Sound The Trumpet : A Lamentation

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11003

“A Lamentation”
by Art Sadlier
August 5th, 2010

Jeremiah preached in the days immediately preceding the Old Testament Day of the Lord judgment on Israel. We are standing in the days immediately preceding the great Day of the Lord judgment on the whole world. Jeremiah saw the nation of Israel turning away from the truth of God. He saw them blinded to their apostasy and sin. Jeremiah’s heart was broken for his people as he warned them and saw their refusal to repent. Finally he cried out in anguish of soul, “Oh that my head were waters, and mine eyes a fountain of tears, that I might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people!” Jeremiah 9:1.

Today, our hearts are broken as we see what has happened to the Evangelical church. A falling away, a great apostasy, has swept over evangelicals. There does not even seem to be a memory of what the Church of Jesus Christ is called to be.

This falling away began in the 1940’s, and it began with compromise. For five or six decades there had been a war raging over the apostasy of the mainline liberal churches. Fundamentalists had contended for the faith once delivered to the saints. They repudiated the denial of the authority of God’s Word. They contended for the virgin birth and deity of Christ. They fought for the truth of the efficacious atonement of Christ. They separated from compromise and apostasy. In short, they contended for the faith. They did what Jude exhorts believers to do, “Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints.” Jude 3.

In the late 1940’s a group of evangelicals reacted against those who were contending for the faith. They took on a name for themselves, they called themselves New Evangelicals. They stated that they would no longer contend for the faith, but would enter into dialogue with those who disagreed with them. They began a new movement of evangelicals, evangelicals who deliberately decided to compromise in order to pacify and accommodate the world around them. This was a departure from the principle of separation from apostasy and separation from the world.

This apostasy began to expand. Ecumenical evangelism brought liberals and fundamentalists together in cooperative evangelism. The church growth movement followed. It began to use extra biblical methods to grow the church, more compromise. The user friendly church carried the compromise further. It began an all out program to bring the world into the church on the world’s terms. The Purpose Driven Church has carried this to a greater level and is seeking to bring all religions together to make a better world. The emergent church is now advocating the theology of the harlot.

For seventy years this compromise has grown until you cannot tell the New Evangelicals from the world around them. They have fallen in love with the world and the things of the world. They are consumed with the pleasures of the world. They enjoy the same entertainment as the world, they go to the same shows, and they drink the same booze. They are immersed in the same worldliness through the television set. They are captivated by the same music and the same beat. They mimic the world in its lifestyle and dress.

In Jeremiah’s day the religious leaders led the people astray, “Many pastors have destroyed my vineyard, they have trodden my portion under foot, they have made my pleasant portion a desolate wilderness.” Jeremiah 12:10. The same situation applies today; it is the pastors in many cases that have destroyed the Church of Jesus Christ. They have led the way in bringing the world into the church. They are wolves in sheep’s clothing!

I believe the Bible name for "New Evangelical" is "Laodicea," which is the church of the last days. John tells us about the Laodiceans in Revelation 3:17. There is a parallel between Laodicea, and the New Evangelical that is amazing. “Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked:” That is a perfect description of today’s New Evangelical. “Lukewarm,” this lukewarmness comes as a result of being in love with the world and the things of the world.

The most tragic thing of all is that the Laodicea is identified in scripture as being unregenerate. When the rapture takes place, the Lord will spew Laodicea out of His mouth, according to verse 16. We see the Laodiceans in Matthew 7:21-23, “Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied (preached) in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.”

That brings us back to our text verse, “Oh that my head were waters, and mine eyes a fountain of tears, that I might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people!” Jeremiah 9:1

Looking for His glorious appearing! Titus 2:13