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II KINGS 17:7-18

"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 forsake 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, Viet Nam, Iran.
                2. We were once great as the Lion the King of the beast.
                   Feared and  respected.