Sunday Morning, March 1, 2020 AM

Prayer for Illumination and Submission to God’s Word

Father, I thank you for gathering us together today. Lord, we thank you for the way that you've shown your faithfulness and your goodness this past week, how we have lived in the light of our risen and reigning Savior, Jesus Christ.

We thank you for the gift of the Holy Spirit and how he indwells us. And we ask that he would fill us, that we would understand this Holy Scripture that you have given to us so perfectly and so plainly.

We ask that you would, by your grace, accord to us not a hermeneutic of suspicion, but one of submission. As we hear your word and interpret it, that we would submit to your truth gladly, as we would seat ourselves at a table with a feast, as we would come together for a most essential and honorable meal.

We pray that you would nourish our lives. We pray that you would transform our hearts, that as we see your Son in this word, we will look like him in this world. For these graces we ask, looking only to Christ, the one with whom you are well pleased.

Amen.

Reading Jeremiah 39 and the Sermon’s Aim

I invite you to open your Bibles to Jeremiah 39. Jeremiah 39. And we will be looking at verses one through 18 this morning. Jeremiah chapter 39, verses one through 18. The title of this morning's sermon is, "'Praise God, from whom all judgments flow.'".

We have been noticing a lot of judgment.

In the book of Jeremiah.

We noticed judgment in the text we read this morning out of Deuteronomy chapter three. When you come across passages like that, and you will often as you read your Bibles, you will read about the destruction of entire people groups, men, women, and children.

When you read broadly in the text, you discover that God had been patient for 400 years. For 10 generations, he'd been patient with these people groups, having given them the witness of not only Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, but even Melchizedek before him.

And that these people had the witness of the word of God, and that they were made in God's image, and that they were given much long suffering and patience from God, and yet the time of their judgment had come.

And yet it's still disturbing. Even if we put all of the context together, and we recognize that it was indeed God's just judgment,.

Isn't it still?

Entirely disturbing to read the passages that give these details. How do we handle these texts? We know that the word of God is, well, all the scripture is God-breathed, is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.

We know that the word of God is good, that it is perfect, that it is true, that it is our most necessary food. And yet we come to passages like judgment, and sometimes we falter, not knowing how exactly to consume that meal.

How exactly does this nourish our walk with Christ? And very often we may grow a bit frustrated with passages about judgment and go flipping for our favorite Psalms.

It's understandable.

But as we consider this pivotal moment in the history of Judah, the destruction of Jerusalem in 586 BC, a critical moment in redemptive history, how are we to understand this passage? How does it help us as the worshipers of God?

We began last week by just looking at verses one and two, and considering how it is that God reveals His long-suffering even in His judgment. We'll look at more points this week, but to get started, I would have you stand with me, and I'm going to read for us Jeremiah 39, and I will read verses one through 10 this morning.

Jeremiah chapter 39, verses one through 10. This is the word of the Lord. The words of Christ, our King, through His prophet, Jeremiah. Now when Jerusalem was captured in the ninth year of Zedekiah, King of Judah, in the 10th month, Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylon, and all his army came to Jerusalem and laid siege to it.

In the 11th year of Zedekiah, in the fourth month, in the ninth day of the month, the city wall was breached. Then all the officials of the King of Babylon came in and sat down at the middle gate. Nergal, Sar-Ezer, Samgar-Nebu, Sar-Sakim, the Rab-Saris, Nergal, Sar-Ezer, the Rab-Mag, and all the rest of the officials of the King of Babylon.

When Zedekiah, the King of Judah, and all the men of war saw them, they fled and went out of the city at night by way of the king's garden through the gate between the two walls, and they went out towards the Arava.

But the army of the Chaldeans pursued them and overtook Zedekiah in the plains of Jericho, and they seized him and brought him up to Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, at Riblah, in the land of Hamath, and he passed sentence on him.

Then the King of Babylon slew the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes at Riblah. The King of Babylon also slew all the nobles of Judah. He then blinded Zedekiah's eyes and bound him in feathers of bronze to bring him to Babylon.

The Chaldeans also burned with fire the king's palace and the houses of the people, and they broke down the walls of Jerusalem. As for the rest of the people who were left in the city, the deserters who had gone over to him and the rest of the people who remained, Nebuchadnezzar, the captain of the bodyguard, carried them into exile in Babylon.

But some of the poorest people who had nothing, Nebuchadnezzar, the captain of the bodyguard, were left behind in the land of Judah and gave them vineyards and fields at that time. This is the word of the Lord.

You may be seated.

The Long-Suffering of God Is Incalculable

Passages of judgment, details of destruction. After many generations of the prophets of God warning his people time and again to repent of their sins, their stubbornness proven and tried, their rebellion entrenched, the destruction finally comes, and what are we to think?

What are some of the first thoughts that would come into our head? How do we respond to the judgment of God revealed in scripture? And how do we respond to the judgment of God evident in our own day? When we hear of the judgment of God, what is our response?

Surprisingly, in the scriptures, we have several instances of God's judgment being declared, being considered, and the response of God's people is one of praise. They're not rejoicing in the misery of people, but they're praising the God who keeps his word, the God who proves himself worthy, the God who was shown long-suffering.

You see, the character of God, the praiseworthiness of God, is revealed in all that he does, including judgment. The goodness of God is the ground, the substance, and the outcome of the judgment of God, and so there is always opportunity to witness the goodness of God and praise him accordingly, even in judgment.

We are to praise our God of righteous judgment. Last week, we noted that when judgment falls, the first thought that should come to our minds is this. The long-suffering of God is incalculable. The long-suffering of God is incalculable.

When the judgment of God falls, often it is very swift. When the judgment of God falls, very often it comes in a way that is too rapid for the human mind, the human spirit to keep up with. It is a crushing and devastating kind of judgment.

We see all sorts of examples of that in the scriptures. And yet, as rapid as it seems in the moment, as we're reading the stories of the destruction of those under the judgment of God, we must also remind ourselves of this truth, the long-suffering of God is incalculable.

When God revealed himself to Moses, he said he was slow to anger. He was long-suffering. Anytime the judgment of God falls, that should be our first thought. How patient has God been? How long-suffering he has been?

We can do the math in the text. For 18 months, the Babylonian army laid siege to Jerusalem. For 18 months, Jeremiah repeatedly preached a message of deliverance, of hope. He told the people, if you will only go over to the Chaldeans and surrender yourselves, your life will be spared.

And he'd already given the message to the exiles that they had a hope in front of them, that they were to build houses and live in them, get married, have children, and make sure that their children got married, that they would increase and not decrease.

They were to make the most of their situation, even praying for the prosperity of their oppressing cities, because God was gonna bring them back, and it would be a special year of jubilee where he would restore the fortunes of his people.

They had so much to look forward to. And so Jeremiah, in exhorting the people inside Jerusalem to go over to the Chaldeans laying siege, this was a message of hope. This was an opportunity for salvation and deliverance.

For 18 months, Jeremiah preached this. And for 18 months, he was persecuted.

He was accused.

He was hassled. He finally was arrested, falsely tried, beaten, thrown into jail. God, however, had mercifully delayed those 18 months. He had delayed even 11 years, all the reign of Zedekiah, the puppet king of Babylon.

11 years earlier, the end could have come. 11 years earlier, when Nebuchadnezzar stood within the gates of Jerusalem, the whole thing could have come tumbling down. And yet God had been patient and long-suffering with his people.

We considered also last week that the nanosecond God stays his full hand of judgment, for instance, upon Adam and Eve, in the day that you eat of this forbidden fruit, in the day that you eat of it, you will die.

The nanosecond God stays his full hand of judgment upon Adam and Eve for their rebellion, God's long-suffering rocketed into incalculable regions no number map can track, because of the holiness of God.

Any delay, any delay at all, of God's judgment and wrath upon sin proves his long-suffering is incalculable. And we understand this if we fear God. The second thought we should have, when we read about God's judgment, when we witness God's judgment, the second thought we ought to have is this, the veracity of God is inexorable.

The veracity of God is inexorable. His truth marches on. His truth is unstoppable. The veracity of God is inexorable. Notice verses three through five, and the details that Jeremiah offers us here. Then all the officials of the king of Babylon came in and sat down at the middle gate.

Nergal, Sar-Azir, Samgar-Nebu, Sar-Sakim, the Rab-Saris, Nergal, Sar-Azir, the Rab-Mag, and all the rest of the officials of the king of Babylon. When Zedekiah, the king of Judah, and all the men of war saw them, they fled.

They went out of the city by night, by way of the king's garden through the gate, between the two walls, and he went outside. He went out toward the Arabah, but the army of the Chaldeans pursued them and overtook Zedekiah in the plains of Jericho, and they seized him and brought him up to Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon at Riblot, the land of Hamath, and he passed sentence on him.

We read about four officials of Babylon who breached the wall, they lead their troops into the very heart of Jerusalem, and they established themselves at the middle gate. In the ancient Near East, the gate was the seat of power.

It was the place where decisions would be rendered. It was the place where justice would be dealt. From the middle gate, these four nobles of Babylon were able to oversee the complete and utter defeat of Jerusalem, their soldiers rooting out every last pocket of resistance there.

Now, it's important to be given these details that these four officials of Babylon were sitting in this gate. We need to understand that each one of these men would have been more glorious than Zedekiah in their strength, in their wealth, in their authority.

These men were like kings in their own right, serving their emperor, Nebuchadnezzar. But they come here at the central gate. They establish themselves here. The central gate would have been one in which the elders of Jerusalem had sat to exercise justice.

There they would have heard cases and rendered decisions, but this gate had been a place of injustice. And now God's reciprocity is realized as foreigners establish their authority here. God said this would happen.

This exact thing he said would happen. Jeremiah chapter one, from the very beginning of the book of Jeremiah, he said this would happen. Jeremiah chapter one, verses 14 through 16. The Lord said to Jeremiah, then the Lord said to me, out of the north, the evil will break forth.

Out of the north, out of Babylon, the evil will break forth on all the inhabitants of the land. For behold, I am calling all the families of the kingdoms of the north, declares the Lord, and they will come and they will set each one his throne at the entrance of the gates of Jerusalem and against all its walls round about and against all the cities of Judah.

I will pronounce my judgments on them concerning all their wickedness whereby they have forsaken me and have offered sacrifices to other gods and worship the works of their own hands. This is what God told Jeremiah at the beginning of his prophetic ministry 40 years ago.

And it comes true here. For an entire generation, Jeremiah has been preaching. And finally, one of the very first things he ever was told by God has now come true. And we noticed that there was all sorts of efforts to keep this from happening.

All sorts of false hopes that were preached by false prophets and errant scribes. Manipulations after manipulations by various kings and nobles to keep this very thing from happening. But no matter what they did, they could not keep God's word from coming true.

They distrusted the truth of his promised judgments. They did not believe that the veracity of God was inexorable. They believed they could change what God had said. They had no respect for the promised judgment of God because they also had no respect for his law.

When God said that murder was murder, they would obfuscate. When he said adultery was adultery, they would apply nuance. When God said idolatry is idolatry, they would change the terms. And they did not believe in the truthfulness of God's law.

And they did not believe in the truthfulness of God's covenant. When he told them that if you will follow this way, this is a way of life and blessing. If you follow this way, this is a way of cursing and death.

And they would not believe him. And they told themselves stories and they lied to themselves over and over again till they were nothing but an echo chamber of error. And the shocking thing is, something that was said for 40 years straight, something that was even detailed by Moses himself in Deuteronomy, all of it came exactly true.

The saddest thing of all would be that anyone there would be the least bit surprised to be given the scriptures, to be read the word of God by the scribes, to grow up at your mother's knee to hear the scriptures read to you, to go to synagogue and hear the scriptures read to you, to have the wealth of the word of God so abundant to you as a culture, as a nation, and then to be surprised when what God said would happen actually happened.

The veracity of God is inexorable. This is something we should think to ourselves when God's judgment comes to pass. Well, he did say that would happen, didn't he? We should not be the least bit surprised.

Lamentations is Jeremiah's poetic reflection on the destruction of Jerusalem. Five poems, the first four, acrostics following the alphabetic order of the Hebrew language. Lamentations 2 .8, Jeremiah writes, "'The Lord determined to destroy "'the wall of the daughter of Zion.

"'He has stretched out a line. "'He has not restrained his hand from destroying, "'and he has caused rampart and wall to lament. "'They have languished together. "'The Lord determined to destroy, and thus it was.'".

Chapter two, verse 17, "'The Lord has done what he purposed. "'He has accomplished his word, "'which he commanded from days of old. "'He has thrown down without sparing. "'He has caused the enemy to rejoice over you.

"'He has exalted the might of your adversaries.'". You see, he did what he purposed. Lamentations 3, 37 through 38, "'Who is there who speaks and it comes to pass "'unless the Lord has commanded it? "'Is it not from the mouth of the Most High "'that both good and ill go forth?'.

In Jeremiah's reflections of the destruction of Jerusalem, you know what he thought? The veracity of God is inexorable. What he says will happen happens, and he's the only one who gets to say what happens.

The truth of God is inexorable. This is the second thing that we have to praise God for when we consider his judgment. And we consider what he has said in his law, that it is all completely true. We think what he has promised in terms of his covenant, that it is all completely true.

And we consider that his judgment comes just as he said it would, just as he promised, that all of this is true, true, and true. This should all drive us to one place, and that is the person and the work of Jesus Christ.

Is it not in Christ that we find the law fulfilled? The end of the law is in Christ. The goal, the talos of the law is in Christ. The very truthfulness of God's law is revealed in his son, Jesus Christ.

His covenant is true in Christ. Christ himself is the bearer of the covenant. He fulfills it all in his own person and work. And do we not see that his judgment is everlastingly true, and he proves the truth of his wrath and his anger against sin there at the cross of Jesus Christ?

Are we not told that as many as are the promises of God in Christ, they are yea and amen? They are, there is the truth of it. In the cross and the crown of Christ, we see the veracity of God is inexorable.

This is what we ought to think to ourselves. When we hear the judgment of God, when we experience something, we see something that we recognize as the judgment of God. Every judgment of God that we encounter in the scriptures or in our world should actually increase our faith, should actually increase our faith, not lead us to question whether or not God is a good God.

Who are we to put God in the dock and to put ourselves as the judge and then put him on trial and say, God, I don't know if according to what has happened in your word or in the world today, I don't know if you really measure up to our lofty standards of mercy and compassion.

Who are we talking to?

I don't know, God, if you're really keeping up with the times about what righteousness and justice is. Who are we to question God? The foolish alternative to fearing God is to deny God, to deny that God judges, to deny God is merciful, to deny God is just.

I find it disturbingly common that the more often we deny that God would ever judge or exercise judgment in our world today is in concert with the amount of denial that God would ever judge in the hereafter.

The denials that God would ever send anyone to hell or ever judge anybody in the hereafter is in direct correlation to the denials that God would ever get himself involved in anything happening today and pass judgment in the here and now.

The Justice of God Is Indisputable

That is not fearing God, that's folly. The third thing we ought to think when we witness the judgment of God and read about it is that the justice of God is indisputable. The justice of God is indisputable.

Verses six through 10, Jeremiah 39. Then the king of Babylon slew the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes at Riblah. The king of Babylon also slew all the nobles of Judah. He then blinded Zedekiah's eyes and bound him in fetters of bronze to bring him to Babylon.

The Chaldeans also burned with fire the king's palace and the houses of the people when they broke down the walls of Jerusalem. As for the rest of the people who were left in the city, the deserters who had gone over to him and the rest of the people who remained, Nebuchadnezzar Radon, the captain of the bodyguard, carried them into exile in Babylon.

But some of the poorest people who had nothing, Nebuchadnezzar Radon, the captain of the bodyguard, left behind in the land of Judah and gave them vineyards and fields at that time. So we see that the king of Judah, Zedekiah, is hunted down, and then his sons and nobles are cut down, and then the city is burnt down.

Every one of these actions by God's tool for justice, the armies of Babylon, all this proves the indisputable nature of God's judgment. Now, the kings of the north have come and they have sat down in the gates of Jerusalem to pass sentence on the wicked.

When they do so, Zedekiah flees. Zedekiah has been given more opportunity than most to repent and to go over to the Chaldeans to save his life and really, truly, save the lives of his sons and nobles, but he has refused repeatedly.

And so, Zedekiah waits until it's night and he sneaks out of the city and goes running into the wilderness around Jericho. And then God ran him down with his Chaldean hounds. God said, you are going, if you do not repent, you are going to be brought and judged by the king of Babylon, and indeed, it happens.

So God runs him down. After all that time that Zedekiah had to repent, he runs away, but God ran him down. And then, like Samson of old, Zedekiah has his eyes put out. Like Samson of old, he is put into bronze fetters.

But unlike Samson, Zedekiah does not have one last play in the playbook. He's done. His kingdom is finished. His lineage is cut off as his sons are slaughtered. And his nobles, you know the nobles, the ones who proved the greatest cause of Jeremiah's misery, these also were cut down.

And then his eyes were put out. The only people left in the city of Jerusalem, in all the rubble that remains, are the very poorest of all the people. And to them, Nebuchadnezzar gives some vineyards.

Why?

Well, these are the easiest people to control because they're the poorest. And having given the redistributed wealth, the new king, Nebuchadnezzar, will be able to easily control them. In other words, this whole place is under absolute dominion of Babylon.

It's over. It's over. There's really nothing left. The throne is smashed. The city is burnt. Everything is burnt down. 2 Kings 25 .9 tells us that the temple, itself, was burnt down. All the sacred items are now gone.

There is no more temple in Jerusalem. The walls are broken down. There's no place left to really live in the city. Just as Jeremiah said, it becomes a haunt for jackals. Just like Jeremiah said, they ran out of people.

They ran out of people to bury the dead. The whole place is covered in corpses and carrion. It's a nightmare. It's a haunted and cursed place. And God's justice is perfect. All that which was burnt had served as the confidence of the Jews.

They had worshiped the temple, and it was burnt down. They had worshiped upon the roofs of their houses, giving offerings to the queen of heaven, and they were burnt down. They had worshiped David's throne, thinking that as long as we have this, we won't be conquered.

And it, too, was burnt down. These idols which had blinded their eyes and stopped up their ears and stiffened their necks, all these things were burnt down to the ground. God's justice is perfect, perfectly administered.

And this is what we should think about when the justice of God happens. When the judgment of God comes, we should think to ourselves, there is nothing against His judgment about,.

Which we can say.

We can't say anything about it. There is nothing against it. He did, when God brings judgment, He does so with absolute, perfect justice. It is indisputable. We can bring no accusation against it.

So what do we do about it?

Certainly, we are taught to fear God. Certainly, we are taught to be concerned about our own hearts, to consider our ways, and to be wise. Certainly, yes, all these things, but should we not also praise our God?

How hungry are we to see justice done aright in our own land? How weary are we of hearing event after event,.

Situation after situation?

Well, that was unjust and that was twisted, and they were paid off.

How angry we can become.

When we hear the injustice prevails. And yet when our God brings justice, it is perfect, it is precise, it is thorough, it is right. We should give Him praise. We should give Him praise. We're not reveling in the misery of men, but we are going to praise the goodness of our God.

Lamentations 118. This is the words that Jeremiah puts into the mouth of Jerusalem herself. This is Jerusalem's confession at her destruction. The Lord is righteous, for I have rebelled against His command.

Hear now all peoples and behold my pain. My virgins and my young men have gone into captivity. What is the confession of Jerusalem at her end? The Lord is righteous. Lamentations 339. Why should any living mortal or any man offer complaint in view of his sins?

Let us examine and probe our ways and let us return to the Lord. Lamentations 3, verses 64 through 66. You will recompense them, O Lord, according to the work of their hands. You will give them hardness of heart.

Your curse will be on them. You will pursue them in anger and destroy them from under the heavens of the Lord. In reflection upon the judgment of God, Jeremiah confessed how righteous God was, how His justice is indisputable.

It may seem odd, but it is the confession of the saints that praise God when He brings justice. Revelation 19, verses one through six, the destruction of the great harlot who drank the blood of the saints.

When she was destroyed, the saints give off a fourfold hallelujah to their deliverer, to their just and holy God. So when the judgment of God occurs, we should think to ourselves that the long suffering of God is incalculable.

We should think that the veracity of God is inexorable. We should think that the justice of God is indisputable. If I had a point in between three and four, it would be that the victory of God is inevitable.

The Loving Kindness of God Is Indispensable

But finally, in verses 11 through 18, we see that the loving kindness of God, the loving kindness of God is indispensable. This is what we should think to ourselves when we encounter the judgment of God.

Verse 11, now Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, gave orders about Jeremiah through Nebuchadnezzar Radon, the captain of the bodyguard, saying, take him and look after him, and do nothing harmful to him, but rather deal with him just as he tells you.

So Nebuchadnezzar Radon, the captain of the bodyguard, sent word along with Nebuchadnezzar, the rab seraphs, and Nebuchadnezzar, the rab mag, and all the leading officers of the king of Babylon. They even sent and took Jeremiah out of the court of the guardhouse and entrusted him to Gedaliah, the son of Ahiakim, the son of Shaphan, to take him home.

So he stayed among the people. This is very interesting that Nebuchadnezzar, king of the world, a pagan king would take note of a prophet of that miserable armpit of the city, Jerusalem, and say, about this guy, whatever he tells you, that's what's gonna be his fate.

Now, everybody else you're supposed to kill, destroy, take into exile, but Jeremiah, if he tells you he wants to come to Babylon, that's fine, if he wants to stay there, that's fine, whatever he wants.

Isn't that odd?

It would be like Putin with the Russians after invading the United States of America saying, that John MacArthur, just whatever he wants to do, if he wants to stay in his home, that's cool, if he wants to come over to Siberia, that's fine, whatever he wants.

It's just odd, it's just odd. Why does the emperor of the world, Nebuchadnezzar, take notice of Jeremiah? Why is Jeremiah even still alive? How did he survive this long? How is he still God's man preaching God's truth after all of these hardships and all these long years?

Well, that's the grace of God. That's the grace of God. You see, Jeremiah 1, verses four through five reminds us how Jeremiah got his start. He didn't win an audition. He didn't get elected because of his merits.

He was chosen by God's grace. Jeremiah chapter one, verses four through five. Now the word of the Lord came to me saying, before I formed you in the womb, I knew you. And before you were born, I consecrated you.

I have appointed you as a prophet to the nations. You see, it was the grace of God. It was the life that God carved out for Jeremiah. God had made his promise because God had made his loving choice. The reason why at the end of that 40 year long ministry, Jeremiah was still alive and kicking and still doing God's word, doing God's will, preaching God's word was because of the grace of God.

Unless a man is held by the loving kindness of the Lord, there is no hope for deliverance. We ought to think this when judgment falls. How necessary, how indispensable is the loving kindness of God? And the same for Ebed-Melech, the Ethiopian.

Verse 15, now the word of the Lord. I come to Jeremiah while he was confined in the court of the guardhouse saying, go and speak to Ebed-Melech, the Ethiopian saying, thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel.

Behold, I am about to bring my words on this city for disaster and not for prosperity. And they will take place before you on that day. But I will deliver you on that day declares the Lord and you will not be given into the hand of the men whom you dread.

I will certainly rescue you and you will not fall by the sword, but you will have your own life as booty because you have trusted in me declares the Lord. You remember Ebed-Melech was, he's an Ethiopian and he's a eunuch.

So he is a castrated Gentile. What hope does he have of the promises of God? But he's a slave in the royal household of Zedekiah. And he believed the word of the Lord that Jeremiah preached. And because he believed, he acted on behalf of Jeremiah.

Because he believed, he favored Jeremiah. And God says to this slave, don't worry, you'll be fine. A word of the Lord from Jeremiah to Ebed-Melech. God makes a distinction, you see, between this Ethiopian eunuch, this slave and those nobles who had sought Jeremiah's death.

They were cut down, Ebed-Melech was spared. A reminder that deliverance is by faith and faith is proven by our deeds. Matthew Henry writes, those who trust God as this good man did in the way of duty will find that their hope shall not make them ashamed in times of the greatest danger.

When the judgment of God comes, we ought to think to ourselves that the love and kindness of God is indispensable. Is this not Jeremiah's supreme reflection after the destruction of Jerusalem? And all his thoughts and all his reminiscing about the destruction of Jerusalem as he was writing out his thoughts and lamentations, is not the heart of his meditation.

The crown jewel of his meditation, the love and kindness of God? Lamentations 3, 21, the following. This I recall to my mind, therefore I have hope. The Lord's loving kindnesses indeed never cease for his compassions never fail.

They are new every morning. Great is your faithfulness. The Lord is my portion, says my soul. Therefore I have hope in him. The Lord is good to those who wait for him, to the person who seeks him. It is good that he waits silently for the salvation of the Lord.

Verse 31, for the Lord will not reject forever. For if he causes grief, then he will have compassion according to his abundant loving kindness. So when we read about the judgment of God, when we see the judgment of God at work in our world, we are to take the opportunity to give praise to our God from whom all judgments flow.

And he is praiseworthy. He is praiseworthy. His long suffering is incalculable. His veracity is inexorable. His justice is indisputable. His loving kindness is indispensable. Father, I thank you for the time you've given us in your word.

This critical moment in history when your word is proven true and Jerusalem is destroyed. Father, we ask that you would help us to make the most of this and every passage we come to, wherein we see the judgment of God with your judgment, that we would give you praise, we give you honor and glorify you.

We pray that you would help us to do that. Pray these things for Christ's sake.

Amen.

All right, well.