April 6, 2025 - Understanding God's Nature in a Time of Impending Peril - Pastor Paul Vallee

[00:00:00] Why don't we stand as we go to the Lord in prayer? [00:00:04] I don't know what I did. I thought I had that little remote clicker here. Can you just. Oh, there it is. Thank you, Sterling. Kleenex. Hit it. [00:00:13] It's been one of those mornings. How many have ever had one of those mornings when things just don't work? [00:00:20] Started out, my printer wouldn't work. Okay, that's fine. I can send it on to the church. So I did sent it to the church. It printed in a totally bad format. I went, oh, this isn't going to work. And so I had the guys praying, and eventually I came up with an idea and it actually worked. So that's good for me, because otherwise it's really hard to be trying to figure out where in the paper your notes really are going. How many know that's true? So God is good all the time. And when we have a little trial or a difficulty or a big trial, because we all have them in life, how many know that's true? It's not that God doesn't like you. [00:01:00] God is actually helping you grow. You're going to learn beautiful virtues like perseverance and patience, you know? Right. We all want to learn those things, don't we? [00:01:13] Yeah, we do. We just don't want to go through the process of learning those things. All right, so let's pray this morning. Father, we just thank youk. You're such a loving God, and I thank youk for your Word. Your Word instructs us in youn ways. And as we pray, Lord, teach us your ways. That's a good prayer because you want to do that. You want to give us insight, discernment, and understanding. And my prayer today has been that you will prepare our hearts, that we will hear your voice, that the seed of your word would be engrafted, it would be planted in our soul, and it would produce fruit, good fruit, Lord, much fruit in our lives. That's our prayer. That we would be people who not just hear God's Word, but and forget what it says, but that we would be people who would hear your Word and embrace it and apply it in our lives. And we would see the good end result of doing that. And we thank you for that. And Lord, as we're going through the book of Jeremiah, one of the most profound books that I've ever spoken from, Lord, has been challenging. It's been insightful. I pray today that as we listen to this, as we're looking at your Word to a collective nations, help us to remember we're part of those nations and we're affected by those things as well. And what is true for a nation is also true for us individually. So help us to gain great insight today, and we thank you for that. In Jesus name and God's people said, amen. Amen. You may be seated. [00:02:44] You know, I've entitled this sermon Understanding God's Nature in a Time of Impending Peril. Now I'm going to say something I've been reading the last few weeks here, and last week, it really struck me. You know, I hear this statement a lot of times by people. You know, we're living in a difficult time. We're living in a bad time where, you know, everything is corrupt. It's never been worse. You know, I hear these comments, and then I read words like Jesus is saying, you're a perverse and twisted generation, and he's talking about his own generation. And then I hear Peter preaching a sermon. He says, flee this corrupt generation. And as I read through the Bible, as I read through Scripture, I recognize a pattern. And the pattern is simply there's two groups of people on the planet, those that are following God and those who aren't following God. And when the people who aren't following God are a major majority and they have the influence, and what happens is the culture becomes more polluted and more corrupt, and God keeps trying to warn them, and if they don't listen, eventually God addresses it. How many know that's been the pattern of scripture, and we're going to see that again this morning. And I think, you know, especially as we begin to look at the ongoing tensions in our world between nations, this isn't working. [00:04:03] Chris, this clicker. What we discover is the story of national disputes over land territories. How many know that? That's generally what happens? You know, it's one of the core issues, I think, of what's it's working now. Thanks, guys. Is one of the core issues in the Middle east conflict, how many know it's always about the land? Anybody notice that they're fighting over, you know, who has what? And I'm not going to go into, you know, all of that. I'm just suggesting the thought, and this is the idea I'm trying to bring across to us, that conflict between nations is generally over having something somebody else has. It really comes down to that. And by the way, that's true even of human beings. We're always wanting what we don't have. And that's true of countries as well. So what does God have to say to us about this issue and maybe how does that apply to us? Because when I look today at the current Russian and Ukraine conflict where one side advocates that they're trying to restore land that once belonged to them, it's actually at the heart of every expansionist design by nations that have occurred over and over again through the centuries. And you know, I don't know if I'm a historian, but I certainly read a lot about history and I read, you know, a lot of books about history and I realize it's a lot about these kind of conflicts that are going on. It's happening all the time through the ages. [00:05:26] So what does God want to say to us about this? Well, I can quickly say that when nations become aggressive, either militarily or economically, people's lives are going to be deeply impacted and they're going to end up forfeiting the lifestyle or the life they once knew. And that always happens when a nation invades another nation. You're at war, everything changes. There's rationing, people's lives are lost. The life you once had is gone. [00:05:52] And you know, we've lived, and I've said this before, we've lived in an unusual period of history in North America. We've had, I would call it unmitigated prosperity. It's been amazing. You know, we've not had wars in our area for, for a long time now. We've lived in abundance and affluence and for many people they've become very self sufficient. They've focused on things, you know, they've lived a good life. We've all had a good life. We can't even complain about our lives. I know sometimes we do, but it's not who's going to listen to this. I mean, we're not starving to death and all of those things. So in Paul's message to the Athenians on Mars Hill, he makes a very powerful and I think a sweeping understanding of the sovereignty of God over the nations and their appointed times in history, as well as their boundaries that God himself had decreed for them to live within. I think this very powerful scripture and you know, I've read this text, I haven't thought about it and you know, I've preached on the Book of Acts. But I've never really delved into this idea before and I've never read it anywhere else. And this week it just like the Holy Spirit just drops stuff into my spirit. It's very unusual. I mean, I usually get ideas from different people and I develop those Ideas. But I mean, this just kind of hit me with real impact. And I'll give you what the idea is, simply listen what it says here. From one man, Adam, he made all the nations that they should inhabit the whole earth. Remember, God called them go out and multiply, scatter, spread, multiply, that they should inhabit the whole earth. And he marked out their appointed times in history, the boundaries of their land. So who's the one that creates the geographical boundaries in which nations should stay within? [00:07:42] Thank you. God does. He's the one that's doing this now. God did this. So the question I asked then, you know, so what was God's intention in creating boundaries? And he goes on to say it. He says, so God did this so that they would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from any one of us. For in him we move and we have our being. Now I'm going to make a statement. Every nation has limitations. [00:08:13] Every nation has not all the resources. Generally speaking, other sub nations have a lot of riches. But other nations there's got greater limitations than other nations have. I'm going to say that's true. And I would argue today, if even individually, that everyone in this room, we have limitations. [00:08:33] We all do. And one of the reasons why we need to be in community, one of the reasons why I think God builds community and forces us into community in many ways, is so that we can help each other with our limitations. Because, you know, your strengths may help someone else's limitations. How many see that? And so we kind of help one another. And I think it's true with nations that the idea of nations having limitations, what they need to do is instead of deciding, well, I'm going to go get what I want from somebody else, even have to beat them up or beat that nation up, is maybe they need to cry out to God. See, it says God did this so that they would seek Him. God did it. The answer to our problems, folks, the answer to national limitations, the answer to individual limitations is that you and I begin to seek God. And we look to God to be the one that provides for us rather than, oh, we're just going to handle this in our own wisdom and understanding. So God's intention is that we would seek him for the sources of our subsistence and not enter into conflict with other nations except to defend ourselves from a conquest. I don't think God is opposed to us doing that. But what about what we're about to discover in Jeremiah chapter 49 is God's message to the nations within the geographical expanse between Babylon, which is, you know, Iraq and Egypt, so that whole Middle Eastern area. And he's going to deal with their abuse of this principle of expansionism, of military might, of exploiting other nations. God's going to address these issues because here's what I'm going to say to us. God, every nation that God has created, they're all accountable to God. Just like every human being is accountable to God. Every nation is accountable to God even if they don't believe in the true and the living God. Even if they have false gods, they are false and they're still accountable to their Creator. And we know who he is. [00:10:35] So all of these nations were about or were receiving or experiencing God's message of impending judgment. Yet even in the midst of this message of judgment, we're going to see words of hope, words of restoration. Because God, you know, I love this. How many know mercy and love always triumphs over judgment? But God doesn't dismiss judgment. Judgment is a part of his nature. Because without, without judgment there would be no justice. And without justice, well that would be a denial of the very essence and nature of who God is. And that's a denial of the essence of who we are. Because we're made in his image. And we know that there are some things that are right and there's some things that are wrong. Even though sometimes we get skewed in our thinking as to what's right and what's wrong. And sometimes people get confused between what's right and what's wrong. And we get, as Jesus said, this is a twisted generation. That's a quote I was reading from the book of Luke. How would you like to have Jesus say, yeah, you guys are just a bunch of twisted people, you know, but he said that and it was true. They were messed up, they were confused, they were in darkness, they had perverted what what God intended. And when every time we do that, it's always to our own diminishment as a human being. And as diminishment as a nation, we are also diminished in the same way. So we're going to briefly examine these nations, their strengths, but we're going to see their glaring weaknesses of self reliance. And ultimately it leads to their demise. And so what things lead to the destruction of nations? That's a great question. What brings countries down? And in this chapter we're going to summarize God's judgment and expressions of grace around three themes. And the first one I want to talk about is a nation who begins to seize what belongs to another nation. So this is an expansionist mentality. This is an aggressive behavior on the part of a country. And how does God view that? Okay, I mean, we all may have opinions about it, but how does God see it? Because God's going to reveal to us here in their text exactly what he thinks. [00:12:39] We have to remind ourselves, yeah, he's appointed times, he's established boundaries. But when nations begin to take advantage of other nations, they're still accountable to God. [00:12:50] And this is what God says through Jeremiah. Here's his first charge against the nation of Ammon In Jeremiah, chapter 49, beginning in verse one, he says, concerning the Ammonites. This is what the Lord says. Has Israel no sons? Has Israel no heir? Why then has Molech, that's the name of the Ammonite God, taken possession of Gad, That's a tribe in the nation of Israel. Why do his people live in its town? So what's happening here? Well, the Ammonites, during the exile of the northern kingdom of Israel, assumed possession of the land allotted by God to the Israelites. The question is framed as a metaphor of inheritance. Has Israel no sons or heirs? And as I've already said, Molech is a God of the Ammonites, and the land was in possession of the tribe of Gad. Walter Brueggeman says the indictment thus is that Ammon has wrongly seized Israelite territory and has disregarded Israel's legitimate claim. As heirs of that land, Ammon has taken what is not rightfully his. So what's God going to do about this? This is interesting. Well, here's God's sentence on the Ammonite action. God himself declares war on Ammon. I don't know about you, but I don't want to be known as a person who's fighting God. [00:14:13] You're probably not going to do so good. Let's read what he says here. He says, but the days are coming, declares the Lord, When I will sound the battle cry against Rabah of the Ammonites. It will become a mound of ruins. Surrounding villages will be set. Then Israel will drive out those who drove her out, says the Lord. [00:14:32] Whale Heshbon, for AI is destroyed. Cry out, you inhabitants of Rabbi. These are all cities in Ammon. Put on sackcloth and mourn. That's grief, clothes. That's because death is now reigning. He says, here and there, inside the walls. Rush here and there, inside the walls, for Moloch will go into exile. That's what happens when your nation is defeated. You're taken into exiles and your gods are taken in as well. It's the ancient mindset, as our gods are greater than your gods, and they take them away. They're stripping them of any hope that they would have, together with his priests and his officials. So what's happening here? God is promising restoration of the land back to Israel. For God is about to exile Ammon not only from their land that they've seized from Israel, but also he's going to take them out of their own land. So when you get greedy and you start taking what doesn't belong to you, God not only strips you what you took, he also takes what you had. [00:15:29] Good lesson. Don't get greedy. [00:15:32] If you're greedy, you'll even lose what you have. How's that? Little warning on an individual level, but also on a national level, as these people are going to find out. [00:15:44] God is basically telling them they'll be in a state of mourning and grief. That's what it means to have sackcloth. And what were they to mourn over? Not just their losses, but I think their underlying reasons for the losses. God's interested in us mourning over our sin. God is interested in us in coming to a recognition of what the basic problem is in our life. Now, some people, when they finally come to that place where they realize they've sinned, you know, there's two things that can happen. There's, I think there's a good grief and a good shame, and there's a bad grief and a bad shame. Okay? The good grief and the good shame says, what I've done is wrong, I need to change. That's all positive. And we turn to God and we ask for his help and God can forgive us. And there's a great work of grace that happens in our lives. The bad type is that we continue to live with the sense of, I'm not worthy, I'm no good, I'm a piece of garbage. That's the voice of the enemy, okay? Nobody is without value. We're all made in the image of God. And what happens is when we sin, we can so identify with our sin that we start to believe that our sin is who we are. That's the problem we're having in our culture today. Many people are sinning and they start identifying to such a degree with their sin that they believe that that's their true identity, when in reality our sin is not our identity. We were all made in the beautiful image of Go. And we were designed by God to become like God, and that you and I need to be free from our sin, that we can become the person that God ultimately designed us to become. Isn't that beautiful? And he does that through his grace. [00:17:25] And you say, well, yeah, but I still struggle with my sins. I say, yeah, that's true. But when you're a believer, you have grace that's greater than your sin. Isn't that beautiful? So you can say to yourself, I struggle with addictions. Yeah, but you've got God's grace that's greater than any addiction. Yeah, but I struggle with depression. But you got a grace that is greater than your depression. We need to understand God's power and grace is greater than our problem. [00:17:52] And we need to get that in our minds. Okay, so now we have the second charge against Ammon. The second issue that brought about God's judgment on them was her self sufficiency and her self reliance. They had a false sense of security. [00:18:07] Now how many know? We kind of develop that in North America. We have a false sense of security. So when we put our trust in that which is temporal and fleeting, such as material things, including military prowess or our military abilities, we are now opening ourselves up to be attacked. [00:18:25] Well, that's a problem. [00:18:28] So what do you read here? God now declares war. As I've already said on Ammon. No. [00:18:37] Yeah, let's move on to. [00:18:42] So I think right now we're in a process of unraveling as a nation. [00:18:49] Anybody say that's probably true? Little unraveling happening. We have put our trust in many things as Canadians other than God, and as a result, our resources are under siege. It's getting quiet in here. [00:19:04] What is fascinating to watch is how we blame other people for this disaster. [00:19:09] Come on now. Oh, we're going to blame those. You know, it's Donald Trump, he's the problem. [00:19:18] That's what we do. [00:19:19] Why don't we stop looking at that and say, God, we're getting what we've been sowing for a long time. [00:19:28] We've been trusting ourselves. It's all been about materialism. And you're stripping us. [00:19:34] And you know what? You're forcing us to stop blaming. Blaming people is never going to solve your problems. By the way. I don't know if you know, you're just going to become a victim and you're going to walk around angry and victimized. It's not going to change it one little bit, actually. It'll make you do stupid stuff. Okay, what you need to do is say, okay, God, what do I need to learn from this? And I believe I need to look up and say, okay, God, in my life, what needs to change? [00:20:01] I need to start trusting you in a way I have never done before. I need to stop looking to the things of this world as if they're the answer to my problems. Start looking to you. Okay, but we rarely see, as I said, the sins of our own rebellion against God and our many other sins as the underlying reasons for what is happening. [00:20:21] You're saying we're the problem, Pastor? I'm saying absolutely we're the problem. Okay? So let's stop looking around and blaming other people to say God, you know, search me and see if there be any wicked way me. Help me to turn away from these things in my life and to serve you wholeheartedly. Now, Jeremiah, verse 49, verse 4 and 5. It says, why do you boast of your valleys? Boast of your valleys. So fruitful. Unfaithful daughter of Ammon, you trust in your riches and say, who will attack me? He says, I will bring terror on you from all those around you, declares the Lord Almighty. Every one of you will be driven away and no one will gather the refugees. So what God is saying is, I'm against you. And I have this little statement that says, if God is for you, who can be against you? But if God is against you, it doesn't matter who's for you. You're hooped, right? So I'd rather be God. I am with you, and you are for me, and I'm for you. And I'm staying in that camp rather than, you know, fighting God. These guys were fighting God. They're always going to lose. But, you know, God is so gracious, we get a word of hope, a future word of hope. He says, yet afterwards, I will restore the fortunes of the Ammonites. Declare the Lord. God is promising restoration. Only God can restore what sin brings about in our life, which is devastating losses. So instead of focusing in on how can we stop this, why don't we just come to God and say, lord, I just want to walk with you. I want to get close to you. I want to do your will. I'm going to walk in your ways, I'm going to walk in wisdom, and I'm going to trust that God, you're going to take care of me. And I believe God will take care of us and God will take care of our nation as we turn our faces back toward him. And it'll happen. So God not only brings about judgment, but he's the one who saves and restores nations. Yes, God uses people, but in our hope, it should not be in people, but in God's grace. So, you know, I know we're in the middle of an election and everybody has an idea and I don't say anything because I'm just going. Ultimately, it doesn't matter who's in there. We're going to have to look to God. [00:22:34] Amen. And human beings, including your pastor as a leader, we're all going to falter. We're all weak human beings. We're all going to make mistakes at times. That's going to happen. You know, there's no perfect individual except Jesus. Let's get that in our heads. Amen. So let's look to him for the answer. Let me move on here. [00:22:57] The second theme of God's judgment of a nation is the terror they cause others. And it's inspired by their pride. Okay? So when nations become puffed up, arrogant, proudful, and decide to inflict injury on other nations, they can expect that God will deal with that sin by bringing them down. He'll do that. It'll happen. It happens over and over again. The Bible says God opposes the proud, but shows favor to the humble. Submit yourselves, then to God. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up. [00:23:35] Those are verses 6 through 7A and 10. So now God's attention now turns to Edom. This is another nation. Keep reading verse eight. We're going to look at it. Which in the past was noted for its wisdom. Edom was supposedly a nation of wisdom. It is to this past tradition that God challenges them to consider from where they were formerly were. [00:23:59] Ah, sometimes as Canadians, we got to look back at our history. You know, we had some people that were smart. [00:24:05] Even though we're trying to reconstruct history, I think that's a big mistake because we're not going to learn. We're not going to learn from the good things, we're not going to learn from the bad things. You know, we didn't do everything right, but we didn't do everything wrong. So to recast history is a very unwise thing to do. I don't believe in that. I think. No, let's just look at history with warts and all. Learn from it, right? So they were to consider where they formally were. They were prudent. But now they've strayed and become haughty and proud. And as we're about to see, God's judgment is going to be very severe to this nation. To those who know better, I put down punishment is always more severe. If you know better and you do the wrong thing, you're going to be dealt with more severely than if you don't know better and do the wrong thing. And that's the way it should be. You're going against something you know, and you're doing it anyways. Listen, Verse seven, concerning Edom. This is what the Lord Almighty says. There is no longer wisdom in Teman. That's a city. In Edom has counsel perished from the prudent? Has their wisdom decayed? In other words, he's going, what happened to you guys? You had it together and now you've got. You've moved away from, you know, the foundations that you were doing well on. You've moved away from those things. Now look what you're doing. You're full of yourselves and you're going to get nailed big time. I'm going to deal with you guys for your behavior. [00:25:31] He goes, turn and flee. Hide in deep caves, you who live in Eden, for I will bring disaster on Esau. At the time when I punished him, see, Edom was actually the descendants of Esau. That's who these people are. He goes, if grape pickers came to you, would they not leave a few grapes? If thieves came during the night, would they not steal only as much as they wanted? [00:25:54] But then God says, now God is coming against them. But I'm going to strip you bare. I'm going to uncover your hidden places so that he cannot conceal himself. His armed men are destroyed, also his allies and neighbors. So there's no one to say, we'll stop there for a moment. What is God saying? That it's a time to flee, for the conflict ahead is an expression of judgment by God. They're not going to succeed. The analogy of grape pickers was a part of a social welfare program. That's true. Even in Israel, they left some of the gleanings for the poor. He said, but you know what God says, but I'm so upset with you, I'm not even going to leave gleanings for the poor. I'm just going to strip you guys completely. Wow. That's pretty strong. [00:26:34] How would you like to have God dealing with you at this level? Severe judgment. [00:26:40] And let me tell you something. As a nation, we know very little about severe judgment. But talk to people who lived during World War II in Europe. They can tell you about severe judgment. [00:26:50] That's a whole new ball game. [00:26:53] Okay, but then, you know, here's God again. Compassionate to whom the least, the lost, the humble, the oppressed so he goes on to say, leave your fatherless children. I'll keep them alive. Your widows can depend on me. [00:27:07] Wow. So God is saying, hey, I'm going to take care of. I'll take care of these people. And Walter Brueggeman basically says, in such a war devastated society, there will inevitably be orphans and widows without resources or protection. They are predictable products of war. These, however, unlike the subjects of verses 7 through 10, will be safe with Yahweh. They are invited to trust God and God will give them life. So there's always this element with God is turn to me, trust me, I'll take care of you. So if you're in a state right now in your life, where you're going, I don't know what to do. It's beyond me. I'm grasping for straws. You don't need to keep grasping for straws. Turn to him, trust him, look to him. That's the answer. [00:27:53] So how should we handle the judgments upon our land as a nation right now? I say it's real. Simply, we need to turn our hearts to God in humility and deep dependency, crying out to God for mercy. That's what we should do. That's number one. Number two, I think we should do what Jesus did. In his twisted and perverse and corrupt generation, he kept showing what? Forgiveness, love, compassion, doing good to the enemies, you know? You know what I hear from people? I hear unbelieving attitudes, like, we're going to get even. We're going to do this. We're going to make these guys suffer. I'm going wrong thinking that's not Christian. [00:28:32] Come on, how are we supposed to treat our enemies? Pray for them, bless them, do good to them. Yeah, but they don't deserve it. Yeah, but I don't deserve God's grace. [00:28:46] Nor do you. But he gives it to us. Beautiful. Then we see the inevitability of God's judgment. In verse 12, he says, this is what the Lord says. If those who do not deserve to drink the cup must drink it. Why should you go unpunished? [00:29:01] You will not go unpunished, but you must drink it. What's this cup? It's the cup of suffering. It's the cup of judgment. Jesus drank that cup. Jesus himself drank the cup of judgment for the sins of all of humanity. Wow. [00:29:15] So God goes on this way. I swear by myself, declares the Lord that Boozrah will become a rune and a curse, an object of horror and reproach, and all of its towns will be in ruins forever. Still speaking about the nation here of Edom. So God's charge against Edom's terror and pride. I have heard a message from the Lord. An envoy was sent to the nations to say, assemble yourselves to attack it. Rise up for battle now. I'll make you small among the nations despised by mankind. The terror you inspired and the pride of your heart has deceived you. Wow. Let's pause. Think about that. [00:29:53] When we bully people, it's because, you know, we think of ourselves as more than we should. We're full of ourselves and we're living in a state of self deception. You know, they were living in the clefts of the rocks. Who occupied the heights of the hill? If you go to where Edom traditionally was living, as you're moving towards Petra, as you're driving from Israel to the Jordan, the southern part, that's where this place is. There's all these hilly areas. They felt like these were defensible positions. Nobody can get us. We're in the cliffs, right? It's really difficult to overcome us, you know, though, he says, you build nests as high as the eagles. From there, I'll bring you down, declares the Lord. You know, if we trust in anything but God, God says, it's not going to work. I can get you there. [00:30:41] God can reach people wherever they are at. People are not so strong or in such a great position that they can somehow resist God's judgment against them. God will get them. He just does. Edom will become an object of horror. All who pass by will be appalled and will scoff because of all of its wounds. Okay, very strong language here. We see that God has rallied the nations in an alliance against Edom. [00:31:08] And then three powerful metaphors are used to describe the nature of this judgment. It will have a total impact upon the nation. Just like Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed completely, so God will completely destroy Edom. He says in verse 18, as Sodom and Gomorrah were overthrown along with their neighboring town, says the Lord, so no one will live there. No people will dwell in it. In other words, God says, I'm going to ruin this area. Number two, the picture is of a lion attacking a flock of sheep. Shepherds were an image of political leadership in the Old Testament. No human leader would be able to protect Edom from God's intentions. He says, like a lion coming up from Jordan's thickets to a rich pasture land, I will chase Edom from its land in an instant. Who is the chosen one? I will appoint for this who is like me, who can challenge me, and what shepherd can stand against me? In other words, God says, if I'm against you, who is going to be able to oppose me? We already know the answer. Nobody. [00:32:05] Therefore hear what the Lord has planned against Edom, what the purpose is against those who live in Teman. The young of the flock will be dragged away. Their pasture will be appalled at their fate. Wow. [00:32:18] At the sound of their fall, the earth will tremble. Their cry will resound to the Red Sea. So he's given us three, you know, graphic metaphors, pictures of how devastating this judgment will be upon the nation of Edom. The third image is that of an eagle about to capture its prey. Look, an eagle will swore and swoop down, spreading its wings over Bozrah. In that day, the hearts of Edom's warriors will be like the heart of a woman in labor. The nation that causes terror for others will now be totally terrorized, devastated. [00:32:54] Whatsoever we sow, we shall reap. [00:33:01] Isn't that. That's an agricultural picture. [00:33:04] That's true. [00:33:06] You know, as Christians, think about what we're saying and doing. Everything you say and do, you're sowing, so make sure you're sowing the right stuff. How many say amen to that? I want to sow the right stuff. I want to sow encouragement. I want to sow comfort. I want to sow forgiveness. I want to sow love. I want to sow generosity. I want to sow kindness. Why would you want to sow these things? Because I'm going to reap them. It's a principle. But if I sow anger, hatred, insecurity, frustration, what's going to come back to me? It's coming back. It's like a boomerang. [00:33:51] So I'm warning us now, hey, be careful what you're saying. Be careful what you're doing. And as a nation, we need to be careful of our responses to nations. You know, you say, oh, yeah, well, they don't deserve that. Pastor, I'm going, nobody deserves anything. Get that out of your head. If it's going by deserving, you're going to be doing a lot, not a lot of stuff. I can tell you that right now. Okay, let me move to the final theme of God's judgment of a nation is the eventuality of that judgment. The issue is not if judgment comes. You see, people, just because God doesn't do it right away, everyone goes, nothing's happening. Nothing's happening. Nothing's happening. [00:34:37] But the issue is not if, but when. [00:34:43] You know, the scripture talks about judgment to come. Why? Because God's long suffering. God doesn't always judge immediately. It doesn't mean that judgment will not come. Listen to how Paul's speaking. He's now speaking to Felix. The Roman governor says several days later, Felix came with his wife Drusilla, who was Jewish. He sent for Paul and he listened to him. He listened to Paul as he spoke about faith in Christ Jesus. So Paul's witnessing to the Roman governor of Judea, and he says this. Paul talked about righteousness, doing the right thing, self control. [00:35:19] Oh, I'll tell you self control, underline that. And the judgment to come. [00:35:25] Don't tell me that the Bible doesn't talk about judgment to come. When I read the Bible, and I've read it a lot, folks, I see a picture, I see a door of grace right now. I see the Gospel being communicated. I see the love of God being expressed to humanity. But just like in the day of Noah, as he preached for a hundred years, eventually Noah went inside the ark and God closed the door. And that was it. It was over. Judgment to come. [00:35:57] We have judgment coming to this world. [00:36:02] And you know, the tragedy is we're so caught up in this world. [00:36:06] Everything that you see with your physical eyes right now is temporary. Everything. [00:36:12] Isn't it tragic that we live for so much of what is temporal and temporary? All these things are going to pass away. What is that which is eternal? God's word, the souls of people, Those are the eternal things. Why aren't we concentrating on that? That which makes total sense to me? It's eternal in nature. We should be focusing our minds on that. We should be investing into that. We should be pouring into the lives of people. We should be laying out our lives for others. That's what Jesus did. That's what we should be doing. [00:36:50] Felix was afraid and said, that's enough for now. He was under conviction. He goes, you may leave. And when I find it convenient, I'll send for you. It never became convenient. Felix never got right with God. He's spending an eternity. A man who heard the gospel spending eternity perished because he didn't respond. At least it doesn't seem like he did. Peter talks about it, but the day of the Lord will come like a thief. How many know thieves don't show up when you're expecting them. [00:37:17] They come real quickly and they take something. The heavens will disappear with a roar. The elements will be destroyed by fire. The earth and everything in it will be laid bare. You know that word, laid bare? Intrigued me. So I went into my Greek lexicon, I looked it up. You know that word, the idea here is that everything will be disclosed or manifested. It's going to be laid bare. In other words, all the things that people are doing in secret that they think they're getting away from, God's going to put it up right out in the open. Everything that you and I are doing, it's manifested before God. God knows your thinking. God knows what's going on in your life. He knows all the secrets. Guys, you know, you might as well just tell God, hey, if I have a problem, my muscle will just be forthcoming and totally authentic and, you know, open with God and say, hey, this is where it's at and I need help, right? You know, it says. And then he goes on to say in that text, he says, you know, he says, this is what should motivate us to live a holy life and become the right kind of people. [00:38:21] God wants us to live a separated life, a different life. We're not going to act like the non believers and how they think and behave. We're going to behave differently than that. It's powerful. [00:38:31] So as we look at the next nations, we discover there's no clear charge in our text to gain insight into maybe why they're being judged by God. Until you do a little digging, a little more historical digging. You think of Damascus. Well, God's word against Damascus was not stated here in Jeremiah, but then as I looked in the book of Amos and Amos wrote 150 years earlier than Jeremiah. So this is what Amos said to the nation Syria, really, or Aram, whatever name you want to use. He said, this is what the Lord says for three sins of Damascus, even for four, I will not relent because she thrashed Gilead with sledges having iron teeth. In other words, she fought against the nation of Israel and she was militaristic and she was cruel in her conquests. At times in Israel, he goes on to say, I will send fire on the house of Hazael. That's the name of their king. And I'll consume the fortresses of Ben Hadad. That's another. These are names of kings in the past. He said, I will break down the gates of Damascus. I will destroy the king who's in the valley of Ben, even means wickedness. And the one who holds the scepter in Ben Eden, the house of Eden, the people of Aram, another name for Syria, will go into exile to Kur, says the Lord. So God is giving a word of Judgment through Amos. So here's the word that Jeremias has, which is now 150 years later. But he's not going to tell them why God's judging. Because God's been telling them all along. He doesn't have to keep repeating himself. He's been warning them, he says, concerning Damascus. Hamath and Arpad are dismayed, for they have heard bad news. They are disheartened, troubled like the restless sea. Damascus has become feeble. She has turned to flee and panic has gripped her. Anguish and pain has seized her. Pain like that of a woman in labor. Isn't that beautiful? Personification. You know, it's a city. But really what it's saying is the people in the city are behaving like this. That's what he's saying to us. This is poetry, right? He goes on to say, why has the city of renown not been abandoned? The town in which I delight. Surely her young men will fall in the streets. All of her soldiers will be silenced in that day. What does that mean? It means they're going to be dead. [00:40:39] When you're silent, you're dead. These guys have been killed. [00:40:44] I will set fire to the walls of Damascus. It will consume the fortresses of Ben Hadad. [00:40:53] Hamah and Arpad are part of this kingdom. It has fallen. Distress has filled their hearts. As I've already said, the soldiers, they're dead. So a word now to give us a sense, as I said, of the patience of God with nations. God's been warning them for 150 years. Could you imagine? You know, how old is our nation now? [00:41:20] 158 years. [00:41:22] So this is just rough. This is how long God's been warning this nation the whole length of our history as a country. How many say, that's amazing. And now he's going to do something about it. How many say God is patient? Is God patient? Of course he's patient. He's long suffering. Now, why is God so patient with us? He's not willing that any should perish. God is patient because he's showing us kindness when he should be showing us judgment. He's showing us kindness in order to lead us to what? Repentance? To change your mind. He's giving us opportunity. He's a God of opportunity. Thank God for that, you know. So while people continue to sin, God's long suffering grace has been there, allowing them time to repent. But all of that has occurred during that time has been a hardening of the heart. [00:42:08] And if people get hearts, hearts get so Hard. Pretty soon they don't care anymore. [00:42:15] You know, there's people that you can talk to. I don't care. I'm not interested. Their hearts are hard. You know, it's all. There's no more opportunity. What eventually happens is judgment. Here's a word to Kedar and Hazor, two nomadic kingdoms. [00:42:31] It's interesting. He says, concerning Kedar and the kingdoms of Hazer, which Nebuchadnezzar king and Babylon attacked. This is what the Lord says. Arise and attack Kedar and destroy the people of the east. Their tents and their flocks will be taken. Their shelters will be carried off with their goods and camels. People will shout to them, terror on every side. In other words, they're surrounded. They're not getting away. He goes on flee quickly away. Stay in deep caves, you who live in Hazor, declares the Lord. Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, has plotted against you. He's devised a plan against you. In other words, what he's saying is, God is doing it through Nebuchadnezzar. God is going to judge these people. He goes on to say, arise and attack a nation at ease which lives in confidence. Oh, I got to pause there. Attack a nation at ease and lives in confidence. Sounds something like places we live, right? We're at ease and we live in confidence. But you know what? [00:43:20] That's a scary place to be. [00:43:22] We need to evaluate where we're at. Is God speaking, declares the Lord. A nation that has neither gates nor bars. As people live far from danger. In other words, they feel like no one's going to bother us because we're really not worth going after in their thinking, you know, we don't have cities to, you know, to take riches from. These are nomadic peoples. These are people that feel secure in their nomadic state, but watch what happens. Their camels will become plunder. Their large herds will be spoils of war. I will scatter to the wind those who are in distant places and bring disaster on them from every side, declares the Lord. So what is God saying? He's saying, listen, I'm going to reach these guys. [00:44:04] So the final nation mentioned in this chapter. [00:44:11] This. Yeah, let me move on here. The final nation mentioned is Elam, verse 34. This is the word that the Lord came to Jeremiah, the prophet, concerning Elam early in the reign of Zedekiah, king of Judah. This is what the Lord Almighty says, see, I will break the bow of Elam, the mainstay of their might. Breaking of the. This is military language. I mean, These people obviously had military might. Breaking a bow, that's an image. It's a symbol. The bow is a tool to fight with. He says, I'm going to break that. I'm going to beat them. [00:44:47] He goes on to say, I will bring against Elam the four winds from the four quarters of heaven. I'll scatter them to the four winds. There will not be a nation where Elim's exiles do not go. Now, remember something about exile. And I said this about the Israelites. Why does God put people into exile and remove them from their land? It's an expression of. In a sense of judgment. He's casting them aside for a season. He's pushing them away. Okay. He goes on to say, I will shatter Elam before their foes, before those who want to kill them. I will bring disaster on them. Even my fierce anger declares the Lord. I will pursue them with the sword until I have made an end of them. I don't know about you, but I wouldn't really want to have God as my enemy. This chapter is really kind of giving us that sense that these people eventually become the enemies of God. And listen very carefully. We say, well, how does that even relate to us, Pastor? Friendship with this world means that we're an enemy of God. [00:45:43] Is that scary? I don't want to be a friend of this world. [00:45:48] This world means I'm embracing its values. And you know what I find with a lot of Christians, A lot of Christians, we start embracing the values of our society. [00:45:58] You say, how do we do that, Pastor? You know what's been shocking to me over the years? I'll pick on one area. Okay, Just. And I'll give you what shocks me. We have a lot of young people. They just move in without getting married. [00:46:11] Right. And you know who promotes it? Their parents. [00:46:15] I'm shocked. [00:46:17] What does Scripture teach? Certainly doesn't teach that behavior. But you see, that's part of the world thinking, and we embrace that part of the culture. We just think it's okay. Well, it's not okay. Never been okay. [00:46:31] Wow. [00:46:33] See, when we start allowing how the world thinks to become how we think and we accept what the world accepts, God says, you've become an enemy, because that's not what the way God thinks at all. Now, that doesn't mean I hate people or I hate people that are living. I never. I don't hate people. I don't even hate the people doing the wrong things at all. I don't hate them. God doesn't hate them. He hates what they're doing. [00:46:59] And you know what? Why does God hate what they're doing? Because what it means is they're the ones that are going to lose out. [00:47:06] That's why God hates sin, because sin is what destroys us. [00:47:11] That's why God hates sin. [00:47:14] And that's why we should hate sin in our own life, because it diminishes us. And that's why we should hate sin in the lives of people, because it's destroying them and diminishing them. And. And it should cause tears to come into our eyes. And we say, this person could be so much more. [00:47:28] They're not going to become all that God intended for them to become. And that breaks my heart. It really does. [00:47:35] He said, I'm going to set my throne in Elam and destroy your king and her officials. Declared the Lord. Yet notice his last note. Yet I will restore the fortunes of Elam in days to come, declares the Lord. [00:47:48] Wow. [00:47:49] The question that begs to be asked, and this is my conclusion, why does God restore some and not others? Because as we read through the chapter, you're going to see God restored some and not others. Why? Derek Kidner says he was reminded of the two thieves who were crucified on Calvary, one on either side of Christ. Remember that? Two thieves, they were both sinners. In Matthew chapter 27, they're both hurling insults at Jesus. [00:48:16] That's true. They were. [00:48:18] They were both enemies of the cross of Christ. They were both destined for destruction. Yet one of the robbers received the grace of God. One of them awoken. One of them that was hanging on the cross became convicted of his sins. And he says In Luke chapter 23, we are being punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve. [00:48:39] Okay? I'm no longer innocent. I'm no longer blaming. I. I'm recognizing I'm getting what I deserve. And then we read this. He confessed that Jesus Christ is the sinless one. He said, this man has done nothing wrong. And then he said. And he asked, really? In a sense, this is how Kidner frames it. He said, he asked for the free gift of eternal life. And Jesus, he said, remember me when you come into your kingdom. [00:49:07] Remember me when you come into your kingdom. What did Jesus say? Today you will be with me in paradise. [00:49:16] Why did Jesus save one thief and not the other? And then Kidner quotes this old quote. One was saved that none of us might despair, and yet only one that none might presume. Because, you know, I feel there's a lot of people today presuming on the grace of God. How many say that's true? You know, Mark and I, we do a lot of funerals, and it's amazing. We do funerals for believers and we do funerals for non believers. And I listen to people talk and, you know, it amazes me when people say things. Well, yeah, I know where they are. They promote everybody into heaven. They'll be riding their bike up there. You know, they'll be partying with their friends. I'm going, you know, it's such a distortion. You know, I'm going, if you only knew that's not where they are. But I don't say anything because you know what they're mourning and in grief, that's not the right moment to talk to them about that. You have to have a little wisdom, right? [00:50:13] But you know, to yourself, you just say, are you ever deceived? This is not what's going on at all. [00:50:21] The tragedy is people are presuming on the grace of God. [00:50:26] You know, there's a lot of people that said, you know, they're going to come to. Jesus said, you know, we did this. Jesus said, I never knew you. [00:50:35] I never knew you. That's a startling statement. [00:50:39] You see, I think we have to build our life on a foundation. And Jesus tells us that in the Sermon on the Mount. What's that foundation? Those that hear my Word and they do it, they're building their life on a foundation that when the rain comes, when the time of testing comes, when the time of difficulty comes, and when the day of judgment comes, we're standing on a rock. [00:51:02] But there's other people who hear the words of God and they are indifferent to them. They don't act on them, they don't respond to them, they don't obey them. Maybe they are presuming on God's grace. And there's people that are doing that. And I don't know who they are, but God does. But sometimes you can tell by people's behavior over a long period of time, they're just presuming on the grace of God because their behavior is showing me a totally different lifestyle. I'm going, they're presuming on God's grace because when the storms come and they will come and the rain falls and their house is built on the sand, that house is going to collapse. And it can collapse in this earthly life. But the greater tragedy is when it collapses in eternity. And when Jesus says, I never knew you, that will be a terrible moment. [00:51:48] And I don't want that for anyone. [00:51:50] And I don't believe God wants that for anyone. [00:51:54] Because Jesus died for all mankind. [00:51:58] He died for every person and everybody that just says, you know, I really want to know Jesus. I really want to be forgiven. I really want to know him and walk with him. [00:52:08] It's there for us, it's there for the taking. [00:52:11] Let's stand as we close this morning. [00:52:15] A little intense topic, but I think it helps us understand what's happening in our world. You know, God isn't just interested in our personal lives, he's also interested in our national lives. He's going to judge the nations guys and he's judging Canada right now. [00:52:31] And we're a part of that. And what can we do about what's happening? Don't despair and don't blame. [00:52:38] Here's what I'm going to tell you what you need to do. Humble ourselves. [00:52:43] Let's pray and seek God's mercy. Let's continue to live the godly life. Amen. Let's keep sharing God's words of grace and hope to people. I believe that this may become one of the greatest moments in the life of the church. In the days to come, as we're in crisis, more people will come to know Jesus. And you know what? He wants to use you and me. But we need to be ready. Amen. Amen. So let's pray this morning. If you don't know Christ today, he's the Savior. [00:53:18] You know, he drank that cup of judgment for you so you wouldn't have to drink it. If you'll call out to him, he'll save you and he will change your heart and give you brand new desires. I believe that, you know, the work of salvation is so great. He changes our desires. I know he did me, you know, I had no desire for the things that I desire. Today I had other desires that I been delivered from. Thank God by the grace of God for the glory of God. It's for his glory. [00:53:50] Maybe you're here today, say, you know what? I want to receive Christ. [00:53:54] All you need to do is say, jesus, would you forgive me? Like that thief did on the cross. Remember me, Jesus, would you forgive me? I want to serve you the rest of my life and turn to him and begin to learn of him and you'll become a new person in Christ. He'll change you. And maybe we hear today as a believer and you're saying, you know what? I get frustrated by what's going on in politics today and the world around me. I'm saying, don't get uptight. [00:54:22] God's Going to deal with all that stuff. It doesn't mean we become indifferent. It means we humble ourselves. Ourselves, we pray, we seek God and we make the most of every opportunity in our personal life to share with individuals. And as people's lives are being touched, God's going to use you to touch people. And sometimes you end up touching people of influence and they end up affecting big changes in our nation. [00:54:46] God's going to use the ordinary people. Just think about it. Naaman was a very famous general in Syria. But who did God used to touch? Her? A little Jewish handmaiden that was a slave. She spoke into his wife's life and his wife spoke into his life. He spoke to the king. It changed his life. It's beautiful. God has a funny way of doing things. You know, I want to encourage you. Maybe you feel like I'm living a very insignificant life. There is no insignificant life. [00:55:17] The people that are around you, you could be the person. Is the key to many people coming to know Christ just by your godly life. They're watching you. Keep doing the right things, keep praying, keep seeking God, keep loving people, keep sharing with people. God is using you in a beautiful way. So Lord, thank you this morning. You're making your ways known to us. You're making an understanding that even the nations are accountable to you. And when nations get out of hand, you're going to deal with them. Lord, we, you know, we can't deal with them, but you can. [00:55:57] As a matter of fact, Father, I pray today that we will not be found fighting you, that we'll be found with you. We will not be your adversaries, we will be your friends. That you will not be. You'll be fighting for us and not against us. You will be with us and for us and not against us. What a wonderful place to be living our life. And we thank you for that. And I pray today that you would encourage us, strengthen us. I pray in this perilous hour in which we're living in, things are going to change in our nation. Help us not to freak out and get all uptight. Help us to understand you're in control and you're actually judging our own nation. Because you know what? We've lived a very haughty, prideful, rebellious, self sufficient, sufficient, focused on the things that are of this world rather than the things above. And Lord, we have done so much damage to people because of our arrogance and pride. You are humbling us. And Lord, help us to not get in your way. In Jesus name, amen. God bless you as you leave.