Sunday Morning, July 5, 2020, AM

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Sunday Morning, July 5, 2020, AM "“​Sovereign Fire and International Brimstone​” Jeremiah 46:1-28 -47:7

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All right, good morning, everyone.
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I want to welcome you to Sunnyside Baptist Church this morning. We're glad that you can worship with us together.
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Announcements to start our day today. Some opportunities this week, come back this evening for evening service.
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That starts at 5 .30. There will be no nursery for that. And then
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Wednesday, starting at 6 .30, Bible study and prayer. Again, no nursery for that.
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Our fighter verse for this week comes from the Psalms. Psalm 34 verses 4 and 5.
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I sought the Lord and he answered me and delivered me from all my fears. Those who look to him are radiant and their faces shall never be ashamed.
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So meditate and memorize on that verse this week. The offering plate is still at the back of the auditorium on the table back there.
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So give your tithes and offerings. Nursery is available again this morning during the worship service and also during Sunday school hours.
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If you have a church directory need, please look for those on the back table. Also this morning, if you weren't already aware, we're having the
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Lord's Supper together. And since this is first time we are doing it like this,
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I wanted to bring up one of our cups and kind of demonstrate how this whole thing works.
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It's an all -in -one deal. We usually take the bread first. There might be a temptation just to go ahead and grab the tab and pull.
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But notice you'll have to look when it's time that there are actually two tabs. The first one is kind of a little thin cellophane.
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If you pull that first, that's where the wafer is actually under that first.
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And then you'll pull the second tab to be able to get to the juice. Okay, so don't want to pull it off and then all of a sudden you're like, where's my cracker?
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It's still there. Okay, you just pulled the wrong tab. Okay, that's how that works.
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Now if you have special dietary needs and need gluten -free crackers, those are at the back right before coming in the auditorium on a little table back there.
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So feel free to grab one of those. Any other announcements that I'm missing this morning? All right, it's good to be together to worship.
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We're going to prepare our hearts and then after that, Jerry will pray for us. Would you stand with me for our call to worship?
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Our passage this morning is found in Psalms chapter 44. We'll be reading verses four and five.
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Read with me together. You are my king, O God, ordain salvation for Jacob.
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Through yours, we push down our foes. Through your name, we tread down those who rise up against us.
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Our first song this morning is on page 51. Guide me, O thou great
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Jehovah. Open now the crystal fountain with the healing stream of flow.
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Let the flower and cloudy pillar lead me on my journey through.
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Strong deliverer, strong deliverer, be thou still my strength and shield.
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Be thou still my strength and shield.
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When I tread the verge of Jordan, bid my anxious fears subside.
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Bear me through the swelling current, lend me safe on Canaan's side.
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Songs of praises, songs of praises,
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I will ever give to thee, I will ever give to thee.
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Our scripture reading this morning is from Deuteronomy chapter 11 verses 1 through 17.
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You shall therefore love the Lord your God and keep his charge, his statutes, his rules, and his commandments always.
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And consider today, since I am not speaking to your children who have not known or seen it, consider the discipline of the
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Lord your God, his greatness, his mighty hand, and his outstretched arm, his signs, and his deeds that he did in Egypt to Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, and to all his land, and what he did to the army of Egypt, to their horses and to their chariots, how he made the water of the
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Red Sea flow over them as they pursued after you, and how the
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Lord has destroyed them to this day, and what he did to you in the wilderness until you came to this place, and what he did to Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, the son of Reuben, how the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them up with their households, their tents, and every living thing that followed them in the midst of Israel.
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For your eyes have seen all the great work of the Lord that he did.
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You shall therefore keep the whole commandment that I command you today, that you may be strong and go in and take possession of the land that you're going over to possess, and that you may live long in the land that the
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Lord swore to your fathers to give them and to their offspring, a land flowing with milk and honey.
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For the land that you're entering to take possession of it is not like the land of Egypt from which you have come, where you sowed your seed and irrigated it like a garden of vegetables.
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But the land that you're going over to possess is a land of hills and valleys, which drinks water by the rain from heaven, a land that the
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Lord your God cares for, the eyes of the Lord your God are always upon it from the beginning of the year to the end of the year.
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And if you will indeed obey my commandments that I command you today to love the
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Lord your God and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul, he will give the rain for your land in its season, the early rain and the latter rain, that you may gather in your grain and your wine and your oil.
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And he will give grass in your fields for your livestock, and you shall eat and be full.
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Take care, lest your heart be deceived, and you turn aside and serve other gods and worship them.
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Then the anger of the Lord will be kindled against you, and he will shut up the heavens so that there will be no rain, and the land will yield no fruit, and you will perish quickly off the good land that the
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Lord is giving you. May the Lord bless the reading of his word.
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Father, I thank you, and I praise you for your goodness and your mercy, how you've so richly blessed your people, and how you've described here that through your servant
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Moses, you led your people to this land that you had promised them, a land flowing with milk and honey, and how you would care for them, watch over them, and send the rain, and bring forth the grain and the wine and the oil.
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What a blessing to know how you care for your people. And today, for us, you have made us great promises to watch over us and to keep us, and by your word you have brought us forth, by your will you have brought us forth to live forever with you, and to keep us, and to guard us, and to watch over us, and to indeed to bring forth the rain of your word, the grain of your word, and the wine and the oil of your word, to feed us, to nourish us, and to cause us to grow after the image of your
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Son, the Lord Jesus. In his name I pray. Amen. It's Independence Weekend.
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I think of a verse that says, if the Son therefore shall set you free, you shall be free indeed.
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And so, there was a fountain that was poured out for us, the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, poured out on the cross, his blood poured out for us, that we might have forgiveness of sins and salvation and eternal life with him, and there's liberty in Christ.
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Let's sing page 196, There is a
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Fountain. We'll sing the first three verses. Joy to see that fountain in his name, and there is a way to wash all my sins away.
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And there may
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I go thou as ye wash all my sins away.
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And there may I go thou as ye wash all my sins away.
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Be safe to sin no more.
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Be safe to sin no more.
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To all the ransomed church of God, be safe to sin no more.
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Be safe to sin no more.
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And exchange it someday for a brook, so I'll cherish thee, old rugged cross.
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Till my trophies at last
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I lay down, I will claim to the old rugged cross.
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And exchange it someday for a cross.
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I invite you to open your Bibles and turn with me to Jeremiah 46. Jeremiah 46, we'll be reading verses 27 and 28 in a moment.
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Let's pray together. Father, I thank you for gathering us in this place today as we gather around the table of our
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Lord Jesus Christ, though it's been some months since we've been able to do so. I pray in this special time that you would remind us of the unity that we have in Christ and our undying hope in his resurrected and reigning person.
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We thank you that you sent your son so that his body would be broken and to shed blood for us.
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He is our second Adam and as your lamb would suffer in our place, satisfying your justice, forgiving us of our sins and cleansing us from all our unrighteousness.
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And bringing us into the new life that he has. So we give you the praise as we say now, we will say forever.
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Salvation belongs to you and to the lamb who is on the throne. It's in Christ's name that we pray.
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Amen. Jeremiah 46 and 47 kick off a section in Jeremiah that is basically sovereign fire and international brimstone as the nations surrounding
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Judah, the nations Babylon will conquer and Babylon itself will come to grips with the judgment of God upon them.
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This was always the direction of the book. Jeremiah chapter 1 verses 9 and 10, we hear
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God instruct Jeremiah on his theme, his topic, what he will be preaching about in the coming decades.
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Then the Lord stretched out his hand and touched my mouth and the Lord said to me, behold, I have put my words in your mouth.
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See, I have appointed you this day over the nations and over the kingdoms to pluck up and to break down, to destroy and to overthrow, to build and to plant.
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And now we come to that section in Jeremiah where the nations in detail will be told how
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God will break them down, destroy and overthrow. That's the beginning of Jeremiah.
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And at the center of Jeremiah in chapter 25, we have this all -important message that Jeremiah gives, one in which we learn that Babylon is the
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Lord's instrument. Nebuchadnezzar is the Lord's servant and that all the nations would drink of the cup of God's wrath.
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They would stagger and go mad under the fury of Babylon. And at the last,
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Babylon as well would perish under the judgment of God. Chapter 45 of Jeremiah, we looked at last week.
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Baruch, the scribe of Jeremiah, having written that message in chapter 25, in chapter 45 is called to proclaim it to the people, is now in chapter 45 called to, rather than lament his disappointments, he is to trust in God's promises.
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So if we were to read Jeremiah chapter 25 and then go straight to chapter 45, we would not lose any time at all in history.
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Baruch writes the message down in chapter 25. He's going to have to read it in the temple in the coming months.
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But he writes that down and begins to say, woe is me. And then
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God gives a message to him in chapter 45. And then after thinking about the summary of how the nations will be judged in chapter 25, chapters 46 through 51 tell us in detail how they will be judged.
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So that's the way that these chapters are related. And since we have a lot of verses to look at this morning,
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I'm going to read verses 27 and 28 for us as God addresses his people and gives them comfort.
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So he gives them comfort. In the midst of all this sovereign fire and international brimstone, this is what
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God says to his people. Verse 27. But as for you,
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O Jacob, my servant, do not fear, nor be dismayed,
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O Israel. For see, I am going to save you from afar and your descendants from the land of their captivity.
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And Jacob will return and be undisturbed and secure with no one making him tremble.
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O Jacob, my servant, do not fear, declares the Lord, for I am with you.
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For I will make a full end of all the nations where I have driven you. Yet I will not make a full end of you.
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But I will correct you properly and by no means leave you unpunished.
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As we gather to the Lord's table this morning, we should be reminded of the final gathering of the innumerable saints.
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For there as we surround God and the Lamb on the throne and the
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Holy Spirit flowing from the throne as the river of the water of life, we will give
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God all of the glory for our salvation. For we are all purchased by the blood of the
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Lamb. And although we are transferred from every tribe, tongue, people, and nation, the only name we will name there is the only name which we bring here to this table.
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Christ. It is the only name that is written upon our foreheads.
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Christ. As we come to this table, we should bring no other name.
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We have no compound prefix identifier which should qualify the name
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Christ. If we would not enthrone any other name at the right hand of the
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Father, we should bring no other name to this table. So I don't come to this table as a white, male, cisgendered, straight
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Christian. I come as a Christian. No other name.
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Christ alone. And all who desire to come to Christ must first what according to Christ?
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Fully affirm themselves? Jesus says to you, deny yourself.
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Deny yourself. Take up your cross and follow me. Well, this is going to be connected.
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Our need to come to the table in the name of Christ alone, casting off all other names and this message to the nations.
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Chapter 46 and verse 1 begins this way, that which came as the word of the Lord to Jeremiah, the prophet concerning the nations.
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And the good news, of course, is that all from whatever nation, all who come to Christ's table in the name of Christ alone will not be dismayed.
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It will never be dismayed. Dismayed. And this is important for us to remember as we come through Jeremiah chapters 46 through 51, as we see all these different nations judged and destroyed.
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Why are these nations brought down one after the other? They are brought down in hope of God saving the world.
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All without distinction. God is glorified in salvation through judgment.
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And the notes that we find throughout these chapters remind us of the wider message of scripture, that the repeated demise of nations only serves to highlight the unfailing dominion of the son of man.
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Collapsing cultures and failed states underscore the relentless gospel of the kingdom.
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The nations rise and fall. And they are not a savior for anyone.
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But our savior has died and he has risen again to die no more.
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As the savior of all kinds of people. Not just certain kinds of people.
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That's good news. Well, in this message, in chapter 46, what is
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God up to? Well, he's provoking the proud, mostly. He's provoking the proud. Chapter 46 verses 2 through 26.
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To understand the historical context, it's important to remember that Babylon is on the rise, just as God had pronounced.
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Pharaoh Necho from Egypt is the same guy who killed good King Josiah and had enthroned the bad
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King Jehoiakim. Pharaoh Necho has marched north with his armies and with his mercenary allies.
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And he's going to battle at Carchemish, where his Assyrian allies are under threat from the
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Babylonians. And so the Egyptians go to the rescue of the Assyrians and they will be fighting the
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Babylonians. And undoubtedly, Judah being the tributary of Pharaoh Necho had done their part in funding this military excursion.
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And they were well aware of the military power of Pharaoh Necho as he marches north.
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And while most of Judah and Jerusalem held their collective breath, what will happen to our overlord now as he goes to battle?
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God sends word to Egypt through his servant Jeremiah. So the armies of Egypt are to the north at Carchemish.
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They're about to do battle with the Assyrians. And God sends word to the home crowd down in Egypt, a word about how things go.
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So this is the address, chapter 46, verse 2, to Egypt concerning the army of Pharaoh Necho, King of Egypt, which was by the
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Euphrates River at Carchemish, which Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylon, defeated in the fourth year of Jehoiakim, the son of Josiah, King of Judah.
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This is where God begins to taunt Egypt. Think of it, the king of Egypt, his whole army, his mercenary allies from Lydia and Put and Ethiopia, they are 600 miles north of Memphis, the one in Egypt, not the one in Tennessee.
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600 miles north of Memphis, they are engaging the Chaldeans. And then
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God sends word down to Egypt to let them know how it goes. And it's going bad, very bad.
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And God is not just informing the Egyptians, he's also taunting them. He is bringing this proud nation low in their moment of demise.
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Why does the Lord laugh and hold in derision? Because the nations rage against his rule, against his anointed.
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So we're going to walk through these vivid descriptions and these barbs from the Lord. Verses 3 and 4, we have the setting of strength.
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Line up the shield and buckler and draw near for the battle. Harness the horses and mount the steeds and take your stand with helmets on.
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Polish the spears, put on the scale armor. So God takes on the position of the battlefield general.
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You can just hear the barking out of the orders and the echo of crisp commands across the encampment on the morning of battle.
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Why is God commanding Pharaoh Necho's army? He's getting them ready for battle.
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He's putting them into position. He's telling them to get ready to go fight and march so that they will be slaughtered.
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He's urging them on to their defeat while commanding them as if to victory.
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And that is by definition taunting. So the stumbling surprise in verses 5 and 6.
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Why have I seen it? They are terrified. They are drawing back and their mighty men are defeated and have taken refuge in flight without facing back.
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Terror is on every side, declares the Lord. Let not the swift man flee nor the mighty man escape.
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In the north beside the river Euphrates, they have stumbled and fallen. This expression, why have
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I seen it, in the Hebrew, it means how can this possibly be? It's that kind of expression.
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The prophet of God is expressing the taunting amazement of God who is the saboteur general. What in the world?
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Now how could this have happened? My, oh my, this is a surprise.
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This big strong army with all their armor and their weapons and their horses and all their men, how could they possibly have failed?
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Look, they retreat. They turn around and run without looking back. And the same voice which commanded them that morning to get into battle array is now screaming in each and every one of their ears, run, flee for your lives.
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They're everywhere you're done for. So just so we're clear, Jeremiah sends the word of the
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Lord down to Egypt to let them know just who took command of their army and led them into a defeat and then thoroughly routed them.
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It was the Lord God of Israel. It was the Lord God of Israel who did it.
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And just in case you think my reading of these verses to be a little far -fetched, verses seven through 10 confirm it. The sovereign slaughter.
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Who is this that rises like the Nile, like the rivers whose waters surge about? Egypt rises like the
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Nile, even like the rivers whose waters surge about. And he has said, I will rise and cover that land.
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I will surely destroy the city and its inhabitants. Go up, you horses, and drive madly, you chariots.
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The mighty men may march forward. Ethiopia and put that handle and the shield.
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And the Lydians that handle and bend the bow. For that day belongs to the
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Lord God of hosts. A day of vengeance so as to avenge himself on his foes.
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And the sword will devour and be satiated and drink its fill of their blood.
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For there will be a slaughter for the Lord God of hosts in the land of the north by the river
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Euphrates. So Egypt and her mercenary allies are commanded into battle on the day which belongs to who?
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It is the day that does not belong to Nebuchadnezzar. The day doesn't belong to the Babylonians. The day belongs to Adonai Yahweh Sabaoth, the
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Lord God of hosts. And it says here that God avenges himself upon Egypt.
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The slaughter of the soldiers is for the Lord God of hosts. And God sends word to Egypt to let them know how he has taken vengeance upon them.
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He has taken vengeance upon them. He was not Nebuchadnezzar's better army. It was not Nebuchadnezzar's better strategy or tactics.
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It was the Lord God of hosts. And the taunt continues about their shame.
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Verses 11 and 12. God instructs Egypt, Go up to Gilead and obtain
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Balm, O virgin daughter of Egypt. In vain you have multiplied remedies.
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There is no healing for you. The nations have heard of your shame and the earth is full of your cry of distress.
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For one warrior has stumbled over another and both of them have fallen down together. Egypt had been up until this point conquering and swaggering, dominating and boasting.
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But now they are like a blubbering bully who finally got his face rearranged.
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God says to Egypt, Well, I can tell you're hurting. We've got some nice, real nice Balm up here in Gilead.
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So come on, little girl. Can't you find anything to fix yourself up? He actually calls him a little girl.
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O virgin daughter of Egypt. He says, you thought you're a big stuff. But listen here, little girl.
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Everybody has heard how hard you fell at Carchemish. You've been shamed in front of all the nations.
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Nobody's going to pay tribute to you anymore. Nobody's going to be afraid of you anymore. Nobody will be your ally anymore.
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You're done. And that's what you call provoking the proud. That's what you call a taunt.
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And now he passes a sentence of judgment upon them. Verses 13 through 26.
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The first few verses are the play by play of how Egypt gets trounced by the Babylonians with the proper analysis.
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And now comes a sentence of judgment upon the nations. And God had already declared in chapter 25 that any nation that would oppose
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Babylon, that God himself would take out with the famine, with disease and with the sword. He had promised that already.
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And so now he pronounces the judgment upon Egypt. The declaration of doom in verses 13 and 14.
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This is the message which the Lord spoke to Jeremiah, the prophet, about the coming of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, to smite the land of Egypt.
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Declare in Egypt and proclaim in Migdal. Proclaim also in Memphis and Tifani. Say, take your stand and get yourself ready for the sword has devoured those around you.
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Those messages for the major cities in Egypt. And they need to know that they don't have any more allies.
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Their army is destroyed. Babylon's going to come get them at some point. And basically, they're going to be down to whatever militia they can raise out of their major population centers.
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So it's a bad deal. Declaration of doom. Why? Are they just down to a few people left?
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Because the defenders have dispersed. Verses 15 through 17. Why have your mighty ones become prostrate?
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They do not stand because the Lord has thrust them down. They have repeatedly stumbled. Indeed, they have fallen one against another.
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Then they said, get up and let us go back to our own people and to our native land, away from the sword of the oppressor.
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They cried there, Pharaoh, king of Egypt, is but a big noise. He has let the appointed time pass by.
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So all the alliances fall apart. And those surviving the defeat up north who came from Lydia, Put, and Ethiopia, they all agree.
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Niko's a bag of hot air. We're going home. He said that he would have this situation in hand by a certain time.
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He hasn't. We're done. We're going home. We're going to leave him to the severe mercies of Nebuchadnezzar.
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We're going home. Why did these promising military allies fail? It says the
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Lord has thrust them down. And we read that the account, it was like he tripped them as they fled, so that they ran into each other and fell down.
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It was embarrassing. It was demoralizing. And the destroyers will descend upon them from the north.
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Verses 18 to 24. As I live, declares the king, whose name is the Lord of hosts.
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Remember, again, this isn't Nebuchadnezzar. This is the king who is the Lord of hosts.
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Surely one shall come who looms up like Tabor among the mountains, or like Carmel by the sea.
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A really big mountain. Make your baggage ready for exile, O daughter dwelling in Egypt, for Memphis will become a desolation.
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It will even be burned down and bereft of inhabitants. Egypt is a pretty heifer, but a horsefly is coming from the north.
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It is coming. Also, her mercenaries in her midst are like fattened calves, for even they, too, have turned back and have fled away together.
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They do not stand their ground, for the day of their calamity has come upon them, the time of their punishment. Its sound moves along like a serpent, for they move on like an army and come to her as woodcutters with axes.
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They have cut down her forest, declares the Lord. Surely it will no more be found, even though they are now more numerous than locusts and are without number.
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The daughter of Egypt has been put to shame, given over to the power of the people of the north."
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Meaning the Babylonians, the Chaldeans. So what God is saying here is, I'm going to bring a most fitting judgment against you, is what he's saying.
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Notice the imagery that God uses to show the correlation. He says to Egypt, I'm going to bring a big mountain, and I'm going to take out
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Memphis. Well, what's at Memphis? The pyramids. The pyramids are at Memphis.
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But God says, I'm going to bring a big, real mountain to come down and to crush you. He says, you're like a heifer and fattened calves.
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I'm going to bring a swarm of horseflies and snakes to take you out.
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You're like a forest of trees, but I have an army of woodcutters that are as numerous as locusts, and they're going to come and cut you all down.
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This is the way God is affirming that Egypt will fall to Babylon, and Babylon is going to descend upon them and destroy them.
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And this is the determination that the Lord has made. Verses 25 and 26. The Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, says,
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Behold, I am going to punish Amon of Thebes and Pharaoh in Egypt, along with her gods and her kings, even
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Pharaoh and those who trust in him. Those who trust in him. I shall give them over to the power of those who are seeking their lives, even into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, and into the hand of his officers.
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Afterward, however, it will be inhabited as in the days of old, declares the
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Lord. Now, let me think a little bit about why this information is so important, as Jeremiah is certainly sending this word to Egypt, but it's also a word, is it not, for the people of God there in Jerusalem.
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What are they being told? Well, you see, 18 years later, after the fourth year of Jehoiakim, 18 years later, we find ourselves in 586
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BC. Jerusalem has been destroyed. There's a small little remnant that has been left at Mitzpah.
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Assassins have come and killed the appointee, Gedaliah, who was the governor, and killed his
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Babylonian nobles who were there to keep an eye on things. And even though the assassin was chased away and the group of people came back into the land, they think now they've got to flee to Egypt, because they're afraid of what the king of Babylon might do to them.
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They're afraid of what Babylon might do to them, so they're going to run away to Egypt. But what has
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God said? 18 years prior, what did God say about Egypt?
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Their army that went up north under Pharaonica was destroyed, and he said,
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Nebuchadnezzar and Babylon are coming for you, and when they get there, it's going to be an absolute destruction.
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And he says very clearly, he says that God is going to punish
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Amon of Thebes and Pharaoh and Egypt, along with her gods and her kings, even Pharaoh, listen, and those who trust in him.
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Those who trust in him. The remnant at Mitzpah gave up on trusting in the
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Lord, staying in the land, because they were afraid of the king of Babylon, and they decided they would do much better in Egypt under Pharaoh's watch.
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After all, Pharaoh was the only one who had the guts to stand up to Nebuchadnezzar in the first place. That'll be our best bet. God had declared 18 years earlier, they're going to be destroyed by the king of Babylon.
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God had determined to judge Egypt, and his people needed to trust him and stay out of harm's way.
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This teaches us anything. It teaches us that we should pay attention to God's word, lest we flee from trusting
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God into forms of paganism he has promised to destroy. No matter what the cultural scene looks like, we don't have to flee from trusting in the
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Lord and trusting in his word into forms of paganism that God has promised to destroy.
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And I like this note of mercy at the end where God says, afterwards, after the destruction of Egypt, however, it will be inhabited as in the days of old.
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Saying it's not the end of the nation of Egypt. Well, why not?
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Well, there's this prophecy in Isaiah 19 that you can read, and that'll be your homework,
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Isaiah 19. And read about how God has plans for redemption in the new covenant to make all sorts of people his people, whether they be
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Egyptians or Jews or even Assyrians. He will call them all his people.
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So there's a note of mercy there at the end. As we think about God taunting
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Egypt and pronouncing this destruction, what are we learning? That the proud must be humble.
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That God resists the proud and that he taunts them and that he destroys them, but he gives grace to the humble.
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And it is the humble who have denied themselves who are welcomed at Christ's table. It is these who rejoice in Christ's sacrifice for them.
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As we come to the table today, as we hear God taunting Egypt and bringing them low, should we not also repent of our pride?
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And we should name it, that we should confess it, that we should repent of it. And in fact, if God gives us the grace to properly assess all those things that make us proud, that we would be able to taunt them and recognize the folly for what it is.
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We should dismay that which would dismay us, that which would keep us from rejoicing in the broken body and the shed blood of Jesus Christ.
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And truly, it is only the power of a sovereign God who can deliver us from idols, who can break our pride, who can grant us new hearts.
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It is only the power of a sovereign God who can give us a garland instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, the mantle of praise instead of a spirit of fainting.
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And if the Lord plants us for his glory, then we will be called oaks of righteousness.
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And that is the approach we should have as we come to the Lord's table, to worship
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God in fear and to confess, if we're at Christ's table, we are there by his gracious freedom, period.
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And now a word of comfort for God's people, verses 27 and 28.
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But as for you, O Jacob, my servant, do not fear, nor be dismayed,
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O Israel. For see, I am going to save you from afar and your descendants from the land of their captivity, and Jacob will return and be undisturbed and secure with no one making him tremble.
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O Jacob, my servant, do not fear, declares the Lord, for I am with you, for I will make a full end of all the nations where I have driven you, yet I will not make a full end of you, but I will correct you properly and by no means leave you unpunished.
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Well, there's a comfort already in the text when we recognize that in the midst of international or sovereign fire and international brimstone,
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God is the one who is in control of it all. God is the one who is bringing judgment. He's doing so in his own good way in his good time.
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So there's a comfort there that we serve a sovereign God and things are not out of control as far as God is concerned.
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But there are comforts as we come to the table and they are covenant comforts.
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Twice God tells his people not to fear. He commands them not to be dismayed. And world upheaval tends to scare.
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World upheaval tends to dismay. But God has comfort for those whom he has chosen.
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And these comforts are covenant comforts. And we see that he reminds his people that he loves them as his people and he will bring them into his place and he will secure their blessings under his rule.
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Notice the way he names them. They are Jacob and Israel, reminding them of how long he has been faithful to them.
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Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, the historical promises and the faithfulness of God to them.
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He calls them my servants. He's communicating they have a special purpose.
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They have a special role. He shows that they are his people. He is concerned not only for them but also for their descendants.
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He speaks of their descendants. He says, I'm not going to bring you to a full end even though I am going to correct you.
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And we see that he corrects them as a father would correct his son. In all these things,
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God is affirming you are my people and I love you. And are not all these things fulfilled in our
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Savior Jesus Christ? For isn't he the seed of Abraham? Isn't he the servant with whom
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God is pleased? We see that when God says I will save you from afar and that I am with you, he's saying
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I am near you. How is God near us except through his son
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Jesus Christ? God with us. Emmanuel. The comfort for God's people prior to the coming of Christ, anticipating the coming of Christ, is our comfort in the fulfillment of these matters as we reflect upon the person and work of Christ.
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We are God's people. We may relish that. We may have comfort in that as we come to the table.
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That because of Christ and who he is, that we are God's people. But not only that we are his people, but he has a place for us.
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Look here. He says to his people that he will separate them from captivity.
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He will secure them from calamity. He says, foresee I'm going to save you from afar and your descendants from the land of their captivity.
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I'm going to end your exile. I'm going to end your slavery. I'm going to bring you back. When I bring you back, he says,
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Jacob will be undisturbed and secure with no one making him tremble.
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And all the other nations we've made a full end of, they will not be made a full end of.
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Well, why would he preserve them in that way? Why would he keep them safe even though the
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Babylonians fell into ruin? Even though the Medes and Persians fell into ruin.
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These mighty nations. Yet he would preserve them. He would preserve Judah. He would bring them back to the land.
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Why? Because he had made promises to them. He made promises to them that in that land, he would make with them a new covenant.
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And that new covenant would come through Christ who was born in Bethlehem.
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And ministered from his hometown on down. From Nazareth, Caesarea, and Galilee.
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The new covenant that was forged in Jerusalem. As Christ died upon the cross and rose from the grave.
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And so there was a place that God said he would make secure. And there was always an anticipation of Christ who would come.
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And Christ offers himself to us as our place with God. He says that he is the temple.
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He says that there is therefore now no condemnation for those who are located in Christ Jesus.
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There is none who can make us disturbed. There is none who can threaten our security.
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There is none who can make us tremble. For we are in Christ. And as the comfort under God's rule, twice
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God commands his people. He instructs them. He says, do not fear.
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How often did Jesus say that to his own disciples? How often are we instructed in this way?
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Do not fear. Jesus says in Luke 12, 32, do not be afraid, little flock.
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For your father has chosen gladly to give you the kingdom. And he says there is righteous correction under God's rule.
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He says, I will correct you properly and by no means leave you unpunished.
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Correction and punishment. What a blessing to be under the rule of God. If God hates you, he just lets you go,
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Esau. If God loves you, he corrects you, Jacob.
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If he hates you, he just lets you go. But if he loves you, he corrects you.
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He punishes you. He brings you back into his way. Proverbs 3, 11 through 12.
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My son, do not reject the discipline of the Lord or loathe his reproof. For whom the Lord loves, he reproves.
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Even as a father corrects the son in whom he delights. Why do we have this comfort as we come to Christ's table?
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Because Christ is King of kings and Lord of lords. He is the head of the church. And he is the head of every man.
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And he is the ruler of the kings of the earth. And so we recognize that we have this comfort as God's people that we come under God's rule.
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All at Christ's table will never be dismayed. All the comforts that are promised here in the old covenant are ours in Christ in the new covenant.
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And then chapter 47, a word about Philistia. That which came is the word of the
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Lord to Jeremiah, the prophet concerning the Philistines before Pharaoh conquered Gaza. Thus says the
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Lord, Behold, waters are going to rise from the north and become an overflowing torrent and overflow the land and all its fullness, the city and those who live in it.
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And the men will cry out and every inhabitant of the land will wail because of the noise of the galloping hooves of his stallions, the tumult of his chariots and the rumbling of his wheels.
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The fathers have not turned back for their children because of the limpness of their hands.
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On account of the day that is coming to destroy all the Philistines, to cut off from Tyre and Sidon every ally that is left, for the
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Lord is going to destroy the Philistines, the remnant of the coastland of Kaphtor. Baldness has come upon Gaza, Ashkelon has been ruined, a remnant of their valley.
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How long will you gash yourself? Ah, sword of the Lord, how long will you not be quiet?
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Withdraw into your sheath, be at rest and stay still. How can it be quiet when the
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Lord has given it an order against Ashkelon and against the seacoast? There he has assigned it.
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To summarize what happens in chapter 47, we learn first of all that the Nile overflowed the
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Philistines and then the Euphrates overflowed the Philistines. First Pharaoh conquered it, then
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Nebuchadnezzar conquered it, and thus they were no more. The little entreaty at the end, oh, sword of the
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Lord, will you keep on killing there in Ashkelon? Yes, yes is the answer.
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They just got taken out by the Egyptians. Are they going to be wasted again by the Babylonians? Yes, they are.
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And we hear the sights and the sounds of destruction throughout all of their land.
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So what happens to the Philistines? They are totally destroyed as a nation. Egypt has a little bit of remnant left.
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Egypt will get restarted again. Judah has a very deep comfort awaiting them.
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The Philistines, they've got nothing. They're totally wiped out.
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You know, when you think about that, when you think about that Egypt and Babylon and Judah and Philistia, they're all different nations.
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They were all treated differently from each other. They're all different nations. They were all treated differently from each other by the same righteous, gracious, long -suffering, thrice holy
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God. Why is there a glimmer of hope for Egypt? Why is there deep comfort for Judah? Why 70 years of prominence for Babylon but not for Egypt?
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Why is Philistia completely wiped out without any hope at all? Trying to find the equitable reason for God's judgment will fail you.
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Will fail you. Do you think you can enter into the mind of God and find out the details why some nations are treated one way and other nations are treated differently?
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God is sovereign. God is free. His grace unravels every thread in the law -enslaving tapestry of equity.
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It is not fair. It is not evenly distributed.
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It is not equitable. It is grace.
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It is grace. Praise be to God. It's interesting enough that in Psalm 87 that we find that there were a few
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Philistine individuals who survived because some of them come to faith in Christ and rejoice in the new covenant and the kingdom of the
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Lord, even though the nation was totally wiped out.
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There's still a glimmer of hope even then. The truth is you may be a Philistine from Gath.
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You may be a Philistine from Gath, but if you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, you will be saved.
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He saved Saul of Tarsus. He can save you. Romans 10, 11 -13 says,
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For the scripture says, Whoever believes in him, whoever believes in him will not be disappointed. There is no distinction between Jew and Greek.
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It can be from whatever nation there is. There is no distinction between Jew and Greek. For the same
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Lord is Lord of all, abounding in riches. For all who call on him, for whoever will call upon the name of the
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Lord, will be saved. This is a table of grace. This is the table of grace. And it is a table of glory.
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We learned in this portion of Jeremiah that all of the kingdoms of men, every single last one of them, all of the kingdoms of men rise and fall.
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But the comfort that Judah has in the return to the land to be blessed by the new covenant should really get us to thinking the kingdom of Christ is established by his condescension into suffering and death and his exaltation through his resurrection and ascension.
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He descends and then ascends. All the kingdoms of men rise and fall.
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But the kingdom of Christ fell with him into death and rose with him into life. Christ's kingdom in this sense fell and rises forever.
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Death no longer has dominion over Christ. And Christ in his triumph and in his kingdom will defeat all of his foes.
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So this is a table not only of grace, but it is a table of glory. And we are to remember the glory of our all -victorious king as we come to his table and worship him.
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Let me pray for us. We'll sing a hymn, and then we'll have our meal. Father, I thank you for the time we've had in your word.
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You show us the scope of things, how you're in charge, and how things will go in history, but you are the one who is in charge.
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So we give you the glory. We give you the praise. And I pray that you would help us to come to this table today humbled as we ought to be humbled, naming only the name of Christ, for any other name is not worthy.
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We pray these things for his sake. Amen. Our song of communion is on page 178.
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O sacred head now wounded.
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Look on me, assist me with thy grace.
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What language shall I borrow to make thee dearest to me?
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Lord, I... Luke 22, we hear
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Luke's account of the supper that Christ had with his disciples. And in verse 19, he speaks of the bread.
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And I think it would be a very poor meal by our standards, what they shared together that night.
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But the meal to which he was referring in terms of his own person and work, his own body and blood, for their sake, there's no richer meal that we could possibly ever enjoy.
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And I'm glad that after many months and not being able to celebrate this together, we have this opportunity now.
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Luke 22 in verse 19. I'm going to read this for us. And then I'm going to have
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Brother Ken pray for us. And then we'll eat the bread together in remembrance of our Lord Jesus Christ.
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And when he had taken some bread and given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them saying, this is my body, which is given for you.
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Do this in remembrance of me. Brother Ken. Christ was broken for us.
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And in the same way, he took the cup after they had eaten saying, this cup which is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood.
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This cup which is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood. Dwight, would you pray for us?
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And to remember that with his disciple on the night that he was betrayed, he did lift up this cup and say to them, this is my blood poured out for you.
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So we thank you and praise you for your son, the Lord Jesus. The blood that was shed for us.
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And as we partake of it together this morning, indeed, we might remember that it was indeed shed for us.
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Out of your great love. Christ shed his blood for us.
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We were told in Matthew that after they ate the bread and drank the cup, they sing a hymn before they left.
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So let's do that now. Would you stand with me for our song of benediction?
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We're singing the second verse of forever Jesus. My song of joy shall be forever
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Jesus, who bore the suffering, who made a way.
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His life a gift, his death a precious ransom, that wipes the sinners guilt away.
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And through the days
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I will sing my praise to the king forever
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Jesus. Through the storms we'll reach, he is strong to save, he's the king forever
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Jesus. Through the skies
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I will sing my praise to the king forever
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Jesus. All my sorrows pass,
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I am whole at last with my king forever
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Jesus. May the love of the father and the grace of the son and the fellowship of the