Sermon Cloud

A Country on the Crossroads
    Jeremiah 1:1-3
    FCOCLH 8/30/09

INTRODUCTION
1.    The crossroads
    a.    Between nations, empires and continents
    b.    Between allegiances
        i.    Sometimes allegiance went to Babylonians; most of the time to the Egyptians.  
        ii.    Israel trusted in Egypt, who failed them.  Look now, you are depending on Egypt, that splintered reed of a staff, which pierces a man's hand and wounds him if he leans on it! Such is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all who depend on him. --Isaiah 36:6
        iii.    Now Judah is trusting in Egypt (some will go there with Jeremiah) (Jeremiah 43 tells of what will happen to them.) I will take away the remnant of Judah who were determined to go to Egypt to settle there. They will all perish in Egypt; they will fall by the sword or die from famine. From the least to the greatest, they will die by sword or famine. They will become an object of cursing and horror, of condemnation and reproach. --Jeremiah 44:12
    c.    The choice today
        i.    Two major foes:
            (1)    international enemies
            (2)    Economic woes
        ii.    Our choice
            (1)    Abandon our dependence on God and trust solely in our government
            (2)    Allow the difficulty to strengthen our faith
2.    The wrong road
    a.    Manasseh
        i.    The LORD said through his servants the prophets: "Manasseh king of Judah has committed these detestable sins. He has done more evil than the Amorites who preceded him and has led Judah into sin with his idols. Therefore this is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: I am going to bring such disaster on Jerusalem and Judah that the ears of everyone who hears of it will tingle. I will stretch out over Jerusalem the measuring line used against Samaria and the plumb line used against the house of Ahab. I will wipe out Jerusalem as one wipes a dish, wiping it and turning it upside down.--2 Kings 21:10-13
        ii.    Nevertheless, the LORD did not turn away from the heat of his fierce anger, which burned against Judah because of all that Manasseh had done to provoke him to anger. So the LORD said, "I will remove Judah also from my presence as I removed Israel, and I will reject Jerusalem, the city I chose, and this temple, about which I said, 'There shall my Name be.'"  --2 Kings 23:26-27
        iii.    The LORD sent Babylonian, Aramean, Moabite and Ammonite raiders against him. He sent them to destroy Judah, in accordance with the word of the LORD proclaimed by his servants the prophets. Surely these things happened to Judah according to the LORD's command, in order to remove them from his presence because of the sins of Manasseh and all he had done, including the shedding of innocent blood. For he had filled Jerusalem with innocent blood, and the LORD was not willing to forgive. --2 Kings 24:2-4
    b.    The importance of leaders
3.    Life on borrowed time