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Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] We go to the Lord in prayer and just want to make one announcement here for those of you that know Deanna Nelson, she passed away. And her memorial service is going to be on Saturday, May 17th at 2pm okay.
[00:00:18] So I know there's other funeral services that are happening, another memorial service this coming Saturday for Christina Barr's son, Don. So just to let you know, there's things happening in the church. I want to pray for these families. These are terrific losses in the life of these family members. So let's pray that God would just minister comfort and grace in their situations. And I'm sure this morning, you know, there are also happy moments. You know, some of us. You know, it's interesting. I was not only meeting with the family about a funeral service, but the next meeting was a young couple getting married and doing a wedding. So it goes from a high to a low to a low to a high. So I get it. We all experience those moments in our lives. Maybe you're here today and you have a burden on your heart. Why don't we just lift our hands to God and say, lord, I want to just cast these concerns that I have before you. And Lord, we do. We bring our health issues. If we have those, we bring relational issues, financial issues.
[00:01:16] You know, in life, you said to us, in this world, we'll have trouble. And there's no question, you were right. There's a lot of trouble, a lot of problems. But you did say to us, be of good cheer. You've overcome this world. And we have a hope that moves beyond this world. And you give us joy, you give us love, you give us strength. You give us people that are supportive of us, Lord, and we just thank you for the many, many gifts you give us. And Lord, today we want to open our hearts to you. We want to receive this beautiful word of God that's able. It says it's an engrafted word. It comes into our life. It gets planted in our souls. It begins to develop and grow. It's a living word and it's a transforming word. It can bring about change within our hearts and minds, and it brings about a change in our future as we respond in obedience to it. So, Lord, give us a heart to hear it, give us ears to hear it. Help us to understand it and respond to it and act on it. We thank you for that. In Jesus name. And God's people said, amen. Amen. So we're moving through the book of Jeremiah. I was just teasing the people I was praying with this morning. We're in chapter 50, the longest book in the Bible. Actually, chapter 50 and 51 are really long.
[00:02:30] Next chapter is really, really long. But what I'm trying to get across is we're almost at the finish line because only 52 chapters, and even the pastor is saying, why did I pick such a long book? Right? But there's so much good material in this book. And let's just turn there to chapter 50 this morning. In 1812, a slave Baptist preacher died on a Southern plantation, leaving behind his pregnant wife. The young widow dedicated her unborn son to the Lord. And this is how she prayed. Lord, if this be a boy, she said, may you do nothing else but sing the praises of Jesus. And, you know, she was an intercessor and a prayer. John Jasper was born on July 25, 1839. And at first, he wanted nothing to do with his mother's faith. He was kind of a rascal and got in all kinds of trouble. But, you know, she just kept praying and praying and praying. And, you know, God hears the cries of concerned parents. I just want you to know that. And he answered in a most powerful way. And he was so wonderfully, we'll use the word saved. He was so wonderfully transformed by responding to Christ. I mean, it just immediately moved the darkness of his soul. He became full of joy and hope, and he just began to sing and worship. But above everything else, he loved to preach. And because the master of the plantation was actually a believer, he released him and gave him his freedom so he could go out and preach. And so he moved to Richmond, Virginia, where he started a Baptist church with nine members.
[00:04:06] And it wasn't too long, the church began growing. And at the time of his death in 1901, it had grown to over 2,000 people. Isn't that an amazing story? You know, how someone, you know, who had resisted God came to faith and then all of a sudden was transformed? And God used his life in such a powerful way. You know, Jesus is still liberating people. Jesus is still empowering people's lives. And I was actually at the pastor's newcomer dinner.
[00:04:42] Was it this Thursday past Thursday or the one before that? Previous Thursday. Okay, you know what? My days are starting to blend. I'm going to be honest. I'm moving at high speed here, but I was chatting with this young man. I'm not going to mention his name, but he was shooting, sharing his story of drug addiction and all the struggles that he had and how he had come to faith in Christ and had literally empowered him to overcome his addiction and began to just experience the joy and excitement of following God. He was so enthusiastic. It was so delightful to have him at my table, sharing his story with me. I just want you to know, Jesus is still changing people's lives. And in the life of every nation, as. As is true in every individual. There are key moments in our lives, and the question always comes down to is, where will we put our trust? And we're trusting something. Every one of us in this room is trusting something. Some of us are trusting ourselves, some of us are trusting someone else. Some of us, it could prove to be, you know, as I put wise or foolish. But two things will determine the answer to that question. You know, are we putting our trust in the right thing? And here's the answer. If you're putting your trust in the wrong thing, the future will find you out, because it's not going to work out the way you think. But I also think the challenges that come into our life, that is facing nations, facing our nation, facing the nations of the world, facing our individual lives, those also test to see where we're putting our trust. Now, a lot of times we're saying, well, I'm putting my trust in God, but the reality is some of us are going, yeah, I'm putting my trust in God, but I'm hedging my bets, and I'm really trusting some other things as well. And we get a little divided at times. Let me just point out to us that when we put our trust in that which is false or temporal, pain, failure, and despair will be the outcome. However, for putting our trust, which is eternal and true, even though we may at times feel a measure of despair, or maybe we feel oppressed at the moment, wise decisions will ultimately bring about deliverance, and the experience will be joy. Because in the presence of God, there is fullness of joy. And God, he's committed to us as believers. He really is. In Jeremiah chapters 50 and 51, there are 110 verses. Fortunately, chapter 50 only has 46. So I'm looking at the other chapter going, now what am I going to do with that? Right?
[00:07:20] But in these two chapters, we're going to discover probably the reason why they're so long. Because Jeremiah is giving a message to the nation of Babylon. You go, why was it? Why did God take so long to communicate all this? Because Babylon was actually an empire. And it had literally overcome all the other nations that Jeremiah had written to. And God used them as a means to discipline the other nations for their sin and their idolatry and all the terrible things they were using. But now God goes, now it's your turn. I may have used you to do that, but now I'm going to discipline you as a nation. And we're going to look at that a little bit today. But I think underneath it, there's an underlying theme, and I think this is powerful.
[00:08:07] As I say, the length suggests the importance and the severity of this anticipated punishment. But really the central issue is not Babylon. The central issue is the fact that God's people were in exile in Babylon and God was about ready to deliver them. How many know that's good news if you're in oppression? How many know it's nice to be free? You know, if you're incarcerated, how many know it's nice to be free? And this is what we're anticipating. And Jeremiah is giving a reassuring message, not just of judgment on this nation, but also of the comfort and the deliverance that his people are going to receive. And that's the part we're going to focus a little bit on, because I think, as Frederick Dewey said, the underlying themes of these two chapters is not only the eminent overthrow of Babylon, but the restoration of the exiles back to their homeland. And you know, when we read that, some of us go, well, that's nice. They're going to go back home. What we have to understand is to the Jewish people, the land was sacred. It was a place where God promised his presence. And when they were exiled, it was really, in a sense, God saying, you know, we have a broken relationship. You know, it would be like a couple. You know, they're bickering and fighting and finally one moves out, you know, and it's this idea of this reconciliation, this restoration of. Of a relationship with God. And that's why it's so powerful and so meaningful. And that's why Jeremiah spends so much time communicating these things to us. And as I've already said, you know, God used these Babylonians as a vehicle to discipline these nations. Tremper Longman says the Babylonians, however, did not do their bloody work motivated by the glory and will of God. In other words, they weren't going, wow, I get to do God's will here. No, they were in it for their own imperialistic interests and they were oppressive to these other nations to the highest magnitude. In other words, they had self interest. They had no concept that God was using them. How's that? Now this tells me something. Many times God is using people even though they don't know he's using them. Isn't that fascinating? And sometimes what people are doing, God is actually using them as a tool in his hands to accomplish ultimately his divine purpose. And this is going to be a little bit shocking to most of us, but God even allows evil. Not that God creates evil, but he's allowing evil in our world. And this evil that's happening in our world, many times God goes, okay, you want to do it that way? Let's do it. And then God takes that and overcomes it by using it for good. And probably the classic example of that is when evil people crucified an innocent man on a cross. His name was Jesus, and he was innocent. And God used that particular highest point of evil to create the greatest amount of good. Because out of Christ's death and his resurrection, you and I can experience God's redemption. And we're going to talk about that redemptive nature of God. This morning, it was God that was using this nation. Jeremiah's message is not just a message of warning. It's ultimately a message of hope. And I like that. How many like. I like the word hope. It's a good word, hope, you know. You know, we can be corrected. I think the Bible has messages that correct us and warns us. Those are important. And if we're wise, we'll listen to the warnings, right? But if we're not wise, we'll just do the dumb stuff and get, you know, suffer as a result. But we can actually have messages of hope and where God's saying, I've got something in store for you up ahead. Just hang on there. Don't give up, don't despair, don't lose heart. Just keep moving. I've got a beautiful future for you. And he does say that to these people in captivity in chapter 29 and verse 11, kind of a favorite verse of many Christians today. You know, I know the plans I have for you to give you hope and a future, and God wants to bless us, and I'm glad for that.
[00:11:59] How did God turn this disaster to bring about a major reform in the lives of the people? How does God again bring deliverance and freedom to those who are despairing or oppressed, whose maybe consequences of rebellion have brought them to this difficult place in their lives? And we all know that there are consequences to our sinful choices. How many know that's true? It's just. That's the reality, you know? But God is. God is in the redeeming business. So if you want to look at it this way, you know, we bring our broken lives into the garage of God's redemption. And out comes this brand new model. We go, how in the world did he do that? This transforming grace that he brings into our lives. And, you know, it doesn't just happen at a moment. It's a continuous work of grace. And I think sometimes as Christians, we focus in on a moment when we need to understand that salvation actually transcends just the moment and moves all the way through our lives. God is continuing to do this amazing work in our lives.
[00:13:00] So how does God bring us to that place of deliverance and freedom? So what are God's means that he uses to bring his promise of freedom from oppression? First of all, we're going to look at how he judges those who oppress. Okay, so the oppressed need to be set free. How does God do that? He deals with the oppressor. And we're going to look at that. In its earliest history, Israel was oppressed by Egypt. Remember that story? They were slaves in the land of Egypt. What happened is God went down through Moses and the great plagues fell, and he led the people out and he put them in the promised land, and he told them, now that you're here, you know, just be grateful and serve me wholeheartedly. No, they didn't do that. You know, they didn't listen. They followed into their own sinful ways. They embraced the values of the people around them. And those are the people that God was actually trying to discipline because their lives were so broken and messed up. You know, sometimes I see that in the church, too. Sometimes we begin to adopt the mindset of the culture around us that's so messed up and broken and confusing, and we end up in the same places that they end up. They ended up in captivity. They ended up in Babylon. And God now wants to bring them out of that place. This national portrait, I think, is a picture of our own deliverance from the oppression of sin in our own life. Satan wants to keep people in captivity. Isn't that true? And, you know, I'm going to say this. We were praying this morning as man, and one of the guys in our group said, let's pray for, you know, broken relationships, you know, because he can hear me telling him, you know, there's families in struggle and all the rest of that. And what I'm discovering is the primary reason why family relationships break down. This may not shock most of you, but I'll tell you what I see. See, it's selfishness. Number one thing. Selfishness. You go, what do you mean selfishness, Pastor? Because People get addicted to things. And how many know if you're addicted to gambling, you're probably spending money at a level that shouldn't be spent. And your family is being neglected because you're now compulsive gambler and you don't have the resources to take care of your family. And it creates a lot of degree of pressure on that family. That's an addiction. It started out as a selfish act that becomes an addictive act that eventually brings about the destruction of that relationship. And I could go down and list a whole bunch of other addictions that, you know, it's the same thing. And this is the stuff that I end up dealing with, trying to help families be restored. We're really addressing a fundamental issue. It's called sin at the bottom. That's the root. And you got to go down to the root of the thing. Because if you just kind of clip away at the front root of the thing, all you're doing is pruning the tree and it's only going to get worse. You have to address it at its root.
[00:15:46] So Jesus is here trying to address the core problem, and it's our sin when we start to admit that we have a problem, when we start confessing our sins. The Bible says God is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Now it begins with this announcement of impending judgment on the nation of Babylon. This is the word the Lord spoke through, Jeremiah, the prophet concerning Babylon and the land of the Babylonians. Announce and proclaim among the nations. Lift up a banner and proclaim it. Keep nothing back but say Babylon will be captured. BAAL will be put to shame. Marduk filled with terror. Her images will be put to shame and her idols filled with terror. A nation from the north will attack her and lay waste her land. No one will live in it. Both people and animals will flee away. It's very interesting when you, you know, I had to read this ancient Near Eastern history, you know, the Babylonian mythology, you're studying their understanding of the creation of the world. And Marduk is the one who supposedly created the world and he's the one that created human beings. Isn't that interesting? He's kind of taking God's job on, right? It's a false God. And what God does is judge that God. And when he's judging these nations, he's judging their idols. And we've seen that already in the previous chapters. He's judging their idols. You say, well, how does that relate to us? We don't worship Marduk today, Pastor. I mean, how does that connect with where we live? Well, I just wrote down whatever we're placing our trust in. If it's someone or something above God that becomes an idol, and if this is.
[00:17:30] And God will judge these things. And what are some of the things do you think we're trusting our lives to? Well, I think we trust our lives to things like our job and our finances. Come on, let's be honest. We're looking at this. That's where we're putting our trust, you know, but that's an idol, you know, God can take that away in a moment. Right? We can get sick. We can't work anymore. Whoops, there goes our God. You know, I can't provide now. You know, if we're trusting ourselves, well, we're sick and we can't do anything. Oh, you see, where were we putting our trust? Some people got. You know, today you talk about people putting their trust in technology.
[00:18:05] Do you know how fragile our world is right now? You know, if we had a. If we had a. You know, I've thought about this. If our electricity went down, we'd be hooped.
[00:18:17] We'd be in trouble. We're so interdependent, we're so dependent on certain technologies today, we can't even hardly function, let's be honest. And if that's where we're putting our trust and those things go down, what are we going to do?
[00:18:30] See, we need to have our trust in something far bigger than science, technology, education, business, politics. I'm going to throw all these things out there. These all become idols when we put that above God. We need to understand God is above it all. He's the one that's overseeing this whole world. So if you're putting your trust in the ultimate God, the one who created the universe, the one who created your life, the one who had a design in mind, the one who has a purpose for our lives, then you're being very wise indeed. Because you know what? God's going to help you through whatever you're going through.
[00:19:05] In verse three, Jeremiah said these terrors would arise from the north. It's very fascinating. That was certainly true. Babylon was north of Israel. But this is fascinating. How many know that the Medo Persian empire wasn't north of Babylon, and that's the empire that came and conquered them.
[00:19:24] So where did they come from? The south and the southwest.
[00:19:29] So why did he say it would come from the north? Well, that's actually where they attacked from. But I Want you to know, sometimes the Bible uses language. And I love how Roland Harrison, he says this. For the Hebrews, the north was the location from which anything sinister originated. And hence it was used colloquially rather than as a specific geographical location on many occasions. So whenever he said, hey, you're going to have problems from the north, he's basically saying, you're going to have problems and they're not going to be good problems.
[00:19:59] Tremper Lauman pointed out that these Persian foes, they attacked actually from the north because they went around the city itself.
[00:20:11] So a new day. So what should our response be? Well, a new day.
[00:20:19] A day of repentance and reconciliation. So now the message is going, he's warning Babylon this is coming. Now he wants to speak to the exiles. Now, how many know that when you're in captivity and the group that's over top of you, they're going to be destroyed? What about us? So here's the message, and I Love it. Verse 4. In those days, and at that time declares the Lord, the people of Israel and the people of Judah together will go in tears to seek the Lord their God. What is he describing here? He's describing repentance.
[00:20:52] This is what people do when they turn to God. There's a change of mind. And Philip Reichen talks about this when he says, turning back to God means turning away from sin, and turning away from sin means being sorry for it. In other words, recognizing how this was destructive in my life and I don't want anything to do with it, I'm rejecting my past. Basically, a sinner who grasps the holiness of God, receives the mercy of God, he says, must weep over their sins. I don't necessarily mean they always have to cry, but there has to be this godly sorrow. It's a grievous thing to sin against a holy and merciful God. True repentance is always tinged with sorrow. True penitents generally weep over their sins. The tax collector wept when he prayed at the temple. He would not even look up to heaven, beat his breast and said, God, have mercy on me. A sinner, Peter wept when he denied Christ. And the rooster crowed the third time he went outside, the Bible says, wept bitterly. God does not base his forgiveness on our tears of repentance. But since we are such great sinners, we must sometimes be touched by the anguish of our sin. You know, you have to come to a place, basically what he's saying is where you hate sin, you hate what you've been doing, you hate it enough to Quit. You know you can't do it in your own strength, but you got to get to that place where you hate. You're not hating other people's sin, you're hating your sin. You're heeding what's going on. You're saying, God, have mercy on me. Deliver me from this bondage. And that's what we're talking about. They sought God. It says here, in repentance, deep sorrow. And then this is a beautiful thing that happens. We read of this amazing covenant. And Jeremiah could easily be described as the prophet of the new covenant because he keeps reminding that God would put laws in our minds and in our hearts. You know, he said, God's going to create a new covenant. Jeremiah was the first one to pronounce this. He said, God's going to give you a new covenant. He's going to put your spirit inside of you. He's going to put his words inside of you. People are all not going to have to walk around telling you, this is how you know the Lord. You're going to know God, because God's going to reveal himself in a very internalized manner. And that's what Jeremiah 31, 31:34 talks about.
[00:23:13] And it would be an everlasting covenant. It would never be need to be replaced. How many know the first covenant has been fulfilled in the second covenant. And the first covenant was in a sense, obsolete. That's what the book of Hebrews says. Why? Because the people kept forgetting their part. In other words, the word forgetting is more than just a getting amnesia. It's not what he's talking about. Forgetting means we don't do what we're asked to do. We don't keep our part of the bargain. We keep failing on our side. You know, as human beings, we're the weekend of the agreement. Our commitment to God is so fragile and weak that we kept failing God. So God says, I'm going to fix the problem. I'm going to fix the people. I think that's a good plan. I mean, if you're making a covenant with God, God's going to keep his part of the bargain. We're the problem on the other end. We keep messing up. How many can say I relate to that? I keep messing up. God says, I'm going to handle that problem for you guys. I'm going to do something so powerful, it's going to change everything. And listen to what he says here. It says in verse five, he says, they will ask the way to Zion, that's Jerusalem, and turn their Faces toward it. In other words, they're turning towards God. They will come and bind themselves to the Lord in a what?
[00:24:27] Everlasting covenant that will not be forgotten. Beautiful statement. Now let me just point out the reason the New Covenant cannot be forgotten, according to Philip Reichen and I like this, is because God's own son will always remember it. Why is he going to remember it? Well, he paid the price for it, right? He died on the cross.
[00:24:50] If the New Covenant depended on us, it would not last forever. How many say that's true? If it depended on me, we'd all have a problem. If it depended on you, we'd have a problem.
[00:25:00] But because we're too forgetful, we're not obedient. We don't do what God's asking us to do. We let down on our side. The New Covenant does not depend on us, however, but on the person and the work of Jesus Christ. How many are happy about that? It's depending on him, not me. Thank God, you know, he's going to help me. He's going to help me live this life. We enter into the covenant in and through him. And Christ keeps the covenant for his people. Therefore, the New Covenant is an everlasting covenant. Let me just maybe break this down a little bit more and say it this way. To be right with God means I do the right things, but I don't always do the right things. But who always does the right thing? Christ Jesus has never done the wrong thing. He's sinless. He always does the right thing. And so when you and I receive Christ, what we're actually receiving is his righteousness given to us so that now in God's eyes, we are right with him. How many think that's amazing? So we're exchanging. This is a poor exchange, if you ask me. God takes on my sin and he gives me his righteousness. Wow, that's a pretty good exchange.
[00:26:11] That's awesome. This is the New Covenant. And he goes on here talking about the greater burden of those who are in responsibility.
[00:26:22] So the question I have to always ask myself, am I leading with integrity? Are we leading people to God rather than to fulfill some personal agenda? How many think that's kind of important? You know, it's about doing God's will, not our will.
[00:26:34] You know, don't you guys get up in the morning and I say the first thing I say, lord, your will be done. Do your will today. Not what I want. What do you want? What's your agenda? It's a totally different way of thinking. Because isn't that what the Lord's Prayer teaches us? Not my will, but yours be done. Your kingdom come. Your will be done. Jesus even prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane. Not my will, but yours be done. Powerful.
[00:26:59] The leaders here, God said, have led the people astray. They've led them away from their place with God. Wow, listen. My people have been like lost sheep. Have been lost sheep. Their shepherds have led them astray. Who are the shepherds? Their leaders. Their leaders have led them astray. How many know? It's important you know who we're following.
[00:27:23] First of all, we have to follow Christ. And if we're following Christ, then I think we gain a little bit of discernment. Then we just want to follow people who God's appointed as leaders as they are following Christ. And that's why Paul said, you know, follow me as I follow Christ.
[00:27:41] Amen. That's what we should be doing. I'm actually speaking at a graduation service in Seattle in June.
[00:27:49] It's a school I went to. I got my undergraduate degree, Bible College, and they've asked me to be the speaker at this graduation. 70 years the school's been going on. Nice privilege to speak there. What am I going to say to these graduates? I'm going to tell them, first of all, like Ezra, here's what you need to do. Study the word. Number two, Practice the word, Apply it to your own life, and then teach it. And you know what Paul says after I've preached to others? Help me not to be a castaway. What's he saying? Help me to not just tell people the right thing. Help me to do it so that if I'm preaching it to others and I'm not doing it, they're going to be saved, but I'm going to be lost. He says, no, I beat my body into subjection. That's what he says in Corinthians.
[00:28:31] You know, that's the message I'm going to explain to them. You know, we have to watch our lives. We have to maintain a level of integrity. I'm going to say this not just to me as a pastor, but every parent. If you're telling your kids to serve God and you're not serving God, what's the scoop? You know, you could say, well, yeah, you know, you follow what I'm saying? We got to follow through. We have to become an example to the people around us. You can't just tell people, hey, why don't you be a Christian? No, you be a Christian, then tell them to join you so they can see what a Christian looks like and how they live. They need to have models of it in flesh and blood.
[00:29:09] The enemy's response to the destruction of the people.
[00:29:13] This is their excuse for what they're doing. They said whoever found them, devoured them. Their enemies said, we're not guilty for they had sinned against the Lord, their verdant pasture, the Lord, the hope of their ancestors. This is poetry. What are they basically saying? They're saying, hey, listen, the reason why we're oppressing them is because God told us to do it. The reason why they're being punished is because they were bad. But that doesn't excuse you, Babylon, as we're about to see.
[00:29:44] I wrote this down because I think this is so true.
[00:29:47] However, when I'm seeing the sins of other people, it never justifies my sins.
[00:29:54] How many know that's true? Or I can say it this way, just because you're doing something wrong doesn't excuse me for doing something wrong or if you treat me poorly. It's never an excuse for me to treat you poorly back. How's that? Now I'm getting more personal. You see how that works? And the New Testament teaches me to love and I'm supposed to love my enemies. And that's why Paul says when somebody does evil to you, you need to do good back to them.
[00:30:18] Wow. You need to pray for them, you need to bless them and do good to them. Yeah, but I don't feel like that. I feel like punching their face out, Pastor. That's how I feel. I'm upset, I'm angry. You know, the Bible says, no, let God deal with them. That's pretty hard to do, isn't it? That takes self control. And that's one of the fruits of the spirit is self control. You got to control yourself. You need to get yourself under control. You know, instead of going out of control, you need to have self control. Okay, let me keep moving on. A call for separation from the values of our society. You know, one of the reasons God is going to call us out as he does here. Listen to what it says in Jeremiah chapter 50 and verse 8. He said, Flee out of Babylon, leave the land of the Babylonians. Be like the he, like the goats that lead the flock. For I will stir up and bring against Babylon an alliance of great nations from the land of the north. They will take up their positions against her from the north and she will be captured. Their arrows will be like skilled warriors who do not return empty handed. So Babylon will Be plundered. And all who plunder her will have their fill, declares the Lord. So interesting. Do you know that Babylon is a very powerful symbolic word in the scriptures? Matter of fact, if you go to the book of Revelation, God talks about Babylon. You know, Babylon is a picture of the world that's in rebellion against God. It's a picture of society in rebellion against God. And what does God tell these, these Jewish people?
[00:31:49] As soon as these other guys attack, you need to flee, you need to go back home, just leave the world. And Paul picks up on this theme in 2nd Corinthians, and he says this in 2nd Corinthians 6:17. Therefore, come out from among them and be separate, says the Lord. Lord, touch no unclean thing and I will receive you. What's he talking about? He's basically saying, don't embrace the value system of this culture that doesn't line up with God.
[00:32:21] Everybody following this, that's called worldliness.
[00:32:25] That's something we have to work on. We have to go, okay, here's God's standard. Here's what society is saying. Everything that society says that doesn't line up to God's word reject. It's real simple. How's that? So I'm not trying to align myself to see how much I can be like this.
[00:32:43] No, I'm looking at this and I'm going, I want out of here. I'm leaving. Come out. Come out from among them. The Bible says. So you walk over here and say, God, this is your value system. I'm embracing it. I'm going to live this kind of a life. I'm not here to condemn the people over here. That's not the goal. I'm not here to judge them. Let God deal with people. People. I was over here, folks, for a long time. And one day God's spirit woke me up and made me realize I was broken and lost and had the wrong thinking. And when I came to Christ, I found a new way of living. I found a new guide to my life. I began to get into God's Word and my mind started being renewed and changed. And I began. It was like light bulbs coming on. All of a sudden, I'm going, now I get why things are so messed up. Because people are violating God's boundaries and moral laws. Listening to a great lecture here the other day. What do you do when you have a nation of slaves and you bring them into freedom? You have to show them that freedom has to have some level of restriction. How many think that's probably true? Absolute freedom is anarchy. Absolute freedom and unrestrained freedom. You know, that's why they listen. When they started worshiping the golden calf, what did they do? Their behavior became totally unrestrained. Remember, Moses goes, you've let these people run wild. They're totally unrestrained. They're like, they're doing whatever they want to do. It's so crazy.
[00:34:13] They're sinning against God, they're sinning against themselves, they're diminishing themselves. They're a laughingstock to our enemies. Wow. Pretty strong charges because they were worldly to the cross, poor on the inside. That was what needs to change. So how does that change in our lives? We have to renew our minds. We have to understand God has boundaries in our lives. Why? So he can protect us from our sin and from ourselves. He has them there for a good reason. And they're not because, you know, God's a fuddy duddy and he thinks, oh, I'm just going to take all the fun out of your life. I'm going to tell you all the people that are living in deep sin, they're not having fun. They're depressed, they're oppressed, they're miserable, they don't know what to do. They're despair, they're oppressed. You come out of that stuff, you come into life, you find joy, you find hope, you have a future. You're excited. You begin to have purpose. You have meaning, you have significance. How many go, this is amazing. You know what I noticed with people when they're locked into addictions and all that problem? Their world is shrinking all the time. Their addictions are taking over and they're shrinking as a person. Person. It all becomes about them. The moment you get delivered from all of that, you start coming out and flowing and your soul begins to expand. You get to know God, you begin to embrace the people of God. You begin to care for other people. Your life expands and expands and expands. And all of a sudden you start laying down your life for other people. You start becoming a servant. You start pouring out your life. And what you discover is the very thing Jesus said. If you're willing to give your life for my sake, you're going to discover life.
[00:35:49] It's powerful. This is how God regulated it and designed it. Then I notice here that judgment is retributive in nature. What does that mean? It means when you do these bad things, the very things you're doing eventually are going to come around and get you.
[00:36:06] You know, in Australia, they have a boomerang. You throw it. Oh, Here it comes back again. And you know, that's the way life works. It's kind of a cycle, you know, if you start oppressing people, eventually you'll become oppressed. Oppressed. And that's the problem, you know, it says, because you rejoice and are glad, you who pillaged my inheritance, because you frolicked like a heifer threshing grain and nighed like stallions, your mother will be greatly ashamed. She who gave you birth will be disgraced. She'll be the least of the nations, a wilderness, a dry land, a desert. Because of the Lord's anger she will not be inhabited but will be completely desolate. All who pass Babylon will be appalled. They will scoff because of her wounds. Take up your positions around Babylon. All you who draw the bow, shoot at her. Spare no arrows, for she has sinned against the Lord. Walter Brueggemann says both the heifer and the pastor and the lusting stallion act for their appetite, know no restraint or boundary to their desires. Babylon has imagined it could do whatever it wanted by way of abuse and self serving exploitation. Now, however, comes the reckoning of shame, disgrace and dismantling. So what is he saying? If you live this kind of a life where you're abusing and exploiting people, you know what? There's going to come a day, it's all going to come back on your head. And everything that you've been sowing, you're going to reap.
[00:37:28] That's quite a warning. You don't want to be doing this stuff because there is a God in heaven and he can turn the tables one day. And when that happens, look out.
[00:37:39] God now declares.
[00:37:42] Well, Babylon's autonomy, in other words, doing their own thing, had failed to reckon with God and God's anger, which now retaliates against Babylon. And God now declares war against Babylon. This is scary. He says. Shout against her on every tide. She surrenders. Her towers fall, her walls are torn down. Since this is the vengeance of the Lord, take vengeance on her. Do to her as she has done to others. I don't know about you, this is how I think. I would never want God to go, Paul. I'm at war with you.
[00:38:11] Anybody want to fight with God? Hard pass. Thank you very much.
[00:38:18] You know, I like that passage from Joshua. Joshua shows up, they're going to go in to take the promised land. And he sees this angel, messenger of God, doesn't know who he is, but he just says, are you for us or against us? And the answer is very fascinating. He Goes, neither.
[00:38:32] What does that mean? If you're not for me, are you against me or what? And I think in my mind, he's basically saying God is saying to all of us, I'm not on your side. You need to get on my side. How many think there's a big difference? Because if we have God on our side, we go, okay, God, let's rock this place. And then we have an agenda. And it's not good. It's not God's will. It would be our will. And we'd be doing a lot of bad stuff. You know, God goes, no, no, I want you to get on my page.
[00:39:02] I want you to learn about me. Come and learn of me. Jesus invites us to do that. And what we find out is God's kingdom isn't about taking out all these bad guys. God's kingdom is about showing love and forgiveness and transforming bad guys into good guys because we were once the bad guys. And how many are happy that when you were once a bad guy, God made you a good guy?
[00:39:26] Amen. So we don't want to go around basically condemning all the bad guys, because the bad guys need to become good guys. And that's what the church is about. We're here to help people experience God's grace and love and forgiveness. So we have to understand his kingdom and his agenda.
[00:39:46] Well, we'll keep moving because I'm running out of time. I got seven minutes and two more points. Okay, let's go.
[00:39:53] Okay. Second means to bring release, freedom. And release from oppression is releasing the oppressed, setting people free. I think one of the great terrors in life is feeling like you're being trapped. You know, how many ever have been underwater? And you just feel like you went too far too fast, and now you're running out of air and you got to get to the surface. Anybody ever had that moment? You feel a little panicky. I sure hope I get to the top here before I run out of air. I mean, anybody have moments when you've had, you know, I've never had a panic attack that I can recall, but I know people have. And at that moment, it must be absolutely terrifying. You know what I mean? You're just terrified. What am I going to do? You know, I'm just going to say this. There are moments in our lives where we just can't free ourselves. And if someone doesn't come and help us, we're in trouble.
[00:40:44] You know, being in a car accident, pinned under a car, somebody doesn't come and help us with that Vehicle. We know we're in trouble.
[00:40:51] I want you to hear the good news of today. God is here to set you free. God is here to take you from that moment when you can't help yourself. And he's here to help you. I love that we're freed by acting on God's promises.
[00:41:06] The greatest trap is what sin does to us. It holds us in bondage. It creates this realm where we're addicted to things that we know are not good, but we just can't seem to break free from the stuff. But I want to declare to you today there's a power greater than all our sin. There's a power greater than every addiction. There's a power greater that can liberate us and keep us free.
[00:41:33] It's the power of God. It's the power of God's grace, the power of God's goodness. Listen to what he says here in verse 19. But I will bring Israel back to her own pasture. And they were going to graze on Carmel and Bashan. Those are locations their appetite will be satisfied on the hills of Ephraim and Gilead in those days. And at that time, declares the Lord. Search will be made for Israel's guilt. Remember that they were in captivity because of their sin. Now there'll be a time people will be looking. There'll be a search made for Israel's guilt. But there will be none. For the sins of Judah will not be found. For I will forgive the remnant I spare. How many say, this is amazing. You know what God says? Come to me. I'm going to remove all your shame. Come to me. I'm going to remove all your guilt. You're not even going to be able to find the sin.
[00:42:30] Scripture teaches us so beautifully. As far as the east is from the west, so far will I remove your sin from you. Do you know every year the Israelites would have the Day of Atonement and they would bring two goats. One they would kill for the sins of the people. But the other, the high priest, would lay his hands on the goat and confess the sins of the nation.
[00:42:52] And what would happen is somebody would take that goat out into the wilderness and deposit it so that goat would just end up dying out in the wilderness.
[00:43:01] And today we have a word for this scapegoat. And so what is the scapegoat? Is the person who takes the blame for everybody else. Right? I want you to know Jesus became our scapegoat. He took the blame of all of humanity's sins upon himself. How me say this is amazing. That's why John the Baptist came on the scene. He says, behold the Lamb of God who takes away. Takes away. Takes away the sin of the world. Listen, Jesus has taken away your sins.
[00:43:34] Beautiful. Thank you, Lord.
[00:43:37] And you don't have to keep. You know who brings it up in your mind?
[00:43:41] Satan actually means. Listen to his name. Accuser. That's all he ever does. Comes along, accuses, condemns. Put us down. Makes us feel bad.
[00:43:51] You know what? I just remind him, I'm saved.
[00:43:55] I said, jesus did something to you, buddy.
[00:43:59] You know, he died on the cross and took away all my sins.
[00:44:05] So I'm standing here before God as if I'd never sinned. As far as God is concerned, in his little ledger book in heaven, his accounting book about sins, you know, he's taken away all our sins.
[00:44:20] He remembers them no more. It's an act of God. He chooses not to hold our sin against us. He's acquitted us. It's not that we're sinless. It's not that we didn't do it, but we're acquitted. That means we're not going to have to suffer the punishment for our sins because Jesus took it for us. Is anybody getting happy here this morning?
[00:44:42] Yeah, I'm happy. This is good stuff. You know, the fall of an empire, we know what happens. He says, attack the land of Matthiam and those who live in Peacock, pursue and kill and completely destroy them, declares the Lord. Do everything I've commanded you. It's interesting, those communities actually, in Hebrew, they. You know, Hebrew language has a lot of wordplay.
[00:45:04] The first name, Merotham literally means double rebellion.
[00:45:10] That's the name of their town. In Hebrew, double rebellion. And the other one means visitation or punishment. What is God saying? God is stating that he's going to punish the nation of Babylon for their sins.
[00:45:21] That's what God does with sin, he punishes it. Thankfully, he punished the sin of the whole world on the cross. Now, if you've been offered a gift and you don't take the gift, is it going to have any benefit to you? Not one iota. That's the offer God is making to us. I'm making you an offer. I've taken away your sins. You want to receive the gift of forgiveness. I love that.
[00:45:44] Let me just keep moving on. I got one minute.
[00:45:49] What's the cause of Babylon's fall? Well, see, I'm against you, you arrogant one. Arrogance. What's arrogance? It's all about self. Let me move on to the final point. Is God's redemptive work. Listen, I'm going to close with this. God redeems us. God redeems his people, yet their redeemer is strong. The Lord Almighty is his name. He will vigorously defend his cause so that he may bring to rest to their land, but unrest to those who live in Babylon. This is really fascinating. When you read through this section, there's three verses I want to. This is so interesting. In chapter 6, verse 22 to 24, in Jeremiah, God says these three verses, applying it to his judgment on Israel. By the time you get to chapter 50, he's flipped it. And Israel now is the one that God's going to set free, and Babylon is the one that God's going to judge. Do you know what God does all the time? He reverses things. You know, Remember when he said, least shall be the greatest, the greatest shall be the least. God has a way of reversing everything. You know, you want to be great in my kingdom, be the servant of all. Isn't that a reversal? The last shall be first in God's kingdom. This is amazing. With God, he just flips everything right around. Why does he do that? Because our world is upside down, guys. And what the kingdom of God does is write it up. He turns everything around and rectifies the problem. Let's just stand as we close the service this morning. You know, we serve a great redeemer, you say, what does it mean?
[00:47:30] What does the word redemption mean? It means to buy back or rescue someone or something from a detrimental situation.
[00:47:39] I want you to know our God is a rescuer. He's on a rescue mission. Listen. Listen to me. He's on a rescue mission. Jesus said, I came to seek and to save that which was lost.
[00:47:52] If you read the story of the parable of the lost boy, it's actually one parable.
[00:47:58] Because you have the lost sheep, the lost coins, and the lost boy. And what's God doing? He's finding that which is lost. You know, Jesus said, I've come. Luke, chapter 19, verse 10 is actually the theme verse of the entire book. This is. It's called a purpose statement.
[00:48:17] Teachers know this. You have a purpose statement when you're writing a paper, right? This is the purpose statement.
[00:48:25] I've come to seek and to save that which is lost. Isn't that beautiful? He's a redeemer.
[00:48:31] Isn't that powerful?
[00:48:33] How many here just, you know, with every head bowed for a moment? Let me ask you a question. How many? Hear you say, I struggle with shame and guilt. Just raise your hand. Just between you and God. Yeah, I'll see it. But I struggle with that. Okay, that's good. You put your hands down.
[00:48:50] Here's what I'm going to say to you. If you confess, say, lord, forgive me.
[00:48:57] Just say, jesus, would you forgive me?
[00:49:00] Forgive my sin, Take it out of my life. Give me the grace to turn my back towards the things that would cause shame and guilt in my life. Give me that grace. Would you do that, Lord? I can't do it. I'm drowning. I'm struggling. I've struggled with this for a long time. God's mighty hand will come and deliver you. You know what God said, I'm going to come and save my people.
[00:49:30] The Jewish people thought a person was going to come as their anointed one and save them from Romans, the Romans. God says, forget people coming, I'm coming myself. That's the story of Christmas. God became a man. God came to save us. God is looking to save us. Isn't that beautiful? He's a redeemer. He's willing to rescue us.
[00:49:52] All you got to do is just say, I'm lifting my hand to you, Jesus, with, I'm reaching out to you. Just grab my hand, Jesus, rescue me. Just call out to him. Just say, I'm right here, Lord. Just say, Lord, would you rescue me from sin? Would you rescue me from guilt? Would you rescue me from shame? Would you set me free, Lord, from my anxieties, my fears, my doubts?
[00:50:16] They're there. Let's be honest. Just lift your hand to God. Why don't we physically do that? Just lift your hand to God. Say, just rescue me, Lord. Would you just grab my hand right now and pull me up? Would you just forgive me and set me free? Would you just empower my life with your grace?
[00:50:33] You know what God's saying? Love to do it. I came to do it. I've been seeking you. I've been calling you out. I want you to come into the light. I'm here to deliver you. Only God can do that. I can tell you about it. I can't save you. You can't even save yourself. None of the things on this planet can save you. No technology, no science, no human being can save you. But I'm going to tell you today, there's a God in heaven who created the heavens and the earth. He is an all powerful God. He's able to reach down right now, today, in 2025, in this very moment, as your hand is in the air, God's hand is reaching down, and he's saying, I'm going to save you. I'm going to reach down to you right now. I'm going to pour my grace into. Into your soul. I'm going to empower you and fill you with my divine presence and give you a joy you've never known before.
[00:51:24] Begin to redirect your life in a very powerful way.
[00:51:29] Father, thank you. You've heard our cry. People are responding. My prayer today was people would move from death to life. They would move from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of your son, that believers who were struggling with. With sin and shame would be set free. I thank you, Father. You're hearing our cry and you're answering our prayers because you love each one of us so very much.
[00:51:54] Amen. God bless you. As you leave this morning.
