Pastors are supposed to guard
the flock and drive the wolf and the bear and the lion away.
I want us all to ask ourselves this question. Is it nothing
to you? Well, you say, well, what pastor?
Well, whatever comes to mind right now, just ask yourself
that question. Is it nothing to me? Do I live
my life without appreciation, without gratefulness, without
thanksgiving. All of us in here ought to be
saying, there go I but for the grace of God. All of us in here
ought to have that attitude of, thank God I'm not what I used
to be. And thank God I'm not what I'm
going to be because greater is He that's in me than he that's
in the world. And one day I'm going to be free from all this
mess. Is it nothing to you, all you that pass by, Behold and
see if there be any sorrow like unto my sorrow which is done
unto me, wherewith the Lord hath afflicted me in the day of His
fierce anger." Some old theologian has said
with regard to the book of Jeremiah and the lamentation, many of
you in here know that Jeremiah was the weeping prophet. One of the old theologians said,
It is difficult to conceive any situation more painful than that
of a great man condemned to watch the lingering agony of an exhausted
country, to tend it during the alternate fits of its stupor
and raving which precede its breakdown, to see the symptoms
of vitality disappear one by one, till nothing is left but
coldness, darkness and corruption. And that's what I see. That's
exactly what I see for America. Another old writer that I was
reading this week said this, it was Jeremiah's lot to prophesy
at a time when all things in Judah were rushing down to the
final and mournful catastrophe. when political excitement was
at its height, when the worst passions swayed the various parties
and the most fatal councils prevailed. It was his to stand in the way
over which his nation was rushing headlong to destruction, to make
a heroic effort to arrest it and to turn it back, to fail. and be compelled to step to one
side and see his own people whom he loved with the tenderness
of a woman plunge over the precipice into the wide weltering ruin. I want you to know I see it coming.
Some of you talk about, some of you girls was asking I think
Ms. Pam or someone about is Pastor Clark always this political?
You have not heard me at all. You haven't heard. This is not
about Democrats or Republicans. Sometimes that's all you hear
when I get up here because the Republicans said something. They're
considered the conservatives. So when I get up here, you think
I'm talking Republican. I'm talking Bible. When I talk
about killing babies, I'm not talking about the Republicans
are pro-life. I talk about killing babies. That's not Republican or Democrat.
That's murder. When I talk about same-sex marriage,
just because the Republicans are against that, it's not a
Republican issue. It's a Bible issue. It's an abomination
in the sight of God. And the Bible says it over and
over and over. And Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed
because of that. And do you think America will
not be? Do you think that your tolerance
Some of you here today have no eyes to see the picture. You
just don't see it. I placard it before you Sunday
after Sunday. You don't see it. You have no
ears to hear the sadness of my words. You have no ears to hear
them. You don't hear it. Jeremiah laments over the ancient
and glorious city of Jerusalem being besieged by her adversaries
and invaded by a fierce army and given over to plunder, to
murder, to fire and desolation. Do you not think that could happen
to America? We're not the only nuclear giants
in the world. And nations who hate this country
are fastly preparing their nuclear bombs aimed at Israel and the
United States. Read your newspaper. You don't
have to read the Bible. Read your newspaper. This morning, Iran was testing one of its missiles, denying that it is building nuclear
weapons, which is a joke. I see the politicians on television,
you know, we're going to try to starve them out over there. Jerusalem is pictured as a young
woman who has been abused, wounded, bleeding, in shock, in grief,
crying out in her beauty and anguish as she sits on the curb,
tattered, totally devastated by what's happened. And asked this question, is it
nothing to you? Can you just picture a beautiful
young woman sitting at the curb Nothing's left. Nothing of her
family, nothing of her county, nothing of her country is left. She's been abused. She's alone. There's nothing left. And she
sits there and says, is it nothing to you? That's what I want to
ask you. Well, pastor was really hyped
up today. You ought to be hyped up too. You ought to be hyped up too.
This is your country. This is your county. This is
your city. Historically, we are told that
there never was a sorrow equal to the fate of Jerusalem. You
know, many cities have been destroyed, but none have fallen amidst such
a tempest of terrors as did Jerusalem. Historically, you study the book
of Jeremiah, you will see what happened. It was almost unbelievable
that this could happen to Jerusalem. And I know some of you have the
mindset, you'd never even think about a war being fought in the
streets of America. Look at Syria. Look what's happening
there. There's nothing left of that
nation. Even their capital has been blown to bits. Say, Pastor,
are you trying to scare us? Yes. Absolutely. Fear's not a bad thing. Reverential
fear. Wake up. Jerusalem, which was
beautiful for situation, has become terrible for desolation.
Jerusalem, the Bible says, the joy of the whole earth has become
the queen of sorrows. The vultures rush from afar and
meet upon the slain. Hundreds and hundreds of people
dead and laying in the streets. And Jeremiah dares people to
pass by without lamenting. The desolation was so great that
Jeremiah asked that the whole world be draped in sackcloth
and the heavens hang in blackness. Jeremiah saw it coming. No one
would listen. No one would listen. Judah was
playing church and talking saved. I started preaching from this
text 48 years ago. Forty-eight years ago. I've been
saying this for forty-eight years. Listen to this. Jeremiah chapter
14, verse 7. Some of you have heard me preach
this message at least ten times. The men of grace have heard it
twenty probably as they've traveled around with me. But listen to
this. Jeremiah chapter 14, verse 7. O Lord, this is Jeremiah's
prayer, though our iniquities testify against us, Do thou it
for Thy name's sake. Lord, we're in a mess here. Do
something for us. We have nothing to recommend
ourselves, so You can't do it because we're good. You're going
to have to do it for Your own name's sake. You're going to
have to do it for Your own glory, for Your own praise. You're going
to have to do it for Yourself. For our backslidings are many.
We've sinned against You. O Lord, the hope of Israel, the Savior thereof in time of
trouble. Why shouldst thou be as a stranger
in the land?" Why should you be a stranger in the land? Why
should you be a stranger in America? Why do you think? We've told
God to get out of our schools. Keep your hands off of us. We'd
like to take your name off the dollar bill, and we'd like to
take In God we trust. Off our coins. We'd like to take
that off because we don't want you around. We're in your face. We're murdering our babies. Fifty
million. Why wouldn't God be a stranger
in America? Wake up, church. Why wouldn't
He be? We've told Him to get out. Do you visit places where
you've been told to get out and stay away? Well, why do you think
God would? We've insulted Him. A stranger
in the land and as a wayfaring man that turneth aside to tarry
for a night. Why shouldst thou be as a man
astoned? Let me tell you this and get
it straight. The worst judgment God could send upon this church
or this nation or this city or this county is just not to speak
to us. The worst thing that could happen
this morning is for you to come and go and never hear from God. That's the worst thing that could
happen. Worse than a universal deluge. Worse than Sodom and
Gomorrah, fire and brimstone from heaven, is for God just
to shut up heaven and go fishing. Let them go to hell. That's where
they want to go anyway. Let them do what they want to
do. To destroy you, God doesn't have to send a heart attack.
All God has to do to destroy you is just let you be you. That's all. Just let you do what
you want to do. If you want to use crack, help
yourself. The prayer of every person in
here ought to be this, God, don't leave me to me. The person I'm
afraid of most is me. I have met up with the enemy
and it is I. The devil didn't make you do
it. The enemy is in me. And let me tell you this, the
more light that God gives, the more accountable and responsible
you have. God giving you light? Your mom
and daddy took you to church all your life and you're out
there crazy, insane, 20-year-old, shooting up, using drugs, acting
like a fool. You had light. I've heard moms
and dads say this, we raised him better. We raised her better. You sin against the light, you
live in danger. You know better. The only hope
is for God to speak. This whole church, if there's
any church in this entire county that ought to be praying, for
God to speak and God to be in our service. We need God here
because we've got some folks who are a long way off. In your addiction, the devil
controls you every day. Every day. Sometimes I don't
like the word addiction because you're not wrestling with some
kind of sickness like the flu. Oh, I know what the world says.
You've got a sickness. No, you've got a demon. You've
got a demon by the tail. And that demon will not turn
you loose. You need the help of God. I'm wearing the American
flag. It's been years since I took
off the Grace Centers of Hope pin that I wear. I wear it all
the time. I took it off this morning and
put on the American flag. I'll tell you why I took it off
and put on the American flag. I want to tell you this. Good
morning, America. ABC News told their newscasters
they cannot wear this pin because they must be impartial. That's
right. You can go online and read it.
So I've stopped watching ABC. I am not impartial. I say, God
bless America. I say, I am an American. I'm telling you, it won't be
long until this beautiful nation will be sitting by the curb of
life, wounded, raped by a wicked nation, Antichrist and the demon
will appear. A nation left to itself by an
absentee God. A nation left to itself desolate. This nation spends more on dog
food than it does sending out missionaries. Isn't that strange? We can save dogs, but we kill
babies. There's something wrong with
that. There's something wrong with that. Now I want to switch
gears. I'm going to have to ask the
Holy Spirit to help me switch gears here. Because this is my
second point. This is the most important point. As we play church and talk saved,
we just refuse to look at the saddest of all woes. The saddest
of all woes. You ask, Pastor, if it is not
Jerusalem and what happened there, and it's not the destruction
of the United States and what could happen here. What is the
saddest of all woes and the saddest of all griefs and the saddest
of all sorrows? Now, listen to me really close.
If you don't get anything else, get this. The saddest of all
griefs and the saddest of all sorrows, I point to the cross
of Christ. Listen now. Surely if you're a believer,
you'll join me in my mourning for him. I want to take you back. I know it's an old, old story.
I know you've heard it thousands of times. I know you have. But
it's become mundane. I clearly understand why the
Lord said, as oft as you take this supper, do it in remembrance
of Me, because you are prone to forget. Lest I forget, Gethsemane. Lest I forget, Calvary. Remember now thy Creator in the
days of thy youth. Prone to forget. Baptism and
the Lord's Supper, two gospel ordinances. Just church ordinances. They're gospel ordinances. He
died for me. He was buried for me. He arose
again for me. That's what baptism is. Baptism
doesn't save anybody. Jesus does. Water doesn't wash
away sin. The blood of Christ washes away
sin. But it is a picture and a type
of what happened on the cross. The prophet Isaiah foretold that
we would mourn, that we would look on him whom we had pierced
and mourn for him. You ever just sit down and think
about this? He came down to this earth to
save sinners. He came down to this earth in
boundless pity. He didn't need you or me. He's
the Creator. He's the great Jehovah Elohim. He's Jehovah-Jireh. He didn't
need us. And he came down for God-haters,
messed up, screwed up, rebels like us. We were not nice people. He didn't come down here to save
nice people. He came down here. to save sinners. You know what? If we just fold
up and went home right now, we'd have enough to think about. He
came down here for the likes of me. How can I grasp that? How can
I grasp that? How can I get a hold of that?
Me, the little alley rat that I was. wallowing in the stables
of sin, ungrateful, unthankful, unappreciative, like a little
baby rattlesnake, hoping to grow my rattlers so
I could become more degenerate. He came down in boundless pity,
took upon Himself the nature of a man. Have you ever thought
about that? God Almighty! Come to earth! Because there
was no way for you to save yourself. You can be dipped, sprinkled,
and poured and still go to hell. You can join every church in
this county and still perish. The only hope was that God would
do something. And He did. Stepping out of the infinite
honors of the skies came to Bethlehem's lowly manger labored in a carpenter's
shop, lived 33 years suffering all the sorrows and infirmities
of our mortality. You never think about that, do
you? We just kind of pass over that. He was the God-man. He's acquainted with our sufferings.
You never have a pain or an ache except Jesus knows. You know
how Jesus knows? He went through it. He became
a man. He sees our suffering. Does Jesus care? Oh, yes, He
cares. I know He cares. His heart is
filled with my grief. His sufferings were unparalleled.
Kings have died. Philosophers have died. Philanthropists
have died. But never such a one as this.
For he that bled on Calvary was king of kings. He was priest
and prophet. King, he was a royal man, the
center of the angelic host, Jesus Christ. You ever read the story? Drug to judgment hall. He came
under his own and his own received him not. The greatest sin that
has ever been committed on this earth turns out to be the greatest
blessing. But the greatest sin is that
when God came down here, Men took Him and nailed Him to a
cross. Don't talk to me about how good folks are. Say, well,
if I'd have been there, if you'd have been there, you'd have been
right in the bunch. You know better than anybody else. Struck
and mocked and spit upon. Can you imagine this? That God
Almighty come to earth in human flesh, created the very people
that spit in his face, cleared their throats. How would someone
so great and awesome, what awful strange new sensations must have
come over him as the spittle ran down his face. Because cherubims
and seraphims and angelic beings for billions of years bowed before
Him and cried, holy, holy, holy. But now He's come to earth. Now I'm over my head. I'm thinking
to myself, you don't get that either, preacher. How would God
Almighty feel to have humans fiddle I know what I'd do if I was God,
and you spit in my face. Aren't you glad I'm not God? King of kings and Lord of lords,
a beautiful thing sitting in the ashes of human sin dung,
Jesus Christ. Is it nothing to you? All you
that pass by, all of you who are Christians and you're thinking
about relapse, think about this. Is it nothing to you? Are you
going to do it again? In the light of Calvary? In the
light of Jesus dying in your stead, room and place? Are you
going to do it again? Do you ever think about he who
knew no sin, he who had no sin, he who thought no sin, he who
never spoke a disobedient word to his parents when he was growing
up? Nothing but respect and holiness
flowing from him. And all we like sheep have gone
astray, turned everyone to his own way. Listen, the Lord has
laid on him the iniquity of us all. Wrath of God rolled over Him
and bypassed you. You should have been crucified.
I should have suffered and died. You know what I deserve? I deserve
to be in hell right now. But He took my hell. Is it nothing
to you? He took my hell. He paid my debt. He satisfied justice. You ever think about this? I'm
never going to hell. What a mess I am, but I ain't
going to hell. Because Jesus paid it all. All
the debt I owe. Sin and left the crimson stain.
He washed it white as snow. There's power in the blood. Wonder-working
power in the blood of the Lamb. At Calvary there was hell from
beneath stirred against Him. Heaven from above veiled His
Son and left Him in a chilled darkness. God hid His face and
Jesus cried, My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me? And
the men of earth nailed Him to the cross alone, alone. You don't know what loneliness
is. When earth forsakes you, God the Father forsakes you,
and the demons of hell empty out to kill you. That's being
alone. And yet, he bare it all. As sin
was imputed to him, he paid the debt and he said, it is accomplished. It's finished. How shameful to live in total
neglect of Him. If you want to know why every
Lord's Day I preach Him, it's because we're prone to neglect
Him. And I want to tell you why this place is blessed. It's because
God honors His Son. And as this place honors Jesus
Christ, the blessings flow down. If we ever stop honoring Jesus
Christ, we're in a heap of trouble. We're in a heap of trouble. He died, the godly for the ungodly. He commendeth
His love toward us and that while we were yet sinners, Christ died
for us. I was thinking last night as
I was preparing for this morning, I know it was the blood. I got
to hear old Milton singing it last night. I know it was the
blood. It was the blood for me. If you've been lame or blind
or a leper and receive a cure, no one can tell you there's nothing
to it. If you've been blind and now
you see, Have you been a leopard and now
you're cleansed? Then there is no way you will
ever forget. Not totally. And lastly, rest assured, those of you who
see nothing in Christ, We will meet another day. And when all that fine wine is
sour, and when your gold is corroded,
and all those pleasures disappear, and the morning sun of God's
holiness takes the fog away, and there's nothing left but
the wrath of God for you, we're going to meet again. I'm telling
you, Some of you are going to live long enough. I don't know
whether I will or not. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. did
not live long enough, but he said, I've been to the mountain.
And I want to tell you this, I've been to the mountain. I've
looked over. I know what's coming. And I can
tell every one of you outside of Jesus Christ today, there's
a judgment day coming. There's a judgment day coming.
And not only that, But I was thinking last night,
too, how horrible to live in addiction, to live in the hog
pen of life, to live in this world and then have the bombs
drop and everything that you thought gave you a little sense
of life is taken away. Some of you Appreciate the cemetery
and summer weather that you can sleep in. But if there is a nuclear
bomb dropped and there is no sun to shine, there is no air
to breathe, you're eat up with cancer because of nuclear and
you're living in the cemetery. And you're dying and going to
hell on top of it. I just don't think you ought
to say that to folks. I'm telling you this, there is
a city of refuge. It's Jesus Christ. There is a
place.