The Word Is a Beacon of Warning Jeremiah 6:13-19

At total solar eclipse, Jonah was spewed from the fish's mouth onto their beach. Interesting side note, how many of you knew that it is recorded that Nineveh worshipped a fish god?

Half man, half fish. Before Jonah ever spoke a word of warning, the people of Nineveh knew something was coming their way.

They were right and ready to heed the warning that was coming their way. God sure knew how to get their people's attentions before a word was even spoken.

In Matthew chapter 16 verses 3 through 4, Jesus says this, And in the morning it will be stormy today, for the sky is red and threatening.

You know how to interpret the appearance of the sky, but you cannot interpret the signs of the times.

An evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah.

I also remember after this total solar eclipse of 2017, it was said that you can do your own research on this and find it out, but where the total solar eclipse ended, where it stopped in the

Atlantic Ocean, Hurricane Harvey formed and started. Shortly after Hurricane Harvey, it was followed by Hurricane Irma.

It was the first time in modern -day history that two Atlantic Basin Category 4 landfalls have occurred in the same year.

Do you think God was trying to get our attention? In 2019,

I remember another time there where, right after around Easter time, I knew as I was seeking him in devotions and quiet time,

I knew the Lord was impressing on my heart, making it so clear that chaos, death, and rebirth was soon coming.

We all know what happened in March of 2020. Do you think God was trying to get our attention?

In the end of 21, heading into 22, I had another time where I knew the same situation as I was crying out to him in devotions and just spending time in his word and praying to him.

I knew he was telling me very clearly I needed to look up the biblical meaning of two numbers, number 9 and number 5, and in that order.

And I finally did, New Year's Eve of 21. And the biblical meaning, and again this is stuff you can all look up and find out for yourself too, the biblical meaning number 9 stands for completeness, finality.

Number 5 talks about God's grace, goodness, favor towards humans.

When you put the two together, what is the message? We're coming to a completeness, finality of God's grace, goodness, favor towards humans.

Question, is there a book in the Bible that talks about this? There is.

Revelation. Revelation is the only book of the Bible that promises a blessing. This is what it says in Revelation 1 -3.

Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear it, and who keep what is written in it, for the time is near.

In Jeremiah 6, 13 -19, this is what it says. For from the least to the greatest of them, everyone is greedy for unjust gain, and from prophet to priest, everyone deals falsely.

They have healed the wound of my people lightly, saying, Peace, peace, when there is no peace.

Were they ashamed when they committed abomination? No, they were not at all ashamed.

They did not know how to blush. Therefore, they shall fall among those who fall.

At the time I punish them, they shall be overthrown, says the Lord. Thus says the

Lord, stand by the roads and look, and ask for the ancient paths where the good way is, and walk in it.

I set watchmen over you, saying, Pay attention to the sound of the trumpet. But they said,

We will not pay attention. Therefore, hear, O nations, and know,

O congregation, what will happen to them. Hear, O earth, behold,

I am bringing disaster upon this people, the fruit of their devices, because they have not paid attention to my words, and as for my law, they have rejected it.

Here is the big idea. Heed the warning call of scripture.

Five ways to know if we are heeding the warning call. Number one, knowing that there are people preaching a gospel for their own personal gain.

Jeremiah 6, 13 -14 says, For from the least to the greatest of them, everyone is greedy for unjust gain, and from prophet to priest, everyone deals falsely.

They have healed the wound of my people slightly, saying, Peace, peace, when there is no peace.

Wicked leaders in this time, among the prophets and priests, proclaimed peace falsely in Jerusalem, and gave weak and brief comfort.

There was no true healing from the spiritual wound, no discernment in how to deal with sin and its effects.

Does that not sound like what we're going through today? In fact, many pastors today, they make the message of God's love all about us.

All the while, they seem to ignore the part about if we love him, we will keep his commandments.

John 14, 15, Jesus makes it very clear. He says, If you love me, you will keep my commandments.

I find it more than coincidental to see that as the church has gotten soft on issues of evolution, abortion, marriage, love, gender, the world is calling out against those people who speak on those issues.

They're saying they're very unloving and unkind when they speak about the biblical message. The biblical stands on these issues.

And sadly to say, some of the churches, or a lot of the churches are standing alongside the world and saying that we are unkind and unloving if we speak like this.

Too many churches and pastors today are preaching to get people in the pews, all the while they're neglecting the importance of making sure they will go to heaven.

Too many who proclaim Christ have become more about loving people in their sin so that they can feel accepted, instead of loving people enough to tell them that their sin will keep them from the love of God.

We have become lost into thinking that it is more loving to encourage people to live the life they love over following the one who died so we may live.

Jesus again, the words of Jesus in Mark 8, 34 -37, If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.

For whoever would save his life will lose it. But whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospels will save it.

For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul? For what can a man give in exchange for his soul?

Number two, realizing that God will deal with sin justly.

Jeremiah 6 -15, Were they ashamed when they committed abomination? No, they were not at all ashamed.

They did not know how to blush. Therefore, they shall fall among those who fall. At the time that I punish them, they shall be overthrown, says the

Lord. I don't know about you. I know some of you are older than me. I know I'm older than the majority of people here now too.

That tells you where I'm going. But the point is, I don't know if any of you could ever imagine you'd see a day where you knew people when you were in school or whatever else, where you were made fun of or you were laughed at if anyone thought you liked somebody of the same sex in a way that wasn't what was natural.

You'd be made fun of, laughed at, whatever else. I never thought I'd see the day where we'd go from that to a time where the schools now push and promote it so much so.

And they go after those who say something different. I don't think making fun was good, but I never thought

I would see a time where it would switch so drastically to that. And it's a secret that normally you'd want it to be kept to yourself, but now it's all very much there.

And the Bible makes it clear, very clear. If you read the Bible, it makes it very clear what is right and wrong on the subject.

Yet the church has become very divided on this. 1

Corinthians 11, 17 -19, Paul says, But in the following instructions

I do not commend you, because when you come together it is not for the better but for the worse.

For in the first place, when you come together as a church, I hear that there are divisions among you, and I believe it in part, for there must be factions among you, in order that those who are genuine among you may be recognized.

The false prophets and wicked priests in Jerusalem's time at this passage that we're reading led the people into idolatry and other sins.

When they were confronted with the severest punishment, they were not moved.

They had neither shame nor fear. There was no fear of the

Lord. They ended up being destroyed by the Chaldeans. I ask you, is the church preaching a message of fearing the

Lord and knowing what's in store for us if we reject His word? Romans 1, 21 -27 says,

For although they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks to Him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened.

Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images of mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.

Therefore God gave them up in the lust of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, because they exchanged the truth of God for a lie and worshipped and served the creature over the

Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen. For this reason,

God gave them up to dishonorable passions, for the women exchanged natural relations for that that are contrary to nature, and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error.

I have to ask you, is the church today preaching this gospel message?

Interesting side note, when I was in training not too long ago, they were talking about tuberculosis, and this last part where it says the due penalty was within them for their error.

It was noted that tuberculosis is a leading cause of death for people with HIV AIDS.

Tuberculosis is one of the most common causes of death among people living with HIV.

Is that the word of the Lord? Warning? Hebrews 10, 26 -27, it says, and I'm going to read it to you.

Hebrews 10, 26 -27 says, for if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins but a fearful expectation of judgment and a fury of fire that will consume the adversaries.

The question we have to ask all of ourselves is, do we believe and live in the fear of knowing that God will deal with sin, he'll deal with it justly, and it is a big deal.

Number three, understanding the blessing of the good old way. Jeremiah 6, 16 says, thus says the

Lord, stand by the roads and look, and ask for the ancient paths where the good way is, and walk in it, and find rest for your souls.

But they said we will not walk in it. I know there are people in the world today that they like to say the

Bible is outdated. I don't know if any of you have heard that, but I've heard that more than once. The Bible doesn't fit the world today.

It's not the same message. We need to change to the times. We need to change the Bible to fit the times we're in.

In fact, years ago I remember through Facebook interacting with a former player of mine that I coached when he was in junior high, and we got discussing back and forth, and he flat out told me, he says,

Doug, the God of the Old Testament was an a -hole. And I had to disagree with that so strongly.

At that time I was reading in the book of 1 Kings, and it was talking about King Ahab. King Ahab being married to Jezebel.

They were not good people at all. Very wicked, very evil. But what caught my attention in reading this in 1

Kings 21, it talked about a time where Elijah would come to him. Elijah, the prophet, he only went to King Ahab every time

God told him to. He never went on his own accord. It was every time God said, go to King Ahab.

I have a message for you to give him. King Ahab was so used to this that his comment to him when he saw

Elijah coming, he says, what do you have for me now, my enemy? God cared for King Ahab that he was constantly sending

Elijah to him to warn him what was coming if he stayed in his ways, stayed in his path.

More recently, not too long ago, we've actually had a pretty prominent pastor. Some of you probably remember this or heard this where he was telling his congregation, we need to unhitch from the

Old Testament. The same pastor was saying, we need to stop saying to people that Jesus loves me, this

I know, for the Bible tells me so. What kind of pastor would make a comment like that?

He had more of a concern about how people perceived the Bible instead of being concerned about how

God will judge us for sharing the Bible. Proverbs 3, 5 -8 says this, trust in the

Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him and he will make your paths straight.

Do not be wise in your own eyes. Fear the Lord and turn away from evil.

It will be healing to your flesh and refreshment to your bones. The fourth way to heed the warning call is listening to the voices who lead you to the truth.

Jeremiah 6 -17, I set watchmen over you saying, pay attention to the sound of the trumpet, but they said, we will not pay attention.

God always gives a warning of what is in store for us when we reject his wisdom for our own.

And is this not what's taking place today? There's those people who are speaking out against certain things.

People don't want to hear it. They shut them down. Like I just was seeing too a lot of on the media, news media stuff.

It's interesting when the truth is being shared. You know what they try to call the truth now? It's bias.

The truth is biased. All the while they let people think or try to make people believe what they are saying isn't biased and it is the truth.

First Thessalonians 5 -19 -21, we are told, do not quench the spirit. Do not despise prophecies, but test everything.

Hold fast what is good, abstain from every form of evil. And in Matthew 7 -24 -27,

Jesus tells us, everyone who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock.

And he will say, and the rain fell and the floods came and the winds blew and beat on that house.

But it did not fall because it had been founded on the rock. And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand and the rain fell and the floods came and the winds blew and beat against that house and it fell and great was the fall of it.

Jesus is sounding his alarm and sounding his warning throughout all around us, through nature, through everything.

And in his word, the question is, will our house stand or will it crumble as the world plays out before us?

It's on us if it stands or if it falls. I was also reminded of an election story in 2020.

I know lots of you find that hard to get away from just knowing because it's still in the news today, saying how the 2020 election was stolen, how the great divide in between who should be president.

But I remember very clearly hearing, maybe some of you do too, hearing lots of so -called prophets, people on podcasts or whatever else, they were claiming that Trump was going to win the election, that he was going to get in.

And all of that is when we're saying we're going to have a Republican president for the next so many years that things are going to get better, all is well, because Trump's going to be in office.

And these people, men and women, were saying this is what the Lord was telling me, telling them.

And I remember struggling with this because I knew the Lord was telling me something different when

I was seeking him and praying to him for guidance in his word. He was clearly telling me that Trump wasn't going to get in because we were coming to a time of judgment, because we were not repenting, we were not turning from our sin.

And I found myself even questioning, being like, Lord, am I hearing you correctly as I hear these guys continue to say how

Trump was going to get in, he's going to be our next president again. And as I was crying out to him on that, he was reminding me of the

Old Testament, the times in the Old Testament when there would be many prophets that would go before the king or go before the people and they would have a good message, right?

They would say, do not fear, things are going to get better, everything's well.

But what was the true prophet of God, what was his message throughout all that? It was, judgment is coming because you have rejected his law and you are not repenting of your sin.

And so I knew before it ever happened, even all that, I knew somehow, someway, I didn't know how it all pulled out, but I knew we were not going to have

Trump as our president, even when they were continually saying that. Test and see, right?

Who is truly hearing from God, who's not, and match it up with the word. Daniel 2 .20

-22 tells us this, blessed be the name of God forever and ever, to whom belong wisdom and might.

He changes times and seasons. He removes kings and sets up kings.

He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to those who have understanding. He reveals deep and hidden things.

He knows what is in the darkness and light dwells with him. Are we making sure we are with him in heeding the warning call?

Number five, the fifth point. Proclaiming disaster comes to those who reject his word.

Jeremiah 6 .18 -19 says, therefore, hear, O nations, and know,

O congregation, what will happen to them. Hear, O earth, behold,

I am bringing a disaster upon this people, the fruit of their devices, because they have not paid attention to my words.

And as for my law, they have rejected it. God's wrath is coming.

If you have any doubt on that, read Romans 1 .18 -32. It's very clear.

Not that long ago, I came across a survey, too, and I shared this with some of you earlier, talking about four out of ten

Americans believe we are living in the last days. We are living in the end. Four out of ten.

That same poll, any idea how many in the church believe that we are living in the end days, last times?

47%. What was even sadder, in my opinion, or a reflection of where we are at, is 49 % did not believe it.

So how in the world are we going to give a message, a gospel message of what the word says and what

Jesus is warning, when four out of ten people in the

U .S., adults in the U .S., feel like we are living in the last days, and over half of the people in the church do not believe that to be true?

How are we going to be able to give them hope or a reason for what's happening? Acknowledging where we are at.

I just listened to, last week here, Pastor Barry Stagner. I'm not sure how many of you have heard of him. Pastor from California.

He was talking about how the stage is being set for the last days. Barry was saying that morality and politics will polarize the world in the last days.

And this is where he gets this from. In Matthew, the Olivets Discourse, in Matthew 24, 24 verse 7, after Jesus' disciples asked him, what is the sign of the end in your coming?

First thing he tells them in Matthew 24, 3 -4, is he says, watch out that no man deceives you. I ask you, what's taking place in the world today?

What's taking place in the church? What's taking place all around us? How do we know who's telling us the truth and who's not?

But this is what Matthew 24, 7 says. After his disciples asked him when the end would come, he said, nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom.

Greek word for nation comes from, the Greek word for nation is ethnos, which we know as ethnic, close to ethnic.

Ethnic tensions are part of the signs of his coming soon.

What do we see taking place? The word kingdom, the

Greek word for kingdom is basilia. It means right to rule.

Not only will there be ethnic groups going against each other, but there will be a power struggle over the right to rule.

What have we been having for the past how many years? And it's on a global scale. Are we seeing that Jesus is saying near the end of the age, there will be battles over the right to rule.

Again, 1 Thessalonians 5, 19 -21, do not despise prophecies, but test everything.

Hold fast what is good. Abstain from every form of evil. And in Acts 17, 30 -31, we're warned, the times of ignorance

God overlooked. But now he commands all people everywhere to repent, because he has a fixed day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed.

And of this, he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead.

This evil and adulterous generation that we are part of and living in has been clearly given the sign of Jonah, and it is rejecting it.

Are we making sure we're not so we can be that light to these people? I also came across this from Tucker Carlson.

I'm not saying he's a Christian, but I'm telling you from what I've read and what I've seen of him, I think he's more spot on than a lot of pastors today.

This is some quotes from him from a while back in November. He said,

I'm just telling you once again what you already know, which is, this is going to be, the next year is going to be,

I think, I'd bet my house on it, really like nothing we've ever seen in the country.

And everyone can kind of feel that. He acknowledged that everyone has good reason to feel angry and paranoid.

He goes on to say, always trust your gut. If you feel like they're lying to you, they are.

What's happening is bad behavior for its own sake. Bad behavior often involves sins like greed or lust.

While we would not approve of these sins, we at least understand why human beings succumb to these particular temptations.

The present moment, however, includes something far more sinister, an active detestation of all truth and a corresponding devotion to every demonstrable falsehood.

It takes a very rare person to lie in the way we are being lied to, and it takes a very rare moment to see lying at this scale.

Mark 8, 38, Jesus tells us, For whoever is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him will the

Son of Man also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels. I'm convinced, and I've been convinced for some time, that Jesus is coming soon.

Are we ready? John 8, 12, Jesus says this, I am the light of the world.

Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness but have the light of life. According to Jesus, if we're not following him, we're in darkness.

Are we following him? Revelation 3, 3, Remember then what you have received and heard.

Keep it and repent. If you will not wake up, I will come like a thief and you will not know at what hour

I will come against you. Again the words of Jesus in Revelation 3, 20, he says,

Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door,

I will come in to him and eat with him and he with me. In closing, if anyone here is not saved,

I do plead with you, make today the day you do so, because we are running out of time.

Time is not on our side. The world is totally screaming this. God in his word is giving us warning as far as what to look for.

Let's make sure we don't mix up the beacon of warning and exchange it for a beacon of celebration.

And just closing with this, the ABCs, I know J .D. Farrakh, for those of you who know him and don't know him,

I would encourage you to listen to him. He's a guy that I definitely enjoy, a pastor from Hawaii. But he always closes with the

ABC. A. Admit you have done wrong and ask for forgiveness. B.

Believe that Jesus died and rose again for your sins. C. Confess and choose to allow

God to be in charge of your life. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, I do thank you for your love.

I thank you for your message. I thank you for your love for dying for us so that we wouldn't have to pay the punishment of sin.

Lord, I pray that each and every one of us here would see the urgency of the hour, that we would see that we are nearing the time of great celebration and great rejoicing, but it's not going to be here in this world.

It's going to be in the one to come. So help us, Lord, to be that shining light to those around, that we would rest assured in the promises of your word and knowing that what's coming is not something we should be fearful of, but we should be excited about and knowing how soon you are here and taking us.

So, Lord, I pray your blessing upon us, each and every one of us, as we go our way, Lord, that your word would truly resonate in our hearts and our minds and that we would come to know you for who you are and what you are.