Sunday Morning, April 14, 2019 AM

And lead us into all righteousness and we pray for these graces because of our faith in Christ, our Savior, the one with whom you are well pleased. I invite you to open your Bibles and turn with me to Jeremiah 27.

Jeremiah 27 and the Theme of God Giving All Things to His Servant

Jeremiah chapter 27, we'll be looking at verses 1 through 11 this morning. Last time we were looking at Jeremiah we considered God's unstoppable word from chapter 26 and in this passage, the theme so fitting for Palm Sunday, we read that God has given all things to his servant.

God has given all things to his servant. I invite you to stand with me as I read Jeremiah 27 verses 1 through 11. These are the words of our God. In the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah, the son of Josiah, king of Judah, this word came to Jeremiah from the Lord saying, thus says the Lord to me, make for yourselves bonds and yokes and put them on your neck and send word to the king of Edom, to the king of Moab, to the king of the sons of Ammon, to the king of Tyre, and to the king of Sidon by the messengers who come to Jerusalem to Zedekiah, king of Judah.

Command them to go to their master saying, thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, thus you shall say to your masters, I have made the earth, the men, and the beasts which are on the face of the earth by my great power and by my outstretched arm, and I will give it to the one who is pleasing in my sight.

Now I have given all these lands into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, my servant, and I have given him also the wild animals of the field to serve him. All the nations shall serve him and his son and his grandson until the time of his own land comes, then many nations and great kings will make him their servant.

It will be that the nation or the kingdom which will not serve him, Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, and which will not put its neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon, I will punish that nation with the sword, with famine, and with pestilence, declares the Lord, until I have destroyed it by his hand.

But as for you, do not listen to your prophets, your diviners, your dreamers, your soothsayers, or your sorcerers who speak to you saying, you shall not serve the king of Babylon, for they prophesy a lie to you in order to remove you far from your land, and I will drive you out, and you will perish.

But the nation which will bring its neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon and serve him, I will let remain on its land, declares the Lord, and they will till it and dwell in it. And this is the word of the Lord.

You may be seated. It is helpful if we can think back to, well, some of us are going to think back to the felt boards of Palm Sunday and we know there's a donkey and we know there's Christ on the donkey and we know there's palm branches and there's usually the children are on the felt board praising, but it was more than children.

There were all kinds of people praising and glorifying Christ. This was a significant day. The people who were shouting, Hosanna, Son of David, knew that what was happening had to do with regime change.

They were crying out things that put into their proper political context, they were calling for a change in kings, a change in ruling authority in their land. The palm branches that they waved, they waved out of a sense of nationalism a few years before, just a hundred years before the Jews were a self-ruling nation.

They had broken from the tyranny of the Greeks by the insurgency of Judas Maccabeus, the hammer, and they had ruled themselves for a hundred years and on the coinage of their hundred-year-long self-rule under the Hasmonean dynasty, on those coins were palm branches.

So when Jesus came parading into Jerusalem on a donkey fulfilling Old Testament prophecy about the king of Israel, they waved the palm branches because they were saying, here is our king. And they were right, just not right enough.

They were ready for Jesus Christ to be king in Jerusalem and king in Israel. They weren't quite settled on how he would become king through his death and resurrection and ascension and the scope of his kingdom, which was a lot larger than Jerusalem and the land of Israel.

So on Palm Sunday, when we think about the royal entry, the royal parade, we should remind ourselves of the actual prophetic context, Zechariah 9 verses 9 and 10. Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout in triumph, O daughter of Jerusalem!

Behold, your king is coming to you! He is just and endowed with salvation, humble and mounted on a donkey, even on a colt, the foal of a donkey. This they knew, this they knew, that their king would arrive on a donkey, meaning he came in peace.

The donkey was what you rode in peace. The horse is what you rode for war. So here he comes, humble and in peace to become king. Uh, they should have kept writing a little bit, reading a little bit more to note the scope of the kingdom.

I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim and the horse from Jerusalem and the bow of war will be cut off. He will speak peace to the nations and his dominion will be from sea to sea and from the river to the ends of the earth.

So the prophecy in Zechariah envisions what connects very closely what happens between Christ riding into Jerusalem on a donkey as the promised Messiah, as the promised king, and Zechariah immediately connects that with Christ's worldwide kingdom, which brings about an end to all war, bringing everything into eternal shalom, eternal peace.

And that's a whole lot of history brought together and concentrated in just two verses. But this is what happens. Jesus rides into Jerusalem, the royal parade marches right into Jerusalem and he begins to act like he owns the place.

Where does he go? The temple. What does he do? If you ever think about it, the youths that are crying, Hosanna, son of David, Hosanna, son of David, might have been doing so in time to Christ flipping tables, scattering the money changers and the doves and breaking open the cattle stalls and sending everything flying.

The king has arrived. He's cleaning house. Now this royal parade that marched into Jerusalem and began to mess things up for the establishment, this kind of royal parade, we need to recognize is still going on today.

The royal parade of Christ is still marching, marches through the middle of history, marches down the center aisle of our church. The parade of Christ marches right along with your commute, marches through every room in your house.

The royal parade of Christ marches as far as the division of soul and spirit of both joints and marrow, judging the thoughts and the intentions of our hearts. The fact that Christ, as the Bible says in many, many places, the fact that Christ is King of kings and Lord of lords, that he reigns from the right hand, does not mean that he is distant and doesn't have anything to do with us and is twiddling his thumbs waiting for his opportunity to come back.

That's not what a good and righteous king does. He reigns. He's involved. He's in charge. The reign of Christ floods the whole world, floods the whole world. It's his turf that we're on. Abraham Kuyper knew that.

You see the quote on the front of your bulletin. There is not a square inch in the whole domain of our human existence over which Christ, who is sovereign over all, does not cry, mine. It's his turf we're on.

It's his church we're in. We are made in Christ Jesus for Christ Jesus. The body you possess is his. The blood that pumps through your veins is his. He's in charge, King of kings, Lord of lords. The reign of Christ floods the whole world.

God's Sovereignty in History Must Not Be Denied

And as we read chapter 27 in Jeremiah, we are reminded that God has given all things to his servant. And as we think about this historical moment in time, first of all, we should recognize that God's sovereignty in history must not be denied.

God's sovereignty in history must not be denied. Now, what is history? History is all the stuff that happens. It's not just important history, you know, the stuff that makes it into the textbook. It's not just redemptive history, what's involved in our salvation.

It's everything. All of history, all the stuff that happens. God's sovereignty in history must not be denied. The scripture tells us in Psalm 103 .19, the Lord has established his throne in the heavens and his sovereignty rules over all.

Psalm 115 .3, but our God is in the heavens and he does what he pleases. Psalm 135 .6, whatever the Lord pleases, he does in heaven and on earth, in the seas and all the deeps. So, his sovereignty in history must not be denied.

Verses 1 through 7, we hear that a regime change is announced. And to give us a little bit of context for this, there's lots of regime change going on right now in Jeremiah's life. To get caught up in all the comings and goings of the various kings, you can read 2 Kings 24.

It's a good place to go read about what's happening behind this reference. In the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah, the son of Josiah, king of Judah. All the drama that lies behind that is in 2 Kings 24.

What happened was the king of Judah named Jehoiakim died in rebellion to the king of Babylon. He stopped paying tribute to Babylon because he wanted to use the money for his own special building projects.

Bad idea. He dies and then Jehoiakim, his son, reigns for three months. The Bible says he was an evil king. How much do you have to do in three months to be an evil king? But he was an evil king and when Nebuchadnezzar showed up, Jehoiakim courageously rode out to meet him and surrendered.

He and his mother and the king's household and 10 ,000 of the best soldiers and tradesmen of Jerusalem went off into exile at that point. Nebuchadnezzar needed somebody who would sit on the throne of Jerusalem and do what he was told.

And so he picked Jehoiakim's uncle, Mattaniah, and said, your name is now Zedekiah. And so uncle Zed became the puppet king of Babylon. And that's what's behind the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah.

A lot of regime change. When a new king becomes king and he sits on his throne for the first time, the surrounding kingdoms tend to reach out. They send messengers. They want to establish diplomatic relations.

And so it was that messengers from Edom, Moab, Ammon, Tyre, Sidon, they all came to meet Zedekiah. And then God says to Jeremiah, I told you you would be preaching to the nations. He said that in chapter 1 in verses 5 and 10.

He said, you're going to preach to the nations and here is Jeremiah's first opportunity. And so Jeremiah goes to talk to all of these royal messengers and give them a word from the one true God. All of these messengers came from pagan nations who worshiped their own gods and goddesses and they were going to hear about the one true God from Jeremiah.

But before Jeremiah goes and preaches to these royal messengers, he gets dressed. He puts on bonds and yokes. Which means that he's putting on chains like he's been arrested, that he's been enslaved. He puts on a yoke like you would put on an animal.

But you would tie, you put a yoke across the neck of an animal and you would tie it to a plow or tie it to some sort of cart and whip the animal and make them go. When a yoke is placed around the neck of a human being, it is the universal symbol of slavery.

And this is the way in which Jeremiah preached to the foreign messengers. And he tells them who God is. Verse 4, thus says the Lord of hosts, meaning the Lord of everything, the God of Israel. So the God of Israel is the God of everything.

There's not a God of the storms and a God of the grasshoppers and a God of the rivers and the God of the stars. No, this is the God of everything. The God of Israel is the one true God. So Jeremiah preaches to the foreign messengers and tells them who God is.

And then he tells them who his servant is. And he says, I've given all these lands into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, my servant. His servant. God says, Nebuchadnezzar is my servant.

He's pleasing to my sight. Now, Nebuchadnezzar is the most powerful man in all the ancient world. He has the biggest armies. He has the most money. He has the most land. He's top dog. And Jeremiah says to all these foreign messengers from these rink-a-dink kingdoms who want to establish diplomatic relations with the new king of Israel, he says to them, Nebuchadnezzar is the servant of the God of Israel.

Just how much of a servant is he? We've already seen from previous chapters that God says that he will send for Nebuchadnezzar when he wants him, which means he goes, come here, Nebi. Come here, Neb. And he comes.

And does what God says. That's how sovereign God is over history. God says, I'm the one true God. Nebuchadnezzar is my servant. And I've given all the lands, all your lands, I've given to Nebuchadnezzar.

So Moab, Edom, Ammon, Tyre, Sidon, Judah, all your cities, all your lands, all the wilderness space in between all of your kingdoms, everything I've given to Nebuchadnezzar. It's his now. So the regime change is announced.

He gives him the cities, he gives him the wild spaces, and he gives him time. He's going to have three generations. Nebuchadnezzar, his son, and his grandson, and then I'm going to judge him. This is what's going to happen.

So we see that God is sovereign over all of history. And with the regime change being announced, there is surrender terms that are issued in verses 2, 7, and 11. And verse 2 is simply Jeremiah gets dressed in this way, putting a yoke on his neck, putting the bonds on himself to tell the foreign nations, we are now going to be enslaved by Nebuchadnezzar.

Like it or hate it, these are the surrender terms. If we are good slaves, we get to stay on our land. Verse 11 says, if we cooperate, we'll get to stay on our land, till it, we'll get to keep on functioning.

Of course, there's threats if we don't. But all the nations shall serve him, verse 7 says. So this is the surrender terms, it's slavery, it's servitude. Jeremiah says, you will now live for someone else.

And then, God knowing what would happen, he warns the foolish insurgents. Not only did he say, I've given them all of your cities, but he also told them he's going to give them all the wild spaces in between.

All the beasts in the forest too. So here's the thing, if you want to successfully strike back at the foreign oppressor who takes over your capital city and your armory cities and everything else, you go out to the hills and to the deep wilderness and you hide out there with your armaments and you strike again and again and again at the enemy until finally you wear him out and he gives up and goes home.

The problem is, God says, I've also given all the wild spaces to the king of Babylon, including all the wild beasts. So even if you do mount an insurgency and you go hide out in the caves, the lions are going to eat you.

So it's hopeless to resist, God is saying. You're not going to beat the king of Babylon. In fact, if you resist, I'm going to use sword, famine, and pestilence to destroy you. So who would be foolish enough to resist that kind of a message?

Those who reject God's word for a false word. And if you're in the habit of rejecting God's word for a false word, I don't like what that Bible says, I don't like what God says, I like to hear what these people say over here.

If that's your habit, then it would just be habitual to reject this word too and just listen to whoever tells you what you want to hear, and in the end it would be great destruction. Who might they listen to?

Well, we have a list, don't we? Prophets, diviners, dreamers, soothsayers, and sorcerers. Verse 9, but as for you, do not listen to your prophets, your diviners, your dreamers, or your soothsayers, or your sorcerers.

Yeah, but if I get the same message from five different kinds of sources, that's got to be true. Right? If CNN tells me the same thing that Wikipedia tells me, which is the same thing that my public school teacher tells me, which is the same thing that my friend over on 8th Street told me, it's got to be true.

God says don't listen to them. They prophesy, I'll lie to you in order to remove you far from your land, and I will drive you out and you will perish. They lie to you. When someone lies to you, they are at war with you.

They're against you. God says don't listen to these prophets who say, well, God told me. The diviners who somehow gain access. The dreamers who, well, had a dream. Soothsayers who say, well, I figured out the future.

Or the sorcerer who just depends on the dark arts to prevail. Now, God says there's a regime change. Here are the surrender terms, and if you try to rebel, you're going to be destroyed. Now, what if God did that in our day?

I mean, what if, I mean, just for example, in our day, what if he said there's a regime change? He announces it. He says, okay, everyone needs to surrender and become the servant, the slave of the new person in charge, and any resistance is going to end up in destruction.

I mean, what if he did that? What if he announced who his servant was, gave him everything, and told us to submit or else? I mean, how would you handle it? How would you handle it? Well, he has done that.

He has done that. Christ is King of Kings. He is Lord of Lords. Surrender terms mean taking up your cross daily to follow him, recognizing that we are the servants, yes, the slaves of Christ, the one who has purchased us with his own blood.

All who resist the Son will suffer the destruction from God. This has actually happened. In Psalm 2, the very end of the psalm, the whole Now, therefore, O kings, show discernment. Take warning, O judges of the earth.

Worship the Lord with reverence and rejoice with trembling. Do homage to the Son, kiss the Son, that he not become angry and you perish in the way. For his wrath may soon be kindled. How blessed are all who take refuge in him.

God's Sovereignty in History and the Regime Change Announced in Christ

Well, God's sovereignty in history must not be denied. God's dealings with Nebuchadnezzar are a little glimpse, a microcosm of how he runs the whole thing. God says, I've given everything to my servant with whom I am well-pleased.

Submit to him or else. What are you going to do? And he has done it. He's given everything to Christ. God's salvation through Christ cannot be ignored. It cannot be ignored. The death and resurrection of Christ was powerfully public.

Paul said to the king, Agrippa, and the governor, Festus, he says, this has not been done in a corner. This was a powerful public thing. Regime change has been announced. The gospel announces regime change.

Why did the early Christians die for saying Jesus is Lord? Because they would not say Caesar is Lord. They would not worship Caesar as divine. They worshiped Christ as divine. They would not believe Caesar's gospel and he had many.

They believed Christ's gospel. It was regime change. Christ is God's chosen servant with whom he is well-pleased. Do we believe that he reigns over all? We should, especially since the Bible says he does again and again.

Daniel 7 verses 13 through 14, I kept looking in the night visions and behold with the clouds of heaven, one like a son of man, that is Jesus Christ, was coming and he came up to the ancient of days and was presented before him.

This is in Christ's ascension to the right hand of the Father and to him was given dominion, glory, and a kingdom that all the peoples, nations, and men of every language, think Pentecost, might serve him.

His dominion is an everlasting dominion which will not pass away and this kingdom is one which will not be destroyed. Christ is King and this gospel is announced because there has to be an understanding of regime change and what does that mean?

It means that Satan is overthrown and Adam is deposed. Satan is overthrown and Adam is deposed. Matthew 12 verses 28 through 29, Jesus responding to the accusation that he was casting out demons by the power of Satan.

He says that's absurd. Satan cannot be divided against Satan. And he says in verse 28, but if I cast out demons by the Spirit of God, which was true, then the kingdom of God has come upon you. Regime change in progress or how can anyone enter the strong man's house and carry off his property unless he first binds the strong man and then he will plunder his house.

Jesus overthrows Satan so that the nations are not deceived and kept away from the gospel. The gospel goes forth with power and people from every tribe, tongue, and nation are redeemed. And Adam is also deposed.

So there's no longer Adam who inexorably defines who we are, but Christ is the last Adam, the new Adam, replaces him. 1st Corinthians 15. It's important that we hear these passages. We hear what happens in this regime change.

1st Corinthians 15 verses 21 and 22. For since by a man came death, by a man also came the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive. When the regime change comes, when you are found in Christ, you are no longer found in Adam.

It is not Adam who defines you for death, it is Christ who defines you for life. So all who are in Adam die, all who were in Christ will live. And death itself is undone and sin is mastered. In Romans 5 we read about regime change again.

Matthew 5 verses 17 and 21. Verse 17. For by the transgression of the one, death reigned through the one. What did death do? Death reigned. In the Greek it's the word for king made into a verb. For by the transgression of the one, death was king through the one, meaning Adam.

Much more, those who receive the abundance of grace of the gift of righteousness, they will reign in life through the one, Jesus Christ. Verse 21. So that sin reigned, sin was king in death, even so grace would reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

There is regime change. The old passing away, new has come. Revelation 1 verses 5 through 6. Jesus Christ is called the faithful witness, meaning the faithful martyr, the one who died for us. The faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead and the ruler of the kings of the earth.

Who rules over the kings of the earth? Jesus Christ. To him, he's the one who loves us and released us from our sins by his blood and he has made us to be a kingdom priest to his God and Father. To him be the glory and the dominion forever and ever.

Amen. The dominion is to Christ forever and ever. What did God tell Adam and Eve to do? Be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth and subdue it. Exercise dominion over the earth. Well, Christ is the one who ends up doing that because he is the image of God and all who are with him participate in that victory.

Salvation Means Unconditional Surrender to Christ

The regime change. So not only does the gospel announce regime change, but we also find that salvation means unconditional surrender to Christ. This is the way that God works. He announces his servant with whom he is well pleased.

I've given everything to my servant, so surrender. Give up. Own Christ as master. Jesus himself says this. He offers it in mercy. Listen, verse 27, all things, Matthew 11 verse 27, all things have been handed over to me by my father.

He's given his servant all things. All things have been handed over to me by my father and no one knows the son except the father nor does anyone know the father except the son and anyone to whom the son wills to reveal him.

Come to me. All who are weary and heavy laden, I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, the universal symbol of slavery. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me for I'm gentle and humble in heart.

You will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light. What an invitation. What an invitation. Over 30 times in the New Testament by Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Paul, James, and Peter, Christians are called slaves.

The Greek word is doulos. It's translated in my translation, New American Standard, as bond-servant, bond-slave, servant, variously translated, but over 30 times we are described as the slaves of the one master, Jesus Christ, who's king of kings.

And this is the way that the Christians, all these different authors from the New Testament, they understood this is who we are. This is what it means. We are slaves of Christ. Salvation mandates unconditional surrender to Christ.

There must be a new yoke, a new yoke, taking upon Christ's yoke. There's two things about this we need to remember. First of all, slavery is unavoidable. Slavery is unavoidable. In the Bible, we're either slaves of sin or we're slaves of Christ.

We're either slaves of the prince of the power of the air or we're the slaves of righteousness unto Christ. In Romans 6 verses 18 and 20, it says, and having been freed from sin, you become slaves of righteousness.

Hear it? You're freed from sin, which means what? You're slaves of righteousness. Verse 20, for when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. Slavery is unavoidable. You're either going to be a slave of sin or a slave of righteousness, enslaved by the enemy or the slave of Jesus Christ, the Savior.

And his yoke is easy, and his burden is light, and he gives rest. He saves. So slavery is unavoidable. And I think if we're going to take anything away from the message this morning, it is this. Show your slavery.

Show your slavery. What did Jeremiah do? Before he went and gave the message to these foreigners from all these different lands around, he put on the yokes, he put on the bonds, and then he went and preached and said, the God of Israel is the one true God, the Lord of hosts, and he owns everything, and he's given everything to his servant.

But he showed his slavery, he put on the bonds, he put on the yoke, and then spoke the message. We need to show our slavery. When we have a gospel conversation with someone, we need to show our slavery.

Jesus Christ is my master. He bought me with his own blood. He died for me. In this is love, not that we love God, but that he loved us and sent his son to be the propitiation of our sins. This is what I am.

I am because of the love of God in his holiness and righteousness. Christ has bought me with his blood. I am his. I'm the slave of Christ. Our personal testimony should be about who is our master. We should show our slavery in the context of everyday living.

Parents, there's no better way to parent than when you're laying down the rules and when you're offering wisdom and counsel and coaching and so on and so forth to begin with, you know, I'm trying to follow Christ here.

This is what he would want me to do. No better way, no better way than to start first with who is an authority over us before we start making authority claims on others. So we should show our slavery.

Unrepentance, Judgment, and Christ's Cleansing Reign

The third thing we should remember is that unrepentance will be judged and damned. If resistance to Nebuchadnezzar met with sword, famine, and pestilence, what do you think rebellion against Christ will get you?

Nebuchadnezzar who was pleasing to God because he was an effective hammer to bust down walls and bring judgment, but Christ, his only begotten Son, with whom he is well pleased. If resistance to Nebuchadnezzar met with sword, famine, and pestilence, what will rebellion against Christ bring?

John chapter 3, at the very end of the chapter, John 3, same chapter that reminds us that God loved the world in this way, that he sent his only begotten Son, that whoever would believe in him would not perish, but have everlasting life.

In the same chapter, we hear more about why we need Christ, why we need to submit to Christ. John 3, 35 and 36, the Father loves the Son and has given all things into his hand. He's given all things to his servant, his chosen servant, his Son, Jesus Christ, given him everything.

Therefore, verse 36, he who believes in the Son has eternal life, but he who does not obey the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him. On Palm Sunday, we need to remember that Christ's parade had consequences.

The crying out of Hosanna, the Son of David, was all true, but his parade had consequences. It ended with the cleansing of the temple. The parade of Christ, his royal power, his reign today, still has consequences, still has an impact in everything that we think about, everything we say, and everything we do.

If he cleansed the temple in Jerusalem, what do you think he's doing with a temple, his temple, here on earth? He's cleansing us, right? Turning us around where we're wrong, moving us in the right, shaping us, shaping us to be the kind of temple that he wants, a temple to his glory.

Well, God has given all things to his servant, and his servant is Jesus Christ. I pray that you would be with me in this, that when we cry, Hosanna, Son of David, today on Palm Sunday, it's with an acknowledgement of his eternal and universal authority to which we must submit.

We just pray together, and just pray these things in the name of our Savior Christ. Father, we come before you, and we thank you for this truth. Lord, we see how you work in history, and it's a reminder of what you do throughout all of the world, that you have given all things to your chosen servant, Jesus Christ, your Son, and that his reign floods this whole world.

I pray that you would help us to submit to that, and be proud of that, to identify with that, that we would live submitted to Christ and to his word. We pray these things for his sake.