“In The City of God”

As a train was about to leave a large railroad station, the conductor began to take tickets. Looking at the ticket of the first passenger he remarked, "Friend, I think you're on the wrong train!" "But," replied the man, "the ticket agent told me this was my train." After a little discussion, the conductor decided to check with the ticket agent. Before long, it became clear that the conductor was on the wrong train! When the leader is lost, how can the followers be going on the right track?

Leadership in our culture today. Leadership in our society today. Leadership in our country today. I very obvious but, underhanded change today. Think about this from Dwight D. Eisenhower...

“In order to be a leader a man must have followers. And to have followers, a man must have their confidence. Hence the supreme quality of a leader is unquestionably integrity. Without it, no real success is possible, no matter whether it is on a section gang, on a football field, in an army, or in an office. If a man's associates find him guilty of phoniness, if they find that he lacks forthright integrity, he will fail. His teachings and actions must square with each other. The first great need, therefore, is integrity and high purpose.”

Not really the case today. Our culture seeks not integrity, but ingenuity. Not purpose, but performance. Not necessarily ability, but ambition. Ability to say what we want to hear, not necessarily what we need to hear. The leaders that we follow today do not for the most part carry the qualities of even just 10 years ago. The main characteristic we look for is can he accomplish. Can he bring us to where we need to be, no… can he take us to where we want to be. Can he provide what we value today. Can he make me more successful? Can he make me more wealth? Can he help me to get more and work less? Can he bring more comforts in life? Can he help me keep up with the jones’? Can he uphold the rights that I believe I have? Can he deliver what I want? Or will he at least promise to get me what I want? I don’t want a leader to tell me what to do, but give me what I want. Gimme that, promise me that, and I will follow you anywhere. Leadership today in the time of pragmatism.

But many of our leaders today, want the same thing and they need us to make it happen for them. And we see this. This is why we act the way we do today. The corruption of leadership brings the corruption of the people. But does the corruption of the people make bad leaders? For sure, but leaders are not supposed to be led by the people. If they are does that make them not leaders but followers? This is not a new thing, we have seen it throughout all generations. And even in Jerusalem. And they had the best leadership of them all. So shall we say once again… rebellion? Let’s take a look.

Zephaniah 3:1–5 NLT

What sorrow awaits rebellious, polluted Jerusalem, the city of violence and crime! No one can tell it anything; it refuses all correction. It does not trust in the Lord or draw near to its God. Its leaders are like roaring lions hunting for their victims. Its judges are like ravenous wolves at evening time, who by dawn have left no trace of their prey. Its prophets are arrogant liars seeking their own gain. Its priests defile the Temple by disobeying God’s instructions. But the Lord is still there in the city, and he does no wrong. Day by day he hands down justice, and he does not fail. But the wicked know no shame.

The grass withers, the flower fades, but the Word of our God stands forever.

Hardheaded Hearts

Mis-leadership

Still There

The first thing we will look at is the outrageous behavior of the people in the city of God, Jerusalem. Second, we will look at the cause of this behavior displayed by the mis-leadership of the leaders in the city of God, Jerusalem. Finally, we will see that even in the midst of such rebellion the Lord is still in the city, displaying His unconditional love for His people.

Thesis: Though sin and the patten of this world cause us to fall into more and more rebellion through bad leadership, it is the steadfast love of the Lord, that illumines our hearts with His word and empowers us with the Holy Spirit to the salvation provided to us by the grace and love of our Lord Jesus. He is here.

I. Hardheaded Hearts

- They do what is right in their own eyes.

A. We got a woe here. The Hebrew “hoy”… translated woe or what sorrow awaits. Remember… this is an attention getter. Something serious. Something heartbreaking. The rebellious, defiled, polluted that is an oppressor. (oooh some woke language here. But more emphatic here is the rebellion. The hard headed and hard hearted rebellion described by the Lord. It is a simple description. None one can tell it anything. And it will not listen to correction.

B. And what a travesty this is. Ever heard the saying, “don’t know what you got till it gone.” Think of the nations that were mentioned in the previous chapter. Philista, Moab, Ammon, Ethiopia, and Assyria. None of them have had the privilege of hearing the voice of God like did Israel. Namely Jerusalem. Can anyone or anything have any greater or more wonderful than this? What a travesty this is… nothing more wonderful than the words of God and Jerusalem will not listen.

C. Apparently they did not listen to the word of God and the history of what happens to people who do not listen.

Numbers 14:22 NLT

not one of these people will ever enter that land. They have all seen my glorious presence and the miraculous signs I performed both in Egypt and in the wilderness, but again and again they have tested me by refusing to listen to my voice.

D. And they did not enter the land. Not only do they not listen to the voice of God, but they also Loq-ha mu-sar. They would not accept the discipline or correction of the Lord. So many times there were calamities, tribulations, hardships, rebukes, drought, famine, defeat by other nations… but they would not accept the discipline of the Lord. They ignored what they were being taught. They ignored what God desired to impart unto them. They ignored his correction. And to do this would be unwise.

Proverbs 3:11–12 NLT

My child, don’t reject the Lord’s discipline, and don’t be upset when he corrects you. For the Lord corrects those he loves, just as a father corrects a child in whom he delights.

Deuteronomy 8:5 NLT

Think about it: Just as a parent disciplines a child, the Lord your God disciplines you for your own good.

E. And to top it all off… the worst of indictments given to the city of God. They did not trust the Lord. They were called out for their unbelief. This is the worst of the worst. Living our lives in unbelief. Not trusting the Lord. This is the worst thing we can do. Constant punishment and judgement came upon the people for their unbelief. Not unbelief that the Lord exists. But unbelief that the Lord is good. We don’t trust that he is doing what is best for us. We don’t trust that the Lord has our best interest in mind. Don’t trust that the Lord’s plan for our lives is what is best. It is the best of the best. We don’t trust that the Lord will do what He said He was gonna do. Unbelief. Oh ye of little faith.

John Calvin writes, “Unbelief is the mother of all evil deeds by which men willfully wrong and injure one another.”

F. How far have we fallen today? Do we not listen. Do we know it all already. Can anyone tell you anything? More specifically, do we not do what the Lord tells us to do? What a privilege the city of Jerusalem had by being the nation that hears the Word of God… now we all have the even greater privilege of having the Word of God in our hands. We can read it and hear it preached. Are we ignoring the word of God today? Is God saying that we don’t listen.

G. How far have we fallen today? Do we not accept correction? Do we think we got it all together so much so that we don’t need guidance anymore? When the Word of God corrects us do we follow and accept it? Does all the disciplinary events and suffering that we experience accepted to bring us patience and longsuffering or do we reject it as God being a bad God who abandoned us and forsaken us? Is He trying to teach us something with difficulty and calamity? All the difficulty we have experienced has it made us better people or turning us into unloving angry frustrated people who do not trust the Lord.

H. How far have we fallen today? Do we not trust the Lord anymore? All we see from the church these days are people who do not trust the Lord. We do not believe that they Lord has our best interest in mind. So we trust government. We trust money. We trust success. We trust technology. We trust special interest groups. We trust the majority. We trust talk show hosts. We trust the media. Many Christians today trust the internet more than the Bible.

I. We as modern evangelicals we should be embarrassed by what the world is seeing from us on social media. The last time I checked, Jesus is still alive sitting at the right hand of the Father. And the Father is still making the enemies of Christ His footstool. Do we not listen to the Word of God anymore? Do we not accept the correction from the Lord anymore? Do we not trust the Lord anymore?

II. Mis-leadership

- The blind misleading the blind.

A. And as the contextual flow goes it would be natural to read it like… the people in Jerusalem are they way that they are because their leaders make them that way. The people are gonna experience horrible judgement because of what their leader have done and what they are doing. The people do what is right in their own eyes, because of the misleading of their leaders. Both their governmental leaders and their religious leaders.

B. Princes, Judges, Prophets and Priests get whacked here. In the city, the governmental leaders are essentially preying on the people he or she governs. The people they are supposed to be shepherding and protecting are those who they are feeding on. They steal from them. They deceive them. They extort them. They wrongfully accuse them. They rape and abuse. They don’t provide for them, they take from them for their own provision. Sound familiar?

C. The Judges. Those who are to be the keepers of the law of God and those who uphold light and justice. Now prowl around in deception and darkness taking bribes, misjudging for the highest bidder, taking advantage of those who cannot benefit the judge. And their appetite for their own selfish desires are so bad that they is nothing left in the morning. They eat and take and eat and take till there is nothing left. For selfish ambition they mask their wrongdoing posing as those who uphold authority. Wolves in sheep’s clothing. Sound familiar?

D. And the Prophets come out and they do such a gross sin. They say they speak for God but they are arrogant liars who are seeking their own gain. They say that God is speaking to them but they are making it up in order to line their own pockets. They prophesy what we want to hear to get our support and money. They tell us that God will bring healing if you give money to the ministry. They tell you that there will be benefit and success so that they will build a following. False prophets today build huge multimillion dollar ministries bringing them gain, gain, and more gain. And their prophesies are lies. They do not come to pass. I received lots of prophesies, heard lots of prophesies from popular preachers that many of you would know and they did not come to pass. They are ripping you off. They deserve to die!

Deuteronomy 18:20 NLT

But any prophet who falsely claims to speak in my name or who speaks in the name of another god must die.’

E. There are many of these guys and gals on tv and the internet today. I hate to say it, but you will be judged for their deception. You will not only get ripped off. Your prophesy will not come to pass. You would have wasted much time and effort believing and acting on the lie. Not only will you possible lose friends and family members over the false prophesy, but you could burn in hell for eternity. All so that they can live in mansions and drive nice cars.

Jeremiah 23:32 NLT

I am against these false prophets. Their imaginary dreams are flagrant lies that lead my people into sin. I did not send or appoint them, and they have no message at all for my people. I, the Lord have spoken!

F. And even the priests have lost their minds. These are those who perform many of the tasks for the worship of the people. They had the responsibility of the spiritual welfare of the people. They were to care for the people by following the instructions and guidance that the Lord had laid down for His people in the Word of God. They were to serve the way God wanted them to serve in accordance to the word of God and they were to instruct the people with the Word of God. Two thing that many pastors are not doing today.

G. I have been in many pastoral meetings and seminars where we are being encouraged to do things in our church services that will appeal to the masses and bring growth and are not in accordance to the Word of God. But these practices are not biblical and does not fit the biblical framework for church services… ok Shane you follow the Bible and have a small itty bitty church. We are even being encouraged by leaders in the SBC telling pastors not to preach the Bible but to tell stories with biblical morality instead. Don’t preach the biblical framework of law and gospel bidding a man to repent and come to Christ for new life, but preach that God is the one who will make all your dreams come true.

H. Pastors today have abandoned the Word of God and do not follow the instructions and do whatever they want to do to bring them gain. Shane I will do whatever I need to do to win people to Christ at my church services. He does a lot of questionable things to get people there. But you do not preach the law of God and sin and repentance and having faith in Christ for the forgiveness of sins and life everlasting. You preached on how God… never said Jesus… will repair your broken dreams and bring you prosperity.

I. The leaders do all this and we wonder why the people are acting the way they do. This is a horrible thing and what makes it worse. God detests when leaders act this way, but the people love it.

Jeremiah 5:31 NLT

the prophets give false prophecies, and the priests rule with an iron hand. Worse yet, my people like it that way! But what will you do when the end comes?

III. Still There

- Never leave us nor forsake us.

A. The leaders do what they want for selfish reasons. The people do not listen and do not accept correction. The leaders are leading them astray. God hates it, but the people love it. There is rebellion upon rebellion. The worse kinds of sin done by people who should know better. You would think that the Lord would abandon them… this is the OT God who is all about judgement right??? Wrong He is still there. And He still shines His light.

B. He is still with His people, He is still trying to bring correction. He is still calling out for repentance. God desired to show mercy. God desired to give them grace. God desired to display compassion on the people who are polluted and rebellious. He desired to bring to them salvation.

C. The Lord Jesus still wants to do this for us today. He is still there. He has not abandoned us… nor will he forsake us. There is forgiveness for us today. Some today might say… Shane man, I have done so much wrong. I have sinned so badly. I am not serving of forgiveness. Many today have fallen short of the glory of God. In pride and arrogance you have not listened to His Word. In loftiness and presumption you have not accepted the discipline of the Lord. In hard heartedness you have not trusted the Lord. God has shown that there will be judgement for you. You will be judged. But He is still there.

D. There is salvation for us today. Jesus died for our sins according to the scriptures and he was buried and he was raised on the third day according to the scriptures. The Lord has come to seek and save that which was lost. The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance that Christ Jesus came into this world to save sinners. By his wounds we are healed.

E. The promises continue… All who call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead you shall be saved. There is life and life more abundant in Christ and in Christ alone.

F. He is there. He will never leave us nor forsake us. Trust in the Lord today and lean not on your own understanding but in all your ways acknowledge Him and He will make your paths straight.