[0:00] Well, we're flying through the book of Jeremiah. We're going to go through four chapters tonight, Jeremiah 46 to 49, and Lord willing, one more service and we will finish the book of Jeremiah.
[0:14] I was in Jeremiah before I had COVID nearly died, and I'm back in Jeremiah, and it looks like I'm going to make it out without dying. That's going to be pretty good, amen? I want to read with you two verses.
[0:27] Now, what I want you to get tonight, every time I try to find out what I want you to get, what I think the Lord's saying to us, and that tonight it is acknowledge the power of God.
[0:38] He is almighty God, and he moves all over the planet, and he's behind the scenes that you don't even see or realize of what he's doing.
[0:50] I don't either. So when I say that, I don't mean you. We don't understand. Boy, God is moving, and tonight Jeremiah is going to make some very harsh statements.
[1:01] Jeremiah 46, 10, the Bible says, for this is the day of the Lord God of hosts, a day of vengeance, that he may avenge him of his adversaries.
[1:14] And the sword shall devour, and it shall be satiate and made drunk with their blood. For the Lord God of hosts hath a sacrifice in the north country by the river Euphrates.
[1:31] Skip down to chapter 47 and verse 6. Oh, thou sword of the Lord, how long will it be ere thou be quiet? In other words, God, when's your vengeance going to stop?
[1:46] Put up thyself into thy scabbard, rest, and be still. How can it be quiet, seeing the Lord hath given it a charge against Asculon and against the seashore?
[2:00] There hath he appointed it. So God has sent out vengeance on a whole bunch of nations that you'll see tonight. Father, touch our hearts.
[2:11] Lord, help us to know tonight that when I read the news every day, and I see countries doing things, and I see all the things happening, that I can understand you're bigger than all that.
[2:29] You're bigger than our president, our Congress, our judges, our country, bigger than us. You're bigger than every other country on the planet, bigger than North Korea, bigger than China, bigger than India.
[2:41] You are the God Almighty of the universe. And you move and have your way in the lives of men. And I pray, God, tonight that we would all just acknowledge that.
[2:52] We just accept it and give you praise. And I'll thank you for what you do. In Jesus' precious name, amen. Well, Jeremiah's been preaching by now about 40 years. He started out when he was a teenager.
[3:04] And he's been preaching to Judah for all that time. Tradition says that he will die in Egypt as a martyr killed by his own people. As I read this chapter, I like this quote.
[3:18] Benjamin Franklin said, I've lived a long time, sir. And the longer I live, the more convincing proofs I see of this truth, that God governs in the affairs of men.
[3:31] God governs in the affairs of men. Over and over in these chapters that we're going to scan through, over 40 times actually, God will use the phrase, I will.
[3:43] God is moving in the lives of the nations. So you're going to have to run around with me in your Bible if you've got it there with you. Go with me to Jeremiah 46. The number one thing we're going to look at is that God will bring attacks on the godless nations.
[3:59] Now, a lot of the book has been written to just blast his own people. He's told Judah over and over, you're going to do right. He's told Jerusalem, you're going to get right. He said, I'm going to punish you.
[4:10] I'm going to deal with this. But in Jeremiah 46.1, he says these words, The word of the Lord, which came to Jeremiah against the Gentiles.
[4:21] Circle that word Gentile. That's the godless ones. That's the pagan ones. You see, as far as God's people are concerned, and as far as God's concerned, Jews have one God, and everybody else is godless.
[4:34] They may claim to have a lot of gods, but if you don't have God, you don't have God. If you don't have God, if you don't have the one God, you have no God. In Jeremiah 46.2, he first says he will judge Egypt.
[4:49] You might want to circle these in your Bible. Against Egypt. Against the army of Pharaoh, Necho, king of Egypt, which by the river Euphrates, which Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, smote in the fourth year.
[5:02] God will judge or judged Egypt. Egypt. He did that the first time, if you recall, when his children were there, when his people were slaves there. And when he came out of Egypt, he destroyed their gods.
[5:15] He destroyed their army. He destroyed a superpower and showed his mighty hand. Because God is bigger than Egypt. And Egypt was the world power of his day.
[5:27] But for us, whenever you're reading the Bible, you know Egypt is a picture of the world. And it's a place where God rescued his people from. They were slaves there.
[5:39] We were slaves in sin. They were mistreated there. We were mistreated in sin. And the God of heaven reached down and got us out of that horrible mistreatment and saved us.
[5:51] But somehow the people of Israel, the people of Judah, constantly remember Egypt as a place of comfort. They keep wanting to go back to that place.
[6:04] Sometimes we as Christians have that same problem. In my first church, I started when I was a grand old age of 23. Had a wonderful man in the church.
[6:14] But he used to like to tell people in the church in his testimony. He'd give testimony. I'd have testimony time. And he was older than me. He's probably 75 now, maybe 80. And he would stand and say, you know, before I got saved, I drank enough alcohol to float this building.
[6:30] And then he would go on and give his testimony. He did it every time. One time I went to him, I said, you know, we're tired of hearing about your alcohol. Just tell us about how good Jesus was. Amen. You know, you don't want to go back.
[6:41] You don't want to know what you were. You want to forget what we were back then. But God brought Babylon to destroy Egypt. Go down to chapter 47 and verse 1 if you would.
[6:53] I'll get you all over these chapters here. But in 47 verse 1, he's going against the Philistines. Philistia. The Philistines, underline that. That's the enemies of God.
[7:04] You've heard about the Philistines all through the Bible. That's where a guy named Goliath came from. He was one of the Philistines. And God destroys that nation in these days and times.
[7:15] And it no longer exists. Chapter 48 verse 1. He goes against Moab. He will judge Moab. The Moabites are the descendants of Lot.
[7:27] Now two groups here. Some will say it all at one time to get it done. You remember what happens with Lot, don't you? Lot's living in Sodom and Gomorrah. Lot's gotten accustomed living in Sodom and Gomorrah. He's gotten into a leadership in Sodom and Gomorrah.
[7:39] He sat in the gate, which is like I was downtown at City Hall. He was probably a councilman or somebody like that in the city. And God sends angels there to say, I'm going to destroy this place.
[7:52] And he snatches that Lot and his family out. And when Lot's wife turns to a pillar of salt. And Lot, that night, first night in the cave, his daughter gets him drunk.
[8:04] And they have relations. And Moab comes out. And the next night, it's the other sister and Ammon. Incestuous relationship.
[8:16] That's how they got here. And they are a symbol of the country of Jordan today. In chapter 49 and verse 1, he goes against Amnon. That's the other guy.
[8:27] Amnon used to like to boast and say that Molech was stronger than the God of Israel. But God will bring judgment on them. Chapter 49 and verse 7, he goes against Edom.
[8:40] Edom, those are the sons of Esau. The nation, the tribe of Esau. Esau is Jacob's older brother. And that's who that refers to.
[8:50] In chapter 49 and verse 23, he goes to Damascus. And he takes Damascus. Chapter 49 and verse 28, he goes to Kedar and Hazor. And that's Saudi Arabia today.
[9:01] In chapter 49 and verse 34, he goes to Elam, which is modern day Iran. And he says to every one of them, I'm against you. I judge you.
[9:12] That's important for several reasons. We're going to leave the attacks and move on. But just listen to this. In those days and times, every country had a God. And so you got a territorial God.
[9:25] You got the Philistines got Baal. Or you might say that the India's got Hinduism. And America's got Christianity. And China's got atheism. And Thailand's got Buddhism.
[9:36] And you kind of act like, well, they all each individually got their God. But there's one God that rises up and says, no, just wait a minute. I am in charge. I am bigger than all the other gods.
[9:49] And the preacher to the nation of Judah stands up and says, my God's got a message for you, king of Egypt. My God's got a message for you, Saudi Arabia.
[10:00] My God's got a message for you, Jordan. Because God is bigger than all of them. Acknowledge the power of God. Know this, God sees the future that's here prophesied that we now know as history.
[10:15] Know this, God moves in the affairs of men. Here's your sentence. You should be thinking more about God and what he's doing rather than what you see on the television and in the newspapers.
[10:29] Wasn't long ago, China sent jets flying out over Taiwan and ships towards Taiwan. That's almost like an Oakland declaration of war.
[10:42] The United States doesn't take as strong a stand as it did just a few weeks ago. And so they think they can get away with that. And there's this little thing that could become a world confrontation.
[10:52] And so if you watch the news, boy, you're going to be like, what's going to happen over there? Or when you hear about North and South Korea, or when you hear about India and China. And there's all these little conflicts going on all the time.
[11:03] And if you keep up with the news, you could get kind of nervous if you didn't know one thing. There's a God in heaven that says, hey, you just listen, country. I'm in charge. I'm going to bring judgment on you.
[11:15] The only security we have is trusting in Jesus who rules above all nations. Remember this, God judges even those who don't claim to be his.
[11:27] Are you ready? God's not a territorial God. God doesn't have a country limit. God doesn't say, I got my power extends all the way to the border of Mexico and all the way up to the border of Canada.
[11:40] God's like, oh no, I got it all. Because I am the God of eternity. I am the creator, God. Second thing I want you to say. First one is he just flat out goes on the attack.
[11:51] The second thing he advises all that there will be no escaping his judgment. As he speaks to every country. And I've gone through and dissected this for you. But you go read it together.
[12:02] Go read it alone. Read with your family and you'll find this out. But here's what he tells them. He said, you will stumble and fall. You see, every country. You got to understand when the God of Judah speaks, every other country is like, wait a minute.
[12:15] Our God is bigger than your God. We can still win this deal. And God says to Jeremiah, you just go ahead and tell him I said this. Time after time you're going to hear Jeremiah say, no, you ain't getting out of it.
[12:26] No, you can't escape. Look, if you would, at Jeremiah chapter 46 and verse 6. Let not the swift flee away, nor the mighty man escape. They shall stumble and fall toward the north by the river Euphrates.
[12:41] You understand what happens? He said, I don't care how fast you can run. I don't care how strong you are. You will stumble. You will fall. Jeremiah chapter 46 and verse 11.
[12:53] He said, go up into Gilead and take balm. Go get some medicine in Gilead, O virgin daughter of Egypt. In vain shalt thou use many medicines.
[13:04] You will not be cured. There is no more balm in Gilead. There's no more going somewhere and getting some medicine and fixing this problem. I won't have it.
[13:16] Now that's shocking to Egypt. In Jeremiah chapter 46 and verse 24. Jeremiah, or excuse me, Egypt is a very secure country.
[13:26] It's basically like telling the American people, tomorrow it will all be destroyed. Tomorrow our country may be on the ground. Tomorrow our biggest cities may be destroyed. Tomorrow they may come and take us captive.
[13:38] We'd all be like, that's a joke. Nobody attacks America. Nobody beats us. We go around the world and fight, but nobody touches us.
[13:49] So look what God said Egypt said. The daughter, chapter 46, verse 24. The daughter of Egypt shall be confounded. Because she shall be delivered into the hand of the people.
[14:01] In Jeremiah chapter 48 and verse 44, he said, if you get out of one problem, you're going to fall in another one. He said, he that flees from the fear shall fall in the pit. And he that gets up out of the pit shall be taken in a snare or a trap.
[14:15] I will bring it upon. I will bring upon it, even upon Moab, the year of visitation. And I would just like to stop. Jeremiah's preaching to nations.
[14:26] If you read the passage of scripture, that's why we're not going to go through it. Because it's just the same thing over and over. And so I'd just be a little bit redundant. God saying, I'm tired of what you're doing.
[14:36] And you're not getting out of it. And everything I'm going to say to you tonight is going to be to all of these different countries. I think there's a big lesson that we need to understand. Men can't escape.
[14:49] And I'll bring this home to us and our families. The Bible says in John 3, 18, he that believes on him is not condemned. But he that believes not is condemned already.
[15:02] Do you understand that men want to escape in the exact same ways? They think they can run. They think they can come up with a solution. The Bible says in John chapter 3 and verse 36, says he that believes hath everlasting life.
[15:16] But he that believes not will not see life. But the wrath of God abides on him. Nothing anyone can do anywhere to save themselves.
[15:27] All are helpless. In Romans chapter 5 and verse 6, he said he saved those that were without strength and those that were ungodly. In Romans chapter 5 and verse 8, he saved them while they were yet sinners.
[15:42] The only answer is to turn to the God of heaven and what Jesus did on the cross at Calvary. I just want you to understand, God has made a clear plan of attack.
[15:53] I'm coming at these countries. But he's also made a clear plan of attack for all human beings. You have sinned against the holy God and you will suffer the consequences if you don't trust Jesus.
[16:05] The second thing is, there's no other way. There's no other name under heaven. No other way that you can be saved but through Jesus. Now go with me if you would to Jeremiah chapter 46 and verse 25.
[16:19] And I want to show you the attitudes and actions that anger God. In the same chapters, he writes and says to all these countries, here's what makes me mad at you.
[16:30] Here's what bothers me about what you're doing in these countries. And by the way, I think all of these are fairly applicable to me and to you if we're not careful. And they're definitely applicable to those who don't know Jesus.
[16:44] The first one was they trusted men and false gods. Look at Jeremiah 46, 25. He said, I will punish the multitude of no, a God, and with their kings and their kings, even Pharaoh and all them that trust in him.
[17:01] Over there in Egypt, Pharaoh's a God. Over there in Egypt, they believe in a man named Pharaoh and they believe he has the power to rescue them.
[17:11] And when the God of Judah says he's going to do something, they're like, you're not that big. Our God's bigger than you. And God said, oh no, I will punish and it'll happen.
[17:23] In Jeremiah chapter 48 and verse 7, they were trusting in their works and their wealth. In chapter 48 and verse 7, it says, For because thou hast trusted in thy works and in thy treasure.
[17:37] Thou hast trusted in thy works and in thy treasures. And he even mentions Chimos, one of their gods. In chapter 49 and verse 4, he said, Why do you glory in the valleys?
[17:50] Trusting in her treasures, saying, who shall come unto me? There's no God that can reach me. No God that can deal with me. No God that can stop my country.
[18:01] These countries were trusting their abilities. They were trusting what their money could do. They were trusting they could find a solution. Hire an army. But how many of us do that? We think, you know, God ain't gonna mess with me.
[18:14] I'm a good person. We think, I got enough money. I'll give enough money. I'll hire enough doctors. In Jeremiah chapter 48 and verse 26, they magnified themselves against God.
[18:25] He said, make ye him drunken. For he magnifies himself against the Lord. He magnifies. People are looking up at God like, now wait a minute. I don't necessarily agree with you.
[18:37] I don't necessarily believe in you. I don't accept that you exist. I definitely don't think you created the world. I think you was a little off target when you decided that it ought to be a man and a woman.
[18:48] I don't agree with you. You can't do that without magnifying yourself. Amen. Who are you to talk to God like that? Who are you to rise up and talk to God like that?
[18:59] In Jeremiah 48, 42, the last phrase says that he had magnified himself against the Lord. They mocked the people of God. They thought they were stronger.
[19:10] In Jeremiah chapter 48 and verse 29, they were proud. The Bible said the pride of Moab. He is exceeding proud. His loftiness, his arrogance, his pride, and the haughtiness of his heart.
[19:26] They looked at God. You got to understand what this amounts to. You got to understand, here's the king of Moab, the country, the Moabites.
[19:39] And he's over there and the king of his people. And this little penny-ante preacher who belongs to a group of people that have been taken captive and have gone to Babylon and the rest of them are down in Egypt right now.
[19:50] And that little guy's writing letters saying, you're going down. And the guy's over here in the other country going, I'm going down. Y'all are already down. You can't talk to me.
[20:02] And Jeremiah's like, it ain't me talking. It's God. I'm just telling you what God said. And he's like, I'm high and mighty. I'm lifted up and I don't care. The question is, are we or our friends doing any of these things that anger God instead of trusting him?
[20:16] How many of us trust academics and men and their false ideas of God? When you doubt creation, you know what you had to do.
[20:32] You had to find it. This one guy wrote a book and said in the beginning he did it. And another guy wrote a book and said in the beginning he didn't do it. And you choose to believe the academic. You choose to believe the man.
[20:44] Or maybe we trust how good we are or what we have done. Or we think we get to decide where God is right and wrong. That's probably one of the biggest sins of modern Christianity.
[20:56] They want to be looking at God and say, we don't agree with you on that. And God's like, excuse me, this is backwards. You don't question me. I question you. You don't tell me. I tell you.
[21:07] Thinking you are bigger and stronger than to need such a small and petty thing as God. God. It's amazing. Sometimes I talk to people and they're like, that's okay. I understand.
[21:18] Weak people need God. And poor people need God. And people with real problems need God. I just don't happen to be one of those. I don't need God to make me feel better.
[21:29] Do you not realize the arrogance of that very thought that comes out of their mouths when they say it? Repent and turn from everything that lifts itself against God.
[21:43] And humbly trust him to forgive you and save you from the consequences of your sin. Go with me if you would down to Jeremiah chapter 46 and verse 27.
[21:54] I want to show you something beautiful now. In the middle of all this angry tirade. And by the way, Jeremiah's writings are not pleasant. You read Jeremiah 46, 47, 48, and 49 and you find out how it's going.
[22:11] But in the middle of that, God assures his people, Judah, that he will take care of them. In the middle of that country's going down and that country's going down and that country's going down.
[22:23] God says to Israel, don't worry. I'm going to take care of y'all. Amen. God says to Judah, don't worry. I'm going to take care of you. Look at Jeremiah chapter 46 and verse 25 and 27.
[22:36] But fear not thou. Don't you be afraid, my servant Jacob. Be not dismayed, O Israel. I know you're hearing all the bad news.
[22:46] I know you're hearing about all the turmoil. I know you're hearing about how Ammon's going down and Moab's going down and Egypt's going down and Jordan's going down and Saudi Arabia's going down. I know you're hearing about all that.
[22:58] But don't you worry, my people. Don't you worry. Verse 27. I will save you from afar off. And I will get you out of the land of captivity.
[23:11] You understand right now, Israel, who's got this great and powerful and almighty God, they're the slaves in Babylon. And they're going to be there a total of 70 years.
[23:22] And Jeremiah is the preacher. And he's been left in Judah while others have gone off. And now he's been down to Egypt. And they're a beaten and a whipped people. And it would be easy to think that, hey, man, the world's falling apart and all of God's people are going to fall apart too.
[23:38] And God said, oh, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. I did not say that. I said the whole world's coming apart, but I'll take care of mine. Jeremiah chapter 46 and verse 27.
[23:50] Jacob shall return. Jacob's going back to his land. And he will rest. And he will be at ease. And none shall make him afraid.
[24:03] None shall make him afraid when Egypt doesn't like him. And Amnon doesn't like him. And Moab doesn't like him. And all these other countries don't like him. He said, don't worry about it.
[24:13] I'm going to take care of my people. Chapter 46 and verse 28. God says, I will make a full end of all the nations, whether I have driven thee.
[24:26] Every country that's taken you captive, every country that's mistreated you, I'm going to kaputz them. I'm taking them out. They mess with my people, and I'm taking them out.
[24:40] I'm going to, I'm taking care of. Then he says, but I will not make a full end of thee. You should underline that.
[24:51] I will not make a full end of thee. Israel, you may have been mistreated. You may have been taken out. You may have been put in other places, but I'm not through with you yet.
[25:02] Thank God for that. But he says this, Israel, mark her down. I'm going to correct you a little bit. Because you hadn't been doing right. You've been living like these pagan countries to the north and the south and the east and the west.
[25:17] And I'm not going to leave you wholly unpunished, verse 28. In the middle of all that's happening, God will correct his people.
[25:29] That's a beautiful thing. You know what it says about the Lord's Supper? When we take the Lord's Supper, he says, God chastens us so he doesn't condemn us with the world.
[25:41] You and I may mess up. And God may give us some swats. And God may get a, we may deal with some difficulties. But he's not going to get rid of us. Can I get an amen there?
[25:51] He's going to say, hey, you messed up and you need a little bit of discipline. And I'll correct you. And I will punish you a little bit. But I ain't getting rid of you. You belong to me. I thank God I belong to Jesus.
[26:03] Amen. I thank God in the middle of all the world chaos, I belong to Jesus. Let this be a time to focus on God and not on politics and news. Let this be a time to get closer to God instead of letting fear drive your life.
[26:19] If God is in charge of all these countries, if God's going to move in all the parts of the world in the book of Jeremiah, you ought to say, I can trust God.
[26:29] But you need to know God will punish us. He will chastise us. Just because of his grace and love, we often treat sin like it's nothing. But God's in the process of purifying me and you and all of his people.
[26:44] Be blessed and rest knowing God will never leave you. Let me give you a real quick application and we'll be done. Here's the number one application. Write this down somewhere.
[26:57] Memorize it. Think about it. God's in charge. Acknowledge his power. You can read the red news or the blue news.
[27:10] You can listen to the talk radio show or the liberal talk radio show. You can listen to the TV station you want to and you'll be all torn up with everything.
[27:21] But as a born again believer who's been through the book of Jeremiah, you'll just back up and say, there's a lot more going on here than you all think. And I don't understand everything. But I know who's in charge of it.
[27:31] And I know him personally. And I trust him. God hates sin and rebellion against him. That's a lesson here. The whole passage is about you guys didn't do right.
[27:42] And I hate it. Except the fact you're not in charge of your own destiny. This may blow your mind. And I don't want to be the one that makes you mad, too mad. But you know what may just happen, boys and girls?
[27:54] Our country may fall. Things may go wrong. A depression may happen. We may lose our homes. We may lose our health. I don't know what's going to happen.
[28:05] But I know this. And all of it, you know the one who's in charge. Trust him. Stand for him. And believe him. And realize this. There is no escape.
[28:16] There's no way out. You can't run from God. Where do you run from the guy who made the place? Where do you run from the guy who owns the place? Where do you run from the guy who can see everywhere on the place?
[28:29] Where do you run when he said, if you go as high as you can go, I'll see you there. And if you go as low as you can go, I'll be there when you get there. Where do you go to find that? Examine your heart and make sure who you're trusting.
[28:42] I would like to talk to you as a pastor just to say it. Not just explaining Jeremiah. Who are you trusting right now? Let's not trust presidents or ex-presidents.
[28:57] Senators or congressmen. Or governors or governments. Let's not trust laws or lawyers. Let's trust Jesus. I don't know what's going to happen.
[29:08] I hope and pray it stays as good as it's always been. But I know this. He never changes. I'd like to say this. Relax knowing God takes care of his own.
[29:21] I don't know what's going to happen. Just a wild one to throw in to you before I quit. In the book of Revelation, you know about the mark of the beast, but maybe you don't know he marks his too.
[29:33] Jesus marks his. So it's not like the devil says, I got my crowd. Jesus says, well, I got mine too. And he marks him and he takes care of him and he seals him. Do you know God's going to take care of us?
[29:45] I do not know what's going to happen. But I know this. Sometimes we trust too much in news. And sometimes we get too worked up about things that aren't important.
[29:57] What's important is, are you going to go to heaven when you die? And if it all ended tomorrow, what about your family? What about your neighbors?
[30:09] What's important is, how is my relationship with the Lord Jesus? Father God in heaven, I pray you'd work now. I pray you'd draw us closer to you.
[30:20] I pray you'd help us understand you're in charge. And I pray you'd help us acknowledge your power. And then God, I pray that as Christians, we just trust you. God, I'll give you praise and honor and glory for what you do.
[30:33] And I pray you'd help your people tonight. That they would look to you and believe you and expect you to do great things.