Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Why don't we just stand this morning? That helps middle schoolers leave and we're going to pray.
[00:00:07] I'm going to ask God to really open up our hearts today. You know, sometimes we can hear messages and, you know, it can just be like we're like Teflon people, just kind of bounces off of us. But how many know that for the word of God to do any good, we have to open our hearts and say, lord, I want to hear your voice. We want to receive what God has to say to us. And I believe that in every service while we're singing the songs or listening to the message, God's spirit can speak into our lives. It can happen even when we're in the foyer walking and talking amongst ourselves. We could be sharing a word of life, a word of encouragement, a word of hope, a word even of direction. Maybe unbeknownst to us, we could be sharing life in a situation where there's a deep hurt or sadness and we're totally unaware of that. So let's just open our hearts to God this morning. Let's just make sure that we are hearing what God wants to say to each of us. So, Lord, I thank you this morning as we are looking at again the book of Jeremiah, probably one of the most challenging books in the Bible in many, many ways. And so, Lord, I pray today that you would give us ears to hear what your spirit is saying to each of us. That we leave this place, Lord, not just gaining information, but Father, even more deeply than that, that we would encounter you and experience your voice speaking into our life, particular life situation. That you would bring life and hope and freedom in our situations, Lord, that we would walk away from here encountering you, the true and the living God. And we just thank you for that, Father. We thank you for your goodness. We thank you for your mercies and grace. We thank you for a love that's unconditional. We thank you that you love us so deeply that you will even warn us, Lord, when we're about to do something that's detrimental to ourselves and to others. And we thank you for that. In Jesus name and God's people said, amen. Amen. You may be seated.
[00:01:58] We're going to turn to the book of Jeremiah. This is really interesting to me. I was just sharing this with the people that I pray with in the mornings that even the commentators don't even want to deal with. These last chapters, it just seems that there's very little said about it. So I'm walking where angels fear to Tread here this morning. I'm sure of it. William Manchester, in his book the Glory and the dream, wrote on September 21, 1938, so this is a long time ago. This is almost 100 years ago. A hurricane of monstrous proportion struck the east coast of the United States.
[00:02:31] They even had high winds. It was so bad that it registered in Alaska, a seismic experience. And this is on the east coast of the U.S. so this is a really dangerous storm. Hurricane. 40 foot waves were approaching parts of Long Island, New York. People began to witness it. They jumped into their vehicles and they're driving at the high speed of 50 miles an hour.
[00:02:59] That's 1938. Remember, these vehicles don't move that fast, but I'm sure they just had their foot right to the floor. They were trying to escape for their lives. No one knew precisely how many people lost that race, but the survivors later estimated that they had to keep that speedometer well over 50 to make it. For some reason, the meteorologists who should have known what was coming and should have warned the public, seemed strangely blind to the impending disaster. Either they ignored their instruments or simply couldn't believe them. And of course, if the forecasters were blinded, so were the public. Among the striking stories later that came to lights at Manchester was the experience of one Long Islander who had bought a barometer a few days earlier and had it shipped to his home. And it arrived the morning of September 21st when the storm hit. And to his annoyance, the needle kept pointing below 29 where the dial read hurricane and tornado.
[00:03:59] He was so shocked he started banging it against the wall, but the needle wouldn't budge. Finally, indignant, he wrote a letter and mailed it back to the post office. And saying, this thing doesn't. And so to do that, he had to get in his vehicle and drive away to mail it off. And while he was gone, his house blew away.
[00:04:21] You know, and so often that's the way we are. If we don't, we can't cope with the forecast. We blame the barometer or ignore it or just throw it away. Well, the Bible is filled with life giving instructions, including warnings, so that we will not be caught unaware. How many go? Wouldn't it be great if you knew, you know, like you're just prepared to meet your maker.
[00:04:47] And I think we have to be prepared at all times. It doesn't matter how young, how old, it could happen at any moment. And it can happen very tragically and suddenly.
[00:04:58] So there are dangers not only to our physical well being. As I shared in the story of the hurricane, but also to our eternal souls. And when we deal with our past in a decisive manner, by repenting and turning fully to God, it creates a new and healthy path forward. How many know that's true? We're moving in the right direction. So what is true for individuals is also true for nations. But what happens when we don't address our past in an effective way?
[00:05:25] What happens when we are in denial? Or worse, we become mockers and scoffers, deriding the whole idea maybe that God exists and that our past will determine our future.
[00:05:36] Well, Moses made a warning to the 12 and a half tribes that were settled on the other side of the Jordan River. And they made a promise to Moses that they would go into the promised land with the other nine and a half tribes to help them secure their inheritance. And Moses said, fine and dandy, but listen, if you fail to do this, you will be sinning against the Lord. And you may be sure that your sin will find you out. In other words, to neglect or violate an oath, to break God's word, means that sin will overtake the perpetrator and punishment becomes the end result. And this is not only true for God's covenant people in the Old Testament Israel, not only true for God's New Testament covenant people, which is the church, but it's true for all people.
[00:06:25] God has no respecter of people. God doesn't show partiality. God addresses sin when he sees it.
[00:06:32] Now there are people, groups today and cultures today that no longer exist.
[00:06:38] I jokingly said this morning to the guys, hey, have you met any Philistines lately? Or how about Hittites or Amalekites?
[00:06:45] You know, we can chuckle and say, you know, I haven't met any of those people. Well, that's true, you haven't, because they don't exist anymore. When you think about it, that's quite tragic in some ways. These are people that, you know, lived lives just like us. You know, they went to work, they hunted, they fished, they practiced agriculture. These were people that had families and lives. And they were just trying to make a life just the way the rest of us are trying to do that.
[00:07:10] And, you know, it's very fascinating to me that for many years people even challenged the Bible's credibility because it spoke of a Hittite empire. This is a whole group of people, a very significant empire. And because there were no ancient records at the time, except for the record in the scriptures, that people began to question the validity of the Bible because of that. But how many know that it actually got transformed when archaeology began to discover and unearth this entire civilization in the Asia Minor area, which is present day Turkey, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. And they've since discovered more writings from the Babylonians and Egyptians. And all of a sudden there's a whole bunch of information coming out about the Hittite empire and how significant it really was. But how many, you can just imagine a whole civilization wiped away so that for a long time people did not even believe they existed. That's how complete their extinction was.
[00:08:10] Now that's kind of a shocking thing, isn't it? At least it is to me. You know, and then, you know, we think of going on and creating a list. I've already mentioned some. The Amalekites, we don't know who they are anymore. They're not around.
[00:08:23] One group was the Philistines. You know, we read in our Bible they were a constant source of irritation and difficulty for the people of Israel. We know that David actually killed the giant Goliath. He was a Philistine. It was the Philistines that they were fighting against. And David spent a lot of time in his early life fighting these group of people. In Jeremiah, chapter 47, there's only seven verses. I'm going to read them because I'm going to say a lot about the historical background and then I'll bring the modern application to us. But in Jeremiah 47:1, it says, this is the word of the Lord that came to Jeremiah, the prophet concerning the Philistines before Pharaoh attacked Gaza. This is now setting a timeline for us. I'll get back to this verse. It says, this is what the Lord says. See how the waters are rising in the north? They will become an overflowing torrent. They will overflow the land and everything in it, the towns and those who live in them. The people will cry out and all who dwell in the land will wail. Now, I want to just pause here and say the literature we're reading right now is poetry. And I'm going to have to maybe spend a little time explaining it because it's not a narrative, it's a poetic passage that's going to explain a little bit about what happened to the Philistines.
[00:09:35] Verse 3. At the sound of the hooves of galloping steeds, at the noise of the enemy chariots and the rumble of their wheels, parents will not turn to help their children. Their hands will hang limp.
[00:09:46] For the day has come to destroy all the Philistines and to remove all survivors who could help Tyre and Sidon. Those are Phoenicians. The Lord is about to destroy the Philistines. The remnant from the coast of Captor Gaza will shave her head in mourning. Ashkelon will be silenced. You remnant of the plain, how long will you cut yourselves? Alas, sword of the Lord. How long till you rest? Return to your sheath? Cease and be still.
[00:10:13] But how can it rest when the Lord has commanded it, when he has ordered it to attack Ashkelon, the coast? Those are the verses we're going to be looking at this morning. And what do they really mean here? In one of Jeremiah's messages to the nations, we have a brief word directed toward a group of people called the Philistines. They had for centuries actually enslaved many other people's groups. The scriptures make it very clear that when you and I sin against other people, we are primarily sinning against God. I know that's a shocking statement, but it's actually biblically accurate. And so a lot of times we think, you know, I'm not violating anything. It's just we're having our own difficulty. It's nobody else's business. Anytime you and I sin against another person, we are actually sinning against the God who created that person. They're made in the image of God. It's a very profound thing.
[00:11:06] I think God, you have to understand that that moves things, the needle for me, at least quite a bit. If we perpetuate that behavior after repeated warnings, all that is left is for God to address our sin.
[00:11:20] Now, God is a very gracious father. He's kind. He's long suffering, you know, but he and he will warn us. I don't know if you've ever had that experience in your personal life that, you know, you ever had God tell you to smarten up.
[00:11:35] How many, besides the pastor, God told you, smarten up? Okay, Some of you. Rest of you aren't listening. I don't know.
[00:11:43] Who knows? God will tell you. Hey, you know, you got to get your act together here, buddy. Pick it up. Right. In Jeremiah 47, we find God's final message to the Philistines.
[00:11:56] This is the end of their period of grace. I'm going to show you. It's a long period.
[00:12:01] At least 150 years. How many go, that's a long period.
[00:12:04] If you can't get the message by then, you're probably never going to get the message, right? Long time. Okay, so what can we learn from this failure to listen to God's warning in our lives? That's really the heart of what I'm trying to talk about because if we don't listen to God's warnings and we don't address things that are building up in our lives, if we don't address that stuff right now, it's going to carry forward into the future, and it's not going to be a good future. And my prayer for us as believers, for a congregation, is that we will move forward. We will move forward in victory. God will help us overcome the things in our lives that are impeding our steps with him, that we will experience a greater experience with God than we've ever had before that. I believe that before this even Sunday is over, God will have done some extraordinary work in your soul today and setting you free from the things that maybe you've struggled with for a long time. Because you're going to get an understanding how important it is to deal with this stuff, and you're going to hear it from this message. So the first thing we need to learn is that unrepentant past sins have no expiry date.
[00:13:16] That's a powerful thought. And, you know, it's amazing. There's stories in the Bible. You go, where's this coming from? David, he's dealing with a famine in the land, and he's inquiring three years of famine. How many know that's not a positive experience when you're a nation and people are having a hard time eating? David inquires of God. God says the reason this is happening is because your predecessor, King Saul, killed some people from the town of Gibeon who were in. Who were in covenant with you. And you violated that covenant. And this is why you're experiencing a famine these decades later.
[00:13:50] Isn't that incredible? In other words, God does not forget the things that we've done wrong. And there's only one way to address sin. And we're going to talk about that today. And it's a very important thing that we do do that. You know, people often gain a sense of false security when they knowingly do something wrong and there appears to be no negative consequences. Isn't that true? I mean, you do something, you know it's wrong and nothing happens. You know, after a while, you say, well, it's no big thing. I've done this, and nothing happens. But there's a trend in many cultures today to disconnect the idea that there is a sense of consequence for wrong behavior and that punishment can be a deterrent to doing the wrong things. We've lost that sense today. Listen to what the book of Ecclesiastes tells us, this is wisdom literature. He says this, when the sentence for a crime is not quickly carried out, people's hearts are filled with schemes to do wrong. In other words, they can begin to justify their behavior because they go, hey, there's no consequence because there's a timeline between when we do the wrong thing and when the consequence comes. And then the question is, well, then why doesn't God just, you know, do something immediately when we do the wrong things? You know, like, you know, they get these little chains around dogs today, and if they do the wrong thing, they get a little jolt, you know? You know what I'm talking about, Kind of behavior modification. You know, do you think God wants to put little chains around our neck and every time we do the wrong thing or think the wrong thing? You know, if you get a lot of people jerking, you know, it'd be a bad situation.
[00:15:27] You know, actually, you know, the psalmist talks about that. He doesn't want us to be like the horse or the mule that needs a bit and a bridle. You ever thought about that? What God wants to do is develop an understanding heart, that you and I begin to understand his ways. We know his heart. We know what pleases him. We know what displeases him. We know what's healthy, what's unhealthy. God wants us to mature and grow so that you and I walk in a wise manner. We walk in health. We walk in understanding so we don't have a little dog collar around our neck. You know, I'm getting a jolt all the time, every time I do something wrong. Wow, that's not the way God wants to operate with us. He wants us to choose to serve him because we want to do that. You know, God's not interested in robots. He wants people who love him. And love is. We heard it this morning. I love that love is a decision. Love is a commitment. Love is, you know, just emotion. It's more than that. And so we're making this commitment to God. Lord, you know, sometimes my emotions are in conflict with what you want me to do. So I'm going to set aside my emotions and I'm going to do what God asked me to do. And eventually the emotions catch up to you and they go, boy, I'm so glad we did that. You know, isn't that true?
[00:16:41] Why does God take time in order not to get on top of our frame immediately when we do something wrong? Well, Paul explains it this way. Why doesn't he judge us quickly I think he's giving us opportunities to learn from our wrongs and turn from our sinful ways. Listen to what Paul says in the book of Romans. He says, so when you, a mere human being, pass judgment on them and yet do the same things, do you think you will not escape God's judgment? Or do you show contempt for the riches of his kindness, forbearance and patience, not realizing that God's kindness is intending to lead you to repentance? It's the goodness of God that brings us to himself. And God is so patient with us, and eventually we realize, I got to smarten up here. You've had those moments in your life where you realize, you know, I can't just keep doing this. This is wrong, and it's hurting me and it's hurting other people and it's sinning against God. I got to stop doing this. There's an awakening that begins to happen in our lives. So what are some of the things that God determines will bring judgment upon a nation or upon a land? Well, last week I talked about the fact that the people were judged because they were worshiping false gods. Remember that? The Egyptians were worshiping false gods and the people in Judah were embracing the same thing. And there was this, you know, a deviation from following the Lord God in Jeremiah 47. It's not directly stated. I just read the whole passage. It's not directly stated why God was judging the Philistines. Now, Jeremiah doesn't tell us, but I think there are some biblical clues as to why. And I'm going to show you those biblical clues from the Scriptures. So who were these Philistines anyways? And Jeremiah just simply focusing in on God's judgment. He's focusing in on his agent who becomes his sword, who he's using to punish and to literally extinguish the Philistine nation. Well, let's take a look at these Philistines for a minute. Who were they? John Thompson says Jeremiah describes the Philistines as a remnant of the Isle of Captor.
[00:18:45] According to Amos, chapter nine, verse seven, Captor was their original home. So you're getting an insight into where they come from. It is usually identified with the island of Crete in the Mediterranean. But I like what Thompson says, and I agree with him, but it denotes more generally Crete and the Aegean islands, because these were mariners, these were sea people, and they migrated. And if you know anything about the, you know, the Greeks, why did they colonize so many areas around the Mediterranean? Because they had a very rocky place to explain. Do Agriculture, they live on a rock. Basically there's very limited agricultural opportunities. And so they would send people off to colonize so they could sustain their population. And so these are part of those sea people that are moving around in the Mediterranean basin in the 12th and the 11th century. And they were halted at the frontier of Egypt by Ramses iii in about 1188 B.C. but many of them settled along the coastal plains of Palestine, Canaan land. Okay, so 1188 B.C. now, when were they destroyed? 601 B.C. so they have almost like 600 years as a group of a people group. It's quite a while. 600 years. You know, Canada, we're not even, what, just a little over 150 years old. Now look at this, what the book of Amos tells us. He says, are you not like the Cushites? To me, O people of Israel, Cushites are southern parts of Egypt, declares the Lord. Did I not bring Israel up from the land of Egypt? And the Philistines from Captor and the Syrians from Kur. He's giving us origins of these people groups. And the Bible is full of interesting stuff inside of it. So they're now settled in this area. And because they're coastal people and they are merchants and they have ports off the Mediterranean, they actually acquire metallurgy or the ability to create weaponry that's far more sophisticated than the inland people. And the inland people at this time happened to be the 12 tribes of Israel. They were up in the mountain, hilly areas of the country. And so they're down below in the plains area. So they have chariots and iron. And if you read the Bible carefully through the book of Judges and first Samuel, you'll realize that even King Saul, they hardly had a sword or two. You know what I mean? They, the Philistines really dominated them because of their weaponry. They had a superior weapons. And until the 12 tribes united under Saul and eventually David conquered them, in some ways he subjugated them because they had been subjugated a long time by the Philistines. So what was one possible reason then for God to judge these people? Well, I think we have to go back to Amos again. Now you need to understand a little of the chronology. Amos is like 150 years before Jeremiah. So now God is going to speak to these people 150 years at least before they were judged. Now maybe he spoke to them before that, but this is the first one that I could find. And it says here in Amos 1:6, Thus says the Lord for three transgressions of Gaza. Now the Philistines kind of had a five city state.
[00:22:03] One of them was Gaza and they had Ekron, Gath, Ashkelon and let me Ashdod.
[00:22:15] So he says for three transgressions and for four, it's the way he's writing. It's his style of poetry. He says, I will not revoke the punishment because they carried into exile a whole people to deliver them up to Edom. So what are they doing?
[00:22:32] Well, what they're doing is they're taking people captives and they're selling slaves. Okay, now this is, you know how many go, you don't want these guys as your neighbors because they could actually take you captive and sell you off to somebody. That wouldn't be a fun experience. I'm sure I wouldn't like that. Smith and Page in their commentary on the book of Amos said the sins of Gaza was the capture and sale of either whole communities of people, including women and children, or people at peace with Gaza, because the word salama may be translated either whole or peaceful.
[00:23:06] Deportation of an entire community or a community keeping a covenant of peace with Gaza was one aspect of Gaza's double edged sins. Sale of captives to Edom was the other side of it. And who were the captives and what Edom did with them are left unexpressed. In other words, we don't know. It doesn't tell us. One clue may be found in the oracles against Tyre and Enum. Amos had accused Tyre of disregarding a treaty of brotherhood and Edom of pursuing his brother with a sword. And these statements hint at a breach of covenant.
[00:23:40] Such a treaty was established by David with Hiram, king of Tyre. David's friendliness with Achish of Gath suggests the possibility that such a treaty may have existed with the Philistines.
[00:23:51] The whole communities may have been Israelite communities. The concern of Amos seems to have been the freedom and dignity of persons regardless of their national origin. In other words, he's not so focused on who they were doing this to, but more like they were doing this. And then he goes on to say sale of such captives for use as slave laborers was to treat precious humans made in the image of God as mere commodities. The driving force behind these atrocities was nothing higher than the prophet of the mighty.
[00:24:24] So far we've been looking at a people group now that no longer exists because of this sin in their life that was never addressed. They didn't repent from it. They didn't turn from doing this. And you can say, okay, this is very fascinating. All ancient history to me. But what does this have to do with. With me? What does it have to do with us?
[00:24:45] I think God, in his love and mercy, addresses sin by ransoming us from our sin. God dies so that we don't have to, you know, die for our sin. He takes the punishment of our sin, but we have to come to him. And when we look at our society today, I think that we're finding that we are enslaving people because of financial gain. You say, well, how are we doing it? Well, I want you to think about this for a minute. Why do you think people sell drugs to make money? Why do we sell alcohol to make money?
[00:25:26] Gambling. I don't know if you guys noticed this, but, you know, in the last 20 years, gambling has become so prolific that now you can even gamble at any sporting event. And they don't just stop at who wins the game anymore. They have all kinds of means within the game to gamble. And so gambling has now become such a high revenue maker. So who do you think pays for.
[00:25:52] You know, I've been to Las Vegas a few times. My brother lives there. He's an entertainer in Las Vegas. But who do you think pays for those casinos? The people who are putting money in the machines, they're paying for those casinos. And those are beautiful buildings, by the way. They're making a lot of money and they're enslaving people with addiction. And I want to explain to you how addictive. I'm just picking on gambling for a minute here. I'm going to explain how addictive it is. People say that gambling is addictive as cocaine. It's that addictive. And what happens in your brain, this is what happens with addictions. You need to understand why addictions are so profound and powerful in people's lives. You know, I did a course recently on the addictive brain. And we have little pathways in our brains. And after a while, what happens is your brain starts functioning in a certain way. And when you get a certain rush from doing certain behaviors, it starts programming you to keep doing that. And that's true of every sort of addiction that we get involved in. And so how do you change that? You have to create new neural pathways in your brain. And somebody. There's got to be a power greater than ourselves to help us pass this addictive behavior. Think about it for a minute. I believe with all of my heart that God's power is greater than addictions. You know, when I was in Bible college, Patty and I used to go out and work On a native reserve, an indigenous reserve. And I still remember brother Martin. One day he had me over at his home. He's sharing with me. He said, you know, I was the worst alcoholic on this reserve by a long shot. He said, my wife put up with me for a long time. But then one day they were fasting and praying for me, and God got a hold of my heart, and he said, I stopped drinking. And he said, for three days and nights, he said, all I did was sweat wine out of my pores.
[00:27:38] Now, that was a very dangerous thing to do. He just went cold turkey. That's actually extremely dangerous to do. You need a doctor to help you. But he did it. He survived it. And he said the sheets were wine soaked. That's how bad it was. But he said, I haven't had a drop in 25 years. Not one drop. You see, he experienced an encounter with God that brought about a change in his life. But you have to change, you know, the way your mind works. And just think about this. You know, I said I was praying for someone last week, and I said to them, do you know it starts with a thought? A thought leads to a behavior. Because our thinking leads to actions. A behavior, a behavior continually repeated becomes a habit, and a habit becomes a lifestyle. So how do you address the wrong kind of a lifestyle? You have to begin with the thought, and you got to address that thought in your mind. And the Bible talks about presenting our bodies as a living sacrifice and then goes on to talk about the renewing of our mind. And I said to this individual, what you need to do is take a look at the exact opposite behavior and start formulating scriptures and memorizing scriptures in your head. So when these thoughts come against you like fiery darts from the devil, you need to start quoting the scriptures so you can stand up against that kind of an onslaught and begin to reprogram and create a new pathway in your mind. So eventually you have new behavior starting to happen. Because your thinking changes, your behavior starts changing, you develop new habits, and it creates a brand new lifestyle. It's very dramatic and it's very, very, very powerful. You know, but just think about not just alcohol and gambling. Look at sex for a minute. Do you know right now that sex trade is so huge in our world? And both the people that are caught up in pornography and the people that are being taken captive, literally physically taken captive and brought into this trade, right now there are nations that their gross national domestic product is actually smaller than than the monies that are generated from the sex Trade.
[00:29:43] So all of this stuff is being generated and bringing people into captivity, and it's all driven by what?
[00:29:51] Money. And that's why last week in that message, I said, in Canada, we have a God, but it's not the God that we should be serving, the one who created us, the God of heaven and earth, the one who came and died for us. We're serving the God called Mammon. And Jesus said, you cannot serve God and money at the same time. It's an impossibility.
[00:30:13] So we need to understand this now as we hear these warnings centuries ago. And they were ignored, by the way. What happened to them?
[00:30:24] Well, they're extinct. That civilization went right down. And here's what I want to explain to you, that when you and I continually ignore God's warnings, all that's left is, is that evil or sin begins to overtake us until the point where we can't even function as a human being. It so diminishes you that you're not even. You're less than what you were. It's a diminishment of you as a person and it's destroying everybody around you. But ultimately, you're in a state of violation against God's absolute laws. Now look, Amos, prophecy towards these atrocities happened 150 years ahead of the actual judgment. Look at Amos, chapter one, verse seven. So I'm going to send a fire upon the wall of Gaza. It shall devour her strongholds. I'll cut off the inhabitants of Ashdod, another one of their cities, and him who holds the scepter from Ashkelon, that's probably the ruling city. I will turn my hand against Ekron and the remnant of the Philistines shall perish, says the Lord God. So you know, God says, listen, if you sin, you shall die. Now, he said that at the very beginning of the Bible. He says it throughout the entire Bible. And he tells us as preachers to warn people. And if we don't warn people, then their blood is on us.
[00:31:44] So listen, you're hearing a warning today. I'm saying if you're involved in some area in your life that's wrong, here's the warning. You've got to address it. You have to address it now because it's not going to get any better, it's going to get worse. You're just going to get deeper into that realm in your life, and it gets harder and harder. And so God, I believe God's going to speak to some of you today and say, this is the last chance for Some of you, you got to step up to the plate and say, okay, I got to deal with this right now. This is a crisis moment. Well, look what happens. Zephaniah now, another prophet. This is later on. This is only 30 years earlier from Jeremiah. So now 120 years have gone by. God's been warning them. They're not listening. They're not listening. They're not listening. God is warning Canada. We're not listening. We're not listening. We're not listening. Now there's 30 years out. Now what does God say in the book of Zephaniah?
[00:32:37] It says Gaza will be abandoned. Ashkelon will be left in ruins at midday, Ashdod will be emptied and Ekron uprooted. Woe to you who live by the sea, you Cherethite, that's another name for Philistines people. The word of the Lord is against you, Canaan, land of the Philistines. He says, I will destroy you and none will be left.
[00:32:55] Now, is God's word true or not? It's true.
[00:32:59] The land by the sea will become pastures, having wells for shepherds and pens for flocks. And the land that belonged to the remnant of the people of Judah, there they will find pasture. In the evening, they will lie down in the houses of Ashkelon. And the Lord their God will care for them and he will return, restore their fortress. What is God saying? I'm giving the land that the Philistines lived in to the people of Israel. Says it right there.
[00:33:23] He said, I'm going to give it to you guys.
[00:33:25] God will take the land from them and restore it to God's people.
[00:33:30] And then we read these verse, now the moment is coming, it's at hand.
[00:33:35] Jeremiah is prophesying and Babylon is racing. Has already destroyed Jerusalem. Now it's already happened.
[00:33:43] Says then the word of the Lord. No, it hasn't quite destroyed Jerusalem. He's about to do that. Actually, one of the last kings hears about the destruction of one of the Philistine cities. It's interesting. This is the word of the Lord that came to Jeremiah, the prophet concerning the Philistines before Pharaoh attacked Gaza. Okay, well that's from the south. Yeah, I know, but remember the fighting was going on between Babylon and Egypt. Who's in the middle? Well, it's the Philistines and Judah and Israel. They're in the middle. They're going to be the ones that are going to experience this.
[00:34:16] The second thing we learn is that unaddressed sin brings judgment. So first of all, I said Unrepentant past sins have no expiry date. In other words, God's keeping track. And if we don't address them, all we have left is judgment.
[00:34:33] That's what's going to happen. Listen, you know, when Jesus comes back to this world, he's not coming the way he came the first time. Humble, meek, coming here to lay down his life as a servant. He's coming back to judge the living and the dead.
[00:34:47] He's coming back to judge humanity. He's coming back to judge the nations. And all nations are going to stand before God for all of the atrocities done through all human history. It's coming. This is what we're facing. We're moving towards the day of the Lord, the coming of the Lord Jesus. You know, the coming of the Lord is a great hope for a believer because we know, hey, we're going to be with Jesus. It's a day of terror and dread in the minds of people who don't know Christ. It's a day of judgment. It's a day of reckoning. It's a day of dealing with unaddressed sin.
[00:35:24] And you know, military conquest was a means of punishing the Philistines. There are a number of means to diminish a country. War is one of the most painful and devastating means. Scripture reveals that war, famine and plagues are used by God to discipline nations. Read the scriptures carefully. I'll tell you that famine is often the result of a war as the nation diverts its energy to self preservation and neglects the cultivation of the land. Jeremiah once again uses the metaphor of rising water as a picture of a destructive nation. Nature raging waters. How many have ever seen pictures of water when it starts raging, gets outside of its banks? How many know how destructive that thing is? You're in trouble. Raging waters. It's a very vivid word picture in our mind.
[00:36:08] It says they will overflow the land and everything in it towns those who live in them. The people will cry out and all who dwell in the land will wail. He's basically saying it's going to be devastating. You know, we've already read at the sound of the hooves of galloping steeds, at the noise of enemy chariots and the rumbling of their wheels. Parents will not turn to help their children. Their hands will hang limp. For the day has come to destroy all the Philistines and to remove all the survivors. Walter Brueggemann explains the power of this poetic expression of judgment upon the nation. He says the poet seeks to bring the listener into the specific action of the one sided battle. That picture of brutal and determined force from the north is sharply contrasted with the Philistine fathers, the ones formerly of military prowess, now unable even to protect their own children. How utterly weak, failed and helpless they really are.
[00:37:05] The rhetoric draws a powerful and complete contrast between power and weakness, between success and shame, between action and passivity.
[00:37:13] The conflict would be so terrifying that the city so quickly overrun that parents would not even lift their hand to save their kids. This is a terrible situation. It's just overwhelming. They're going to be paralyzed, they're going to be immobilized. It seems that the alliance that they had made with the Phoenician cities of Sidon and Tyre, they're not going to be around to help them. That's what he's warning. They're not. Hey, if Tyre and Sidon are looking to you Philistines to help them, forget it. You're not going to be around. God used Babylon as a sword of judgment.
[00:37:43] Gaza will shave her head in mourning and Ashkelon will be silenced.
[00:37:50] Then he asked, you know, that's interesting, he goes on, he says, you remnant on the plain, how long will you cut yourselves?
[00:37:58] Alas, sword of the Lord, how long till you rest? In other words, how long are you going to keep judging these guys? Return your sheath. Return to your sheath. Cease and be still. It seems like that's a question that's being raised by the people that are having it happen to them. But how can it rest when the Lord has commanded it, when he has ordered it to attack Ashkelon and the coast? Tremper Longman writes here, the cities are personified. Gaza will have their head in mourning, Referring to a ritual of mourning that may have evoked the idea of Babylon shaving them as captives and Ashkelon will be silenced. How many know a noisy city is silenced in only one way, when all of its inhabitants are either they're gone, they're dead, they've been killed. Here we read that this remnant on the plain as the Philistines now lived in the plains, will now be inhabited by Judah.
[00:38:44] This expression of how long will you cut yourselves? Was a practice of certain nations expressing deep mourning of losses, of loved ones. They would literally mutilate themselves. They would cut their skin, says, it would seem in verse seven that this cry of how long God's sword will continue and now find rest seems to be the query of the Philistines as they watch their cities being destroyed. When's this going to end? God says, it's not.
[00:39:10] I've given you a long time to repent.
[00:39:14] It's a petition for God to put up his sword. The answer simply cannot be stopped because it was commanded by God. God's the one that's behind this.
[00:39:23] We have seen that God had tried to arrest their attention over great expanses of time. But there was only a deafness to God's plea. And now God refuses to hear their anguish choir. Isn't that interesting? You know, God's been speaking, speaking, speaking. We're not listening. Finally, when it's crisis moment, we're crying and God goes, can't hear you.
[00:39:41] You know, there is a door. You know, I think about it all the time. Think about Noah and the ark for a minute.
[00:39:47] Noah had been preaching for 100 years. They thought he was an old kook.
[00:39:53] I'm telling you, they thought he was crazy. Noah heard from God. These people just kept on sinning. God finally came to the day where it said, and God closed the door. And when it started raining, because they hadn't seen rain before, it was freaky. And you know, after about three or four days of it, you start panicking and it keeps raining and raining, and pretty soon waters are rushing and raging and people are being killed and destroyed. I'm sure a few people came up to the ark, were banging on the door. Noah goes, can't open it. Can't open. I don't even. He couldn't open it. God was the one that closed the door. And that happens in our lives as well. God can bring a close to an opportunity in our lives. You know, I think we just walk around, think, well, I got all the time in the world. No, we don't. Today is the day of salvation. Scripture teaches very clearly. We have to decide. We have to make up our mind. This is an opportunity. God speaking into our lives. God's nature is loving, and therefore justice is a central part of love. To allow injustice to prevail in our world over the centuries would have destroyed all human life.
[00:40:57] Justice is necessary as a deterrent to evil. Evil left unchecked does not just destroy those around us. Evil destroys us.
[00:41:07] Do you know evil destroys you?
[00:41:10] If we don't deal with the evil in ourselves, it will destroy us.
[00:41:15] God knows that. And so when nations become so entrapped by evil, it has to be addressed. And God does address it. Folks.
[00:41:28] You know, the 20th century was one of the most brutal in all human history. We had two world wars.
[00:41:37] Nations became so engulfed in evil, it had to be deterred. As with nations so with individuals, we need to be saved from ourselves. For if we are not saved by God, we will destroy ourselves.
[00:41:54] It's true. So what is wisdom?
[00:41:58] Wisdom is to fear God and to shun evil, to turn our back on evil. What is repentance but to turn to God and turn away from evil, turn away from serving idols to the true and the living God? That's a definition of repentance. God is calling us to repentance and to turning to him. And if we do that, we will receive his great gift of salvation. Let me tell you how great God's gift of salvation is. God's power is so great that no matter what sin you're struggling with, his power is greater than your sin. He can set every one of us in this room free. It's beautiful.
[00:42:39] It's amazing. He can set you free. You know, he can even take away the desire. That's how powerful he is. But I'm going to have us close right now by standing. And, you know, I know this was a very direct message.
[00:42:54] This book of Jeremiah is very challenging.
[00:42:59] It is challenging. You know what I find fascinating? When Jesus walked the earth, Jesus said to his disciples, who do people say that I am?
[00:43:08] Some of them said, you are Jeremiah.
[00:43:13] That gives me an understanding. John the Baptist and Jesus preached repentance. The apostles preached repentance. You see, you. And I can't just say, well, I'm a Christian because I believe in Jesus. No, that's nice that you believe in your mind. But let me point out one little thing to all of us.
[00:43:31] It's not those who hear my words.
[00:43:35] It's those who do my words.
[00:43:38] See, if you're just, you know, if you could be laying your house on a foundation, Jesus warned us about this. This is a warning from Jesus, not from the pastor. He said, listen to me. Those who hear my words and do them are like a man or a woman who builds the house on a rock.
[00:43:57] And when the storms come, and they will come, that house will stand.
[00:44:02] But if you're the only. If you're just hearing my words and not doing them, it's like building a house on sand. And when the storm comes, that house collapse. You know, I've been a pastor now over four decades, and, you know, it grieves me at times when I see people's lives just collapse. It just breaks my heart. I love people.
[00:44:24] It just tears apart something inside of me. When I see people just falling apart, I just go, what's going on?
[00:44:32] They were listening, but they weren't doers they weren't responding to God.
[00:44:38] You need to respond to God today.
[00:44:41] He wants to do something today that's so extraordinary.
[00:44:45] He wants to bring deliverance in your life. He wants to set captives free today. He wants to set you free from the power of sin and shame and the power of Satan. He wants to deliver you today. And he's going to call you forward. I'm going to ask you to do something really wild. Because, you know, sometimes as Christians, we just sit around here. You know, maybe we're, you know, we just don't know what's going to happen in our lives or we just keep doing the same old thing. We need to make a clean break with sin.
[00:45:13] A clean break.
[00:45:16] And I'm going to ask you just to come forward. God's speaking to you today. I believe God was speaking to people today.
[00:45:23] I just want you to just start coming forward. God's speaking to you today. Said clean break with sin. A clean break. Today's the day I'm going to set you free. This is a clean break.
[00:45:33] This is your moment. You just come. I'm believing for extraordinary God doing an extraordinary work. We'll have prayer warriors come in a minute, but I just want you to come.
[00:45:42] Yeah, just let people come. Come on. Don't be ashamed. Listen, God is for you. God is for you today. He loves you. This is not putting you down. This is saying, hey, he's here to help you today.
[00:45:56] Amen. Come, come. There's more of you. I already know that. Come this morning. God wants to do a deep work today. This is a moment.
[00:46:06] This is your opportunity. That's beautiful. See, people are coming. We don't need to know what's going on in their lives. But you know what the spirit of God does? The spirit of God is speaking to some of you. This is your moment right now. Come. God wants to do a powerful new work in you. Just come up a little closer. More people are coming now. Yeah, brave popes came first. But more are coming because this is. This is a moment. This is a moment with you and God. I'm gonna tell a little secret. In my life, as a young person, when I gave my life to Christ, listen, there were moments I just fell apart because God was speaking right into my spirit. And when God does that, this is the hour, man. You gotta respond to God at that moment because he's gonna do a work inside of you. He wants to set you free. He wants to heal you.
[00:46:57] He wants to do a mighty work inside of your life. You want to be Ready? I'm going to share something somebody shared with me really recently. One of their relatives, 25 years old, tragically killed. Tragically killed. 25 years old. Think about that.
[00:47:17] Some of you think, well, you know, I got lots of time. I go, you. You don't know how much time you've got. Not one of us knows the day or the hour. God says, this is the day.
[00:47:26] I want you to respond, okay, let's pray. I'm praying for extraordinary things to happen in these people's lives. I'm going to have prayer warriors come on up here. Altar workers. Come, guys, come, come, come. I want you to lay hands on your brothers and sisters. These are your brothers and sisters. Come right now. Let's pray for our brothers and sisters. Come on. Come on, guys. We need you. Come on. I need people. You got a heart to pray.
[00:47:52] Just come up alongside of these guys. We're going to pray real quick, and then we're going to dismiss the congregation.
[00:47:59] So, Father, I'm just praying right now. Do a mighty work.
[00:48:04] You're speaking into these beautiful people's lives. You love them with an everlasting love. You died for us. You're a redeemer. You're a ransomer. I believe that your power is so great in our life, it can break every shackle and every sin in our soul. I pray today, Lord, you'll set captives free. I pray today that you're going to do an extraordinary work of grace in their lives. They're going to walk in freedom. And, Lord, I know they're still going to get tempted. But now they've heard something. They're going to renew their minds. They're going to address some of the root issues in their lives. They're going to address some of these great addictions. There's so many things that entrap us, Lord. We can be wonderfully, beautifully good people, but we get entrapped by sin and these addictions. And I pray today that you will set them free, Lord. Set them free. I pray that they will experience joy unspeakable and full of glory, that you're going to give them a heart and a desire to serve you wholeheartedly, Lord. They're going to experience your grace in a measure maybe they've never experienced before, Lord. They're calling out to you. They're turning their back on the way life was, and they're going to move in a new direction. Help them, Lord, walk in new pathways in their outward life, but also in their inward life. Lord, you're going to create new neural pathways in their brains. Oh, God. They're going to create new behaviors. Oh, God. New habits. Oh, God. And new lifestyle. Because you are enabling them and you've given them the power to do it. They can say yes to righteousness and no to sin. You've given us that ability, Lord, and we thank you for that. In Jesus, mighty name, amen. And amen. God bless you as you leave this morning.
