# Such a Nation as This

Category: Evangelism & Soul Winning
Speaker: Aaron Snodderly
Date: June 7, 2024

We hear a lot in our world today about bringing America back, making America great again, but we forgot what made us great in the first place. And that was God. And I believe that we can honestly sing from our hearts, “God has blessed America, this land that I love. He has stood beside her. He has guided her with his light from above.”

And it’s no mistake that as America has tried to shield itself from the light of God, the blessings of God have apparently been lifting ever so slightly from our country. And so I agree with the words of that song, let’s bring America back to God.

I also enjoyed the offertory too. Wasn’t that good? For those of you who don’t know, the words of that song are, “Our Lord, Turn the Tide.” You know, there’s a tide right now, a flow of ungodliness, wickedness, communism, you name it. That’s flooding and sweeping across our country right now. It’s in our schools, our elementary schools, all the way through our higher education places. And it seems as if many people feel as if there’s no hope.

But there is. The God who holds the tides in his hand can turn the tide. And so I’m encouraged, and I’m thankful that we live in America, as I believe as the pastor said, I love America, don’t you? I really do. There’s no other place I’d rather be. Someone said it in Sunday school, I’m glad of all the places in the world that God let me be born. He let me be born in America. And I’ll go a step further.

He let me be born in Tennessee. Can I hear an amen there? I love the good old state of Tennessee. I’ve been in over 48 states in several foreign countries, and I tell you what, there’s no place like Tennessee. There really isn’t. If you disagree, that’s your fault, not mine, so don’t blame it on me. But either way, I never could figure out why would someone want to live on the second best place on earth when they could live in Tennessee? But either way, you know, you don’t have to play the lottery today. You were born in America. Wanted.

And so I love America. My name is Aaron Snotterly. This is my wife, Brenda, and I am the executive director of the Tennessee Independent Baptist for Religious Liberty. And as such, I serve as an evangelist, but also a lobbyist on behalf of churches and Christians like you and yours. And so I meet with our politicians on a daily and weekly basis trying to convince them not only that Jesus is the only Savior, but try to convince them of, you know, constitutional conservative facts, such as the importance of life and traditional marriage, and the list goes on and on, religious freedom. And we’ll probably talk more about that this evening, Lord willing, but I would ask you to stop by our table after the service this morning and pick up one of our prayer cards and pray for us. Put this on your fridge and your Bible, in the bathroom, somewhere you visit frequently, and make sure you pray for us when you see it, if you would, because we really do need the prayers of God’s people.

You know, it’s amazing. I can meet with Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez every day of my life, and I have met with her, and she is as—well, are we live on streaming today? I’ve got to be careful what I say here. But she’s, let’s just say, she’s very unique, even amongst people of her own kind. And we, you know, I could meet with her every day of my life, and I could convince her today that our arguments are true. But then someone else could come along tomorrow and convince her and confuse her all over again. But if God can use us to reach her heart while we talk these issues to her, then by God’s grace, we can see an eternal difference made in her life and in her mind. And so you pray with us as we meet with these politicians and witness to them, but also lobby on behalf of Christian values that we hold so dear and that made this country great. So please take one of our prayer cards, pray for us.

I’d like to mention one or two other things on the table out there. We have Brother David Barton’s book, Original Intent. Now, I got involved in politics when I was eight years old. I got saved when I was 14 years old. And after I got saved, God called me to preach, and then he put in my heart a desire to preach, and all the preachers in town basically started telling me, well, Aaron, you can’t be involved in politics if God’s called you to preach. Isn’t that sad? You know, it’s amazing to me what we wash our hands of goes down the drain.

And that’s what’s happening to America. For far too long, Christians and pastors and people of goodwill have stepped back and said, “Politics is corrupt. We don’t want to have anything to do with it.” And then we wonder why it gets worse. Well, it gets worse because good people do nothing. That’s all it takes for evil to triumph is good people like you and I to do nothing.

And so I remember as I was praying about God, should I, you know, remain involved in politics or not. Brother David Barton gave me this book that he authored. He has America’s largest private collection of American historical artifacts. And he’s a great man. He’s been a good friend to me throughout the years and his ministry. And I read this book in like a week’s time as a 14-year-old, and God used it to change my life again and encourage me to stay involved in politics. We have this book on our back table if you’d like to get one. It’s called Original Intent. And basically, it says that the words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence have meaning. Now, that just makes common sense. Why would they say them? Why would they spend all that time at the risk of their own lives drafting a declaration of independence and forming a United States Constitution years later if they didn’t have meaning?

But he goes into what the meaning is and not just what the words say today, but what they intended, what the definitions meant at that time. Powerful book, it will be a blessing to you. It will reaffirm your belief that we have a Christian founding, and we do. I’m very thankful that our founding fathers—they may not have been perfect. They definitely weren’t, but neither are you and I. They may not have been the best Christians in the world, but you and I aren’t either. And so I’m very thankful that we had a founding generation, though, that said, “Hey, we want to do our best to live for God,” and live for God they did. And so I’m thankful for that.

I’m looking at this next book here, trying to find it. Here we go. I have another book I want to mention to you. This is called the American Patriots Almanac. Every family in the church today needs one of these books. It’s a great book. It’s kind of like a Bible devotional, only instead of Bible, it’s American history. So you get two or three minutes each day worth of reading on American history, this day in American history. And you’ll never believe what the subject is today. It’s about the Declaration of Independence. And how our founding fathers said that, hey, we’re willing to sign our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor so that people like you and I that they would never know could enjoy the freedoms we have today. Right at 200 years later, Ronald Reagan stood up on July 4th and he quoted those words, “our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor.”

Brother Richard, he made this statement, and it’s so true. He said, “A few of them gave their lives. Many of them gave their fortunes, but they all kept their sacred honor.” And if I could leave you with one thought this morning, keep your sacred honor. Do your best to not just be a Christian in word only, but to be a Christian indeed in action. Be a patriotic American in deed and in action. That book is called the American Patriots Almanac. It’s on the back table as well.

I want to mention one more thing. I’m not a traveling salesman, okay? I only sell snake oil. But nonetheless, we offer these books as an opportunity to get good information into the hands of people like you. And it’s also a way for you to help support our ministry and keep us on the road if God leads you to make a donation. This right here is the Aitken Bible. Printed on the back, we have these words: “The only Bible approved by Congress. The only Bible recommended to the American people.” And it is the Bible of the American Revolution, the Aitken Bible.

Many people don’t know this, but it’s word for word King James. The reason they call it the Aitken Bible is because after the Revolutionary War, the King of England broke off all trade with America. And as a result, he said, “Hey, we’re not sending you any Bibles.” The Americans said, “That’s okay, we don’t want a Bible with your name on it anyways.” They didn’t want a Bible with the King of England’s name on it after the American Revolutionary War. And so there became a dearth in the land for the hearing and reading of God’s word. People needed Bibles and they couldn’t get them.

A man named Aiken went to Congress after the Constitutional Convention had approved the United States Constitution, and he begged and wept as he begged them, asking them to help him publish a Bible in America. And Congress said, “Okay,” and they not only approved it, but they helped fund it. And because they didn’t want the king’s name on it, they said, “We’ve got to give it some kind of name so people know what it is.” So they said, “We’re going to call it after the man who had a burden to publish it, and his name was Aiken.”

What we’re doing with this Aitken Bible right now is we’re working with the American Bible project. We’re trying to put the Bible back in our schools, and this is the Bible we’re putting into our schools all across the state. For years we’ve been praying, “God help us to get the Bible back into our schools.” And this isn’t the best way to do it, but it’s the best way we can legally do it today. And the way we’re able to do this is through historical means. This Bible is printed almost exactly as it was back in the 1700s and 1800s. For instance, in the wording here, you’ll find the spelling. Some of the S’s have Fs instead of the letter S. And there’s even one or two glitches in here where the printer, the original publishing of the Bible, the ink didn’t turn out just right. And so we tried to match that. We tried to make it as historically accurate as possible so that we could put it into our schools. And the state department of education has agreed to this and they’ve said, “As long as it’s a historical book”—now we know it’s a holy book—“but as long as we present it in a historical fashion, we can put these Bibles in our schools.” So pray with us about that. We’re working with the American Bible project on it. We currently have it in over 1,500 schools at this time right now. Our goal is to put one of these in the hands of every history teacher so that they can have it sitting on their desk, and then we put it into the libraries as well.

And the goal is for the teachers to be able to say things like, when they’re talking about George Washington, they can say, “Oh, by the way, this is the Bible George Washington used.” And they can turn in there and point out George Washington’s favorite verse. And when they read about Abraham Lincoln and all the times he quoted the Bible, they can say, “Oh, by the way, you can find that right here.” And then the teachers can actually show the students what God’s word says. Give it to them. Let them handle it and look at it and read it for themselves and then encourage them to go check it out in the library. Once we get one into every library and every history teacher across the state, once we get one to each of them, our goal is at that point, Lord willing, to try and give one to every high school student across the state. That’s going to be a huge undertaking. The first project is going to cost us about $2 million, but getting them into the hands of high schoolers is going to be a lot more expensive because we have to keep it historically accurate. So pray with us about that. We do have some of these Bibles with us if you’d like one for a donation. They’re not cheap, but we would be glad to give you one of these for your personal library as a bit of history and at the same time a spiritual book as well.

Well, if you would take your Bibles and turn to Jeremiah Chapter 5 this morning, the book of Jeremiah Chapter 5. I want to say I appreciate your pastor. He’s been a good friend to me for quite a few years now. I remember years ago as a young preacher when I did the “Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus” radio ministry, I came by here and he was so friendly to me. A lot of preachers, they, you know, they’re kind to young preachers, but your pastor was just over and above kind and supportive of my ministry, and I very much appreciate that. And it’s exciting to see how God is using him and you here in Smyrna, Tennessee. I tell you what, I got excited when I walked in and saw the plans for the new church. My goodness, that’s exciting, isn’t it? I hope you’re excited about it. You should be. And I hope you’re giving towards it. You should be. It’s going to be your church. So you should be supporting that project. You say, “Well, we hear people talk about giving all the time.” That’s because giving is important. It’s more blessed to give than to receive. And so, you know, you can’t buy gas unless you give some money for it. You can’t buy groceries unless you give some money for them. You can’t have the church God wants you to have unless you say, “Here am I, Lord, here’s my pocketbook too,” and be willing to give and support that project. I’m excited about it and can’t wait to see it built. And it’s also good to be with Brother Mike and Miss Mary Patterson and Miss Sherry and Shelby. These people have been friends of ours for many years and we love them dearly. I told the pastor the other day that Brother Mike Patterson’s always been one of my favorite people to go soul winning with. And, brother, thank you for the blessing you’ve been to our lives.

Jeremiah chapter 5 is where we’re going to be reading tonight in verse 9. The scripture says, “Shall I not visit for these things, saith the Lord? And shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this?” If you would skip down to verse 29, you’ll see that it reads almost word for word the same: “Shall I not visit for these things, saith the Lord? Shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this?”

“A wonderful and horrible thing is committed in the land. The prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests bear rule by their means, and my people love to have it so. And what will ye do in the end thereof?”

Brother Mike, would you stand and pray for us this morning, please? If you would. Yes, sir. Please. Amen. You pray for us as we preach this morning. Yesterday, my wife and I spent almost the entire day out in the yard working, and of course the sun was just physically draining, but so was the work as well. And I have to admit, I woke up with a few muscles I didn’t even know existed that were very sore this morning. And so if my leg starts jerking around or my hand starts flying, you’ll know I’m just having a muscle spasm, okay? But pray that God wakes us up and allows us to preach the message God wants us to preach this morning, which is found in Jeremiah chapter 5, verses 9 and 29, where God very clearly is speaking when he says, “Shall I not visit for these things, saith the Lord? Shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this?”

And for the next few minutes, that’s what I’d like for us to consider this morning is the thought, “Such a nation as this.” Now, if you’re like me when you read those words, “such a nation as this,” your mind automatically thinks of America. After all, that’s the country we live in. Most of us have never even been to the nation of Israel, so we automatically think of America, the land we love. But in context, God is not referring to America. This, of course, makes common sense because at this time in Jeremiah, Chapter 5, America was still thousands of years in the future.

And so we have to look at the passage in its context to understand that God, when he says “such a nation as this,” is referring to the nation of Israel. Now, while he’s referring to the nation of Israel and everything in this passage he says is to them or about them, we have to conclude, as well as we look at our own nation, America, this great country in which we live, we have to conclude that there are many parallels and similarities between the two.

For instance, the nation of Israel had a rich godly heritage. I mean, if ever a nation had a godly heritage, it was Israel. I mean, for crying out loud, Father Abraham was their father, okay? How many of us sung that song in Sunday school? “He had many sons,” right? And we could go on and on. They had a rich, godly heritage. Abraham wasn’t a perfect man. He committed sins. But guess what? He always went back to Bethel. He always went back to that place of the altar and tried to make things right with God again. He was a man that even though he loved his son, Isaac, he was willing to sacrifice him when God said sacrifice him.

And guess what? I find the wording of that passage very interesting. When God stops Abraham and I envision him with his knife drawn in his hand getting ready just moments away from sacrificing his only son, Isaac asked him, “Father, here’s the wood, but where’s the lamb?” And Abraham did not say, “God will provide a lamb.” He said, “God will provide himself a lamb.” And if no more true prophecy has ever been spoken, because when Jesus Christ died, it wasn’t a lamb, it wasn’t a God—it was the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sins of the world. God provided literally himself on behalf of our sins. And we saw some of that prophesied through the founding father of Israel, Abraham himself.

Israel had a great godly heritage. They had men like Moses who were willing to stand before Pharaoh, knowing that Pharaoh had the authority and the power to say, “Off with his head.” And even though he was a meek and a mild man, Moses still stood before Pharaoh and said, “I am that I am hath sent me to tell you, let my people go.”

Now, if Moses had represented the deities of all other religions in the world today, save Christianity, he would have had to have said, “I used to be told me to tell you, let my people go.” You know, that God that died a hundred years ago, he told me to tell you, let my people go. But Moses didn’t serve the deities of all other religions. He served the deities of the one true God, the I Am, that I Am, ever always present with us, and he could stand there with the knowledge that his God would forever be and say, “Let my people go.”

It makes me wonder if the reason so many Christians in our world today, Pastor, are content to sit silent while the world goes to hell, it makes me wonder if it’s because they don’t have that full assurance, maybe, in their hearts that Jesus Christ is alive forevermore. Because if we really believe in a place called hell, and if we really believe in a God named Jesus who’s alive forevermore, surely to goodness we’d have a desire to tell people about them.

They had a rich godly heritage. We could talk about David. We could talk about so many others—people, Christian people, godly people that God used to make the nation of Israel what God wanted it to be.

Such is the case with America. We could talk about the rich, godly heritage we have in our land, where men like George Washington were willing to not just kneel in the snow, but he was willing, as history records, to leave his troops behind and go out a distance where he could be all alone with God and kneel in the snow. If that’s not enough, he did it at a time when they were at war, and he knew that there could be enemy scouts out and about, scouting their lines to see what the revolutionary soldiers were doing, knowing that if he came into contact with them, he wouldn’t stand a chance. But his faith wasn’t in himself, his faith wasn’t in his armies, his faith was in the God he was kneeling before.

Did you know that almost every revolutionary war hero, every revolutionary leader is depicted as a man of war with a sword drawn in his hand? But George Washington is most commonly depicted on his knees.

During the Revolutionary War, there was a man and his wife who were adamant. They were not going to support the revolution. They were British, and they were proud of it, and they were going to stand with the Brits. They weren’t in favor of a New America. Until one day the man went to town and came home and told his wife, he said, “Honey, we’re going to support the revolution.” And she said, “Why?” And he said, “Because I’ve just come from town where I saw a general on his knees in the town square. And he said his prayer was so fervent that I said to myself, ‘God must surely answer that prayer.’” And his name was George Washington.

We could talk about others who said that where you don’t just have rights, we have inalienable rights that come not from man or from government, but from God. We have rights that no man can take from us unless they be in direct rebellion to God. Did you know the Declaration of Independence declares our independence from everything in this world, save God himself? It declares our independence from the King of England and from all other world powers and entities, and then it ends with the words, “We believe in a firm protection of divine providence.” We’re independent from everything and everyone except God, and without God, we can have no independence.

God help us as Christians to have that kind of a backbone where we say, “It doesn’t matter what the world does. We’re dependent upon divine providence.” We live in a world today where even Christian people question the Christianity of our founding fathers who spoke more of their Christianity than Christians today who question it. We have a rich godly heritage.

But in this passage of scripture, God is not speaking to the nation of Israel and speaking of visiting them so that he can congratulate them for their past, but rather he’s speaking of visiting them so that he can condemn them for the present.

Notice what it says in verse 29 of chapter 5: “Shall I not visit for these things?” Man, I’d love for God to stop by my house, knock on the door, and sit down and visit with me for a while. What a great thing that would be. But that’s not the kind of visit he’s talking about. Notice he says, “Shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this.” In other words, Brother Warren, he’s saying, “Hey, there are some things that have taken place that aren’t right, and I cannot sit idly by and allow my justice to sleep forever. I have to visit you in wrath. I have to avenge my soul of these sins.”

Notice what he goes on to say in verse 30: “A wonderful and horrible thing is committed in the land,” and he now begins to tell us what some of these sins are. And notice what he says in verse 31: “I have to avenge my soul because of all the homosexuals.” No, that’s not what he says. “I have to avenge my soul because of the abortionists.” That’s not what he says. “I have to avenge my soul because of all the atheists.” But that’s not what he says either.

Notice, judgment must begin in the house of God. And without even mentioning those sins in this verse, he says, “I have to avenge my soul because a wonderful and horrible thing has been committed in the land, and it begins in the pulpits and in the pews.”

“The prophets prophesy falsely.” If there’s ever been a day in age in America where that’s true, it’s now. We brag about being a Christian nation. We brag about having churches on every street corner. Even there are some towns—a small county in East Tennessee has like 30, 40,000 people, but they have over 260 Baptist churches. And we brag about it, and we call ourselves the buckle of the Bible Belt. And yet, if there’s ever been a time where prophets are prophesying falsely, it’s now.

The majority of those churches you go to, they teach you that water baptism saves, even though John the Baptist stood in the waters of baptism and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God that takes away the sins of the world.” He didn’t point to the waters around him; he pointed to the Lamb of God. And yet churches will preach baptism saves. They’ll say that your church membership saves. If that’s the case, then why did Jesus have to die for the church?

And we could list so many other things where all across America today, even the world preachers so-called are standing up and they’re not prophesying what thus saith the Lord. They’re prophesying what they want to say. I don’t believe these prophets just woke up though one day and said, “I think I’m going to go to church this Sunday and lie.” I don’t think that was their plan. Notice what verse 13 of chapter 5 says. It says, “And the prophets shall become wind.” Why? “The word is not in them.”

You know what I think happened? I think probably some of these prophets were good men when they started out. But they got away from preaching the word of God. They started preaching their opinions. They started telling jokes and trying to make people laugh and cry. And there’s nothing wrong with all of that in its place. But when that becomes the main source of our message, when we get away from God’s word, line upon line, precept upon precept preaching, when those winds, the false doctrine begin to blow, it’s easy for us to be confused. These prophets became wind because God’s word wasn’t in them. And in verse 31, they’re now prophesying falsely.

You say, “Preacher, why does it matter if I read my Bible? You say, why does it matter if I read the right Bible?” Because without God’s word, we are of all men most confused, most easily confused. And so one of the wonderful and horrible things committed in the land is that the prophets prophesy falsely.

Friends, you should be thankful you have a preacher that preaches the word. You should thank him. You shouldn’t just—let me just say this too—don’t just thank him. Don’t assume he knows you appreciate his messages. Tell him. Shake his hand. Tell him what it meant to you. And then from time to time, show it to them. You know, it’s amazing to me. Sometimes I’ll travel and preach, and somebody will meet me up the back door and say, “Thank you for your message, preacher,” and they’ll slip me a $20 bill or something. And I appreciate that. I’m not making light of it. But sometimes it wouldn’t hurt to do your pastor that way. Of all the churches across America that God could have sent him to, he sent him to this church. You could have ended up with a liberal preacher who doesn’t care if your children die and go to hell. You could have ended up with a liberal preacher who doesn’t care if your kids are involved in drugs or immorality. But God gave you a preacher that preaches the word. Let them know you appreciate it.

Did you know the, you know, we hear the stories that the preachers, you know, people heap to themselves teachers and preachers having itching ears. And we complain about the liberal preachers who compromise, but a statistic came out not too long ago that said for every preacher that compromises, over 80% of this church wanted them to do it. We need to support our preachers who are doing right. Because so many people are turning their back on God’s word and allowing the winds of false doctrine to begin to blow.

The prophets prophesy falsely. But then notice as well in verse 31, he said not only that, but “the priests bear rule by their means.” And Brother Chisgar, for so long, when I would read that, I’d think to myself, “Well, that must mean that the pastors were dictators. It was their way or the highway.” The outdoors swings both ways. You can leave just as easy as you came. I’ve heard preachers actually say that. God have mercy on a preacher who has that kind of attitude.

But nonetheless, I began to realize maybe that’s what it’s talking about. But really, as I look at it and I’ve studied it, I’ve concluded that it’s not talking about dictators at all. It’s talking about preachers who think they’re sufficient in and of themselves.

How many times have I been guilty of standing up to preach without bowing my knee and saying, “God, help me”? How many times have pianists been guilty of playing the piano because they can do it without praying, “God, help me to play today? Thank you for the talent”? How many times have Sunday school teachers and bus workers gone about the daily rituals of Christianity without even praying, “God help”? We’re insufficient without God’s help, and yet we forget that so many times, and we think, “Hey, I can do this. I’ve been preaching now for 23 years. I can stand up and preach on my own. I’ve been going to church my whole life. I don’t need to pray for God to give me a safe trip and a good service.” And before you know it, we think we’ve got this under control. We can do it without the God’s help we claim to be worshipping. God have mercy.

Not only does he say the prophets prophesied falsely and the priests bear rule by their means, but he says, “My people love to have it so.” And to me, this is probably the saddest part of the whole verse, Brother Mike. “My people love to have it so.” In other words, what he’s saying here is the people wanted preachers to preach falsely. They wanted people to go through the rituals of Christianity without God anywhere near it.

Let me just say this, Brother Aaron: Just because the church down the road doesn’t want revival, doesn’t mean this church has to be that way. Just because the preacher down the road compromises doesn’t mean this preacher has to be that way. Just because, listen, kids, just because kids at school smoke and drink and are involved in all sorts of immorality doesn’t mean you have to be that way.

Let me step on a toe’s just because Disney makes a movie with witchcraft doesn’t mean you have to watch it with your children at night. Let me preach on that for just a minute. We live in a day and age where the world is enthralled with the supernatural unless it’s God. We want to know more about what the devil’s capable of. We want to watch more movies with witchcraft in it and vampires and all this kind of stuff. Now, don’t expect us to bring Jesus into this conversation, though. That’s a little too supernatural for us. But we want to know everything about the black arts.

Did you know a statistic said that in 2019, youth pastors said the number one question across America asked to them by the youth in their church was this: “Is the supernatural real?” Follow-up question to that: “Can I be like that witch on such and such TV show?” These are kids in our churches. Friends, just because the world doesn’t want it that way doesn’t mean we have to be that way. God help us as Christians to realize that there is such a thing as witchcraft that the Bible says is tantamount to the ultimate evil in the eyes of God. There should be no commendation for it. There should be no acceptance of it. God help us to say, “Hey, if it’s not the power of God, it’s the power of the devil.” Just because the world is enthralled with it and calls it a fairy tale, doesn’t mean we as Christians have to love to have it that way.

And then I see the perplexing side of this verse. He ends the whole chapter with the question, “What will ye do in the end thereof?” It should be a sobering question. If you’re here today and you do not know Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, let me tell you this: Hell’s a real place. It’s a terrible place. Real people go there. And you will too if you die in your sins without Jesus Christ. I want you to think for just a minute, what are you going to do in the end thereof? When that God you rejected all your life, that Jesus you said no to all your life is now seated before you in judgment. And he says, “Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels.” And you look to where his hand points, if it does, and you see the smoke ascending up out of the bottomless pit and hell. You hear the cries and the weeping of the damned. You realize your eternal fate is sealed. Why don’t you consider your latter end tonight or this morning while you have an opportunity to determine your eternal destination in heaven with Jesus?

But to the Christian, let me ask you this: What are you going to do when you stand before God and you watch your children and grandchildren go to hell, weeping and crying saying, “Why didn’t you tell us about Jesus? Why didn’t you live like your Christianity was important? Why didn’t you take us to church? Why, Dad? Why, Grandpa? Why, Grandma?” What are you going to do when your neighbors drop off into hell because you thought you could live your Christian life without God anywhere near? You thought you could be the greatest religious person the world’s ever known and the world could see through it even though you could. What are you going to do on the end there? On America’s birthday today, what are we as Christians going to do if God forbid America ever falters? What are we going to do if God ever allows America to no longer exist? I encourage you to consider your latter end today while you have an opportunity to influence it. The nation of Israel, they were a nation with a terrible sin problem.

Last but not least, I want you to notice they’re a nation in need of the Savior’s pardoning. Notice what it says in verse 1 of chapter 5, and we’ll be finished. God is speaking to Jeremiah the prophet. And in verse one, he says, “Run ye to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem, and see now and know and seek in the broad places thereof, if ye can find a man, if there be any that executeth judgment, that seeketh the truth, and I will pardon it.”

Did you see what God just told Jeremiah? He’s basically saying, “Jeremiah, I’m going to judge your nation. You had a rich godly heritage. You had a great start. Thank God for Father Abraham and Moses and David and all the others throughout history. But again, I’m not coming to congratulate you for the past, Jeremiah. I’m coming to condemn your nation for the present. It doesn’t matter what your forefathers were like. What matters is what are you like?” He says, “Jeremiah, I’m coming to avenge my soul because of the sins of the present. But Jeremiah, if you’ll go tell one person about Jesus who wants the truth, I’ll pardon it.”

To begin with, Jeremiah’s search for a seeker of the truth was to be intensive. Notice the first word of verse one: “Run.” God’s saying, “I’m about to judge your nation. I’ll pardon it if someone will go tell someone else about Jesus.” And he doesn’t say, “If you get around to it.” He doesn’t say, “Why don’t you take your time? We wouldn’t want you to work up a sweat, Jeremiah. I’m only going to judge your entire nation. This isn’t a big deal.” No, he says, “Run.”

Did you know that’s the greatest form of exertion of energy that a human body can put forth is when they’re running as hard as they can? The word “run” involves intensity. The word intensive means forceful. Now, I don’t believe God is telling Jeremiah here to force people to be saved and accept the truth against their will. After all, I could talk someone into praying a prayer every day of their lives, but if their heart’s not in it, they’re no more saved than a billy goat. It’s got to come from the hearts. So he’s not talking about forcing people to do something they don’t want to do. Even God doesn’t do that. He’s not a Calvinist. He died for everyone and gave every man a choice. But what he’s saying is, “Jeremiah, force yourself to go tell them.”

How many times has Ms. Brenda been shopping at Kroger’s or, God forbid, Walmart? Brother Aaron, I’m sitting in the car and I lay my seat back, listening to Christian music or talk radio or a message or something. It’s like, “Oh, this is great, man, this is the light. I’ve got the air conditioner on, 20 minutes to do nothing but maybe sleep.” And then I hear a car door beside me open up where someone puts a cart back in the cart return. And I hear God say, “Why don’t you get up and tell them about Jesus?”

And you know the excuses we make. “Well, God, I’m resting right now.” You know, the Bible says in Psalm 23 that he leads us beside the still waters. “God, I’m just doing what you want me to do. Rest.” “God, you know me. I went solo in Tuesday night, Saturday morning.” God says, “Yeah, but what about that person?” And while my flesh says no, sometimes even my spirit inside of me is intimidated: What will they think? What will people think around me who might see or hear me witness to them? God is telling Jeremiah here, it doesn’t matter. Force yourself, run. Be intensive. You know, the church has lost its intensity today. We’ve lost an intensity about almost everything: our Bible reading, our prayer life, church attendance. Things people have died for and shed their blood. We could care less about these days. But we’ve most definitely lost our intensity when it comes to soul winning.

You know, I learned a long time ago, it’s hard to give out a gospel tract if you don’t have one. In other words, have one. It’s amazing to me. I hear people complain all the time, “The government spent money on that. That’s my tax dollars. We don’t use it. What a waste of money.” Guess what? Your tithes and offerings paid for this. Someone’s eternal destination might depend upon this being given to them. Force yourself. I know it’s not easy, but in eternity in hell is a lot harder. The only blood I want on my hands when I stand before God is the blood on my knuckles from knocking on doors. People say, “Well, it doesn’t work anymore.” Jesus didn’t say to do it if it works. He just said, “Do it.” It’s not my responsibility to save the world. It’s my responsibility to tell them about one who can. It’s forced us. I pray that God gives us a desire to not need to be forced.

The search was to be intensive, run. For the individual that dies tonight, tomorrow’s too late to tell them about Jesus. The search was not only to be intensive, it was to be infinite. And we’re almost finished. Notice what he says: “Run ye to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem.” The phraseology here indicates that Jeremiah was to reach every street in town.

And if you think that’s a little radical, don’t you think, Brother Aaron? I don’t think it’s any more radical than Jesus saying, “Yeah, reach all the streets in town. But while you’re at it, reach the whole world.” I don’t think it’s any more radical than God’s saying, “I love the world so much I gave my only begotten Son.” Reach every street. When was the last time you reached your street? Pastor said it today. You drive down the streets in your neighborhood and you see those kids out in town. When was the last time you went to the parents and said, “Hey, can I tell you and your family about John 3:16?” When was the last time you knocked on the neighbor’s door directly across the street and said, “Hey, I want to give you this and invite you to Rutherford County Baptist Church and tell them about Jesus?” It’s hard to reach all the streets in town if you’re not at least reaching your own.

Notice the words, though, here. He says, “Run ye to and fro through the streets.” Pastor, if I understand this correctly, it means you start at point A, you go to point Z. You’ve now reached every street in town. But that’s not the time to kick our heels up and say, “Wow, we finished the job.” To and fro means to keep going and coming. You say, “I’ve already knocked on that door,” knock on it again. You say, “I’ve already told my boss about Jesus,” tell him or her again. You say, “I’ve already prayed for my friends,” pray again. Just keep going and coming until somebody says, “What must I do to be saved?”

The search was to be intensive and infinite. It was to be investigative. Notice he says, “Run ye to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem and see now.” That word “see” means to inquire into. You’ll never know if your friends and family and even the strangers you meet in town are saved if you don’t ask them. When was the last time you asked someone if they knew where they’d spend eternity when they die?

The search was not only to be intensive and infinite and investigative, but the search was to be instant. He said, “See now.” If today is the day of salvation, if now’s the accepted time, then now’s the time we should tell people about Jesus.

And then the search was to be individual. God said, “I’m about to judge your country. But I’ll pardon it if one man will reach one person with the truth.” What if God said that to you this morning? What if God said, “America has a rich godly heritage, but I’m not coming to congratulate you for the past. I’m coming to condemn you for the present. Judgment is coming. It’s going to be worse than you can even imagine. Your family, though saved, will be affected by it. Your church, though a church of Jesus Christ, will be affected by it. But I’ll save America, I’ll pardon America if you’ll go tell someone about Jesus.” Would there ever be pardoning? You say, “Preacher, that would never happen.” Why don’t you read Jeremiah 5 again? If God could say that to Jeremiah, why couldn’t he say it to us today? And even if he isn’t saying it, we’re still commanded to “Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.” You can’t spell the word gospel without those first two letters: Go. Go because the love of Christ constrains you. Go because the thought of a dying humanity spending an eternity in hell breaks your heart. Go because you love America and tell someone about Jesus.

With every head bowed and every eye closed, “Such a nation as this.” As the pianist makes her way to the piano this morning, you’ve heard the burden of my heart. I’m not going to give a prolonged invitation. But these altars are open. And if you’re here today and you do not know for sure where you’ll spend eternity, let me encourage you: Come forward and let the pastor or someone else take a Bible and show you how Jesus loves you so much, and you can know for sure you’re saved through him and him alone. Maybe you’re a Christian here today. Why don’t you come and say, “God, thank you for letting me be born in America. Thank you for letting me live here. God, thank you for our Christian heritage. God, forgive us of the sins of the present. Why don’t you come and say, ‘God, make me the soul winner you want me to be?’”

The only hope for America is not Donald Trump. It’s not Joe Biden. You put anyone else’s name there but Jesus, and I’ll promise you it’s not that person. Jesus is our only hope. Let’s tell people about him. Others have come. Why not you as I turn it over to the pastor today?

Original File: Such a Nation as This - Brother Aaron Snodderly Sunday Am 7421