20261011 Sunday Sermon Mike Dickmann

Well, I thought we'd look at a couple of scriptures

this morning, one from the old and one from the

new, and see if we can understand some correlation

or some of the similarities in the two situations.

And, of course, trying to apply them to our own

situation as well. So let's ask the Lord's help.

Father, we do thank you this morning for meeting

with us thus far. for giving us this opportunity

to open your word, to study it, and to hear from

you. I pray that you would own it for your glory

and our good, that the Holy Spirit would empower

the word this morning. Help me as I teach and

preach, help all of us to receive it and to apply

it to our own selves, that indeed we would be

more and more conformed to the image of our Lord

and Savior, Jesus Christ. And we ask it in Jesus'

name. Amen. So if you'd like to open your Bibles

to Jeremiah this morning, we'll start there with

a few verses. Jeremiah chapter 9, beginning then

Jeremiah 9 · chapter mention

in verse 5. And they will deceive or mock every

one his neighbor, and will not speak the truth.

They have taught their tongue to speak lies,

and worry themselves to commit iniquity. So there's

a stark description of... The neighborhood. I

think we're familiar with Jeremiah, that he's

the last prophet before the carrying away into

Babylon. And he's got a very hard and dire message

to deliver to the Jewish people. And he describes

them there for us. And really, you know already

that the first eight... chapters are very similar

to this he goes into an in -depth description

of their their sin and their abandonment and

how terrible it is in the in the face of the

lord so the question the first thing that comes

to my mind anyway were there no were there no

believers in israel at this time and of course

the answer to that then we don't really get it

out of the text or much much about it from from

the book of Jeremiah itself, but we know that

God testifies that he always has his remnant.

So he has his faithful people there in Israel,

and they're going to go into captivity just the

same as the rest. They're going to receive the

same judgment as the rest, even though they could

rightly say to themselves that we're not guilty

of this, but we're suffering it anyway. And so

if you're at all familiar with society at large

today, in the United States I'm speaking of,

you understand that the majority of people in

the United States do not know Christ. We always

see these surveys like 60, 70, 75 % of the people

profess to know God and to believe in Him. Well,

we would have an entirely different country if

75 % of the people actually did believe in God

and trust Him. So we know what they're talking

about, and we understand that they think they

are. They think they're fine. They think they're

saved. They think they're going to heaven, but

they're ignorant. They don't know the way to

heaven. They only think they do. They have confidence

in their faith, perhaps we could say. Their faith

is what's going to save them. We know that our

faith saves no one. The Lord Jesus Christ is

the Savior for sinners. We must have faith in

Him and His finished work to be saved. But these

folks, these Jews, you know, they had the law,

they had the testimonies, they had the sacrifices,

and they were going through all the same stuff

that they always did. They thought they were

worshiping God. They didn't care. All that they

cared about, really, was carrying on their customs,

traditions, and believing that they would be

fine in the end because, indeed, they were the

chosen people of God. And we know again that

that's just not right. That's not true. Jeremiah

describes them here. They're a bunch of lying,

deceiving, mocking. People. They don't care anything

for each other. They don't care anything for

God. In verse 5 we read. I mean in verse 6 we

read. Thy habitation is in the midst of deceit.

Through deceit they refuse to know me. Saith

the Lord. So they deceive. They deceive each

other. They deceive themselves. They're just

full of it. They refuse to know God. And so.

We have the same situation today, do we not?

They refuse to know God. If you go to witness

to somebody, when you've done that in the past,

and you try to explain to them that they're lost,

they might just laugh you off, they might just

dismiss you, they might get mad at you. But whatever

it is, they're going to continue on in their

deceit of themselves. They're not lost. and they

really resent you for telling them that they're

lost. Judgmental people are Christians. Who are

you to judge me? Well, hopefully you've explained

enough that it's not you that's judging, that

the Word of God is the judge, and comparing you

to the Word of God, you're found guilty, as we

all would apart from Jesus Christ. So hopefully

the fact that we're such a minority, in our day

and in our time, isn't anything that depresses

us, anything that upsets us. Do we have a need

to be accepted by society? That's a dangerous

thing. You shouldn't need to be accepted by society.

You should be willing to face the reality that

you're exactly going to be the opposite. You're

not going to be accepted if you are living out

a consistent Christian life. They will reject

you just as they have rejected Christ, just as

these Israelites did. They're hopeless. They're

helpless. And then in verse 7, the Lord says,

Therefore, thus saith the Lord of hosts, Behold,

I will melt them and try them. For how shall

I do for the daughter of my people? Punishment

is necessary. God says, He declares it. They've

earned the judgment they're about to receive.

And He goes on and He says, What would you think

I would do? I'm God. Would you think that I would

just wink at this? That I would just allow this

to continue? That this affront to me, this grievous

sin of abandonment of their Redeemer, the Lord,

God Almighty, is going to go unpunished? And

if it did go unpunished, I would no longer be

God. That's what the verse is telling us. So

that's what we, again, need to accept. We need

to understand this. All of these so -called natural

disasters. What are all these wars? What is all

this persecution? What is it if it's not the

hand of God? What would we expect? What would

we expect in our own country? This country that's

been founded so closely on the word of God and

its beginnings. Yes, I know it had flaws and

everything else. I'm not going to go into the

whole history of the beginning of the United

States. But there's never been another country

ever like it, ever established on truths that

are given by God himself, not by the government.

The freedoms that we enjoy, we're declared to

receive from God. not from our government. And

having said that then, completely, at this point

in time, gone our own way, completely. What do

we expect God to do? How many times have you

heard a politician or any kind of speaker anywhere

say, God bless America, at the end of the speech

or whatever? Why? Why would God bless America?

Why would we expect to be blessed? We live amongst

a deceitful people. We live amongst the people

that have turned their backs on God. We live

amongst the people that believe that they can

be saved just by any kind of reason, any kind

of way. Refuse to acknowledge the Lord Jesus

Christ as the only Savior of mankind. What is

God to do? Well, if he brought judgment upon

his own chosen people. we can rest assured that

he's not going to hold back his judgment forever

upon the United States or any other nation that

he should choose to judge. That should be a subtle

fact in our lives. In verse 8, their tongue is

an arrow shot out. It speaketh deceit. One speaketh

peaceably to his neighbor with his mouth, but

in his heart he layeth his weight. In other words,

again, just two -faced, deceitful people. Shall

I not visit them for those things, saith the

Lord? Shall not my soul be avenged on such a

nation as this? And the only answer that can

be given is yes, of course. The nation has earned

everything that they will receive from you. And

as you I'm sure know, as I said already, this

book of Jeremiah is full of this condemnation

upon Israel. But here in the midst. Of all of

this judgment and all of this declaration of

guilt, we come to verse 23 and 24 of the 9th

chapter. We read in verse 23, Thus saith the

Lord, Let not the wise man glory or boast in

his wisdom. What does that mean? Well, and again,

this is so true in our day. The wise man thinks

his wisdom is going to save him. is going to

preserve him. He's going to be recognized for

how wise that he is in the sight of his contemporaries.

We just had all the Nobel Prizes he'd given out,

and everybody's bowed down to the Nobel Prize

winners. I'm sure they had some good things to

say and have done some good things, but they're

lost as they can be. They're fools, according

to Scripture, because they don't even acknowledge

God in their heart. The wise man, are you chasing

wisdom as your savior? Are you chasing wisdom

as the thing that's going to get you through

this life? For years, I don't know, they can't

say it anymore because the schools are so terrible,

but they said, if only we could educate the population.

If only we could just get people educated. That

would do it. That would change society. Well,

they evidently haven't done it enough. because

it hasn't had any effect on society. The wise

man, though, boasted his wisdom, and he's a fool

for doing so. And he goes on. Neither let the

mighty man glory in his might. The powerful man.

All of those that have a position of authority,

we could say. I'm taking care of this situation.

You ever heard the politicians, especially when

it's coming here to elections, they're going

to take care of this thing. They're going to

fix everything. I have the power. Elect me, and

I'll have the power to do it. Of course, nothing

changes. After the election, everything just

keeps going on the same as it was, and it's just

on a downhill spiral. But they're confident in

their own power to save themselves, to rectify

society, to however we want to apply it, however

they apply it. Power is sought after. It always

has been. It's no new thing. Men seek power.

They want control. So remember that, even in

our personal lives, that there's a good application

there. So many young married people. It's natural

for a man to lead. It's natural because it's

his God -given role for a man to lead. But in

how he leads is the question. So we can't just

take this thing at face value. What I say goes.

That's a lousy attitude. There's a spirit there

that's wrong. You should lead. You should certainly

and most assuredly lead in the spiritual life

of your family. If you are a man, if you are

a man of God, if you are a leader, you will lead

in the spiritual realm far above everything else.

That's what the man of God does. But he puts

no confidence in it. He's not saving his family.

He's simply being faithful to God. He's not going

to be able to set everything right. He can't

have that kind of confidence in himself. He's

got to transfer that confidence to God. Put his

trust, his full trust in God to work in his family.

To work out the difficulties. To lead in the

proper direction. All of those things. Then lastly,

he says, Let not the rich man glory in his riches.

And so again, can riches save anybody? Of course

not. Can riches do anything in the spiritual

realm? Riches alone cannot. No, they can't. They're

powerless. Now, if you have the Spirit of God

and you're following Christ and you have been

blessed with money, you have a rare opportunity

to put that money to good use in following the

leading of God. But the money itself is not going

to accomplish anything spiritually in your life.

It could even be a hindrance. It could give a

false security. I'll never forget, as long as

I live, I had a great job. I mean, I was on top

of the world. One of the best jobs that you could

have in society back then. A friend of mine was

losing his job, and he did. And he kept coming

to me for counseling. And I kept counseling him,

telling him, you know, the Lord's in charge,

blah, blah, everything, you know. But all the

while I'm telling him and counseling him in these

things, I'm saying to myself, am I being prepared

for something else? Is God using all of this

in my life to prepare me for what's coming next?

And sure as anything, I lost my job. And I had

to apply all of that stuff that I was telling

him to myself. And, you know, I was thankful

that I did have the experience of at least trying

to help him and then going through the whole

thing. And I was prepared, but I did. I lost

my job. And from going to the top rung of employment

to nothing. So anyway, that's another story,

though. But riches, riches cannot save you. They

will not save you. And my family was just as

happy and contented and everything else when

I was out of work as when I was in work. So the

Lord takes care of all. And of course, we weren't

in debt. We didn't have any debt. So, you know,

it wasn't like everything was going to come crashing

down on us. So money wasn't the object. Riches

were nothing to me. So, in all of these, this

is more warning here in 23. More negatives, we

might say. Don't trust in those things. Don't

put any confidence in those things. Don't seek

those things. And then we come to the kicker,

right amongst all of this negativity, all of

this judgmentals. Verse 24. But let him that

glorieth glory in this. that he understandeth

and knoweth me, that I am the Lord, which exercise

lovingkindness, or mercy you might have, judgment

and righteousness in the earth. For in these

things I delight, saith the Lord. So there's

God again, revealing himself in the midst of

this judgment. Speaking primarily, I'm sure,

to his people that are... Going to endure these

sufferings along with all the rest. But we can

take this to our hearts. And this is what we

glory in. Do you glory in this? Do you spend

your day glorying in this? That you know and

understand the Lord. Is that your boast? Are

we boasting in Him? Do we understand the privilege

it is to know and understand the Lord? Or do

we just... Kind of just take it for granted?

We don't give it its proper place in our lives?

I don't know. Those are questions. Well, we have

to ask ourselves constantly, have we drifted?

Have we gone away? Or are we still on the trail?

Are we still hot after God? And who is this God?

Who is this Lord that you know, that you trust?

Well, this is who He is. He exercises loving

kindness, judgment, and righteousness in the

earth. He doesn't have to say in heaven, that's

where he is, and obviously all is right in heaven.

But in earth, he's running the show. And he's

a merciful God. He's full of mercy, loving kindness.

He's full of it. That's who he is. His judgment

is not who he is. His normal activity here is

loving kindness, judgment, and righteousness.

This is what he delights in. This is his delight,

to show mercy. Judgment, we could say, substitute

for discernment. We make judgments all the time.

We have to be a discerning people. Can we discern

the hand of God in our lives, in our personal

lives, in leading us along the way? He delights

to do it. That's who he is. Does that mean we're

going to escape all trouble? No, of course not.

We live in a land full of deceit, hatred, rejection

of God. Just think how bad this place would be

if God would abandon it entirely. That he pulled

off all his restraining power that he exercises

over people. It's unimaginable how bad this place

would be. But anyway, his delight is in these

things. This is what he takes delight in. So

can we from that say that when we exercise discernment,

when we make a good judgment, that he delights

in that? Of course. When you show love and kindness,

when you're merciful, does he delight in that?

Yes. You're reflecting him. You're showing the

world who he is. You're showing the world or

you're showing one another who he is when you

do this. When you act righteously, you are showing

the Lord to be righteous. He delights in those

things. He takes delight in us because he delights

in the characteristics that we are displaying

when we are displaying them. They are himself.

We receive them from him. We know and understand

him, and therefore we can do these things. We

do exercise these graces, as they're commonly

called. Righteousness, judgment, or discernment.

Love and kindness. He delights in these things.

So in the face of all the bad things that are

happening, this is what we remember. They're

not coming in between us and our Lord. He is

to us a loving kindness, ever showing mercy,

ever exhibiting righteousness, ever exhibiting

judgment or discernment. Yes, chastisement when

we need it. We should be thankful for that. We

should be thankful that the Lord just doesn't

leave us wander off indefinitely. He does bring

us back. Okay, so that's the situation as it

was in Israel. Horrible judgment to come. So

just very briefly here, I wanted to read Colossians.

And I can't recommend a book of Colossians to

you enough. If you're looking for, in the coming

year perhaps, what to do for your devotional

time or whatever, get yourself a good, solid

commentary on Colossians. And study it. Study

it in detail. And I think you'll be blessed.

more than you could ever imagine. Because Christ

has the preeminence in this book. And he's talking

about giving Christ the preeminence that he should.

And it's a wonderful, wonderful, I don't like

the word manual of Christian living, but it gives

us many, many good points to ponder as we attempt

to live out our life for Christ. So just briefly,

in chapter 3, it says, we read right there in

the first verse, if, and when you see if in the

scripture, it's the same word as since in like

90%. This is one of those things, one of those

places. So it says, since ye then be risen with

Christ. Do you understand that? Do you know God?

Do you understand that? Do you know that you

are risen with Christ? You were. You can't not

be risen with Christ. It tells us to seek those

things which are above. Where Christ sitteth

on the right hand of God. Notice he sitteth.

His work is finished. He's not standing there.

He's not pacing back and forth. He's not looking

to. Everything is completed. He sits down at

the right hand of God. The work is finished.

Does that mean he's not mediating? No, it doesn't.

But he's mediating the finished work. There's

no more work to be done. It's all done. It's

all finished. It's accomplished. Seek those things.

And again, this is an ongoing verb. Continually

seeking. Be continually seeking. Never -ending

seeking. And what is this? particularly talking

about seeking, seeking Him. Seeking the Lord.

And it's not like you're trying to find something.

You're trying to grow in your knowledge and love

for the Lord. That's what we're seeking. If you're

not in the Lord, obviously you've got to seek

Him. You've got to beg for His forgiveness. All

of that if you're a lost person. But as a Christian,

You should be seeking after God to know and understand

Him more. Because that's the delight. That's

the wonder. That's the glory of Christianity

and being a Christian. Remember having the privilege

of knowing and understanding. To know God is

salvation. You know, you can stay at this old

base level for years. And then all of a sudden,

something's going to happen. Something's going

to wake you up and you're going to say, I didn't,

it's going to take off. Remember the example

I gave years ago about David's cactus? You that

know David, you know that cactus he's got in

his study? You know that messy looking thing?

And sat there about like this for I don't know

how many years. Remember it? Well, that's just

the way it is with a Christian. He finally, I

don't know. I said it a thousand times. Put some

water on the thing. Feed the thing. Finally,

he did. And all of a sudden now, what is it like

that? It's got some shoots growing out all over

it. That's how a Christian is. All of a sudden

he takes off. He got to the place where he really

did know and love and appreciate God and have

a desire to know more. To grow more and faster

and be more useful. That's what Colossians is

talking about. Set your affections on things

above, not the things of the earth. I know we

are of the flesh. We're going to be in the flesh

until that day when we depart the scene and we

leave our flesh behind. So we do have affections.

There's nothing wrong with having affections

for things that are on the earth. So every level

of affection that you have for something or somebody

on the earth, that should be exceeded by your

affection for God, for your God, for your Savior,

for the things that are above, for the spiritual

realm. We don't want to be hard -hearted, unloving

people. Of course not. We have affections. That's

good. God gave them to us. But he expects us

to use those affections primarily for him. Love

him extremely. Give him the priority that he

should have. That's what Colossians is about.

It's what it's telling us about. What a great

life it is to be a Christian. If you dig in there.

And you start to experience God more and more

in your life. And you start serving him more

and more. And receiving thereby more and more

blessings. And then verse 3, for ye are dead,

and your life is hid with Christ in God. Are

you dead? Do you really consider yourself as

dead to yourself, dead to this world? You are,

whether you consider it or not. You're dead.

Your life is hid with Christ. You're in Christ.

Christ is in you. He's living his life through

you. You may be arguing with him. You may be

at the place where you're not submitted entirely.

But nonetheless, he will have his way. And when

he starts to really have his way with you, that's

when you will take off. That's when you will

have fun. More fun. More enjoyment of God's great

salvation in us. So that's the story. We live

in a wicked place, but we serve a wonderful...

long -suffering, faithful God. Enjoy Him in the

church. Amen.