and really put the thumb on the wicked, you know, but that would be because I'm stupid because then how would I really know that they loved me for me?

They might just be, you know, mouthing words because they don't want the thumb to squash them out. If all righteous people were just blessed, had a great prosperity and everything else, then Satan could, as he did with Job, say, hey, does Job serve you for nothing?

Look at the way you've blessed that fellow. Why anybody would serve you if you bless them like that. You don't know that Job really loves you. You don't know that Job is really faithful. He's a mercenary.

He's just got good sense. And the way you've blessed him, he's just worshiping and praising you because of the prosperity you've given to the guy. I was talking with a fellow the other day, very wealthy man.

We were having lunch together and he was telling me of his difficulties. The difficulty lay in the fact that he was going with different young ladies, but he really didn't know if they really loved him or not.

He said he felt like he needed to go somewhere, off somewhere and put on jeans and, you know, to put aside his fancy cars and yachts and everything else because he was looking for a woman who loved him, not his checkbook.

And he said, I really don't know. He said, they all know me. They know who I am. They know, you know, what I've got. And so I don't know when they come smiling to me and making conversation, if they're really interested in me or interested in my pocketbook, my checkbook.

Well, that would be a difficult problem. And it would be the same problem God would have if he cursed all the wicked and blessed all of the righteous. He wouldn't know if you really loved him or not. But when here I'm seeking to live a good life and things go bad and I still love him, I don't turn on him and curse him because, you know, things are suddenly going downhill and I've made a foolish mistake and all, and I say, oh God, and I begin to curse God.

Then, you see, he would know. So God lets me go through the fire and I still worship and praise the Lord. Say, all right, you know, I may as I've, you know, still love you, Lord. I don't love you because I've been blessed.

I just love you because I love you because of you, not because of your blessings or whatever you've done. God, I just love you because you're you. And God knows that when we, in our adversities, continue in our devotion and love to him.

So God allows us our adversity. God allows us problems. God allows us suffering. And he allows the wicked to prosper because he doesn't want mercenaries. He doesn't want people just worshiping him because of the fringe benefits, but because of him himself.

So Jeremiah is wrestling with this. God, I know you're righteous. It's not a question. I'm not challenging. Now, the mistake that people often make is that they do challenge God. When they say, if God is a God of love, why does God, and that's challenging God.

If you come and say, now, God, I know that you're a God of love, but I sure don't understand. You know, if you love me, why you've allowed this to happen to me. That's all right. God accepts that just as long as you're not challenging his love for you.

You can surely challenge the circumstances of your life. I mean, you can, you can ask God why things are happening to you. God, I know you love me, but Lord, why is this happening in my life? Why are things going wrong?

Why? And it may be that God will show you something that is, that is not quite right, that he's trying to correct, but it's wrong to challenge God. I don't think God loves me. You know, in Job, in all that transpired against him, it said, he did not curse God or charge God foolishly.

Now, many times you may not curse God, but you may charge God foolishly. You may make foolish charges against God. And we've got to be careful about that. We don't really charge God. Well, God doesn't love me.

I know he doesn't love me because look what's happened. So God, I know you're righteous. No problem there, but I want to talk to you about your judgments. God, why do wicked men prosper? Why are they so happy who deal so treacherously?

For it seems that you have planted them. They've taken root. They grow. They're bringing forth fruit. You're near to their mouth, but you're far from their reigns. So Jehoiah has comes in on the throne, a wicked man.

And it seems that he's been planted on the throne. God, I don't understand it. Here's a good, righteous man. Jehosiah is wiped out. And you let this wicked Jehoiah has come up on the throne. He talks about God, but his life is not at all submitted.

You're near in their mouth, but far from the control center of their life. But Lord, you know me. You've seen me. You've tried my heart towards thee. Now, that's something that we can all say, God, you know me.

God, you've seen me. You remember in the messages of Jesus to his churches there in Revelation chapters two and three. In each case, he said, I know thy works. God, you know me. God, you've seen me. And God, you have tried my heart.

And God does try our hearts. God does test the love. Now, earlier in verse 19, the previous chapter, Jeremiah said, I was like an ox or a lamb that is being brought to the slaughter. Here I am. I love you, Lord, serving you, Lord, saying your word, Lord.

And I become like a lamb that they're ready to kill. They told me by prophesying anymore in your name, they're going to kill me. Now, Lord, here's this wicked guy. Now set him up for slaughter. Not me.

Prepare them for the day of slaughter. How long shall the land mourn and the vegetables of every field wither for the wickedness of them that are dwelling there in the beast or consume the birds? Because he said, because they said he shall not see our last stand.

They've ignored God. They've shut God out of their lives. God responds to him. You think it's tough now? It's only going to get tougher, man. And if you've run with a footman, if you got in a race with a footman and they have worried you, how in the world are you going to race with horses?

If you've been weary in these little things, what are you going to do when it really gets tough? I do believe, I do know that things are going to get much, much tougher before they get better. I do think that our whole society has peaked as far as our standard of livings, culture and all.

I think that we have peaked and are on the way down. We cannot continue to use up the energy resources as we have in the past. We're going to have to start making sacrifices as far as our energy consumption is concerned.

We are not producing enough food to feed the hungry world. And as more people get hungry, more demands are going to be made upon our food supplies. And we cannot ignore the third world and its tremendous needs.

And whether we like it or not, demands are going to be made upon us that are going to call for greater sacrifices. And the high standard that we've come to expect and to enjoy is over and we're on the way down.

We're not going to be able to just go on forever, gobbling up 37 of the world's energy resources because we're only 6 of the people. And it's over. The holiday, the picnic is over. Things are going to start getting tougher and they're going to get much tougher before they get better.

Now, if you've run with a footman and they have wearied you, what are you going to do when you start racing against horses? If on the level ground you become tired, how are you going to run through the marshes of Jordan?

Now, God doesn't really answer the question, Lord, why do the wicked prosper? And here I am a righteous man and they're threatening to kill me. Lord, how come? God doesn't answer. He just says, hey, it's not tough yet, Jeremiah.

It's going to really get tough. What are you going to do then? Now, God acknowledged that Jeremiah had been running. You've been running with a footman. You've been doing it. How you've been doing that?

You've been doing it with the strength and the guidance of the Lord. And that strength and guidance that you've had in the past is the same way that you're going to be contending with horses. You've got to trust in the Lord.

Now, God has got all of us in training. The Bible says you are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus under the good works that God has before ordained that you should fulfill. God has each of us in training as he is preparing us for the future.

God always prepares his children for whatever they will be facing. And God knows what you're going to be facing in the future. And thus, God has been training you to prepare you for it, because he'll never take you into anything by great shock and surprise.

He'll never bring you to any place. But what he hasn't already prepared you for that place. But I'll go one further. He's also prepared that place for you. To the children of Israel, after the wilderness experience, he said everywhere you pitched your tent, I went before you and prepared the places for you to pitch your tent.

I love that. God's gone before me, prepared every place for me to pitch my tent. I never arrive at any place but what God has not preceded me there and fixed it all up just for me. But he's also been working in me to prepare me for that place.

So God is working in each of us, preparing us for the more difficult days that are to come, teaching us to rely on him, teaching us to trust in him, teaching us the lessons of faith, teaching us to know that God will not fail us.

God will see us through no matter what may come. The Lord will be with me and will help me. And he's been teaching me and training me because one of these days I'm going to be running with the horses.

But if I haven't been running with a footman, I'll never be able to run with the horses. So God is working in your life. So these little trials and testings that you're going through, they're all a part of God's work in his preparation of your life for things in the future that will be yet even more difficult than what we have experienced in the past.

God’s Discipline, Training, and the Hope of Restoration

So this is God's response to Jeremiah. The nation is going downhill. Jeremiah can see that the nation is going downhill and wicked men are in control and guiding it downhill. God, why have you allowed the wicked to prosper?

Why have you allowed the wicked to take over and to guide the people in this way of destruction? And God just says, Hey, fasten your seatbelt, man. It's going to really get tough. You've been running with a footman.

They worried you, but hey, you're soon going to be racing with the horses. Now you're going to just have to trust in me. You're just going to have to hold on. I will see you through. I'll bring you through it, but you're going to have to have complete trust and reliance on me.

For Jeremiah, even your brothers from the house of your father, your own brothers, flesh and blood, even they have dealt treacherously with you. They have called a multitude of people after you. So don't believe them.

Though they speak fair words to you, though they come and say, Oh, Jeremiah, why me brother? You know, don't believe them. They're, they're, they're conspiring against you. God now declares concerning the nation, Israel.

I have forsaken my house. I have left my heritage. I have given the dearly beloved of my soul into the hand of their enemies. Now notice how God still talks of Israel, the dearly beloved of my soul. God still loves him.

You remember the rich young ruler that came to Jesus said, Hey, what do I have to do to inherit age abiding life? Jesus said, keep the commandments. He says, which ones? And Jesus talked to him about the commandments that dealt with his relationship with his fellow men.

And he said, I've kept all these for my youth. What I lack yet. Jesus said, well, if you want to be perfect, go and take your goods and sell them and distribute among the poor your wealth, and then come and follow me.

And it said, he went away sad because he had great riches. Now you thought that if you had great riches, you'd be very happy. Here's a case where great riches made a man very sad, but it says Jesus looked upon him and loved him.

This guy had a quality that was admirable. It drew out love from Jesus as he saw the sincerity in the guy's heart. Jesus looked upon him and loved him, but the guy couldn't pay the price. He went away sad, no sadder than Jesus because Jesus loved him.

And he speaks of the people, though they have forsaken, though they're going down the tubes, though, you know, they've turned their back on God. God still calls them the beloved of my soul. Oh, how great is God's love.

My heritage is unto me as a lion in the forest. It cries out against me. Therefore, have I hated it? My heritage is unto me as a speckled bird. Now as a, you know, birds or hens are very, very mean. If you have a chick that is deformed in some way or looks different, they'll peck it to death.

That's where that term hen pecking came from. Not from wise, but from chickens. That a bird that is odd, they'll peck the thing to death. And so here a speckled bird would be pecked by the other birds.

And God says Israel's become like a speckled bird. The birds round about are against her. Come and assemble all of the beasts of the field. Come to devour. For many pastors have destroyed my vineyard.

They have trodden my portion underfoot. They have made my pleasant portion a desolate wilderness. The shepherds have destroyed. I think today of how many men who take the title of pastor who are really destroying the fields, the flock of God, leading them astray.

They have made it desolate and being desolate, it mourns unto me. The whole land is made desolate because no man really lays it to heart. I think that one of the greatest problems that we're facing today is that we are living in a desperate world.

Things are really getting desperate. Look at the moral situation of our country. Look at the moral climate. It's getting desperate. Look at the economic situation. It's getting desperate. Look at the international situation.

It's getting desperate. Look at this tremendous arms race getting desperate, but God's people aren't desperate. I think the time has come when we really need to take it to heart and get desperate before the Lord.

When we need to really gather together more and more, assemble for prayer that God will send a revival that will really stir the nation at its very core, at its very heart. Because we're going down the tube fast, but no one's laying it to heart.

And God said this was the problem. Things are going down, but no one's really laying it to heart. We say, oh my, isn't that horrible? And that's it. We're not really getting desperate before God over this situation.

No man is really laying it to heart. The spoilers are come upon all the high places through the wilderness. For the sword of the Lord shall devour from one end of the land even to the other end of the land, and no flesh shall have peace.