Sinful Jerusalem
1Too bad for that disgusting,
corrupt, and lawless city!
Disgusting is referring to prostitution
Corrupt is referring to not giving back tax returns
Lawless is referring to accepting bribes
2Forever rebellious
and rejecting correction,
Jerusalem refuses to trust
or obey the Lord God.
Rebellion is just deliberate sin.
Trusting and obeying means to just trust in God's word and obey it.
3Its officials are roaring lions,
its judges are wolves;
in the evening they attack,
by morning nothing is left.
Do not prey on people.
Do not go after people's life insurance.
4Jerusalem's prophets are proud
and not to be trusted.
The priests have disgraced
the place of worship
and abused God's Law.
A prophet is not, I repeat, not a fortune teller.
Sometimes we give advice on whom you should marry.
However we never give advice on investments.
Or the lottery.
As a priest of the LORD God Almighty, you should never be a fortune teller. Divination is wrong.
5All who do evil are shameless,
but the Lord does right
and is always fair.
With the dawn of each day,
God brings about justice.
Return evil with goodness, and then they will be ashamed.
It is necessary sometimes to shame the evil with goodness.
Notice that I say, goodness, not kindness.
Kindness is something sacred; it is a pearl that will be wasted on dogs that will bite you back for your kindness.
This has happened to me before with a member of the church who was not a Christian, but was only pretending.
The LORD is always righteous. He gives people what they deserve.
6The Lord wiped out nations
and left fortresses
crumbling in the dirt.
Their streets and towns
were reduced to ruins
and emptied of people.
The LORD can wipe out the strength and glory of nations in just one mighty sweep of his hand.
This is why he has been hailstorming Brisbane and other cities in Australia.
We are sinning.
There is too much Satanism in Australia.
We must preach to the sinners out there and not exclude them from worship.
True, their hearts will not be into it.
True, they will be there for food or for gold or for a job or for more friends.
The Bible says, however, give your enemies what they want, right down to your clothes.
So, give.
But do not give under compulsion.
However, the Bible says we, as Gentiles, should love other Gentiles.
We, as Gentiles who have been called to serve, not just each other, but the world, should preach to the sinful world.
Otherwise Brisbane will go down in flames, just like Rome did because of its corruption.
That is all.
7God felt certain that Jerusalem
would learn to respect
and obey him.
Then he would hold back
from punishing the city
and not wipe it out.
But everyone there was eager
to start sinning again.
God is certain that Brisbane will learn to respect and obey Him. However, we need to do something about our Christian complacency. Being a Christians doesn't mean being blessed ourselves. To be blessed is not as blessed as blessing others. For it is written, "You should remember the words of the Lord Jesus: 'It is more blessed to give than to receive.'" (Acts 20:35)
Nations Will Turn to the Lord
8The Lord said:
Just wait for the day
when I accuse you nations.
I have decided on a day,
when I will bring together
every nation and kingdom
and punish them all
in my fiery anger.
Fire will literally consume the houses of those who do not repent and turn to God, not to idols like money and sex and drugs and fame and fortune.
I will become furious
and destroy the earth.
Not the whole earth, but the earth on which you stand.
I hope you liked my preaching today.