God has
set boundaries on many
things but Satan knows
no boundaries! Kicked
out of heaven because of
evilness in his heart;
The evil statements he
has made (Isaiah
14:12-14).Herod murdered
all male babies two
years old and under.
Joseph’s own brothers
sold him into slavery.
John was put on the Isle
of Patmos for preaching
the Word of God. Evil
knows no boundaries.
As I come
to us today to share
with us from this
awesome book,
“Jeremiah”, He comes on
the scene in a pivotal
moment in the history of
Israel. Every high hill
had its thick grove of
green trees, the
idolatrous rites and
abominable license of
nature worship were
freely practiced. The
face of the country was
thickly covered with
Temples, erected for the
worship of Baal and
Astarte and all the
hosts of heaven, and
with lewd idols. But it
was in Jerusalem that
these evils came to a
head. In such a Sodom,
God’s voice must be
heard! Yet, if God
speaks, it must be
through the yield lips
of you and me. He speaks
such today. We are still
the vehicles of His
communication to others.
When
Jeremiah began His
ministry, going from
Anathoth to Jerusalem,
Josiah was king, He had
been King for thirteen
years, and was only
twenty-one years of age.
He had started to reform
the practices of Baal
worship. He broke down
the altars of Balaam in
his presence; and the
images that were on high
hills, he cut them down;
and the groves and the
carved images; and the
molten images, he broke
in pieces, and made dust
of them; and strewed the
dust upon the graves of
the people that
sacrificed unto them.
For seventy years, the
grossest forms of
idolatry had held almost
undisputed sway. The
impious orgies and
degrading rites, which
licensed vice as part of
religion, were in
harmony with the
depraved tastes of the
people.
Jeremiah
came on the scene during
these times when there
was a divorce between
religion and morality,
Jeremiah was deeply
disappointed that
Josiah’s reform did not
produce better results.
Jeremiah was in hope
that the movement would
inflame the minds of the
people to turn from
their wicked ways.
Against every accusation
that the prophet laid at
the nation’s door, they
pointed to the order and
beauty of the restored
ritual of their splendid
temple, of their
privileged condition as
the chosen of God. But
alongside this outward
decorum, the grossest
sins were permitted with
unblushing shame. There
was an evident divorce
between religion and
morals, and whenever
that comes into the life
of a nation, or an
individual, it is fatal!
Satan himself has no
objections to a religion
that consists in
postures, and ceremonies
and rites. Indeed, he
fosters it. God does not
comply with none of
this. The prophet Micah
said, “What does the
Lord require of thee,
but to do justly, and to
love mercy, and to walk
humbly before the Lord.”
(Micah 6:8) Where the
heart is right with God,
it will find proper
expression in the
well-ordered worship of
the sanctuary; but the
outward can never be a
substitute for the
inward. The soul must
know God and worship Him
as a Spirit. There must
be faith, repentance and
inward grace. But Israel
only had an outward
expression of God.
Jeremiah came on the
scene desirous of
emulating the heroic
faith of Hezekiah and
Isaiah. But he was
profoundly disappointed
and he was convinced
that intercession was
useless for a people so
deeply and resolutely
set in sin. Disappointed
and sick in the heart,
he went back to Anathoth.
The sins of the people
were so evil that he
predicted that a king
from the North was on
the way. Jeremiah was
perplexed at the
inequality of the
people.
He had never swerved
from the narrow path of
obedience: at all
hazards he had dared to
stand alone; he was
hated, persecuted and
threatened with death;
he was preaching to a
world that was upside
down, the course of
nature had been
disturbed by sin; that
the prince of the power
of the air is the god of
this world, and that the
servants of
righteousness fight, not
against flesh and blood,
but against
principalities and
powers, against the
rulers of the darkness
of this world, the
wicked spirits in
heavenly places.
So God
said to Jeremiah: “Do
you not remember when I
first called you to be
my prophet; that I
foreshadowed the
loneliness and
isolation, the
difficulty and
persecution, which were
in store? Do you not
remember that I told you
that you would have to
be a brazen wall against
the whole nation? Have
you already lost heart?
Are you so soon
discouraged? Well,
Jeremiah, you have as
yet run with the
footmen; but presently
you will encounter
horses. You are now in
the land of comparative
peace, your native
village, and yet you are
dismayed, but how will
you do when a tide of
sorrow comes on the
land, as when the Jordan
leaps it banks, and
swells over the
low-lying land around,
and drives the wild
beasts from their lair –
how then? Be sure that
whatever your sorrows
and troubles are at this
hour, God has allowed
them to come to afford
you an opportunity to
prepare for future days.
Don’t be discouraged or
give up the fight, or be
unfaithful in the very
little. Do not say: you
can’t do it. O yes you
can! Trust in me, and
remember that when I
bring you to the
swelling tides of the
Jordan I will cleave a
path in the heart of the
river”. I know our world
is upside down! Hatred!
Bigotry! Crime!
Corruption! Criminals!
Crooks! High divorce
rates! Murder rate has
sky-rocketed,
politicians have lost
their way, marriage is
not sacred any more.
Drugs, alcohol, sexual
abuse, family life is at
her lowest ebb. Same sex
marriage, pornography
everywhere, President’s
hand under women’s
dresses, sin at its
Zenith, orgies on
television. Men kissing
men on commercials. Men
calling men their
husbands; men and women
have left the natural
sex life; policemen
murdering blacks on
national television; and
arresting black news
reporters on national
television along with
white news reporters.
President Donald J.
Trump tweeting lies late
at night, and when he
speaks, nothing but lies
fall from his lips.
The
horses have arrived! The
immoral banks of our
world have arrived. The
justice system is
immoral, corrupt and
partial. Evil knows no
boundaries! The White
House and the Senate is
full of criminals and
crooks. The Senate has
many deadbeats in it;
but we can make it. Yes,
the horses have arrived,
but we have Heaven’s
resources behind us. We
have an all powerful
God! Our God is
omnipotent, immutable,
omnipresent and He’s
omniscient. We can run
with the horses! Yes, we
are having to march and
protest again, and we
should. Any time
policemen murder a man
on national television
and the world is
watching, and the
justice system won’t
arrest those criminals,
it’s time to march and
protest, vehemently.
That’s what it’s going
to take to right much of
this wrong in America.
We can run with the
horses. The banks of
immorality, injustice,
crime, wickedness,
ungodliness and apostacy
has taken over America.
Church, we must rise up
and shout aloud, “We
ain’t going to take it
anymore.” Rise up
Church, and let us be
heard! We must bring
back more Godliness in
our homes, our
government, our schools
and most of all, in our
churches. We can run
with the horses! If
running with the footmen
worries you, what will
you do when the horses
come? (Jeremiah 12:5)
Put on the whole armour
of God! (Ephesians
6:11-13)
Pastor,
Rev. Dr. Cullian W. Hill