I. SURRENDER OR DIE
A. That’s The Unpopular Message Jeremiah Gave To Jerusalem
1. Idolatrous & disobedient nation
2. Consequences to be faced
a. Jerusalem surrounded by enemy Babylonians
b. King of Babylon = referred to as “My Servant” - 3 times (see Jeremiah 25:9; 27:6; 43:10)
3. Life = Surrender, yield, face the consequences
4. Death = Stay hunkered down in defensive position behind walls
B. That’s The Unpopular Message I Bring Today
1. Message of life & death
2. Message that takes an unusual person to respond to:
a. one who’s willing to be 100% honest
b. one who’s willing to be 100% humble
c. one who’s willing to be 100% courageous
II. TODAY, SO MANY ARE LIKE THOSE HUNKERED DOWN IN JERUSALEM
A. We’ve Sinned Against God, Eventually Time To Face The Consequences
B. Hunkering Down Behind Walls Of… (Ego protected / Defense Mechanisms / safety & security & comfort / dysfunctional)
1. Denial
2. Minimization (“it’s not that bad”)
3. Blame-Shifting (“if it wasn’t for…I wouldn’t have done it)
4. Compartmentalization (“that’s not the real me”)
5. Compensation (“but look at all the good I do”)
6. Projection (“you think I’m bad…look at her)
7. The list goes on…
C. Stay Hunkered Down – And Expect To Die
1. One becomes increasingly insensitive to conviction of Holy Spirit
2. One becomes increasingly calloused, brazen – into more & deeper trouble
3. Consequences mount and mount – we can’t escape them
4. Until too late and we are “besieged” by the trouble we’ve caused
5. Romans 3:23 – “wages of sin is death, but free gift of God is life”
D. Death By… (You Choose? Sometimes You Have No Choice)
1. Sword – sudden death as everything caves in around you
2. Famine – slow gnawing pain from the inside out – slow deterioration
3. Pestilence – slow gnawing death from the outside in – as you loose bits and pieces of yourself over time
III. MESSAGE = SURRENDER!
A. Surrender Means…
1. Realization
a. awareness - no more denial
b. Ps 139:23-24 Search me , O God, and know my heart; Try me, and know my anxieties; And see if there is any wicked way in me,
c. God cannot heal what I conceal
2. Repentance
a. confession
b. turning from
c. accountability & support & strategies for long-term godly living
d. read & expound on Psalm 51:1-19
- confession
- gut level truth
- change deep inside – not just surface level
- not mere going through religious motions
3. Restitution
a. making amends
b. making things right
c. Zacchaeus (Luke 19:1-9) Luke 19:8 Then Zacchaeus stood and said to the Lord, "Look, Lord, I give half of my goods to the poor; and if I have taken anything from anyone by false accusation, I restore fourfold."
B. Full Surrender Will Cost You, But In The End You Will Have Life
1. Sin will cost you everything anyway – payday – someday
2. Numbers 32:23 “…be sure your sins will find you out.”
a. someone with secret Internet addiction
- pornography
- gambling
- inappropriate on-line relationship
b. someone with a warrant out for their arrest – heart skips a beat every time a police officer pulls out behind you – paranoia
3. Childhood Experience – Broken Mirrors – Couldn’t Hide It
4. Older shut-in years ago made startling confession of long-held secret
a. shocking
b. required unusual honesty, humility, and courage
c. but died free!
IV. INVITATION TO PRAY
