One of the more difficult things when it comes to the book of Jeremiah as I've been studying
this is it doesn't always tell us who's speaking. Like you go from God speaking and then Jeremiah
speaking and you don't really know. And then you got the Babylonian speaking, you've
got different people speaking at different times. The Bible doesn't always tell us
who's speaking so you've got to sort of stop and slow down. So it doesn't make
sense. It doesn't make sense that God is saying these things or it doesn't make
sense that Jeremiah is usually, if it doesn't make sense, it doesn't seem to fit. It's
usually because it has turned attention to somebody else. So even though these are the
words and the writings of Jeremiah, as he's prophesying, sometimes he's prophesying
of things that his wicked nation are saying or what the Babylonians are saying or things
like this. So you've got to get used to that idea as you study the book of Jeremiah.
But look at verse number 30, the last verse there. It says, reprobate silver shall
men call them because the Lord hath rejected them. The title for the sermon this afternoon
is the Lord hath rejected them. And so I know usually when we think about the term rejected
or reprobate, we tend to think about those that obviously have gotten to a point where
they are so wicked, they are so full of hatred toward God, they've rejected God
and God has rejected them. Where they've actually lost their opportunity to be saved
because they will not believe. God has darkened their hearts, God has messed with their
minds and they will not come to the Lord for salvation. Now when we talk about Jeremiah
chapter 6, we're dealing with a topic slightly different from that. We're dealing with again
the southern kingdom of Judah and that southern kingdom did become reprobate to God,
but not in the same sense that you think about the reprobate doctrine as it were.
But what we can get from this chapter is at least a flavor of understanding what the
reprobate doctrine is. It's not a doctrine that I've preached yet in this church, it's a
doctrine that I have preached up in New Life Baptist Church, but not in this church.
Eventually I'll preach on this doctrine, but it gives us an idea of what it takes
for God to say you'll reprobate to me, you're rejected in my sight.
You know as we've been going through Jeremiah chapter 1 up to Jeremiah chapter 5,
you see the wickedness of the nation. I mean for God to get to the point where
he says I've rejected you, I'm done with you, a lot of wickedness has taken place.
It's not like God's just quick to dismiss people. God is merciful,
gives us chance after chance after chance. In fact even within this chapter we're going to see
how God keeps calling them back. Keeps calling back, come on, come back to me,
get things settled before we get to that point where I have to reject you.
But we start there in verse number 1.
Oh ye children of Benjamin, gather yourselves to flee out in the midst of Jerusalem,
and blow the trumpet into Coah, and set up a sign of fire in Beth HaKarem,
for evil appeareth out of the north, and great destruction.
So Jeremiah is preaching to the Benjaminites, and if you know your history and you know
the nation of Israel, when you had the two, when you had the nation divided into two kingdoms,
the southern kingdom were made up of two tribes, the tribes of Benjamin and the tribe of Judah.
And the tribe of Benjamin was more north, and Judah was more southern within that kingdom.
And so the reason Jeremiah is one in Benjamin is because as the Babylonians come in,
they come in from the north. And so as they come through, the first tribe that they're
going to hit, of course, is the tribe of Benjamin. And that's why Benjamin is being spoken to here
by Jeremiah. But then he says this, gather yourselves to flee out of the midst of Jerusalem.
So Jerusalem is more southern from that. So what's happening is here,
what is being prophesied is as the tribe of Benjamin, as the Benjaminites see the Babylonians
coming, that they flee into Jerusalem. Because obviously Jerusalem being the major city,
the capital city, that's the city with the walls, that's the city with the military might.
And so there's this thought that maybe if we flee into Jerusalem, that's where we're going
to be safe. Okay, that's the mindset of human beings. But then he's, you know, God is saying,
look, flee out of the midst of Jerusalem. It's not going to be safe in Jerusalem.
Wherever you think it's going to be the safest in your land, it's still going to be
overtaken. There's no chance for the southern kingdom of Judah to get out of this
judgment that's coming out of the Babylonians. But I want you to notice toward the end of
verse number one, it says, for evil appearth out of the north and great destruction.
Let me ask you a question. Who is sending this evil? Anybody? Who's sending this evil
coming from the north? God is sending this evil. Okay. Now, I remember when I was a child,
I would read the Bible and I would see how God would do evil, how he would send evil.
And always, like, it didn't make a lot of sense to me. Because, you know, you know,
you tend to think when you think of evil, don't you normally think of sin? You know,
and you know, yes, you know, all sin is evil. Okay. But not all evil is sin. Like,
if God can send evil, obviously, he's not make causing people to sin. All right. So
when we think about the term evil, as you read through your Bible, one of the best things to
help you understand and not see or think there's some type of contradiction is understand that
evil is something that is harmful. Okay. But something that is harmful is not necessarily a
sin. Okay. I mean, it is harmful for a murderer to be put to death. You know,
if we have the death penalty in Australia, someone commits murder, they're found to be
guilty, that person is to be put to death, and that's something harmful to that person.
That person is going to receive evil in the hands of a government. But that's not sin. In fact,
it's righteous. It's the righteous doing to put that wicked person to death. And so you need
to just understand just in case this is something that you struggle with to think,
how can God be sending evil? Well, let's turn to Isaiah now. Keep your finger in Jeremiah.
Let's go to Isaiah 45. And verse number seven, Isaiah 45, please.
And verse number seven. This is a verse that gets used by Calvinists. I don't know if you're
familiar with Calvinism. But generally speaking, those that are sort of really invested into
Calvinism, they will turn you to Isaiah 45 verse seven for a reason. And Isaiah 45 verse
seven reads, I form the light and create darkness. I make peace, look at this, and create
evil. Who's creating evil? I the Lord do all these things. Hey, who creates evil?
God in this verse. Is this saying, oh, so the Calvinists say, see, evil is sin.
Because the Calvinist believes everything is predetermined. Whether you're going to believe
on Christ or not, God's already made that decision on your behalf.
And I remember having a conversation with a Calvinist. And I said, wait a minute,
are you saying that if I sin, that God wanted me to sin? And it's kind of like
a half embarrassed look on his face. He goes, yeah. And he goes, well, look, Isaiah 45 verse
seven, you know, God created evil. Yeah, but that's not, you know, so you can see if
someone misunderstands what evil is, and they think all evil is sin, then you conclude that God,
I guess, wants people to sin. Of course we know. We know we've got plenty of verses black and white
that God does not want you to sin. Okay, it's trespassing against his law. And so when God
is sending evil, he's not sending sin. He's causing people to be harmed. Okay, why is this
nation being harmed? Again, because of their wickedness. Back to Jeremiah chapter six,
verse number two. Jeremiah six, verse two. If you have any questions about that,
please feel free to ask me after the service. Verse number two, I have likened the daughter
of Zion, that's the southern kingdom of Judah in Jerusalem, to a comely and delicate woman. Okay,
so Judah is a beautiful woman, as far as, you know, the land is beautiful. You know,
the fertility of the land, it's beautiful. Okay, so the land has been likened to this
woman. Verse number three. The shepherds with their flocks shall come unto her. They shall
pitch their tents against her roundabout. They shall feed everyone in his place. So this is
one reason why the Babylonians are coming to take the land. They say, well, it's a beautiful
land. Look at all the fertility. Look at all the great resources this land has. So the
Babylonians are like, hey, we're like shepherds, taking our sheep to feed there in this
beautiful land. And so that's the mindset of the Babylonians. And don't forget, I mentioned
this on Thursday, I think, many times when governments go to war, they'll tell you,
they'll tell you in their press conferences, it's for righteous reasons. But most often than not,
they've just looked at the land. Hey, that looks like a beautiful, delicate woman. Hey,
there's great resources over there. We're going to take it all for us. That's how,
that's what worries a lot of time. Okay. That's how it is. Okay. Verse number four.
Now verse number four is the Babylonians are speaking now in verse number four. So keep this
in mind. Also, it doesn't make a lot of sense. Verse number four is the Babylonians speaking.
Prepare ye war against her. Arise and let us go up at noon. Woe unto us for the day goeth away,
for the shadows of the evening are stretched out. Arise and let us go by night and let us
destroy her palaces. So the Babylonians are saying, hey, verse number four, all right,
let us go at noon. So at noon, they wanted to go and attack. Okay. But then they say,
woe unto us. The day has gone away. So as they're preparing to make war, the days go on,
the hours go on. It's like, oh man, we wanted to go at noon, but the days keep going, right?
Now evening's upon us. And what they're saying is, at verse number five, arise, let us go by
night. Destroy. So they end up, the initial attack is at night. Now please go back to
Jeremiah chapter five, just one chapter back. Jeremiah chapter five, verse number six.
Jeremiah chapter five, verse number six. And so what we learn here is that the initial
attack of the Babylonians took place at night. And what I like about the Bible is just
how consistent and beautiful it is. Because in chapter five, verse number six,
you may remember this verse, it says, wherefore a lion out of the forest shall slay them.
Then it says this, and a wolf of the evenings shall spoil them. And I was trying to tell you
how, you know, God is using these animals as illustrative and you have the wolf, which
will attack at night. And so, you know, the Babylonians had planned to attack
in the afternoon, but because of the prophecy that we have in Jeremiah, the day got long,
they got behind schedule and they ended up having to attack at night, you know, corresponding
with what Jeremiah prophesied. I love the Bible like that because it's just amazing how
consistent and you can see how God's word is always accomplished. You know, the prophecy
has always come true, one way or another, right? Anyway, let's go back to Jeremiah
chapter six, verse seven. As a fountain casteth out her waters, so she casteth out her
wickedness. This is now back to Jerusalem, back to Judea, okay? Violence and spoil is heard in her,
before me continually is grief and wounds. There are two thoughts here. We have the nation,
which is full of wickedness, it's like turning on your tap in your house, you turn your tap,
you expect water to come out, right? And it's like, you know, it's like this fountain,
it's like this tap of water, instead of it being water, it's wickedness that's coming out
of the land of Judah. And so God is looking at the wickedness and saying, look, I've got to
destroy this place because of its wickedness, but he also sees the cries of the downtrodden,
right? It says here, violence and spoil is heard in her, before me continually is grief
and wounds. And of course, when people are being wounded, when people are taken advantage of,
when people are being abused, generally speaking, people will yell out and cry out to God,
God, why is this happening to me? Even non-believers cry to God, yes, when they're going
through difficulties. And so God is seeing the wickedness, but he also hears the cries
of the downtrodden. Keep your finger there. Let's go to Psalm 61. Psalm 61. And what saddens
me about the state of Judah here is that it reminds me, this verse reminds me a lot of the
Psalms. A lot of the Psalms are written in a very similar fashion. I'll just give you one
example here in Psalm 61 and verse number one. Psalm 61 and verse number one reads,
hear my cry, oh God, attend unto my prayer. So here we have a righteous, a believer crying
out to God, God, hear my despair, right? Verse number two, from the end of the earth will I
cry unto thee when my heart is overwhelmed, lead me to the rock that is higher than I.
For thou has been a shelter for me and a strong tower from the enemy.
A lot of the Psalms are written in the same way, where the Psalmist is being persecuted
by the enemy, he cries out to God, he says, God, please hear my cry. Oh, God says,
I hear the cry of my people. A lot of the Psalms are like this, all right? And what saddens
me about Judah at this point in time, it's not the enemy that's making them to cry out.
I mean, it makes sense that God's enemies are persecuting God's people, makes sense.
A lot of Psalms are like that, but then you get to Jeremiah and people are crying out,
it's its own people, it's its own nation that's become the enemy of those that are crying out
to God. It's amazing to me, you know, that you have God's people, God help me for my enemy,
and now the enemies are within, the enemies are within the same nation, okay? Judah had become,
it's like its own enemies, attacking itself, and God hears that, and brethren, let me encourage you,
if you're in difficulties, okay, if you're struggling, if there's some enemy or some trial,
just cry out to God. What does it mean to cry out? Remember, yell out, use your voice,
right? So, you know, it's perfectly right for you to ask God for help in a time of need,
and God will deliver you, God will see you through. I mean, if you've prayed prayers to the Lord,
I'm sure many times you've seen answered prayers, and you know what, if you didn't cry out,
it's likely that prayer would not have been answered, that request wouldn't have been answered.
You know, I get the question sometimes, if God knows everything that we need,
why do we even have to ask for it? Well, God, that's what God sets forth, right,
that we use our mouths, that we go to Him, that we ask Him for help, that He sets us in
a higher place and delivers us from weakness. And brethren, I'm not even concerned about the
enemies that Australia may have. There are enemies within this nation, there are enemies within this
nation, and there's, you know, a necessity to cry out to God. Don't forget this Thursday,
if you're going to be here, that's our time to cry out to God, to pray to the Lord,
to help us live that quiet and peaceable life, which I covered this morning.
Verse number eight. Oh, it says here, be thou instructed, O Jerusalem.
So God is giving Jerusalem one more chance, another chance. Be thou instructed, O Jerusalem,
lest my soul depart from thee. God's warning them. I'm going to depart. I'm going to reject
you soon. Let my soul depart from thee, lest I make thee desolate, a land not inhabited.
We see, we see this progression to a reprobate nation. God keeps telling them time and time
again, even though he sees the weakness, even though he sees our poor people downtrodden and
taking advantage of, he still says, look, come back to me, you got a chance. Brethren, don't
play with God. Don't get far from God and think it's all good, because for a long time,
He will be good with you. You know, you can turn your back from, to God. You can
stop reading your Bible. You can stop going to church, and I promise you, you're going to be
just fine for a while, for a while, okay? And you're going to think, well, it's fine.
Hey, I've missed church. Nothing seems to be going wrong with me. Hey, I'll miss it again.
I'll stop picking my Bible. Maybe God's not even around. Why is He not acting? Because
He's begging you. Come back before I depart from you. You know, before I leave you desolate.
We have to, you know, God gives us opportunity after opportunity, and you know, those that
become reprobate, and obviously I believe it cannot become reprobate in that sense,
but those that become reprobate, God gives them chance after chance after chance, and God warns
them, my soul's going to depart from you. You're going to be left desolate. He gives them
opportunities. You know, some people struggle with this reprobate doctrine. Oh no, God gives
everybody, you know, to their final breath to believe in Him. Man, people are wicked, okay?
People are wicked, and God has given them so many chances. You know, maybe you might think it's
not fair, God, for you to reject someone that is so wicked, Lord. You should give them
more chance. You don't even know how many chances God gave them. God would have given
them many, many chances before He ultimately rejects them. Verse number nine. Thus saith the
Lord of hosts, they shall freely glean the remnant of Israel as a vine, turn back thine
hand as a grape gatherer into the baskets. The vision that I get in verse number nine,
my children, they love grapes. They love grapes, and when you have those beautiful big ripe grapes
and they're on special, you know, I usually go out and buy a lot. They look wonderful,
don't they? Grapes look great. They're an appealing fruit on the eyes,
but then once it's in the hands of my kids, they strip it bare, right? What are you left
with? Just the stems, right? Those little stems. I mean, you compare what it looks like when
it's left after it's all been eaten and consumed compared to what it looked like when
you bought it, right? There's a huge difference. That's what God's saying. Hey, you guys looked
beautiful. You had like, you know, like your grapes, but now you're going to be stripped bare
by the Babylonians. There'll be nothing left. It's going to be like that. That comparison
will be like that in the city. Verse number 10. To whom shall I speak and give warning
that they may hear? Behold, their ear is uncircumcised and they cannot hearken. Behold,
the word of the Lord is unto them a reproach. They have no delight in it.
So, you know, I believe this is probably Jeremiah, all right? So he's speaking to people
and he's saying here, look, they're not listening to me, God. They're not listening.
And you know, you got a daughter who's slowly winning. How many times are people not
listening? Not interested? Do you give up? There are so many people whose ears are uncircumcised,
just like here, okay? Their ears are uncircumcised. They cannot hearken. They cannot
hear the word of God. Now let's keep our fingers there. Let's go to Acts chapter 7.
Acts chapter 7 verse 51, please. Acts chapter 7 verse 51.
Brother David's been preaching through a series in the book of Acts there.
And what we're looking at here is, of course, the preaching of Stephen before he was put to
death, right? And I just want to see, I want to show you the parallel here, because God is
saying that those of the southern kingdom, that their ears are uncircumcised. What does that mean,
you know? Obviously, we're talking about something of a spiritual nature, but what does
that really mean? Well, when we turn to Acts chapter 7 verse 51, Stephen, again, preaching
against the Christ rejecting Jews here, verse 51, it says, ye stiff-necked and uncircumcised
in heart and ears. Ye do always resist the Holy Ghost as your fathers did, so do ye.
So we learn a few things there. If you're uncircumcised by the ear, which is what Judah
was saying about the nation, they're also uncircumcised in the heart. Hey, what is salvation?
It's the circumcision of the heart, right? That's what it is. And so when someone is
uncircumcised of heart, they are a non-believer, okay? Why are they uncircumcised of heart?
Because they're uncircumcised of ears, okay? And the Bible tells us in Romans 10, 17,
so then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. You know, when you go and
you preach the gospel, you're hoping to get those ears circumcised. That's essentially what
you're trying to do. And if that ear will listen, if that ear will hearken, it'll go
down into their hearts, and then they can believe with all their heart in the Lord Jesus Christ.
But if their ears are blocked, brethren, they're not going to believe in their hearts,
you know, they're not going to believe. And so when we talk about what Stephen is saying there,
he says you do always resist the Holy Ghost as your fathers did, referring to those of Judah,
right? Like your fathers were uncircumcised of ears and heart, so are you, all right?
And it tells us also here, it says behold the word of the Lord is unto them a reproach.
A reproach means that you're kind of like disappointed or ashamed. And so we have many
churches in Australia where pastors will not preach certain passages, they will not cover
certain topics, because they're ashamed of what the Bible says. They're ashamed, right? They
feel like if I get out there and people know what I believe, that they're going to laugh at
me, they're going to scorn. Listen, brethren, we just preach the Bible. You know, again,
why do I preach chapter by chapter? Is it because I'm just trying to follow some other pastor?
No, because it forces you to preach the things that you otherwise would avoid.
Because every preacher has like a hobby horse. Like, you know, if I just wanted to preach the
things that I'm not interested in, you're only going to be hearing certain things all the time.
But chapter by chapter forces you to cover things that you aren't, that, you know,
maybe to some extent you feel a bit of reproach. Maybe some of those things like,
oh God, I don't know if I really want to cover that. But you're kind of forced to do it.
And, you know, don't forget that as a preacher, as members of Blessed
Hope Baptist Church, please understand you're going to be hearing preaching from here,
either from me or from others that you're not going to like.
Okay, you're not going to like it, but I don't want you to be like the people of Judea
that were uncircumcised of ears. Okay, you've got to be willing to have your ears open.
This is why quite often when we, when we pray before the sermon, people are saying,
hey, Lord, open our ears, open our hearts, help us to understand because
every sermon is going to step on someone's toes. This is going to happen because we're
all at different stages in our spiritual walk. Anyway, back to verse number 11,
verse number 11, Jeremiah chapter six, verse number 11, sorry, Jeremiah chapter six, verse number 11.
Jeremiah says, therefore, I am full of the fury of the Lord. I am weary with holding in.
He says, Lord, they won't listen to me. They don't open their ears. He says, I'm weary,
you know, I've got to keep going. And I love that about Jeremiah, even though nobody's
listening. He says, look, I can't stop. I've got to keep telling the message. Brethren,
be that way when you go soloing in. When you've knocked 99 doors and no, and everyone's like,
99, 99, 99, just go and knock the 100 door. Go knock 101 because there might very well be
someone there that's ready to hear. Don't give up. Jeremiah doesn't give up. He says,
they don't listen. It's frustrating to stiff neck people, but I just can't help it. I've got
to keep going. I've got to keep telling them the word of God. He says, I will pour it out
upon the children abroad and upon the assembly of young men together, for even the husband and
the wife shall be taken, the aged with him that is full of days. Jeremiah says, I'm going to
preach to anybody that wants to listen. If it's children, I'm going to preach to the children.
If it's young people, I'm going to preach to the young people. If it's families, husbands,
I'm going to preach to them. If it's older people, I'm going to preach to them.
Brethren, you knock on the door of an older person. I used to think when I was
out soloing the very first time, I was looking forward to speaking to the older people.
Why? Because they're close to death. I thought maybe they're thinking about eternity.
What I found was the older people, okay, the generation that have gone before us,
you know, what do you call that generation? My parents' generation. What do they call it?
Baby boomers. I thought these people, surely they want to hear what God says.
Boy, man, I can't believe it. You know who listens to God's word? The young people,
the teenagers, those in their early 20s, those in the 30s, the ladies. You get to the older people,
they don't want to hear it. They're like, oh, I've lived my life for 70, 80 years.
Well, you think you're going to tell me something I don't already know?
They've hardened their hearts against the Lord. It's amazing to me because people say,
hey, where are all the young people in church? I tell you where the young people are.
Their parents, the previous generations, did not teach them what the Bible says.
That's why it's so important, Brethren, I tell again, the Friday night guys. I tell you,
don't just tell people what is right and wrong, show them from God's word. You know,
young people actually want to know what God has to say. Young people know there's something
wrong with what is being taught in their schools. Young people have a hole in their
hearts and want to fill that with the Lord Jesus Christ, but they don't know, they don't
have the answers. Many times the older people just won't listen. But hey, even if they don't
listen, when you knock on an older person's door, just be like Jeremiah, well I'll preach to you as
well. If I get children, I'll preach to children. Young people, I'll preach to young
children, young people. Families, families, older people, older people, you preach to all of
them. I've been surprised, you know, again, you knock many times on the Sunshine Coast,
there's an area where it's just mostly retired people, just an older generation,
and I kind of dread going there. But Brethren, there's always the salvation out there
somewhere. It always encourages me, I better keep going because there's always someone,
I'm not going to give up in this area, you know. And what I like about this passage as well,
is this is another reason why as a church, we're a family integrated church.
It's not like we have a lack of rooms. It's not like if we had more space,
when the preaching starts, we're going to put the kids into their own little class.
Jeremiah is preaching to them all. Doesn't matter how young, old, they need to hear God's
word. All right, now parents in your house, you know, with your children, you can teach
them and teach them slightly differently. You do whatever you want in your own house,
you're responsible for that. But when it comes to the house of God, it's so important
that we don't think our children cannot listen. In fact, that's probably what's gone wrong with
our generation. That's probably what's gone wrong. Generations of church-going people,
the preaching is too complicated for my kids, we better send down to the dumb-downs on
their school. They can dance and eat lollies all day. And then they grow up, no wonder
they're not interested in church, because that's what they thought church was, just dancing
around and eating lollies. And that's what the Hillsong offers, right? So they go to the
Hillsong church. They go to those churches because they don't know what church was like.
It's important for our children to be here. You know, our children will pick up things that
you may not pick up. You know, things that actually affect, have a benefit in
their life as they grow up and, you know, into adulthood.
Verse number 12, and their houses shall be turned unto others and their fields and wives
together. They're going to lose it all. Even family is going to be torn apart.
For I will stretch out mine hand upon the inhabitants of the land, sayeth the Lord.
What a judgment to come. What a judgment. I think the thing that will hurt me the most is
me losing my family. You know, being torn apart from my children, my children being taken
away from me or something like that. I mean, that would be probably the biggest
hurt that I could possibly have. That judgment was going to fall upon these people.
Verse number 13, for from the least of them unto the greatest of them,
every one is given to covetousness. That's Australia.
And from the prophet even unto the priest, every one dealeth falsely.
Hey, all the religious leaders, again, Friday night, we'll talk about this, right?
Many religious leaders deal falsely, okay? They might say one thing and live a different way.
They might say they love the Lord. They might say they love teaching people the word of God,
but really they're doing it for money. They're doing it for, I don't know, you know, for fame.
They're doing it for other reasons. They're doing it to please man, you know.
And the religious leaders of this state, brethren, they were dealing falsely with the people.
How were they dealing falsely? Verse number 14, they have healed also the hurt of the daughter
of my people slightly. So Jeremiah, remember, Jeremiah's preaching fire. He's consuming the
people. People are getting burnt. People are getting burnt and they go to the priests
and their prophets and say, hey, Jeremiah's preached some powerful sermons lately.
Is it true? Well, these prophets, they're trying to heal them, right? It says it,
right? They have healed also the hurts. Hey, it seems nice. I would rather be healed than hurt,
right? I'd rather go to a church, which I'm going to feel good about. I'm not going
to get burnt. So that's what's going on. And what are they saying to the people?
It's slightly saying peace, peace, when there is no peace.
Brethren, God is angry at the wicked every day, every day. Just because you're saved,
don't think you're going to get away with your sins. God will judge you.
God will bring His judgment upon you. Get right with God. Don't confess your sins before God.
You need to hear this. You need to hear the God of the Bible. I know
preaching for Jeremiah can feel a bit negative, you know? But listen, the other preachers are
just saying peace, peace. It's all fine. When there is no peace, they're lying to you.
When they don't tell you about the judgment of God, they're lying to you, brethren.
Joyce Meyer, what's her book? God is not mad at you. Joyce Meyer, that female preacher,
she has literally thousands of followers in her church and online. God is not mad at you.
Did you hear Pastor Kevin preach? Are you a little bit burnt? Come over here. Come to
Joyce Meyer's ministries. We'll heal it up. Peace, peace, they'll say to you. There is
no peace, brethren. When you're sinning against the Lord, when our nation has turned toward
weakness against the things of God, expect judgment to fall upon us. This coronavirus
may very well be judgment. I don't know. Fires may very well be judgment. I don't always know
exactly what they are, brethren, but I don't expect happy days in the future. It's so
important that we prepare our children to understand. I don't know if things are going
to get back to the way they were. I have no idea. I hope it does. I don't know, okay?
But our children need to prepare themselves spiritually to understand they're going to grow up in a
wicked world, wicked world. And they need to stand up. They need to be like Jeremiah,
you know, in this day and age. Verse number 15.
Were they ashamed when they had committed abomination? Nay, they were not at all ashamed.
Neither could they blush. Therefore, they shall fall among them that fall.
At the time that I visit them, they shall be cast down, saith the Lord.
And so the nation's doing a whole bunch of wickedness. There is no shame. No shame.
You know, I hear stories of the past where, let's say, a woman fell pregnant outside of marriage.
It would be a shame. Like, they'd try to cover that up. They'd try to make it a secret so,
you know, it doesn't destroy the name of the whole family. Is that the issue today?
There is no shame today. They don't blush today, right? People are committing all kinds
of sins in this world today. There is no shame. There is no blushing.
You know, in 1 Timothy chapter 4 verse 1, it says,
Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith,
giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of devils,
speaking lies in hypocrisy, having their conscience seared with a hot iron.
This is the road of the reprobate, you know. They commit sin and they get to a point where,
I don't care anymore. I'm not ashamed anymore. I'm not ashamed for what I'm doing.
You start searing your conscience. Not even your conscience bothers you.
You know, in the past, your conscience bothered you about something and you listened to your
conscience and that was kind of keeping you accountable in your actions. But you get to a
point where you just commit so much filth, you know, and you're not ashamed of it.
Your conscience gets seared against the word of God and you no longer think there's a problem.
Okay. What were they committing? They were committing spiritual adultries.
They were worshiping false gods. They were committing physical adultries and fornication.
They were murdering the innocents. No shame. No shame. Same thing going on in Australia.
There's no shame in this land. Verse number 16.
Thus saith the Lord, stand ye in the ways and see and ask for the old paths.
Where is the good way? And walk therein and ye shall find rest for your souls.
But they said, we will not walk therein. God's telling them again, walk in the old ways.
Come back. The reprobate gets opportunity after opportunity. The old ways. You know,
if you've seen the signage at the top of the building, it says independent,
fundamental Baptists. Are there some bad independent fundamental Baptist churches out
there? Of course there are. Are there some bad pastors out there? Of course there are bad
pastors. But I love those words. Independent. Why? Because we're accountable to God, not to some
Pope. Not to some denominational headquarters. Fundamental. Why are we fundamental? Because we
hold to the fundamentals of the faith. The Trinity is a fundamental doctrine.
We hold to the fundamentals, the foundations of the Christian faith. We're not going to change
those beliefs. Baptists, well, I think only the Baptists baptized properly. But listen, brethren,
the reason I have those words, when people see those words, I want them to think this is
going to be a traditional church where people still sing the old hymns, where people still read
from the old King James Bible, where people are still preaching the old doctrines that were
being preached generations before and they're not changing it. We're going to follow after
the old ways, brethren. We start changing things up. I like this old looking pulpit even.
Good on you, brother. We could have had a fancy clear plastic one that gets knocked over too easy.
I like this. It feels old fashioned. I like it. We're going to stick to the old ways.
If we start thinking we need to follow new paths, brethren, it leads us to the way the religious
leaders of Judah were like at that point in time. Man, you want to grow this church? We
can change the music if you want. We can grow this church. We can grow this church.
Trust me. We just get off the King James Bible. That's one thing we can do. Start changing
the hymns into your modern songs that have no depth in it. That sounds like you're singing
to a girlfriend rather than singing to God. We can grow a church that way, but then we're
just going to end up in corruption. We're going to end up corrupting. I don't want to be in a
church. You really travel. Some people travel far to be in church. You sit for an hour,
an hour and a half or more. Could you imagine your worship just means nothing to God?
What a waste of time. You might as well just go play soccer or something.
That's more beneficial. You might as well just do anything. Watch TV would be more beneficial
than being in some of those churches. I want to make sure when we come to church,
it's giving God glory. That God is speaking to us through His Word by the Holy Spirit.
That's where value is in the old ways, brethren. We need to keep this way.
One day I'm not going to be the pastor. I want this church to continue to the day Christ
comes back. One day I'm going to get too old and someone else is going to be the pastor
or someone else, whatever, something throughout life. We need to make sure we keep the same
course, that we don't change things around. Ideas are great. New ideas are great. Live streaming,
that's kind of new, but that's great, but we're not going to change the function. Live streaming,
internet ministry, that's not our priority. The priority is the congregation being gathered
together, hearing the Word of God. Verse number 17, it says,
Also I sent watchmen over you, saying, Harken to the sound of the trumpet.
But they said, We will not hearken. So God says, in verse number 16,
Walk therein, and they said, We will not walk therein. God says, I'm sending watchmen, trumpets.
Brethren, you get up to preach behind this pulpit. You know what you need to sound like?
A trumpet. You need to sound loud. Be a trumpet. That's what you need. God says, Look,
I'm sending watchmen. I'm sending these people over you. As a watchman, we're going out there,
brethren. We're getting out there and preaching the gospel. We're telling people about the coming
judgment of God. Hey, be that trumpet that God can blow through, right? Be that vessel that God can
use. Verse number 18, Therefore hear ye nations, and know, O congregation, what is among them.
Hear, O earth, behold, I will bring evil upon this people. There it is, bringing evil again.
Even the fruit of their thoughts, because they have not hearkened unto my words,
nor to my law. But look at this, notice the next words. But rejected it.
What's the title for the sermon this afternoon? The Lord hath rejected them. But I want you to
notice something with a reprobate. God only rejects those that reject him. That's how it
starts, okay? Calvinism teaches that God has rejected most people in this world. In fact,
the vast majority, like 98, 99% of people, God has rejected them for no reason whatsoever.
And God has accepted you already before you even had a choice whether you're going to believe
the gospel or not. That's not how it works. God only rejects those that first reject him
and his word, okay? They had the law of God. They knew the laws of God and said, nope,
we don't want it. And God then says, well, then I don't want you, okay?
Verse number 20. To what purpose cometh there to
me incense from Sheba and the sweet cane from a far country? So listen, they were still doing
the religious practices. They were still burning the incense. Look, your burnt offerings
are not acceptable, nor your sacrifice is sweet unto me. So even though they're worshiping all
these false gods, they're still going to church. They're still bringing their sacrifices.
They're still offering the incense. It's coming from a far country. They've said, hey,
we need the best. Let's get the best. They've gone far to get the best. And God says,
it's not acceptable unto me. What is this telling us? This is telling us that you can get
into a place with God, where you're in church, where you're singing the hymns, all right?
But your heart is far from God. Your heart is on other things. And again, that's a waste
of time. Listen, your heart may very well be on other things right now. Let me just encourage
your brethren, just right now, just say, God, I'm sorry. Help me focus on your word.
You know, I don't want to be far from you. I want my sacrifice to be accepted by you, God.
It is sacrifice to come to church. It is sacrifice to sing praises to Him. It is sacrifice
to give to the work of God. It requires something from us. And we want it to be
acceptable to God, don't we? We don't just waste our time in church. You know, always,
when you come to church, just set your heart right with God. Pray before, you know,
and you're driving, and you're with family in the car. Hey, kids, wife, let's pray.
Maybe you don't pray because you're driving. Maybe get your wife to pray something. And just ask God
to bless you. Ask God to, you know, allow church to be a blessing to you where you can
learn certain things. And if you have any sins, just confess them to God right there and then.
Come to church and be accepted of God. Listen to number 21. Actually, I want to quickly
read to you just the famous words of Samuel in 1 Samuel 15, 22. I'll just read it to you.
He says, Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken,
and to hearken, that's to listen, than the fat of rams. Before you offer your sacrifices,
God wants you to be obedient. God wants you to be listening to His Word and following after
His ways. Okay, then you can come and bring your sacrifices. Then you can come and honor God,
you know, with your presence in church. But always remember, God wants your obedience.
You know, you might be the biggest giver in church, you might be putting in the thousands
of dollars into church, but you're living a life that doesn't obey God. He's not going to accept
your sacrifice. You know, it's so important we get the priorities right. We need to be obedient
to our Lord God. Verse number 21. Therefore, thus saith the Lord, behold, I will lay
stumbling blocks before these people, and the fathers and the sons together shall fall upon
them. The neighbor and his friend shall perish. Thus saith the Lord, behold, a people coming from
the north country and a great nation shall be raised from the sides of the earth. They shall
lay hold on bow and spear. They are cruel and have no mercy. Their voice roar like the sea,
and they ride upon horses set in array as men for war against thee,
O daughter of Zion. God's warning them about the power of the Babylonians. They're coming
from the north country. They're coming to get you. God's warning them about the coming judgment.
That's what a preacher does, warns you about the judgment of God. It's not nice to think about
how God can chastise even his own people, but he does. But you know what? He does it as a loving
father. When you parents, when you chastise your kids, you do it for their profit, don't you?
You do it for their benefits. You do it so they can learn their lesson. You do it so they
can be obedient to the commandments that mum and dad have laid down. You do it because you want
them to grow up to be somebody that is respected and not just constantly rebellious about with
every person they come across. You know, well, God uses his chastisement for our good.
You know, instead of becoming rebellious when God chastises us, just learn the lesson, brethren,
and say, God, help me, mould me, make me into what you want me to be.
Now, verse number 24, it says, we have heard. Is that what I'm up to, brethren?
Yeah, verse number 24. We have heard the fame thereof. Our hands wax feeble.
Anguish have taken hold of us and pain as a woman in travail. So they're finally
starting to realize what's going on, and they're starting to get scared. They're starting
to fear. They're starting to tremble. They're starting to feel the pains like a woman
who's about to give birth. One of the themes of the book of Jeremiah is about this woman in
travail. If you can please go back to Jeremiah chapter 4. Go back to Jeremiah chapter 4, verse
number 31. Jeremiah chapter 4 and verse number 31. The Bible reads, for I have heard a voice
as of a woman in travail, and the anguish as of her that bringeth forth her first child. You
may remember me preaching through this. The voice of the daughter of Zion, that bewail of herself,
that spread of her hand, saying woe is me now, for my soul is wearied because of murderers.
And so go back to Jeremiah chapter 6. I just want to show you that you're going to find,
as we go through the book of Jeremiah, I'm not going to give you the reason why the woman in
travail is always mentioned. There is something I do want to cover that's very important.
But this is a major theme. This is a major theme in the book of Jeremiah. You'll notice
it again and again and again, chapters after chapter after chapter, this woman in travail
referring to of course Judah and the troubles, the difficulties that they're going to face
as the Babylonians take over them. But just take a mental note of that every time we read about
it, and I'm going to give you the explanation of all that in Jeremiah chapter 30 when we get
there. So it's still a little while away. Let's keep going. Verse number 25.
Go not forth into the field, nor walk in by the way, for the sword of the enemy and
fear is on every side. They're not even free to live their lives now. They're not free
to just get out there because the enemy is on every side. O daughter of my people,
gird thee with sackcloth and wallow thyself in ashes. Make thee mourning as for an only son,
most bitter lamentation for the spoiler shall suddenly come upon us. Again, God is calling
them once again. Get right with God. The destruction's coming. Get right with God. How
many times do we see God calling them? How many times? Even after God recognizes you're rejecting
me, you're rejecting my laws. God's still giving them opportunity after opportunity.
Brethren, the reprobate, the reprobate has been given opportunity after opportunity.
They've disgraced God time and time and time again, and God has given them an opportunity
again and again at some point. That line's crossed with God. We see, we see the process
here, you know, how this nation became reprobate in God's eyes. Verse number 27,
I have set, now God is speaking to Jeremiah here, I have set thee, so the singular, right,
so Jeremiah, I've set thee for a tower and a fortress among my people that thou mayest know
and try their way. Boy, that's what I want for blessed up Baptist church. You know,
even though this nation is just getting more wicked, I would love God to look down at this
church and say, man, I've got a tower, I've got a fortress right there in Sydney,
it's blessed up Baptist church. We didn't want that, God said about us, God said about you.
Yeah, absolutely, you know, so hey, you know what, everyone's getting scared, fearful,
and this is what you need to remember, when the trials come, difficulties come,
and the fears come, you can give into the fear, that's not what God was from you,
God wants you to stand strong, God wants you to be that strong tower, you know,
God wants you to have spiritual strength, you know, to go through the trials that come our way.
Verse number 28, they are all grievous revolters, walking with slanders,
they are brass and iron, they are all corruptors. So God is looking at the nation,
and he sees that the people are like brass and iron, they're like metals, right,
this is for they are all corruptors. Well, brass and iron are metals that can corrode.
What's a metal that cannot corrode? Anybody know? Sorry? Gold, gold is one. There is another metal
that's mentioned in this chapter, we kind of covered it, what's the other one? Sorry,
someone said it. Silver, silver is another metal that cannot corrode, right, and so God is seeing
the people of the land, like brass and iron, you know, you know, maybe it can rust, or it
can just corrode away, right, and then it says here, verse number 29, the bellows, the bellows
are burned, what are bellows? That's when you're trying to heat something up and you've got that
instrument that blows air to increase the heat and the wind. The bellows are burned, the lead,
there's another metal, the lead is consumed, the lead is another metal that can corrode.
So what is this speaking about? This is speaking in language of like a miner,
you know, if you want the precious metal, if you want the silver and the gold, you've got to
dig in, right, and when you find some of it, it's always attached, you know, to other metals,
you know, lesser valuable metals, okay, and when you want, you say, look, I just want the
precious metal, I just want the silver, well you've got to heat it up, right, this is where
you get your refiners from, you put that under great stress, under great heat, and under that
heat the metal starts to separate, right, and then the metal that separates, you don't want
that metal because it's worthless, you always want the precious, you always want the silver,
you want the gold, you want that which doesn't corrode, you want that which is valuable,
and so this is the language that's being used here, all right, the lead is consumed
of the fire, the founder melteth in vain for the wicked are not plucked away, you know what
he's saying, this guy is working hard, he's working with all these metals, he's looking for
the silver, he's looking for the gold, he's working away but it's all in vain because the
entire nation has turned against God, the entire nation has become wicked, he says I can't
find the silver, I can't find the precious metal, verse number 30, reprobate silver shall men call
them, reprobate rejected, because the Lord has rejected them, so we learn the definition
of reprobate in this verse, reprobate means rejected, rejected, and so when you're refining,
you're trying to get that precious metal, all the leftover, all the dross, all the
metals that are low in value, hey they get rejected, they're worthless in comparison to
what is valuable, and so what do we learn here, of course Jeremiah was silver, Jeremiah was gold,
right, Jeremiah and other prophets, other people on the land, but by and large brethren,
the nation had become corrupt, and brethren we may very well find Sydney, Australia,
under the fires of God, under the trials, under God's judgment, I believe it's coming,
I just don't know when, I feel like sometimes maybe we're already there,
like maybe we're in the early stages and God is just warning us time and time again, right,
and you know God's put us under the fire, God's putting this nation on the fire,
brethren I would love for God to just say hey man there's this, I found it,
bless it up above the church, there's the gold, there's the silver, hey I've rejected
the rest of it, hey but my people are still here, my people are still that strong tower,
and brethren this is what I want to leave you with, you know what kind of Christian are you,
what kind of Christian are you right now, today, when you go through stress,
do you panic, do you lose faith in God, you know when you go through trials, do you
give up on God, you know when people, a lot of people go through trials as Christians,
you know one of the first things they stop doing when they go through trials,
they stop reading the bible, they stop going to church, so many do this,
but that's where they need to be the most, opening God's word is what they need to be doing the most,
coming to church and hearing God's word is what they need to be doing the most,
brethren, you know, we don't want to be like that reprobate silver that just is worthless
during times of difficulties, you know during the trials, during the fires, hey during COVID-19
restrictions, during whatever challenges we may face brethren, we should desire to come out like
silver, come out like gold, be valuable in the hands of God, so brethren what kind of Christian
are you, you know in Job 23 verse 10, you don't need to turn that, just read a very short passage
there, we know Job, we know how much he suffered, he suffered much more than I've ever suffered,
he's suffered much more than you've ever suffered Job, right, and in Job 23 verse 10
he says, but he knoweth the way that I take, when he have tried me, I shall have come forth
as gold, you know Job was so sure, I've gone through so much loss, but I know when I stand
before God, when I get through all this, I'm going to be like gold, I'm going to be a precious metal,
you know, I'm not going to be a reprobate silver, I'm not going to be reprobate metals like brass
or whatever, lead and iron that was covered there, brethren please consider these things,
how do you respond in difficulties when you're under stress, do you run to God for strength
or do you run away from God, I don't want you running away from God, I don't want you rejecting
God, I don't want you rejecting his word, all right, because judgment's going to fall upon you
and look as a believer as I said you're still going to face the judgment of God, but you know
what, unfortunately there are those in our world who know God, they know his laws, they don't
blush anymore in their wickedness, their conscience have been seared, God's warning them time
and time again, come before I leave, they reject God and God says I've rejected you, you are
reprobate, that's for the non-believer, okay, this is a scary thing for them and they will never have
an opportunity to call upon the Lord and be saved, they cannot believe their conscience have
been seared and so we see here in Jeremiah chapter 6, you know, the I guess the foundational
understanding of what is ultimately the reprobate doctrine, I might have to preach on the
reprobate doctrine now that I think about it which should tie in very well with what's here,
all right, let's pray.