Please turn to Jeremiah.
You're going to need a Bible tonight.
So if you haven't got a Bible, greeters are there.
!
And it's grown.
I think there are probably about 50-odd, 60-odd there this morning.
So I'm lots to be thankful for.
Thank you for your prayers.
This week, Jeremiah 7 to 10.
And next week, Jeremiah 11 to 15.
So that's your homework.
Jeremiah chapter 11 to 15.
I've had to prepare this sermon and slave over it and work hard at it.
Jeremiah, on the other hand, is given a sermon.
God dictates it to him.
And it is an absolute belter, as you'd expect.
Interestingly, the sermon is not preached straight away.
We're going to have to wait until chapter 26 until he delivers it.
But in Jeremiah's collected works, really, it's included to back up the impact of chapters 2 to 6.
Because Jeremiah wants to convince his initial hearers and the hearers that are in Babylon in exile,
and to convince us of this very simple truth.
That religion kills, but God gives life.
And that is the message of Jeremiah 7 to 10, really.
Religion kills, but God gives life.
Chapter 7, verse 1 to 8, verse 3 revolves around that first part.
Religion kills.
And one of the interesting things about Jeremiah, especially in these early chapters,
is how poetry and prose is mixed up.
There's the roller coaster of really intense poetry, of chapter 2 to 6.
But in chapter 7, you get gentle prose in order to kind of calm us all down.
And look at how it begins.
The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord.
Stand in the gate of the Lord's house and proclaim there this word,
and say, hear the word of the Lord, all you men of Judah who enter these gates to worship the Lord.
And God gives Jeremiah the sermon to preach.
He says, go to the turnstiles of the temple, where you'll have maximum impact.
Go to the welcoming door, and where people mill around, where people go in and people leave.
And the message of this sermon is, verse 3, religion kills.
Amend your ways and your deeds, and I will let you dwell in this place.
Do not trust in these deceptive words.
This is the temple of the Lord.
The temple of the Lord.
That was the religious mantra of the day.
That the temple is indestructible, inviolable.
And therefore, we're secure.
And Jeremiah says, it's deadly.
Anyway, back in the days of Hezekiah, when the Assyrians had threatened God,
threatened God's people, God had said this to them.
He said, thus says the Lord concerning the king of Syria,
he shall not come into the city, nor shoot an arrow there,
or come before it with a shield, or cast a siege mount against it.
By the way that he came, by the same he shall return.
And he will not come into the city, declares the Lord,
for I will defend the city to save it for my own sake and for the sake of my servant David.
And that promise had been turned into a national slogan.
God has always defended the temple, and he always will.
Except he won't.
And no amount of repeating that slogan will make any difference.
According to verse 8, they are deceptive words, and they need to amend their ways.
And if they don't, their religion will kill them.
It's one of the things that's most surprising about the Bible,
that it is so anti-religion.
From the beginning to the end, the Bible exposes human religious activity,
whether they're talking about doing the right thing, or going to the right place,
or saying the right words without reference to God.
He says it is toxic to people like you and I.
And in this case, the focus falls on treasuring the temple as the symbol of God's sponsorship of his people.
Their underlying attitude was, we've got the temple, we are the people of God,
so we can live any way we like, but God says, think again.
Now, I should warn you that Jeremiah's sermon is not a happy sermon.
And the logic of the chapter is that spiritual hypocrisy,
which flows out of spiritual deafness, will lead to spiritual death.
Chapter 7, verse 5, God addresses their spiritual hypocrisy head on.
He says,
And it seems that they are showing up to the temple like model Jews,
but at home they're deceiving each other.
They exploit the vulnerable.
They worship other gods.
In other words, they are hypocrites.
Now, there is a sense, isn't there, that we're all hypocrites.
And we'll never escape that.
There's always going to be some disconnect between what we say and what we do.
And we need to face that truth about ourselves and be quick to admit it.
The fact that we have been joined to the Lord Jesus,
and yet are still sinful,
means that we never quite manage to live up to what we say.
But there's another sense in which we need to take very, very seriously
the fact that hypocrisy is ultimately fatal.
We can never just dismiss hypocrisy as an unfortunate part of the human condition
between now and the new creation.
Hypocrisy in the Bible, particularly spiritual hypocrisy,
is the ultimate sign that all is not well with our walk with the Lord.
And what the Lord tells Jeremiah to say to his people,
look with me at verse 8,
Behold, you trust in deceptive words to no avail.
Will you steal, murder, commit adultery, swear falsely?
Make offerings to Baal.
Will you go after other gods that you've not known?
And then you come and you stand before me in this house,
which is called by my name,
and you say,
we are delivered.
Only you go on doing those abominations.
Has this house,
which is called by my name,
become a den of robbers in your eyes?
Behold, I myself have seen it,
declares the Lord.
Your lives give you away.
You're living a double life.
You've made the temple a hideout for criminals.
Can't you see that?
And that's the problem, isn't it, with spiritual hypocrisy.
It's always painfully obvious to other people,
but it's so difficult to spot in ourselves.
Why is that?
Think about that.
It's because spiritual hypocrisy is caused by spiritual deafness,
which is what makes it so difficult to hear,
when other people,
and even God himself,
are shouting hypocrite at us.
There's nothing subtle about Jeremiah.
Look at verse 13.
Now,
because you've done all these things,
declares the Lord,
when I spoke to you persistently,
you did not listen,
and when I called you,
you did not answer.
Therefore,
I will do to the house that is called by my name,
and in which you trust,
and to the place I gave to you and your fathers,
as I did to Shiloh.
And I will cast you out of my sight,
as I cast all your kinsmen,
all the offspring of Ephraim.
He's saying,
just as
God's chosen place in Shiloh,
it was closed down,
because of the corruption of Eli's sons,
and just as the land of Israel fell to the Assyrians,
now the temple of the Lord is going to go the same way.
Ignoring God leads to pretense,
which leads to judgment.
And that is just the way it is.
Back in the beginning,
God had freely given,
and graciously given,
and chosen Israel as his people,
as his son.
Not because of any goodness in them,
but because he loved them.
He said he would come,
and make his presence obvious,
that he would live right at the center of their national life.
He spelled out for them,
do you remember in great detail,
how they would live a beautiful life with him.
And all Israel had to do was listen,
and obey,
and they would be blessed.
And they would delight in life with God himself.
But they wouldn't listen.
And instead,
they got religious.
Chapter 7, verse 22,
For in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt,
I did not speak to your fathers,
or command them,
considering burnt offerings or sacrifices,
but this command I gave them,
listen to my voice.
And I will be your God,
and you shall be my people,
and walk in all the ways that I command you,
that it may be well with you.
But verse 24,
they didn't obey,
they didn't incline their ear,
it's the same word, listen,
but they walked in their own counsel,
the stubbornness of their heart.
And they went backwards, not forward.
From the day that your fathers came out of the land of Egypt to this day,
I persistently sent all my servants,
the prophets, to them day after day,
yet you did not listen to me,
or incline your ear.
Verse 27,
So you shall speak all these words to them,
but they will not listen to you.
Verse 28,
And you shall say to them,
this is the nation that did not listen to the voice of the Lord their God,
and did not accept discipline.
Truth has perished,
it's cut off from their lips.
God says to them,
you need to read your Bible in the right order.
You need to go to Exodus 20,
Deuteronomy 4,
because the basic model of following me is listening.
Listening to God's word,
and everything else flows from that.
We listen,
and then we obey.
In every detail of life,
and that includes sacrifice,
but religion just does not listen.
It runs straight to the empty conveniences of religious ritual.
I hope you can see the issue here.
Spiritual deafness leads inevitably to spiritual hypocrisy,
and then it will lead to spiritual death.
And that explains chapter 7,
verse 16,
and following where Jeremiah says these awful words.
Look at verse 16,
As for you,
do not pray for this people,
or lift up a cry or prayer for them,
and do not intercede for me,
for I will not hear you.
Do you not see what you're doing
in the cities of Judah
and in the streets of Jerusalem?
The children gather wood,
the fathers kindle fire,
the women need dough
to make cakes for the queen of heaven,
the queen of heaven.
And they pour out drink offerings to other gods
to provoke me to anger.
Is it I they provoke,
declares the Lord?
Is it not themselves to their own shame?
Therefore,
thus says the Lord God,
behold,
my anger and my wrath
will be poured out on this place.
God says,
there's no point praying now.
The die is cast.
And God has promised blessing
if you will listen,
but if you refuse to listen,
he promises curse.
And God is doing what he promised.
So do not pray to me
asking me to do what I've not promised to do,
God says.
Spiritual deafness
leads to spiritual hypocrisy,
which in turn leads to spiritual death.
And God tells Jeremiah,
make the point with brutal force
in what is left of this little sermon.
They're to call in,
verse 29,
the bald, mourning woman.
Cut off your hair,
cast it away,
raise a lamentation on the bare heights,
for the Lord has rejected and forsaken
this generation of his wrath.
Psalm verse 30,
the spiritual death of exile is on the way.
They've set their detestable things
in the house that's called by my name
to defile it.
They've built the high places in Topheth,
which is a fire pit,
which is in the valley of the son of Hortinum,
to burn their sons and their daughters in the fire,
which I did not command,
nor did it even come into my mind.
There's dead bodies everywhere,
verses 32 and 33.
But worse is to come.
Chapter 8 is one of the darkest passages
in the whole of the Bible.
Judah's fate is sealed.
The bones of the kings of Judah,
the bones of its officials,
the bones of the priests,
the bones of the prophets,
and the bones of the inhabitants of Jerusalem
shall be brought out of their tombs.
And they shall be spread before the sun and the moon
and all the hosts of heaven,
which they've loved and served,
which they've gone after,
and which they've sought and worshipped.
And they shall be gathered or burned.
They shall not be gathered or burned,
and they shall be as dung on the surface of the ground.
Death shall be preferred to life
by all the remnant that remains of this evil family
in all the places where I've driven them,
declares the Lord of hosts.
Do you get the point?
It's really simple.
Spiritual hypocrisy begins with spiritual deafness,
and in the end it leads to spiritual death.
And that's God's sermon outline to Jeremiah.
We're going to find out how it played out
when he preached it.
You can probably guess how it played out.
I wonder how it played out
to those who were actually in exile,
to those who are reflecting on their experience
a generation and a half later.
But what has it got to do with us today?
So the first application is really obvious, isn't it?
Are you spiritually deaf?
Because spiritual deafness is a condition
that persists this side of Jesus' coming.
You don't need to tell me,
you don't need me to tell you
that it's more than possible
to be a follower of the Lord Jesus
and to be exposed to the Word of God
and not pay the blindest bit of attention to it.
It's possible to get out of the bed in the morning
to congratulate yourself
that you've opened up your Bible
and to allow your eye to range over the page
without hearing and believing the Word of God.
It's possible to sit through church,
allowing God speaking into our lives
without realizing that it's actually God
who speaks to us
and about us.
And then we have a spiritual hearing problem.
And if we don't address
our spiritual hearing problem,
in the end,
it will lead into full-blown spiritual deafness,
which in turn
will produce all kinds of complications.
And is this the pressing need
that you and I need to address?
Because act quickly.
Because spiritual deafness
will inevitably,
and it will quickly lead
to spiritual hypocrisy
if you don't do anything about it.
It's spiritual deafness
which allows you and I
to have an inflated view of ourselves.
It's spiritual deafness
that creates the context
where we can start to deceive ourselves.
And see,
if we aren't hearing God speak,
what does God do when he speaks?
He corrects,
he shapes us,
he exposes us,
he humbles us,
he straightens out our thinking.
And if we refuse to hear him,
sooner or later,
we start to believe our own publicity
about ourselves.
We start thinking about ourselves
more highly than we ought
and gradually we start judging other people
by the measure of our own
incredibly high standard.
And we become smug and pharisaical
and high-handed and hard-hearted.
And our antenna becomes finely tuned
to detect the sins of others,
but it's oblivious for our own.
And it stinks.
And so I hope you know
that nothing does more damage
to the church
than the corrosive stench of hypocrisy.
You see,
the problem with spiritual deafness
is this,
it's progressive.
You don't wake up one day
and suddenly you're spiritually deaf.
It gradually happens,
doesn't it?
And the thing is this,
as we stop listening,
it becomes harder and harder to listen.
And so it becomes easier and easier
to continue in our hypocrisy.
The more that we ignore God,
the easier it is to ignore God
and we do damage to ourselves.
And the easier it becomes to dissipate.
It's not rocket science.
And so,
children,
your parents,
they tell you this,
I hope,
that the more that you sin,
the easier it becomes to sin.
It's why mum and dad,
they want to correct you,
they want to stop you in your tracks
while it's beginning,
because the more you sin,
the easier it becomes to sin.
And so,
children and young people,
you need to know
that it's not just for you,
it's for us as well.
The pastor who calls his people
to repentance and faith,
but he refuses to apologise
to his family for anything.
The youth group leader
who desperately wants
to disciple the young people
and yet he thinks
he's got nothing to learn.
The husband who insists
that his wife submit to him,
but he's actually got no,
interest in submitting
to the Lord Jesus.
The elder who rails
against the immorality of society,
but secretly is addicted to porn.
The friend who prides herself
on loyalty,
but she'll use any confidence
for her own interests.
The young person who prays
that her friends
will come to know
the Lord Jesus,
but she indulges in gossip
about others.
Hypocrisy comes in many forms
and many guises,
but it's dangerous
and we may have slipped
into that.
And so many of us
are really skilled manipulators,
aren't they?
You know what to say to me,
I know what to say to you,
and we can hide the reality
of our hearts really easily.
And so tonight
would be a great time
to come clean before God.
Because let me tell you this,
spiritual hypocrisy
will end up in only one place,
and you are dicing
with spiritual death tonight,
if that's you.
And so these issues,
according to the Lord Jesus,
they're not small issues,
are they?
This kind of pretense
imperils your very soul.
And I don't think
it's wrong to say this,
that actually this is,
in many ways,
the dominant note
of Jesus' ministry,
isn't it?
Nowhere does this note
of the danger of hypocrisy
sound more clearly
than in Luke 18.
Jesus told this parable
to some who trusted in themselves
and that they were righteous
and they treated others
with contempt.
There's two men
who went up to the temple
to pray.
One was a Pharisee
and the other a tax collector.
And the Pharisee stood by himself
and he prayed,
God, I thank you
that I'm not like other men.
I'm pretty decent.
I'm not an extortioner.
I'm not unjust and adulterer.
I'm not like this tax collector.
I fast twice a week.
I give a tithe of all I get.
But the tax collector,
he stood at a far off
in a distance
and he wouldn't even lift up
his eyes to heaven.
And he beat his breast
and he said,
God, be merciful to me,
a sinner.
And Jesus says,
I tell you that this man
went home to his house
justified right with God
rather than the other.
For everyone who exalts himself
will be humbled
and the one who humbles himself
will be exalted.
Religion kills.
And spiritual deafness
leads to spiritual hypocrisy,
which leads to spiritual death.
And this is a hard message
to preach
and it's a hard message
to hear.
And one of the effects
of religion
is the hardness
against anyone
who exposes
our pretense.
And so what happened
to Jeremiah
is what ultimately
happened to the Lord Jesus.
Why did the Pharisees
and the religious leaders
kill Jesus?
Because his message
was exactly the same
as Jeremiah.
Religion kills,
but secondly,
only God gives life.
And that takes us
to the second movement
of the section
from 8.4 to 10.25.
And the gentle prose
of the temple sermon
in 7.1 to 8.3,
well, you're back
to the poetry,
searing poetry.
of Jeremiah
in chapter 8 to 10.
Initially,
the focus
is on the fact
that,
well, let's look,
according to 8.4,
that people get up
when they fall down
and come back
when they go away,
but not Israel.
Verse 5.
Why then has this people
turned away
in perpetual,
continual backsliding?
They hold fast to deceit,
they refuse to return.
Even the stork in heaven,
the birds knows their times,
the turtle dove
that swallow the crane,
they keep the time
in their coming,
but my people
know not
the rules of the Lord.
Verse 8,
God's people say,
we're wise
and the law
of the Lord
is with us,
but verse 9,
they've rejected
the word of the Lord.
So what wisdom
is in them?
Disaster is approaching.
The leaders of Israel
are delusional.
Look at verse 11,
they've healed the wound
of my people lightly,
saying peace,
peace,
when there is no peace.
Were they ashamed
when they committed
abomination?
No,
they were not at all ashamed.
They didn't know
how to blush.
And when catastrophe
looms in chapter 8,
verse 14,
they're apparently
taken in their stride.
Why do we sit still?
Let us gather together.
Let us go down the pub.
Let's go into the
fortified cities
and perish there.
For the Lord,
our God,
has doomed us to perish
and he's given us
poison water to drink
because we've sinned
against the Lord.
Let's just die now.
And what effect
does this have
on Jeremiah,
verse 18?
My joy is gone.
Grief is upon me.
My heart is sick
within me.
Behold,
the cry of the daughter
of my people
from the length
and breadth of the land
is the Lord
not in Zion.
Is her king
not in her?
Don't worry.
It's okay.
God is on our side.
Why have you
provoked me to anger
with their carved image
and their foreign gods?
The harvest has passed.
The summer has ended
and we are not saved.
What is God doing?
But as the inevitable comes,
it breaks Jeremiah's heart.
For the wound
of the daughter
of my people
is my heart wounded.
I mourn
and dismay
has taken hold of me.
He says,
is there no balm
in Gilead?
Is there no physician
there?
Why then
is the health
of my people
not being restored?
The problem
isn't that healing
is unavailable
for the people
of Judah
and there's plentiful
supplies
in the ancient
chemist's warehouse.
That was filled
but Israel
refuses to ask
for help.
So Jeremiah
laments
chapter 9
verse 1.
I don't know
whether you notice
something strange
there.
Chapter 8
and verse 18
it's really clear
that it's Jeremiah
that is bemoaning
the state of God's people.
He's preaching
and yet by the end
of his sermon
it is God's words.
It seems that
the words of the prophet
and the words of the Lord
have morphed.
Jeremiah's words
are Yahweh's words
and vice versa.
Jeremiah's pain
is the Lord's pain.
Jeremiah's longings
are the Lord's longings.
Both God
and his prophet
care for his people
to come back.
And so
if I say this reverently
we see God
up close
and personal
in the ministry
of Jeremiah.
The emotional temperature
continues to rise
and Yahweh
and his prophet
they expose
the sin
of the people
and the inevitable
response from God
chapter 9
verse 6
he being oppression
upon oppression
deceit upon deceit
they refuse to know
he declares the Lord.
Therefore thus says
the Lord of hosts
behold I will
refine them
and test them.
Verse 9
shall I not punish them?
Verse 11
I'll make Jerusalem
a heap of ruins
a lair of jackals
and I'll make the cities
of Judah
a destruction
without an inhabitant.
And then chapter 9
verse 12
well you've got another
calm and collected
prose section
and it sums up
the situation
who is the man
so wise
that he can understand this?
To whom has the mouth
of the Lord spoken
that he may declare it?
Why is the land ruined?
Well because
verse 13
because they forsaken
my law
that I've set before them
they've not obeyed by voice
or walked in accord with it
they've stubbornly
followed their own hearts
and have gone after the Baals
as their fathers taught.
Therefore thus says
the Lord of hosts
the God of Israel
behold I'll feed this people
with bitter food
and give them poisonous water
I'm going to scatter them
among the nations
and I'll set the sword
after them
until I've consumed them
and at this point
the mourning women
come again
verse 17 to 22
the sad ladies
have sung
and it looks like
it's all over.
And at this point
you can be forgiven
of thinking
I thought the second point
of this passage
was only God brings life
doesn't sound it.
I don't know what you feel
listening to these sermons
I can tell you what I feel
preparing them
it makes me
want to yell
okay
I get it
stop
enough
there's no
new information here
it's the same thing
over and over
and over again
announce the spiritually deaf people
until we get to chapter 9
verses 23 and 24
you know these beautiful verses
I hope
look at them
chapter 9
verse 23 to 24
let not the wise man
boast in his wisdom
let not the mighty man
boast in his might
let not the rich man
boast in his riches
but let him who boasts
boast in this
that he understands
and knows me
that I am the Lord
who practices
steadfast covenant love
justice and righteousness
on the earth
for in these things
I delight to
praise the Lord
and at this point
God strides
like a colossus
onto the centre stage
and he dominates
the rest of this long section
Jeremiah urges his people
choose God
because no one
and nothing
compares to him
let him who boasts
boast in this
and he understands
and knows me
and so
you do know
don't you
I hope that
there's a sense
in which all our deficiencies
and all our struggles
in life
can be traced back
to this one question
all our issues
in life
boil down to this
one question
do we
know
God
because it's the knowledge
of God
that can stop us
in our tracks
it is God himself
who can wean us
off all
inferior pleasures
it's God himself
who shows us
the emptiness
of every other oath
it's the knowledge
of God
which draws us
to faith and repentance
it's the knowledge
of God
which softens our heart
and puts steel
in our backbone
and that is why
God himself
towers over these chapters
it's God
who will judge
every nation
that's uncircumcised
chapter 9
25 to 27
it's God
who in chapter 10
mocks all superstition
and their idols
it's an amazing
I don't know
whether he picked it up
look at chapter 10
verse 1
their idols
are like scarecrows
in a cucumber field
and they cannot speak
they're going to be carried
for they cannot walk
don't be afraid of them
they can't do evil
neither it's in them
to do good
at which point
Jeremiah warms
to his theme
he's a brilliant preacher
there's none like you
oh Lord
you are great
your name is great
in might
who would not fear
you oh king of the nations
for this is your due
for among all the wise
ones of the nations
and in all their kingdoms
there is none like you
and not to acknowledge you
and not to acknowledge God
is both stupid and foolish
verse 10
but the Lord is the true God
he's the living God
and the everlasting king
and his wrath
the earth quakes
and the nations
cannot endure
his indignation
verse 12
it is he who made the earth
by his power
verse 13
when he edits his voice
there's a tumult of waters
in the heavens
and he makes the mist rise
he makes lightning
it's not difficult
but it is relentless
and Jeremiah is driving home
this really simple truth
that God
is God
and you are not
verse 14
it's really
seeker sensitive language
every man is stupid
and without knowledge
every goldsmith
is put to shame
by their idols
verse 16
not like these
is he who is the portion
of Jacob
for he is the one
who formed all things
the Lord of hosts
is his name
only God can give Israel
hope and a future
and yes
chapter 10
verse 18
there is going to be
judgment in the short term
they're going to be
slung out the land
but it's not
a permanent reaction
it's a huge blow
but it's the wound
of a lover
Jeremiah cries out
in verse 19
again
woe is me
because my hurt
my wound is grievous
but I say truly
this is an affliction
and I must bear it
the invading forces
approach 1022
Jeremiah affirms
that it's in God alone
they can find hope
I know oh Lord
for the way of man
is not in himself
that it's not in man
who walks
the directest steps
correct me oh Lord
but in justice
not in your anger
lest you bring me
to nothing
pour out your wrath
but rescue me
and as passages
we read this
we find that they're moving
and they're compelling
they're heart wrenching
appeals
for people like
you and I
to come home to God
in repentance
and faith
so there is something
isn't there
absolutely exhausting
about Jeremiah
because in chapter
after chapter
it is hammered home
to people like you
and I
that religion kills
but only God
gives life
and the not listening
to God
can only end up
in one place
and so I hope
that this book
is growing on you
like it's grown on me
because in the fabric
of this book
we see God's
overarching purpose
the reason why
it's in the Bible
is to prepare us
for the arrival
of one
who came to a temple
and when he came
to a temple
he saw that it again
had become
do you remember
a den of thieves
and robbers
and one who came
to speak truth
to those who have
years to hear
and one who came
to confront
spiritual hypocrisy
in all its ugliness
and one who said
of Jerusalem
O Jerusalem
Jerusalem
the city
that kills
the prophet
and stones
those who are
sent to it
how often
I would have
gathered your
children together
as a hen
gathers her brood
under her wings
but you were not
willing
behold
your house
is forsaken
and I tell you
you will not see me
until you say
blessed is he
who comes
in the name
of the Lord
you see
Jeremiah's experience
is played out
for us
in overwhelming
detail
so that we might
hear the voice
of the one
who is to come
and says
all things
have been handed
over to me
by my father
and no one
knows the son
except the father
and no one
knows the father
except the son
and anyone
the son chooses
to reveal him to
who says
to you tonight
come to me
all you
who labor
and are heavy laden
and I will
give you rest
take my yoke
upon you
and learn from me
from gentle
and lowly
in heart
and you will
find rest
for yourselves
and my yoke
is easy
and my burden
is light
and one
who comes
and says
to you
I have come
that you may
have life
and you might
have it to the
full
and the message
of these chapters
is actually
relatively simple
religion kills
but God
gives life
and I wonder
tonight
as you sit
there
that your
greatest need
and my
greatest need
is to come
back
and to start
to boast
in him
once more
because let
not the
wise man
boast in
his wisdom
or the
mighty man
in his
might
and let
not the
rich man
boast in
his riches
but let
him who
boasts
boast in
this
that he
understands
and knows
me
and that
is the
word that
you need
to hear
and that
is the
word that
I need
to hear
let's pray