2 Year anniversary speech (Jeremiah 2:1-13)

 

Dear Brethren in Christ and honoured Guests;

It is my pleasure to address you on this September 27, 2020 Gospel for Canada community church 2^nd. Year anniversary Lord’s Day worship.  Today is the day the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it. Firstly I would like to thank God for giving us the opportunity to mark this special occasion in these unsettled times. Secondly; I would like to thank Dewan; the owner of this fine establishment; Palki Cuisine of India, for hosting our function this evening. Lastly; I would like to thank everyone who has co-laboured to make this evening a success.

My heart was initially eager to share the history of how the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ came to this great nation of Canada. My motive was to lead this assembly to greater resolve and resourcefulness in continuing the work of evangelism in Canada. In spite of the equal value of honouring those who have sown the gospel seed in our great nation; the burden I believe the Lord has laid on my heart for today is different. I believe it is my Christian duty to warn our national leaders and fellow Canadians of the current religious decay in our nation and the future national disaster and ruin that may await Canada if we choose to continue in apathy towards worshipping the true God of Heaven and the Lord Jesus Christ. What I intend to present you today is a similitude or a comparison between the recorded history from the nation of Israel’s abandonment of the one true God in 627BC as recorded in the book of Jeremiah and Canada’s current abandonment of the one true God. I will also share the national consequences for abandoning the one true God and how we can avoid future national judgment.

 

Firstly; a brief history of our Judeo Christian roots:

652 years before Canada was birthed; the seed of Judeo-Christian Law had been planted in Great Britain in the Magna Carta (The Great Charter of 1215) and now Canada was about to reap from that harvest. The British North America Act; later re-named The Constitution Act of 1867 united the French Canadian Catholics and the British Protestants giving them the right to protection by law and freedom to practise religion. Religious life was at the forefront of public life in the Dominion of Canada including education and civil policy.  Confederation lore says that Sir Samuel Tilley proposed the term "Dominion". His inspiration was apparently Psalm 72:28: "He shall have dominion also from sea to sea, and from the river unto the ends of the earth."  Not only did "a Mari usque ad Mare" (officially translated as "From Sea to Sea") become Canada's official motto, but the term "Dominion" became part of Canada's official name.       

Source: "Dominion of Canada" Historica Canada,

Secondly: a continued Canadian commitment to rule of law and religious freedom…

In 1890; The Public School Act caused a breakdown of discriminatory practises targeting religiously funded Catholic schools in Manitoba. Sir Wilfrid Laurier attempted to mend religious differences with the Laurier-Greenway Compromise of 1896. This law gave provinces the right to self govern but also opened the way for privately funded religious schools to continue. In 1960; after some religious persecution of the Jehovah’s Witnesses in Quebec; Prime Minister John Diefenbaker passed the “Bill of Rights” which once again placed religion at the centre of public life with the purpose to:

 “Acknowledge the supremacy of God” and affirms that “institutions remain free only when freedom is founded upon respect for moral and spiritual values and the rule of law.”

Former Prime Minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau said, “The golden thread of faith is woven throughout the history of Canada from its earliest beginnings up to the present time.” As a result of this understanding; The Charter of Rights and Freedoms (1982) legislated freedom of religion and freedom of conscience for every Canadian. This current charter affirms:

Whereas Canada is founded upon principles that recognize the supremacy of God and the rule of law:

 

Thirdly; the religious climate in Canada today

According to Wikipedia: With Christianity in decline after having once been central and integral to Canadian culture and daily life, Canada has become a post-Christian, secular state despite the majority of Canadians claiming an affiliation with Christianity. The majority of Canadians consider religion to be unimportant in their daily lives, but still believe in God. The practice of religion is now generally considered a private matter throughout society and the state.

Since that is the national case for Canada today: I will seek to answer a thought provoking question.

What happens to a nation that abandons the one true God?

To answer this important question; we will look at the tragedy of the nation of Israel’s abandonment of the one true God during the ministry of Jeremiah the prophet.

George Santayana stated:

"Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it."

 

In Jeremiah, Chapter 2; God states His case against the nation of Israel

 

2 The Lord gave me another message. He said, ² “Go and shout this message to Jerusalem. This is what the Lord says:

“I remember how eager you were to please me
    as a young bride long ago,
how you loved me and followed me
    even through the barren wilderness.
³ In those days Israel was holy to the Lord,
    the first of his children.
All who harmed his people were declared guilty,
    and disaster fell on them.
    I, the Lord, have spoken!”

⁴ Listen to the word of the Lord, people of Jacob—all you families of Israel! ⁵ This is what the Lord says:

“What did your ancestors find wrong with me
    that led them to stray so far from me?
They worshiped worthless idols,
    only to become worthless themselves.
⁶ They did not ask, ‘Where is the Lord
    who brought us safely out of Egypt
and led us through the barren wilderness—
    a land of deserts and pits,
a land of drought and death,
    where no one lives or even travels?’

⁷ “And when I brought you into a fruitful land
    to enjoy its bounty and goodness,
you defiled my land and
    corrupted the possession I had promised you.
⁸ The priests did not ask,
    ‘Where is the Lord?’
Those who taught my word ignored me,
    the rulers turned against me,
and the prophets spoke in the name of Baal,
    wasting their time on worthless idols.
⁹ Therefore, I will bring my case against you,”
    says the Lord.
“I will even bring charges against your children’s children
    in the years to come.

¹⁰ “Go west and look in the land of Cyprus^[b];
    go east and search through the land of Kedar.
Has anyone ever heard of anything
    as strange as this?
¹¹ Has any nation ever traded its gods for new ones,
    even though they are not gods at all?
Yet my people have exchanged their glorious God^[c]
    for worthless idols!
¹² The heavens are shocked at such a thing
    and shrink back in horror and dismay,”
    says the Lord.
¹³ “For my people have done two evil things:
They have abandoned me—
    the fountain of living water.
And they have dug for themselves cracked cisterns
    that can hold no water at all!

Like the Dominion of Canada; the nation of Israel had originally honoured the one true God and their nation was meant to be a blessing for all peoples. Canada enjoyed a fruitful Judeo-Christian birth and adolescence because it respected Jesus Christ and the rule of law based on Judeo-Christian Biblical morality. It is a well known fact that Canadian Common law has its origins in British law which has its origins in the Holy Bible.

 

According to prophet Jeremiah: Israel committed two evils.  Below is the first

¹³ “For my people have done two evil things:
They have abandoned me—
    the fountain of living water.

In the Bible; fountains of living water represent a satisfying life found only in God. Isn’t it true today much like in Jeremiah’s day that Jesus Christ is being abandoned by our national leaders, the Holy Bible has fallen out of vogue with the most Canadians, and places of Christian worship are mostly empty on the Lord’s Day? Why is this so? Why have Canadians abandoned the God who has blessed their lives and upheld their nation for these past 150 years?  

The second evil that Israel committed answers this question.

 And they have dug for themselves cracked cisterns
 that can hold no water at all!

Much like Canada today; the nation of Israel turned to other gods from foreign nations and other gods of their own making. Jeremiah compared these false gods to a cracked drinking water reservoir that can’t hold any drinking water. Water is meant to sustain life for all people. In other words, the nation of Israel traded the sustained life of satisfaction they once enjoyed when they worshiped the one true God for an unsustainable life of misery when they turned to false gods. The trade illustrated here is clearly a poor choice.

 

And how did the rest of the story end?

In brief; after having been given numerous terms of surrender by an opposing Babylonian King; tragedy and ruin fell upon the nation of Israel when they were completely conquered and vanquished as part of God’s divine judgement. Israel’s national identity was erased with the destruction of their temple; which signified their religious worship of the one is true God. In terms of what disaster awaits the Dominion of Canada if we continue in apathy towards worshipping the one true God; I can only speculate but the results will likely be equally tragic.

How we can avoid future national judgment?

Psalm 115

¹ Not to us, O Lord, not to us,
    but to your name goes all the glory
    for your unfailing love and faithfulness.
² Why let the nations say,
    “Where is their God?”
³ Our God is in the heavens,
    and he does as he wishes.
⁴ Their idols are merely things of silver and gold,
    shaped by human hands.
⁵ They have mouths but cannot speak,
    and eyes but cannot see.
⁶ They have ears but cannot hear,
    and noses but cannot smell.
⁷ They have hands but cannot feel,
    and feet but cannot walk,
    and throats but cannot make a sound.
⁸ And those who make idols are just like them,
    as are all who trust in them.

⁹ O Israel, trust the Lord!
    He is your helper and your shield.
¹⁰ O priests, descendants of Aaron, trust the Lord!
    He is your helper and your shield.
¹¹ All you who fear the Lord, trust the Lord!
    He is your helper and your shield.

¹² The Lord remembers us and will bless us.
    He will bless the people of Israel
    and bless the priests, the descendants of Aaron.
¹³ He will bless those who fear the Lord,
    both great and lowly.

¹⁴ May the Lord richly bless
    both you and your children.
¹⁵ May you be blessed by the Lord,
    who made heaven and earth.
¹⁶ The heavens belong to the Lord,
    but he has given the earth to all humanity.
¹⁷ The dead cannot sing praises to the Lord,
    for they have gone into the silence of the grave.
¹⁸ But we can praise the Lord
    both now and forever!

Praise the Lord!

 

Like the nation of Israel before us; we must remember the God who birthed and upheld our nation these past 150 years! It’s not too late to return to worshipping the one true God and the Lord Jesus Christ. Our Forefathers’ once asked God almighty for a land where His dominion would span from sea to sea and the Lord answered with the confederation of the Dominion of Canada. Now all glory to God, who is able, through his mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think. Glory to him in the church and in Christ Jesus through all generations forever and ever! Amen.