Sunday Morning, March 22, 2020 AM

Let's go to the Lord in prayer together. Father, I thank you for this day. I thank you for the opportunity to consider the truths of your word.

Lord, we know that you are God and that you are our supreme master and Lord, that you are a creator, that by your providence, we live today.

By your providence, we can hear your word today. Lord, there's a lot of things going on in the world today and especially currently with the virus that is burdening so many.

Lord, we want to love our neighbors as ourselves and here we are apart and yet,

I know that in Christ that we are together. I pray that you would help us this morning as you already have helped us to worship you, to glory in you, to give praise to Christ who is our risen and ascended and reigning savior and king.

Help us now as we turn to your word. I pray that for all those who are hearing now and will hear later your word during this time, that you would do your work in us, that you would sanctify us by the power of your

Holy Spirit in accordance with your word. We pray all these things for the sake of Jesus Christ, the one with whom you are well pleased, amen.

Well, as we come to Jeremiah chapter 44, I think it is a helpful opportunity for us to consider where we are at.

Judah has suffered a great many judgments. Judah has encountered famines and diseases and assaults from various nations, especially from the nation of Babylon.

And they have progressively been humbled before everyone.

In the view of everyone, their influence has gone down. Their power has been diminished.

More and more, they find themselves the tail and not the head, to use the language that God used in Deuteronomy when he described the progressive curses that would come upon them for breaking the covenant.

It's important to set alongside these great losses and the problems that they are having, to set alongside those setbacks with what it is that has been bringing them about.

In Jeremiah chapter seven, in verses 23 through 24, we are given the summation of the problem.

It isn't that God has failed. In fact, God is keeping his word. He is doing exactly what he said he would do if Israel would disobey.

And so, in Jeremiah chapter seven, verses 23 through 24, we read this. But this is what

I commanded them, saying, obey my voice, and I will be your God, and you will be my people, and you will walk in all the way which

I command you, that it may be well with you. Yet, they did not obey or incline their ear, but walked in their own counsels and in the stubbornness of their evil heart, and went backward and not forward.

Again, in Jeremiah 11, seven through eight, God says, for I solemnly warned your fathers in the day that I brought them up from the land of Egypt, even to this day, warning persistently, saying, listen to my voice.

Yet, they did not obey nor incline their ear, but walked each one in the stubbornness of his evil heart.

Therefore, I brought on them all the words of this covenant, which

I commanded them to do, but they did not. God brought upon them all the words of the covenant.

He had told them that to break covenant would mean disaster for them, and he told them in excruciating detail what exactly would happen if they broke covenant.

And God is being faithful to bring all those words to pass. This is why

Judah has been progressively humbled, why they are progressively losing, why even now the remnant of Judah is scattered to Babylon, and this rebellious remnant is scattered all the way down to Egypt.

And so, as we come to Jeremiah 44, we find the remnant of Judah that was left behind after the conquest of Nebuchadnezzar, that they have disobeyed the

Lord and they have fled down to Egypt against the express instructions of Jeremiah. They had promised that they would do whatever the word of the

Lord was. They would do what God said, even if it was unpleasant, but they lied.

They deceived themselves, and now they're in Egypt, and now God has another word for them through his prophet,

Jeremiah. So if you would, wherever you are, if you are able to please stand for the reading of God's word.

I'll be reading Jeremiah chapter 44, I'll be reading verses one through 14.

This is the word of the Lord. The word that came to Jeremiah for all the

Jews living in the land of Egypt, those who are living in Migdal, Tifanis, Memphis, and the land of Pathros saying, thus says the

Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, you yourselves have seen all the calamity that I have brought on Jerusalem and on all the cities of Judah, and behold, this day they are in ruins and no one lives in them because of their wickedness, which they committed so as to provoke me to anger by continuing to burn sacrifices and to serve other gods whom they had not known, neither they, you, nor your fathers.

Yet I sent you all my servants, the prophets, again and again saying, oh, do not do this abominable thing, which

I hate. But they did not listen or incline their ears to turn from their wickedness so as not to burn sacrifices to other gods.

Therefore, my wrath and my anger were poured out and burned in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem.

So they have become a ruin and a desolation as it is this day. Now then, thus says the

Lord God of hosts, the God of Israel, why are you doing great harm to yourselves so as to cut off from you man and woman, child and infant from among Judah, leaving yourselves without remnant, provoking me to anger with the works of your hands, burning sacrifices to other gods in the land of Egypt, where you are entering to reside so that you may be cut off and become a curse and a reproach among all the nations of the earth.

Have you forgotten the wickedness of your fathers, the wickedness of the kings of Judah and the wickedness of their wives, your own wickedness and the wickedness of your wives, which they committed in the land of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem?

But they have not become contrite even to this day, nor have they feared, nor walked in my law or my statutes, which

I have set before you and before your fathers. Therefore, thus says the

Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, behold, I am going to set my face against you for woe even to cut off all

Judah. And I will take away the remnant of Judah who have set their mind on entering the land of Egypt to reside there.

And they will all meet their end in the land of Egypt. They will fall by the sword and meet their end by famine.

Both small and great will die by the sword and famine.

And they will become a curse, an object of horror, an imprecation and a reproach.

And I will punish those who live in the land of Egypt as I have punished Jerusalem with the sword, with famine and with pestilence.

So there will be no refugees or survivors for the remnant of Judah who have entered the land of Egypt to reside there and then to return to the land of Judah to which they are longing to return and live for none will return except a few refugees.

This is the word of the Lord. You may be seated. It is evident that our fallen hearts when contemplating

God, when considering God, that our fallen hearts prefer either a deistic or a mystic understanding of God.

It seems in our depravity and our fallenness that we would prefer that God be distant and perhaps merely the source of uninterrupted principles which will not interrupt our carefully crafted lives.

Or on the other hand, we would prefer that God is internal, malleable to our wills, molded to our desires.

Yet the Holy Scriptures clearly reveal that God is neither the mere explanation nor the near emanation of our lives.

God stretched out the fabric of the universe and he knit our souls and our mother's wounds.

He is the creator and shepherd, sovereign and father, the word eternal, the word incarnate, the spirit who grants breath to all creatures and the spirit who gives second birth making new creations.

God is sovereign over all and involved with each. We are reminded of that in Jeremiah chapter 44.

God is sovereign over all and involved with each.

This morning, I believe we have an opportunity to take stock of where we've been in Jeremiah and anticipate the conclusion to this significant book in the

Bible. There's a lot of material here that we have been thinking about and working through. And this morning, in order to pay closer attention to the things that we have heard as we drift away from them, we are going to have an extended meditation on verse one and the first part of verse two.

And the first point of Jeremiah 44, as I see it, is that God's word is inescapable.

God's word is inescapable. Jeremiah 44 presents the truth of God, the will of God, the power of God, presents

God as unavoidably undeniable, unavoidably undeniable.

And if there's anything we can see from verse one, it is that God's word is inescapable. I think we see this, especially as we consider what has just happened in the life of Judah.

What have they been up to? Where are they now? And yet the word of God still applies.

The word of God is still proclaimed. The word of God, you see, is inescapable.

Many try to escape the word of God, but it is not as simple as putting the

Bible out of sight, folding it up and putting it away in the drawer of an end table somewhere.

It's not as simple as covering over or removing the 10 commandments from any public venue.

Truly, how can we remove ourselves from the universe

God has created by his spoken word? Psalm 33, verse six says, "'By the word of the

Lord, the heavens were made, "'and by the breath of his mouth, all their host.'" Hebrews 11, three says, "'By faith we understand that the worlds were prepared "'by the word of God, so that what is seen "'was not made out of things which are visible.'"

So at the very least, God's word is inescapable due to the fact that we have been created by his word in a world made by his word, and our history will be drawn to a close by the declaration of his word.

His word is unavoidably undeniable. Yet this is not especially what we see here from Jeremiah 44 in verse one.

The word which comes to Jeremiah here in this text with a message of God for the

Jewish remnant, this is not God's general revelation. This is not his creating and providential word, but this is referring to his special revelation, his saving and promising word.

This word also is inescapable, and we need to meditate on the range and the aim of God's inescapable word.

First of all, the range. Just how far is the reach of his word?

Just how far is the reach, the range of God's word?

Notice that the text says the word that came to Jeremiah.

The word that came to Jeremiah. And even though he now resides in Egypt, it has been this way throughout the whole of this book.

The word of the Lord, here's the pattern, the word of the Lord comes to Jeremiah, and this word speaks to God's chosen prophet,

Jeremiah, about what he must say to the people. And then it is expressed by this word of the

Lord, Jeremiah, when you speak to them, this is how you're going to begin what you say.

Thus says the Lord. And in that pattern that has been so well established through Jeremiah, which we are reminded of again here in Jeremiah 44.

In this, we are reminded of the saving grace of revelation, the saving grace of God's special revelation, his word.

Now, in this pattern of God sending word to the prophet, this is how

God spoke long ago to the fathers. He spoke to them in many portions and in many ways.

That the creator, think about this, that the creator speaks to his creatures, that in and of itself is a great miracle.

It is a stunning grace. God sent his word to the prophet, and this word personally instructed the prophet on what to say to the people of God.

In other words, the father by the spirit sent the son to the prophet.

The father by the spirit sent the son to the prophet so that the holy word of God would be faithfully delivered to the people.

The distance, we're talking about the range of God's inescapable word, the distance between the unchanging, immense, and immeasurable creator, and then who we are, who are but dust.

That is the first consideration we ought to have about the range of God's inescapable word. We ought not just take this for granted.

We ought not go right past this phrase, the word that came to Jeremiah.

Now, God has taken this miracle, this grace of him speaking to his people through his prophet.

God has taken this miracle. He has taken this grace, has made it personal, permanent, and preeminent in Jesus Christ.

For in these last days, God has spoken to us in his son, whom he appointed heir of all things, through whom also he made the world.

This uncreated word, who is God, and who has been with God from before the beginning, this word through whom

God made everything, this word became flesh and dwelt among us, Jesus Christ.

And he is the word that clarifies all the rest of God's words.

You may have listened to a teacher or professor, someone who is skillful at making several profound, important points, and all of them in their own way are good, but perhaps they're hard to grasp in total.

But the skillful professor, the skillful teacher can bring all of these important things, and he can bring them together and sum them up with stunning force.

And this is but a bare glimpse of what God has done in his revelation.

He has brought together all that he has ever said, and he sums them up, and he fulfills them with stunning force through his son,

Jesus Christ, who is the supreme revelation of God. Jesus Christ is the radiance of God's glory, the exact representation of his nature.

So as we're considering the grace of God speaking with us, that God's word would come to us, the range of God's inescapable word that is repeated throughout

Jeremiah, and here in Jeremiah chapter 44 and verse one. As we're considering this, we need to remember the distance, the distance of creator to creature, the distance of eternity to time, the distance from God of very

God to man of very man in the incarnation to nature's one person.

And so it is, we read throughout the Old Testament, so we read throughout the scriptures, and we see this repeated grace of God speaking through his prophets to the people.

What is this but the faithful plowing of hard ground, the preparation for the superior revelation, the more incredible crossing of distance in the gracious miracle of the incarnation.

We must remember that the word that came to Jeremiah is the word who has come to us in the flesh,

Jesus Christ. Christ came as the one mediator between God and man.

And as there is an unfathomable mystery in the incarnation, we recognize this as our great salvation for there is an unfathomable chasm between the holy creator and the rebel creature.

Jesus Christ has come into the world to save sinners so that those who sit in darkness will see a great light.

Those who sit in the land of shadow and darkness, upon them a light dawns.

Psalm 36 verse nine tells us that with Christ is the fountain of life and in his light we see light.

As we consider the range of God's inescapable word, here's some good news. You are not beyond the range of God's saving word.

You are not beyond the range of God's gracious revelation. God has sent

Christ into the world as a light for every man, John 1 5. And the question is, are you gonna run from that light fearing that your deeds will be exposed or will you rejoice in that light turning from yourself and your sin to trust in Christ alone for your salvation?

It is only his merits, only his worthiness that will accord you a right standing with God.

Only Christ can save you. So in the range of God's inescapable word, as we consider the word that came to Jeremiah, we are reminded first of all of the saving grace of revelation, but also as who this

God is revealed in scripture, we should also consider the sovereign glory of revelation, the sovereign glory of revelation.

God is shown as God who is sovereign over all here in Jeremiah chapter 44 verses one in the beginning of verse two, but we also see he is directly involved with each person.

Notice in the text who it is who gives this message to the people.

Verse two, thus says the Lord of hosts, the

God of Israel. The Lord of hosts, the

God of Israel. These titles, these names are laid alongside of each other with great purpose, with incredible meaning.

Yahweh Sabaoth, the Lord of hosts. Who is this? He is the self -existent unchanging

God of all creatures. That's what it means that he is Lord of hosts.

Some of us were able to sing along with the hymn this morning, a mighty fortress is our God. The older version said,

Lord Sabaoth is his name. The newer version just translates it for us.

The Lord of hosts is his name. What does that mean? This is a glorious name of God.

He is the unchanging God who owns and controls all creatures, all creations.

It means that the stars of heaven, the fish of the sea, the birds of the air, and the beasts of the earth all salute in parade ground attention before the

Lord of hosts. That's what it means. He is captain of all creatures and creations.

And they are all his to command, however he desires. This is a reminder of his sovereignty.

So we see that he is sovereign over all, but then we're reminded by the next name, the next title right next to it, that he is involved directly with each.

He is the God of Israel. He's the God of Israel. It's so important that we have both of these names set right next to each other.

You see, when pagans in the ancient Near East would speak of their gods, when they would speak of Chemosh, the

God of Moab, or Molech, the God of Syria, or Baal, the God of Canaan, what would they think to themselves?

They would think of a God who is limited in many ways, limited to a certain geography or to certain phenomena.

But as the word of the Lord comes through his prophet to his paganized people, who are living in a paganized land,

Egypt, it is vital that this Jewish remnant be confronted with the truth.

What Jeremiah will tell them will also prove vital for the

Egyptians among whom they live, that this Lord Sabaoth, God of Israel, is no small regional deity whose power is restricted to the boundaries of a land or restricted to the shapes of rivers, crops, trees, sun, moon, and sky.

No, he is the Lord of hosts. He is God over all of creation, and he's the

God of Israel. These combined titles remind us of God's universal glory and his particular grace.

He is the God of creation and the God of covenant. And while his eyes are especially upon his people, this remnant of Judah, he also transcends all cultures, and they are evaluated and judged by his word.

It's important for Jeremiah's audience to remember with whom they have to do, that Yahweh Sabaoth is the

God of Israel, and this does not mean, this does not mean, just because he's the

God of Israel, that the Jewish remnant can simply exit the land of Israel proper, and by crossing the boundary down to Egypt, that somehow they can escape from under the authority and judgment of God.

Indeed, there is no sense here where God is having to make a long -distance phone call from the ruins of Jerusalem or from the bloodstains of Mitzpah.

The Ark of the Covenant has been destroyed, the temple is gone, Gedoliah has been assassinated, the land has been abandoned, and yet, what happens here?

The father, by the spirit, sends the son to the prophet, even though that prophet is down in Egypt.

You see, the people can't flee from God in Egypt. What a paganized, what a foolish way of thinking, that they think that they could have just left

Israel, go down to Egypt and be just fine, to escape his judgment, to escape his wrath. Psalm 139, verses seven through 10, asks some very important questions and gives some vital answers.

The psalmist confesses, where can I go from your spirit? Or where can

I flee from your presence? If I ascend to heaven, you are there. If I make my bed in Sheol, behold, you are there.

If I take the wings of the dawn, if I dwell in the remotest parts of the sea, even there, your hand will lead me and your right hand will lay hold of me.

So it is good for us to meditate on these titles, these names of God, Lord Sabaoth, Yahweh Sabaoth, and the

God of Israel, Lord of hosts and the God of Israel. It is good for us to meditate on these things laid alongside each other in this historical context.

It is good for us to meditate upon the word of God, to fill our minds with his truth.

Biblical meditation is filling our minds with the truth of God, considering all the different ways in which it matters to the whole of our lives.

The alternative to doing this is paganism. The alternative to meditating upon the word of God day and night as the wise man does in Psalm 1.

The alternative to meditating upon the scriptures, the truths of God is paganism.

It is to allow our hearts as it is emptied of the truth of God to just tumble along and be swept along to be stained and soiled by the world.

If we do this, if we fail to meditate upon the truths of God, if we fail to consider really who he is, what will happen to us?

We will begin to think of God in pagan ways like this remnant obviously was. We will begin to think of God in pagan ways.

We will begin to limit him, ignore him, distrust him, complain against him, and dishonor him.

But if we will meditate upon who he is, then we may purposefully praise him.

What are the instructions that Paul gives to the church in Thessalonica? What does he tell them as they live within that paganized context, even being persecuted for their faith?

What does he tell them? Rejoice always, in everything give thanks.

These are spiritual disciplines. This is the pursuit of godliness that we would meditate upon who

God is. And if we would do that, we will always have cause to rejoice, and in everything we will be able to give thanks.

And this is vital that we do this. Why? As we're told in the scriptures that the Lord, our

Savior, our King Jesus Christ, that the Lord is enthroned upon the praises of his people.

We show our submission to our great Lord, our King. How?

By glorifying him, by praising him. And as we glorify him over all, as we praise him as our

God, we will accomplish the purpose for which

God has redeemed us. Our praise to him is the appropriate response to his inescapable word.

Wherever we are, whatever we have done, whoever we are, whenever we live, however we have come, this holy word applies to us.

It matters to us. It cuts right to the heart of us like a double -edged sword.

So we have to praise God for the range of his inescapable word. But also the aim.

The aim of God's word. It's inescapable for the range and his aim.

As we consider who God is aiming at in this passage and really what he's aiming at in their lives, we are confident that he's going to hit exactly on his target.

So who and what are in his crosshairs here? First of all, the people of the covenant are in his crosshairs.

As the God of Israel, the Lord of hosts is now speaking to the remnant of the

Jews who are living in Egypt. To put it a different way, the covenant maker is speaking to his covenant people.

Covenant makers aiming at his covenant people. And wherever they are, whether they are in Egypt or in Canaan or in Babylon, they must hear what

God has to say to them. They have a particular purpose. God had made plans for them.

He had a divinely appointed role for them in this world.

Isaiah 43, 21 says that the people he formed for himself are to declare his praise.

And from the very start, from the very beginning of God's dealings with them, we are reminded of the role of Israel in the world.

For example, in Exodus 19, verses five through six, we are told the purpose, the role of Israel.

Now then, if you will indeed, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, then you shall be my own possession among all the peoples.

Now for all the earth is mine and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.

These are the words that you shall speak to the sons of Israel. There are many such passages which say the same thing, but one more

I think will be sufficient for us. Deuteronomy 26, verses 18 and 19. The Lord has today declared you to be his people, a treasured possession, as he promised you, and that you should keep all his commandments and that he will set you high above all nations, which he has made for praise, fame, and honor, and that you shall be a consecrated people to the

Lord your God as he has spoken. So as we listen to these passages in which

God explains things to Israel about the role in the world, as God, the covenant maker, speaks to his covenant people, we discover that the whole idea of Israel's covenant faithfulness, the whole point of the

Jews' obedience to the word of God was that God would reciprocate, he would respond to that obedience with rewarding blessings and these blessings would exalt his chosen nation that he calls a chosen nation of priests.

It's an interesting expression, he's not just talking about the Levites or particular clans among the

Levites, he's actually talking about all the tribes of Israel. He says, I'll make you a nation of priests and he's going to exalt them, he's going to bring them fame and glory and honor as they obey him, to do what?

He says, all the earth is mine, but I have selected you as a chosen nation among all the nations.

And what was their role? Time and again in the Old Testament, we are reminded that the role of Israel as a kingdom of priests was that they would lead the nations into repentant, believing submission to their creator.

Now, Jesus makes note of this when he cleanses the temple and he said, my father's house was to be a house of prayer for all nations, and that they were to see the glory of Israel and come to the temple and honor

God and acknowledge their creator. And Israel was supposed to be this mediating nation to draw them to worship

God and to know God. Darkness covered the earth, deep darkness covered the

Goim, the nations, the Gentiles, but the Lord's rising upon Israel, his glory appearing upon them, his special blessing of them would mean nations coming to that light.

The kings of the earth would come to the brightness of the rising of God's covenant people. This is the language of Isaiah 60 verses one through three.

Now, if we've been listening carefully, if we've been listening carefully to these expressions,

I think that we will see the purpose and the role that God had for Israel, that Jesus Christ has fulfilled this role as the people of God, for it is he who has obeyed

God's voice and kept the covenant. It is his kingdom that has come. He has been set high above all the nations for praise and fame and honor.

And the glory of the Lord has appeared upon Christ. And in the brightness of his rising, the nations come to his light.

And as he is lifted up, he draws all men to himself. And so it is that those who are in Christ by faith, both

Jew and Gentile, those who are in Christ by faith, are now described as a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.

First Peter 2 .9, Revelation 5 .10 and so on. Such are the glories of the new covenant.

But just here in Jeremiah 44, verses one and following, this remnant of Jews are living under the old covenant and thus they are experiencing judgments of God particularly connected to their covenant breaking.

All of these curses, these judgments were in accordance with what God had said exactly in the book of Deuteronomy.

But still we see that God has had mercy upon his people. He has given hope to that remnant that are in Babylonian exile.

They still have hope of blessing and they have the promise of the new covenant to come. There's hope for the

Jews. And there was hope for this very remnant if they had simply remained in the land, devastated though it was,

God promised them blessing if they would just obey him and remain in the land. Now, however, due to their disobedience,

God aims at this people of the covenant as those who profane the covenant.

As he aimed at this people of the covenant, what he's aiming at particularly in their lives is their sin.

God's word came to all of these who are scattered in sin. Notice that the remnant of Judah has come down to Egypt.

What does it say? The word that came to Jeremiah for all the Jews living in the land of Egypt, those who were living in the cities and the regions of Egypt.

Now, this word in the Hebrew means to dwell. Perhaps you have that in your translations. They came to dwell in the land of Egypt.

The Hebrew word is yeshav, which means to get married and settle down and keep house.

That's what they came down to Egypt to do. They're gonna do life in Egypt. They're settling down there.

They are dwelling there. They're going to build houses and live in them. They're gonna get married and have children, make sure that they get married and have more children.

They're gonna plant gardens and harvest from them. They're going to do life in Egypt.

They came down there to dwell, to settle in. They settled in Migdal, Taphanes.

Some of your translations say Knoth. This is understood as Memphis. And they also settled throughout the region of Pathros.

How is that so bad? Really, how is that so bad? They're just following the creation mandate from Genesis 1 and the creation mandate reiterated to Noah and so on.

Now, God had commanded the exiles in Babylon to do this very thing, to settle in the land of Babylon, to settle down, to get married, keep house.

Those exiles in Babylon, they were doing it on hopes of their descendants returning to the land and humble dependence upon God, looking forward to his establishing a new covenant for them there in their land.

But this remnant who has come down to Egypt, they were not exiled there by God.

They had exiled themselves there from God. They had not come down to Egypt for a respite like Abraham or a reunion like Jacob.

They have come here in rebellion. They are like those worthless folks under Moses who wanted to return to live as slaves in Egypt rather than live under the authority and upon the generosity of God almighty.

These were sons of Belial. They are wild donkeys like Ishmael, their hand against everyone and everyone's hand against them.

They are settling here in defiance of God and all their kinsmen. They are cut off from promise.

So God aims at his covenant people in their covenant breaking. God aims his word at their sinful settledness.

This is a very dangerous thing for anyone, but especially profane for those who are called to people of God to settle down in sin.

They have bedded down in sin. They have made their peace with sin.

They have made arrangements for continued sin. Now they may consider themselves prudent and having to face reality.

Well, the times have been a changing and there's just difficulty that we couldn't overcome and obedience to God, that's just so impractical.

I don't even see how that could ever work. It would cause more problems than solutions if we were going to obey the word of God.

And so they say, this is just not practical to stay in the land of Canaan and the promised land.

So we've left to go down to Egypt and they have settled themselves into a trajectory of sin because it just made more sense to them.

Perhaps they thought themselves wiser than God. Perhaps they thought they were more clear headed than God.

Perhaps they thought themselves better suited at crafting righteousness and arranging worship than God himself.

So God aims at their arrogant rebellion and ensures they will not succeed. Notice that this word goes out to all the

Jews. It says in verse one, this word goes out to all the Jews. Notice wherever they have settled in Egypt, wherever they are, names the cities they're in, the region that they're settling in.

He aims at them all in all of their sin. Why does he do that? Because this people who are called by God's name, those who have been selected as a kingdom of priests for the good of the nations, look at what they've done.

They have settled in defiance of God among the very pagans whom they are supposed to be directing to God.

Look, they have brought the wickedness of idolatry with them down to Egypt. We see this in verse eight and we see this in verses 25 through 26 of Jeremiah 44, that the wickedness of Jerusalem is still their wickedness in Migdal, Teppanis and Memphis.

The wickedness of the land of Judah is still their wickedness in the land of Pathros. They're actually worshiping idols there in Egypt.

In fact, it's even worse. They're calling upon the name of the Lord as they offer sacrifices to a false goddess.

You see this in verses 25 and 26. That's why judgment is absolutely necessary. This is why

God is aiming at their sin and bringing judgment. They must fail.

They must fail in this endeavor of rebellion. Why? So that the name of God will not be profaned.

So they must fail that God's holiness and his promise of blessing to all the nations would not fail.

And that is his inescapable aim. We are reminded here just at the beginning of Jeremiah 44 that God is sovereign over all and involved with each.

It's important to remember that God's word is for his people whether they are in obedience or in rebellion.

You know, God's word applied to Jonah. God's word applied to Jonah whether he was in Israel, whether he was out to sea, or whether he was in Nineveh.

Listen, if you are in sin, you're in disobedience to God, perhaps in the way in which you are treating your family, in the way that you have not attended to the things of God.

If you are in sin, if you are unforgiving to those who are asking you, if you are failing to love others, if you are in sin, if you are far away from where you are supposed to be, listen,

God's word is inescapable in its range and in its aim.

God's word is not inaccessible to you. Do not think that you must improve yourself or set certain matters in order before you can read the scriptures or before you can hear a sermon or read a devotional about the word of God.

The Holy Scriptures, the Holy Scriptures give us the standard by which we are to evaluate our lives, give us the standard to which we must conform, but also the

Holy Spirit himself brings the graces of repentance and faith to us through this imperishable seed.

You are not out of range and God is aiming at you through his word.

Consider, how are the people of the covenant to live except by the word of God? This Holy Scripture, which is incomplete, not incomplete, but it is in total, all of it completed together, consider it in its full completion.

This final word has been granted to us and to all of us. All manner of sinful unbelief lies in our hearts.

We can begin to make exceptions for ourselves as to why the scriptures applicable to some in some ways are not also applicable to us in the same way.

We can begin to, like the remnant in Judah, begin to say things about the impracticality of the word of God and how we know better how to arrange worship services.

We know better what God wants in terms of how his church functions and is run.

We know better how it is that we are to raise our families than God does.

It's so impractical to do the things and to follow the instructions that he has here. We must know more than God and must be wiser than God.

We have made all sorts of exceptions in the church at large today, exceptions about sexual sins and exceptions about loving others and exceptions about forgiving others.

But we need the word of God to be brought to bear upon our hearts.

We must deal with this word. We need the word of God to clarify to us if we are living in righteousness or living in rebellion.

And this is because rebellion can be dressed up to look like God's commanded obedience.

I'll give you two examples. As conservative Christians or as at least patriotic neighbors, we would raise our families.

We would pursue life, liberty, and happiness. We would protect, provide, nourish, and teach and secure as much good as we can for us and our families.

And we are indeed to pursue as those who are made in God's image, our creation mandate.

But listen, the mere doing of these things is not obedience. It is not the genuine article unless our worship is of the one true

God revealed in Jesus Christ. Unless we cultivate a prosperity purposed for the advancement of Christ's kingdom.

Unless we build a culture full of the fruit of the Holy Spirit. Indeed, the fear of the

Lord. Unless we're doing that, that's not real obedience. To engage in the creation mandate in a pagan fashion is illegitimate.

It is counterfeit. Another example. We would do everything we can to make our church strong, to make our church effective.

We would serve one another. We would seek to reach out to those who are in need of the gospel, in need of compassion.

We would want our church to be incredibly effective in its reach, in its strength.

But we could easily begin to rely upon our own expertise. We could begin to think that we're doing church this way because we're really good at it instead of recognizing that we are but mere children before our heavenly

Father. We not make the mistake of Laodicea in which we would say that we are so good at doing church, we don't even need

Jesus. He's outside knocking on the door trying to get in. No, we can dress up rebellion.

We can dress up disobedience to look like obedience. But we must fear the

Lord and be humble. And isn't that what God has given us his word for? As we follow

Christ, whatever brightness we have, either in glory or suffering, it is for the nations to direct their allegiance, their obedience to Christ.

For to him, all the nations will come and cast down their crowns. They will bow the knee and sing his praises.

We must not turn our pursuits of family and church and righteous society, we must not turn those pursuits in a paganized way only to seek for our own comfort and our own desires.

But we must put our attention upon the King of kings. And we don't know how

God will do his work as we trust him and as we obey. Will God be pleased to work his will through our exaltation, through our dominance?

Or will he be pleased to work his will through our suffering, even our martyrdom?

Our homes should be bright with the light of Christ. Our churches should be bright with the light of Christ.

Sunnyside Baptist Church needs to be bright with the light of Christ. But listen, that cannot be so.

If we follow the pattern here of the remnant of the

Jews, if we settle for sin, indeed, if we settle in sin, so let us be resolved in righteousness, eager to respond to Christ's instruction with a full body and soul, amen.

We are made in God's image and it's made for his word. And if the image of God rejects the word of God, all that is left is the wrath of God.

And that is unavoidably undeniable. God's word is inescapable. And as the

Lord wills, we'll continue at a much faster pace through the rest of the chapter and consider how

God's will is inevitable and how God's wrath is indisputable. Let's close with a word of prayer.

Father, I thank you for the time that you've given us in your word. I pray that it has been profitable to all of us that we would indeed meditate on the truth that you are the

God of creation and the God of covenant, that you're sovereign over all and directly involved with each of us.

We pray that you would humble us before you, that we would fear you alone, and that we would be about your will in your way, trusting in you.

Lord, we give you glory for your son, Jesus Christ, who is our great king and our great savior. We pray these things in his name, amen.

Amen. Well, may the love of the Father and the grace of the Son and the fellowship of the