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Chuck Smith :: Sermon Notes for 2 Kings 17:7-18

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"THE DEATH OF A NATION"
Intro: In 721 B.C., Israel ceased to exist as a nation. The Assyrians had carried them away as captives. The once great and Godly nation has fallen. What brought death to this nation?
I. GOD'S INDICTMENT AGAINST ISRAEL.
A. They sinned against the Lord their God.
1. Nations can sin as well as individuals.
2. They missed the mark, they failed to be what God wanted them to be.
a. God wanted them to be a living example to the world of the value and blessing of serving God.
3. Israel was a nation that was established by God.
a. He brought them out of Egypt.
b. He subdued their enemies and gave them the land.
4. It was a nation established in God.
a. God's law was the law of the land.
b. God was at the center and in the heart of the nation.
B. They began to fear, reverence and serve other gods.
1. Forsaking the God who made them, they began to worship gods they had made.
a. They sought to live as the world around them.
1. To follow its fashions and standards.
2. God has said, "Be not conformed to this world," yet they were.
2. They began to put the true and living God out of their national life.
a. They forsook His laws.
b. They established their own godless standards.
3. Following after emptiness they became empty.
II. GOD'S ATTEMPT TO TURN THEM FROM THE CERTAIN PATH OF
DESTRUCTION.
A. He sent prophets and seers with warnings.
1. Turn from your wickedness.
2. Turn back to God.
B. He allowed them to begin to taste the bitterness of defeat in battle as a warning.
C. They would not listen to the prophets.
1. They did not believe the warnings of God.
D. Having now forsaken God, God has now forsaken them.
1. Without God, they have no strength.
2. They misinterpreted their history.
a. They ignored that it was God that made them strong.
b. They attributed the greatness to free enterprise or democracy.
c. They began to trust in their military strength.
3. Without God's help they immediately were defeated. The nation died.
III. THE DEADLY PARALLEL.
A. America was established as one nation under God, the founding fathers knew who that God was.
1. It was God who made our nation great, it was God who made our nation strong.
2. As a nation, we have sinned against God. We have begun to worship other gods.
a. Prosperity, success, happiness, materialism.
b. Forsaking the God who made us, we are serving gods we have made.
B. God has been sending some strong warning signals.
1. Korea, Vietnam, Iran.
2. We were once great as the Lion the King of the beast. Feared and respected.
Sermon Notes for 2 Kings 17:6 ← Prior Section
Sermon Notes for 2 Kings 18:1-4 Next Section →
Sermon Notes for 1 Kings 3:11-14 ← Prior Book
Sermon Notes for 1 Chronicles 2:7 Next Book →
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