We Have No Map For This Territory

The days ahead will be days of less money, fewer options are your prices and more uncertainty for many the comforts we've known may fade away into a tougher reality, no job, no insurance perhaps a foreclosed home. How do we handle deprivation when all we've known is abundance.

Today we begin a series to prepare us for such a time as this. Stay with us from Chicago. This is The Moody Church. Our weekly service of worship and teaching with pastor Erwin Blitzer. Today we begin a seven part series on famines, deserts and other hard places after the music of worship. Erwin Blitzer will bring a message on. We have no map for this territory.

Pastor looks or comes now to open our service were so glad that you're worshiping with us and the weather you had a hard week or an easy week. We are here today to put aside all of the distractions of life and give our undivided attention and focus to the Lord because he is here among us and the Scripture makes it very clear that if we focus on him.

We will be at peace. The Scripture says in Isaiah they that wait upon the Lord. They shall renew their strength, and that thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on the whatever you brought with us today with you emotionally laid at the feet of Jesus, so that we can worship him acceptably in the choir is going to be singing, reminding us of this marvelous promise from God's word. What we join together now in prayer at a moment of quietness inviting the presence of God, hear our prayer. Lord as we invite you to be among us with power, with the glory, conviction and strength and we thank you that as we focus upon you the assurance from your word is that we will have peace. In Jesus name and worship. This morning I draw your attention to our Scripture reading, which is listed in your bulletin taken from Psalm 119.

Please join me on the bold print. Blessed are those whose way is blameless who walk in the law of the Lord bless those as testimonies see him with our how can a young man keep his way pure by guarding it according to your word with my whole heart. Let me not one from your commandments. I've stored up your word in my heart that I might not sin against you. Blessed are you, oh Lord, teach me your statutes with my lips I declare all the rules of your mouth in the way of your testimonies. I give light as much. As in all riches I will meditate on your precepts and fix my eyes on your ways.

I will delight in your statutes.

I will not forget your word. Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my will and a will. Today I begin a series of messages entitled famines, deserts and other hard places. So let me begin by asking what if God wanted to take us where we had never been a whole new level of devastation and suffering that most of us have never experienced some of you are already there, individually, but I mean what if what if this was true of all of us then one of the promises of God are still true and we believe that they are thankfully indeed they are. But let us suppose that we have to apply those promises in ways that we never had to apply them both. What if we as a nation end up with the same kind of poverty that we see on television in other parts of the world and join the world in its poverty and devastation, and even natural disasters. What then what of God in heaven simply says enough already. I've been judging you I been sending you remedial judgments and those remedial judgments were intended to warn you to repent and you didn't sell enough already. You're going to now experience the kind of judgments that were found even in the Old Testament.

What then, Michael Craven, who is the president of a center for Christ and culture wrote, I do not think it is true, strong or sensational to say that we are witnessing the collapse of Western civilization across the Western world the fruits of apostasy and secularism are manifesting themselves in whelming lead this way. In my lifetime I've seen the rapid demise of the family for the first time in American history, nonmarried household now outnumbered, married households, 52% versus 48 only 1/5 of American households represent traditional families. This is the statistics are from the New York Times out of wedlock birth rates in the US have reached 40% following a similar trend throughout Western Europe countries, some of which are as high as 66% and then he says while out of wedlock births continue to rise more and more people are simply not having children at all, leading to a depopulation of the West on an unprecedented scale. Add to this the radical redefinition of marriage and family to include same-sex couples in the future of the natural family and institution is essential to a healthy society only promises to worsen and very quickly our academic institutions have shifted from teaching virtues and the pursuit of truth to intolerant platforms for secularized political values and godless indoctrination revenue from the consumption of pornography catch this exceeds that generated by all professional sports combined than the media.

Of course, contributes to this, our political leaders have abandoned statesmanship and true public service for personal power gains in government driven social and economic engineering. Recently, Europeans and some Americans have descended into barbarism and anarchy as the state proves incapable of serving as Savior and provider in the wake of supplanting God with the state personal responsibility has been replaced by selfishness, dependency and entitlement. Finally, the church, which once was the moral authority in the West has rendered herself irrelevant marginalized in the public square.

As for the church. Now this is most important. We alone bear the responsibility for our own minds. The culture did not render us irrelevant. We did we been entrusted with the truth. The message of hope and we have neglected this responsibility in exchange for security and comfort. We've tried unsuccessfully to build our lives in a way that seeks to comfortably balance the demands of following Christ with our own quest for personal peace and affluence, but it doesn't work. You either love Christ you love your own life. In the article goes on. In addition to what he mentions there and I didn't read it all. I'd like to add today to show our weakness, our submission to Islam, their Catholic hospitals that are taking down crucifixes and there are Protestant churches that are taking down their crosses so as not to offend our Muslim friends just in Canada where we came from last week.

We were told about a classroom where there was a substitute teacher who brought her prayer mat and then in the middle of the class asked the class to be quiet as she went through her prayer. Could you even imagine what would happen if a Christian were to do that. Perhaps I told you that in some schools they Muslim students because of their courage and commitment. They put their prayer mats in the halls and have to step around them.

Christian students have to be off somewhere where nobody sees them having their Bible studies or their witness. I have a friend who works in national security. He says that there are members of the brotherhood Muslim brotherhood that have infiltrated our security forces and he says that we are generally regarded as weak, quick to compromise and easily led, and I think that that assessment is right. So my question to you today is what happens when the stock comes unraveled. What happens when the difficulties really come and when the fruits of secularism begin to have their full impact of what then I can imagine somebody saying pastor U shouldn't preach about this because people are going to panic and fear.

Well, just to be clear, my purpose is actually the direct opposite. I do not want us to fear. I do not want us to panic when other people do. We shouldn't. I can hardly wait because one of the messages I'm going to preach comes from Jeremiah where Jeremias is blessed is the man who supplanted his tree near the stream because he will not fear when drought comes, that's the whole point of these messages. It's to be to be realistic about what might happen, but it's also to engender hope and fear, and commitment to God and to one another. That's the purpose. In fact, in the final message on this series we all are going to pray a prayer it's going to be a prayer that all of you will be invited to pray to lift any spirit of fear or panic from us regardless of what the future holds because our roots will be that strong is my intention. I don't think that we can change society by the way in all tell you why. At least not a great deal. I think were too far down the river but it's my intention that when this series is over we will have changed because we trust will have changed. That's really the goal Wayne Gretzky that great hockey player in Canada said that the reason that he was so good on the ice.

He said he never would go where the puck was, he said, I always went where I knew the puck would be and that's what we want to do in these messages not just talk about what is. But what could be.

I love the sayings of Woody Allen. He really was gifted in saying wonderful things and one of them is this, he says, you know, history has to repeat itself because nobody was listening the first time around.

And history does repeat itself and its re-repeating itself right now and nobody is listening.

No matter how many times around. It goes come with me to the book of Jeremiah. Jeremiah was a prophet who lived during a time of Israel's history that was much like our Jeremiah wrote in cotton preach during a time of decline.

There had been a revival under a man by the name of Josiah's, but the revival didn't last because the repentance wasn't deep enough, the nation's tears were not hot enough. And so, in the book God is pronouncing judgment on Jerusalem and Judah and pre-acting what we call the Babylonian captivity. So to read all the books you find that the nation is coming down from the north. That's the Babylonian, and they're going to destroy Jerusalem and destroy all the cities and that's the message Jeremiah has.

You'll notice in verse five of chapter 1 and by the way, it's on page 627 if you just happen to forget your own Bible. It 627 on the Bible that is there in the seat ahead of you. Verse 45 before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you. I pointed you a prophet to the nation and of course Jeremias is whom I don't have the strength, etc. God says I'm to put words in your mouth.

Verse eight do not be afraid of them because I am with you to deliver. And then you'll notice continuing in chapter 1 God says that these people the Babylonians are going to come against the gates of Jerusalem, and in verse 16 and I will declare my judgments against them.

That is, the people of Judah and Jerusalem for their evil in forsaking me. They made offerings to other gods worshiped the works of their own hands. But, you dress yourself for work. This applies to us now arise say to them everything I commanded you, do not be dismayed by them, lest I just made you before them, and behold, I make you this day of fortified city and iron pillar bronze walls against the whole land against the kings of Judah, its officials, its priests and the people of the land they will fight against you, but they shall not prevail against you because I am. I know that this applies specifically to Jeremiah, but it also applies to us. You and I are living at this moment of history, the confluence of genes that God brought together to create you was intended for this moment, there was a reason why you weren't born 30 years ago.

You are called to this moment to prove God's faithfulness in the midst of a nation that is under judgment and more judgment is coming and like Jeremiah, God is going to protect us. He's going to care for us and not only that, he says, I will fight on your behalf, but you'd better be faithful.

You are called to this family. This family of believers this moment in history. You are called by God and you and I are together now what I'd like to do is to look at that phrase that I read in verse 16 all the judgments that I'm going to bring upon and then answer the question what the judgments that God brought to the people.

What was God is so upset about what was it that made him so angry that he would talk about the judgments three different kinds. First of all, you have what we would call moral judgments moral judgments all the way through Jeremiah.

You always have this reference to idols and other people went to the hills and they made idols of wood and stone, and silver.

For example, Jeremiah says them in chapter 2 verse 27, you who say to a tree you're my father and a stone you gave me birth and then God says they have turned their back to me and not their face. Afterwards they didn't face God. They turned their back on what's going on. I used to read the Old Testament thing. What in the world where the people doing, you know, this idea of making an idol. I mean, give me a break. Who would pray to something that you made and I heard a lecture by an Old Testament scholar on idolatry.

In the Old Testament, and that I understood the reason that people preferred these kinds of gods is because these gods were very tolerant and accepting of sexual orgies. That was the whole point of the God of Israel. He opposed homosexuality, adultery, fornication, we don't want that we want to God who is compatible with anything and everything that the light and the one to do.

That's the God we want. So if I make one of wood he'll agree with me about everything, all the way through Jeremiah you have these references that you know you fornicate under the trees and you do all that stuff because God says I'm going to judge you for it and he says that to him all the wells are going to dry up.

You know, in chapter 2 it says in verse 13 for my people have committed two evils. They have forsaken me, the fountain of living water hewed them out cisterns for themselves, broken cisterns that can hold no water.

You know you don't understand this was you realize in Israel.

The cisterns were really just caves and mountains, and they would plaster them and I in a very primitive way, and pretty soon that water would be brackish and it would be very very bitter and people couldn't even drink it. It was so bad and them in that context, the Lord says them. You know you forsaken me, the living water.

The streams that flow and use you and yourself out cisterns, broken ones that can't hold water. And they will dry up, isn't that true of illicit sexual relations. I remember a man here 25 years ago. Not with us anymore, but we are trying to convince them to go back to his wife, rather than commit adultery. And I remember his words to me.

He says I have found an oasis in the desert and now you want me to go back to the dry desert 10 years later.

He writes this 10 page letter indicating all the bitterness that came to him. The oasis turned out to be a broken cisterns that could hold no water.

The desk would've been better while so God says them I'm going to judge you for this is anyone who doesn't believe that we are under judgment because of rampant unrestrained sexuality we call progress there.

Anyone who doesn't believe that the very fact that 20 million children will go home tonight with only one parent, primarily the mother is proof that we have broken God's laws.

Adultery, pornography, and the home is being decimated by the way, speaking of single mothers. We here at the church believe that you are our heroes. We know that you need help and that's why we have family ministries. We're here to help you parent your children. That's why Pastor Bob is on staff. He and his wife because we are committed to speaking to, and ministering to the brokenness that exists in our society. Take for example sexual addiction what is addiction, it simply the intensification of the consequences of sin. God says you want to send this way. I'll give you lots of it.

Now even in those situations, we are here to help to encourage you men, particularly that's why you should be going to our men's fraternity ministries where you can find other brothers who are struggling so that you can struggle together and be victorious together for the glory of God. But God says I'm judging you because of your immorality and by the way it says in Ezekiel. They make up idols in their own mind. People today have a God who so tolerant he agrees with them about everything. He might as well be made of stone.

There's a second kind of judgment, and it follows in Evan a and that is of course economic judgment.

There is so many passages but for example in chapter 2 verse 15 God says that when the Babylonians, the land that is going to be a waste. It says in chapter 2 verse 17 let's see if I can find it here quickly. Had you not brought this upon yourself.

By the way, the Lord says and then he goes on to say that you are under every green tree and in chapter 3 verse two lift up your eyes to the bare heights and see where have you not been ravished by the wayside.

You have been awaiting lovers like an Arab in a wilderness and there might be waiting for an animal that he can kill or whatever and that's the way you've been, and that what I'm going to do is to send you judgment with your bio boredom. The Bible says you polluted the land but notice this is what I wanted.

Verse three. Therefore, the showers have been withheld and are verses that say that the blessing of God in terms the productivity is going to be taken away from you.

The land is going to be made Erin and remember, in those days the land was the economy, it is going to be there and so you have economic judgments that are going to take place and it says in the book of Deuteronomy God said to the people. If you follow me, you will lend to many nations and you will not borrow.

Now what do I need to say about the United States of America as we begin to spend our way into oblivion. And we realize by the way that it is that children who are going to suffer. That's exactly what Jeremiah says. He says it is the children. He says the Babylonians are going to come and they are going to destroy your children. I can't see it in the text.

Right now it's written here in my notes somewhere.

That's what God says and children are going to suffer more arguments more arguments about money more divorces and that's what pains me the most about the future is the kind of debt and devastation. We are leaving for our children and our grandchildren. But it's easy to point our fingers at the federal government, what about us. What about our consumer is and how did we as families get into such debt will speak about that, possibly in another message except to say that it may well be that God says enough is enough. So we are being judged economically. Let me say also that we are being judged religiously.

How does God really judge a nation. Here's what he does. He takes people's ears and he makes them deaf to the truth so that they will only accept what they want to hear. He says in the book of Amos is that I'm gonna send a famine to you, but it's not going to be a famine of bread and water.

He said it's going to be a famine of hearing the word of the Lord. In other words, you are going to hear God's word and if you don't hear God's word, you're going to be deluded by someone who pretend it and that's why Jeremiah spends so much time on false prophets. Your Bibles are open. For example, in chapter 5, verse 12 it says verse 12. They have spoken falsely of the Lord and have said them he will do nothing. False prophets are speaking at there will be no sword or disaster that will come upon us, nor shall we see sorter famine and then there speaking about the true prophets, and they say don't prophets like Jeremiah prophets like these Ezekiel. They are like the wind of the word is not in them. Now your Bibles are still open to chapter 5. Look at what it says in verse 30 and upholding on the horrible thing is happened in the land. The prophets prophesy falsely and the priests rule at their direction. My people love to the habits so but what will you do when the end comes now before I read the next verse about false prophets. I to tell you, I'm sometimes amazed at God's leading in my life.

Yesterday morning I was watching the news very early when I got out of bed and I decided to turn to a channel.

I sometimes turn to when I want to hear ripples profit you can you can do that you know you can find them everywhere.

Now I don't have to tell you, do I that not everybody on television is a false prophet will give you one clue in just a moment as to how to tell the difference not the only clue that it's important.

So this false prophet was saying I was there, he said, and I had this vision of Jesus and Jesus came to me with a tray of cookies from one end to the other and he said about with this tone of voice. Take a call. K I'm telling you the truth. Maybe some of you watch the channel to and then he went on to say about all of the blessings that should come into our life. I couldn't take anymore of it and then I'm sure it ended by saying send me some money that will be seed money and God will bless you, from now throughout all eternity. If you just give me money. I was sitting there thinking how does this relate to the pastor who is in a rack sitting in jail waiting to be executed. How does it relate fact one of the messages I'm going to preach in this series is entitled faith at the breaking point's going to have to deal with martyrdom and whether or not our faith is strong enough to endure it, but how Howdy, how does that pastor relate to that. How does somebody who is dying of cancer whose kids are all sick. Exactly how does that relate that you're all supposed to be happy happy happy soul tell you right out if you want to find a false prophet. It's quite easy to do, but they prophesy in God's name. Don't throw your God says they prophesy in my name, but I do not sent them all read the verse and I'll give you the clue this is in chapter 14 verse 13.

Then I said Lord. Behold the prophet say to them, you shall not see the sword, nor shall you have famine, but I will give you assured peace in this place and the Lord said to me, the prophets are prophesying the lies in my name. I did not send them nor did I command them to speak to them. They are prophesying to you aligning vision worthless divination and the deceit of their own minds. Therefore thus says the Lord concerning the prophets who prophesy in my name, although I did not send them to say certain famine shall not come upon this land specially to send me money by sword and famine. Those prophets shall be consumed and the people to whom they prophesy will be out in the streets of Jerusalem. Victims of famine and sword with none to bury them, their wives, their sons their daughters for I will pour out there. How do you know Paul's prophet. One clue not the only clue sometime in the future in a different series of messages I'd like to speak about false prophets in more detail, but all simply throw this out to you. Don't ever follow a preacher who does not have good theology of suffering. That's the one of the ways to find a false prophet. When the apostle Paul was distinguishing between the true and the false prophets remember what he said. He said if you want to know that I'm legit.

Watch how I suffer, and of all that you get is this business of being blessed and that everybody is to be healed because Jesus took care of the curse. Of course Jesus took care of the curse but we don't inherit all of it now.

That's why even false prophets eventually die. Death is the curse to never known of one that is live forever or even beyond the age of 100.

So the point is this that God says I'm going to judge these false prophets, and I can imagine that when the devastation comes if the day of calamity should come upon us.

All of these false prophets would suddenly vanish like a synonymy taking care of the Sandcastle and God would say all of your visions and all of your dreams and all of the prophecies that there will be no judgment and no suffering are all wrong. How do we wrap this up so that you and I know where we're going in this series of messages I've entitled this particular message. We have no map for this territory and it's because I'm talking about places where you and I have never been, at least I haven't but it's not as if there is no territory that others have not experienced. And as I mentioned in the book of Jeremiah. We already see now here's the way in which we need to nail a few things down.

First of all let me say that calamities and judgments from God may be unavoidable, unavoidable, talk about this when I speak about God's eventual judgment, but in the book of Revelation there is a phrase I never saw before ever had that experience you just say I never saw that before. It says that when Babel and is destroyed all the cities of the world will collapse. That's what's going to happen to Chicago.

We cannot stop the eventual demise of America America's even mentioned in prophecy, we can maybe slow it down, and we should do all that we possibly can.

But in easy 14.

A very interesting passage, God says I'm bringing judgment and even though Nola and Joe are praying, and Daniel is that I won't stop my hand there is such a thing as a tipping point where God says, I have had enough and sometimes it's inevitable. I think that God is brought many remedial judgments to America but were not listening. I read you a moment ago.

I guess I didn't have more material here today than I can cover but I read a moment ago, or God says I'm stop to their ears, and they're not going to hear people don't want to hear about God and judge they just don't want to hear what they did with Jeremiah. They threw them in a pit. Jeremiah ended in a prison. I mean it was not a fairytale story of how this profit began to drive a new chariot. There is nothing along that line. It was tough sledding but God says I'm to defend you and I'm gonna be with you and your my servant, and God says that to you today you are God's servant for this moment. Even though people don't want to hear.

Second, in a time of judgment.

Judgment is always collective. When the Babylonians came and destroyed Jerusalem.

Jeremiah suffered along with them and the remnant of believers also suffered just like us.

After all, we are on the same ship we are going to the same destination as a country we are.

I love the words of Chesterton. He said we are on a life raft together in a fearful storm. We owe one another terrible allegiance and I would say that is Moody Church, one of the things I want to have happen in this series is that we think through better ways how we can help one another through fearful storms and could I say as a parenthesis that there is much more going on in this congregation than you know about even that I know about and I know more than most of you, we are helping people who are going through their own day of calamity. We are sometimes paying their bills. We are involved whether the calamity is is a personal, whether it is economic, whether or not it is other areas of counseling we are doing what we can, but you who are sitting here today listening to this.

You also owe to us a frightful terrible kind of loyalty we have to go through the future together and I'm burden for the many of you who believe that Christianity is a matter of can union you may come to a service you never give anything you never volunteer for anything you never commit to anything you're never part of a small group because you simply think you can coast.

I am not a prophet like Jeremiah. I believe the day is coming, and it could even happen in my lifetime.

When the day of casual Christianity will finally be over, and there will be a distinction between the committed and the uncommitted and coasting will no longer be an option but were in it together same boat. So say well you know I I those who are in favor of same-sex marriage are saying, in effect, you know, I can drill a hole in my side of the boat and I have a constitutional right to do that. I have a problem, as were on the same boat. That's the problem. We cannot separate that and that's not the only issue it's the only one that came to mind right now we are in this together and I say as a congregation are we going to hang together. I hope so, you're very quiet out there. Finally, I see this as nothing but a great time of opportunity. What an opportunity. What a time to be alive on Friday on the plane coming from Canada. Rebecca gave me a news and newspaper or I should say a magazine she wanted me to read an article and article. Here's a young mother dying of cancer before she died. She said this, and she has young children at least. They talked about a son who was still young and having some disabilities.

Can you imagine can cancer be any worse than that to take a young mother. I can't think of anything worse right off the top of my head, she said to me, the big C in my life is not cancer. The big C in my life is Christ. That's what it's all about the goal of life is not to have a long life. God may give it to you as he did my parents but but that's not the goal of life is to try to figure out how do we live an extra day.

The goal of life is not to have a long life. The goal of life is to glorify Jesus. No matter what situation we are in or what is happening around. That's the goal of life for me to live is Christ and to die is gain and so the big C in our lives is not calamity, the big C in our lives is Christ and some of you who are listening don't even know him personally, you must acknowledge your own need of him and realize that he died to be our Savior.

And when he is our Savior.

He will be our protector even as Jeremiah was protected not protected from evil and not protected from suffering, but protected from the wrath of God and protect and God says no matter where you go, no matter what situation you're in. No matter what pressure you have on I'm gonna be there with you not going to abandon you. Even in Jeremiah, God talks about a remnant that he is going to be with. No matter what. And that's why this series of messages is being preached. It is to help us clarify our values to get rid of the fog and to see what is eternal and what is important and then to know whether it is a famine whether it is a desert or some other hard place.

We can make it safely to our eternal home were created for this moment, this is our right now at this moment to be God's representative in a world that clearly has lost its way. Let us pray together. Father, we feel like Jeremiah and I were scared were saying well I don't know what to say we don't know what to do were totally paralyzed.

We been told our faith is supposed to be private leave kept it very very privately done very well not lived it out would not shared it. We've held it to ourselves. And here we are with everything running over us week, eager to compromise all father. We may not be able to do too much about the world too much about politics, perhaps a little bit.

We should do, but at the end of the day. Help us to be changed by the trust and give us the courage and give us the hope that we need to make it successfully to the other side. Help us to be gripped by the fact that you've called us to this moment in history to be your representative in this world and for those of never trusted Christ as Savior.

Help them to see that if they come under the shadow of his protection. Through faith, receiving his gift of salvation and his forgiveness.

They can be also on the path with us to something far better than earth has to offer. We ask in Jesus name, amen on today's Moody Church. Our pastor looks or began a series on famines, deserts and other hard places as he spoke on.

We have no map for this territory next week. Part two in this series a message on trusting God when the wells are dry. This seven part series can be yours on CD for a gift of any amount Moody Church. Our call 1-800-215-5001.

Let us know you'd like to support Moody Churches ministry are think you will be a set of CDs designed to help us prepare for the hard times may be coming. Just call 1-800-215-5001 or you can write to us at Moody Church media 1635 N. LaSalle Boulevard Chicago, IL 60614 mention famines, deserts and other hard places when you write or call online, go to moody offeror.com that's moody offeror.com. Join us next time for another Moody Church. Our with pastor Erwin looks or in the congregation of historic Moody Church in Chicago. This broadcast is a ministry of The Moody Church