Okay, so we're looking at Jeremiah chapter 49,
and if you just draw your attention to verse number 37,
Jeremiah 49 verse number 37,
it says,
For I will cause Elam to be dismayed before their enemies
and before them that seek their life.
And I will bring evil upon them.
The title for the sermon this morning is,
I will bring evil upon them.
These are the words of the Lord God.
And of course, speaking about Elam here,
I'll soon share with you what Elam is.
But Jeremiah chapter 49
continues this preaching from Jeremiah,
or this judgment from God against Gentile nations.
And within this chapter alone,
we have five different Gentile nations
that God is judging.
We begin in verse number one,
where he begins by judging
or bringing evil upon all these nations.
And the first one is the Ammonites, okay?
So you may recall that in the previous chapter,
we saw the Moabites being mentioned,
and then we've got the Ammonites.
And you may recall that I had mentioned
that these nations were our result
from Lot and his daughters.
So the eldest daughter, you know,
the child that she had became the Moabites,
people became known as the Moabites.
And the youngest daughter,
the child she bore with Lot,
were known as the Ammonites.
So we're dealing with the Ammonites now.
We're dealing with that next group of people.
And look at verse number one.
It says, concerning the Ammonites,
thus saith the Lord,
have Israel no sons?
Have he no heir?
Why then doth their king,
as the king of the Ammonites,
they can inherit Gad,
and his people dwell in his cities.
So what is Gad?
Well, Gad is one of the 12 tribes of Israel.
And so the people of Ammon, the Ammonites,
had come into the land of Gad
that did not belong to them,
and had taken over,
had decided to live in some of those cities.
And God is asking, why are you doing that, you know?
Now, obviously, we know the reason why.
We know that, you know,
the nation of Israel, Norman Kingdom,
was taken into captivity,
they were dispersed by the Assyrians.
And so there's all this empty land.
And so the Ammonites thought,
well, hey, there's all this free land.
Hey, the land of Gad looks great.
And they've gone and populated that area.
But I want you to notice
how God is asking these questions.
Well, don't the Israelites have sons?
Don't they have heirs?
You know, why are you living here?
This isn't the right place for you to live.
And if we want to take a spiritual lesson from here,
keep your finger there in Jeremiah 49,
and please turn with me to Romans chapter four.
Romans chapter four,
because you'll see that, you know,
when it comes to life,
you can either leave an inheritance to your children,
leave an inheritance to your heirs,
or if you don't have any heirs,
you don't have any children,
others are going to come in
and take what belonged to the heirs.
And we have the illustration here,
of course, of the Ammonites
taking that which belonged to the people of Gad.
But look at Romans chapter four, verse number 13.
We want to take the spiritual lesson here,
how it applies to us in the New Testament.
Romans 4, 13, it says,
You see, the Bible says there's a promise
that we would be heirs,
certain people would be heirs of the world.
But this was not given to Abraham or to his seed.
Yes, it was, but not given to them through the law.
It was given to them through the righteousness of faith.
So in order for us to be heirs of the inheritance,
of the promises, you know,
we're going to one day rule in reign of Christ
for a thousand years on this earth,
that promise is only received from faith,
through the righteousness of faith.
Of course, our salvation is by grace through faith.
We place our faith in the finished work of Jesus Christ.
Those that believe they can inherit through the law,
that's the law of Moses, the 10 commandments,
which is summarized, you know,
people that are trying to keep the commandments,
keeping the laws for salvation,
they are not the true heirs of God.
And, you know, when we talk about the law,
we're talking about the books of Moses.
And, you know, any religion, once again,
that teaches salvation is by works,
by keeping the commandments of God.
You know, the Jews, as they say,
they follow the Torah, they follow, you know,
the laws of Moses, no, they don't.
But hey, there is no salvation through that process.
There is no inheritance through keeping the law.
You say, well, what about the Old Testament saints?
How did they get saved?
They got saved the same way,
by grace through faith,
because righteousness is not through the law.
They were required to keep the law,
they were required to keep the commandments,
because they had the covenant with God
under the Old Testament,
where there would be a special people of God,
but that covenant was not the form of salvation.
That covenant was how the nation will be blessed,
or cursed, by how they acted upon their,
you know, work with the Lord.
But salvation has always been by the righteousness of faith,
and this is what makes you a true heir of God.
Look at verse number 14.
It says,
So if they are heirs, those that follow the law,
faith is made void, and the promise made of none effect,
because the law worketh wrath,
for where no law is, there is no transgression.
Therefore it is of faith, that it might be by grace
to the end of the promise might be sure
to all the seed, not to that only which is of the law,
but to that which also is the faith of Abraham,
who is the father of us all.
So God, through, you know, using Paul to write this,
is writing to the Romans, he's writing to Gentiles,
and he says that Abraham is the father of us all, okay?
The father of all Jews, all Israelites,
all Gentiles, of us all.
Doesn't matter who you are,
as long as you have received Christ through faith, okay?
But, and that's why it includes people of the law,
because it says not to that only which is of the law,
so yeah, those that were under the law,
they too could be a receiver of the promise,
if they too had faith upon the Lord Jesus Christ.
And so this doesn't remove the fact
that salvation is by grace through faith,
it's just saying that salvation is open
to Jews and Gentiles alike,
whoever has the same faith as faithful Abraham,
and Abraham is the father of us all.
And so the promises that were given to Abraham
are given to all that believe on Jesus Christ through faith.
And so that's what makes you an heir of Abraham,
or an heir of God,
the promises that were given is by faith, all right?
Now let's go back to Jeremiah 49, verse number two.
Jeremiah 49, verse number two,
what I'm trying to say, brethren,
is that those that believe salvation or righteousness
is by the works of the law,
they are not going to be heirs with faithful Abraham,
they're not going to be heirs with us.
Those that teach salvation is by the works of the law,
they are not saved.
They have not understood that salvation is only available
through the finished work of Jesus Christ
received by faith alone.
Let's keep going, verse number two.
It says, therefore behold, the days come, saith the Lord,
that I will cause an alarm of war to be heard
in Rabah of the Ammonites,
and it shall be a desolate heap, and her daughters,
now notice what, this is quite important,
it says, and her daughters, so the daughters of Ammon
shall be burned with fire.
And that's a pretty gruesome death, right?
To be burnt alive.
And you might say, well, why would God allow
such a heavy judgment upon the daughters of this land?
Let's keep going, it says,
then shall Israel be heir unto them
that were his heirs, saith the Lord.
So God is saying one day Israel is going to come back
and take over that land
that the Ammonites had taken for themselves.
And of course, when we put ourselves into this position,
we understand that many of the Israelites
were taken into captivity,
the northern kingdom by the Assyrians,
the southern kingdom by Babylon,
but at the end of that 70 year period,
the Jews are going to return back to the land.
That's why they will one day become an heir
to that which were the Ammonites
tried to take for themselves.
But the key thing I want you to notice there
is that these daughters are gonna be burned with fire.
Now, why could that be the case?
Well, if you can please keep your finger there
and go to Jeremiah 32,
go to Jeremiah 32,
go to Jeremiah 32 and verse number 35.
Jeremiah 32, verse number 35.
And why the daughters?
Why the women here being punished with fire?
Well, just a reminder of what took place
in the land of Judah, okay?
Not in the land of the Ammonites, but of Judah.
If we look at Jeremiah 32, verse number 35, it says,
and they built the high places of Baal,
which are in the valley of the son of Hinnom.
And notice the next words,
to cause their sons and their daughters
to pass through the fire unto Moloch,
which I commanded them not,
neither came it into my mind,
they should do this abomination to cause Judah to sin.
And so you may recall the people of Judah,
those that worshiped Moloch, okay,
they would give their children,
their sons and their daughters to pass through the fire.
They would sacrifice their children by fire
to this false god, you know, extremely, extreme wickedness.
And, you know, I've always used the illustration
that this is no different to, you know,
a woman's womb being ripped open
and her baby being aborted, you know,
being killed in some sacrifice, you know,
when it comes to this medical system, you know,
it's happening in Australia as well.
But when you understand that this was one form
of sacrifice to Moloch,
then you'll understand why God is saying
that these daughters,
which I believe these daughters represent mothers,
who these mothers have also sacrificed their children
unto Moloch.
You say, why is that?
Well, I'm going to quickly read to you
from 2 Kings 23, verse 13.
2 Kings 23, verse number 13 reads,
and the high places that were before Jerusalem,
which were on the right hand on the mount of corruption,
which Solomon the king of Israel had built it for Ashtaroth,
the abomination of the Zidonians.
So Ashtaroth is known as the god of the Zidonians.
And then it says, and for Chemosh,
now Chemosh was mentioned in the previous chapter
with the Moabites, it says,
and for Chemosh, the abomination of the Moabites,
so Chemosh was the first god of the Moabites.
And then it says, and for Milchem,
the abomination of the children of Ammon
did the king defile.
So the first god of the children of Ammon or the Ammonites
was Milchem.
And you may recall,
I can't remember which chapter I covered this in,
but you may recall that Milchem
was just another name for Moloch.
So the people of Israel had taken Milchem or Moloch,
the god of the Ammonites,
brought that god into their land,
and they sacrificed their children to this false god.
And so Moloch, the beginning of the worship,
the creation of this false god
comes from the Ammonites,
the sacrificing of children by fire.
So this makes perfect sense
why one of the judgments to fall upon these people
would be that the daughters or the mothers
would also perish by fire
for what they had done to their own children.
Murderers should be put to death, the death penalty.
This is very clear in the Bible.
And so God is rewarding them
for the same sinful acts they've done to their own children.
He's putting that reward, that punishment,
onto these mothers.
All right, now what else can we pick up here
in from verse number two,
or put in verse number one and two together,
we'll talk about the inheritance,
how have Israel no sons, have he have no hair, no hair?
And we'll talk about how important it is
for us to remember our children and our grandchildren.
And one principle that we see in the Bible
in Proverbs 13, verse number 22,
Proverbs 13, verse number 22, it reads,
a good man leaveth an inheritance to his children's children,
and the wealth of the sinner is laid up for the just.
You see, a good man will leave an inheritance
for his children's children, right?
Now, if you wanna take this
and apply this to possessions and wealth,
you can if you really want to.
I think it's wise for people
to not just waste all their goods.
It's important to have something
that's gonna help your children in the future,
and your grandchildren in the future.
I personally don't believe you wanna set people up for life,
because when people don't understand
the struggle of having to work and earn the dollar,
they don't actually value what money is,
they don't value possessions,
and they can actually become very spoiled people
that just waste their money.
We wanna make sure that we teach our children
and grandchildren the importance of money,
but hey, a good man will not waste everything,
he will leave something for his children
and his grandchildren.
But you know, when it comes to inheritance,
as we saw earlier in Romans chapter four,
the heirs here, we're not talking about
necessarily physical wealth,
though you might relate that to
reigning over the millennial kingdom with Christ,
but most important is the inheritance of salvation.
You know, that we pass down a spiritual lineage
unto our children.
Don't forget that the Ammonites, like the Moabites,
their ancestor goes all the way back to Lot,
who was just Lot, who was saved.
And now the Ammonites have set up the worship of Moloch,
sacrificing their children.
Well you know what, if Lot had done his job properly
and left a spiritual inheritance to his children
and to his children's children,
he would have made sure that his daughters
were righteous women that believed on the law
that were saved, and that they would train their children,
and their children would train their children.
You know, I truly believe it is possible
to ensure that our future generations continue loving
the Lord.
You know, all it takes is one generation to stop doing it.
One generation to stop caring about the Lord,
to just care about the weakness of this world,
and then they'll raise up kids that love the weakness
of this world, and you've lost it.
You've lost that inheritance that you've passed down.
We need to make sure that we pass down
a godly spiritual inheritance for our children.
I believe it's possible.
Could you imagine raising your children to love the Lord?
They're going to love the Lord, they're going to know,
I need to raise my children to love the Lord.
And when those grandchildren grow up,
they're going to know, I love the Lord,
I need to make sure my children love the Lord.
And we continue that great, you know,
lineage of spiritual families, of spiritual generations
that will continue to love and serve the Lord.
That's what I hope for my family.
You know, if my kids are listening today,
that's what I hope for you.
I want you to love the Lord,
I want you to marry someone that loves the Lord,
and I want you to raise children that love the Lord
and continue this great faith that we've been given
through the word of God.
Back to Jeremiah 49, verse number three.
It says,
And so, you know, again,
we're talking about the Ammonites here
being taken over by the Babylonians.
And I want you to notice how in verse number four,
God refers to this nation as, oh, backsliding daughter.
Now, normally, when we talk about a backslider,
we're talking about a people, a nation,
or even individuals that were truly faithful to the Lord,
and then they just got into a point of backsliding, right?
They get far from the Lord,
and that's not good for a Christian.
Now, why is God saying that the Ammonites
are a backsliding daughter?
You know, again, they were worshiping false gods.
They've been worshiping false gods for a long time.
Well, again, as I mentioned earlier,
I truly believe this is because
Lot did not train his children well,
and they did not train their children well.
And so you had this loss
where the generations no longer loved the Lord,
and they turned toward false gods like Molech
sacrificing their children.
So the nation, as it were,
should have been a faithful nation.
It started with just Lot,
but now it's come into, you know,
a backslidden state away from the Lord.
And I want to quickly read to you from Malachi,
chapter two, verse number 15.
And I want you to remember
for those of you that are married,
husbands and wives,
and those of you that are single,
that have a desire to get married,
how important family and marriage is.
In Malachi 2, 15, sorry,
Malachi 2, 15 says,
And did not he make one?
That's one flesh.
Yet had he the residue of the spirits,
and wherefore one, sorry,
why did God create one?
Why did he create marriage?
That he might seek a godly seed,
therefore take heed to your spirit,
and let none deal treacherously
against the wife of his youth.
And so if you're married and you have a wife,
don't deal treacherously with her.
You know, love her, guide her, direct her,
make sure you come together with love
and you raise children
that will be that godly seed.
That's what God wants from you.
Okay, if you're married,
not only does he want you to be godly,
that's great,
but he wants you to make sure
you have a godly seed.
Let's keep going, verse number five.
It says,
And so God is basically saying,
hey, this generation is done for,
it's gonna be taken over by the Babylonians,
but once again, God promises these people
that their future generations
are gonna one day come back into the land,
they're gonna be released from captivity.
But I just wanna focus again on the Ammonites,
and again, it's a great lesson
for parents to pass down
a godly spiritual inheritance to your children.
Raise that godly seed,
make sure you train them,
make sure you spend time to teach them about God.
Bringing them to church is great,
but they really need to hear from mom and dad.
They need to hear the lessons that you have for them.
Let's keep going, verse number seven.
Now we have another nation that God addresses.
It says,
And so the first question might be,
what is Edom, what is that nation?
And again, it's a nation that's not too far away
removed from the tomb of Israel,
but you may recall when Abraham had his son, Isaac.
Isaac married Rebekah, and Rebekah had twins.
The eldest twin was Esau, and the youngest was Jacob.
Jacob would become Israel.
Well, Esau, the older brother, his name became Edom.
I'll quickly read to you from Genesis 25, verse 30.
It says,
Esau was his name called Edom.
So the Edomites, Edom, the nation of Edom, come from Esau.
Again, his father was Isaac.
His grandfather was Abraham.
He also had a godly lineage to start with,
a godly ancestry to start with.
But again, Edom, just like these other nations,
have turned against the Lord, right?
But I want you to notice, in verse number seven,
what is the first thing that God brings up about Edom?
He talks about their wisdom, right?
Is wisdom no more?
Is counsel perished?
Is their wisdom vanished?
So God is saying this nation was once a very intelligent,
very wise, very knowledgeable nation,
but they've lost that knowledge.
And as I said, Edom started in a good place, Esau.
He wasn't the greatest guy,
but hey, he had some Christian family, right?
He had Isaac and Rebekah, godly parents,
and he had a godly grandfather in Abraham, of course.
So I'm sure he started his life well with great wisdom,
with being brought up in a Christian home.
But as it were, as generations go past,
that wisdom was dropped.
And again, I'm really focusing on parents today,
how important it is for you to train your children.
Yes, a godly spiritual lineage,
but you need to teach your children wisdom as well,
teach them understanding and knowledge.
The Bible tells us in Proverbs chapter one, verse eight,
it says, my son, speaking about children here, my son,
hear the instruction of thy father,
and forsake not the law of thy mother.
You see, as parents, we ought to be instructing our children.
We ought to be passing down laws to our kids
so they can learn and grow.
You know, I don't care how smart
little children think they are.
Mom and dad are much smarter, okay?
They are, you know why?
Because we've lived a longer life, that's why.
We've gained experience.
We know how bad this world can be.
We know the paths that children might take
can hurt them in the long run.
And we don't want to see our children suffer.
It's so important that moms and dad train their children.
But as we saw in that proverb in verse number eight,
it said, my son, hear the instruction of thy father.
You see, kids, you know,
it's not just mom and dad has to teach you,
and that's important, but you also have to hear.
You have to pay attention.
Please don't think my parents are a bore.
Why don't they let me just have some fun?
Your parents are raising you to, you know,
and let me guarantee you this,
when you become an adult,
you're gonna be very thankful
for the lessons your mom and dad gave you,
and you're gonna be passing down the same lessons
to your own children.
And your children are gonna be thinking,
oh, mom and dad, leave me alone.
This is just what happens every generation.
But please understand,
your parents teach you great truths,
not because they hate you,
not because they want to make your life hard,
not because they don't want you to have fun.
They do it to protect you.
They want you to have a happy and long life
by following the instructions of your parents.
In Proverbs 1, verse nine, it says,
for they, that's the instruction and the law of the mother,
for they shall be an ornament of grace
unto thy head and chains about thy neck.
You see, when you hear instruction,
you're going to experience a greater level of grace.
We all need grace because we make mistakes in life.
You know, we need to make sure,
you know, it's better when we make a mistake
that we have a period of grace
to acknowledge the mistake and fix it,
rather than just going down a bad path.
We also want those chains, you know, around our neck.
You know, that represents wealth and prosperity.
So when you take on knowledge from your parents,
you know, you already start at a better place
than a lot of your other, you know, maybe friends
of similar age that do not have godly parents.
You start at a better place and you can be more prosperous.
You can be more effective in life
because you've taken on the instruction from your parents.
But you know, it's so important as Christian parents,
as I said earlier, you know, we don't have to just think,
oh, if I just take my kids to this church,
they're going to grow up loving the Lord.
No, they need to know their mom and dad's love of the Lord.
They need to hear instruction from their parents.
Please don't forget, you know,
there are a lot of Christians that have learned
great truths, great doctrines in the Bible,
but they just forget to pass it down on the children.
I know what it's like.
You can sometimes think, oh, because I know
a certain doctrine, my kids know what they don't know,
unless you teach them.
You know, you spend a lot of time, a lot of years, right?
Sometimes, you know, blood, sweat, and tears,
just, you know, trying to find true doctrines in the Bible.
Once you've found it, you know, the best thing,
you know, the most important people to pass it on to
are your own children.
So you raise that godly seed.
They can have a good future ahead for themselves.
Back in Jeremiah 49, look at verse number eight.
Flee ye, turn back, dwell deep, O inhabitants of Dedan,
for I will bring the calamity of Esau upon him
the time that I will visit him.
So you can see Esau there interchangeably
with the word Edom.
It's the same people, same nation.
Verse number nine.
If grape gatherers come to thee,
will they not leave some gleaning grapes?
If thieves by night they will destroy
till they have made, sorry, till they have enough.
But I have made Esau bare,
I have uncovered his secret places,
and he shall not be able to hide himself.
His seed is spoiled, and his brethren, and his neighbors,
and he is not.
All right, so what's happening here is
God's using the illustration of grape gatherers.
So if you're farming grapes,
and you have people that go and gather grapes, right?
The instruction, the way things were done back in this time,
and this was the instruction of the Lord.
If you were harvesting your grapes,
make sure you leave some behind.
You know, for the poor of the land,
strangers that are passing by and they're hungry,
you know, if there's a few grapes that are still left,
they can at least glean from them, eat from them,
is to take care of the poor of the land, okay?
I mean, you take the vast majority for yourself,
for your business, but leave a few grapes.
Leave a few items of food around
so the poor of the land can feed themselves.
So there's always a little bit left over.
And then God used the illustration of a thief.
He says in verse number nine,
if thieves buy knights,
they will destroy it till they have enough.
So even a thief, you know, if you get robbed,
someone comes and breaks into your house at night, right?
They might steal, I don't know,
what's valuable in your house?
They might steal, I don't know.
You know, I remember, you know,
when I was a child, I had a bike.
It was a white bike my dad bought for me.
I loved it, I loved it.
I don't think I rode it for many,
for much, for like very long at all.
It might've been like a month.
And then I forgot to chain it up at night
and a thief came in and took the bike, okay?
Very sad, for a child, it was very sad for me.
But I learned a lesson about protecting your things.
But what it's saying here that is a thief comes at night.
Yeah, he can take your bike, he can take something,
but he's not gonna take everything, okay?
So he gets satisfied with what he wants
and then he's going to leave, right?
He doesn't wanna get caught.
He wants to be able to flee.
And so there's always leftovers,
whether it's grapes on the field,
there's gonna be leftovers for the poor.
Whether a thief breaks in and steal something,
there's still gonna be your possessions, you know,
hopefully majority of the possessions still left.
But that's been compared to Babylon.
So when Babylon comes through,
they're not gonna leave anything behind.
They're not gonna be like these people
that are growing grapes or thieves to break in
and still know they're going to come in
and take everything, there's gonna be nothing left.
Verse 11, leave thy fatherless children,
I will preserve them alive and let thy widows trust in me.
Wow, so even though the Edomites are a wicked nation,
God, you know, steps in here
and he wants to protect the innocent, okay?
God says, look, leave the fatherless children like to him.
I will preserve them alive and let the widows trust in me.
You know, many times in the Bible,
God has great love and care for the orphans and for widows
because, you know, why?
Because, you know, obviously if you have a father,
you have a husband, he is meant to be the main breadwinner.
And when that person is missing from the family,
you know, the rest of the family can struggle.
If you've got no parents or you're a widow,
you can really struggle.
And so God, you know, steps in and says, you know what?
I'm gonna protect these people.
So even though God is bringing judgment upon Edom,
God sees some of the innocent on the land
that don't deserve to be destroyed,
so God's gonna supernaturally step in and keep them safe.
Now, it's interesting at the end of verse 11,
it says, and let thy widows trust in me.
So what's quite interesting about this is that,
well, when it comes to trust in the Lord,
we know that, again, ties into salvation,
that somehow God is going to ensure
that the widows and the orphans
are gonna hear the gospel, okay?
And of course, I'm sure that's gonna be
through the mouth of Jeremiah
and through the mouth of other great prophets of God,
other good, you know, believers that exist in that time,
where they're going to be able to turn and trust
on the Lord God, right?
Instead of trusting their false gods,
they're going to trust in the Lord God.
Ephesians 1 13 says, in whom ye also trusted,
after that ye have heard the word of truth,
the gospel of your salvation,
in whom also after that ye believed
you were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise.
You see, to believe is to trust.
When we say believe on the Lord Jesus Christ,
we're not saying just believe that He existed.
We're saying you've got to put your trust in Christ,
that He is your vehicle, your way of salvation,
that He's paid everything necessary.
You're putting your full trust,
not 99% of your trust in Jesus,
no, 100% of your trust in Jesus,
not 99% on Jesus and 1% on your own works, no,
100% on Jesus Christ, you trust Him completely,
and that is salvation.
That is the gospel that gives our souls salvation.
And so when the Lord is saying that these winners
will trust in Him, He's got soul winners.
He's got people going out there somehow
getting the gospel to these people, to the Edomites.
Praise God for that, you know?
And again, why is it that these people
are able to trust in the Lord?
It's because great judgment is fallen upon the land.
And as I've said to you, I'm in many ways thankful
for COVID, thankful for the lockdowns and restrictions,
because I do see it as the hand of God,
His judgment upon this land.
And when our land is judged, you know what's gonna happen?
People are going to seek the Lord, right?
Even though right now in Sydney,
we're struggling to go soul winning, right?
We're prohibited from doing that, okay, plus other things,
but just be patient, okay?
People's hearts are gonna get softened.
People's hearts are going to seek the Lord,
and that's when the Lord can use us to step in
and preach the gospel that these people
may trust in Him as well.
Verse number 12.
For thus saith the Lord, behold,
they whose judgment was not to drink of the cup
have assuredly drunken, and art thou he
that shall gather, sorry, that shall altogether
go unpunished?
Thou shalt not go unpunished,
but thou shalt surely drink of it.
And so the Lord is saying that, again,
I believe he's referring to the innocent here,
the orphans and the widows.
It says, behold, they whose judgment
was not to drink of the cup.
So, again, they're innocent.
They shouldn't be drinking of that cup.
We've already looked at the cup in the last chapter,
referencing the cup of alcohol representing God's wrath,
and the nation of Edom, largely,
they all deserve to drink of that cup,
but there are some that did not deserve
to drink of that cup.
Again, the innocent that the Lord's going to protect,
but then it says, and of the cup have assuredly drunken,
so even the innocent have drunken of that cup,
even though they don't deserve to.
The point being is that when God judges the nation,
I've said this many times already
through the book of Jeremiah,
that even the innocent,
even those that did not contribute
to the wickedness of the land,
they're still going to suffer.
Now, God will protect his people.
God will protect the orphans and the widows and the saved,
those that have trust in Christ,
but still, you're still affected
by the judgment that falls upon the land.
Don't forget that Jeremiah,
even though things went relatively well with him,
he wasn't taken into captivity.
He was let go and given a bit of money.
Still, he suffered.
He suffered greatly through the hands of the judgments,
and he lost his nation.
He's lost the cities that he would frequent and preach to,
and Jeremiah's life was not easy,
but supernaturally, the Lord still had
his hand of protection upon Jeremiah,
and as we see the Lord judge in Australia,
don't forget the Lord can supernaturally
protect you as well.
You don't deserve to drink of the cup of wrath,
but I guess sometimes we still have
because we're citizens of this nation,
and we're just gonna face some of those consequences,
some of the hardships that will come upon this land
as God continues to judge the nation of Australia.
Let's keep going, verse number 13.
For I have sworn by myself, saith the Lord,
that Bosra shall become a desolation,
a reproach, a waste, and a curse,
and all the cities thereof shall be perpetual wastes.
I have heard a rumor from the Lord
and an ambassador sent unto the heathen,
saying, gather ye together and come against her,
and rise up to the battle, for lo,
I will make thee small among the heathen
and despised among men.
So verses 14 and 15, if you want more information
about this, more detail about the judgment of Edom,
I would recommend in your own time,
read the book of Obadiah.
So the book of Obadiah is judgment upon the Edomites,
and verses one and two, the way it starts,
is basically word for word what we're reading here
in Jeremiah 49, verses 14 and 15.
And so God expands upon that judgment
in the book of Obadiah.
But what's interesting is here that the Babylonians
are not gonna be the only ones that attack Edom,
that the Babylonians, there's a rumor from the Lord there
that's saying, gather ye together and come against her
and rise up to the battle.
So the rumor is, the news is that Babylon
has enlisted other nations to come and help
fight against the Edomites.
And it says in verse number 15,
for lo, I will make thee small among the heathen
and despised among men.
So it looks like the Edomites just weren't very popular.
More like it was just a very unpopular nation.
Many people hated that nation that was surrounding it.
Let's keep going, verse number 16.
Thy terribleness hath deceived thee,
and the pride of thine heart.
O thou that dwellest in the clefts of the rock,
that holdest the height of the hill.
Though thou shouldest make thy nest as high as the eagle,
I will bring thee down from thence,
saith the Lord.
Also, Edom shall be a desolation.
Every one that goeth by it shall be astonished,
and shall hiss at the plagues thereof.
And so we see the same reoccurring issue here
with this nation.
You know, as it were, the Edomites had seen itself
as an eagle, high on a mountain, making its nest.
And that height, again, represents the pride of the nation.
And God's going to bring them low.
God's gonna bring them down.
And so, again, the reoccurring issue,
all these nations have lifted themselves,
you know, full of pride, proud against the Lord,
and the Lord will step in, judge them, and bring them low.
Verse number 18.
As in the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah,
and the neighbor cities thereof, saith the Lord,
no man shall abide there,
neither shall a son of man dwell in it.
So we know the story of Sodom and Gomorrah.
God totally destroyed that place.
We find brimstone, those cities,
we find brimstone from heaven, and it destroyed everybody.
Well, that's gonna have the same results.
Obviously, not the flying brimstone from heaven.
God's gonna use the Babylonians here.
But the same result will be there,
where these cities will be empty,
no man will live in them.
Verse number 19.
Behold, he shall come up like a mountain
from the swollen of Jordan
against the inhabitation of the strong.
The lion there represents Nebuchadnezzar, the king.
The swollen of Jordan, again, that parallel,
or that illustration of a river,
the Jordan River, being overflown, right?
There's a flood, and it's gonna represent
the armies of Babylon coming through
and destroying the Edomites.
But I will say this in verse number 19,
but I will suddenly make him run away from her.
Now, the next few questions
kind of perplex me a little bit,
and I'd be curious to know if you guys have an opinion.
Always just give me a call
if you have an opinion about this,
but let's just read the next questions.
It says, and who is a chosen man
that I may appoint over her?
And who is like me?
And who will appoint me the time?
And who is that shepherd that will stand before me?
So I found this a little bit unclear.
I couldn't really work out what God is saying here,
but there's two, I guess there's two main thoughts
that came to my mind.
Let me show you what they are.
Number one, these might be rhetorical questions
in the sense that God is saying, basically,
who can stand against the Lord's judgment?
The Lord has decided to judge against Edom.
He's saying, who could stand up?
Who could be the king of this land?
Who could stand up in this land against me?
And so God is just using that rhetorical question.
Of course, nobody can stand against God.
If God is bringing his judgment,
there's nothing we can do to stop it.
The other thought might be
where God is asking the question,
once the Babylonians come in, like that flood,
it's kind of like the way, possibly,
how Nebuchadnezzar set a governor in place over Judah,
which was, get a liar, you may remember the story there.
Get a liar was set as a governor
after they had destroyed Jerusalem, taken over Jerusalem.
King Nebuchadnezzar sets, get a liar there
to be the governor of the region.
And so the question might be, the Lord might be saying,
who is a chosen man that I may appoint over her?
That's over the Edomites, the land of Edom.
So maybe God's asking the question,
which of the Babylonians can I set up
to be the governor of this land
once the armies of Nebuchadnezzar come in
and overthrow that place?
I'm not sure, maybe they're both correct, okay?
But if you've got any thoughts about that,
please share them with me as well.
Let's keep going, verse number 20.
Therefore here are the counsel of the Lord.
They have taken against Edom and his purposes.
They have purpose against the inhabitants of Timon.
Surely the least of the flock shall draw them out.
Surely he shall make their habitations desolate with them.
The earth is moved at the noise of their fall,
at the cry the noise thereof was heard in the Red Sea.
Behold, he shall come up and fly as the eagle
and spread his wings over Bozrah,
and that that day shall the heart of the mighty men of Edom
be as the heart of a woman in her pangs.
Again, I want to just bring to your attention
how many times a woman in her pangs,
a woman in her birth pains, right?
The labor pains,
how many times that is mentioned in the book of Jeremiah
is just constantly brought up over and over and over again.
And this is really important just for you to nail this in
for yourself that every time it's speaking
about the woman's pangs,
it's talking about the pain, okay?
That comes with Babylon coming through a city,
coming through a land and destroying,
laying waste of the area.
That's the comparison to the labor pains.
This has nothing to do
with future tribulation times to come, okay?
Which a lot of independent Baptist,
dispensationalist Baptist want to point to know
it's always, it's consistent.
Time after time and time after again,
these labor pains have to do with the Babylonians
that already took place in the past, okay?
Coming through and taking these lands for themselves.
All right, let's keep going.
Verse number 23, concerning Damascus.
Now we've got the third nation, as it were,
that was being referenced here from the judgment of God.
Now Damascus, if you don't know,
it's the capital city of Syria, okay?
And so now God is basically judging Syria through Damascus.
Concerning Damascus, Hamath is confounded.
So Damascus was part of Hamath in these Bible times,
but we now know it as Syria, right?
It's confounded in Arpad,
for they have heard evil tidings.
They are fainthearted.
There is sorrow on the sea.
It cannot be quiet.
And so God is speaking about Damascus,
you know, the sorrow of the sea cannot be quiet.
So obviously in the seas, you've got constant waves.
The waters are constantly moving by the winds, okay?
Like the seas are never at peace.
It's not like you ever have water
that just doesn't move in the seas, in the oceans, right?
The waves are constantly roaring there.
And so when it comes to Damascus,
it says it cannot be quiet.
It means Damascus is not gonna have any peace.
The sorrows are just gonna continue one after another.
And the reason this has been mentioned
is because Syria, or Damascus,
was in the past overthrown by the Assyrians, okay?
The same Assyrians that overthrew
the northern kingdom of Israel, okay?
And so Syria, don't confuse the Assyrians with Syria,
they're different places,
but the Assyrians are finally rebuilding their nation.
They're finally rebuilding Damascus,
and now they're gonna face the Babylonians, okay?
So it's like wave after wave.
First they had to deal with the Assyrians,
and now they're trying to make themselves or something,
and now they're gonna have to deal with the Babylonians.
And so it's that constant moving of the sea.
The sorrow continues, it cannot be quiet for them.
Verse number 24, Damascus is waxed feeble,
and turneth herself to flee,
and fear have seized on her,
anguish and sorrows have taken her,
as a woman in travail.
There is again, a woman in travail,
a woman with her birth pains,
a woman who's suffering labor pains.
Again, the theme of the Babylonians there.
Verse number 25, how is the city of praise not left?
The city of my joy.
Now, verse number 25 again is an interesting verse.
You know, Damascus has been referred to
as the city of my joy.
You know, again, who could be speaking there?
I don't believe the Lord is speaking there.
I don't believe the Lord had any joy
in Damascus, as it were.
But you know, this might be the people of the land,
where they look at their city Damascus,
and it brings them great joy.
We're rebuilding the city.
We're gonna be a strong nation again.
We're gonna be a powerful city, a powerful people,
and they love their city.
And you know, if we look at verse number 26, it says,
therefore, so because you love your city,
because your city gives you so much joy,
therefore, her young men shall fall in her streets,
and all the men of war shall be cut off in that day,
sayeth the Lord of hosts,
and I will kindle a fire in the wall of Damascus,
and it shall consume the palaces of Ben-Hadad.
So God's saying, because you love your city so much,
I'm going to burn it all by fire again.
When the Babylonians are gonna come,
the city walls are gonna burn down,
they're gonna light on fire,
and that city's going to be destroyed once again.
You see, God is just showing these people
that their hearts are in the wrong place.
You know, our hearts, you know, we live in Sydney.
You know, in some ways, it is a beautiful city.
In some ways, many people say, this city gives me great joy.
But really, our hearts should not be upon this city.
You know, our hearts should be upon the Lord,
and say, Lord, if you're gonna judge this place,
please do so.
Keep us safe, keep us protected.
You know, you've allowed us to live
in a beautiful city like Sydney,
but you know what, Lord,
we're looking forward to the New Jerusalem.
We're looking forward to the heavenly city.
That's really where we want to abide.
That's where we want to live.
That's where we want to spend time with you, Lord.
And if you need to destroy this earth
and judge yourself, so be it.
You know, make sure your hearts are not on earthly cities,
earthly joys, but you set your hearts on the Lord,
because the Lord can simply light it all on fire
and take it all away.
Let's keep going, verse number 28.
Now we have another nation.
Concerning Kedah, and concerning the kingdoms of Hazor,
which Nebuchadrezzar, king of Babylon, shall smite.
Thus saith the Lord, arise ye, go up to Kedah,
and spoil the men of the east.
And so Kedah is basically the city of the Arabians, okay?
And you know, modern day Kedah would fall
under Saudi Arabia.
So we're talking about the Arabs here.
Okay, so the Arabs now are being judged by God.
Look at verse number 29.
It says, their tents and their flocks shall they take away.
They shall take to themselves their curtains
and all their vessels and their camels,
and they shall cry unto them, fear is on every side.
So these Arabians are going to be, you know,
overthrown by the Babylonians again.
They're going to be afraid.
They're going to lose all their possessions,
all the things that made them wealthy.
Verse number 30, flee, get you far off, dwell deep,
O ye inhabitants of Hazor, saith the Lord.
For Nebuchadrezzar, king of Babylon,
have taken counsel against you,
and have conceived a purpose against you.
Arise, get you up unto the wealthy nation
that dwelleth without care, saith the Lord,
which have neither gates nor bars which dwell alone.
So the Lord gives instructions to the Arabians here.
He says, look, you need to flee
and flee to that wealthy nation.
The Bible doesn't actually name what that wealthy nation is.
I don't know what it is.
I was, you know, I probably spent more time in this sermon
thinking about what could be this wealthy nation.
I couldn't figure it out, okay?
So basically, God is telling the Arabians here,
you know, you've got to be refugees.
You've got to leave your land, go to the wealthy nation,
okay, that dwelleth without care, there's peace there.
They're not going to be overthrown by the Babylonians,
which have neither gates nor bars,
so they're able to enter in.
Okay, they're going to, this wealthy nation
are going to be able to receive these refugees.
They're not going to stop them, prevent them from coming.
You know, they've opened their arms
to receive those refugees and dwell alone.
So God is displacing these people into another land.
Verse number 32.
All right, so Hazel, this city here,
is going to basically be emptied
and, you know, it's not going to be a dwelling place
for any men, okay?
Now, I don't even know where,
I tried to look up where Hazel was
on, you know, Google Maps and things.
I couldn't really locate it,
so maybe it truly has been wiped out,
as God says no one's living there,
but it's interesting that he says
that it'll be a dwelling place for dragons.
Now, when we read the Bible,
we have to just remember that the word dragon
can represent a few things.
We know that the devil is given the name of a dragon.
We know that he also took the form of a serpent.
And I do believe that sometimes in the Bible,
the dragons can refer to things like dinosaurs,
but when it comes to this passage here, dragons,
you need to just remember that the word reptile
for the English language
was not being used back in that time.
So many times when we read dragons,
you know, a city being a dwelling place for dragons,
it just means it's going to be a place
that's going to be filled with reptiles,
you know, snakes and lizards
and any other kind of creatures
that fall under that reptile category.
And, you know, the Bible is translated,
the King James Bible is translated in 1611.
The term reptile, the way we use the modern term reptile
to describe those kinds of animals,
that wasn't really in place until the mid 1700s.
So about 150 years after the King James Bible is translated,
you won't find the word reptile in the Bible, okay?
So many times dragons just refers to that group of animals
that we know as reptiles.
All right, verse number 34.
Now we have our final, our fifth and final nation
that has been judged by God here.
In verse number 34, it says,
the word of the Lord that came to Jeremiah, the prophet,
against Elam in the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah,
king of Judah, saying, so Elam.
Now Elam, you probably don't even know what that is,
but Elam later on becomes known as Persia.
Okay, so you probably know what Persia is, okay?
And when it comes under our modern times,
Persia falls under the umbrella of Iran, okay?
So we will say that Persians,
they're usually from Iran, okay?
Now Iran's obviously got other groups of people,
but Persians fall under that umbrella, as it were,
of Iran, okay?
So God is judging Persia here, okay?
Verse number 35.
Thus saith the Lord of hosts,
behold, I will break the bow of Elam,
the chief of their might.
So the armies of Elam, the military force,
that their greatest strength,
or the chief of their might are the archers,
people that have bows and arrows, right?
And God is saying, look, I'm going to waste them as well.
When Babylon comes storming through,
not even your archers are gonna stand
against the might of Babylon.
Verse number 36.
And upon Elam will I bring the full winds
from the full quarters of heaven,
and I will scatter them toward all those winds,
and there shall be no nation
whither the outcasts of Elam shall not come.
For I will cause Elam to be dismayed before their enemies,
and before them that seek their life,
and I will bring evil upon them,
even my fierce anger, saith the Lord,
and I will send the sword after them
till I have consumed them.
And so Elam's gonna be hit by all four directions.
You know, quite often when we read about the stories
of Judah in the book of Jeremiah,
God is constantly telling them
that the Babylonians are coming from the north,
the Chaldeans are coming from the north, right?
North country.
Well, Elam, or Persia, is gonna be hit by all directions,
north, south, east, and west.
And this might be just the tactics
that Nebuchadrezzar uses in his time,
where he might split up his armies into four areas,
but I think it's more likely, once again,
the alliances that he puts together with other nations,
and so you've got other nations coming
from different directions,
coming to destroy Elam or Persia.
All right, now, so the four directions there,
the four winds being north, south, east, and west.
All right, so now look at verse number 38.
We have an interesting change,
a very interesting prophetic change
that takes place in Elam,
because what was the great nation,
what was the next powerful nation after Babylon?
What nation took over Babylon?
Well, you may remember that it's the Medo-Persian Empire.
What's the word I'm looking for?
That united group of these two powers coming together,
they became the next power over Babylon
and over all those surrounding nations.
But it says here in verse number 38,
and I will set my throne in Elam.
So God is saying, hey, my next powerhouse,
my next place that I'm gonna have place authority
over the earth is gonna come from Elam, from Persia.
And will destroy from thence the king and the princes,
saith the Lord.
But it shall come to pass in the latter days
that I will bring again the captivity of Elam,
saith the Lord.
So as I said, the next powerful kingdom that would come
would actually end up defeating the Babylonians,
and that's gonna be the Medo-Persian Empire
led by King Darius.
You can read about those events,
obviously, in the book of Daniel.
But I think it's interesting how the end of this chapter
basically says, hey, these same Persians
are gonna be destroyed by the Babylonians
where I'm going to raise my throne.
You see, it's up to God.
God is the one that allows or decides
what powers are going to be put in place.
Now, I'm not saying that God selectively, individually
puts one individual person, every politician,
into authority, but rather that God has allowed governments
and powers to be on the land of the earth, right,
for his purposes, for righteousness,
but also for judgment.
And we look at the wickedness of our politicians today,
how they're taking away our freedoms,
taking away our liberties,
and we get angry at our politicians,
and I'm angry at many of them, okay?
But we also have to remind ourselves,
God allows these powers, okay?
And one day, we might look at our politicians,
we might look at the World Health Organization
and this strange secret power,
the secret Babylon that's out there,
and we get angry about that,
but one day, they're gonna be judged as well, okay?
Babylon's gonna be judged by the media Persian Empire
under King Darius.
And so, it's our job not to care about, necessarily,
the kingdoms of this earth at this point in time.
We just need to make sure and understand
God has put powers in place for his reasons,
for his purposes, and we need to use
whatever liberties we currently have
to just serve God in whatever capacity we can.
God knows if our freedoms are removed.
God knows that our liberties are removed, okay?
But God has allowed us to be put in that situation,
knowing full well that one day,
these wicked governments will be judged themselves, okay?
And again, that should give us great peace, great peace.
And so, it's great that he ends here.
Jeremiah 49 ends in this way,
that Babylon will one day be taken over,
because when we get to the next chapter,
Jeremiah chapter 50,
we start to read about the judgment on Babylon.
Okay, let's pray.