JEREMIAH 44-50 PROUD AGAINST THE LORD2013 Teaching by Jerry B Simmons

Teaching Transcript: Jeremiah 44-50 Proud Against The Lord

You are listening to FerventWord, an online Bible study ministry with teachings and tools to help you grow deeper in your relationship with God. The following message was taught by Jerry Simmons in 2013.

We are here tonight in Jeremiah chapter 44 going through chapter 50 as we look at the chapters we read this week going through the Bible in three years. We're almost to the end of the book of Jeremiah. He is the second of the major prophets or the second major prophetic book that we'll be studying and we're going to be heading this week from Jeremiah into Lamentations which also is written by Jeremiah.

The book of Jeremiah is recording his prophecies to the nation and surrounding nations. Lamentations that we'll head into this week is Jeremiah looking back at Jerusalem after it's been destroyed and the destruction that's there. And it's a lamentation or a song of sorrow for the city of Jerusalem, for the nation of Judah that Jeremiah puts together.

Then we'll be heading into Ezekiel and Daniel in the coming weeks and some exciting things in store there. But as we finish up or head towards the end of the book of Jeremiah this evening, this book is written by Jeremiah who ministered from about 626 to about 586 BC. For about 60 years he was ministering to, I'm sorry not 60, that's 40 years, he was ministering to the nation of Judah.

He ministered during the reign of King Josiah, Jehoahaz, Jehoiakim, Jehoiachin, and Zedekiah. And he was alongside of Zephaniah and Habakkuk, who was also ministering to the nations at that time.

On our timeline here, remember that Israel was divided into two kingdoms around 933 BC. After Solomon, his son Rehoboam, the nation was split in two. And it was a downward spiral ever since then. As both the northern kingdom and the southern kingdom turned away from God and rebelled against God. Now Judah...

where Jeremiah was ministering, had some good kings and brought revival. But even then, as a whole, the people continued to rebel more and more against God. And so the northern kingdom was conquered by the nation of Assyria in 722. God used Assyria to conquer Israel because of their rebellion against him. And now God is using Babylon to conquer Judah as a result of Judah's rebellion against God.

Well, Jeremiah comes on the scene right towards the end during the last five kings of the nation in 626 BC. Josiah is king. He's a good king. But after him, it's just bad king after bad king after bad king. And Jeremiah is the last call from God to come back to repentance before this final destruction from Babylon came. Now, Babylon actually conquered Judah three times.

And the whole time Jeremiah is prophesying to the nation and calling them and giving them an opportunity to repent. And God even says throughout the book of Jeremiah, if you repent, then I will preserve you and Babylon will not come again.

But the first time Babylon conquered Jerusalem and Judah was in 605. King Jehoiakim was defeated and he and a bunch of the young men and some of the treasures were taken to Babylon captive at that time. Then in 597, Babylon came again

Because Jehoiachin, he was reigning and he was doing okay for a little bit. But then he rebelled against Babylon. And so Babylon came again and Jehoiachin ended up surrendering to Babylon in 597. And he and some more treasures and some of the captains and craftsmen were taken captive to Babylon.

Then 586 BC, Zedekiah was king and he was doing pretty good, but he was finally starting to rebel against Babylon as well. And so Babylon comes for the third time and says, that's it. We're not putting up with you anymore. And they completely destroy the city, the temple, everything is just left as rubble. And there's only a few poor people left in the land at that time.

And that's where we pick it up as we head into our portion for this evening, starting in chapter 44. We ended last week looking at the people of God left in Judah heading to Egypt. The nation was conquered by Babylon. God allowed... I'm sorry...

God allowed, but also Babylon allowed. Jeremiah, under the authority of Gedaliah, and there was a few poor people, and Gedaliah was the governor, but then Gedaliah was assassinated...

And so the people decided we need to go to Egypt because Babylon is going to be upset with us because now, you know, this is the third time they've conquered us. Now the one they left in charge was assassinated. They're just going to wipe us out altogether. We need to run to Egypt. So they take Jeremiah, even though God says don't go, they go to Egypt down to Tappanese and there they are expecting that Egypt will protect them and that they will be safe from Babylon.

They go to Egypt even though God told them not to right there in chapter 43. Now we're continuing on right there from chapter 43 where they go to Egypt even though God said not to. And now chapter 44 is where we pick up this evening. Verse 13 is the key verse. It says,

In verses 1 through 10, God is speaking to the people through Jeremiah, and he says, you provoke me to wrath by burning incense to other gods. We find out in verse 1, this is a word to all the Jews in Egypt. So all those who went down to Egypt, God has a specific word for them. And he asked them in verse 7, why do you do this great evil against yourselves?

Now they were worshipping other gods all throughout, but especially there in Egypt, they're burning incense to the queen of heaven, this other god. And God says, this is evil, and of course it's an evil against God, but he says, why do you do this evil against yourselves? Because the reality is that sin is

And worshiping false gods destroys ourselves. And so God highlights that and says, this is an evil against yourself. In verse 8, he says, in that, you do this evil to yourself, he says, in that you provoke me to wrath with the works of your hands, burning incense to other gods in the land of Egypt where you have gone to dwell, that you may cut yourselves off and be a curse and a reproach among all the nations of the earth.

God is essentially saying here, why are you not learning your lesson? Three times Babylon came against Judah. And three times I gave you opportunity to repent. And then all three times Babylon came and conquered because you didn't repent. And then you asked me what you should do. I said stay in the land. But you decided not to stay in the land and listen to me. Instead you did what you wanted to do and you went to Egypt. And now in Egypt...

You went there in disobedience, but now you're furthering it by worshiping these other gods, this false god. God says, look, you're forcing me to deal with your continual rebellion. God says in verse 10, they have not been humbled to this day, nor have they feared. They have not walked in my law or in my statutes that I set before you and your fathers.

The people that went down to Egypt had a real problem. And it was that they had not been humbled. This is a theme that we've been seeing throughout the book of Jeremiah. And once again this evening, I want to encourage you and challenge you and beg you to be broken. Be broken before the Lord. And humble yourself before the Lord. As we've been saying, you can be broken or you will be broken.

You can choose to be broken, to humble yourself, to surrender and submit to God, or God will bring that brokenness forcibly. You can choose to do it yourself. Now, dying to yourself and being broken, humbling yourself, it's not without its pain, but it's certainly better than being broken by God in the way that Judah is experiencing.

And I want to encourage you and challenge you to humble yourself and to seek God first. To surrender to Him and to let Him direct you. Now you might be thinking, well, I don't have any, you know, big sins in my life that I can think of. I don't have any, you know, big outright rebellions that I'm going through. But I would ask you to consider and allow God to speak to your heart.

So as I was up here, I walked up here, you know, while you guys were praying, I walked up here to prepare myself and get set up. And I'm praying for the message and for our time together as I'm about to share this evening. I'm talking about, you know, just five minutes ago I was praying. And I was praying, Lord, you know, minister to the people and speak through me. And where I lack, you know, fill in the gap. And as I'm praying that, I realize my own mentality there. There's a lack of brokenness.

Because I'm thinking there's some areas where I'm really strong God. You don't got to help me there. But there's also some areas where I'm weak. And so could you can help fill in the gap. You know I just need like a little bit of help. To share you know your word with the people. And the Lord just kind of reminded me. Look this is how subtle it is. This is how it happens so easily. I don't lack just like a little bit. And I just need a little bit of help from the Lord. If that were the case.

Well, then I would have a lot to congratulate myself about in life whenever anything happens. Because I did most of the work, right? And God just helped me a little bit. But that's a lot of times how we relate to God or that's our mentality about God. And I want to encourage you this evening. When I talk about brokenness and humility, I'm saying, look, we need to be absolutely, completely, totally dependent upon the Lord.

to recognize that we don't just lack a little bit, but we have a severe need for God in our lives. And we don't need just like a little bit of help. We don't come to Wednesday service, you know, it's just like that little bit of shot of adrenaline to get us through the week, you know, spiritually speaking that we just need a little bit of help getting through the week. No, we're desperate for God and we need to learn to seek God first and to not make decisions based on what we think.

Like, sometimes we only come to God for counsel when we can't figure out what to do. When we can figure out what to do, we don't go to God for counsel. But that's an indication of no brokenness. That's an indication of a lack of humility. Because if I'm convinced I know what to do, then I don't need to ask God. I don't need to seek God. Because I know what to do already. So I'm going to do what I'm going to do because I know what to do.

But that's not brokenness. That's what the nation of Judah was doing. They were insisting on their way. But not necessarily in rope and rebellion, although that was going on as well. But it also creeps in subtly in our lives where we just, we don't ask God. We don't seek God for counsel because we think we've got it. And if you only go to God when there's trouble or you only go to God when you can't figure out what you're supposed to do, let me tell you, you need to be broken.

If you're not asking God, if He's not speaking to you about your decisions daily, regularly, you need to be broken. There needs to be a humility in your life. And you need to surrender to Him. And I want to ask you to let Him direct you. As God is writing to His people, He says they've not been humbled even to this day. They've not been humbled. There's a desperate need for us to humble ourselves.

To realize our great need. To humble yourself is not to like put yourself lower than you really are. It's to realize how little you actually are. How little you actually have. Strength, wisdom, counsel, all that. How much we need God. That's what humility is all about. Brokenness is about surrendering to God saying, you know best.

Not because I can't figure out something to do, but because even though I have my thoughts about what I should do, where I should go, how I should go, I want to be under your direction. And I want to let you be Lord of my life. He says, they have not been humbled. But here's the thing. These are people who are going to church. You know, it was temple for them, but they're going to temple. They're going to church. They're the people of God.

And they have not been humbled. And as we go, I'm not going to spend this long on every verse, okay? But we need to be challenged in this, guys. Because there's some here, God's saying, they have not been humbled to this day, nor have they feared. They've not walked with me. They've never yet really done this. They've been resistant. There's some who have not yet been humbled. There's some of you, I'm pointing to the camera, some of you watching at home.

And you're watching at home because you haven't been humbled. And God says to be here, but you're at home because you're going to do what you want to do. And you need to be broken. You need to be humbled. You need to surrender to God and let him direct you. Let him override your feelings, your emotions, your thoughts, and your plans. Don't be rebellious against God. And that can be a direct violation of what he says or not seeking him to find out what he wants. He says to his people there, you provoke me to wrath.

By burning incense to other gods. You're worshiping other gods when you're not broken. Well then verses 11 through 14. He says, I will punish those who dwell in Egypt. Because of their lack of brokenness, God says, I'm going to bring punishment. This is the remnant. Those who survived Babylon's attack in Judah. They went to Egypt to survive. But God says, you're not going to survive.

If we will not be broken and obedient, we will miss out on what God wants for us and what we want for ourselves. Check out verse 14. He says, God says, look, they want to go back to Judah. They desire that.

But they're going to lose out on what they desire and my desire for them because of their lack of brokenness. And that's the interesting thing. You know, Jesus said, if you want to save your life, you have to lose it. In the same way, we have things that we desire. And because we desire them, we insist on them. And God says, if you insist on doing what you want to do, you're going to lose everything.

that thing which you desire. And you're going to miss out. I desire that for you too, God says, but you have to do it my way. So surrender to me and don't insist on your way. Otherwise, you will miss out on what you desire. The people respond in verses 15 through 19 and say, we will not listen to you. They did not like the message. They said, no, we're not listening. And they gave some interesting reasoning in verse 17 and 18.

They said, look, when we burned incense to the queen of heaven, we didn't have any trouble. As we were worshiping this other god, we didn't have any problems. And then we tried to stop. We tried to scale back some and not worship those gods so much. And then they say in verse 18, when we stopped, then that's when we were consumed. So we're not going to listen to you. We're going to go back to worshiping the queen of heaven because we didn't have any problems when we were doing that.

Now their story is not very accurate, but it's the way that they're understanding it, the way that they're thinking. And so they're convinced. No, the problem is not that we're not worshipping God. The problem is we're not worshipping the Queen of Heaven because that's when all the trouble started. Now this highlights something important for us, something you need to understand. Obedience always requires faith.

Obedience always requires faith for a couple reasons. Number one, because most of the time we don't agree with what God says to do. It's our ways are not his ways and it doesn't make sense to us. Why would we do that? And so it requires faith. You have to trust God. But it also requires faith because we don't see immediate results. You don't see immediate results for obedience to God.

In the book of Malachi, you know, there's the passage there in chapter 3 that talks about the Lord testing, you know, not the Lord testing, but telling the people, test me on this and giving your tithe. And he says, I'm going to provide for you, but test me. You have to give, provide for the temple, and I'll provide for you. But what's interesting as you look into that, and we'll get to it this year as we go through the Bible in three years, what's interesting about that is,

It's not that they gave to the temple and then they got home. And when they got home, there was this pile of resources that God was providing for them. God says, no, you're not going to get it this season, but next season. There was a delay. Obedience requires faith because we don't see immediate results.

In Galatians chapter 6 verse 7 and 8, Paul talks about reaping and sowing. And you reap what you sow. And if you sow to the spirit, you reap life. But if you sow to the flesh, you reap corruption. But this picture of sowing has in that an indication of, you know, when you plant something, you don't come back the next day to get the fruit of it. Sometimes the fruit is years later. In the same way, obedience requires faith. Sometimes we give up too soon.

Because we're not seeing the fruit of what we're doing that God told us to do. And so we should just give up because there's no fruit here. From what they're saying, they're saying, look, we stopped worshiping these false gods. We tried worshiping. We tried walking with God for a bit. It didn't go so well. We had all this trouble. So we're going to go back to what we were doing. And God's saying, no, wait. You haven't yet seen the fruit of obedience. Right?

But the people said, no, we're not going to listen to you. And so verses 20 through 30, God responds and says, I will punish you in this place. I will punish you in this place. Interesting. The place that they were convinced was the place that would save them became the place of their punishment. And that's often how it is. When we run from God, when we do what we want to do and grasp hold of what we think is best...

Very often, that thing that we grasp hold of is the very thing that is the punishment that God brings for our rebellion against Him. He says in verse 23, And He says in verse 30, He's going to give Pharaoh into the hands of his enemies.

They thought Pharaoh will protect us. Egypt will protect us. They're strong. And God says they're not strong enough. I'm stronger. There's nowhere that you can run from God. And so they are going to be punished in that place because of their lack of brokenness. And I'm suggesting that we learn a lesson from them and not follow that pattern.

Well, as we go forward now into chapters 45 through 49, we're looking at a time period around 605 BC, right around the time that Babylon first conquers Judah and Jehoiachin is on the throne. And we're going to be looking at in these next few chapters,

Jeremiah's prophecies against the surrounding nations of Israel and Judah and the nations around them. And so chapter 45 will...

is something else. But then starting in chapter 46, we're going to see all of these prophecies against these surrounding nations and see what God has for us there. So chapter 45, verse 5 is the key verse. We have this little like insight into this guy named Baruch here. And it says, And do you seek great things for yourself? Do not seek them. For behold, I bring adversity on all flesh, says the Lord. But I will give your life to you as a prize in all places where you go.

In verses 1 through 3, we're introduced to this guy Baruch. He says, woe is me, or woe is me now. This is happening about the fourth year of Jehoiakim. So again, around 605, 604 BC. And Baruch, this is a guy we talked about last week. He was the scribe who wrote out Jeremiah's prophecies. That was back in chapter 36. Remember, Jeremiah had him write it all out. He goes to the temple. He reads it.

it. The people hear about it. He ends up before the king and the scroll is being read before the king and the king cuts it up and throws it into the fire and then God tells Jeremiah, alright, get Baruch again, write it all down again and they even added more words to it. This is that guy. And so now as the king throws it into the fire, we don't know exactly the context of chapter 45, but just putting it in that context, Baruch

The people are rebelling against the words of Jeremiah that he's recorded. He says, woe is me now. What's going to happen now? Babylon is coming. We're about to be conquered. He says, woe is me now. Verses 4 and 5, God says, I will give your life to you as a prize. He tells Baruch in verse 4, I'm going to destroy what I built. That is the nation of Judah. I built it. Now I'm going to take it apart because of their rebellion.

This is not part of Baruch's plan. This isn't what he signed up for. In verse 5, God tells him, do you seek great things for yourself? Gives us a little bit of insight into what was going on for Baruch. He was thinking, all right, I'm serving with Jeremiah, writing down the words of the Lord, reading it in the temple. I mean, this is going to be great. The people are going to repent. There's going to be a revival. I don't know what he was thinking. But God says, there are some great things in your heart.

And you were seeking some great things for yourself. You were serving me, but you also had this thought that something great was going to happen for you. And as we talk about this idea of brokenness this evening, Baruch is a really good example. Because even faithful servants have to learn to surrender to God's plan. Baruch, are you seeking great things for yourself? Don't seek them.

Oh, I'm going to give your life to you as a prize, he says. I'm going to preserve you and I'm going to take care of you. I'm going to reward you for your faithfulness. But let me reward you. Let me take care of you. Don't seek great things for yourself. Are you seeking great things for yourself this evening? Are you trying to get your plan? Are you trying to fulfill your vision for life, for ministry, for whatever it is that it might be? Even faithful servants.

Have to learn to surrender. To God's plan. Chapter 46 now. Verse 1 is the key verse. It says. The word of the Lord. Which came to Jeremiah the prophet. Against the nations. So verse 1 is really an introduction. It's the word of the Lord. Against the nations. And the next few chapters.

Here from 46 through 51, there's going to be these prophecies against the nations. They're not all given at the same time. They're various times, but they're compiled and put together about all of the nations surrounding Judah that God is speaking against. Now, many of these prophecies over these next few chapters are

are fulfilled by Babylon. So just as God used Babylon to bring judgment upon Jerusalem and Judah, God used Babylon to deal with many of these other nations as well.

Now there's also portions of these that many people suggest are prophecies that are not fulfilled by Babylon but are to be fulfilled later on in end times. And so you can check out people like Joel Rosenberg. He has some interesting thoughts about some of the passages here that we're going to be looking at this evening. I'm not completely convinced.

by some of the things. So I just kind of hold to it and think about it, but I don't really, I'm not really persuaded yet. But I can see where a lot of these are fulfilled already. And so I'm confident in that. But some of the things I'm just not so sure about. And so you can check it out and look into it if you'd like. But we learn an important lesson about God from these chapters. And that is that he provides warnings and announces judgment and

to nations outside of Israel. He speaks to other nations as well. He speaks to people who are not his people. And it changes the picture a little bit when we understand better the plan of God, the working of God, that God doesn't just destroy people without notice, but he reaches out to them first. And we have a little glimpse of it here with Jeremiah, but

We can understand that God was reaching out to these nations, not just with Jeremiah. In fact, many of the minor prophets you'll see are God speaking to and calling out to other nations. Just like Jonah was sent to Nineveh with a call. Well, it wasn't even a call to repentance. It was just an announcement of judgment. But they repented and God relented. In the same way God was speaking to. And so he's not just, you know, on a rampage just wiping out the foreign nations. No.

But he's announcing judgment. And as we've seen over and over and over again, whenever God announces judgment, it's an opportunity to repent. So we start now looking at the nation of Egypt. Verses 2 through 12, he declares that Egypt will fall by the Euphrates. This is happening around 605 BC or when this is fulfilled.

Babylon is making its way towards Judah, towards Egypt, towards that whole region. And Egypt goes up north by the Euphrates River to meet Babylon, hoping to stop this invasion of the land. And so they meet at this city called Carchemish. And there, Egypt is defeated by Babylon. Then in verses 13 through 26, God says that Babylon will strike Egypt.

This happens sometime later. Nebuchadnezzar comes back into the land after Judah is already conquered and the people left. You remember they run to Egypt. God says Babylon is going to come down and now conquer Egypt and strike the land of Egypt. And so that's fulfilled around 568 BC. But then in verses 27 and 28 God gives a little word of comfort and he says that Jacob shall return from captivity.

He gives them a word of comfort. He says, hey, I've taken you captive or I've dispersed you, you know, as captives to Babylon. But don't fear. Even though I destroy Babylon, I'm going to preserve you and I'm going to bring you back into the land of Judah. And so God tells them, hey, I love you. I'm taking care of you. I'm chastening you.

I can't leave you unpunished, so I'm chastening you. I'm bringing you punishment so that I can bring you back into the land that I've given to you. It's a parallel really of Hebrews chapter 12 where the author of Hebrews tells us that the Lord chastens those that he loves. He chastens us because he loves us so that he can bring us back. Because, well, there is that purging that needs to happen, but it's so that he can bring us back.

Well, here's what these battles look like that God prophesies about. In 605 BC, Babylon, there on the right, comes up.

the Euphrates River, that's kind of the main river that follows the Red Arrow there. And so they kind of follow that path. It's the same path that Abraham followed when he came from that region over to the promised land. It was the normal path for people to follow. They wouldn't go across the desert. They would go up to the north. And so Egypt goes up to the north as well. Carchemish is there, the Euphrates River in the north. And there they meet for battle.

and Egypt is defeated. This has been called by many one of the most important battles of all history because this battle basically determined who was going to be the next world power. It was either Babylon or Egypt. If Egypt was victorious here, then Babylon would have, you know, not been the power in that region and Egypt would have been able to grow stronger. But Egypt was defeated and

And so Babylon continued to possess the land there around Israel and Judah.

Now, 568 B.C. is the fulfillment of the second part of this. And that's when Babylon goes down. They've kind of been in the land for a while. They've conquered Judah. And then they make their way farther south and defeat Egypt. There's all kinds of details that I'm kind of skipping over. They go back and forth and things like that. But basically, Egypt is stricken by Babylon around 568 B.C.,

what is that, 20 years after Babylon conquered the city of Jerusalem. Chapter 47, now verse 1 is the key verse. The word of the Lord that came to Jeremiah the prophet against the Philistines before Pharaoh attacked Gaza. So we talked about Egypt at first. Now in chapter 47, we're dealing with the Philistines. And so verse 1 is that this is the word of the Lord against the Philistines.

These were the constant enemy of Israel. They were, you know, in part of the land of Israel and Judah. And so they were constant battles between them. Remember David versus Goliath. Goliath was, you know, of the Philistines. They were not actually native to the land. They migrated there and they inhabited the coastal region of the Mediterranean Sea. And so this prophecy is given about the Philistines, right?

it says Egypt attacked Gaza, but it's actually fulfilled later on by Babylon. So verses 2 through 5, he says, the Lord shall plunder the Philistines and the inhabitants are going to cry and to wail

Verse 4, because of the day that comes to plunder all the Philistines, to cut off from Tyre and Sidon every helper who remains, for the Lord shall plunder the Philistines, the remnant of the country of Kaphtar. Then in verses 6 and 7, it tells us that he has appointed the sword against Ashkelon. Ashkelon and Gaza are two of the primary cities of the Philistines in that day.

And he's explaining here that the sword of the Lord cannot be quiet because God has appointed it and given it charge against Ashkelon, this major city of the Philistines.

So here's a quick look at that. So Israel and Judah, that was, you know, the land that God had given to them. The Philistines inhabited the coastal land. And so their major cities were Gaza, Ashkelon, Ashdod, Gath was one, also at one time. And so, and Ziklag, remember with King David. And so Egypt was,

or attacks Gaza earlier. And then the nation of Babylon comes in later. So Egypt comes up about 609 BC and is attacking the Philistines, giving them trouble. But then Babylon gives the death blow in 604 BC and conquers them completely. And so the Philistines at that time were conquered. They were dispersed.

And now basically have ceased to be a people because they were just assimilated into all of the nations where they were led captive. Chapter 48 now, verse 16 is the key verse. It says,

And verses 1 through 10, we learn that Moab is destroyed. God's announcing it ahead of time, but speaking of it, you know, as if it had already happened. Because when God speaks, you know, it's definitely going to happen. So the nation of Moab is east of the nation of Judah. It's across the Dead Sea.

And they usually had good relationships, but sometimes, depending on the season, they had bad relationships with Israel and Judah. Remember Ruth?

From the book of Ruth, she was a Moabitess. And she is, I think, the great-grandmother of King David. And so they had good relationships earlier on. But then later on, Moab was aligned with Babylon and, you know, against Israel and Judah. And so God is announcing this destruction upon Moab. Now why will God destroy Moab? He tells us in verse 7.

He says, for because you have trusted in your works and your treasures, you also shall be taken. And Chemosh shall go forth into captivity, his priests and his princes all together. Why will God destroy Moab? He explains why. Because you have trusted in your works and in your treasures and in your false gods. Chemosh is the god that they worshiped.

And so because they trusted in their works, they trusted in their treasures, they trusted in their God, God says, I'm going to bring this destruction upon you. Now again, the theme that we see throughout the book of Jeremiah here in Moab is the need for brokenness. And I would ask you this evening to consider, what are you trusting in?

What are you trusting in? You cannot compensate for brokenness with works or treasures. You cannot compensate and make up for, well, I'm going to do what I want to do, but I'm going to give extra to God or I'm going to do extra good things for God. You can't trust in your plans and your ways and think it's going to be okay.

You can't think, well, I have a good savings account, so I can do what I want to do. And, you know, worst case scenario, I have my savings account, my 401k, I can cash it in, and then we can use that. You can't trust in your works. You can't trust in your treasures. In fact, if you do, that's reason for God to bring discipline and chastening. And that's what's happening to Moab. In verses 11 through 15, God says that Moab has been at ease.

But now they're going to be ashamed of Chemosh. Now they were worshipping this god. This god is also known as Molech. Which you probably are a little bit more familiar with. Molech was the god where they would worship by sacrificing their children on this idol in the fire. And they would worship this god looking for prosperity. Looking for favor. And God says because of that

you will be destroyed. Verses 16 through 25, the calamity of Moab is near. And it mentions throughout that. Many of the cities of Moab, the regions around it. Verses 26 through 33 though, it explains more why God will destroy Moab. He exalted himself against the Lord. Check out verse 26. It says, make him drunk because he has exalted himself against the Lord. Moab shall wallow in his vomit. It's a good picture, right? And he also shall be in derision.

What's the problem here? Why is God bringing this destruction upon Moab? Because he has exalted himself against the Lord. Trusting in his works, trusting in his treasures, trusting in his false god, he exalted himself against the Lord. This nation exalted itself. Now, the only way to exalt yourself is to exalt yourself against the Lord. There's not a way to exalt yourself against

with the Lord or for the Lord, the only way to exalt yourself is against the Lord. God's instruction to us is quite clear. Humble yourself in the sight of the Lord and he will lift you up. But those who exalt themselves, now again, you might think, hey, I'm not exalting myself. But when we don't seek God's counsel, we exalt ourselves.

It's not just when we know what God wants and choose to do something different, but when we think we know what's best and so we do what we want to do, we are exalting ourselves against the Lord by not giving him an opportunity, by not saying, Lord, I'm your servant. You direct me. You tell me what to do. You give me instruction. I want to be submitted to you. It can creep in quite subtly and we need that.

To be careful because, well, we desperately need the Lord and we need to be broken. And we must not rely upon our own thoughts and our own ways, our own works and our own treasures. We must not rely upon our resources. We must not exalt ourselves against the Lord. In verse 29 it says, "...we have heard the pride of Moab. He is exceedingly proud of his loftiness and arrogance and pride and the haughtiness of his heart."

The Bible is quite clear. Peter tells us God is opposed to the proud. To exalt yourself is to exalt yourself against God. To be proud, to be prideful, to be well consumed with yourself is to set yourself up against God. Instead we are to be humbled, surrendered, submitted, broken, and not proud.

But they are proud. And so verses 34 through 46, he says, I have broken Moab like a vessel in which is no pleasure. Think about that picture. Have you ever accidentally broken something valuable? Maybe a nice piece of china. There was these cups and I don't remember why I'm bringing this up. But I would always wash them and trying to get to the bottom, I would bust open the glass. It was a glass and I could never get to the bottom. And so I'm trying to scrub and then all of a sudden, whoosh.

But those were things that were valuable. It wasn't on purpose. How would you break a vessel in which you have no pleasure? Well, it reminds me back to my not so good days. I was a kid. Me and my friend, we'd go around the fields and around his house and stuff. And we'd look for bottles so that we could just smash them because it was fun. But how would you break a vessel in which you have no pleasure? You're angry. You're upset. This is disgusting.

How would you break it? That's what God's saying here. This is how he's treating Moab. Why? Because they are proud. Lord, help us to have a clear understanding of pride and what that means to you and what that does to you and how you feel about it because he breaks those who are proud like a vessel in which is no pleasure.

Verse 42, Moab shall be destroyed as a people. Why? Because he exalted himself against the Lord. Sounds familiar. Yes, God's repeating himself. He wants to make sure they need to know and we need to learn the lesson from them. Do not exalt yourself against the Lord. Well, the only way to exalt yourself is against the Lord. What we must do then is be broken.

Now again, the saying I've been saying all along, you can be broken or you will be broken.

That's what God's saying here. I've broken Moab like a vessel in which is no pleasure. We can choose brokenness and humility and surrender and seek God first and his kingdom, his righteousness, and he'll add on all those other things that we're trying to get. But we got to put God first and let him override our thoughts and emotions and feelings and desires. We have to let him override. That comes from brokenness. Or we will be broken because of our pride.

Verse 47, he gives a word of comfort. He says, I will bring back captives of Moab. So like he's doing with Judah, he's going to deal with them, bring some chastening, but he's going to bring them back and give them another opportunity to return to the Lord.

So as God is speaking to Moab in chapter 48, here's what it looks like. This is fulfilled by Babylon who conquered Moab around 582 BC. And so there's Moab right across the Dead Sea from the nation of Judah. And Babylon comes down and conquers them. God shatters them like a plate or a vessel in which is no pleasure because of their pride.

Well, now as we go into chapter 49, verse 1 is the key verse. It says, Here in chapter 49 of Jeremiah, we're going to be looking at judgment against several nations. So we've been looking at, you know, one chapter per nation. But now, several nations kind of lumped all together. So verses 1 through 6, you have the nation of Ammon.

And God says, Ammon shall be burned, but I will bring back the captives. Ammon was a nation that was also east of Judah, but it was a little bit north of Moab. And God says, why are they inheriting or why are they taking the land in Gad, which was the northern part of Israel? They were taking land that God had given to Israel. And God says, what do you think you're doing? Why are you taking that land?

And so he's going to bring destruction. He says, Ammon will be burned. Why? Why will God destroy Ammon? Well, verse 4 tells us. He says, Here's the heart condition of the people of Ammon. They were boastful. You know what that's an indication of, right? Pride.

They weren't broken. They were proud. They were boasting and they were trusting in their treasures. They were trusting in their own resources. But notice that God refers to them as a backsliding daughter. He says, you know the truth. You've heard the truth. You've walked in the truth. But now you're proud and you're trusting in your own resources. You backsliding daughter. I got to ask the question. Is that how God refers to you tonight?

If he were to speak to you, would he be able to say, you backsliding daughter, you backsliding son. You once were there, you were with me, but now you're far away because of your pride and trusting in your own resources. And what you need is brokenness and you need to surrender. You need to trust God and not your own resources. You need to be submitted to him. But Ammon was not.

And so God is bringing this destruction. But he gives that word of comfort in verse 6. That the captives will be brought back. Over and over again we see this theme. God's bringing this destruction. Why? Because God is opposed to the proud. He will bring judgment. He will bring discipline. Chastening to those who trust in their own resources. And are not broken before him. In verses 7 through 22 it goes on now to the nation of Edom.

And says that Edom shall become a desolation. Now Edom was directly south of Judah. They were the descendants of Esau. And God is announcing this judgment. And he's saying this judgment is going to be complete. So unlike Ammon where some of the captives were going to be brought back. Edom that's not the case with them.

He compares it or contrasts it to the grape gatherers. As the grape gatherers were going through the vines, they would miss some or they would leave some behind. There would be a few left on the vines after they'd gathered the grapes. But God says, not so when I come against Edom. There's not going to be anything left. No remnant. The Edomites are going to cease to exist. In verse 10 he says, I have made Esau bare. There's nothing left. And that is indeed what happened.

Then in verses 23 through 27, he says, I will kindle a fire in Damascus. Now this is an interesting passage. Damascus was north, kind of far north from Jerusalem. And it's the capital of the nation of Syria at that time and then also even to this day. What makes this passage interesting is it's not really clear if this has been fulfilled. Damascus has been attacked.

Many times. But some of the particular aspects of this prophecy. It's unclear if it has been fulfilled or not. And so right now as all this unrest is happening in Syria. And the civil war is going on. It's caused a lot of people to look back at this passage. And wonder is this something that's going to be fulfilled in the near future. It's unclear though. So we can't say one way or another for sure.

Then in verses 28 through 33, it tells us that Babylon shall strike Kedar and Hazor. These are cities in the Arabian desert. And Nebuchadnezzar will come down and strike them and conquer them. And then in verses 34 through 39, he says, I will destroy Elam and bring the captives back. So some nations he's destroying and there's nothing left. Nobody left.

Some, he says, I'm going to bring back the captives. And so Elam is like that. But they're going to be scattered through the nations and then he will bring them back, he says, in verse 36 and verse 39. So here's a look at what that looks like, the different areas that God is addressing here. So this is, you know, a map of the empire, the Babylonian empire.

Syria, that's the one in Damascus. Again, not quite sure. It's a little bit unclear if that one's been fulfilled or not. Ammon, they were conquered by Babylon in 582. You see them there just east of the Jordan River, the Dead Sea, a little bit north of Moab. Edom, they disappeared from history after 70 AD.

So they were affected by Babylon. They were conquered later by Arabian raiders. And they had different, you know, difficulties throughout history. But they still existed. In fact, Herod, remember King Herod, he was an Edomite.

But after Jerusalem was conquered by the Romans in AD 70, the Edomites have ceased to exist. And so they are not a people any longer. Then Kedar, that's in the Arabian Desert. They were conquered by Babylon around 599 BC. And then Elam is over there actually east of Babylon. And

It's a little bit curious why God, you know, highlighted them or spoke to them, you know, so far away. Yet he did. And so they were conquered. But then God said he would bring back those captives. All right. As we go on now to chapter 50, we're jumping a little bit ahead in the timeline. We've been looking around 605 B.C., the second time or the first time that Babylon conquered Judah. Now we're jumping to around 586 B.C.,

uh or a little bit before that zedekiah is reigning in judah babylon is coming for the third and final time against jerusalem and now god has a final prophecy against babylon in chapter 50 and then tomorrow we'll read about it as well in chapter 51 so chapter 50 verse 18 is the key verse says therefore thus says the lord of hosts the god of israel

So in verses 1 through 3, we're introduced to this prophecy and it's the word against Babylon. There's a nation that comes out of the north that is going to destroy Babylon. In verses 4 through 20, God says, As God is dealing with Babylon...

Verse 4 tells us Israel is going to be seeking the Lord. And when Babylon falls, the Jews will be allowed to return to Jerusalem. Now we'll get to see glimpses of this, especially as we go into the prophet Daniel over the next couple of months. Where Daniel begins to seek the Lord. He begins to pray. He's repenting on behalf of the nation.

And then the people, as Babylon is conquered, are allowed to go back to Jerusalem once Babylon is defeated. And so once that happens, in verse 8, God says, move from the midst of Babylon. Go out of the land of the Chaldeans and be like the rams before the flock. So

God says, when you have the opportunity to go, get out of there. Because more judgment is going to come. The city is going to be leveled. And so you want to be out of that region. When you have the opportunity, go back to Israel. Now, not all the Jews did. When Cyrus gave them the opportunity, some returned, but many did not. Then in verses 21 through 28, it tells us that Babylon has become a desolation. Now, Babylon is conquered by the Medo-Persian Empire.

Around 536 B.C. But the city itself is not destroyed until later on. There's some other battles that happen later on. When the city is finally destroyed. So it's conquered. The empire falls. But the city itself doesn't fall until a little bit later. Then in verses 29 through 32. God says I will punish you. Now why is God going to punish Babylon? I'll give you one guess. It's pride. Verse 29.

What's Babylon's problem? Pride. Over and over we're seeing God's issue is with pride.

Babylon has been proud against the Lord. And so God says, I'm going to punish her. God is opposed to the proud. And it gives to us one more time that warning, that need for brokenness. There's a need for me to be surrendered. Then in verses 33 through 46...

It says the earth trembles at the noise of the taking of Babylon. And so when it happens, it's going to cause the earth to tremble. So here's a quick look at that. Babylon is defeated in 536 by a joining together of the Medes and the Persians. They become the Persian Empire as they conquer Babylon. And then you can see the yellow line. The Jews at that time are allowed to return back to Jerusalem. So they go up the Euphrates and then come back down to Jerusalem and begin to rebuild Babylon.

And we looked at that already historically with Ezra and Nehemiah and all the things that went on there. But this idea, this word of brokenness is where we need to finish. And so chapter 50, would you look with me at verse 24 and we'll end with this verse. Chapter 50, verse 24, God says to Babylon, I have laid a snare for you. You have indeed been trapped, O Babylon, and you were not aware.

You have been found and also caught because you have contended against the Lord. Babylon fought against the Lord, contended against the Lord, was proud against the Lord, exalted itself against the Lord, which can be done with complete and open rebellion against God, but it also comes into us subtly like it did with the nation of Judah, where they just did what they thought was best instead of asking God.

Or when they did ask God, they decided, well, that doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me. I think going to Egypt makes a lot more sense. So Babylon doesn't kill us. So let's do that. There's a great danger for us. Again, as I shared at the beginning, it's reflected in my own heart and my prayer before the service that, Lord, where I lack, you know, fill in the gap. But that indicates that I think there's areas where I don't lack. And that's pride against the Lord.

There needs to be that brokenness for me. That absolute dependence upon the Lord for you. That we surrender to God and submit to Him and obey. Humble yourself in the sight of the Lord. He will lift you up. Seek first the kingdom of God. He will meet your needs. But you got to seek Him first. And if we are like the children of Israel who were warned and warned and warned and warned, received all kinds of chastening, then finally went to Egypt and

we're insisting on God's discipline. We're insisting that God chasten us because we don't ask him, we don't seek him. And if we do, we don't do what he says. Be broken or you will be broken. Let's pray. God, I pray that you would help us to see our need for you. Lord, that we would look to you and listen to you.

Lord, that we would allow you to override our own hearts and our feelings, our thoughts, our emotions, our plans, our desires, our goals. Lord, that we would let you set all of those things and direct us. Help us, God, to never think that we can do anything without you. Lord, as Jesus said, apart from him, we can do nothing. Lord, help us, Lord, to really realize that. And I pray, God, that you would draw us near to you, that we would seek you.

And rely upon you for little decisions, for big decisions, for little issues, for big issues, for good things, for bad things, for joys, for difficulties. Lord, that we would seek you in all things. Lord, that we would be broken before you and completely reliant upon you because we desperately need you. Help us, God, to turn to you in that way. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.

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