Sunday Morning Worship Service November 8, 2020

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Sunday Morning Worship Service from Faith Baptist Church

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Well, good morning to see you on this Lord's Day. Thank the Lord for these beautiful days He's given us and given us a bit of a reprieve.
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I think from what we would normally expect in November And the nice weather it kind of it kind of helps make other things not seem so bad
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You know like politics and all of those things. Well, anyway, we're glad we can gather together and worship together this morning a few things from your bulletin just let me point them out to you on the
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Well, of course the point about no service this evening. We got this regional COVID Spike and so we're trying to be careful and responsible about that and that note on the top side of the right page
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Gives some more Information about that just how to be how to be careful While we're here.
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You've done a good job today of avoiding the The blocked pews and so forth and that's that's great.
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That's wonderful. And then just a reminder when we leave the service today Be careful about you know, blocking aisles so people can get through and so on and so forth
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The midweek service and you notice it says it's tentative everything's tentative when we announce things these days, but we will plan this week to have the
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Teen young adult group meet as well as the Children's Club And the
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Bible study at 7 o 'clock here in the auditorium you feel comfortable with that you're welcome to to attend
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For those things next Sunday a couple things on the on the on the agenda one after the morning service
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We will have our quarterly business meeting was supposed to happen the end of October We'll have that after the morning service next
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Sunday and then in the evening at 6 o 'clock it's just a drop -in reception for Nathan and Carissa Heman so come as you will between say 6 and 7 be some light refreshments an opportunity to to greet and congratulate the honeymooners
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And and it is within a year So it is still officially the honeymoon period right and all of you married couples know that that lasts at least four or five years beyond that Sometimes 40 years.
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I mean Right, yes, okay, my wife my wife said yes, that's right.
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Okay. So anyway come next Sunday evening We were not able to do that earlier in in the year because of the
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COVID and so forth And then let me say a word about the missionary offering you see that there as well we have
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Designated the last several years the Sunday school offering would be used as a Christmas gift funds for our missionaries
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Well, we've missed so much Sunday school and those therefore those offerings this year that hardly any
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Funds have come in for that purpose. So what we're going to do is through this month receive
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Christmas gift offerings for our missionaries Other ways so two options for giving to that one of them on the table in the foyer by that offering box
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There's a little basket with some envelopes. You can use that envelope and that Envelope sends the message that it's for the missionary offering
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Christmas gift. The other option is you can give online and if you're in the habit of doing that already you can just go to the online giving portal and and there's now a
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An option for I think it's designated Christmas missions So you choose that option you choose your amount that you want to give and it will automatically go to that to that offering
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So we want to be a blessing to our missionaries as we have every year at Christmastime and Hope that you'll have the opportunity and to give in that way
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We've gathered together to worship the Lord in Psalm 94 or Psalm 95 verse 6
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Encourages us to that it says Oh come let us worship and bow down Let us kneel before the
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Lord our maker will not do that. Literally that is bowing down But we will do that Figuratively will bend the knee in our hearts to the
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Lord as we stand together and sing Jim's going to come and lead us in our opening hymn hymn number six.
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I sing the mighty power of God Jim Thank you pastor.
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And again, it's number six and let's all stand together, please And sing all three verses.
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I sing the mighty power of God Let Us pray our father again we
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We thank you for your grace and your mercy this past week and father.
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We thank you for the Word of God What gives us hope? peace
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Joy, no matter what's going on in our world father may we
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Sing these praises unto your name Give you the glory that you're due father
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Help us to be open and attentive to the message that pastor brings today
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May the Spirit of God work in our hearts in our lives We pray these things in Jesus name
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Amen, you may be seated Back of the bulletin is our psalm reading for today psalm 97 notice the psalm begins with a startling assertion
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That calls for a humble response So follow along and your bulletin as I read this 12 verses of the 97th
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Psalm The Lord reigneth Let the earth rejoice what the multitude of Isles be glad thereof
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Clouds and darkness around about him righteousness and judgment are the habitation of his throne a
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Fire go but goeth before him and burneth up his enemies round about His lightnings and lightened the world the earth saw and trembled
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The hills melted like wax at the presence of the Lord at the presence of the
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Lord of the whole earth The heavens declare his righteousness and all the people see his glory
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Confounded be all they that serve graven images that boast themselves of idols Worship him all ye gods
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Zion heard and was glad and the daughters of Judah rejoiced because of thy judgments.
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Oh Lord For thou Lord art high above all the earth Thou art exalted far above all gods
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Ye that love the Lord hate evil. He preserveth the souls of his saints.
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He delivereth them out of the hand of the wicked Light is sown for the righteousness and for the righteous and gladness for the upright in heart
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Rejoice in the Lord ye righteous and give thanks at the remembrance of his holiness
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The Lord had his blessing to the reading of this psalm together today And let's lift our voices again in song to our
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Lord who is the king Jim Next hymn is number one in your hymnals number one
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Rejoice the key. The Lord is King rejoice. The Lord is King sing all four verses together Rejoice one of the things that we don't do as often as we should is express gratitude to those who serve in some faithful and consistent ways and do so at great personal sacrifice and Every year about this time we we take a moment to just express our thanks as a congregation to the
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McCann's for Their faithful labor outside on the yard all all spring and summer and fall coming every week to cut the grass that's a big yard out there, you know big lawn and takes a few of them to do it
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Lynn Lynn comes and rides the riding moor and Mitchell comes and rides the the zero turn and takes care of that Dan comes later and and does the the weed whacking and the trimming and they do that every week all through the the summer and It's it's kind of interesting to see the the development they when they first come they're all bundled up in coats and gloves and then you know before long it's hot and Sweating and all the rest that out there and then before the season is over they're back in the coats and gloves and so forth and what great sacrifice and they do it they do it without Without pay without asking for anything.
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They just do it out of service to the Lord and I'm grateful for that that kind of faithful Committed dedicated labor.
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We do give them a love gift at at the season of the year well, we don't have that ready to do so today, but but we will be giving them that and So Dan and Lynn and Mitchell, thank you so much for your faithfulness
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Every week in doing that as we pray together today We want to remember the
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Williquettes our missionaries of the week Scott and Scott Williquette in that Pastoral enrichment program ministry going to third world countries
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Pretty much on hold right now because of kovat but want to pray for him also leads the school of church planters
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Which is designed to bring men together to train them how to How to plant churches.
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I also want to pray for the Shedders and thank the Lord for their For how he has blessed them
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Larry and Emily, of course, you know came home from the field and bullet of Bolivia earlier this year
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We continued our support of them through October Which is actually a little longer a month longer than they asked just because we knew they weren't quite settled yet But I got word from them this week.
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They are settled. They're doing well. Larry has a decent job They've got a home and they've joined a church.
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So so they're doing well, and we thank the Lord for that Rejoice in his in his blessing upon the
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Shedders We also of course want to pray for the election crisis and just the
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Continued strife in our nation over all of that. If there's anything that this election showed us is just how utterly split our nation is along ideological lines and not just political
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Democrat Republican lines Then we also want to pray for our shut -ins
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Our shut -ins Jeanne Ludwig and Sue Cherry Dean Kinnaman and one
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I haven't mentioned. He's not technically a shut -in normally, but Jed Hunsberger he normally comes but he lives in one of those homes where They're closed.
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They're locked down. He's not allowed to get out not able to go anywhere. And so he's pretty much
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Pretty much isolated there. So I want to pray for these folks that God would just give them grace
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During these times of isolation and loneliness Let's look to the Lord in prayer.
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Shall we and so our Father and our God we do rejoice that you are the king and Truly Lord when we look at our world it sometimes doesn't seem like anything rules except chaos and evil and Wicked people and We can easily lose heart.
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We can easily lose our way and we can easily lose sight of Who you are and what we know is true beyond what our eyes can see
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We thank you father for your revealed word Which teaches us these truths that our eyes could not take in.
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I pray that our heart would take in That which our eyes cannot see we thank you father that you are our gracious and Merciful Heavenly Father.
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We thank you for the abundance of your steadfast love That you are faithful to your people.
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You're faithful to your covenant We thank you father that You are a
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God who forgives iniquity We thank you that you cast our sins as far away from you as the
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East is from the West And there's not a person in this room who would be able to look back over this past week and not
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Confess how desperately we need your forgiveness We are a needy people and we thank you that you meet the needs of your needy people
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We thank you for the work of Christ our Savior on the cross of Calvary For his blood that cleanses from all iniquity
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And we thank you that he is our advocate. We thank you that he is our intercessor
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But even now he is interceding for his people He ever lives to make intercession for us and we are so grateful for that intercessory work of our
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Savior We praise you today father for the work of the Holy Spirit Who dwells within your people who meets with the gathered people and even as we pray right now together he makes intercession for us he groans with the
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Perfection of our prayers and we thank you for that work of the Spirit We thank you for how he moves us to pray and brings us to our knees and brings us to the place of expressing the needs of our heart
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And so father we pray today for our nation. We pray for the the crisis.
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It's of leadership father, our hearts are heavy and are burdened by the division of this land and it is truly an ideological
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Philosophical division, but it's also a moral division there are those who would continue to lead our country into paths of unrighteousness and Father how we need to be delivered from that we pray that this crisis over the election would be resolved soon and would be resolved in a way that's favorable to your people and favorable to your righteous and just rule father, we pray for the
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Current outbreak of kovat and the number of people in the hospital even right now who are suffering from this
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We pray for mercy and grace to them. We pray for protection for your people that you might grant us health and Strength.
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Thank you father for those who have experienced this sickness that They have recovered and did not experience
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Some of the the degree of suffering that others have thank you father for that kindness and grace
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We pray for the Willikwits today for Scott and Victoria. I pray that you'd give
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Scott wisdom in working toward the future and the teaching and instruction that he needs to offer in the organization of Of Classes and so forth give him skill and that we pray for Victoria's health as She's battling with some cancer.
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I pray that that you would rid her body of that and she would be well
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Thank you father for the good report from the shutters and we continue to pray for Larry and Emily and their family
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That you would be continued continually faithful to them providing their needs
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Helping them to Be at peace with where you have led them and how you have led them to this point
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Grant them grace. We pray Now Oh father. We pray Continue to meet with us in this hour as we worship you and serve you this we ask in Jesus name.
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Amen Jim once again, take your hymnals and turn to page 55 55 and your hymnals sing praise to God Just a reminder that on the last verse the
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Children's Church those ages 4 through 8 if you have children 4 through 8
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You want to send them to junior church? It would certainly be a blessing to them and to you
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So let's all stand together and sing sing praise to God number 55 You Please be seated if you would take your
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Bibles turn to Jeremiah chapter 27 for a scripture reading this morning Jeremiah the 27th chapter and want to read
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For our message today verses 1 through 11 Jeremiah 27 and the first 11 verses
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You point out some of you have
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Maybe an ESV or a New American Standard some of the other translations begin
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The chapter with a different Kings name So it says in our in the King James version.
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It says in the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim Probably correctly should be in the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah I'll say more about that in just a few minutes
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And if you look at the whole context you could understand that but verse 11 verses 1 through 11 in the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah King of Judah came this word unto
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Jeremiah from the Lord saying Thus saith the Lord to me make thee bonds and yokes and put them upon thy neck and Send them to the king of Edom and to the king of Moab and to the king of the
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Ammonites and to the king of Tyre and the king of Sidon by the hand of the messengers which come to Jerusalem unto
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Zedekiah king of Judah and Command them to say unto their masters Thus saith the
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Lord of hosts the God of Israel thus shall you say unto your masters I have made the earth the man and the beasts that are upon the ground
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By my great power and by my outstretched arm and have given it unto whom it seemed meet unto me
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And now I have given all these lands under the hand of of Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon my servant and the beasts of the field have
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I given him also to serve him and all nations shall serve him and his son and his son's son until the very time of his land come and Then many nations and great kings shall serve themselves of him and it shall come to pass that the nation and kingdom which will not serve the same
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Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon and Will not put their neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon That nation will
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I punish saith the Lord with the sword and with the famine and with the pestilence Until I have consumed them by his hand
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Therefore hearken not ye to your prophets nor to your diviners nor to your dreamers nor to your enchanters nor to your sorcerers
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Which speak unto you saying you shall not serve the king of Babylon For they prophesy a lie unto you to remove you far from your land and that I should drive you out and you should perish
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But the nations that bring their neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon and serve him Those will
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I let remain still in their own land saith the Lord and they shall and they shall till it and dwell therein brief prayer
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Our father I pray that as you have opened Opened a crack to the door of the inner workings behind the the throne in the throne room of God You would give us eyes to see we pray in Jesus name.
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Amen So I'm currently reading a brief biography of Nathan Hale.
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Nathan Hale was the first spy of our nation in its infancy
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He was a young man when he was called by his colony to serve to serve in the
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War of Independence Before the Declaration of Independence was actually made and you may remember your your
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American history How the shots rang out and then and then? Then the forces were mustered then the caught the the
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Colonials The colonial states they the colonies they gathered together men to fight and Declare independence from Britain and so forth well,
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Nathan Hale was one of those men who was chosen to lead a company of men and I was reading that the other day and it struck me
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With the question how in the world did we ever win that War of Independence? Nathan Hale was
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Looking over his men in late 1775 and the early month or two of 1776 in those winter months in New England bitterly cold
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Unusually high snowfall that particular year and he's looking at the conditions in which his men are trying to survive
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They had few clothes that were of any gave them any warmth
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Fewer few blankets living in tents Struggling just to just to stay some measure of warm Their provisions were greatly lacking they were hungry they lacked material for any kind of serious battle in other words they didn't have enough guns and ammunition and powder that they needed and and their conditions were so bleak that The orders came that they were not to use their guns to fight to kill ducks or geese even though they were starving because they needed to save their bullets for the soon -to -come war and In contrast to that the
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British troops were well equipped they were living and they had confiscated houses to live in and so forth and In Boston and in surrounding areas they had plenty to eat they were well supplied militarily and again,
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I read all of that and and I wondered How in the world did we ever win that war of independence?
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You know to our finite perspective It seems doesn't it that nations rise and fall?
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Due to military strength and prowess one nation has as a stronger military and and better leadership than another nation and So when we look at things it looks like you know
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That's how nations rise and fall and rulers of those nations they seem to rise and fall due to things like military coups or maybe by virtue of Inheriting a position, you know by because of their genealogy
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Maybe they're appointed by a tribunal in their country or maybe as in our land
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They're elected by the people from our human perspective It looks like the rulers of nations are put in their place by the work of men so to us
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Looking strictly at what we can see It's all up to us
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Whether a nation rises or falls whether a ruler comes to power or not.
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It's all up to us It's all up to mankind in some way or another But this text that we've read this morning
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Tells us another story as I indicated it this text to kind of Cracks the door open just a hair just enough so that we can we can kind of squint and look in with one eye and Even though even though it's all hazy in there
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There is something that is revealed here that gives us another perspective on Why nations rise and fall and why different people come to power?
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it gives us this crack in the door a glimpse of the workings and The machinations that we could not otherwise know if God didn't crack that door
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So Who's really in control? Who's really in control of the rise and fall of nations and the rise and fall of the leaders of those nations?
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Who's really in control of the outcome even of a national election?
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Is it the Electoral College? Is it the people who vote? Is it Democrats?
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Is it Republicans? Is it the courts? Is it election officials? Who's really in control
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Our text makes it clear Now I want us to step back a minute and just get a historical perspective on this
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Text get the historical setting when we look at the historical setting of Jeremiah 27 that setting would suggest that man is in control
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Here's what I mean by that the background to the book of Jeremiah is Is that the book was written or finally completed in its final form in the mid 6th century
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BC so like 560 ish BC now the reason that's important is because of all that took place prior to that Jeremiah the the prophet is concerning himself with The nation of Israel and the nation of Israel is a mess
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I mean it is a mess now you remember if you if you do from your From your biblical history your
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Old Testament history your history of the nation of Israel That after Solomon was the king his son came to the throne and under Rehoboam's reign
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The nation divided it split there was no civil war But it split two rival kings and the king to the north was the king over the ten tribes
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We call them the tribes of Israel and the king to the south Rehoboam is over Judah the tribe of Judah primarily and so you have this split kingdom and it's it is this way for a number of years until finally and we're talking about the mess that is
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Israel as a nation until finally those northern tribes were Destroyed and and the people many of the people taken into captivity
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By the Assyrian Empire that all happened more than a hundred years before Jeremiah comes on the scene
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Judah the primary focus of Jeremiah's prophecy and his attention
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Judah is in a downward spiral It's in a downward spiral
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Josiah the last really good King He enacted a bunch of reforms and and he was the king in place when
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Jeremiah began his ministry But by the time of our text those reforms of Josiah have pretty much been forgotten
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We could put it this way when it comes to Judah the glory days are gone
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The Gilded Age of the nation of Israel is over And so Jeremiah is called to the ministry of the
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Prophet in 627 BC Josiah is still on is still a king and his opening
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Salvo if you will in his prophecy is to prophesy of the doom of Judah Didn't begin to happen for a while yet Babylon came finally and attacked the nation the the the tribe of Judah the nation of Judah and there was a first wave of defeat by the
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Babylonians and Defeat and exile that happened in 605
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BC and then a few years later another wave of attack by the
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Babylonians came and another wave of Captives were taken into exile in 597
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BC and then finally Jeremiah would prophesy until the complete fall of Jerusalem in 586 and by that time the nation of Israel is no more
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So again when we look at this historical setting of our text this morning it would
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Indicate or suggest that man is in control that the Assyrians have come and destroyed the ten tribes of Israel that the
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Babylonians have come and attacked and Defeated Judah and eventually completely destroyed it and taken it taken them into captivity so from a purely
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Human perspective as we look at that historical setting this mess
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That is the nation of Israel this mess is due to political and economic and military weakness
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Where the nation's couldn't stand up to much stronger forces so when we look at the background to the book as A whole it suggests.
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Well, maybe man is in control and then when we look at the Background to this text itself here in chapter 27 it also could suggest that man is in control
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I mean we said I pointed out that verse 1 should read in the beginning of Zedekiah the king of Judah the king of Judah Came this word to Jeremiah That that is an indicator.
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That's a timestamp at the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah And what we know about the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah is it is it didn't come in a pretty way
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It came because in that second wave of the Babylonian attack and captivity
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When that occurred Zedekiah Zedekiah's predecessor
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Jehoiakim had been the king and the Babylonians took Jehoiakim the king
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In fact, you can turn back to chapter 26 verse 1 You read about the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah That King Jehoiakim was attacked by the
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Babylonians and the Babylonians took Jehoiakim into captivity into exile that of course left a void of the throne the throne and that void was filled very briefly by Jehoiakin With ending with an
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N and not an M Well, it didn't last long because what the Babylonians did they said no
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We're not gonna let this descendant that we're not gonna let this guy who would naturally become the king
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We're not gonna let him sit on the throne and and and seek to overthrow us They so they took him off the throne and they took
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Zedekiah and put Zedekiah on the throne Zedekiah was Jehoiakim's brother
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Now now think about that In the framework of sibling rivalry
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Okay. Oh, yeah, Jehoiakim, you know, my brother he he gets to be on he gets to be the king just because he's older That doesn't seem fair This is what
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Zedekiah could think Babylonians come along say yeah, we're not gonna let him be the king We're gonna take you
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Zedekiah and we're gonna put you in his place. Oh, okay. Wow. Okay. That's great.
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Thank you You see how this could give the sense that Man is in control
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Babylonians are in control So this text comes at the beginning of Zedekiah's reign and it comes as we see in verse 3
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During a summit that's called to plan a revolt against the
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Babylonians It's a summit that involves six nations and these are it's an interesting kind of thing it's and we've seen this dynamic happen over and over again through history haven't we when
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Nations that are normally at odds with one another They come together to fight a common foe
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We saw that in World War two, right? We had the Allied forces fighting against the axis
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Here's the here here's the United States joining forces with the Russians the communist
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Russians to fight against the Germans and And ever since before that and ever since that we have not been on exactly friendly terms with the
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Russians But we come together to fight this common enemy. Well, this is what's going on in verse 3. You have these six
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Small nations who are all threatened by the Babylonians they come together and say how can we throw off the yoke of the
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Babylonians and look this seems like a very reasonable justifiable cause
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These Babylonians were ruthless They were a violent people In fact, let me just give you a little a little taste of that violence in Second Kings 25 when eventually
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Zedekiah is and is going to end up himself being taken to Babylon We read this in second
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Kings 25 verses 5 through 7 Says the army of the Chaldeans that is the
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Babylonians They pursued after the king that is Zedekiah and they overtook him in the plains of Jericho and all his army were scattered from him
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That is all Zedekiah's army So they took the king and they brought him up to the king of Babylon to Riblah and they gave judgment upon him
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And this is what the Babylonians did They slew the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes
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So here is dad Standing in shackles before the king of the
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Babylon the Babylonians and the sentence is The verdict is read the sentence is executed his sons
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Zedekiah's sons are to be put to death and so they line up the sons of Zedekiah and as Zedekiah is forced to watch each one of them one at a time is being executed in front of his eye in front of his own eyes and If that weren't enough
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That's going to be the last image that Zedekiah ever sees because then the
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Babylonians Take Zedekiah's eyes and tear them out of his sockets
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This is a cruel and ruthless people So when this this summit is called and these nations these other countries they come together to Seek up to try to devise a plot to overthrow the
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Babylonians you and I would read about that We would hear about that. We say yeah, I mean, of course, this is a good thing.
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This is a reasonable thing to do But here's the question
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Who will control the final outcome of all this? Will it be the violent ferocious
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Babylonians or will it be the brave and courageous allied forces?
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So when we just look at the historical setting of this text It would indicate to us.
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It would give us the sense that you know what? It looks like man is in control of things But the message that comes to Jeremiah Tells us a completely different story
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And this message to the Prophet from the Prophet reveals a completely different source of control and So he uses the
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Prophet does he's given a an object lesson that he's called upon to use and it's an object lesson that is talked about in verses 2 and 3 in verse 2 the
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Lord comes to Jeremiah and he says make bonds and yokes and put them upon your neck and what he's talking about here is the the yoke that would be put on an oxen's neck and it would consist of two parts of what two pieces of wood an upper piece and a low an upper piece and a lower piece and They go around the neck of the oxen and they would be strapped together.
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And the Lord says you take an oxen's yoke and you put it about your neck and the straps and and there may be here also
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The idea that he's supposed to use a smaller version of this To carry out the object lesson and the message that goes with it because verse 3 goes on to say
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Send them to the Kings these different Kings so he it seems that he's to take like little models of this the yoke and straps and send them to these different Kings along with the message to follow and the interpretation of that object lesson in verses 5 through 11 and What the
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Lord wants to communicate as he sends this message is That the message is coming from a very reliable source.
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In fact, the most reliable source verse 4 look at verse 4 again Says command them to say unto their masters thus saith the
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Lord notice all caps Yahweh of Hosts the God of Israel and thus shall you say to them most reliable source a source whose position is extremely powerful he is
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Yahweh of hosts and that that self -identifying moniker
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Yahweh of hosts communicates his power and his authority
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Yahweh of hosts He sends this message and he tells these the he tells these
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Ambassadors from these different nations who are figuring out how to devise a plot
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Where they're different hosts of armies could come together and do battle against the
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Babylonian host Yahweh sends a message and he defined he describes himself as Yahweh of hosts.
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I Am the Lord of hosts. I Am the one who is in a position of power and authority over all military horse hosts he is saying
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His identity here is Indeed significant. He calls himself
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Yahweh God of Israel and And the significance of this is kind of lost on us because of our different cultural milieu,
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I guess Here are six different nations that are sitting down together at a round table trying to figure out how we're gonna now we're gonna cast off the yoke of Babylon and Each one of those envoys at the table ammonites tire
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Sidon Moabites cetera Edomites each one of those envoys is
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Looking back to his country that has its God Its territorial
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God there is the God of the Moabites. There's the God of the Ammonites There's the God of the Edomites There's the
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God of tire the God of Sidon and there's the God of Israel So you've got these six envoys sitting at their table each with their own
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God and Yahweh of hosts comes and says
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I am Yahweh the God of Israel and what he is doing here is asserting his
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Authority as he Identifies himself as the God of Israel His authority is asserted furthermore when he says you command them these different envoys
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So this message is coming from the most reliable source and now as we look at the message itself
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The message itself we could say has four components to it there is first revelation and Then secondly, there are implications thirdly, there's a warning and Finally, there's a promise
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The revelation is this and here is what here's what we want us
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Here's what we want to grab on to today the revelation in verse 5 from Yahweh of hosts the
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God of Israel is that he God is in complete control
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He is in complete control and he is in complete control by rights of his ownership
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God makes this clear when he says in verse 5. He says I have made the earth and the man and the beast that are upon the ground yet the significance of that Who or what that you can see as you walk this planet no matter where you go?
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has God not made You see what
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God is Communicating here is I have made all of this.
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I have made the earth I have made all the animals that are walking upon the earth. I have made every man that is walking upon this earth
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I am the creator of all Therefore I am the owner of all so by rights of his ownership
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The Lord is declaring his complete control over it all Not only by rights of ownership, but by virtue of his power and his might
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He says I have done this he says as he continues by my great power and my outstretched arm
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This is all accomplished by me alone
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Now you go back to Genesis chapter 1 and you get the details You can fill in the details of that can't you and God said let there be and there was over and over and over again
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Let there be and there was let there be and there was as he created
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The earth and the beast and the man that walk upon this earth solely exclusively wholly
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By his great power and his outstretched arm He's asserting his authority here and declaring his control.
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He is revealing to us He's here's the crack in the door see we wouldn't how would we know this if God had not cracked open the door and allowed?
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us to see No, we would look at we would look at the things of this earth We would look at the the rise and fall of nations and the rise and fall of rulers
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And we would say it's all up to us. It's all up to man. It's what man does and God says no I Am the creator of it all and by my great power and by my outstretched arm.
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I have made it all I am in complete control by virtue of my
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Creative power by virtue of my ownership and my rights ownership
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He also says I am in complete control by my sovereign deployment
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He says at the end of verse 5 I have given it to whom it seemed meet unto me.
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I have Given it now.
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We'll talk more about the implications of that in just a few moments but what's clearly involved here when
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Jesus when God says this what's clearly involved is National borders and powers
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Edom how did you get your power? Ammon, how did you get your power?
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Tyre Sidon Judah, how did you get your power? I have given it
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Babylon How did you get your power I have given it, you know, what's an interesting thing if you think about this
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Rarely rarely in the course of human history Rarely has God given that place apart from using the sinful actions and violence of men
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Realize that Think about it Think about what you know in human history
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So God says Regarding the Babylonians regarding the Edomites the
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Ammonites the Tyre Sidon Judah and so forth. He says I have given them places powers
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I have given them But when we look at it from a human perspective, what do we see?
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We see wars we see fighting we see a victor We see one who's been defeated and the victor claims the territory from our
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Finite human perspective. It looks like it's all up to man God says no, it's by my sovereign
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Deployment now, by the way, lest I be misunderstood in any way shape or form That is not this is not a call for some kind of holy war as if okay
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Well, we believe that God wants us to take this territory or to take over this people so therefore, you know, we're going to You know by force and by violence.
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We're going to take it some kind of a jihad No That's not what this is.
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What this is is a is a grid for interpreting
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Events that have gone gone on in the past and sometimes even are going on in the present
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It's a grid for interpreting human events so God says
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I am in control and he's in control by By virtue of his power and authority by his claims of ownership by his sovereign deployment
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But then notice the last thing verse 5 tells us that gives us insight into this control of God It is by divine purpose
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He says I have given it to whom it seemed Suitable to me
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It seems suitable to me. I don't know about you, but I look at I look at the affairs of this world rulers nations presidents kings
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Dictators whatever I Look at these things and I say, you know what it is not suitable
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For that person or that nation to have that kind of power. It's not suitable and God says
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I Have given it to who to whom I will as it is suitable to me in other words
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God is Declaring I have purposes for my and plans for the exercise of my control that you may not understand and You may not see
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God says I am in control Now here are some implications. Okay, that's the revelation God is in control.
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He's the one who's really in control So here are the implications for the present hour in verses 6 and 7
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One of the implications is that someone that you may dread is
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God's servant verse 6 He says now I have given all these lands into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon my servant
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Oh Everyone's sitting around that table Can't stand Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon everyone at that table dreads
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Nebuchadnezzar but God says this one whom you dread is my servant and The authority and the power that this servant that God claims for himself is vast
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It's expansive. He goes on to say he says I've given the beasts of the field to him to serve him this is a broad power that God has given to Nebuchadnezzar a second implication also in verse 7 a second implication is that Your Responsibility and place here are unpleasant because look what he says all nations shall serve him and his son and his son's son all
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Nations shall serve him Serving one that you dread and that you despise
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What an unpleasant responsibility Here's a third implication the last part of verse 7 the present hour is not forever
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Look at it. Look look at the text he says all nations will serve him until the very time of his land come and then and Then many nations and great kings shall serve themselves of him another way of translating
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That is many nations and great kings will make a slave of him
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So this one Babylon who seems so great and powerful and has such control and does and does by the delegated
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Authority of God himself to accomplish his purposes in his time this one will serve in that position of power and authority for three generations and then
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Other kings other nations will come and defeat the Babylonians and make the Babylonians their slaves their servants
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Point being that this present hour isn't forever
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It's not forever One of the commentators in this passage. He says this he says even
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Babylon with all its might is not sovereign For it is God who rules over it over Babylon King Nebuchadnezzar can operate only because God permits it for the length of time that he
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Determines after all Nebuchadnezzar is merely my servant my servant
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So we have revelation some implications then there's warnings and The warrant there are two warnings.
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The first warning is this God warns the audience that is listening to this message from Jeremiah.
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He says you reject my control At your peril you see this in verse 8
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This has come to pass that the nation and kingdom which will not serve this same Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon and it will not put their neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon that nation will
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I punish saith the Lord with the sword with a famine with a Pestilence till I've consumed them by his hand
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Choose your poison Is the warning? accept the yoke of Babylon or face
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Destruction the consequences for rejecting the control of The authoritative sovereign
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God is those consequences. They are severe and they are painful Reject my control at your peril at your peril the
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Lord warns and then he goes on to warn in verses 9 and 10 Secondly reject my word at your peril there are always
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Competing voices to the Word of God always always have been ever since Eden, right?
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hath God said hasn't stopped and in this particular context in verse 9 the
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Lord warns against listening to the Prophets the false prophets to the diviners those who would read and interpret omens to the dreamers those who have
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Utopian visions of the future and are just trying to make everybody optimistic and dismiss the idea of anything negative the dreamers the fortune -tellers who practice their witchcraft the sorcerers who use enchantments like like Trying to cast a spell on the
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Babylonians so that they would just be defeated and fall into a deep sleep or something of that Nature, but they all have a united message all of these other voices
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They have a united message and that united message is God is wrong
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He's not in control we we can be in control that Competing message is destructive verse 10 brings out they prophesy a lie unto you
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To remove you far from your land and that I should drive you out and you should perish
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God is telling these Envoys sitting around that table and it's a message that carries into the 21st century is that We need to accept his authority.
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We need to believe his word. We need to obey his directive That is the only hope of security
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When it seems only man is in control All right. What are some applications of all of this?
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for our time may suggest three Number one
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God speaks authoritatively and reliably
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God speaks authoritatively and reliably Trust his word
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Trust his word submit to it Even if it's uncomfortable don't think you'll be happy.
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Otherwise You won't God speaks authoritatively and reliably secondly
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God rules and reigns totally sovereignly
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Powerfully Purposefully So beware of despair beware of a sense of hopelessness amid chaos and uncertainty and even the outcome of Seeming political machinations that you and I may not like Don't despair
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God is in control Be confident
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This too shall pass What is What is is for now and by the way going back to the text remember
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Lord said you serve Babylon for this King and His son and his son's son three generations
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Yes, it is true that what is is for now and that now may outlive us and our children and Even maybe our grandchildren, but what is is for now and then thirdly third application for our time
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God is working toward a predetermined end You know when you're living through it you you're living in a parenthesis of time
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You're living through an experience of time and it's it's easy to lose sight that it's easy to lose sight that this is just a step in a direction and God has a predetermined end in every step in the direction
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That is that this world is going on it is going in Here's what
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I mean by that the Babylonian Empire came powerfully ruled
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Powerfully for a while Until it was defeated by the Medo -Persian Empire and the
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Medo -Persian Empire ruled extensively expansively and powerfully for a while Till it was overthrown by the
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Greek Empire and the Greek Empire ruled powerfully expansively Alexander the Great conquered the whole known world at the you know, you know that kind of a thing for a while and then came the
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Roman Empire ascended Expanded powerful invincible for a while and On and on you can go through the course of human history and where is all of this going?
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Where is all of this going? to Revelation chapter 21 Revelation 21 listen to verses 23 through 27
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The city the New Jerusalem had no need of the Sun neither of the moon to shine in it for the glory of God did enlighten it and the
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Lamb is the light thereof and the nations of them which are saved shall walk in the light of it and the kings of their of the earth to bring their glory and honor into it and The gates of it shall not be shut at all by day for there shall be no night there and they shall bring the glory and honor of the nations into it and There shall in no wise enter into it anything that defileth neither whatsoever worketh abomination or maketh a lie
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But they which are written in the Lamb's Book of Life This is where it's all going.
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This is where it's all headed Whatever this is now is a step in this ultimate direction
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Where all the nations of the earth? will bring their homage and their glory to the to the to the
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God who is in control of it all to the Lamb that is upon his throne and All who worship with him will be those whose names are written in the
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Lamb's Book of Life Here is a good question as we close
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Will you be there? Is your name written there in the Lamb's Book of Life have you come to that place of repentant faith in the
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Lamb the Lord Jesus Christ Who is the ultimate goal whose glory whose worship and praise and bowing down from but but by Before from every nation and tongue and tribe on this planet.
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Will you be there? Is he your Savior? Is your name written in his
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Book of Life? I? Trust it is if not Turn to him today
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Turn in repentant faith To the Lamb who is slain for your sin turn today
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Our Father and our God we do. Thank you this morning for this insight into the
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Machinations that go on behind the scenes of This world that you our
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God are in control and you're leading all these things You're leading all of these things to that great city
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Where the nations will come and bring their homage to the Lamb on his throne.
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Oh That he were our Lamb that he were our Savior that our names are in his book of eternal life
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Thank you for these glorious Encouraging Truths that give such hope and confidence and comfort to your people
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Thank you in Jesus name. Amen As we close would you take your hymnal and turn to number 405 405
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I want to close with the first and last stanzas only of the of the hymn trusting
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Jesus Let's stand shall we as we sing 405? Trusting Jesus Simply trusting every day trusting through a stormy way
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Even when my faith is small trusting
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Jesus that is all Trusting as the moments fly
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Trusting as the days go by Trusting him
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Trusting Jesus that is all the last
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Trusting him while life shall last Trusting him till earth be passed till within the
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Jasper wall That is all
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Trusting as the moments fly Trusting as the days go by Trusting him
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Trusting Jesus And now may the
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God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing
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So that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope