If you look at Jeremiah chapter 13 and verse number 15, look at verse number 15, it says
Hear ye and give ear, be not proud for the Lord hath spoken.
The title for the sermon this morning is Be Not Proud.
In fact, pride or being proud is one of the things, one of the main things that you'd probably notice
as the Bible's being read there. And so we should not be prideful people
and of course Judah had become a nation full of pride.
But let's start there in verse number 1, Jeremiah 13 and verse number 1,
God asks something a little bit unusual for Jeremiah to do.
And he doesn't tell him, you know when we read this, we read it all at once.
But you'll notice that God has to tell Jeremiah, this strange thing that he tells Jeremiah to do,
he has to tell him at three different stages, okay.
So we can read it, we kind of understand what God is doing, we can understand it from a big picture.
But I kind of put myself in the shoes of Jeremiah, he must be wondering,
why is God asking me to do such weird things?
But anyway, look at verse number 1, it says,
Thus saith the Lord unto me, Go and get thee a linen girdle,
and put it upon thy loins, and put it not in water.
Okay, so we see there that God asks Jeremiah, can you put on a linen girdle?
Now a girdle, most often than not, it doesn't always have to be the case,
but most often than not, it's referring to a belt.
You know, being girded about, right, about the waist or about the loins.
But what you notice here that this is a linen girdle, a linen girdle.
So often when we think about a belt, we think about something more like leather,
something out of skin, something a little bit tougher, right.
And so, you know, this girdle could maybe be more like a cord,
where someone, you know, you might have seen pictures or something of Old Testament,
you know, saints walking around with a coat.
And sometimes around that coat you would have maybe something to tie it up.
It's kind of like your, maybe if you've got a robe, you know, you've got a bathroom robe,
you know, so often you get like a linen girdle to just tie it up together
so it kind of stays together.
So that's most likely what it is.
It's kind of some type of linen girdle, linen belt there.
And God says, look, put it on and put it not in water.
So God is saying, look, don't wash it, okay.
Don't put it in the, you know, just wear it about and never wash it, okay.
So God's asking that kind of a strange thing here.
Look at verse number two, and I like Jeremiah.
So he doesn't, like, I mean, that's a bit unusual why he asked me to put that on, God.
But then it says, so I got a girdle according to the word of the Lord and put it on my loins.
So Jeremiah, all right, yeah, you want me to put a linen girdle, I'll put it on, okay.
Now there's a bit of a time frame from what God says there in verse number one to verse number three.
Because in verse number three it says, and the word of the Lord came unto me a second time, saying.
So some time later, a second time God speaks to Jeremiah, okay.
So Jeremiah is walking around in this linen girdle not knowing for some time, you know,
why God's even asking to do that, right. So it seems a bit unusual.
Anyway, so some period takes place before God tells him to put this on.
Oh, it comes to him a second time with this.
And so, you know, while you're wearing that linen girdle, just like any clothing, you know,
if you're wearing the same piece of clothing day after day, it's going to start to, you know, deteriorate.
It needs to be washed. It's going to get dirty, these kinds of things, okay.
And what does God say a second time in verse number three, verse number four?
It says take the girdle that thou hast got which is upon thy loins and arise,
go to Euphrates and hide it there in a hole of a rock, okay.
And so now God says well take that same linen girdle, go to the Euphrates River
and just go find a hole there in a rock place and just put it out there,
just expose it to the open elements basically, okay.
You've got a river passing by, you're just leaving it out in the open.
And of course if you take a piece of clothing and you leave it out in the open,
it's going to deteriorate even more.
I mean quite often, you know, it happens where, and we do, my wife does a lot of washing
because there's a lot of us, right.
And so you've got the clothes on the line and quite often, you know,
Christina and sometimes Isabel will help out as well, bring the clothes into the house.
And quite often, what else are they going to bring into the house?
A little creature comes along with the clothing sometimes.
What creature is that? Anyone know?
A moths. Have you guys ever brought in your clothing from the clothesline
and you get moths because, you know, moths love that fabric, right.
They like to eat away at that kind of stuff.
And so when you take a linen girdle, you put it out in the open elements,
you're going to have little critters, you're going to have little things
that are going to, and just the elements, just the wind, the waters,
all that kind of stuff is going to cause further deterioration to that girdle.
And again, so it's a bit unusual what God is asking for Jeremiah,
but look at verse number 5 and Jeremiah says,
So I went and hid it by Euphrates as the Lord commanded me.
So Jeremiah is just an obedient kind of guy, okay.
Now some time takes place and now we have a third time
that God speaks to him about this girdle.
In verse number 6, it says,
And it came to pass after many days that the Lord said unto me,
so this is now the third time the Lord talks about this,
Arise, go to Euphrates and take the girdle from thence,
which I commanded thee to hide there.
And then look at the obedience again,
Then I went to Euphrates and digged,
and took the girdle from the place where I had hid it,
and behold, the girdle was marred, it was profitable for nothing.
So what an unusual thing for God to ask of Jeremiah.
So what does it mean to be marred?
To mar is to be destroyed or disfigured.
When the Bible speaks about prophetic care of Christ on the cross,
it says that he was marred more than any man.
So Christ, when he was on our cross, he was disfigured.
He was whipped, he was beaten, he was bruised,
and so we have this girdle now here being marred,
it's destroyed or disfigured,
and it says it was profitable for nothing.
And brethren, this will tie into pride, the pride of Judah.
I'll show you soon.
But here's what you need to understand about pride.
Pride is profitable for nothing.
It makes you feel good.
When you feel yourself with pride,
maybe someone has said something that offends you,
you're not happy about it, you get upset, you get tired up,
you have a strong face toward that person,
or you don't take rebuke, you don't take correction.
I'm always right and everyone else is always wrong.
There's a lot of people like that.
They think everybody is wrong.
You meet people and they're arguing with their wife,
they're arguing with their work colleagues,
they're arguing with their family, they're arguing with their friends,
they're arguing with their church members, they're arguing with everybody.
Everybody's wrong except me.
No, if that's your life, if that's what you look like in your life,
then you're the problem.
You're the problem.
And the reason you can't get along with people is because of pride.
And when you're full of pride, you're profitable for nothing.
We'll have a look at this.
Look how God explains the issue here.
And again, when he says it's profitable for nothing,
it means that the girdle that was once used to be put around his loins,
he can't use it for the purpose anymore.
It's destroyed. It's disfigured. It's ugly.
It can't be used. It doesn't hold up anymore.
Whatever it was that it was holding, maybe it was his coat or his pants,
whatever it was, it can't be used for that anymore.
And verse number eight.
Then the word of the Lord came unto me, saying,
Thus saith the Lord, After this manner will I mar the pride of Judah
and the great pride of Jerusalem.
And so the girdle represents Judah.
That this wonderful nation of God had become full of pride.
And God says, Well, now that you're full of pride, guess what?
I'm going to mar you.
The same way that Jeremiah took that little girdle
and allowed it to be worn without being washed,
allowed it to be exposed to the open elements and be disfigured and destroyed,
God says, You know what? This nation's full of pride.
I'm going to mar you. I'm going to destroy you.
I'm going to make sure that you're profitable for nothing
because that's how you've become to me.
And brethren, that's where pride will lead you.
Great pride will lead you to be profitable for nothing.
Now let's keep going to verse number ten.
This evil people, it tells us why they were full of pride here.
This evil people who refuse to hear my words,
which walk in the imagination of their hearts
and walk after other gods to serve them and to worship them,
shall even be as this girdle which is good for nothing.
So brethren, let me show you this.
If you refuse to hear the words of God, right,
you come to church and you hear the preaching
or you go and you do your own Bible reading
and you read it and you say, Well, God, yeah, you know what?
I don't want to do that, Lord.
You walk after the imagination of your own heart.
I'm going to do things my way, God.
And you go and you do your own things.
Well, God understands my scenario.
I know what's right in this situation.
Well, the Bible tells us you're going to become good for nothing.
You can become like this girdle that is not profitable anymore.
It was once profitable.
It once was, you know, Jeremiah was using it for some days, for some time.
It was profitable for him then, but he became no longer profitable.
Look at verse 11.
For as the girdle cleaveth to the loins of a man,
so have I cause to cleave unto me the whole house of Israel
and the whole house of Judah, saith the Lord,
that they might be unto me for a people and for a name
and for a praise and for a glory,
but they would not hear.
God says, I wanted them to be like a girdle.
You know, wrapped around me, close by me, profitable.
It's only profitable to me, though, if they are a people for my name, right?
A people for my praise, a people for my glory.
But the people said we would not hear.
We're not going to listen to you, God, anymore.
And so they no longer became profitable.
They became, as it were, a marred girdle in the face of God.
Again, it tells us there in verse number 10, they're evil, okay?
They refused to hear God's words.
They walked in the imaginations of their own heart
and they served and worshiped false gods.
Now, I'm not expecting anybody here to serve and worship false gods.
Man, if you did that, I'd be in doubt of your salvation.
I'd be like, what in the world is going on, right?
But, hey, could you become evil?
Could you do evil things?
Can you seek after the imaginations of your own heart?
Can you be someone that refuses to hear God's word?
Absolutely, okay?
You can be that way, and if you are that way, brethren,
you need to understand that God is considering you
as a girdle that's becoming marred,
a girdle that's been filled up with pride
and can no longer have any use for him.
Pride will cause us to not be able to serve God
in the capacity that he wants us to serve him in, right?
You know, pride makes you good for nothing.
The definition for pride, I looked this up in the dictionary.
It says, a high or inordinate opinion of one's own dignity,
importance, merit, whether as cherished in the mind
or as displayed in bearing or conduct, okay?
So it's a high or inordinate opinion of one's own dignity or importance.
You think you're more important than you really are, okay?
You think you have more merit, you know, you deserve more praise
than you truly do, right?
And that can be said here cherished in the mind
or displayed in your conduct, okay?
Sometimes you can see someone's pride just by the way they behave, right?
But pride also works up here in the mind, okay?
Pride up here to become disobedient, especially to the word of God,
disobedient to those that have authority over you.
You know, we don't want to be people that become full of pride, okay?
Thinking that we're something above our own measure.
Verse number 12.
So God is now telling Jeremiah, listen, this is what you need to preach to your people
because they're so full of pride.
You need to tell them, start by telling them that every bottle shall be filled with wine.
Now, the context of this is alcohol, okay?
I'll show you soon because the next verse talks about alcohol, okay?
It talks about drunkenness.
But it says here that, you know, every bottle shall be filled with wine.
Now, that's how Jeremiah starts speaking.
If I came to this church and I said, you know what, guys?
You know, we're going to be prosperous.
You know, when you go home, your bank accounts are going to be filled with millions of dollars
because, listen, grape juice and, you know, things like that,
they were very expensive in the time of Israel.
They don't have the, you know, the production, you know, what am I looking for?
Sorry?
Facilities, yeah, that we have in this day and age to make juice.
You know, somebody once bought us a juicer and it was a really great juicer.
I really appreciate the gift.
And in order for my whole family, let's just say I have orange juice or something, right?
I mean, the amount of oranges you have to buy to just use that to get like one cup of juice, all right?
And then you're trying to feed, you know, you're trying to give 11 kids, you know, orange juice.
I mean, it becomes a lot of work.
I was like, man, you know, there's a lot of labor going into it, especially, you know,
the juice comes out and the pulp doesn't get used, right?
And so, you know, just to give all my children freshly squeezed orange juice.
You brought orange juice once, didn't you, brother, freshly squeezed?
It probably took a lot of work, probably took a lot of time, right?
But, you know, all that time to get that juice and to drink it just takes a few seconds, right, to get done.
But listen, you know, having juice back in this time was not easy.
It would take a lot of manual work.
And so, you know, this is something that is quite expensive, you know.
It's a luxury item to be able to drink juice.
But here's the thing about this.
You know, if I came saying, you know what, your bank accounts are going to be full, brethren.
You know, you're going to be, you know, you're going to get promotions at work.
You know, your cups are going to be filled with wine.
You know, you're going to have all this great stuff.
You know, I start sounding a bit like a Joel Osteen.
I start sounding a little bit like these prosperity preachers that, you know, everything's going to be wonderful.
God wants you to be rich and God wants you to be wealthy and God wants to make sure that you're never sick, right?
And if you get sick, that means you'll be lacking faith in the Lord, brethren.
Hey, there's a lot of preaching that goes on like that, okay?
And it kind of sounds like as Jeremiah starts speaking, it sounds like he's becoming a prosperity preacher, right?
We're all going to have wine.
We're all going to be filled with wine.
And what do they say in response to that?
It says,
And they shall say unto thee, verse number 12,
Do we not certainly know that every bottle shall be filled with wine?
And so you have the people of Judah going,
Jeremiah, we already know that.
You're preaching prosperity now?
You know, you used to be a preacher of damnation and judgment and we're going to be destroyed by the Babylonians.
Have you changed your tune, Jeremiah?
Now you're saying we're going to be prosperous.
We already know we're going to be prosperous.
Because the first prophets of that day were already preaching this message.
The first prophets of this day was already preaching,
Yeah, you know what? Drink the alcohol.
You know, that's fine. Fill your bottles up with wine.
But is that the message that Jeremiah's preaching?
He starts that way, all right?
It starts that way.
It kind of fools those of Judah.
But how does this sermon continue?
Look at verse number 13.
It says,
Then shalt thou say unto them, Thus saith the Lord,
Behold, I will fill all the inhabitants of this land,
even the kings that sit upon David's throne,
and the priests and the prophets,
and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem with drunkenness.
So when he says, you know what?
Are we going to fill up all your bottles with wine?
You know what?
He's saying, look, I'm going to fill you up with drunkenness.
This whole nation's going to become drunk.
So is God teaching us that it's fine to drink alcohol here?
Well, let's keep going. Verse number 14.
And I will dash them one against another,
even the fathers and the sons together,
saith the Lord, I will not pity, nor spare, nor have mercy, but destroy them.
So is this good preaching?
Oh, man, we're going to have all, you know, alcoholic wine on our tables right now.
Praise God for the blessings.
No, God is saying, because of that, you're going to be destroyed.
You're going to be filled with drunkenness,
and I'm going to dash you one against another.
You know, God's saying, look, the fathers and the sons together.
God is saying, you know what?
I'm going to come into your families,
pretend this Bible represents the fathers
and this hymnbook represents the sons.
I'm going to dash you guys together.
I'm going to smash you guys together.
I'm going to destroy you.
Okay?
That's pretty aggressive.
Pretty aggressive language, right?
So Jeremiah starts, oh, man, is Jeremiah coming on our side with the false prophets?
Is he teaching us that drinking alcohol is just fine?
Is he saying, man, you know, fill up, drink up, good times ahead, party on.
Jeremiah starts preaching, he goes back to his old Jeremiah ways, right?
He goes back to his old, no, God's bringing judgment, okay?
You know, things aren't going to go well, God's going to destroy you.
You're full of pride.
Notice that drunkenness comes together with pride.
Notice that drinking alcohol comes together with pride.
Notice that destruction comes together with pride, okay?
This isn't a message, it's fine to drink alcohol and get drunk.
No, that's judgment from God to destroy you, okay?
And this nation was going to be destroyed by the hands of God.
Look at verse number 15.
Hear ye and give ear.
Be not proud, for the Lord hath spoken.
Okay?
So look at the topic of pride, you know, within the theme of this message here.
If you can keep your finger there and please turn to 1 John chapter 2 in your New Testament.
Turn to 1 John chapter 2 verse 16.
First John chapter 2 and verse number 16.
Pride, we all have it, brethren.
As soon as you say, I'm not prideful, I'm a very humble person.
That's pride.
That's pride speaking.
You know, in one of my old jobs, before I, it was one of my last days,
and you know how they do farewells and they give you little gifts, people collect money for you.
If you've been working there for a while, you know, they like you, whatever.
Well, I remember once they did a presentation for me, I was leaving the job,
and they put money together, they got me a gift.
And the person that came to present me the gift said,
Well, Kevin, we know you're a very humble person and you don't want to be recognised.
You don't want recognition.
You know what, as soon as that person said to me, you're a very humble person,
I was like, yeah, I am.
And then I realised, no, I'm not.
I've got pride.
You know, pride is one of those sins.
It's one of those secret, you just don't realise.
It's there, it's always there.
It's in the flesh, it's your ego.
You don't like people stepping on your toes or making you feel uncomfortable or being rebuked.
But, you know, when we get rebuked, we need to just realise that when we get rebuked,
when we get rebuked, you know, sometimes you're quick to speak back,
you're quick to talk back, and that's pride.
And sometimes when you get rebuked, you need to stop and just say,
I need to just put the pride down and then I need to just analyse this rebuke.
You know, is this rebuke legitimate or is it not legitimate?
Okay, if it wasn't directed to me and this was about somebody else,
would this be a legitimate reason to be rebuked?
And then you need to then figure out, you know, and receive.
You know, if you realise, yeah, you know what, this can be legitimate.
Or, you know what, I didn't mean it that way, but that's how they thought I meant it.
I'd better just be humble enough and just say, look, I'm sorry, I didn't mean it that way.
You know, I didn't want to offend you or things like that.
We need to learn how to take down this pride,
because I don't want you to become good for nothing, okay, like Judah had become.
1 John 2, verse 16, says,
Now, I want you to notice that pride is not from God the Father, okay?
This self-wealth, you know, this self-importance that doesn't come from God.
Don't forget what you're created from.
You're created from dust, okay?
Don't forget what you're created from.
But at the same time, that dust is your flesh.
And I don't want you to think, well, I'm just this, you know, horrible, disgusting sinner all the time,
because if you're saved, you've been born again.
If you're saved, you have a new man in you, you have the new spirit in you,
and guess what, that new man never sins and you're a child of God.
So I don't want you to be at the same time, oh man, I'm so disgusted and filthy,
but don't forget at the same time, that's the flesh, but you're also a child of God.
You're also very valuable.
God wants to use you.
You're profitable in the hands of God.
You can win many people to the Lord in this life while you're here, okay?
So don't become like some Christians that I know that are just constantly,
oh man, woe is me, woe is me, woe is me, all right?
It's almost like a fake humility, okay?
And it's like, well, I just can't do anything.
I'm so hopeless and blah, blah, blah.
You don't have to be that way, because you just walk in a new man
and you can do great things for God, all right?
That new man is not created from dust.
That new man came by the word of God, came by the blood of Christ,
came by the sacrifice, and it's through the seed of God
that that new man was able to come to life, okay?
So don't undermine the new man.
Understand this flesh is dust, but don't forget the new man is a child of God, okay?
But if you can please go to Proverbs 16, Proverbs 16.
So pride is not of the Father, but it is of the world.
The world will teach you to be prideful.
Our schools teach our children to be filled with pride, okay?
What is it?
I remember in primary school it was called self-esteem, you know?
Self-esteem.
Esteem yourself.
It's all about you.
Wasn't there an insurance company commercial once?
The most important person in the world is you.
It's like, really?
I'm the most important person in the world.
The world teaches us pride.
And it seems like, well, we're just protecting your mental states.
We just want you to feel good.
Listen, if we're going to boast about anything, we boast about Jesus Christ
and what he's done for us.
Thank you, Lord, all right?
And we esteem one another better than we esteem ourselves, okay?
I also come to church thinking you're better than me, okay?
That's what you deserve to be served.
I need to edify you, okay?
I want to come to church and be a blessing to others, okay?
It's not about what can I get out of church.
It's what can I give to church.
When you start taking that attitude, when you take that attitude,
you take down the pride.
Proverbs 16, verse 18, please.
Proverbs 16 and verse number 18.
The Bible says,
A goeth before destruction and a haughty spirit before a fall.
Listen, if someone's full of pride, I know what the end result's going to be.
They're going to fall.
They're going to be destroyed.
Understand that if you get full of pride and you don't take that down, brethren,
you're headed to destruction.
This is a promise of God.
You're headed to fall, a great fall, okay?
Why do pastors, why do preachers, men of God fail time and time again?
Why is it that they become disqualified?
They commit some major sin.
It's because they were prideful.
They thought they could just, you know, touch sin.
They thought they can get away with things.
They thought, well, I can just be, you know, I'm in control.
I'll make sure that I won't get caught out in my sin.
And before you know it, they have a great fall and they're out of the ministry.
They can't be used.
They're good for nothing in the eyes of God, right?
They can't be used anymore in the ministries of old.
And, you know, we've seen many pastors fail.
I've seen many pastors fail in my lifetime.
And I need to remind myself how pastors can fail so I don't make the same mistakes.
So when I see pride creeping in in my life,
I want to make sure I temper that very quickly, all right?
Go to Proverbs 11, Proverbs 11, verse number 2.
Proverbs 11, verse number 2.
It says, Proverbs 11, verse number 2,
When pride cometh, then cometh shame.
So that's the same idea where you have a fall or destroyed.
But then it says this, but with the lowly is wisdom.
When the Bible says lowly, it's another way of saying something that is humble, okay?
Is wisdom.
So what is it saying?
When you're full of pride, you're not wise.
When you're full of pride, it's not out of wisdom.
You think it is.
You think, oh, man, nobody can say that about me, right?
I know best.
You think you're wise, but it's just worldly wisdom.
It's the wisdom of the world.
If you want to have the wisdom of God, brethren, you have to be lowly.
The Bible tells us that Jesus Christ was lowly.
He was humble, okay?
Jesus Christ was that way.
He sets the example that we need to walk, brethren,
if you want to gain knowledge, you want to increase in wisdom,
you have to lower yourself.
Oh, man, that's so hard, okay?
Yeah, it is hard to lower yourself, okay?
It is hard, but you can see that but with a lowly is wisdom.
Go to Proverbs chapter 8 now.
Proverbs chapter 8 and verse number 13.
Proverbs chapter 8, verse number 13.
It says, the fear of the Lord is to hate evil.
Now, notice that after the evil, there's a colon, okay?
So it's going to explain to you what these evil things are that the Lord hates.
Number one, pride and arrogance and the evil way in the forward mouth do I hate.
Guess what?
When you're full of pride, God hates it.
When Judah was full of pride, God hated it, okay?
Instead of being a profitable girdle, you become mad.
You become useless in the eyes of God.
God hates pride.
Hey, the destruction of Satan, all right?
When he was in heaven, what was his great sin?
It was pride.
You know, I will be like the Most High.
Satan, Lucifer wanted to be God, wanted to be like God.
You know what?
He had a great position in heaven, okay?
He had a great role to worship God and be able to experience, be in the presence of God,
but pride got in his way and then he was cast out and he's Satan now.
He's Satan, right?
And so that is a great sin of Satan and doesn't it make sense then
that that is something that Satan wants this world to become?
Satan is the God of this world and he would want nothing more than God's people.
You know, we're saved.
He can't stop our salvation.
He's preventing others from getting saved.
Oh, I think I can go to heaven because I'm a good person.
That's pride, all right?
Now we're saved, okay?
Now the devil can't stop us there.
Now he's stopping the unsaved from getting saved.
That's what he's trying to do.
But with us, we're already saved.
So what is it going to cause us to do?
Be filled with pride ourselves so we're good for nothing for God, all right?
Let's say he can't change our salvation, but one thing he definitely wants to stop us
is to be profitable in the hands of God, all right?
So pride, be careful of pride.
If God hates pride, you ought to hate it as well.
When you find yourself being lifted with pride, your ego, you know, is in the way.
Let's say God hates, I have to hate this too.
I have to hate this.
I need to get rid of this pride of my life.
Confess to God.
Humble yourself.
Go read God's Word, all right?
Follow after his ways.
So we need to be careful, brethren, on pride.
Okay, back to Jeremiah 13 and verse number 16.
Jeremiah 13 and verse number 16.
The Bible reads,
Give glory to the Lord your God before he calls darkness.
So, again, Jeremiah's giving them another chance.
All right, come on, give glory to God before you get into darkness.
And before your feet stumble upon the dark mountains,
what do we notice that one of the consequences of pride is?
To fall, okay?
So they're going to stumble upon the dark mountains
and while you look for light,
he turn it into the shadow of death and make it gross darkness.
So the idea there is that the, you know, talking about mountains
and darkness and light,
that, you know, the Jews here, they believe they're doing well.
They believe they're high on a mountain, right?
It's pride.
They've been lifted up with pride.
They think they're doing so good.
But God's going to cause darkness.
God's going to cause their feet to stumble.
And so if you stumble down a mountain,
you're going to end up way in the valleys
where there's shadow, where there's darkness, right?
The valley of the shadow of death.
And that's why it says that he shall turn into the shadow of death
and make it gross darkness.
And so God will make sure that if you're full of pride
that he's going to take you down, okay?
He's going to take you down.
Pride makes you think you're lifted, but it's going to bring you low, okay?
And you know what?
If you want to be promoted, you have to be lowly.
That's just a basic teaching of Jesus Christ.
You'll find that many times in the New Testament.
You want to do something great for God.
You want to be promoted.
You want to be lifted up by God.
You need to be lowly.
You need to be humble and God will take care of it.
If you force yourself, you force pride.
You know, you force yourself to be arrogant
or more important than you seem to be, right?
Then you are.
Then God will make sure that you're full.
You stumble in the valley of the shadow of death there.
Verse number 17.
But if you will not hear it, now Jeremiah here says,
if you will not hear, you're not going to hear God's word.
You're not going to get right with God.
My soul shall weep in secret places for your pride
and mine eyes shall weep sore and run down with tears
because the Lord's flock is carried away captive.
Now, when it says that Jeremiah is going to weep
in secret places for your pride,
we know that he's not going to go and pray for their pride.
He's not going to pray,
Lord, can you please help this nation overcome their pride?
Because if you just go back to Jeremiah 11, verse number 14,
just a reminder, Jeremiah chapter 11 and verse number 14,
Jeremiah 11, 14, God told Jeremiah,
therefore pray not thou for this people,
neither lift up a cry or prayer for them,
for I will not hear them in the time that they cry unto me for their trouble.
And I believe it's twice already that we've seen this in the book of Jeremiah
where God is telling Jeremiah, don't pray for these people.
But what we notice there back in verse number 17, Jeremiah 13, 17,
is that Jeremiah has a secret place that he goes to.
It's a place that he goes to and he's not going to pray,
but he's going to weep.
He's going to mourn.
He's having great sorrow because he realizes, man, this nation's not going to listen.
This nation's going to be carried away captive, as it's said there,
because the Lord's flock is carried away captive.
And so he weeps, he has tears.
And I've said this before, Brevin,
there's nothing wrong with getting emotional, okay?
And I really encourage the preachers that get behind the pulpit,
try to get emotional.
Get emotional about the Word of God.
Get emotional about the wickedness of this world.
It's going to help you be a better preacher.
You see, Jeremiah, he's got no problem going
and even admits that he has to go to a private place
and weep because he's seen this nation be destroyed.
Now, can you keep your finger there?
Let's go to Matthew chapter 6.
Let's go to Matthew chapter 6 and verse number 6.
Because I like the fact that Jeremiah has a secret place.
And if you go to Matthew chapter 6 and verse number 6,
Matthew chapter 6 and verse number 6,
we're looking at the words of Jesus Christ.
And he says in Matthew 6, 6, it says,
It says,
So you can see here that Jesus Christ says
it's important for us, just like Jeremiah, to have a secret place.
This is the place that we go to to pray to the Lord, okay?
See, the Father sees it in secret, okay?
He goes to his closet. That's referring to the bedroom.
Now, for you, that might be your bedroom.
It might be for you some other place, right, that you might go to.
You know, on the Sunshine Coast, there's a lot of places you can travel,
a lot of great, secluded, quiet places
where you can have nice scenery, nice lakes and rivers.
And, you know, when you get yourself alone in places like that,
you know, many times it's just a great place where you're alone,
nobody can see, you can just pray to God.
Or you can just weep, you know?
And so it's important that we can see here that Jeremiah himself,
he has a secret place that he goes to speak to God or be comforted by God.
Even though he's not praying for his people,
one thing he's doing is that he's sharing his burden with God.
He's asking God for his comfort, asking God for his strength
and he's weeping and he's sorrowing.
And, brethren, we need to express that from time to time, you know?
Especially in this day and age.
You know, with all these restrictions,
the new restrictions that are coming up,
we need to find just our secret place and just say,
God, you know, help us.
God, you know, this is frustrating.
This annoys me, Lord, and just let it out to God
and let him be the God that lifts you up.
Let him be the God that helps you, okay?
You know, quite often I've heard this, they call it quiet times.
Sometimes when I hear this, sometimes I preach in other churches,
they call it, that's your quiet time.
That's your time just alone.
You get away from work, you get away from the family,
you get away from all the noise and distractions, right?
And sometimes if you need to leave the house,
you need to leave the house, okay?
Because the house these days are full of distractions.
You just turn on the TV or you turn on the YouTube or whatever, right?
You need to find, brethren, just whatever it is, brethren,
if it's just five minutes, ten minutes a day
where you just spend time with God, you open his word,
you do it in secret.
You know, you pray to God and you let out whatever you need to let out.
You ask him what you need, you share your burdens to the Lord
and he will help you, he will guide you.
Matthew, can you go to, are you still, no, you're not in Matthew anymore, are you?
You are? Go to Matthew 5, please, Matthew 5, verse number 4.
Matthew 5 and verse number 4.
It says, blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted.
Brethren, we need to learn how to mourn, okay?
And I know, and I've said this before, you know, for men,
we don't like to mourn, we don't like to weep, we don't like to cry.
We think it's not manly.
I don't know if any other preacher as powerful as Jeremiah,
someone that's willing to stand up against an entire nation like this,
and look, there's other men of God like this, okay?
But we have 52 chapters of Jeremiah just constantly standing up, okay,
against the nation, against the wickedness of this nation.
He's as manly as a man you're going to get, okay?
But even he was willing to cry and to mourn and to weep,
and he knew this truth that he would be blessed if he mourns
because he will be comforted.
He will be comforted by God, okay?
So please, you know, brethren, please understand, it's fine to weep,
it's fine to mourn.
Just take it to the Lord.
Find your secret place, find your quiet place, and take care of that business.
Verse number 18, Jeremiah 13, verse 18.
The Bible says,
So what's the answer to pride? Humility.
Humble yourselves, right?
So that's the message to the king and the queen of Judah at this point in time.
Hey, that's the same message to our prime minister.
That's the same message to our premiers.
That's the same message to all our governors that we have.
They need to humble themselves, okay?
Humble themselves before God and not be so lifted in pride.
They think they know every answer to how to deal with COVID.
They think, listen, this is most likely the judgment of God.
They better go and listen to God.
They better get themselves into a good church.
They better start opening up the Bibles and saying,
God, how do we deal with this?
We need to become humble, okay?
But what are they? They're full of pride.
They think they know the answers of vaccinations.
This will get rid of things.
This will get rid of the virus.
These guys are full of pride, our politicians.
Okay, full of pride.
They think they know the answers.
Let's turn to Bill Gates.
Bill Gates will tell us what to inject ourselves with.
Surely he knows.
You know, I mean, this place is full of wickedness.
Our governors are full of pride.
And you know what?
If it means the destruction of Australia, so be it.
So be it.
You know what? We're going to serve God.
We're going to go and preach his word, okay?
God's going to use us.
You know, when things get dark, we're going to become brighter.
We can become brighter lights with God
when things become dark in our nation.
So the opposite of pride is humility, okay?
That's the answer to pride, humility.
Verse number 19.
The cities of the south shall be shut up,
and none shall open them.
Sounds like lockdowns.
Judah shall be carried away, captive, all of it.
It shall be wholly carried away, captive.
And so the reason it's saying the cities of the south shall be shut up
is because, you know, Jeremiah was most often preaching to Jerusalem, okay?
Jerusalem being the capital city where most of the activity is taking place,
and we know that Jerusalem is going to be taken away captive.
But just in case anyone else in Judah thought, well, the southern,
because Jerusalem, if you look at this map of Judah,
Jerusalem is kind of quite north in Judah, okay?
And so, you know, it's saying, look, yes, Jerusalem's going to be judged,
but so will the cities of the south be judged, okay?
In other words, this judgment's going to fall upon all of Judah, okay?
You know, if you think you can go to Tasmania, south as you can in Australia,
to get away from these restrictions, it's not going to work, okay?
You know, it's all over the place, it's all over the place, right?
But the whole of Judah is going to be taken captive.
Verse number 20.
Lift up your eyes and behold them that come from the north.
Where is the flock that was given thee, thy beautiful flock?
And so them that come from the north, who are they again?
The Babylonians, right?
The Babylonian kingdom in Jeremiah said, look, wake up, open your eyes,
they're on their way, they're coming, all right?
And then there's a rhetorical question,
where is the flock that was given thee, thy beautiful flock, okay?
So the idea there is, you know, basically the flock's not there anymore, right?
The flock of Judah, that nation.
You know, you thought you were beautiful, you thought you were doing well.
Jeremiah kind of asked, sarcastically or rhetorically, you know,
where is that flock?
It's not going to be there, it's going to be gone, it's going to be taken away captive.
Verse number 21.
What wilt thou say when he shall punish thee?
For thou hast taught them to be captains,
and as chief of thee shall not sorrows take thee as a woman in travail?
So once again, just in case you think this Babylonian judgment is not from God,
God just explains very quickly what will they say when he shall punish thee, okay?
So we need to understand that sometimes God will punish nations, punish the world, okay?
And it's going to come through the hands of the Babylonians,
but understand God's in control.
He's allowing certain things to happen for his own purposes,
and we just need to learn how to rest in that, okay?
I taught this last year, I said, I think 2021's going to be worse.
You know, and I don't really like saying that, because I want to be optimistic.
Like, I want to give you guys hope, right?
But I just realized this thing is not going away.
It's going to get worse.
And then we wake up in the mornings, was it yesterday?
Mandatory masks in New South Wales.
I wasn't even expecting that.
I knew there was mandatory masks in Victoria,
because they were having like, was it like hundreds of cases every day?
We're still keeping it down to like 10 or 20 a day here.
Mandatory masks in New South Wales.
Is 2021 going to be worse?
I think so, I think so, brethren, I think so, okay?
But here's the thing, just because it's worse for this world,
you know what, you can still have the best Christian life you've ever had.
You can be the closest to God in 2021.
And even, you know, the concerns and the frustrations,
and maybe even fears that you may have, all that's going to do, brethren,
if you decide I'm going to walk in God's way,
all that's going to do is draw you closer to God.
You know, maybe you'll open up His Word more than you've ever opened up His Word before.
Maybe you'll make the changes in your life that you need to make
more now than you've ever had to make before, okay?
So we just need to look at 2021.
Wow, God, man, already bad news.
Worse news than it's been in 2020.
And just, well, God, that's just how it is.
If it's your judgment, I'm just going to have to roll with the punches, Lord.
I'm just going to have to do the best that I can in what I've been given.
And I don't even know why I got on that track. What was I reading?
Oh, verse 21, what would that say when He shall punish thee?
The point that I wanted to bring out of that is at the end of it, it says,
Shall not sorrows take thee as a woman in travail?
And you may remember when I was preaching for Jeremiah before,
I said, look, every time Jeremiah speaks about a woman in travail, pay attention.
Because this is another theme in the whole book, okay?
Another theme, it's found before this, it was in Jeremiah 4.31 and in Jeremiah 6.24
about the woman in travail.
Now, every time we look at this, I just want you to pause and consider the context, okay?
So God's going to punish them, and then that comparison, the pains, the sorrow, right?
The burden is going to be similar to a woman giving birth, right?
All those labor pains that she goes through and the potential screaming and the yelling
and, you know, the difficulty in her life to give birth to a child
is going to be similar to the judgment of God.
And what again, what is that judgment that's coming? It's the Babylonians, okay?
We saw that in Jeremiah 4, we saw that in Jeremiah chapter 6.
Now, there's a reason I want you to focus on that because as we get later into Jeremiah,
there's a passage that there's a lot of dispute over,
but if we see how God uses this term about a woman in travail,
then it'll be clear for us what that passage is about.
But I don't want to go there just yet, okay? Because that needs its own sermon altogether.
All right, verse number 22.
So again, this is pride. This is pride speaking in the heart of Judah.
Hey, why is this destruction coming? Why are we going to be judged?
They're full of pride. God is saying, look, I'm going to uncover you, okay?
So their nakedness is going to be uncovered, right?
The skirts are going to be discovered. The heels are going to be made bare.
They're going to be shamed. As they're taken into captivity, as they're carried away into Babylon,
the shame is going to be put on show.
Verse number 23.
Well, Michael Jackson did it.
But basically, right, can someone that is dark change their skin color?
What would Michael Jackson have had to do to do that?
I mean, I don't know. What's that?
I have no idea.
Like, I've heard in India they sell products to widen your skin.
Is that right, sister? To widen your skin?
You've never tried it.
But look, the question is, can you change your skin color?
What else? Can the leopard or the leopard his spots?
Can the leopard take the spots of himself?
No, it's in your DNA, right? You can't change that.
Then it says this.
Then may ye also do good that are accustomed to do evil.
Therefore, will I scatter them as the stubble that passeth away by the wind of the wilderness.
What this is saying is that Judah cannot change its ways anymore.
Even though Jeremiah is preaching, even though he's begging them to turn back to God,
God is saying, they can't change.
Just like the Ethiopian can't change his skin color,
just like the leopard can't change his spots, Judah is not going to change their ways.
They are going to be taken into captivity.
They are going to be judged by God. It's too late for them.
And brethren, you know what this teaches us about pride then?
That pride will not allow you to change your ways.
If there's something you need to change, but you allow pride to get in the way,
you're not going to change.
The only way you can change anything about yourself,
the only way you can become more godly,
the only way you can become more righteous,
the only way you can become more like Jesus Christ,
is if you get rid of pride and you lower yourself.
But this nation, no they can't. Full of pride.
They've become like somebody that can't change their appearance.
You can't change your hair color, you can't change your DNA structure,
you can't change your height, you can't change anything.
God's created you the way you are.
And you start trying to make changes in your own physical body like that,
like Michael Jackson, you're going to cause damage to yourself.
You're going to cause damage.
The only way you can change, brethren, is by being humble,
by being lowly, by following what God wants for your life.
Verse number 25.
Now one thing, I'm going to teach on this some other time later,
but it says here that God will discover thy skirts upon thy face,
that thy shame may appear.
God uses this later on in other passages in the Bible in context of,
again of Judah and Israel, but in terms of them being a whorish woman.
Now one thing that you learn here,
sometimes the Bible refers to these nations as prostitutes, as harlots.
You've probably seen that language already being used like that.
But notice that the skirts here, that the harlots are wearing,
because if you keep going, look at verse number 27.
I have seen thine eye adulteries.
Definitely see this as about like a prostitute, like a harlot,
like somebody that's committed whoredoms.
And again, God uses this terminology for these nations in a feminine form.
Now what I'm trying to say is this,
is that the skirts of the prostitutes were long enough
that if they were flipped the other way that you would cover their face.
That's the length of the skirt of a prostitute.
That if you flipped it up to uncover the shame, to uncover the nakedness,
it would cover their face. Look at verse number 26 again.
Therefore will I discover thy skirts upon thy face, that thy shame may appear.
Now I don't want to make this the main topic of the sermon today,
but if your skirt, ladies, cannot cover your face if it was flipped the other way around,
then you're actually less covered than a prostitute in the days of the Bible.
So just keep that in mind. Keep that in mind.
I will cover, I will preach on clothing and skirts and pants
and all these kinds of topics that people have a lot of questions about,
but I just want you to notice how God uses this language.
That even a prostitute has a skirt long enough to cover her face.
I don't want you to be looked at by God like a prostitute or anything like that.
So be mindful about the standards of the clothing that you have.
Now let's keep going. Verse number 27.
I have seen thine adulteries and thy names.
Name, that's the sound of a horse. They neigh, right?
And if you remember, God explained that they were like these dumb animals, right?
That all they want to do is reproduce, okay?
The lewdness of thy whoredom and thine abominations on the hills in the fields.
Woe unto thee, O Jerusalem!
Wilt thou not be made clean when thou, when shall it once be?
Okay? Will thou not be made clean when shall it once be?
So Brevin, you can see here that, you know, not only was this nation full of pride,
it was full of whoredoms, full of adulteries.
And Brevin, never let it dawn in your mind that whoredoms and adulteries is just acceptable.
Okay? I know it's acceptable in Australia.
I read this and all I see is Australia, okay?
Honestly, all I see is Australia. I don't even think of Judah so much when I'm preparing sermons.
I'm just thinking about our nation.
And it is just so common, it is so natural, it seems, for the people in our nation to commit all kinds of whoredoms.
I'm just going to live with my boyfriend. I'm just going to...
Listen, God hates it. God compares it to prostitution.
You know, God hates adultery. He hates whoredoms.
If you've made that mistake in the past, I'm not trying to make you feel bad, okay?
You've probably already confessed it to God. God died for you. Jesus Christ died for your sins.
He's paid for it. But let it not be so that if you're married today that you go and seek another woman.
Or you seek another man. Or if you're single today, keep yourself pure for your wedding day.
Please, you know, just give God honor with your bodies.
Okay? Honor. Again, if you refuse to hear God's word and you say,
And you say, what? I'm just going to commit fornication anyway because all my friends are.
All the people I know are. Why should I keep myself pure? That's pride!
And that's the whole topic of this chapter today. Pride will cause you to do unspeakable things.
Okay? When you refuse to hear God's word, please keep your bodies pure for your marriage partner.
You know, if you're a girl, for your future husband, if you're a boy, for your future wife.
Keep yourself pure physically, mentally. Okay?
Don't let pride cause you to make the same mistakes that we see here in Judah.
Okay, let's pray.