Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] All right, I'm going to have you this morning turn in your Bibles to the last chapter of the book of Jeremiah. Whoa. Yeah.
[00:00:08] Chapter 52. You know what that tells me? You've hung in there because I've at least preached a chapter a week, and sometimes I've even maybe preached a little bit more. Maybe two sermons in one chapter. So we've actually listened to Jeremiah now for over 50 weeks. That's amazing. And I know we're. We even gave you a little break after chapter 38. I preached the entire Gospel of John in between. But that's okay.
[00:00:34] So this morning I've entitled this is the wrong sermon on the PowerPoint.
[00:00:41] That's not it.
[00:00:44] Wrong sermon, guys.
[00:00:48] Moving from confusion to a new season to fulfill promises. That's the one that we need to have up on the PowerPoint screen.
[00:00:56] That's okay. I have so many of these that, you know, they just keep gathering them on the computer so he'll fix it.
[00:01:04] When life comes crashing in on us with trauma and tragedy, some of us have experienced that.
[00:01:10] Sometimes it begins. It can create a little bit of a question mark.
[00:01:15] Why does God allow this to happen in our lives?
[00:01:19] What's God's purpose for me in this moment of trauma or tragedy?
[00:01:24] You know, we can all agree that life is not just an enjoyable trip with only amazing adventures. Wouldn't that be great?
[00:01:32] Wouldn't that be great?
[00:01:34] Yeah, wouldn't that be awesome? No problems, just one big adventure after another and everything works out good in the end. But you know what? That's not the way it works. Because God has a little different game plan in mind. You say what's the plan of God? He's working at shaping our inner lives to conform us into the image of His Son. That's God's purpose.
[00:01:55] You know, the more we align with that purpose, the better off we'll be in our emotional well being. We won't be fighting God. We'll be going. Okay, I get it. I'm going to start cooperating with God to allow God's image, God's life to flow in and through my life.
[00:02:14] You know, let's see, he hasn't figured it out yet, but that's okay. At times, the spiritual journey with all its twists and turns can be confusing. It can be painful. And if we live where disobedience becomes our normal lifestyle, we can anticipate painful outcomes.
[00:02:35] Yet even God's discipline is a mercy, bringing us back to himself. He illuminates our paths with his beautiful promises that will be Realized not only in this life, but for all eternity.
[00:02:47] As I said, we're at the last chapter. The conclusion of the book begins with a distressing note, but concludes with a ray of hope. Isn't that nice? So it starts out, not too good.
[00:02:59] Hang in there, guys. It's going to get better.
[00:03:02] Even in God's. Sorry.
[00:03:06] This chapter brings us back to the days leading to the fall of Jerusalem. So Jeremiah's moved us through that he's talked about all the way to last week. We talked about the fall of Babylon. But now he's going to bring us back to in the story of what happened earlier. And it's obvious when you read the last chapter, and I hope some of you maybe have, if you haven't, we're going to go through it this morning. Hopefully the PowerPoint will come up. But it's obvious that Jeremiah is not the author. It's probably done by maybe Baruch or some other Jewish editor coming along. And he's writing to, to show us that all of the prophecies that Jeremiah communicated in his life that are now recorded as scripture have now come to pass. Isn't that an amazing thing? These are all been realized when God says something, it happens. Isn't that amazing? That tells me that you and I can literally sink our entire soul and life and just say, you know what, what God says is true. It's eternal. It'll always be the way God says it's going to be. It works out that way all the time. It's. And even though there's moments in life where it seems like maybe the circumstances say the opposite, I want you to know God's word is true.
[00:04:18] So now we see the destruction of the city because God was angry at the continuing idolatry of the people that had been perpetrated for a long time. We're talking centuries of wrong behavior now. How many here when you've dealt dealing with somebody and they just don't change, don't change, don't change and they're doing the wrong thing. How many of that gets a little frustrating? Anybody have that experience? You're a little frustrated. They're never changing. Well, could you imagine, you know, having an entire centuries of this behavior and God is trying out of his gracious love to get through to them, he's been patient with them, but they're just getting worse.
[00:04:57] How would you like to have to deal with people who are just getting more, you know, getting worse and worse and worse? So God finally deals with it. And so In Jeremiah, chapter 52, verse 1, we read, Zedekiah was 21 years old when he became the king, and he reigned in Jerusalem 11 years. His mother's name was Hemutah, daughter of Jeremiah. She was from Libnah. And he did evil in the eyes of the Lord, just as Jehoiakim had done. And it was because of the Lord's anger that all this happened to Jerusalem and Judah. And in the end, he thrust them from his presence.
[00:05:33] Now, while this chapter, in many ways, this is going to maybe be surprising to you as a repeated, repeated version of what you would read in Second Kings, chapter 24, verses 18, all the way to chapter 25, verse 30. So if you read Jeremiah 52 and you read Second Kings chapter 24 and 25, you're going to go, hey, it's saying the same thing. I go, yeah, I know it's repeating it, but there are some minor variations.
[00:05:59] But in Jeremiah, what we need to understand is why it's repeated, because he's making some theological points. It's not just a historical rendering of what happened. I think in Kings, you get some theology, but you're mostly getting the historical narrative. In Jeremiah, you're actually getting a sense of, this is what it means. This is why God did this. How many like it? When God explains himself, that's kind of neat. I think it's awesome. You learn something. God says, this is why I'm doing these things.
[00:06:32] And so Walter Bruegerman, he writes this, the concluding line of Jeremiah 52, 3a, renders an unqualified theological verdict by saying this in Jeremiah 52, verse 3. Let me just read it here. It was because of the Lord's anger that all this happened in Jerusalem and Judah. And in the end, he thrust them from his presence.
[00:06:57] In other words, God pushed them aside. God removed them. God asked, you know, he just. Basically, it's the picture of the garden when God pushed man outside of the garden. It's a very challenging statement. And anytime, you know, God is removing us from his presence, how many go, not a good thing, not a good thing. You don't want God doing that. And Bruegerman says that the exile is actually God's work, evoked by anger, not just with the king, but with the city, with the nation.
[00:07:32] At last, God does what the book of Jeremiah has long anticipated. Tremper Longman, in his commentary about this chapter, says the final chapter serves two important purposes. First, it makes clear that Jeremiah's message of judgment on Judas for the sin, which now has consequences. And now we see the fulfillment of that. And secondly, it anticipates the fact that, that Jeremiah's message of hope after judgment will finally be realized. So in other words, God uses this time to reshape the people he's going to shape their attitudes and their actions. How many know if we're going to really change, it starts with our thinking. You have to change your mind. That's the nature of repentance. You got to change the way you see things that will lead to a change of behavior. And that's the nature of what God is trying to bring about in people's lives. He's bringing about this transformation. So what are the lessons from the book of Jeremiah that this chapter is now communicating to us? Well, what we are witnessing is a cycle of sin being played out in a nation, and it ends at the end with such devastation and catastrophe.
[00:08:45] But fortunately, Jeremiah goes, but I always like the buts, but there's hope at the end.
[00:08:53] Now, how many know if you're going to go through a lot of pain and process of sorrow and loss and difficulty, you want to know that the end is going to turn out okay. How many? You know, I can put up with a lot of bad stuff as long as I know at the end it works out. You know, it's like a movie, you know, or a great novel. You know, they, they, they run you through the whole gamut. Your, your soul is rendered, you know, emotionally distraught over all the bad things that are happening. But all of a sudden you get to the conclusion and it works out at the end. It's the story of Joseph, you know, where he goes through all of those difficult things in the Old Testament, you know, you know, sold down the river, betrayed, falsely accused, imprisoned, but then, boom, he gets raised up and God uses his life to really save his entire family, even the family that betrayed him. Isn't that an amazing thing? How can you be the person, you become the hero of the story? I, I think we all like those protagonist situations when we're reading a novel or we're watching a movie and we identify with the leading character. Let's face it, we all identify the leading character. We're rooting for them, and they're going through all this difficult stuff. And at the end, it all works out. And Jeremiah wants us to leave us on that note that God is not just doing these things because he's got, you know, he's got an emotional issue.
[00:10:12] It's not just because God gets upset with us. It's because God says, I love you so much. Yes, I'm motivated to do something, actually. You know, Bible says, be angry, but don't sin. Anger is designed to motivate us to do something, but we should never do it out of hatred. We should do it out of love. And when God disciplines his people, he's doing it out of love because his end goal is to see change occur in the nation and really in our personal lives. God wants to see good outcomes in our lives, and I think that's so important.
[00:10:46] So when we rebel against God, the only option for God is to discipline us so that when we come to our senses, having experienced brokenness and loss, we find this ray of hope moving us towards a new season of recovery.
[00:11:02] And so it usually begins with the deconstruction of the nation and the stirrings of renewal that are beginning to happen in this moment of exile.
[00:11:12] And it's a pattern that's not only true for the nation of Judah and for other nations, but it's also true for us individually.
[00:11:19] It begins with the fragmentation and chaotic nature of one's life or nation in crisis. And so God uses crisis as a vehicle to bring us to himself.
[00:11:30] How many know we tend to be very independent.
[00:11:34] I can do this all by myself.
[00:11:37] And reality is, we were never designed to be independent.
[00:11:41] God designed us to be interdependent, that we would learn to be dependent on God, we would learn to be interdependent on each other, and we would grow in community. You know, God saved people in the New Testament. They just didn't go off and do their own thing. Well, I'm a Christian now, thank you very much. I'm saved. I'll do my thing. No, it doesn't work that way. No. God calls us out of darkness and calls us into a community of light that we start learning to love each other. How many know learning to love people is challenging?
[00:12:13] Come on, let's be honest.
[00:12:16] You know, it's easy. You know, when you're young, you're madly in love with somebody. I'm going to live with you for the rest of my life.
[00:12:23] And your shining knight turns out to have a few damages and dings in his character, you know?
[00:12:30] Or the princess that you thought you married has got a few flaws and a few nagging or difficult habits.
[00:12:40] Whoops.
[00:12:49] Let's move past that.
[00:12:57] Okay, I said, Lord, just help me to only say what you want me to say.
[00:13:03] No, I'm not blaming it on you, Lord. I got to take credit.
[00:13:07] Take it.
[00:13:08] Okay, number one, let's take a look at two things here. The steps of a nation and how God brings about restoration. First one is addressing rebellion against God by seeing this disintegration of stability and structure in life. Now, have you noticed that when things get unhealthy, you know, stability begins to wane and there's a destabilization and structure begins to crumble. That's what you start noticing and it's really kind of sad. I think one of the most significant effects of sin in a nation or in an individual is the destabilization of that person or the nation.
[00:13:46] Life becomes chaotic, conflicted, filled with uncertainty, Hope disappears, despair begins to reign in hearts of people, and answers just start failing. People just don't know what to do.
[00:13:57] We're running from God and like the book of Jonah, we're met with a lack of ability to cope. Often depression sets in. We discover storms that threaten our well being and we feel like life is swallowing us up.
[00:14:10] Isn't that amazing?
[00:14:11] A lot of people feel like that.
[00:14:13] In the human drama, we discover the rebellion of the king of Judah against his patron, the king of Babylon. But in the divine equation, that's the human story. But there's always a storyline above the human story.
[00:14:25] And in the divine equation we see this underlying issue was actually Zedekiah's rebellion not so much against the king of Babylon, but against the word of the Lord.
[00:14:35] You see, Jeremiah was telling King Zedekiah what he needed to do to save his nation and he refused to do it.
[00:14:44] Just like sometimes you and I are communicating to people what it takes to save their souls and they refuse to take it.
[00:14:51] And what happens is devastation starts setting in. It's not, you know, some people say, I don't want to hear that. Yeah, but this is the answer.
[00:14:59] This is the way to hope.
[00:15:02] The description of the fall of Jerusalem, the seat of power in Judah.
[00:15:06] Now we see this abandonment of the city by Zedekiah. It speaks of his leadership as abdicating his responsibilities.
[00:15:18] How many know? Isn't that amazing?
[00:15:20] See, leaders are supposed to lay down their lives for their people, right?
[00:15:26] That's a biblical concept, by the way. Jesus was a leader, he laid down his life for people.
[00:15:32] Zedekiah flees, runs away.
[00:15:35] The exile can be summarized in verse 2 which states that God thrust them from his presence. Rebellion always will bring us down. In verse 3 to 5 it says, Now Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon. So in the ninth year of his reign, on the tenth day of the tenth month, Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, marched against Jerusalem with his whole army. They camped around the city, they built siege works around it. And the city was kept under siege until the 11th year of King Zedekiah. So about 18 months. When you figure out all the dates here, they were under siege, nobody coming in, nobody going out. And how many know eventually you have no economics, no trading, no food coming in and out. What starts happening, People get hungry, people start starving.
[00:16:20] You got famine.
[00:16:22] That's the reason why armies create sieges, is to starve people until they surrender.
[00:16:29] Verse 7, it says, Then the city was broken through and the whole army fled. Isn't that nice? The guys that are supposed to be protecting us, they ran away.
[00:16:39] They're not doing their job. It says they left the city at night through the gate between the two walls near the king's garden. Though the Babylonians were surrounding the city, they must have found a little spot where they could get away. They fled toward the Arabah. But the Babylonian army pursued King Zedekiah and overtook him in the plains of Jericho. And all his soldiers were separated from him and scattered. And he was captured. Oh, we're there. We got it on PowerPoint.
[00:17:04] Okay.
[00:17:05] And he was captured, and he was taken to the king of Babylon, of Ribla, in the land of Hamah, where he pronounced sentence on him.
[00:17:15] So we see God's first step here in disciplining the nation is to remove the ungodly leader or the ungodly leaders. God just removes them.
[00:17:25] Zedekiah is captured, he's sentenced, he's blinded, and he's imprisoned for life.
[00:17:34] How does this apply to us?
[00:17:37] Well, when we rebel against God while ignoring repeated warnings, God moves to discipline our lives, to ultimately save us from total and eternal devastation.
[00:17:50] Like Jerusalem, our lives are besieged. There's a famine that comes to our soul. The walls which represent security, our compromise. And we find ourselves in, captured by sin, generally in the form of addictions which we're simply not able to be freed from, because that's the nature of sin.
[00:18:09] Sin has power. I don't think we realize that. You know, our world, you know, we have a medical model. We have all this terminology. We've. We've redesigned what's happening to human behavior. But theologically, this is exactly what happens when I violate God's word. I sin against God. The sin overtakes me. I become an addict to whatever has overtaken me and I can't get free.
[00:18:33] I'm not strong enough. I'm captured by it.
[00:18:40] Our lives begin disintegrating. The losses begin to mount up.
[00:18:45] People can lose everything from family and friends. And meaningful jobs. How many know what I'm talking about? You watch it. People who are addicted, the addiction takes over. They focus on the addiction. They start losing everything around them.
[00:18:59] They become tunnel visions. It's all about their addiction.
[00:19:03] It says, the tragedy is that not only do we suffer for our sins, but those we love suffer with us.
[00:19:11] We're not the only ones that are suffering. Do you know when people say to me, the only person I'm hurting is myself? I go, what a piece of lying that has ever done. You were lying to yourself because everybody that loves you is suffering with you.
[00:19:26] It's the truth.
[00:19:28] We often see that selfishness, which is often. It's just an expression of sin, you know, selfishness is sin, folks.
[00:19:36] That's what it is. Let's call it for what it is, call it out. And it's often at the root of marriage breakups. And the real victims are the children.
[00:19:45] And you don't believe this. I've got all kinds of books in my office on the studies that happen to children of divorced parents.
[00:19:52] I'm one of those.
[00:19:54] And they've done studies of the effects that it has. 5 years, 20 years, 25. They just have been studying this all along, and it's devastating.
[00:20:04] The only way to break that is to come to Christ. The only way to break that is to forgive. I had to forgive my parents.
[00:20:10] I didn't realize how hurt and wounded I really was. I couldn't believe how wounded I was and how many times I had to walk through this level of forgiveness with my father, you know, because I blamed him.
[00:20:23] I was angry at him. Didn't think I was. I was even a minister. I even. Because I hadn't addressed it. I thought I had addressed it. But you know what? Bitterness is such an evil thing. It destroys you on the inside.
[00:20:36] Going to talk about today, we're going to talk about sin because I believe some of us are trapped and God wants to set you free today. And that's why I'm excited about continuing on with this message. I think it's so important in our text. Once Zedekiah is captured, he's sentenced, his sons are executed before his eyes as well as all of his court officials. The last thing that he saw before he was blinded was his children being put to death.
[00:21:00] It says in verse 10 and 11, says there at Riblah, the king of Babylon killed the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes. He also killed the officials of Judah. Then he put out Zedekiah's eyes. He wanted him to. He says the last thing I want you to remember seeing is the death of your children. How many? Well, that's pretty cruel. Anybody think that's cruel? I think it's cruel.
[00:21:20] You know, but you know what happens when you and I keep doing our thing and rebelling against God? The consequences get crueler.
[00:21:29] He bound him with bronze shackles. He took him to Babylon, where he put him in prison till the day of his death.
[00:21:36] Apart from repentance from sin, which is turning away from it, all we can expect is further loss and eternal separation from God. So let's take a look at the effects of sin in life.
[00:21:47] Sin promises to give you something, but in reality, it's a thief and a robber and it's going to take everything you have away from you.
[00:21:55] How many say, that's tragic. That's what it does.
[00:21:58] We quickly discover that the lack that occurred provisions come to an end here in the city under siege. It produced a severe famine. The city walls that provided protection were breached. Those who were supposed to protect the people in the city fled and left the city vulnerable.
[00:22:14] The world as they knew it collapsed before them. The people were now in a state of desperation. No food, no protection.
[00:22:22] Enemies now overtaking their city. Nowhere to run and flee, and with no hope for tomorrow.
[00:22:30] How many say that's desperation and despair, hopelessness, death seems to be all around them.
[00:22:40] Says in Jeremiah 52, 6, in the ninth day on the fourth month, the famine in the city had become so severe that there was no food for the people to eat. And then the city wall was broken through and the whole army fled.
[00:22:52] This is the same scenario in life. When people rebel against God, losses begin to mount up. Many people can testify to the high cost of addiction in their lives. And when we consider the high cost of what God paid in order to forgive us and deliver us from sin, we need to realize something. We got to address sin in a very radicalized manner. I don't know if you've ever read the Sermon on the Mount. How many have read it? You know even what I'm talking about. Matthew, chapter five through seven, Jesus is talking.
[00:23:23] It is one of the most profound and yet one of the most shocking sermons you'll ever hear.
[00:23:30] I don't think we realize that. I think, you know, we read the Beatitudes, Blessed are the poor. You know, we like those poetic statements of Jesus. But let me just keep reading some words of Jesus and point out some thoughts for us so that you and I can understand that Jesus is now going to use hyperbole. You go what's hyperbole? Hyperbole is an exaggerated form of speech. He wants to make a point.
[00:23:53] So he's going to say something about the nature of sin. And Jesus is going to use hyperbole to tell us that we need to radically address sin, or sin will radically destroy us.
[00:24:05] So there's no fooling around with this. Some of us in this room, we've been fooling around with sin for a long time. And. And today I'm praying that you're going to get free because you don't realize the cost it's about to take in your Life.
[00:24:17] In Matthew 5. 21, I don't have the PowerPoint slides for this. He said, you have heard that it was said to the people long ago, you shall not murder, and anyone whose murders will be subject to judgment. Okay, I think we all relate to that. Somebody takes a life. The Bible taught, then your life will be taken from you. But I tell you that anyone who is angry with a brother or sister will be subject to the same judgment.
[00:24:42] Whoa, wait a minute, Pastor. Did Jesus say that? Yep.
[00:24:47] He didn't just say, if we kill somebody, we're a murderer. He said, when we're angry, and we are, you know, like he said, anyone who says to a brother or sister raca is answerable to the court. Anyone who says, you fool will be in danger of the fire of hell.
[00:25:04] Well, you fool means I'm treating you and I'm calling you out as if you're like a non believer.
[00:25:09] Therefore, if you're offering your gift at the altar and there, remember that your brother or sister has something against you. Leave your gift there in front of the altar. Go and be reconciled to them, then come and offer your gift.
[00:25:22] Now, I think we read that, but we don't quite fully understand it. Let me just communicate the understanding that I have of this text.
[00:25:31] I think we're living in a time of tremendous hurt, offense, and anger and judgment towards other people.
[00:25:38] How many say that's true, Pastor? People are offended.
[00:25:41] You know, when I was a new believer, God spoke to me through his word. I was a daily Bible Reader. Psalm 119, 165. They that are easily offended do not love my law. Ooh, spirit of God. See, said Paul, if you really love me and love my words, you're going to do what I tell you to do. Don't get offended.
[00:26:04] Don't take offense.
[00:26:06] Right now, there's people in this room. You're full of offense. You're offended by people. There are relationships that have come to an end in this room because you're offended.
[00:26:16] Let me ask you a question.
[00:26:19] Could God be offended with you right now?
[00:26:24] And how does he treat you who have offended him by breaking his law?
[00:26:30] He still loves you.
[00:26:32] He's prepared to forgive you. Isn't that true? How many say that's true?
[00:26:36] Okay, I'm going to say something very strong today.
[00:26:39] Some of you, you need to straighten out those relationships because God's not listening to you.
[00:26:48] He says, don't even bother coming to talk to me right now. I'm not paying attention. You've got an issue with your sister, you got an issue with this person, you got an issue with that person, you need to forgive them. Step one, how many are hearing me? You need to forgive them.
[00:27:06] Because if you don't forgive them, God says, I may not forgive you. As a matter of fact, he doesn't just say, I may not, Father, Forgive those who've sinned against me even as I forgive those. Forgive me even as I forgive those. If you're not forgiving those, God's not forgiving you, you're in danger. Of what?
[00:27:28] Of eternal damnation.
[00:27:31] We take this way too lightly.
[00:27:34] I'm serious about this. We're taking this way too lightly. The church is so, how would I say it? It's so indifferent to so many things in the world. We're hardened in our hearts. We don't even realize it. You see, the people that are responsive to God are tender hearted. But you see, what hardens a person's heart is sin. And so Satan's smart. He knows that all he's got to do is get you to sin. And Hebrews tells me that sin hardens the heart. And you and I can sit in church and our hearts can be totally hard and we think we're okay and we're totally ineffective.
[00:28:06] And we're very unresponsive to God's word and we're very unresponsive to God's spirit because we're hard hearted.
[00:28:12] And that's why Stephen spoke to this nation and these people were religious. He says, you guys are stiff necked and hard hearted and you always resist God and you crucified the Messiah because you know what? They were hard hearted. And we all look at those God, yeah, those bad Pharisees.
[00:28:30] The problem I see is I'm the bad Pharisee.
[00:28:34] When I read the Sermon on the Mount, I'm looking at these texts and I'm saying, I cannot afford to hold one offense against one person. I must be continually forgiving people. And loving that person. And love always triumphs over judgment. And if you want to overcome evil, you got to love and you got to forgive.
[00:28:55] But some of you are sitting in a hard hearted condition and you've written a person off.
[00:29:01] And I'm praying today that God will get through to you and say you're in danger and you need to take care of this right now.
[00:29:09] You need to get on it right now.
[00:29:12] Because you know you can sit here and listen to a message like this and do nothing with it and you're in trouble.
[00:29:18] You got to do something about it because God's warning you, deal with it.
[00:29:25] Oh, let me move on here, let me just pick on one more.
[00:29:30] I know it's quiet in here, but I just. You know what, I didn't even have this in my sermon until this morning.
[00:29:36] I was up early and I said, oh, I'm going to add this stuff because I can see we need a little application.
[00:29:42] Here's another one. What about sexual sin?
[00:29:45] What about the things like pornography?
[00:29:48] And I'm going to explain to you how God sees it, okay?
[00:29:52] Jesus says, you've heard that it was said you shall not commit adultery. But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustful has already committed adultery with her in his heart.
[00:30:02] What do you think pornography is?
[00:30:06] That's this right here, okay? I tell you that. And then he says, so how many know if you're an adulterer? James says, you're guilty of breaking the law. And if you're guilty of breaking the law, you're going to perish.
[00:30:21] So here we are. You know, I'm a Christian and I'm looking at pornography and I'm addicted to it now.
[00:30:27] And I don't realize that I'm committing adultery. That's how God sees it.
[00:30:32] You go, it's just a picture, Pastor. No, it's more than that.
[00:30:36] It's all the kids that are being taken into the slave trade. It's all the abortions that are being committed because people can't control themselves.
[00:30:45] And you know what? I'm going to share this. I wasn't going to, but I will. Just to give you an idea how tragic this world's become.
[00:30:52] You know, 73 million abortions were committed last year in our world.
[00:31:00] That's the worldwide tally of abortions. 73 million.
[00:31:04] You can say anything you want to to me. You can say, well, you know, Pastor, some of these women's lives were in danger. Yeah, but not 73 million worth.
[00:31:13] Now do you understand? When God looks at this planet. And he says he loves us.
[00:31:19] It's amazing to me that God could love a planet that's destroying themselves like this, that God could love a planet full of sinners. It's amazing to me.
[00:31:28] That just tells me, when Jesus said, I didn't come to condemn this world, I came to save it.
[00:31:33] I am so grateful for that because I'm one of the people that is guilty of sinning against God and he has forgiven me.
[00:31:44] Jesus says, well, what should you do, Pastor? Well, in verse 29, he says, if your right eye causes you to stumble, gouge it out and throw it away. In other words, if you're looking at this stuff, get rid of your eyes.
[00:31:56] Well, wait a minute.
[00:31:59] You mean I got to go out there and start taking my eyeballs out of my head? No, it's a figure of speech. It's hyperbole. It's an exaggerated form of speech. What is Jesus saying? You got to get radical. Deal with this thing.
[00:32:11] It is a monster that will destroy you and eventually leave you in damnation.
[00:32:18] You've got to address this thing. That's what Jesus is saying.
[00:32:22] He says, if your right hand causes you to stumble, cut it off, throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to go into hell.
[00:32:29] I think Jesus is pretty straightforward. How many think the Sermon on the Mount is a little direct?
[00:32:34] It's not me saying this. It's Jesus saying this.
[00:32:38] You know, everyone goes, I really love the words of Jesus. Okay, okay, good. So then what's the answer, Pastor? Well, I struggle with this, Pastor.
[00:32:50] The word of God can bring us freedom. Listen to the Psalms. First of all, if we confess our sins, what did the Bible say? He's faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness or purify us from all unrighteousness. Another translations say, listen to Psalm 119, 9 and 11. How can a young person stand the path of purity?
[00:33:13] By living according to your word. I seek you with all my heart. Do not let me stray from your commands. I've hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you. I've meditated on your word. God says, meditate on my word day and night, and you shall be successful. I mean successful not in the sense that I'm a millionaire, successful in the sense I'm able to overcome all of these pitfalls and traps and damnation elements that will bring my soul down.
[00:33:48] God wants us to be free.
[00:33:51] You know, I'M going to say this. I'm not trying to be mean.
[00:33:54] I think we all are tempted.
[00:33:58] There's not one person in this room is not tempted. Jesus was tempted.
[00:34:03] But we have a responsibility when we're tempted to take captive every thought and make it obedient to Christ.
[00:34:09] How do you do that, Pastor? You take that thought and say, oh, you're gonna, you're gonna throw that thought or idea to my mind. I'm gonna quote scripture back. That's what Jesus did in the wilderness. He took scripture and he began to apply it. And folks, you and I need to know the word of God to do that.
[00:34:29] And sometimes, you know, when you're, you know, you think, you say, well, Pastor, you've got such a good job. You're in scripture all the time. That's great. It does do a lot of good stuff for me. It purifies and the rest of it. How many know that when you're preaching these kind of sermons, you get a backlash from the powers of darkness? You think they like hearing their little strategies being, you know, exposed?
[00:34:51] I don't think so.
[00:34:52] So guess who gets attacked. But I go, fine and dandy, attack all you want to, because I'm going to trust Jesus, you know, he's greater than all the powers of darkness, folks.
[00:35:02] So we need to address these things in our lives.
[00:35:06] All is lost. The sacred is violated. After defeating the nation of Judah earlier, the trend of continuous rebellion leading the Babylonians to destroy the capital of Jerusalem. You know, it's interesting, the Babylonians were just trying to subjugate the Judeans, and they weren't going to totally destroy their place. As a matter of fact, listen to what Tremper Longman writes about. And this is true, it should be pointed out that the Babylonians had not been quick to destroy Jerusalem. They had tried to pacify the city another way. Since they began to control it in 605 BC, they had initiated limited deportation. At that time, Daniel and his three friends left.
[00:35:43] And then in 797, when Jehoiachin the king rose to power. He's only been there three months. He's a young man.
[00:35:50] But they deposed him because his uncle had rebelled against him. So then he dies and then this guy comes on the throne and they put him and take him to Babylon. And they set up Zedekiah, who they thought would be pro Babylonian. Up they put a legitimate Davetic descendant on the throne, Zedekiah, whom they thought was pro Babylonian. Nevertheless, the city kept rebelling. So finally, Nebuchadnezzar decided to destroy the city once and for all. Wow.
[00:36:18] That's on the human side of the story. What's even more devastating than the human reason for the destruction is the fact that God is the one who is literally casting the nation aside because of their constant fickleness and unfaithfulness toward him. And I just wrote this to, you know, I wrote this little paragraph here. But to play fast and loose with God leads to devastation.
[00:36:41] Don't fool around.
[00:36:43] Don't fool around with God.
[00:36:45] He knows everything.
[00:36:48] Satan can put thoughts in your minds, but he doesn't know what's in your mind.
[00:36:52] God knows what's in your heart and mind. He knows everything.
[00:36:57] That's why he says, give me your heart. And then he says in Proverbs, guard it for out of it flow the issues of life. This is a battle, guys, gals, this is a battle, you know, we got to fight against, you know, being offended and all the rest of that stuff. People hurting me. I've got feelings, you know. Well, listen, people are going to trample over your feelings.
[00:37:17] I remember I was in Bible college.
[00:37:20] I was a very sensitive kid. It may surprise you, but I was very sensitive.
[00:37:24] In my registrar, I had a roommate. He said, you're going to tell stories on me? I said, probably not, but I'm going to tell this one, you know.
[00:37:34] He was difficult as a roommate. I remember waking up one time and he said, I know what you're thinking. I said, I don't even know what I'm thinking. I just woke up.
[00:37:44] He says, I don't like it.
[00:37:47] So he was really insecure. He was a really difficult person to live with. For that first year at school, I went to the registrar and said, can I have a different roommate? He said, no, you got to toughen up because you're going to be a pastor.
[00:37:59] You said, you got to get tougher not to be mean to people, but people attack you. You got to be a lot tougher to be able to handle stuff. Otherwise you're not going to make it.
[00:38:10] You're going to be attacked.
[00:38:13] So toughen up.
[00:38:16] That's not how they do things today. Everybody caves into those requests. That's not the way it was when I grew up.
[00:38:23] He just said, toughen up.
[00:38:26] And I had to, okay, let me move on. I'm going to just skip over some things because I'm looking at the time. The significance of the vessels of worship.
[00:38:38] While looting the temple vessels brought great wealth to the conqueror, the more important idea theologically was simply that their God be the Judean God.
[00:38:47] God was disgraced in all of this. God was willing to be shamed in order to discipline his children. How many think it's amazing that God is willing to be shamed for us?
[00:38:56] I can give you two examples of it. God was shamed on the cross because God hung on the cross and he was shamed for us. How many say, aren't you impressed with God? I'm impressed with Him. He loves us. He's willing to be shamed for us.
[00:39:09] He's willing to be misunderstood because he loves us.
[00:39:13] Isn't that amazing? Sometimes you have to go through those things.
[00:39:17] Let me keep moving on.
[00:39:21] I've just summarized that. Those are scriptures. You can read. Read the chapter. It's good.
[00:39:26] Okay, so what is Jeremiah communicating?
[00:39:33] It was not the power and might of Babylon. It's God's that overcame Judah, that brought defeat, destruction of the city and temple, followed by the deportation of God's sacred vessels and people of Babylon. No, that wasn't the problem.
[00:39:46] So what was it?
[00:39:48] Rather, it was the sin and unfaithfulness to God that caused God to use Babylon to accomplish his divine purpose and disciplining his people and then restoring them after 70 years in which a new heart and attitude now would prevail among them. That's the beautiful part. But let me move on.
[00:40:06] Yeah, I'm going to skip this.
[00:40:09] Here's the good news. You can always get these notes, the ray of hope for recovery. I want to end on a positive note because I've spent a little time focusing in on the challenge, and this is going to be brief. The purpose of all discipline and correction is redemptive.
[00:40:24] In other words, it's not so much about punishment as it is about changing the recipient's life, changing their hearts.
[00:40:33] You know, Philip Ripkin kind of gives us the significance of these verses where they restore the king, the boy king that they put into the the other king that was taken while Zedekiah was ruling. He now gets raised up after 37 years of being imprisoned, and he's now honored by not Nebuchadnezzar, but his son, who honors him above all the other kings. You know, it's actually a little message that God says, listen, if you will turn around and repent, God will start lifting you up.
[00:41:05] And it just leaves us there. But it's just enough of a ray of hope to say that God is in the restoration business. Now, how many have ever seen, you know, houses that were dilapidated, then somebody moves in and they restore it and you go, wow, does this place look great. Or somebody takes a car that's been rusting in the. You know, just a terrible shape in the junkyard. And then somebody sees it and goes, I'm going to restore this thing. And at the end, you see this beautiful vehicle roll out that's been totally restored. And I want to encourage you this morning, that's what God wants to do with our lives. He wants to take the broken places of our lives. He wants to take our lives, and he wants to restore it.
[00:41:41] And I believe God is the greatest restorer of souls that anybody I know. He's in the restoration business.
[00:41:48] And he can take whatever problem, whatever devastation, whatever difficulty, whatever ruin that you've created in your life, and God can begin to restore our lives.
[00:42:00] So I want to close with this quote by Andrew Dearman, and he says simply this. Christians, like the generation of the Judean exile, live between promise and fulfillment. We are those who live between the times. In other words, between Christ's first coming and second coming. In his first coming, Jesus brought his kingdom. He's the king. But we're still not in the full expression of God's kingdom. How many know that's true?
[00:42:29] You see, we still are dealing with the residue of this world. We're dealing still. There's still Satan to be dealt with. There's still sin to be dealt with in the sense that it's still ruling in many people's lives. And death is still out there. But for the Christian you and I know, death just becomes the doorway into God's presence, right? But it's still there. But I want to just declare to you something. There's a day coming, folks.
[00:42:55] There'll be no more sickness. There will be no more sin. There will be no more sorrow. There'll be no more Satan. There'll be no more temptation.
[00:43:05] That's a great day.
[00:43:07] It's coming.
[00:43:08] It's coming. Just like Jesus came the first time, he's coming again. And when he comes, he's going to restore everything. Isn't that beautiful? Let's stand.
[00:43:21] You know, this morning was very. You know, my prayer is not just about preaching sermons.
[00:43:28] It's about seeing God work in the human heart with every head bowed. Right now, I'm not here to embarrass one single person, but this morning, the spirit of God. I used two illustrations to kind of bring out this idea of what sin does.
[00:43:43] I could have picked on some other things, but I just decided what Jesus had to say in the Sermon on Mount. Those are pretty big issues.
[00:43:51] And maybe this morning, as I was sharing these issues with you.
[00:43:55] Spirit of God was saying, no more.
[00:43:59] I want you to deal with this once and for all. I'm willing to help you overcome, but I'm putting some tools in your box.
[00:44:07] I want you to shift your lifestyle.
[00:44:10] Just think of all the time that you're wasting when you can be actually doing something profitable for God's kingdom.
[00:44:18] Maybe you're here today and you say, pastor, today, I need to fix some relationships right now. Just raise your hand. I got to fix some relationships. That's me.
[00:44:29] Okay, Some of you are raising your hands. You're being honest. That's good. I got to fix something. It's not right. I'm going to take care of it. I'm going to ask God for God's help and mercy as much as it lies within. You going to do it now? The other person may not respond. Well, that's not your problem. Your problem is to do everything you can to fix it. How many here you say, you know what? Sexual sin, that's a big issue in my life.
[00:44:54] And let me tell you, I know it's a big issue in many people's lives. I hear it all the time.
[00:45:01] You got to fix that.
[00:45:03] You say, you know what? I have not addressed this properly. I. I have not gotten serious enough about it.
[00:45:09] I need to deal with it. This is a radical issue. I can see that. It can actually lead to my soul losing out with God.
[00:45:17] I got to address it. That's you. Just raise your hand. Just be honest before God. I'm going to confess this. I need help, God.
[00:45:25] Just raise your hand. I'm not here to judge you. It's not my job.
[00:45:31] Okay.
[00:45:34] All right, let's pray. Lord, we just come before youe Today, we recognize our need for your.
[00:45:42] We see how devastating sin is in our world. We see the result of it all the time.
[00:45:48] It's heartrending, heartbreaking.
[00:45:52] It's destructive. Many lives are destroyed because of sin.
[00:45:57] And our lives will be destroyed if we allow sin to rule and reign inside of us.
[00:46:02] And so, Father, today we acknowledge our sin before, because if we're hiding it, we can't get free from it. We're now confessing before you a need to be forgiven, but not only that, to be cleansed and to become a pure person. And even though there may still be temptation, there'll still be battles. Lord, I am going to develop the tools. I'm going to spend time in your Word. I'm going to memorize Scripture that will help me to be able to take captive those.
[00:46:31] Those thoughts and those temptations so that I don't have to act on them.
[00:46:36] It's one thing to think the thoughts, another thing to act on it. Lord, I pray. Give us the strength to walk in obedience and to move towards you rather than allow sin to overcome. Take us and bring devastation not only in our lives, but in the lives of the people we love.
[00:46:54] Give us strength, I pray today.
[00:46:57] Help us, Lord, to walk with you as a holy people.
[00:47:02] To walk with you as an awakened people, Lord. And we thank you for that. And then I pray today, Lord, that you will do an amazing work of restoration in our lives. In Jesus name, Amen. God bless you as you leave this morning.
