Warning Signs on the Journey of Life

My wife told me, she said, we gotta drive two and a half hours back to Sebring, so don't be so long winded. So I always blame it on living in Peru for fourteen years, and down there, nobody was time sensitive whatsoever. They used to call it La Ora Puente Paruana, which is the Peruvian hour. So if you went to the doctor and your appointment was at 10:00, most Peruvians would show up at 10:30, and then the doctor wondered why you were so early. And so I got used to that and so you could be long winded down there.

Take your Bibles if you would to Jeremiah chapter seven, and tonight I want us to talk about something that I'm gonna call warning signs on the journey of life. Warning signs on the journey of life. And I want us to see that we're gonna take a passage of scripture that's very well known. Some people call it Jeremiah's temple sermon, and we're gonna kind of examine it and see how we can apply it to our lives today and look for some warning signs to make sure that we catch along as we go through life. When I moved to Florida, I was amazed at how much more agriculture how much more of an agriculture state than I had expected it to be.

I guess I had driven through Florida just a few times before going to Miami to fly out to go to Peru or fly somewhere else. And, you know, I pictured white sandy beaches and teal water and palm trees. And then I moved to Highlands County, and I found out that there's there's citrus groves everywhere, and then there's cows and cattle everywhere. And I didn't expect that. That was a surprise to me.

And so, I'm securing my manhood, but I have to admit, I felt like a little less of a man when I moved to Highlands County because I didn't have a pickup truck. Okay? So you know what I'm talking about. And until I moved here, I didn't really pay attention to pickup trucks, but now I know that real men drive a Ford F-two 50 Super Duty, 7.3 liter turbocharged, whatever, platinum, 400 horsepower truck. And then what do they do on Saturdays?

They spend all day polishing up that truck. And it's spotless, and there's not anything on the windshield, and everything is beautiful. I want you to picture for a minute this man takes his beautiful Platinum Edition Ford F-two 50 pickup truck, he spends all day working on it, and you look as you drive by and it's beautiful. It's been waxed up. It's all the chrome is gleaming.

The tires are dark and everything is beautiful. But when you walk up closer to the truck, you're a bit surprised to find as you open up the door that the dashboard is all covered in dust and grime. The seat's kind of got it's been soiled. As you open the door, a couple of bottles roll out, carpets all or the floorboard, they wouldn't have carpet in an F two fifty Super Duty. But the floorboard's all full of dirt and mud, and it even smells like old fast food that's been left in there.

Alright. Well, you see where I'm going with this, obviously. A lot of times in life, people spend all this time detailing the outside of life. They want people to see them and to have a certain perception of what they are and what they're like. We talked about it this morning when we looked at Hosea and the idea that Israel, which we are going to look at a little bit again, Israel thought that they were okay.

They looked good because they would go to the temple and they would offer these sacrifices. And they'd live like they were God's chosen people for just a few moments here and there as they offered sacrifices, just like this man would look good outside of his truck. Well, how many people are like him when you really see the inside? It's not the same purity that we should have. It's not the same holy living.

How many people have a checklist, a religious checklist of things that they want to do and things they want to accomplish for God? Maybe they go to church, they tithe, they say I show up for these special events, but they don't have that that part that's what's most important. They neglected what matters most. So to me, it's sad. It's horrifying for us to think, just like we saw this morning, this isn't a problem just for the nation of Israel.

This isn't just for Ephraim or the Northern Kingdom. This seems to be what mankind has done for thousands of years in their relationship with God. We go through the motions of church, we appear very spiritual and religious, yet people have never encountered God. They have no relationship with him. They don't know Christ.

Many people seem to miss the warning signs on their journey of life. So today, I want us to to I wanna point us to a a scriptural example of this. We're gonna see an entire group of people, an entire nation that at first glance looked pretty good. Just like that man in his f two fifty super duty truck, man. It was clean on the outside, but pretty dirty and ugly on the inside.

They looked pretty religious, but they were very, very far from God. And so that's why I've asked you to turn here to Jeremiah chapter seven. One commentary that I read began by saying, Jeremiah seven is a one stop shop for all things Jeremiah and judgment. And we do. We hear all through this book.

Judgment. Judgment. Judgment. The nation of Israel. These these folks are facing severe consequences for their sin.

So Jeremiah goes. He was sent by God to the temple courts to accuse the people, to point out their wrongdoing, to point out their false religion, to point out their idolatry. And so like I said, a lot of people call these verses that we're getting ready to read, part of this is what they call Jeremiah's temple sermon, and he went there. And so we know at this point in history that the the nation of Israel was divided into two kingdoms. You had the Northern Kingdoms, and then you had the Southern Kingdom down here.

And so they were divided and for more than a hundred years, a hundred years before Jeremiah was written, the Northern Kingdom had been taken into exile by the Assyrians and and once again we see that there was political instability. Everything was a disaster. There was all kinds of chaos, all kinds of trouble, and, Assyria had fallen, Egypt and Babylon had emerged as the superpowers, and Judah was just kind of caught up in the middle. And all of this, we can really see the root cause of the problem is because their lack of faithfulness and their dependence on others. And so not only were they politically unstable, but they were also spiritually declining.

They didn't remember their covenant with God. It's kind of interesting as we look at this, we're gonna see really quick like that the nation of Israel thought that because they had the temple that they were that was kinda like a good luck charm for them. They thought, well, we've got the temple, we're God's people so we're okay. We will never be destroyed. Jerusalem will never be destroyed because, you know, we have the temple here.

We're God's people. And what'd they do? They just continued in their sin. They continued in idolatry. They continued in their in their sinful lifestyles.

Now I've got it jotted down here. Don't turn there. But in Jeremiah five twelve, they even proclaimed the words of some false teachers. It says, they have spoken falsely of the Lord and have said, so this is the false teacher said, he will do nothing, no disaster will come upon us. Wasn't that arrogant?

Here they're saying, God's not gonna do anything to us. No nation can overthrow us. We're okay. Everything's gonna be fine. Do you remember playing monopoly when you were a kid and you got a get out of free jail card?

This is almost what they thought the temple was for them. We can live however we wanna live because we got the get out of jail free card. We're God's people. We have the temple. Jerusalem will never be destroyed.

God's not gonna allow that to happen. And so they thought they could get away with their idolatry. They thought they could get away from their sin ful behavior, and then they pull out that get out of jail free card, the temple, and everything would just go on like normal. And because God is merciful and patient, it did go on for a while. And now Jeremiah is coming along with this message from God that they're not going to want to hear.

And so that kind of gives us the context of where we're at. Obviously, the people of Judah were not noticing the warning signs on the journey of life. Now, I have two daughters and they both drive, and my youngest daughter, she doesn't enjoy driving. So she's old enough to have her driver's license, but she said, I don't really want to drive right now. She said, I don't want to pay for insurance, and so I'm content just having the learners and she says she's okay with that, and I'm pretty content with that too if you see how people drive in Sebring.

And, but you remember when when you're young and you take your your driving test, you have to take a test that shows all the street signs. Right? You have to identify what some of these street signs are and you have to know what those street signs mean. Well, we're gonna I'm just gonna kinda use that that idea of signs to point us to signs that the nation of Israel should have seen. So I want you just to picture for a minute a caution light.

You know when you come to a a crossroad out in the middle of the country somewhere and there's a red flashing light, there's a four way stop, and that's flashing so that you don't daydream and you're just driving along and then you zoom crash into somebody at that stop sign. Well, here, we can picture. It's there to alert us to danger. It's to point out something. It's to make us notice.

Well, this first thing I think, the first warning side is God wants us to listen. God wants us to listen. Look at Jeremiah seven and I'm gonna start reading in verse one. God wants us to listen. The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord saying, stand in the gate of the Lord's house and proclaim there this word and say, hear the word of the Lord all you of Judah who enter in at these gates to worship the Lord.

And so God wants us to listen. You know, many years ago, I figured out a little trick with my two daughters. It works with Debbie too, but she she's not quite as fond with it. But I figured out a little trick. If we were out somewhere, my girls were playing in a park or they were at their school and there was all kinds of other kids around, I could whistle a certain way.

I could go, and if I whistled like that, my girls would be like, oh, that's our dad, and they would always come running to me. So if they didn't come, I just I'd do it again, and it works wonderfully. Now I did that one time. I said, isn't that cool? My my girls will come right to me and my wife will too.

And the guy said, you whistle at your wife like a dog? I was like, no. Don't tell her that. Then I'm gonna be in trouble. But the idea was they recognized that little sound that I made.

It works really well in Walmart, by the way. You know, you keep walking around in circles and you keep missing each other. I just whistle like that. And they're like, oh, he's over there in the pharmacy section or whatever. And so I do that little listen.

Well, God has a message. Picture that whistle or picture that red flashing light. He wants them to listen, and so he goes to an important place. Now every church is different, and I think it's interesting when this building was built, I don't know the history of this, but, you know, churches used to have that would have been the main entrance out there at the front. Right?

You have the big sign, and it's right out on the street, and there's the big columns or whatever on the front of church. But where do most people come in here? They probably come over here, don't they? Because you come in off the parking lot. Our church in Sebring's the same way.

It has a big big front entrance, but nobody comes in the front entrance. And our pastor usually will stand at the back door of the church to shake people's hands because that's where everybody goes out. Well, this is kind of like where I picture Jeremiah standing there. He didn't come up on a pulpit. He didn't come to the front of the temple and preach to them.

Instead, he went to the entrance And from historians, archaeologists believed there was a set of steps that went up to the temple, and people would go there. And interestingly enough, they were so ritualistic that as they came up the steps, I think I jotted some of these down, they would actually quote some different psalms. So they would they would come up the steps and they would say things like, pray for the peace of Jerusalem. May they prosper who love you. Or they would say, those who trust in the Lord are like Mount Zion, which cannot be moved but abides forever.

And these are from Psalm one twenty two, Psalm one twenty five. And so he went to this prominent location, not the pulpit, but out front or maybe it would be over here at this church. It kinda reminds me of when someone goes to a park, you've heard of street preachers, and they get what? A soapbox, so they go stand up on a crate or something so they can see above the crowd and they do street preaching. We don't see that as much now, but that's kinda what Jeremiah was doing here.

And why? Because he had a message that he wanted them to hear. And really the problem, and we saw it this morning, was that there was ritual above righteousness. They were just following through the rituals. They had these psalms memorized.

They'd go up those stairs, they'd say them, they'd go in and they'd make their sacrifice, they'd check off their religious ritual, they completed their checklist of things for the week, and then what'd they do? They left and they lived in sin. They lived in idolatry. They lived in adultery. They lived in sexual sins.

They they just, yielded to what the other nations were doing. And so, basically, God sent Jeremiah to this place to interrupt their ritual, to be a flashing light, to send a message that they would see that their tradition, their vain repetitions, were were worthless to him. So I could ask us, are we any better today? Are we any better today as a nation? What is our attitude when we come to church?

As we arrive, what goes through our minds? Why do we come? Just because somebody expects us to be here? Why do we come? And so we're just going through the motions or we just hear by tradition or we hear expecting to hear from the Lord.

And, sadly, maybe like, these people, we need to hear a message like Jeremiah gave that interrupts our rituals and our way of thinking. So picture that flashing sign. God has a message he wants us to hear. Now the next sign that I kinda see here is a warning sign. Maybe we could say a wrong way sign or a turnaround sign.

Now Debbie and Olivia wanted to do a little bit of early Christmas shopping today, and you know how much us men love that. And so we were in some little shopping center, and as we were leaving, I was trying to get back out on the main road, and I noticed that all the signs were the way I was going said wrong way. Do not enter. Do not enter. Wrong way.

So I had to go back through the parking lot and weave my way around. We've seen those signs. Well, here, I want us to see the same idea that we talked about this morning. They needed to repent. They were headed in the wrong direction.

They needed to change directions and picture that warning sign. God wants us to change our ways. Look at verse three. Jeremiah seven three, God wants us to change our ways. He says, thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, amend your ways and your doings and I will cause you to dwell in this place.

Do not trust in these lying words saying the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord are these. Notice he's repeating this almost maybe sarcastically or to give emphasis that this is what they were doing. We have the temple. We have the temple. Verse five.

For if you thoroughly amend your ways and your doings, if you thoroughly execute judgment between a man and his neighbor, if you do not oppress the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow, and you do not shed innocent blood in this place or walk after other gods to your hurt, then I will cause you to dwell in this place, in the land that I gave to your fathers forever and ever. Behold, you trust in lying words that cannot profit. So the people coming to the temple had this idea that because the temple's in Jerusalem, Jerusalem is forever secure. We're alright. We have this good luck charm.

And they wrongly assumed that because we are coming to the temple, we are eternally secure as a nation and as individuals. Were they really safe because they had the temple? Was everything good in their relationship with God even as they lived in disobedience? Well, many prophets had tried to show them the error of their ways, and we can see that in the minor prophets that we see through scripture, the major prophets that are there, and and there's verses that are written to the Southern Kingdom. Now don't turn there.

I'm just gonna read it because I've got it printed out here. But in the book of Micah, Micah six six through eight, it says, and what shall I come before with what shall I come before the Lord and bow myself before the high God? Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old? Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, 10 thousands rivers of oil? Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?

He has shown you, o man, what is good. And what does the the Lord require of you but to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God. Do you see the extreme, emphasis that Mike is showing there over in chapter six? He's saying, I'm not asking you to make thousands of sacrifices to bring so much oil, holy oil, or anointing oil or sacrificial oil that it flows like a river. I'm not asking you to do that.

I'm not asking you to give your firstborn child. I want you to to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God. He just wanted a relationship with his people and yet they continued just following the good works. And it almost sounds sarcastic to me that that they were piling up the good works, but there was no genuine faith. They were piling up the rituals, but there was no relationship with God.

What was he looking for? To live peaceably, mercifully, to walk humbly with God. Another verse I've got written down here that comes from the words of Christ, Matthew fifteen seven. Hypocrites, well did Isaiah prophesy about you saying, these people draw near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. And in vain, they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.

And so they they they wanted so desperately to look religious to impress the people around them, but that didn't impress God. When I was a little boy, my parents still live in the house that I grew up in, and our houses were pretty far apart, but there was a little slope that went down between each house. And and in those days, it shows how times change, but in those days, a lot of the houses had white rock, like instead of where we put mulch today, my parents have mulch there now, but this neighbor had little white rocks around their shrubs and we had little white rocks around our shrubs and the and the driveways paved in between. And for some reason, I thought it was fun, me and a friend, we were out there and I was taking little white rocks and I was bouncing them off the driveway and pink and they'd go over and land in our pile. We do that for a while and then we switch and throw them back.

And we were just throwing these rocks. We weren't really trying to do anything bad. And, my dad was a hardworking man, and he had been at work all day. He had just gotten home, and his car was there. And, blam, I was doing this over and over again.

And then all of a sudden, I hear this really strange sound and and my friend's like, oh, you're in trouble. And I go around the corner. I was, like, slightly out of view, and I had busted out the back windshield of my dad's car. Oh, man. And and so I immediately, as a little boy, I was little, I just burst into tears.

And this friend of mine, he took off. He was gone. He was smart. And he wasn't gonna have any part of that. And I went into the house, and I was just I I still remember this.

I don't really remember a lot from that time, but I remember just sobbing. And my parents were like, what is wrong with you? What's what's wrong? I was you know, I couldn't even talk, and so I told them what I had done. And, they were like, well, you know you shouldn't have been throwing rocks like that.

So my dad goes out and looks at it and cleaned up the mess, and I think he put something over it till he could get it fixed. And and I came back inside, and I'm still sobbing uncontrollably. Well, looking back, I realized even as a little boy, I wasn't upset because I thought I was gonna be punished. They might have given me a spanking. Actually, they didn't, but they could have.

I don't know what I expected, but I wasn't worried about the punishment. I was worried because I knew that I had broke out my dad's windshield. I didn't wanna hurt my dad. I didn't wanna hurt him and how that I knew that he was a hard worker and how much it would cost to fix that. As a matter of fact, he did get it fixed and, you I I guess cars still have this.

You know, in the back it has those little lines that go through for a defroster? Well, to put the new one in that had the defroster, it was way more expensive. So dad just got the plain one, and I remember my dad every morning in the wintertime going out and scraping frost off the back of his car, and he had to deal with the consequences of my little act for the rest of the time that they had that car, and I felt bad about that. Well, that's kind of the idea of what I see here should have been the attitude of the nation of Israel. They didn't wanna hurt their heavenly father.

That should have been their attitude when they sinned, when they did something wrong. They should have been lamenting that. They should have repented of that. They should have said that is not how we wanna hurt our loving heavenly father and and showing love to him. We shouldn't live like this.

But instead, they just want to get away with it. They just wanted to follow after, hey, we got the temple. We're making our little sacrifices, and now we just go on living. Are you seeing the theme here? It's just repeated in scripture.

God is not interested in our lip service. He's not interested in our he's more interested in our heart. He isn't interested in our good deeds. He's interested in our relationship with him and how we react with him. And so as we work on our relationship with him, as we live holy lives, as we live separated lives as he shows us, as we walk with him, our relationship is gonna improve.

And then our desire to help other people, we're gonna be able to help other people. And that's why we see this idea here in the verses that I just read, helping foreigners, helping widows, helping strangers, helping the fatherless. All these things that we read about here, that's gonna naturally come to us because when we think about what God has done for us, then that's gonna make us wanna demonstrate that same love to other people. Our testimony is gonna be God honoring. Our testimony in our way of life is gonna be noticed by other people.

And so we see that first warning sign, that flashing light reminding us that God has something he wants us to hear, and he left Jeremiah to tell it. Then we see this idea that we need to repent. Well, the third sign I want us to see, picture a big red stop sign. God wants us to stop living like the world. Stop living like the world.

And I'm gonna pick up in verse nine. Will you steal, murder, commit adultery, swear falsely, burn incense to Baal or Baal, and walk after other gods whom you do not know? And then come and stand before me in this house which is called by my name and say, we are delivered to all these abominations? Has this house which is called by my name become a den of thieves in your eyes? Behold, I, even I have seen it, says the Lord.

So here Jeremiah, he's gonna start stepping on some toes big time with the specifics here. You notice in these verses that he's basically given us some of the some of the 10 commandments. You steal, you murder, you commit adultery, you swear falsely. So five or six of the 10 commandments are kind of listed right here. They're mentioned here.

I don't think Jeremiah is saying that the people are literally doing all these evil things in the temple, but really what they're doing is in their lifestyle, they live like the world, and then they come in and worship a few minutes each week. And so inconsistent, they're hypocritical, they're unholy, they're disobedient. You know what's interesting? If we were to go out into the world today and, ask people, why don't you wanna go to church? What do most of them say?

The church is full of hypocrites. Right? That's what the world says and sometimes that's the case, sometimes it's not. But here's a case of these people, they were hypocritical. He's saying that all of their life, all that they're doing, they're evil sinners in this world.

They show up at church to worship, they hope to be perceived as righteous, they want people to think they're God fearing, and they want to put on this obedient worshiper facade, but God sees right through it. Even he sees it. And so the best way, to describe how you look is like a den of thieves, he says there. So what is a den of thieves? We may not use that term anymore, but this is like a place where criminals hang out.

So be the bad part of town or or the bar or the club or this place where these, criminals are hanging out, and they were ruining the name of the Lord. Imagine just imagine. Now, thankfully, this is not the case, so don't worry. I'm not saying this. But just imagine if people said, but you know that Missouri Avenue Baptist Church?

That place up there is like a den of thieves. It's full of criminals. They're all a bunch of crooks. They're drunks. They're they're awful people up there, and yet they were supposedly testifying for the Lord.

Are we missing it today? Let's think about ourselves. How are we known in the community? How is Missouri Avenue Baptist Church known or perceived here in the community? And not just the church, but us as individuals.

When people look at us and say, you know, there's something different about that John Poe. He he reacts differently when somebody is rude to him, or or he acts differently when someone frustrates him. What do we want people to think of us? Can we be considered literally thieves? Well, these were God's people and they were.

What do I need to change to stand out in this world and with the people that I see every day? And so we see how do we do that? Well, picture that big stop sign. Stop living like the world. Then there's one more sign I want us to see, and that God wants to give us a a really strong warning.

God wants to give us a strong warning, and I see a road closed sign. You know, you're going down the road. I've seen it in movies, maybe one of these my my my daughter calls them boom boom movies. So she she doesn't like boom boom movies. So what is that?

They usually involve big explosions. You know? What is his name? Bruce Willis or one of these actors where everything is exploding and buildings are falling and planes are crashing and cars are racing by in a cloud of smoke. You know, man, we love those movies.

She doesn't really care for boom boom movies. And so you you've seen those movies where there is a bridge and the bridge has been washed out, and there's a big road closed sign across that, and then the the bad guys are trying to get away. What do they do? They come rust racing up that bridge, then all of a sudden, what happens? They crash through the road closed sign.

And then usually, the bad guys somehow manage to jump, you know, a thousand feet across this great, great abyss, and then they just drive on their way. And what happens? The police cars always fall into the ditch. You know? Maybe I watched too much Dukes of Hazzard or something as a kid, but this is the idea here, the road closed sign.

Stop, and I have a strong warning. You shouldn't be driving down this road. Look at, Jeremiah at seven and verse 12. Gives us a really strong warning. But go now to my place which was in Shiloh where I set my name at the first and see what I did to it because of the wickedness of my people Israel.

And now because you have done all these works, said the Lord, and I spoke to you rising up early and speaking, but you did not hear. And I called you, but you did not answer. Verse 14. Therefore, I will do to the house which is called by my name in which you trust into this place which I gave to you and your fathers as I have done to Shiloh. And I will cast you out of my sight as I have cast out all your brethren, the whole posterity of Ephraim.

So Jeremiah gives us a little bit of a history lesson here. Sadly, this is maybe sort of new for us, but this is nothing new for the Jews. This is nothing new for the nation of Israel. These people knew what he was talking about. They knew this story.

They knew what took place in Shiloh. The Northern Kingdom had learned the hard way. They had wrongly assumed that because they had the tabernacle remember the tabernacle, this big tent that they carried around, and you remember probably studying this as a kid in Sunday school, and they had the holy of holies and the holy, the holy place, and then there'd be the courtyard, and you remember all the little pieces of furniture and the symbolism of what that all meant? And this was the place where the high priest would go in on behalf of the people. He would go into that holy of holies, and, that's where at the ark of the covenant, the presence of God was was manifest and where the people could interact, let's say, with God.

Well, the problem was just like, Jeremiah is saying here, you're using the temple like a good luck charm. Well, this has already been done before. You thought you were safe because you had the tabernacle. And what happened at Shiloh? Well, they had that big tent.

They traveled around. They lost the battle, and they lost the Ark of the Covenant. And what the place where it took place was was called Shiloh. And so Shiloh was the home of the Ark of the Covenant from the time of Josiah until Solomon eventually moved it to the temple. And in scripture, it just kind of disappears.

We don't exactly know what happened with it. Remember, what is it? Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark. They're still looking for it to this day. So what really happened to it?

Well, the idea here is that it just kinda disappears and we don't know exactly what happened to it. But the Northern Kingdom, they should have looked and realized that this little good luck charm that they had, they thought they would be safe. It didn't work with the tabernacle and it's not gonna work now with the temple. And so archaeological evidence and some things we read in in first Samuel, in first Samuel chapter four seems to indicate that it was destroyed by the Philistines, by their enemy. And so God is basically showing the people that just because they had the tabernacle, they couldn't live in sin.

Just because you have the temple and you follow these rituals, that's not good enough. You can't continue to live in sin. And the very same thing could happen to Jerusalem. It could be it could be destroyed. It could be abandoned.

It could be forgotten. So as I think about these signs now there's not literally signs here in Jeremiah chapter seven, but to me, I can really picture significant warnings that Jeremiah has given to the people. Picture that red flashing light. Picture the do not enter sign. Picture the stop sign.

Picture the road closed sign. What about you? Do you have the kind of relationship with God that Jeremiah accused Judah of having? Do we have any other false gods in our life? And I doubt there's anybody in this room that's worshiping Baal or worshiping worshiping a false god.

But you know we have other things in our life. What if it's wealth? Remember this morning we talked about mammon, possessions. What about our career? What about the the way that we live, the pleasures or worldly living?

Do we treat others like Jeremiah accused the people? Maybe we aren't murderers. Maybe we aren't thieves or liars or adulterers, but how do we treat other people in accordance with God's demands? When we travel roads in our life, tonight, I'm certainly gonna see signs, flashing lights, exit signs when I drive back to Sebring. We we have warning signs all around us.

Well, Jeremiah gave the people these significant warning signs. God wants us to live listen. There's a clear presentation here of the results of what happened to these people when they didn't listen to God. Are we listening? God wants to change our ways.

He wants us to repent. Are we willing to root out the sin in our life and live blessed lives, or are we gonna continue in sin? I picture that stop sign. If we were accused of being Christians in a court of law, would there be enough evidence to convict us? Isn't that a that a interesting question?

Are we any different than our unsaved neighbors? We need to stop living like the world. And then finally, that dead end sign. God wants to give us a strong warning. We're not guaranteed blessings if we live in sin.

Just some road signs warning signs on the on the road of life. Let's pray. Father, I thank you that two times today, we've been able to look at some prophecies, some history of the nation of Israel and how they failed over and over again. Father, sadly, many of us do the same. It's so hard for us to battle the sin nature in our lives.

We have such a current in this world, the world's way of thinking that it drags us in. Father, help us to to think about these warnings that Jeremiah gave, to think about them as seriously as we would road signs on on the journey of life, and help us to to consider if there's things that we need to change. Father, you are a merciful God. You are a wonderful, loving God. You're a patient God.

You're a forgiving God. But we also need to remember that you're a holy God. You you can't tolerate our sin. Father, help each of us to look for ways to root out sin, to look for better ways we can serve you. Help us to stand out in our community.

And as we do, Lord, we know that we will be blessed, our churches will grow, and most importantly, you'll be glorified. And I thank you for this in Jesus' name. Amen. In closing, we'll sing, hymn number Sorry. In closing, we'll sing sing number hymn number three ninety seven, I have decided to follow Jesus.

I have decided follow Jesus. Have decided to follow Jesus. I have decided to follow