Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] I'm going to have you turn in your Bibles to the book of Jeremiah. We're going to continue there.
[00:00:06] Could I ask one of you to grab that little. Thank you, Reg. You see what I need. Forgot to bring it up. Had all the stuff. Thank you, so appreciate that.
[00:00:17] Okay, so we're going to turn to Jeremiah, chapter 43, beginning at verse 8. We're going to go all the way through 44. And this is actually the last sermons that Jeremiah is preaching or the essence of his final messages to the people in Egypt. And afterwards, there's still a few chapters in the Bible. It's going to be moving back into the story where Jeremiah and Baruch, his assistant. There are going to be a few things. And God has a word not only to the nation of Israel, but he also has a word to many other nations. Because I think we need to understand something. Our God is the God of all peoples. Our God is the God of all nations. And so on this last message, I've entitled it how not to Repeat the Past Mistakes in the Future. How many go, yeah, I've done that once. That was bright. I don't want to do that again. You know, you ever had those experiences in your life, you go, yeah, we could go back and talk about some of the stupid things we did as kids, you know, or some of the things we realized that was not bright, like running down a hill. You never run down a hill because pretty soon momentum is going to take you and pretty soon you're rolling down a hill. You know, I'm just telling you all the dumb things we learn in life. And you know, if you get banged up bad enough, you realize, don't do that. I'm not going to ever run down a hill again. That's not a bright idea. Just giving you idea. I bet you if we polled you today, you could tell me a whole bunch of things that you learned the hard way that you said to yourself, I'll never do that again. And you haven't because you said, experience some things that I don't want to experience again. Right? We all want to learn from past failures. How can we learn the lessons from our past mistakes so we avoid making very devastating and destructive decisions in the days ahead? How many want to avoid doing dumb things? How many want to avoid the pain of doing the wrong things? This will become evident as we now begin to see the example of a group of people who learned absolutely nothing from their past experience. How many know that's not a smart person, you know, and I know that you guys are far brighter than that. So I have every hope right now that you're not going to do what they did, okay? We're going to learn from this. We're not doing that stuff. How many know God's word is unchanging and his ways remain the same? Isn't that good news? You know, our world is constantly changing. Values are constantly changing. But God is the same and his ways do not change. He's constantly calling us away from sin and all of its varied expressions so that you and I will come to him to find our needs more than amply met. I believe that every need you have can be found in Jesus. He can meet that need. Isn't that beautiful? You say, well, I'm lonely. Yeah, but if you know Jesus, you got a friend. You got a friend indeed. You know, you could say, well, I have this problem. But he's right there with you, and he's listening and he's concerned and he's caring and he's moving you down a track that you may not always be aware of. And sometimes you feel like, I feel God's absent in my life right now with all that's going on. But I want you to know he's overseeing and overshadowing and watching. Even as he did Job when his whole life fell apart, God was observing everything that was going on. And we're going to disc some amazing things about God today. You know, it amazes me, first of all, how patient God is, how many go, that's true. God's real patient.
[00:03:39] I know he's been patient with me. Anybody else can say God's been real patient with me. Anybody else can say that, you know, he's continually communicating with us despite at times constant disobedience, and that, you know, that we pursue as human beings. We're not always doing what God's asking us to do. But God doesn't give up on us. And I'm so thankful he never leaves us. He never forsakes us there for us. How wonderful is that. In this continuing drama of the remnant of Jews who had survived the destruction of Jerusalem and the pillaging that happened in the surrounding countryside, they now had fled for quote, unquote, safety to Egypt, or so they thought. Okay, now, they had asked Jeremiah in the last chapter to seek God's direction, and he had warned them that safety was only found in obeying God. Let's pause there. Can I just say there's only safety in our lives when we obey God. There's where the safety lies just do what he says. There's safety there. Yeah, but you know, I'm a little afraid to do that, Pastor. Well, yeah, but you got to do it. These guys were a little afraid, too. That's why they ran to Egypt. They were scared. But if God tells you to do something, don't let fear define your life. And we talked about that last Sunday in that message. Now, Egypt was a land that was about to experience a Babylonian incursion. They thought they were safe there, but in reality, Babylon was going to attack Egypt. And we're going to see what they have to say here. And so in this final messages, they had sought refuge in Egypt. Now, how many of us have actually sought refuge in something that was outside of God's best for our lives?
[00:05:23] Probably a few of us. Right. So what are the lessons we need to learn from past mistakes in order to not repeat them? I'm going to give you three lessons. You're going to want to jot these down because these are important. Lesson number one, start listening to God. How many? That's a good lesson. Just do what he says. That's what I'm telling you. This is not just listening, actually, in the Bible literally means to take heart and do it. So here's what I'm going to say to every one of us. We can have a lot of information, we can have a lot of knowledge about God, but if we're not putting it into practice, it's doing us no good. How's that? Information alone isn't going to do anything. I would argue that if you're only gathering information, the storms of life will come and you'll crater. The only people that are going to stand firm in the storm of life are the people who are taking what they're hearing from God's word and putting it into practice. So when the storms calm, you and I have grown and developed, and you know what? We're able to stand through the storm. And so I think the storms in life are just indicator lights where we're really at in our spiritual journey. It'll help us to know how strong we really are based on how we respond. Now, Jeremiah is now explaining to them how they got in this mess.
[00:06:42] You ever asked that question, how in the world did we get here? Well, he's going to explain to them what was the core problem in their lives. He's trying to see that their present condition is not only a refusal to obey God, but they were idolaters. They were idol worshipers. And that's why God had to deal with them. Even when they were in the land of Judah, they had embraced the gods of the Canaanites. How many think this is amazing? They went in, they displaced these people, but they didn't destroy them all. Well, they were supposed to destroy all of their gods. But you know what they did? They embraced them and they began to worship God. And, you know, it's the God and syndrome, you know, I'm going to do this. And. And they started worshiping all the Canaanite deities and everything else. And God was upset. And, you know, God says, I'm a jealous God. So now I want to just say something. Is God insecure that we would be doing, you know, can't God handle it when we, you know, you know, we're worshiping him and we're doing this and we're worshiping this and God. I'm going to explain something. Why God is a jealous God. It's not that he's insecure, okay? It was idolatry that was at the root of this exile to Babylon. But whenever we look to provide security and safety apart from God, we know that's what idolatry is. And whenever that we look to find meaning and purpose in life apart from God, that's an idol. So what is it that God is concerned about in idolatry? Well, idolatry is that we turn our back on God.
[00:08:13] How many know that God is where the goodness comes from? God is where life comes from. So when you're embracing idols, what you're turning away from is the goodness and the grace and the kindness of God. But, you know, I was trying to think about it. Why. Why do. Why do people do this? Why do people harden their hearts? Why do people, you know, basically are saying to themselves, yeah, I'm going to serve God with one foot, but I got my foot in the world. You know, I've got these things going on that to me, are just as important. And pretty soon, you know, the Bible says you can't serve God and mammon. You can't serve God and these idols because eventually they're going to pull you in one or two directions and you're going to have to make a choice. And a lot of times people make the wrong choice.
[00:08:58] And God knows that.
[00:09:00] So I was reading this morning, I'm always praying. I'm saying, lord, what can I share? How can I bring this across a little bit? Why do we disobey? Why is it that we're rebellious? Why do we do these things to ourselves? We get ourselves into trouble. And I thought about the story that I was reading in the morning was the story of Moses and the deliverance out of Egypt. And you remember Moses goes in there and he tells these guys, God sent me. And God showed them a few signs and they're looking at it going, wow, yeah, God sent you. Then he goes to Pharaoh. And God had warned him Pharaoh was going to harden his heart. Pharaoh just means king. That's the Egyptian name for king. So the king there said, no, no, no, I'm not letting you guys go. I don't even know who your God is. Actually. Pharaohs in those days, they thought they were God and Egypt had all kinds of gods. So he's going, who's your God, man? Talk about thinking it through. Like, in Pharaoh's mind, you guys are our slaves. Your guys can't. Your God can't be that strong if, you know, we are over you. You know, you see how he's thinking. He's got a rational, logical, pragmatic mind. We're going to talk about pragmatics in this message, you know, practical mind. And you know what? We all know what's going on. God says, I've had enough of this. I'm coming in, I'm going to deliver these people.
[00:10:15] And under pressure, Pharaoh says, you know what the problem with these guys is? They got too much time on their hands. We'll just take away the straw that's helping them make the bricks.
[00:10:24] And I want the same quota. And so the people freak out. They're upset with Moses. Moses now, you know, he's talking to God. And I'm reading in the scriptures and it says they were discouraged. Now the ESV says, and they were a broken spirit. And sometimes in our lives, you know, we're in bondage because we're so broken. But I want to give you the good news. This morning, Jesus came to set captives free. Jesus has power to break the discouragement and the struggle with addictions. He's able to release the captives. Do you know God's power is greater than any human addiction? Isn't that beautiful? And we need to understand that today. If we come to God and say, God, I'm so broken. I've got all of these issues in my life. God will say, I'll set you free from that stuff. So let's take a look at these people because now we're going to see people who should have known better. But they weren't listening. Let's pick up the story. In Jeremiah, it says in Taphenes, the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah. And while the Jews are watching, he says, take some large stones with you and bury them in the clay and the brick pavement at the entrance to Pharaoh's palace in Taphnis. And then say to them, this is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says. I'm going to send for my servant Nebuchadnezzar. Whoo. Isn't that interesting? You know, sometimes these ungodly kings, God says, I'm going to call him my servant. You know why he's calling him his servant? Because he's going to do God's purposes, even though he's going to do it unknowingly. So he's sending my servant, and I'm going to set his throne over these stones. Remember, these guys thought they were going to be safe. You know, the place that you think you're safe. I'm going to drop Nebuchadnezzar down right here. Wow. You know, have I have buried here. And he will spread his royal canopy above them, and he will come and attack Egypt, bringing to death those destined for death, captivity to those destined for captivity, and the sword to those who are destined for the sword. Now, this is covenant language. These are the words that Moses told the Israelites that when you disobey God, these are the things that are going to happen to you. You're going to. You're going to experience death and captivity and war is going to happen. You're going to suffer as a result of these things.
[00:12:57] So why do we experience death when we forsake God?
[00:13:01] Well, God is life. And to turn from him is to turn away from life to death, from light to darkness, from love to indifference, apathy, and even hostility and hatred. God is love, and in him is fullness of joy. To turn away from him is to forfeit all that makes life worthwhile.
[00:13:21] You see how unwise we are when we turn our back on God. Makes no sense to do that. I'm going to argue that every good and perfect gift that every human being experiences on this planet comes from God. So can you imagine to turn your back on God and his goodness? Eventually, what happens is, you know, things get darker, bleaker, more painful, more discouraging, because you're turning your back on every good thing.
[00:13:50] Ultimately, all those good things are to bring you to God. But if we turn our back on God, we're moving away from all that stuff.
[00:13:57] Does everybody understand this? God isn't so hung up, you know, and says, you know, I'm so insecure, I have to have you worship me. And Me only. No, he's saying, I'm everything you need, and when you turn from me, you lose everything you need. That's why God gets hung up on it. We need to understand it. And all of these idols are actually demons begging for you to move away from God and worship them. And that's what Satan wants. He wants you to worship him. That's the temptation in our lives. So you have a choice. Who are you going to worship?
[00:14:31] Personally, I like worshiping God. You know, I'm not interested in worshiping Satan and all that nonsense that goes on with him and all the stuff that happens there.
[00:14:42] So God's now going to judge the gods of Egypt, Okay?
[00:14:48] And so this is the problem of adultery. If we put our trust in God, in what God is about to judge, then we're going to experience the effects of that judgment. In other words, all idols will be judged by God. And if you and I are trusting that we will be judged with it, there's the problem. And God is going to tell these guys, you're putting your trust in the wrong thing. You know, if we're placing our trust in a society, our culture today, that's in a rebellion against God and God's about to judge our culture, then we're going to stand under God's judgment. How's that?
[00:15:26] So if you're going to put your trust in what humanity over here saying, and let me tell you something, most of what they're saying doesn't make any sense anyways. Why would I listen to it?
[00:15:34] Anybody ever notice that a lot of things people are saying today in our culture are not even rational?
[00:15:41] It's nonsense. It really is. Think about it. If we're going to embrace that, we're going to fall under the judgment that's coming towards all of that. And by the way, will God address that stuff? And the answer is absolutely, because he's a righteous and just God.
[00:15:56] But if we like God's people who by faith look to God and trust in him rather than what our sinful culture is trusting in, guess what God's going to do? He's going to deliver us. He's a deliverer. Isn't that great? Remember, he delivered them out of captivity, he delivered them out of slavery. God can deliver us out of whatever we're into right now and set us free. That's how powerful God is. I love that. Look what he says. He says, I'm going to set fire to the temples of the gods of Egypt. He will burn their temples and take their gods captive as the shepherd picks his garment clean of life, so will he pick Egypt clean and depart.
[00:16:33] Pretty strong language. It's an image, right? God says, I'm picking them clean. I'm going to really do damage here.
[00:16:42] There in the Temple of the Son in Egypt, he will demolish the sacred pillars and he will burn down the temples of the gods of Egypt. Now, why did God want to tell the people of Judah that? Because these guys had left.
[00:16:56] Well, they were still doing, worshiping the Canaanite gods, but they were now picking up the Egyptian gods.
[00:17:03] You go, why would people do that? To fit in, folks. We're in a new culture. This is what they do here. And the ancient peoples really believed that different places had different gods. And you placated those different gods wherever you were living. So they were embracing now the Egyptian gods. And God's going, I'm going to judge those gods. So if you're putting your trust in them, you're going to be deeply disappointed. Can I just say this for us in our culture, to bring it home to us and apply it to our lives, if we're putting our trust in what society puts its trust in. And what does society put its trust in?
[00:17:38] Money.
[00:17:40] Come on.
[00:17:42] Right? Fame.
[00:17:45] Yeah. All kinds of stuff. But you know what? All of that's going to be judged one day.
[00:17:50] See, if you're going to put your trust in that stuff, what happens when you don't have that stuff? You're hooped. There goes your gods. Bye.
[00:18:00] Right.
[00:18:02] So I'm just pointing this out to us. We're not very smart if we're going to put our trust in that. Warren Wirsbee says this is Jeremiah's final action sermon. While the Jews were watching, he gathered some large stones. He set them in the clay before Pharaoh's house at Taphenes. And then he announced that Nebuchadnezzar's throne will one day sit on those stones while the king of Babylon passed judgment on the people as he had done to the temple in Jerusalem. So Nebuchadnezzar would do to the gods and temples in Egypt. It's just going to happen here as well. It's coming because God's going to deal with. See, God's not just interested in judging his people. Judgment always begins at the house of God. And then it goes further.
[00:18:37] We need to understand that God will always start with us. But then he's going to go to society and start judging society. That's the way he works. And we see it here in the story. He goes on to Say his victory would be so easy that it would be like a shepherd wrapping his garment around himself. And yet these are the very gods that the Jews would worship in Egypt. Gods designed to be destroyed.
[00:18:58] What's he saying? If you're putting your hope in something other than the true and the living God, you are going to be deeply disappointed.
[00:19:08] Smart people go, why would I do that?
[00:19:11] Why wouldn't I just trust God? Well, let's move on to the second point. Stop making excuses and coming to wrong conclusions.
[00:19:20] You know, one of the great problems of being deceived and then justifying our behavior is that it keeps us in bondage. We never come to the place where we actually see how we have been responsible for our own sins and that our response is so often to blame others rather than take personal responsibility for our actions.
[00:19:40] I make a point of this. You will never get better until you take personal responsibility.
[00:19:48] Okay? Yeah, but I'm the victim. Okay? And let me just say it this way. Somebody has victimized you. What's the right response? Forgiveness. Otherwise, they're going to be in your head for the rest of your life.
[00:20:02] You're going to be filled with anger and hurt, and you're going to. That's going to move into other relationships. You're just. You're destroying yourself in the process, you know?
[00:20:12] And the other problem with, you know, not forgiving people is that you stay a victim the moment you forgive. It's an empowering action that allows you to become a victor.
[00:20:26] You've taken responsibility, going, yeah, I didn't do this to me, but I'm going to forgive them. So I'm overpowering the evil that's been done me by doing good. In other words, I'm behaving just like God does. Because when people sin against God, God forgives them. I'm going to behave just like God. But what happens if we ourselves are the perpetrators, which many times we are in different areas of our lives, we need to be forgiven by God. But, you know, we tend to do we blame? You know, this is what happened when I was a kid and this is why I do what I do. Why don't we just stand up and take a hard look at ourselves and say, this is what I'm currently doing and I need to address it in my life. Right? That's the only way you're going to move forward. Well, let's take a look here.
[00:21:10] You see. Well, let me go back and say this. When you and I do not repent and turn from our sinful ways, we Become diminished in the process rather than becoming the best version of what God intends for you and me to become, which means like him, which means godly.
[00:21:29] Or we'll just end up being a wounded, angry, bitter, unforgiving, living a defeated life person. Oh, take your choice. Which one do you want? I'm just painting a picture.
[00:21:43] I go, I just really would like to become more like God. I would really like to become more loving, more forgiving, more generous, more kind, more understanding, have greater self control, managing better my emotions.
[00:21:55] Does that appeal to anybody besides me? Some of you saying, I'm signing up right now, man, this is what I want, you know. But you got to own up. Problem of idolatry, we're going to see it here.
[00:22:08] First of all, this is what got them in trouble in the first place. They were worshiping idols and God judged them as a people. So the refugees are now they've remembered the terrible atrocities that had happened, but they had a different understanding as to why it happened. Now everybody agrees it happened. You can all see the results, right? But they're going, but we have a different understanding why it happened. Rather than seeing God's long suffering, patient attitude towards their sin, his kindness and mercies calling them to repentance, they interpreted the past differently. This is where we have a divergence of views. They thought that while they were worshiping their false gods, they lived well, but in destroying and forsaking them. See, this happened under the reign of King Josiah. He was a reformer, remember he came along, they destroyed all their idols. So then they didn't practice it for a while. They thought that the reason why we're being destroyed is because we stopped practicing the worship of idols. That's their interpretation. Okay, they made the wrong assumption.
[00:23:10] They now assumed that they were better off as idolaters rather than seeing idolatry as the reason for their problems.
[00:23:18] You go, huh? Sounds a little confusing to me, Pastor, but that's what they came up with. Let's take a look. This word came to Jeremiah concerning all the Jews living in Lower Egypt and Migdol, Taphenes and Memphis and in Upper Egypt. So the whole country, Jews were spreading out through the country. This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, saw. The great disaster I brought on Jerusalem and on all the towns of Judah. Today they lie deserted and in ruins because of the evil they have done. This is the reason why they were judged. They did all this evil. That's why they got punished. They aroused my anger by burning incense and worshiping other gods that neither they Nor you, nor your ancestors ever knew.
[00:23:58] God is saying, this is the problem.
[00:24:01] These guys know the story because they're the ones that survived it. You know, they're just interpreting why it happened differently again and again. I sent my servants, the prophet who said, do not do this detestable thing that I hate. But they didn't listen or pay attention. They did not turn from their wickedness or stop burning incense to other gods. In other words, they perpetuated this idolatry. Therefore, my fierce anger was poured out. It raged against the towns of Judah and streets of Jerusalem and made them the desolate ruins they are today. God says through Jeremiah, this is why you are experiencing the fact that you are now refugees. This is why you were. Your sin will find you out. Your sin will bring the wages of sin, which is what? Death, alienation from God. It doesn't have good results. Okay, so the current warning now is to turn from their idolatry. So we pick up what he's saying now. This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says. Why bring such great disaster on yourselves by cutting off from Judah the men and women, the children and infants, and so leave yourselves without a remnant. What's he saying? He's saying, listen, if you guys don't. If you're going to continue in your idolatry in Egypt, don't you think I'm not going to address it? You know, you guys are just a remnant. Do you want me to destroy the remnant? Now, we all know if you remember, some of them were taken into exile in Babylon. Jeremiah told a story. He said, those are going to be the good figs. That's the remnant that's going to survive. They're going to turn to God. But this group got lots of issues, and he's warning them, how many think it's pretty good of God to say, you know, I don't give up on you guys. Even though you're rascals, I'm chasing you down. I'm going after you. And he's right there in Egypt with them. He's even allowed them to take his prophet Jeremiah, unwillingly to Egypt. You know, how would you like to have Jeremiah's life? Oh, my goodness, not a fascinating life. It's really challenging. He says, why arouse my anger with what your hands have made? Burning incense to other gods in Egypt, where you've come to live, you will destroy yourselves and make yourselves a curse and an object of reproach among all the nations on earth. In other words, you are going to be an example of what not to do. How many are like, I just lived my whole life to teach people what not to do?
[00:26:21] Is that what you want to be known for?
[00:26:24] Hard pass on that as well, right? I don't want to be that person.
[00:26:29] You know, have you forgotten the wickedness committed by your ancestors and by the kings and queens of Judah? And the wickedness committed by you and your wives in the land of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem to this day, they have not humbled themselves or shown reverence, nor have they followed my law and the decrees that I set before you and your ancestors. Therefore, this is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says. I'm determined to bring disaster on you and to destroy all Judah. Now, I don't know about you, but if God is against you, who's going to be for you?
[00:26:59] Don't tell me it's going to be Satan, because he's against you all the time. And as a matter of fact, he'd like nothing better to have you be so messed up that you're fighting God because he knows God will take you out, because that's his desire is to steal, kill and destroy. But I mean, if God is against you, you got no hope. You're in trouble. But here's the flip version of this. If God is for you, who can be against you? You know, bring it on. Right? Bring it on. I don't care who's coming up to me, as long as God is for me, I'm happy, I'm satisfied. I'm not going to worry about all that stuff happening around me. Verse 12. I will take away the remnant of Judah who were determined to go to Egypt to settle there. They will all perish in Egypt. They'll fall by the sword or die from famine. From the least to the greatest, they'll die by sword or famine. They will become a curse and an object of horror. A curse and an object of reproach. I will punish those who live in Egypt with the sword, famine and plague as I punish Jerusalem. Wow. The very thing that you guys saw happen, you were a witness to this. You're going to see it again because you're doing the same thing. You are not learning from your past mistakes is what he's telling them.
[00:28:11] How many say, pastor, I want to learn from my past mistakes. I don't want to keep repeating it. I don't want to see the fallout one more time.
[00:28:21] None of the remnant of Judah who have gone to live in Egypt will escape or survive to return to the land of Judah. To which they long to return and live. None will return except. Except a few fugitives. And we'll find out why God did that. You know, unbelief really is the sin that leads to eternal separation from God. Do we realize that?
[00:28:44] What's unbelief? Unbelief is expressed by. I hear what God is saying, but I don't buy it. I don't believe it. I don't act on it. It's not just, you know, you can have a mental assent. Well, yeah, I agree with God, but I'm not doing anything about it. That's still unbelief.
[00:28:59] True, it's still unbelief. You're not acting on it. You just really. If you really believed it, you'd be doing it.
[00:29:06] An unrepentant and defiant response. Now this is their comeback answer. You're going to love this.
[00:29:13] Then all the men who knew that their wives are burning incense to other gods, along with all the women who were present, a large assembly and all the people living in Lower and Upper Egypt said to Jeremiah, we'll not listen to the message you have spoken to us in the name of the Lord. In other words, we're not going to do it. They're just flat out telling them, we're not buying what you're selling, Jeremiah. We're not going to take heart and listen to it. We will certainly do everything we said we would do. We will burn incense to the queen of heaven and pour out drink offerings to her, just as we and our ancestors and our kings and our officials did in the towns of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem at that time. We had plenty of food and were well fed and suffered no harm. Oh, wow. They said, you know, when we were idol worshipers in Judah, everything was going good. It says, that's the problem. When we stopped doing that, that's when we had the problem.
[00:30:06] See how they're interpreting what's going on differently?
[00:30:10] Isn't that what people are doing today, by the way? It's all about interpreting. If you really think about it, everybody's interpreting life. Some people are saying, there is no God. I'll just do what I want. That's how they're interpreting life.
[00:30:23] You know, for them, it's just all chance and happenstance. You know, everything just kind of, you know, even the world, how it came into being, it's all accidental. I'm going, come on, you guys. Do you really believe that this ordered world, I mean, just look at the human body, you know, how detailed and how Difficult it is for me to believe that this just all happened by happenstance.
[00:30:47] Or is there a designer? Of course there's a designer. There's a God in heaven, created human beings.
[00:30:56] So then they go on to say this, but ever since we stopped burning incense to the Queen of Heaven and pouring out drink offerings here, we've had nothing and have been perishing by sword and famine. That's our problem.
[00:31:08] The women added, and when we burned incense to the Queen of Heaven and poured out drink offerings to her, did not our husbands know that we were making cakes and impressed with her image and poured out drink offerings to her?
[00:31:22] The Jewish settlers, and particularly the women who had been deeply involved in popular religious cults in Jerusalem, Robert Davidson points out, including the worship of the Queen of Heaven, argue that their troubles really began when they gave up the cult. It was Josiah's reformation at the banning of all these religious cults in Jerusalem, except the worship of the one God, the Lord, which in their eyes had now led to national disaster. So who is this Queen of Heaven? You probably wonder, who are they talking about? Well, she has different names in different cultures. She's a Babylonian goddess and a Canaanite goddess. She's Ashtar and Ashtar, Ishtar and Ashtar. Torrance Freeman says she was associated primarily with life and fertility and was thought to assure continuing life of the community through the birth of children and the provision of health and welfare. Jeremiah 44 could serve as a warning for all dispersed Jewish communities who, faced with death and disillusion, might be tempted to assure their future through the adoption of forms of worship linked to this goddess of life and fertility.
[00:32:31] Syncretism. That's just the blending of the worship of Yahweh with idols was not an option for any Jewish community if it would be faithful to its heritage. In other words, God says, listen, you know what the primary statement in the Jewish faith is? Hear, O Israel. The Lord thy God is what? One God. Worship the Lord thy God with all thy heart, soul, mind and strength. We've got to give ourselves fully to God, folks. We are all worshipers in this room.
[00:32:59] Everybody's worshiping. Some people are worshiping themselves. Some people are worshiping the true God. Some people are worshiping fame, fortune, money, whatever. They're worshiping something. People are worshiping. People have idols. People are giving their time and energy towards something that's worship.
[00:33:18] So Walter Brueggemann says the reason for holding to this alternative faith is simple. It works. Remember I talked about pragmatism.
[00:33:28] In their minds, it was Working. See, you know, I hear, I've had people tell me, I said, show me that in the Bible. And you know what the answer was? It just works. I'm going, yeah, that's not good enough for me.
[00:33:43] You know, that's just pragmatism. But, you know, pragmatism can lead you astray.
[00:33:51] No, you got to know what the word of God says. The queen of heaven delivers the goods. The worship of this God has led to, quote, unquote, in their minds, peace and prosperity.
[00:34:00] Negatively. The neglect of the worship of this God has led to the loss of well being, at least in their minds. The point seems irrefutable. Does the argument of every religion seeking to make that a God is judged by the gifts that are given on its own terms? The argument, in a sense, is unanswerable.
[00:34:18] Wow.
[00:34:20] So what's the real issue here?
[00:34:23] Well, the real issue is the idea that, you know what, we're serving this goddess because we feel that this is the benefit of it and it's working for us.
[00:34:35] But remember what happened in the story. I'm going to remind us of an interesting story. I'm going to skip over here. I'm running out of time, but I wanted to share this. I think this is important.
[00:34:46] Satan says to God about Job. Job just suffered calamity.
[00:34:52] But just before he does Job, Satan's an accuser. He comes to God and God's pointing out his servant Job, and look how good he is. He's blameless. He fears God. He shuns what's wrong. He's doing the right things. And Satan says, you know what? Does God really serve you for? Nothing. Look at all the benefits he's got.
[00:35:12] In other words, Job is a pragmatist. He's doing it because he's benefiting from serving you. And that's why we have the story, to show that there are moments in our lives as Christians that appears to be no benefit in serving God. It just appears that way. But you and I are still trusting him. You and I have faith in him. You and I are looking to him. You and I are putting our hope in him. That's what Job did. He continued to worship God even though his whole life was going sideways on him. He said, though he slay me, yet will I trust him. Isn't that a powerful declaration of faith?
[00:35:47] And then God eventually brought healing and restoration in his life. The point being is, you know, there's a lot of people that have this funky idea, this funny idea that, you know, I just need to do this, because this is the best. Yes, I'm convinced serving God does pay. I'm totally convinced of it. I think we have eternal life. I think there's so many benefits, but that should not be. Ultimately, God's going to get us past that. You know, I think there's three primary motivations. I spoke on one last week. Fear. You know, sometimes maybe we begin the journey because we're afraid of God. Well, that's not the best reason for serving God. But at least. At least we're serving God. But then eventually we start realizing, you know, it really pays to serve God. But then all of a sudden, we go through some terrible trials, and it seems like it's not paying to serve God, but then we're still serving God. So we must have moved to the third and highest level of motivation, which is love. Love is the highest motivation that we actually come to a place where we love God and when we love God, it's an amazing place to get to because we now are responding to God's love in a very powerful way. So let me just give you the last lesson. I'll just give it to you, and then I'll close.
[00:37:05] Learn from the consequences of others.
[00:37:08] You know what, these people are in trouble, and they're going to suffer. And, you know, all you got to do is take a look through the Bible at all the people who turn their back at God, and I'll show. And all you got to look at is look what happened when they did that. Learn from other people's mistakes.
[00:37:27] Life is too short. You don't have to make them all right, you know, Observe. Oh, I just saw what they did, and this is the outcome. Eventually. And I'm going, no, thank you. I don't want that outcome. Right? Learn from their mistakes and learn from ours. Let's stand as we close.
[00:37:45] If you want the full message, let me just share this. You can always get it on my webs. You know, you go to the church website, but it'll take you to my website, where the blog and the sermon notes are all in there. You can read the rest of the message. Okay, so what are we to learn from our mistakes and the mistakes of others? Obey God. Step one. Number two, don't make excuses.
[00:38:10] Own up.
[00:38:12] Number three, learn from the mistakes of other people who have defied God and as a result, have suffered.
[00:38:21] So in hindsight, we see that the arguments made by the Remnant were wrong.
[00:38:27] God's warning became a reality.
[00:38:31] So what should we learn? God's word is true. God's word is eternal.
[00:38:37] You know what I love? Heaven and earth is going to pass away. The Earth that we know, we're going to get a new Earth. But the Earth that we know, with all of its tainted sin and environmental issues and all the rest of it, God's going to repair it. Thank you, Lord. He's going to redeem it. Because our sin opened up the destruction of our planet. We don't even realize it. We're the problem, and God's going to restore it. Heaven and earth will pass away, but my word abides forever. Here's what I would tell you. You want to have something that will help you all the way through the journey of life?
[00:39:14] Start doing God's word. Just start acting on it. I'm going to vouch for it. You know, in June, I'll have been a Christian. This coming June, I'll be a Christian now. 50 years.
[00:39:25] Yeah, it's a long time. Yeah, it's good.
[00:39:28] And I'm going to say this.
[00:39:31] Never been disappointed with God.
[00:39:34] I've wondered once in a while what was happening, but I've never been disappointed.
[00:39:40] He's a good God.
[00:39:42] He's a faithful God. He's a kind God. He's a forgiving God. He's a loving God.
[00:39:49] And you know what? We're living not just for this life, but there's eternity to look forward to with Him.
[00:39:57] And as you keep walking with him, what are you going to find is that it's getting better all the time. I can honestly testify my life with God is better today than it's ever been. It's more joyous. I'm happier. I'm more grateful. I mean, God has taken me through a lot of things. You don't walk with God for 50 years and don't learn a few things. Hopefully you do. So I'm going to encourage you. Let's not make the same mistakes we made in the past. Let's learn from them. Amen. And then you know what? Read your Bible every day and you can learn from all these other people that make bad mistakes and go, avoid that, avoid that, avoid that. Right?
[00:40:35] Anybody read that? That's how I read it. Don't do that. Yeah, don't do that. That's dumb. You know, like, you're just reading through there and you're going, okay, this was great. You know, I love Joseph's story because he's a type of Christ. He's so beautiful. He just keeps forgiving. You know, he's going through a lot of stuff, but he just keeps believing and then eventually God just raises him up. God was training him the whole time. All the trials that you're going through, God is using them ultimately for your good. Even though you at the time go, I can't get it. God is so Lord, we pray today that you will help each one of us to trust you in a way we never have before.
[00:41:17] Help us to be wise enough to admit when we're wrong, wise enough to learn from our past mistakes, and wise enough to learn from the mistakes of others so that we can live a life honoring to you and walk with you right to the very end. In Jesus name, Amen. God bless you as you leave.
