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I want us to camp out this evening,

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friends, in the Word of God from the

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Book of Jeremiah.

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And there's some deep truths I'd like to

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share with us this evening from God's Word.

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Turn in your Bibles, friends, to the Book

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of Jeremiah.

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We will be in chapter 17.

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Allow me to read us verses 7 and

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8.

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Here now is the Word of God, and

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may the Spirit of the Lord be pleased

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to attend the reading of His Holy Word.

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Blessed is the man that trusteth in the

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Lord, and whose hope the Lord is.

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Let me pause here, friends, while there'll be

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an abundant satisfaction to all those who make

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God their confidence.

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And listen to the following wonderful promises from

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the rest of our text.

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For he shall be as a tree planted

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by the waters, and that spreadeth out her

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roots by the river, and shall not see

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when heat cometh.

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But her leaves shall be green, and shall

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not be careful in the year of drought,

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neither shall cease from yielding fruit.

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And we see in this text positive promises

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of God to those who repose by faith

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in Him, and place their trust and hope

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solely in Him, and none other.

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And all these positive promises are true, friends.

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I can promise you that.

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But all such promises are enhanced when they

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are contrasted with the rest of the passage,

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which I failed to read you.

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I fear most pastors today fail to tell

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you the truth about God.

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I'll explain in a minute.

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This passage of Jeremiah actually begins in verse

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5, and in verses 5 and 6, which

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precede verses 7 and 8, which I just

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read you, which only speak of the positive

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promises of God.

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But God has two sides.

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God is a God of mercy, and He

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is a God of justice.

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The majority of churches hide this side of

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God from you because they know most of

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you don't read your Bibles anyhow.

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You rely on others to tell you about

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what the Bible says instead of studying it

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yourself.

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Listen to the negative promises of God, which

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stand alongside the positive promises of God.

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Listen to these promises from God in verses

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5 and 6.

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Thus saith the Lord, Cursed be the man

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that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his

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arm, and whose heart departeth from the Lord.

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For he shall be like the heath in

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the desert, and shall not see when good

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cometh, but shall inhabit the places in the

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wilderness, in a salt land, and not inhabited.

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We have placed too much emphasis today, friends,

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on only the positive promises of God in

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order to grow our churches as quickly as

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we can, so we can build our empires

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of brick and mortar while we traffic in

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the souls of man.

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Why, if we started preaching the truth, it

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would run off the good deacons.

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This text declares the curses of God upon

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any man, any pastor, any church, any denomination

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that trusts in man and the arm of

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the flesh.

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This sums up most churches today that operate

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on money and manpower to get the job

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done, whereas in times past churches lived on

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their knees and leaned on the Holy Ghost

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for power.

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Therefore, I believe many Christians, many pastors, many

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churches, and many denominations are cursed today by

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the living God of the Bible.

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They have no authority with man, no influence

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upon society, and no presence of God in

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their midst.

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Rather, they lie under a divine judgment.

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They are cursed.

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Many won't tell you the truth about God

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because they need to pay the expenses to

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maintain their church campus.

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I used to go to a Baptist church

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that spent $80,000 a year on donut

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holes for its members.

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You'd be shocked, friends, at the expenses in

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the budget of megachurches today.

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And the main reason why most pastors will

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fail to tell you the truth about God

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is because if they did, it would upset

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you, and they would lose paying members to

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their country club that they call church.

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The second reason why many pastors will fail

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to tell you the truth about God is

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that they don't worship the God of the

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Bible, but only a God of their imagination.

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But their God would never send anyone to

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hell and punish them eternally for sin.

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If we'd be honest with folks and tell

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them the truth about the real God of

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the Bible, the God who has two hands

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of mercy and justice, we would do folks

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a favor by pointing them to the Christ

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of the Gospels, who has rights and claims

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upon his followers.

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That right smack dab in the middle of

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the gospel is a bloody cross on which

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the Prince of Glory died, and that a

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crucified Christ must have crucified followers.

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But I believe America is ignorant of the

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God of the Bible today because the church

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quit preaching about him years ago when they

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decided to expand.

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Expand their campuses.

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I also believe, friends, that a great judgment

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is getting ready to befall this nation, and

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America will soon see a side of God

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they are quite unfamiliar with.

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Our passage from Jeremiah, when honestly expounded, speaks

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of both the negative and positive promises of

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God.

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A parallel passage is found in Deuteronomy chapter

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28, which also speaks of the blessings of

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God who he'll bring upon his obedient and

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faithful people.

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And then it speaks of the curses God

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will bring upon his chosen people when they

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refuse to walk in total obedience to all

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his commandments and requirements.

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The Jews were God's chosen people, but they

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turned away from God in their daily living

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and walked falsely in the arm of the

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flesh, and they fell under his curses.

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Today, as we as a nation have legislated

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God right out of this country, and we

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as a people of God in our churches

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preach mainly about a God that merely exists

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in our imagination, if Israel violated God and

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fell under his curses, why do we foolishly

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believe that we are immune, that we as

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a people of God can violate him and

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his word and avoid the same divine justice?

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May God have mercy on us all.

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Let us pray.