Kindling the Wrath of God

As Taryn said earlier, my name is Matt, and I'm one of the pastoral interns here at Trinity Cambridge,

and I'm excited to bring you the word of the Lord this morning in Sean's absence.

He is down in Egg Harbor, New Jersey, South Jersey, at a church that is a fairly new—

it's not a new church, but it's new to Sovereign Grace.

So they came on board with Sovereign Grace a few years ago,

and are just loving the connection with Sovereign Grace and other churches.

They were down there kind of alone, so to be connected with other churches, other bodies of Christ.

I know that they've ministered to Sean in their prayers, in their conversations, in their reaching out.

So Sean's down there and doing that for them, preaching for them, and blessing them in that way.

So pray for him as you think about that this morning.

And before I preach this morning, I want to commend you guys and your coming and listening to the word on an ongoing basis.

God has truly blessed Trinity Cambridge Church, and it isn't something that is about us, but it's his choice to bless us.

And we thank him. We thank him first and primarily.

But I commend you guys for coming back each week and seeking to follow the word of the Lord.

You want to hear what the Lord has to say, and you want to line your life up with what he has to say.

And so I just want to encourage you to keep doing that.

Keep going after Christ. Keep going after his word and what he says.

I love hearing stories about how you guys talk about what has been preached on in your community groups and how you connect with one another.

And I'm just encouraged to see it, and I want you guys to keep it up. It's an awesome thing.

So this morning, before I start, there's one more thing.

I had a message that was almost to completion, close to the end of the week, and God had a different plan.

And so he chose to kind of do a makeover on where I was going.

So if there's times that I pause, it's because things are a little different than what I started out with a few weeks ago.

So don't let that be a discouragement, but an encouragement because the Lord is at work.

He had a message that was different than what I originally had.

So to me, that says that there's something that he wants to hit on this morning to encourage and to correct us.

So take that as a good thing and not necessarily a bad thing as we dig in.

So this morning, we're going to be looking at Jeremiah chapter 43.

Jeremiah 43 · chapter mention

We're going to finish up chapter 43 that we hit last week, and we're going to go up until the end of 45.

And our main thought, our main theme, our sentence that we're going to hold on to this morning as we go through this passage is this.

That God provides salvation and hope from the separation and judgment that sin produces.

We're going to say that a few times as we go through the message.

But God provides salvation and hope where separation and judgment comes from sin.

So the three areas that we're going to hit this morning as we look through these chapters is sin's futility, sin's persistence, and its balance with God's patience.

So we're going to see those side by side as we look through the chapters.

And then finally, God's judgment and hope.

God's judgment and hope.

God's judgment and hope.

So last week, I'll leave that up for a little bit.

Last week, we stopped halfway through chapter 43.

And where we left off was the remaining remnant of Judah had asked Jeremiah for a word of the Lord.

And they even went as far as to say whatever the Lord comes back and answers.

Whatever he says, we're going to do it.

And we know that that wasn't really their heart attitude.

They had no desire to truly follow what God said unless God was saying what they wanted to do.

That's what they were looking for.

God says, stay where you are.

And they went to Egypt.

He says, I'll protect you and make you something here where you remain.

And they didn't believe God.

And they went to Egypt.

And they took Jeremiah and Baruch with them.

So that leads us up to verse 8, chapter 43.

Let's read a few verses together this morning.

Verse 8.

Then the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah and Tappanese.

Take in your hands large stones and hide them in the mortar in the pavement that is in the entrance to Pharaoh's palace in Tappanese.

In the sight of the men of Judah and say to them,

Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel.

Behold, I will send and take Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, my servant.

And I will set his throne above these stones that I have hidden.

And he will spread his royal canopy over them.

He shall come and strike the land of Egypt, giving over to pestilence, those who are doomed to pestilence.

And to captivity, those who are doomed to captivity.

And to the sword, those who are doomed to the sword.

So the first thing we're going to look at this morning is the sin's futility.

What causes sin to fall short?

What causes sin to be futile?

And where does it leave us when we follow that?

Futility, taken from the Latin word that means leaks.

So when something leaks, it's useless.

It's of no good.

If we have a gallon of something and it leaks, then it's futile.

Our efforts to try to use it to hold something, to store something, just isn't, it's useless.

It's of no good.

So we're going to look at the no goodness of sin this morning.

And how the people of Judah wrestled with that.

So the people of Judah, they are now taking up residence in Egypt.

They've ignored the word of the Lord.

And they've sought to save themselves.

So God tells Jeremiah to paint this picture for him.

He says, I want you to take large stones.

I want you to put it in the entrance of Pharaoh's palace.

So God is bringing Nebuchadnezzar here.

And he's going to come and own this place.

This is the place where they came for safety and protection.

And God's telling them it's not going to happen.

Verses 12 and 13.

We see that God is the one that's behind what's going on.

He says, I shall kindle a fire in the temples of the gods.

And he shall burn them and carry them away captive.

And he shall clean the land of Egypt.

As shepherds clean his cloak of vermin.

And he shall go away from there in peace.

He shall break the obelichs of Heliopolis.

This is in the land of Egypt.

And the temples of the gods of Egypt he shall burn.

So notice who is in the lead role here in what's going on.

That is God.

Verse 10 says, I will send and take Nebuchadnezzar.

Then later on, I will set up his throne.

Then we look down at verse 12.

I shall kindle a fire in the temples.

So we see that Nebuchadnezzar is doing the action.

But it is God who's doing the leading.

He's doing the empowering.

The orchestrating of all of it.

Think of it like a rocket that's set to destroy something.

So Nebuchadnezzar is the rocket.

But God is the fuel.

He's the mission control behind where that rocket is going.

And what it is set to destroy.

It's God's plan.

He's the one in control.

In the middle of verse 12, it says,

As a shepherd cleans his cloak of vermin.

And just to define what that is,

It is in times where the shepherd is spending days walking through the fields.

He has a coat on for warmth and protection.

And as he goes through the fields, his coat picks up vermin.

So insects, ticks, lice.

So here is a picture of a shepherd pulling off these unwanted insects.

As he seeks to keep himself clean and void of all these things.

And that's the description that God gives of Nebuchadnezzar coming into the land.

He will come in.

He's going to take what he wants.

He's going to destroy what he doesn't.

And then he's going to go away satisfied with what he sees.

So in this passage, we see the destruction that's going to take place.

But there's something more important here.

And that is the futility of sin.

See, everything that the Judeans are working for and trying to achieve is going to be destroyed.

Right?

They seek a place to live.

They seek to build their family.

They seek to build possessions.

But they're seeking it in a land that God says, I'm going to destroy.

All their worshiping and sacrifices is in vain.

And why is that?

Because it's not according to God's plan.

It's on their own plan.

See, they were chosen for a purpose.

We know this.

But just to recount it again, they were called out by God.

They were called for a purpose.

But instead of listening and following God, sought after their own desires and their own plans.

And as we're thinking about plans this morning, whose plans is it that ultimately matter?

It's not our plans.

It's God's plans.

So we're going to talk about this in a little bit.

But when we base things on a plan that is futile or that changes or is not stable, then what does that mean for all that's set upon that?

Have you ever spent time doing something?

Maybe a project.

A paper for school.

Cleaning something.

Fixing something up for someone.

Maybe making a meal.

Only to find out that the reason you were doing that, the plans behind it, had changed.

Maybe schedules changed.

Maybe the person said, oh, I don't need that anymore.

I bought my own.

Or can't come over.

Things happened.

What happens is what you planned on changed.

And it made the work that you did, it basically renders it useless.

Now, there's some situations, obviously, where you could still use what you did.

But the idea is when we do things based on plans and assumptions and goals that are empty and void,

then those things are going to leave us empty and void.

And the same thing can be said about sin.

That example wasn't sin related, but the same things happen with sin.

Sin is futile.

This is based on our plans and our desires.

So that's what sin is.

Sin is when we are disobeying God's command.

Sin is futile.

So, we see from this passage that their futility of sin falls short.

We see that following sin and running after us leaves us wanting and separated from God.

That's exactly what happened to the people of Judah.

See, they were looking for protection.

They were looking for prosperity.

And they were looking for peace.

These are the things that God, the provider of all things, promised his people.

Protection.

A nation that was protected from other nations.

Prosperity.

God promised them a family, a generation that could not be numbered.

Lands.

Animals.

He blessed them.

And we saw that earlier in the Old Testament.

And peace.

Peace from other nations.

From wars.

From having the promised land.

And being able to settle there and be at peace with what God gave them.

That's what God promised.

He needed a people who were obedient to him.

But the problem is, there can't be a relationship between the God of Israel.

The God that called his people out.

There can't be a relationship if instead of following after God, they're following after idols.

It's a lopsided relationship.

It's a relationship.

And it dishonors God in his name when his people are running away from him in sin.

So we see that the people of Judah turned away from the true God.

And they try to find salvation through the gods of Egypt.

Those are the very things that God, in this passage, is setting his rocket, his missile of Nebuchadnezzar on.

He's looking to destroy the people of Egypt, the land of Egypt, the people of Judah, and the gods that they're all following.

That's what happens.

They were looking for protection.

They were looking for prosperity and peace from the false gods.

And in the end, they were left with nothing because what they were setting them on was futile.

Well, the next point that we're going to look at this morning is sin's persistence.

There's one thing that we can easily pick up from these passages is this ongoing sin.

And while we're looking at that, we're also going to be highlighting areas of God's patience.

We know from the many chapters that we've gone through so far that God is patient.

God is long-suffering.

God continues to give the people of Judah a chance over and over again to repent and come and follow him.

And they don't.

Last week, we saw a chance to repent when God told them to stay in Egypt.

They didn't listen.

At the beginning of our passage this morning, God tells them of the destruction that's coming.

He's bringing Nebuchadnezzar.

They have an opportunity to repent to God, but they were made there.

They remained where they were in their sin, and they continued on.

So let's pick things up at chapter 44 and read this section.

Actually, we read the first 10 verses, so let's hold off on that.

Does this keep dropping out?

Is this okay?

Okay.

The section that we read in the beginning was God reminding the people of Judah of past sin.

And in the beginning, we see that God has continued to show his patience by sending his prophets,

by giving them warnings, by telling them,

I hate what you're doing, but they continue to do it anyway.

Okay.

Let's pick it up at verse 11, where we left off.

It's chapter 44, verse 11.

Therefore, thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel,

Behold, I will set my face against you for harm to cut off all Judah.

I will take the remnant of Judah who have set their faces to come to the land of Egypt to live,

and they shall be consumed.

And in the land of Egypt they shall fall.

By the sword and by the famine they shall be consumed.

From the least to the greatest they shall die by the sword and by the famine,

and they shall become an oath, a horror, a curse, and a taunt.

I will punish those who dwell in the land of Egypt,

as I have punished Jerusalem, with the sword, with famine, and with pestilence.

So that none of the remnant of Judah who have come to live in the land of Egypt shall escape,

or survive, or return to the land of Judah,

to which they desire to return to dwell there.

For they shall not return except some fugitives.

Amen.

Does that sound better?

Nice.

Thanks, Taylor.

Appreciate it.

At this point in the passage, God is telling them the depth of their wickedness,

and he's pronouncing the judgment.

So you would think from that that their hearts would be affected, but they aren't.

You think at this point, you could see,

you can envision an opportunity of the people to repent.

As they're being told of the judgment that's coming,

you would think that they would repent and seek God's forgiveness yet again,

knowing how often he has forgiven them.

But they do not.

The persistence of sin is front and center,

and the thing that is pushing that out is their stubbornness and their selfish desires.

But the thing I don't want to have happen is that we jump and we judge them too soon,

because we do the exact same thing.

It just might look a little different.

See, when we're stuck in sin, are we quick to let it go?

I think if we're honest, we're not quick to let it go.

See, sin is usually easy and fun.

It feels good.

Sin allows us to do what we want to do,

even when it goes against what God has called us to do.

So we often want to make excuses to remain there,

make excuses for why we're sinning and why we can't correct that yet.

But as Christians, God has called us out and commanded us to be different.

We're set apart from the world.

So if Christians, if followers of Christ,

then we can't remain in our sin.

We can't stay there.

We need to fight against that.

If we can, and we don't feel any guilt about that sin that we're living and remaining in,

then we need to check our salvation at the door.

See, if we're truly saved in the Holy Spirit that's living inside of us,

is at war with that sin that we're allowing to remain.

And as God calls that sin out,

whether directly through the Spirit inside of us,

through a message,

or through someone else who comes up and says,

Brother, you know what?

I see that there's some sin that you're struggling with.

How can we pray about it?

How can we work on this?

Because it's not right.

That should be our reaction,

but it's not.

So what we need to do is

to thank the Lord

in seeing that sin as it's approaching,

seeing as it grows inside,

as it tries to take root inside of our hearts,

and we need to kill it.

The sin of the sound system.

The sin of the sound system.

So, go ahead and talk.

Okay.

All right.

We'll try it again.

I wasn't even jumping around.

I threatened to him that I was going to jump around

or do something,

and he's like,

Yeah, whatever.

He didn't care.

All right.

Let's try that again.

Satan is always trying to get in.

It's okay.

Because we have the Word of God.

Let's see where we left off.

So we need not to be quick to judge the people of Judah

because we can easily hang out to our sin

and not want to let it go.

So in holding on to your sin

and in waging that battle with your sin,

realize that it's a serious battle.

It's not a futile battle.

The plans that we put on sin are futile.

The things that we try to achieve from our sin is futile,

but the battle that we take on

when we're waging against sin in our hearts,

in our lives,

is a serious one.

There are often costs.

There are often devastating effects

that can come from long periods of sin

that we dwell in.

So I encourage you.

God is holy

and can have nothing to do with sin

that we consistently try to come back to,

hold on to,

live by,

when He wants to be the one that we live and honor.

So let's read about Judah's fight with sin

and pick it up in verse 15.

Then all the men who knew that their wives

had made offerings to other gods

and all the women who'd stood by,

a great assembly,

all the people who lived in Pathros

in the land of Egypt,

answered Jeremiah,

As for the word that you've spoken to us

in the name of the Lord,

we will not listen to you.

But we will do everything that we have vowed,

make offerings to the Queen of Heaven

and pour out drink offerings for her

as we did both we and our fathers,

our kings and our apostles,

in the cities of Judah

and in the streets of Jerusalem.

For then we had plenty of food

and prospered and saw no disaster.

But since we left off making offerings

to the Queen of Heaven

and pouring out drink offerings to her,

we've lacked everything

and we have been consumed

by the sword and by famine.

And the women said,

When we made offerings to the Queen of Heaven

and poured out drink offerings for her,

was it without our husband's approval

that we made cakes for her

bearing her image

and poured out drink offerings for her?

See, they are fighting to remain in their sin.

You see their stubbornness.

You see the blindness that it is causing.

The thing with continual disobedience

is that there's stubbornness and pride

that grows larger and larger

the longer that we remain in our sin.

A prideful heart

with a hardened conscience

that is no longer affected by sin

has to be questioned

whether or not

there is true salvation

that has taken place in a believer.

to be able to continue to sin

against God

and be unaffected

and not care

has to question

whether or not that person

was truly saved

and in this case

whether they're a part

of the children of God

continually running after

the things

of other gods

of not what the Lord

has called them to.

So, in saying that

I don't want you to be like

oh, Matt's preaching

that you can lose your salvation.

It's not what I'm saying.

But I'm saying

if someone is truly

a child of God

a follower of Jesus

then their life

will not be characterized

by disobedience

towards God.

It's going to be characterized

by a life

that is focused

on obeying

the commandments

of the Lord.

That should make

total sense to us

and not scare us.

because you can't be

His child

and He be your Heavenly Father

if you continue

in a life of disobedience.

See, repentance

is the key element

of salvation.

We believe in Jesus

and we repent

of our sins.

We once walked

with the world

and now we walk

with Christ.

So, we need to

protect ourselves

from walking

with the world

and we want to walk

with Christ.

Let me ask you

a question this morning.

As we're talking

about our salvation,

as we're talking

about how you live

your life

and who you live

your life for,

has there been

a time in your life

where you have

repented of your sins?

are you relying

on God's patience

and His grace

to allow you

to continue

to live in sin?

Are you trying

to save yourself?

Are you trying

to fix yourself

your way

and not God's way?

Let me encourage you

today to give up

your fight

with any of those.

Whether you're

a Christian

and you fight

with your own

salvation

and doing it

your way

or you're an

unbeliever

altogether.

You've never

asked for repentance.

You've never

believed in Jesus

Christ for salvation.

I want to encourage

you to give up

your fight this morning

and allow God

to be your Savior.

you have an opportunity

this morning

to have a relationship

with your Creator,

your Heavenly Father.

Salvation doesn't

come from us,

it comes from Him.

He is the only way.

I want to look

a little bit more

about how the people

of Judah were blinded

from the solution

to their problems

that was right

in front of them.

The last half

of verse 17 says,

For then,

talking about

when they worshipped

the Queen of Heaven,

they had plenty

of food

and prospered

and saw no disaster.

But since we left

off making offerings

to the Queen of Heaven

and pouring out

drink offerings

to her,

we've lacked everything

and have been consumed

by the sword

and by famine.

Do you see

the blindness

and what's going

on the floor?

Right?

They said,

when we were sinning,

worshipping other gods,

we had everything

we wanted.

And now that we've

stopped doing those things,

we have nothing.

So it makes sense

that we return

to our sin

because that worked

out better for us.

They've presumed

on God's loving kindness

for so long,

they have disobeyed

so much

that now they can't

even see the sin

and the damage

that's taken place.

See, first of all,

they never stopped sinning

as they led to doing

in that verse.

They didn't stop

worshipping other gods.

Their land was destroyed

and they moved on.

Whether they do,

they found other gods

to worship.

Their hearts never left

worshipping other gods.

See, it's important

to see this flaw

because, again,

this is a flaw

that we can fall into.

We need to have eyes

that are aware

of approaching sin

so that it doesn't

take root.

Right?

We need to have hearts

that are aligned

with Christ

so that we guard

against those things.

See, they weren't

this steeped

into their sin

and blindness

right from the beginning.

It was a slow process,

right?

Didn't exactly

get what they wanted.

Maybe they ate

manna too much

so they stopped

grumbling

and complaining.

And then it just led

to one thing

after another.

And so they got

so involved

with other lands,

which God told them

not to do

in the first place,

that they began

to worship them.

They became their gods

in place

of the one true God.

And so this is

where they have

come to at this point.

God is finally

fed up with the people

that he's called

and he's looking

to destroy them.

So we see that first

that they weren't honest

where their heart was

and secondly,

they were blind

to the damage

that was going on.

And it was their disobedience

and their sin

that was causing

all of their problems.

And yet they thought

that going back

to their sin

was going to be

the solution.

One note

about verse 19

talking about

the women.

The women said

when we made offerings

to the Queen of Heaven

and poured out

drink offerings,

was it without

our husband's approval

that we made cakes

for her bearing image

and poured out

drink offerings

for her?

The women here

seemed to take

a special offense

to what Jeremiah said

most likely

because the gods

that they were worshipping

were of fertility

and beauty.

And so those would be

the gods that

appealed the most

to women.

And so from that

you can conjure up

thoughts that

the women might have

been larger worshippers

of certain gods

that they took

offense to

with Jeremiah's

comments.

But in any event

it was still

prevalent.

Men, women,

families,

everybody was

worshipping gods

for whatever

beauty,

for fertility,

for money,

for whatever it was

that wasn't

the true God.

Let's take a look

at verse 20.

Then Jeremiah said

to all the people,

men and women,

all the people

who had given him

this answer,

as for the offerings

that you have offered

in the cities of Judah

and in the streets

of Jerusalem,

you and your fathers,

your kings and your officials,

the people of the land,

did not the Lord

remember them?

Did it not come

to his mind?

And Jeremiah is saying

you want the Lord

to remember you,

you want the Lord

to bless you,

to protect you,

to always be on his mind.

Did you not think

that your sins

would make it there

as well?

And that leads us

to our next point.

of God's judgment.

We've seen this

a lot in the book

of Jeremiah.

We see it here

in verse 22.

The Lord could no longer

bear your evil deeds

and the abominations

that you committed.

Therefore,

your land has become

a desolation

and a waste

and a curse

without inhabitant,

as it is this day.

It is because you made

offerings

and because you sinned

against the Lord

and did not obey

the voice of the Lord

or walk in his law

and in his statutes

and in his testimonies

that this disaster

has happened to you

as at this day.

So we see the judgment

of the Lord

on his people

for this continuing

sin

following after

everything but God.

Everything that God

was offering to them,

they sought it

in other ways.

And now we come

to verse 24.

This,

just a word of note,

this isn't the last chapter

in the book of Jeremiah,

but it is God's last

and final word

of judgment

to the people.

So keep that in mind.

This,

it puts weight

on this word

of the Lord

because it is

the last one

that God has given

to his people.

Jeremiah said

to the peoples,

verse 24,

and all the women,

hear the word

of the Lord,

all you of Judah

who are in the land

of Egypt.

Thus says the Lord

of hosts,

the God of Israel,

you and your wives

have declared

with your mouth

and have fulfilled it

with your hands,

saying,

we will surely perform

our vows

that we have made

to make offerings

to the Queen of Heaven

and to pour out

drink offerings to her.

Then confirm your vows

and perform your vows.

Go ahead,

do it,

you say you're going to.

Verse 26,

Therefore,

hear the word

of the Lord.

All you of Judah

who dwell

in the land of Egypt,

behold,

I have sworn

by my great name,

says the Lord,

that my name

shall no longer

be invoked

by the mouth

of any man in Judah

in all the land

of Egypt,

saying,

as the Lord God lives.

So get a picture

of this.

The people of Judah

have done

a complete reversal

from where they came from

over a thousand years ago

when they were slaves

in Egypt

and God called them out.

Exodus chapter 6,

Exodus 6:5–7

verses 5 through 7.

Moreover,

I have heard the groaning

of the people of Israel

whom the Egyptians

hold as slaves,

and I have remembered

my covenant.

Say therefore

to the people of Israel,

I am the Lord,

and I will bring you out

from under the burdens

of the Egyptians,

and I will deliver you

from slavery to them,

and I will redeem you

with an outstretched arm

and with great acts

of kindness.

I will take you

to be my people,

and I will be your God,

and you shall know

that I am the Lord,

your God,

who has brought you out

from under the burdens

of the Egyptians.

Now we see that

with hearts of rebellion

and disobedience,

they now return back

to Egypt from where

they were taken out of.

Is that why God told them

not to go to Egypt

in last week's message?

It makes sense.

Do you also know

that they were going to continue

to follow after God?

I'm sure you knew that as well.

But God's name

is being removed

from their mouths.

So what does that mean?

The Lord of hosts,

the God of Israel,

the I am that I am,

is no longer

a point of strength

or source of salvation

that they can rely on.

What they've assumed

for so long

is no longer there.

Why?

Because God is holy.

He's perfect in righteousness,

and he stands

against everything

that sin allows.

the very essence

of sin

is defiance

against God

and his laws,

and it's what

they ran after.

That total opposition

against God

is the reason

why God

must judge sin.

He must deal with it.

It can't be left

and just look over

like it doesn't matter.

Verse 27,

Behold,

I am watching over them

for disaster

and not for good.

All the men of Judah

who are in the land of Egypt

shall be consumed

by the sword

and by famine

until there is an end of them.

And those who escape the sword

shall return

from the land of Egypt

to the land of Judah,

few in number.

And all the remnant of Judah

who came to the land of Egypt

to live

shall know

whose word will stand,

mine or theirs.

This shall be the sign to you,

declares the Lord,

that I will punish you

in this place

in order that you may know

that my words

will surely stand

against you for harm.

Thus says the Lord,

Behold,

I will give Pharaoh,

Hophah,

king of Egypt,

into the hand

of his enemies

and into the hand

of those who seek his life

as I gave Zedekiah,

king of Judah,

into the hand

of Nebuchadnezzar,

king of Babylon,

who was his enemy

and sought his life.

God must judge sin.

But that's not the end

of the story this morning.

Our last point

this morning

is the hope

and salvation

that God provides.

Let's read chapter 45

together.

We're going to read

the whole thing.

It's okay.

It's one of the shortest ones

in the book.

The word that Jeremiah

the prophet spoke

to Baruch,

the son of Nariah,

when he wrote these words

in a book

at the dictation

of Jeremiah

in the fourth year

of Jehoiakim,

the son of Josiah,

king of Judah.

Thus says the Lord,

the God of Israel,

to you, O Baruch,

you said,

Woe is me,

for the Lord

has added sorrow

to my pain.

I am weary

with my groaning

and I find no rest.

Thus shall you say

to him,

Thus says the Lord,

Behold,

what I have built

I am breaking down

and what I have planted

I am plucking up,

that is,

the whole land.

And do you seek

great things for yourself?

Seek them not,

for behold,

I am bringing disaster

upon all flesh,

declares the Lord,

but I will give you

your life

as a prize of war

in all places

to which you may go.

So chronologically,

that chapter

comes after

chapter 36.

So,

just to rewind

a little bit,

chapter 36

was when

King Jehoiakim

slowly cut up

the scroll

and threw it

into the fire.

He took,

it was

a word of the Lord

to Jeremiah

written down

by Baruch.

So all of Baruch's work,

he's watching

as the king

could care less

about what's being said

and just throws it

into the fire.

So you can imagine

that there's some

disappointment

if this chapter

follows right after

that happened.

This makes sense,

right?

Baruch would be

quite disappointed,

depressed.

You work towards

something

in the ministry

of God

only to see

that it's

destroyed,

it's cast to the side,

it means nothing.

For years,

he served

alongside Jeremiah

in ministry

and we all know

that that was not

an easy road.

The same

or similar pain

that Jeremiah felt,

the

punishment,

the ridicule,

the embarrassment,

all that

that Jeremiah felt,

Baruch was with him

the whole time

and felt that as well.

He gave his life

to follow after Jeremiah

because that's what

God's plan was for him.

So we can understand

when Baruch says,

woe is me,

for the Lord

has added sorrow

to my pain,

I am weary

in my growing

and I find no rest.

But we see that God

is quick to respond

to Baruch

and he reminds them

that God

is losing more

in this

than Baruch sees.

See,

he is losing

his people

that he's

been building up.

They've continued

to run away from him

and follow sin

and he's got

to judge them.

He's also losing

the land

that he's planted.

That might not

sound like much,

but

everything that God

has built

and brought together,

he is now

destroying.

So he's reminding Baruch,

you've lost some,

I've lost more.

He also continues

on telling Baruch

not to seek

great things.

He says,

as you look around

Egypt,

as you looked around

when you were

in Jerusalem,

as you spent time

with the people

of Judah,

don't see

all of their

possessions

and things

and want those

for yourself.

Don't see

the land

and the prosperity

that you want

because I'm going

to destroy them.

You want them,

don't seek

after them.

And he says,

I will save you.

I will protect you

wherever you go.

Your prize in this

is that I will

save your life

and you will be safe

wherever you desire

to go.

Okay,

so that's a great

chapter for Baruch.

A nice word of hope,

but what does that

mean for us?

It followed chapter 36,

but we find it here

where Jeremiah places it

after chapter 44.

Why is that?

See,

being here

after chapter 44

allows it to serve

as an encouragement

to us as well,

not just Baruch.

An encouragement

after these chapters

of seeing the people

of Judah follow sin

and be judged.

An encouragement

for us not to go

that way

and follow after God.

That's the purpose

for why we have

these chapters

of seeing how

the people of Judah

forsook God

and followed

after idols.

Chapter 44

showed us the necessity

of God's judgment.

So if we follow

after the people

of Judah,

seeking only the things

of this world

in disobedience

to God,

then the end result

is going to be

the same end result

that we see

from the people

of Judah.

And that is

separation from God.

There's judgment.

There's death

that has to come.

There isn't another way.

There's only God.

So when you're not

following that,

then you're separated.

For God so loved the world

that he gave

his only begotten son

that whosoever

believeth in him

should not perish

but have everlasting life.

John 3, 16.

We all know it.

We all have it memorized.

It's basic

but it's fundamental.

Brothers and sisters,

don't lose it.

the hope

that we have

in God

is the only hope

that matters.

So just to pull up

our thought again

from the beginning

that God provides

salvation

and I pray this morning

that if you're

a follower of Christ

you are participating

in that salvation.

You've repented.

You've believed

in Jesus Christ

and you've repented.

You have that salvation.

There's also hope

that we have in Christ.

Hope that we get

from nowhere else

except from Christ

and following after God.

The alternative to that

is the separation

and judgment

that comes from God

and that's what follows sin.

So I encourage you

brothers and sisters

this morning

to follow after God.

When you see sin coming

it's going to look good.

It's going to feel good.

Whatever it is

and you have to fight

against it

because we were called

by God

to be separate

from the world.

So live for the hope

that God provides

and not the separation

that sin produces.

Let's take a couple minutes

just to think about those words.

Allow the Spirit to talk

to your heart

before we move on

to the prayers of the people.

Let's take a couple minutes.