Salvaging America

Jeremiah was a man that was greatly used by God. Before he was even born, God already had a specific calling and ministry for him. The Bible says in Jeremiah 1:5, “Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, [and] I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations.”  His name means “whom Jehovah appoints.” The day and age in which Jeremiah lived in was one of moral decadence and spiritual anarchy. Jeremiah lived in a day where the men and women did that which was right in their own eyes.

Jeremiah lived in a day much like ours today. I plan to show you some of the similarities of our day and Jeremiah’s day, and I want to give you some simple steps that we as Christians need to take to salvage what is left of America. Jeremiah, first of all, lived in a day of deep spiritual wickedness. The people had sinned against God to the point where He was ready to give them up into captivity. And, in fact, they did go into captivity for several years.

The nation of Judah was very wicked, but it was not nearly as bad as our country today. They might have done some things that displeased God, but nothing they did compares to what we as a nation are doing today. The nation of Judah had a godly heritage but they departed from that and went in their own separate way. Doesn’t that sound familiar? The United States of America was founded by godly men and women with a sincere faith in God and a great fear of God. Our nation was founded on Biblical principles. Just look around our governing documents today, such as the Constitution, the Declaration of Independence, and others, and you can see that whoever wrote these documents must have believed in God. I remember when I went to my senior trip to Washington D.C. and I saw all the monuments. Everything I saw had some type of symbol, or quote that referred to an almighty God. The sad thing is that we as a nation have drifted away from our heritage. We have taken out the Bible and prayers from our public schools. We have taken down the Ten Commandments that God has given us out of our courthouses. We have murdered millions and millions of unborn children and we are continuing to do so at a rate of 5,000 children per day. We have allowed liquor and booze to ruin our homes and our families. Oh yes! We do live in a wicked day just like Jeremiah did.

Salvaging America by Jad Graphics

King Zedekiah, the king who ruled during some of Jeremiah’s ministry, was a wicked king. He took the Word of God and he cut out what he didn’t like. This is very similar to the Christians today. We have too many Christians that are not literally cutting out God’s Word, but they are cutting it in their hearts. We always just seem to do those things in the Bible that are convenient for us. We don’t steal, cheat or cuss because these things are easy to do. But those are not the only things that God has commanded us to do. God commands us to live righteous and separated lives, but Christians are cutting that part out of God’s Word. I believe that this type of attitude towards God’s Word is the reason why we are not seeing revival in our nation. I like what one preacher said in one of his sermons. “The Bible is either absolute or obsolete.” It is either you believe that the whole Bible is true, or you don’t believe the Bible at all. He’s (Jesus) either Lord of all, or not Lord at all.

Jeremiah lived in a day and ages were there were a lot of false prophets that prophesied falsely. These prophets would say only the things that people wanted to hear, and not what they needed to hear. Today, we have the false prophets as well. All you ever hear them preach on is love, and peace, and being happy. You never hear them call out sin, or the Devil, or the flesh, or anything negative. Their message is always positive. They do not want to say anything that will offend their people and make them lose money. We have more mega churches today than ever before but we are barely making a difference for Jesus Christ. The Bible commands us to preach the whole Word of God and not just some of it. We as preachers can’t just preach what we like, but rather, we must preach what is right. Homosexuality is wrong and we need to preach against it. Abortion is wrong and we need to preach against it. Sin is wrong and we need to expose it. I like what Billy Sunday says about sin. He said, “I’m against sin. I’ll kick it as long as I’ve got a foot, and I’ll fight it as long as I’ve got a fist. I’ll butt it as long as I’ve got a head. I’ll bite it as long as I’ve got a tooth. And when I’m old and fistless and footless and toothless, I’ll gum it till I go home to Glory and it goes home to perdition!” Amen! We need more preachers like Billy Sunday who will not water down their message and sugar coat it, but rather preach it like it is. John the Baptist preached the Word and his head was cut off. Jeremiah preached God’s message and he was thrown in prison for it.

Jeremiah’s message was the most unwelcome message ever preached to a people. He preached that Judah should surrender to Babylon because this was God’s will. Jeremiah was called a traitor for preaching against the government. In our day and age today, if you say anything that is contrary to the government, you are also called unpatriotic. Patriotism is having a love for your country. You can love someone and not agree with everything he or she does. But just like Jeremiah’s day, the definition of patriotism has been twisted. He lived in a day that you had to agree with whatever the government says. That is wrong. We only agree with what the government says if it is in line with God’s Word.

What can we do to save this wicked and destitute nation? I believe that there are 4 methods that we as Christians need to apply in our lives in order to salvage America.

A Call to Preparation

One of the things God’s people must do is remember who is Lord! Christians today have forgotten what the Lord has done for our country. We have become unthankful and ungrateful for all that we have. Not only that, but we have also became prideful. We need to look back at the time God saved us and we need to be humble. When we humble ourselves to the Lord, we are acknowledging His Lordship in our lives. We are admitting our weakness and reaching out for His power. We are saying I can’t, but you can. Those who willingly humble themselves under the hand of the Lord open their lives to His blessings. Our humility should be voluntary! If we do not humble ourselves, there may come a day when the Lord will do it for us. His methods are not always the most pleasant!

A Call to Prayer

Prayer is humility in action. The praying person sees his own inability and recognizes God’s ability. This causes him to come before the Lord to seek the help he needs. Prayer is an essential ingredient in revival! Therefore, let us determine that we will pray for revival! Pray in your homes, in your cars, at you jobs, in the prayer rooms, in the altars. More could be said about prayer, but instead of talking about it, we should just do it!

A Call to Passion

We need to come to the place where God is the number one priority and desire of our heart! That means nothing in life should be more important, more precious or more needful to us than having God and all He has to offer. Marcus Aurelius Antoninus said, “The true worth of a man is to be measured by the objects he pursues.” Whatever it is that you pursue, that is your priority! It is, in reality, your God! May we determine that our love for Him will drive us to pursue Him with everything we have. A.W. Tozer said, “If we yearned after God even as much as a cow yearns for her calf, we would be the worshiping and effective believers God wants us to be. If we longed for God as a bride looks forward to the return of her husband, we would be a far greater force for God than we are now.” One of the problems with the modern church is that we have ceased to desire God. May the people of God once again fall in love with God to the point that He becomes the focus and the focal point of our life!

A Call to Purity

God wants His people to stop their sinning! We are to examine our lives, identify anything that does not please the Lord or line up with the Bible, and we are to eliminate that from our lives! We do not like words like repentance. They have the tendency to make us feel as though our lives are lacking in some area or the other. The fact is, before revival can come to a people, that people must be clean! This is God’s command.

In conclusion, I just want to say that Revival is a real possibility! The key word is “If“. Everything hinges on us being in that place that God desires for us to abide in. If we will meet the requirements on our end, we can be sure that God will move on His end. Revival will happen to us as individuals “if“. Are you willing to for revival to happen? Then if you are, then there needs to be a call to preparation, to prayer, to passion, and to purity in your life.