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Okay, thank you brother now if you look at verse number seven there Jeremiah chapter 12 and verse number seven it begins by saying I have Forsaken mine house the title for the sermon this morning is I have forsaken Mine house now. I thought I better take that as a title because You know God forbid I would not want God to say that about this house You know about bless help up the church that God would say about this house this church I have forsaken mine house so these things are warnings for us brethren You know we can't just pretend that we're an in you know invincible church that nothing You know can ever hurt us And you know the Lord may never consider removing his presence from us these things are in the Bible so we can meditate on This see how God removed his presence from his people and that can happen to us as well again This has nothing to do our salvation, but this has to do with our fellowship This has to do our fellowship our worship with the Lord God But let's start there in verse number one Jeremiah chapter 12 in verse number one the Bible reads righteous art thou O Lord When I plead with thee, so I just want you to notice who's speaking here Jeremiah is speaking to the Lord God now notice what he says yet Let me talk with thee of thy judgments wherefore doth the way of the wicked prosper Wherefore are all they happy that deal very treacherously So Jeremiah starts by saying look Lord. I know you're a righteous God, and I want to talk to you Lord I want to you know you see he bows down to praise speaking to the Lord He says look I really want to talk to you about your judgments God Okay, so there's something bothering Jeremiah, and it says ask God the question. Why do the wicked prosper Lord? Why is it that those that are wicked here on this land or those that are against you those that hate your your your word? Why do they seem to be doing so well in life Lord? Why do they have the? The big house and and the cars and and the wealth and they've got the the prosperity that they've got they seem to be Living their life at the fullest Lord. They're on Facebook. They're constantly on holidays Look how happy they seem to be Lord, but I know they're wicked so Jeremiah starts asking this question Why is it Lord that we see the wicked prosper? And I don't know if this ever crosses your mind And I know for me as a teenager this thought crossed my mind Because as a teenager as a safe teenager, I'm trying to live for the Lord. I'm trying to live godly I'm trying to go to church. I'm trying to keep myself pure from you know You know alcohol and drugs And you know and fornication, and I'm looking at other people I'm looking at other people in the world that don't seem to love God You know they're just giving themselves over to sin and nothing seems to be happening to them in fact They seem to prosper in fact they seem to be getting the high paying jobs and doing so well in life And you start wondering well Lord. I need to talk to you about your judgment Scott Something doesn't seem right to me, and I don't know if that's ever crossed your mind It's ever been a bit of thought, but you see here Jeremiah is asking that question, and then what does he say in verse number two? he says I'm sorry. I don't know if I finished verse number one Wherefore are all they happy that deal very churchlessly so those that are doing bad things They seem to be so happy Lord What's going on verse number two thou has planted them yay? They have taken roots they grow Yay, they bring forth fruits Thou art near in their mouth and far from their reigns they even seem to give you lip service God they even seem to praise you they even seem to know Thank you God for for my prosperity and my and my my well-doing in life, but they're very far from you Lord They're they're very wicked. How is it Lord that they prosper? Well, this isn't a question that only crossed Jeremiah's mind It's not only a question that crossed me in my mind when I was a teenager if you can keep your finger there Let's go to Psalm 73 Psalm 73, and I just want to show you in fact many times in the Psalms You'll see the same idea being asked the psalmist asking God. Why is it that the wicked seem to prosper and Brethren if that's crossed your mind Then let's you know let's look at Psalm 73 and if you have your own time at home if this is a topic that bothers You or you know you have questions over let me encourage you to read all of Psalm 73 because all of Psalm 73 deals with This topic okay, but we're just going to look at different just portions of Psalm 73 Look at verse number one Psalm 73 verse number one. It says truly God is good to Israel even to such are as are of a clean heart But then it says this but as for me my feet were almost gone my steps had well nice lips For so what the psalmist saying look yes, Lord. You know you know you're good to those that are clean heart But you know I'm sleeping away Lord. You know the psalmist saying I'm starting to backslide Lord I'm starting to you know desire desire Worldliness and sinful things and he said and then in verse number three explains Why he says for I was envious at the foolish when I saw the prosperity of the wicked The Psalmist is look Lord. I'm looking at the wicked doing so well They're prospering and because I'm seeing that Lord. I've become envious. I want what they want Lord I want what they have Lord right. I want their their prosperity I wonder I want to be successful in life the same way the wicked here are being successful in life And so because he's got that desire. He's got a natural or they seem to be doing so well This is why I'm sleeping Lord. This is why you know I'm trying to live godly I'm trying to be clean of heart, but they're doing so well over there Lord. Why can't I just go that way? Why can't I follow that off that Lord right so the psalmist asked this question drop down to verse number 15 It says if I say I will speak thus Behold I should offend against the generation of thy children So he's saying look if I start telling people in my church You know my brother and sister the Lord like you know wow the wicked are doing so well that it's going to offend God's children like like it is an offensive thought to others, okay, so he realizes he's in the wrong He realized that by thinking this way and being envious this he's in the wrong here, but then he says in verse number 16 When I thought to know this it was too painful for me Until so this thought is very painful to the psalmist right the wicked are doing so well Lord I want to be like that and then he realized man. This is too painful for me. When is it? Why is it too painful? He says in verse number? 17 Until I went into the sanctuary of God then understood I Their end he goes man. I had these stupid foolish thoughts I was envious for these wicked until I came to church until I understood they have an end What is that end look at verse number 18? Surely thou did set them in slippery places Thou castest them down Into destruction and so the psalmist says ah, you know, I wanted to be like them Lord I was so envious until I just it just daughter me. I understood I came to your sanctuary I came here in your word and I understand that one day you will judge them Lord one day They will be destroyed one day one day They're going to be cast down and you're gonna tread over them Lord, then I understood Oh, man, you know right now you're giving them time right now. You're being long-suffering right now You're being merciful right now Lord You've given them an opportunity to believe on Jesus Christ But there's comes a time when they reject Christ Over and over again and your judgment is going to fall upon them and I don't want that judgment to fall upon me Okay, but he only understood that when he got himself into the sanctuary of the Lord Okay, and for the New Testament that would be your local church And this is why it's so important to preach on the judgment of God You know and explain to the congregation that God will one day destroy the wicked Okay, but if you go to church, it's love love love. God loves it all, you know, you know you better pay Lord the we can do it so well and Then well, maybe I should follow after their ways then Lord if you just seem to love everybody You're never gonna pass judgment on anybody. You know, that's all you are Lord that you know, you're not this God of justice then why not just walk after the wicked and many churches have patterned themselves after the world You know you go into many churches you feel like you've walked into a club, you know, this is some some rave party You know, I remember once when I was a teenager at my church youth group They went to Hillsong, you know, there was some band playing some Christian Christian band You know playing that rock music and and I thought man, this is different I've never seen this in church and look it's full of young people Right and you know, it's all full but then it's like you talk to some of the guys why are they there? Oh to pick up the girls to check out the girls, you know Take chair what what in the world are we going to church for the hats? I would go to church for the moon. Are we going to are we just is this just like a Christian club in scene? Is that what it is? Because what are they they've envied the wicked they said well look look look how the wicked prosper look how they You know get huge groups of people together let's pattern our church after that But that weighs destruction. Hey those type of churches. They're going to be destroyed I mean so many of those people aren't even safe to begin with anyway They've got a false gospel many times and so they pursued after the ways of the wicked Hey, they're leading people to damnation and you know what? I don't know if you ever wonder why is that church small? Why does it take why does it seem so so much effort in order for it to grow? Well, you know what? We're not going to pan ourselves after the wicked. Don't worry about it Just let's just do what God wants us to do. Okay. Let's just serve you faithfully and not be envious of Worldliness and and how they they apparently seem to prosper because their destruction will come you're still in Psalm 73 drop down to verse number 22 Psalm 73 verse number 22, then he says so foolish was I He was man. I was foolish to think they were going to prosper right there. They're doing so well an ignorance. I Was as a beast before thee what's a beast an animal he's a man. I'm just a dumb animal. Why did I think that way? Why did I sit there for a man? I'm so envious of them. I mean that was so stupid, right? I'm such a stupid animal the psalmist says Nevertheless I am continually with thee thou has holded me by my right hand Okay, so you can see this is a topic that the psalmist struggled with This is a topic that Jeremiah struggled with and you may struggle with this You know and I like I said the reason I remember just in my teenage years struggling with that is because When you when you go from being a child to an adult, you know, you start questioning a lot of things You know, you start developing your own thoughts and your hormones are working through your body and you know God's using that time to help you develop into a an adult, you know someone that can take responsibility for Yourselves and you're gonna start having all different kinds of thoughts and ideas And I tell you and I'm telling this to my children and anyone else here that might be a teenager or older and there's gonna come a time when you're gonna be thinking why you know, why am I why why my parents trying to Bring me to church and and learn about God and to live a clean and pure life But when I go and hang out with my mates or if I go to work and I see my colleagues They're full of wickedness. They seem to enjoy it. Look how much they enjoy life Look how happy they seem look at all the sins They participate in of and because you have the flesh you're gonna be like, well, I kind of want that Lord They seem to be doing so well Okay, but what you need to do is remember that God's judgments gonna fall upon them It's not like that forever, you know, our life is a vapor. It's it's here one moment It's gone the next and if they don't believe on Jesus Christ, they're gonna be damned in hell for all eternity Okay, and even if they do believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and remain in their wicked ways Well, the Lord's gonna chastise them. Okay judgment gonna fall They're not gonna have a happy, you know Satisfied complete Christian life if as a believer they continue down the same forms of wickedness and so please Understand and I say this to my children and those that are younger because the thoughts that cross your mind Man, why be in church on Sunday? I can hang out with my mates Right those same thoughts. Guess what your parents thought the same things when they were teenagers and guess what? Your grandparents thought of the same things when they were teenagers. It's nothing new Okay, because teenagers always think oh man, my parents are so old-fashioned or whatever, you know I need to step out of their shadow Listen we've all had the same thoughts and we've all been that stupid foolish animal like the psalmist says Okay, we've all come thinking those those stupid thoughts as you know young people, you know when you envy the wicked But let's go back to Jeremiah chapter 12 in verse number 3 Jeremiah chapter 12 and verse number 3 Jeremiah says but thou O Lord knowest me thou has seen me and tried mine heart toward thee Pull them out like sheep for the slaughter and Prepare them for the day of slaughter. So Jeremiah wakes up to himself. He realizes. Oh, yeah like the psalmist Well Lord the day of your judgment is coming. All right, I'm trying to live godly for you Lord check my heart make sure it's right towards you and Lord these that you're going to judge these people in the land of Judah You know Lord they're gonna be like a sheep to the slaughter, you know, and God's look you saying look Lord Prepare them for the day of slaughter. All right, he realizes. Okay God. No your judgments, right? It's got to come We've got to face this as a nation. It's time for this nation to be slaughtered It's time for this nation to face your judgment So he wakes up to himself instead of saying wow, look at the wicked now. He's realizing now your judgment is coming, right? He's woken up to that truth. Okay Now I also want you to notice there that you know God will always bring judgment to the wicked and Jeremiah is not trying to take vengeance for himself. Okay. He's not the one trying to you know All he's doing he's warning the people. He's just preaching God's Word That's all he's doing but he realizes that it's the Lord. What did it say there? It says Pull them out like sheep for the slaughter and prepare them for the day of slaughter, you know Jeremiah saying Lord if that's your business, you know judgment vengeance that that comes on you Lord I'm not gonna take action in my own hands Lord when the time is right You're gonna bring judgment upon the wicked and we have to remember this in the wicked days that we live that when we see The wickedness in our governments now and our politicians and and the powers that be you know Remember don't take vengeance in your own hands. You can pray like Jeremiah Lord prepare them for the day of slaughter Lord Prepare them, you know get them ready for your judgment to fall upon them. There's nothing wrong with praying for that Okay, you'd be in the same View or thinking the same things as Jeremiah, you know Some people struggle with these kinds of prayers when you're praying for the Lord to judge the wicked There's nothing wrong with that. I mean you're asking the Lord to step in. Here's the righteous judge He'll do it at the right time and anytime the Lord judges anytime the Lord slaughters. It's right. It's correct Okay, it's always the correct action by the Lord even though it may seem a little harsh on us Okay, but that's because we are envious of the wicked That's because we that that flesh and us that that thinks some of those things are okay But when we wake up to the reality of God's Word would come to his sanctuary We understand know Lord. You must be so frustrated at this wicked world Lord Thank you for being merciful so far because this is why so many of us are saved today Because you've given us an opportunity and Lord thankful the time you've given us But we also know the time comes for your judgment to fall on the wicked So there's nothing wrong to pray to the Lord when you become frustrated at this world Instead of you being full of frustration and being upset to say Lord deal with it Lord, please You know take the wicked slaughter them judge them in your time Lord in your time Alright verse number four How long shall the land mourn and the herbs of every field wither for the wickedness of them that dwell therein? The beasts are consumed and the birds because they said he shall not see our last end So I've preached on this before but you know, the sin of the nation was affecting creation was affecting the land though the animals anyway, verse number five If thou hast run with a footman and they have wearied thee then how canst thou contend with horses? So now the Lord is speaking to Jeremiah. Okay, and he's asking Jeremiah, you know Well, let's keep going It says and if and if in the land of peace wherein thou trustest they wearied thee Then how will thou do in the swirling of Jordan okay. This is a great verse because it's basically saying look if you want to contend with horses now I don't know. Have you ever raced with a horse? You know in Australia, we love the Melbourne Cup well, I mean, I don't care about it, but you know Australians love the Melbourne Cup and seeing those horses run and Is it like a million million dollars to win that prize to win that race something along those lines or maybe more? I don't know, you know, it's quite a lot but hey those horses run hard okay, God has created those horses to be powerful creatures powerful creatures of war and You know in a short term sprint a horse will always beat a man in a short term in a long term a man can beat A horse. Okay, because men are created differently But in a short term a horse can definitely outrun a man Now if you want to contend with horses if you want to be like a spiritual, you know warrior You know someone that can you know, go all the way and contend with some powerful creatures You first have to learn how to run with a footman the footman there is the infantry, you know It's the the armies. So obviously in this day and age, you know to get your soldiers around they would have to you know Run get from one place to the next place It's not like they had all the vehicles that our armies have today They would have to but here's what it's saying here is in order for you to run hard in order for you to serve God Faithfully in order for you to be strong in the faith You must start with what might be what is lesser right riding with the infantry Walking with the infantry if you can't keep up with the infantry There's no way you're going to run with or keep up with horses or contend with horses. You say what are you talking about? Here's what I'm talking about. If you want to achieve something great with God Okay, just start with the little that God has given you. Okay, you want to do big things for God I want to do big things for God, you know, I do I want blessed hope better search to do great things for God You know, I want us to to be on our deathbed and say man, you know what we did some amazing things for God You know in our church, you know, I'm ready to meet my Savior, you know I want new life at this church that to do great things with God and we can have these grandiose plans and nothing wrong with That nothing what we think in big Okay, but in order for you to achieve the big things you must take care of what is smaller first Okay, if you've got a big plan, you know what in 2021, maybe in 2020 You haven't read your Bible cover to cover you make a plan. You know what Lord? I'm gonna read my Bible cover to cover in 2021. Hey, that's a good plan Hey that that's really good because many Christians haven't even read the Bible once cover to cover Okay, but here's the thing. You've got to start world. That's a big plan. How am I gonna get there? You know what? All it is is 15 minutes a day. You know what Lord? Can I do 15 minutes a day? Can I can I can I find 15 minutes Lord? Maybe seven minutes in the morning? Maybe eight minutes in the evening if you can't do it all at once Are you willing to give it that because here's the thing if you're not willing to do that You're not going to get for the Bible at the end of the year Okay, so you got to just break it down small I want to achieve something big but I've got to do what is small if you can't commit a few minutes every day To the Word of God, you're not going to read your Bible cover to cover Okay, and so it's wonderful to think about the big plan, but always well I need to first start with the smaller things and that's how I get to the big picture All right, what else? You know the Bible says in 1st Timothy 3 5 speaking about the qualifications of the past or the bishop It says for if a man know not how to rule his own house How shall he take care of the Church of God? Hey, you know taking care of the Church of God is kind of like contending with the horses It requires a lot of effort. It requires a lot of sacrifice But if you can't even rule your own house if you can't even have your children in subjection and for them to be faithful obedient children and for your wife to be Submitted to the husband and you can't provide for your own family You know, you don't even work hard and give them what they need. How are you going to look after a church? Okay, and so, you know God gives us opportunities that we can then use To further ourselves to do bigger things, you know if you want to be a pastor one day you've got to just learn how to run a family and Yet how many pastors today have been ordained with that? Maybe they're not even married or they didn't have children Okay, and then they're eventually going to mess up the church because they haven't even run with the infantry They haven't run with the footmen and they're trying to contend the horses. They're gonna fail that can't keep up You know, we need to think about what God has given us Even if it's something small take care of that and if you take care of that you'll be able to do something greater For the Lord, you know when he came to King David or before he became King David And he took on Goliath. Was that his first battle? Do you think? No, you know he goes to King Saul and he says look I've slain the lion I've slain the bear and if God has given me victory then God's gonna give me victory over Goliath But they didn't learn to lesson. I've got to first take down these these animals then I can take on the Philistines most powerful warrior Okay. Hey, yeah, David could contend with the horses because he learned how to run with the footmen Okay, and so that's the lesson that we have here but not only that If you look at the second part of verse number five, it says and if in the land of peace Where in thou trustest they wear thee then how will thou do in the swelling of Jordan? So we know Jordan is a the Jordan River there, right? So it's all about the swelling of Jordan. What's that talking about? That's like a like a flood right? Maybe too much rain has fallen on the land and then the banks You know can't contain the water and so there's a flooding right and normally when there's a flood in it causes some type of natural Disaster right but Lord saying here look when when you're at peace and you can't serve me when things are peaceful You know Before COVID, let's say okay before we had some some challenges if you couldn't even come to church When it's a time of peace and it's easy to come to church. How are you going to come to church when things get difficult? Right, I mean how are you gonna how are you gonna serve God when the time gets more difficult, you know People will often say man. You know what? I will serve God no matter what, you know, I mean think of the Apostle Peter He says Lord. I will never oh You know, I will what's to say? Sorry, I'm forgetting to forget. Oh, I will never deny you Lord Right Peter says but when things get difficult for him what happened? He denied the Lord three times, right? You you know what you've got to learn when there's a time of peace That's a time for you to get yourself worked up Spiritually to read your Bible to learn how to pray to study your word to be in the habit of being in church You know to to be in the habit of preaching the gospel to the lost because if you're not doing it during peaceful times Hey when the Jordan River overflows when there's flooding there's turmoil there and it's hardship. You're not good You're definitely not gonna be doing it then Okay, and so you need to learn how to use the time that God has given us when times have been peaceful to just serve God then and when times get difficult, you're going to continue serving God even then okay Look at verse number six Jeremiah chapter 12 verse number six For even thy brethren and the house of thy father So this is God telling Jeremiah about his own family the house of your father your brethren as your brothers and sisters They have even they have dealt treacherously with thee Yea, they have caught a multitude after thee believe them not though. They speak fair words unto thee so Jeremiah's own household did not like what Jeremiah was preaching Okay, they've dealt treacherously with thee that they're doing harm to you Jeremiah Okay, he says believe them not though. They speak fair words unto thee What is it saying? It says the people in your own house of your own family. Hey, they speak nicely to you Okay, but God's on Jeremiah don't believe them. They don't love you. They don't care for you Okay, they're trying to hurt you Jeremiah God's warning them about this and you know what this just reminds me as soon as I think about this passage I think about flattery and in Proverbs 29 verse 5 it says a man that flattereth his neighbor Spreadeth a net for his feet Okay. Now you might be the target of flattery one day. Say what is flattery when someone speaks well of you? Well, that's part of it, but it's overboard and you know, it's overboard and you know You know, it's it's when people come up to me and they don't just say hey pastor That was a good sermon, but when they come up to me and say, you know what pastor you're like the best preacher in the world Right, you know every sermon you preach man, it's like oh man, you know This is the most amazing thing I've ever heard and they flatter you and you know what it can feel good sometimes All right, because it feeds the ego it feeds the flesh. Okay, and then you got to be reminded. Hold on. Is this flattery? Is this flattery, you know and? I'm just telling you the amount of times that I've seen The people that have been the most Critical of our church and of myself as a pastor have always been those that have had the most flattery You know just just just oh man. It's so amazing. Look how God's using you, you know, it's like man Yeah, of course, but you just seem to be going a little bit too far And you know you want to give people the benefit of the doubts. He said maybe it's just excited Maybe it's just really happy and you know, he's just thankful to be in a good church or whatever But those yet you eventually find out no they're not there for the long run In fact, they may have even be trying to put a net some type of trap before you to cause you to stumble to cause you to fall You need to be aware of flattery. God is wanting Jeremiah be careful They speak to you right in fair words beautiful words Jeremiah is such a great preacher, but really they're trying to Deal treacherously with Jeremiah and so God says look don't believe them don't believe their words We need to be aware when someone's been too Flattery, you know using flattery with their lips to praise you you need to be careful, you know And just ask the question is this person being genuine or they trying to cause me to stumble to cause me to fall verse number seven I Have forsaken mine house. I have left mine heritage I have given the dearly beloved of my soul into the hand of her enemies So when the Lord says he I forsaken mine house We know what the house of the Lord was in the Old Testament. It was his temple Okay, and of course Jeremiah's preaching to the southern kingdom, which has Jerusalem which has a temple God says look I've already left I'm gone. I'm my presence is no longer there where they're coming to sacrifice to me and worship me He says I've left money heritage. Look at this. I have given my the dearly beloved. That's it That's the people of Judah The dearly beloved of my soul into the hand of her enemies You know God in other words God was protecting Judah all this time from the enemy In fact the northern kingdom about 120 years before this was taken into captivity by the Assyrians You know the Assyrians they wanted to go into the southern kingdom and capture it as well They were planning to do it, but God stepped in and did a miracle and killed, you know thousands of their troops You know whether we're the king of Assyria, you know Realized look look at all these dead bodies overnight and he realized man God's not helping me here and he ends up fleeing But God was protecting Judah from all these enemies that wanted to hurt her and now God says you know what? I'm gonna give my beloved to its enemies. I'm gonna allow judgment to fall now. Please keep your finger then Let's go to Revelation chapter 2 and verse number 4 Revelation chapter 2 and verse number 4 Because If God can forsake his house and we know in the New Testament his house is the local church Then let's not become too prideful to believe that God can never forsake this house He can he can okay. He can forsake blessed Hope Baptist Church, but in Revelation chapter 2 verse number 4. Jesus is speaking to two churches here And it says in Revelation 2 4 Nevertheless, I have somewhat against thee Because thou hast left thy first love Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen and repent and do the first works or else I will come unto thee quickly and will remove thy candlestick out of his place except thou repent Jesus is warning the church here that he can remove the candlestick Hey, we ought to be that lights, you know, the church is meant to be the light of the world We are all meant to hear I represent Christ and and be at the bearer of the good news of the gospel And to serve God and to be different from this world Jesus look there can come a time when I take that candlestick and I remove it when my presence is removed from the local church Why is it removed because they left their first love? You know what if we lose our love for God, you know What's the first commandment to love the Lord with all our hearts mind soul, right and strength, you know if we if we are just in the habit of just just it's just a just just a You know mundane tasks that we do every week to be in the house of God and we forget to worship God We forget to love him the Lord's warn us that the next step there is that we're going to not do the first works and My best understanding of the first works is the Great Commission, you know What Jesus Christ left us here to preach the gospel to every creature to baptize to teach all things whatsoever I have commanded thee you know what and if we're not teaching God's Word, we're not preaching the gospel We're not doing the baptisms. God's gonna remove his candlestick from his house He's gonna remove his presence from his house and let it never be so, you know for blessed up at the church You know as long as I'm the pastor here I'm gonna do everything I can to ensure we remain to be a candlestick here Okay, and if one day you guys have a new pastor you need to remind that man Listen, we need to remain as a candlestick. We need to keep serving God. We need to keep loving God We need to keep doing the first works that Christ has left us to do and when we see that started to slip We need to fix that. Okay, we need to fix that sometimes that the past needs a gentle reminder You know, we need to get back on track. Otherwise, we might risk losing the presence of God Okay, so these warnings are here from a for us in the Old Testament Okay, not to just our man. Look how wicked they were but to warn us Lord help us not to become like them Okay back to Jeremiah chapter 12 verse number 8 Now what I'm about to read will blow the minds of a dispensationalist Okay, because the dispensationalist believes that God has this You know this great love for Israel no matter what, you know, they're the apple of God's eye No matter what, you know, if you're aware of dispensationalism, I'm sure you know what I'm talking about here Okay, but look what he says in verse number 8. He says mine heritage. What was the heritage remember in verse number 7? He called it his dearly beloved But look what he says about them in verse number 8 mine heritage is unto me as a line in the forest It cry out against me therefore have I hated it So God says look it used to be on my beloved. I used to love this nation Now I hate it. I hate it Brethren, you know what Israel today in the Middle East God hates that nation They've turned against God. They still don't believe in Jesus Christ. They think it's a false prophet Okay, some false Messiah. You think they're right with God you think God's looking down at that nation man. I just love those people No, God's hate God hates them okay, and Look, can they be beloved they can be? Okay, if they believe God if they believe the gospel if they get right with God You know that tells me about our church if you're saved you believe in Jesus Christ. We are his beloved We are his beloved brethren, okay But You can see here that God can turn from love to hatred You know and I was gonna say very quickly It seems very quickly because it's like verse number seven verse number eight But don't forget these things are going on for decades These are going on for years and years and years how they've been slowly turning themselves against the Lord worshiping false gods Okay, verse number nine Mine heritage again the people of Judah is unto me as a speckled bird The birds roundabouts are against her come ye assemble all the beasts of the field Come to devour. So God is illustrated using illustration here of Judah as a speck I don't know what a speckled bird really is. But anyway, let's think about it of a bird Maybe it's nesting right and you know have other birds other Predatory birds sometimes will go to the nest of other birds and take their eggs Okay, and so that's the kind of the idea you've got all these other birds roundabout are against her Right, but not only the birds it says come ye assemble all the beasts of the field come to devour So you've got this little bird and all these predatory birds wanting to eat that bird But not just a bird all the all the predatory animals, you know, I try and basically, you know God's using that as an illustration of Babylon, you know of all the surrounding our nations Especially that our enemies because you've seen later on the enemies of Judah They're they all want to destroy that nation and God's saying all right come it's time to destroy them come It's time to devour that speckled bird, which is the southern kingdom Verse number 10 many passes have destroyed my vineyard. They have trodden my portion underfoot They have made my pleasant portion a desolate wilderness So again, I want to pass again the pastor here was a leader of the people, okay in the Old Testament But we can apply this to the New Testament. These passes have destroyed the vineyard Why because they have trodden my portion underfoot? Okay, so, you know, it's not a pastor's job. It's not my job to trample all over you Okay, and again some passes are like this. Yes. There's nothing new Okay, some passes will make you feel like, you know, they'll use you know You know, it's like psychological Psychological weapons against you right where you're sort of like, you know, there's my pastor like me or does he not? You know what, you know sometimes, you know the past will make you feel like, you know, he's angry at you So you're trying to how man I've got to make it up to the pastor. What do I have to do? Do I have to put more money in the you know in the offering do I have to you know? Bring him a meal do I have to do all these special favors? So, you know, he could be on my side You know or a pastor might just have a you know favorites, you know, how do I get into the group of favorites? What do I have to do right and you and then like, you know pastor might be, you know get angry at you You know, he might demand things from you, you know, he's you know, some people like this want to tread you under their foots I don't want to do that brethren. I promise you that I don't want to do that If I don't want to tread you on them under my foot. I just want to edify you I want to lift you up. I want you to grow in Bible knowledge I want you to grow in love for God, right? And if you miss a church service I don't want to be the kind of pastor that rings you up. Hey, where were you this Sunday? Are there pastors like that? Absolutely You know what if you're not here this Sunday and I hear for the service Oh, we kind of know why because of COVID but you know other reasons look there must be other things going on There must be something important for them not to be in church today. All right, and I rest easy at that, right? I'm not gonna ring you up like other pastors do Maybe after you if you miss that church for a while, I'll ring you up more out of concern Are you okay brother? Haven't seen you for a few weeks. Is there anything that you need? Can I pray for you? Okay, but not to ring you up. You haven't been in church for the last few weeks. What's going on? You know and Some pastors can be like that right they tread underfoot God's people and he reminds me there are first Peter chapter 5 verse number 2. I'll just read it to you It says feed the flock of God which is among you That's the job of the pastor to feed the flock of God taking the oversight thereof not by constraints But willingly not for filthy Luca not for money that is but of a ready mind Then it says neither has been lords over God's heritage, but being and samples to the flock Brethren, if I ever overstep my you know My position with you if I all of a sudden try to become a lord in you in your life You know, you know get get into your family life You know get get outside, you know the times of service and tell you what to do and boss you around right and you know It's right for you to rebuke me Okay, because it's not my responsibility to be a lord over our God's heritage. It's not my responsibility to tread on the foots You know God's heritage Okay My job is to be an overseer Okay to watch out for our souls to edify to lift you up to give you knowledge to feed you God's Word Many people have come out of churches where they felt like man, they must feel like you know, the past is this God, man You know everything he says everything he does is right, you know, whatever he criticizes that must be right You know, I'm not interested in criticizing you. I'm not interested in finding it Look, can I if I wanted to could I literally make a list of all the things that I think is wrong in every family This church I could do that In fact, you could probably make a list of things that are wrong in my family Right, we could do that. That's not my job Reverend. My job is just to feed you God's Word You know and it's then your responsibility to say, okay, I've learned God's Word. How am I gonna apply this in my life? It's not for me to go into your family and tell you how to manage things Okay, and be a lord in your life. That's not my job Okay, it's the Lord's job to be the Lord. Okay, he's in charge Right, but you can see how bad pastors can really ruin churches ruin Christian lives Back to Jeremiah. Oh, you're already there verse number 12 It says the spoilers are come upon all high places through the wilderness For the sword of the Lord shall devour from the one end of the land even to the other end of the land No flesh shall have peace. So when he says that the sword of the Lord Shall devour again. This is about the Babylonians the Babylon You know, there's this Kingdom from the Norfolk are coming down to destroy Judah But here it's referred to as the sword of the Lord. Don't forget. It's God's judgment that's falling upon them verse number 13 They have sown wheat but shall reap thorns They have put themselves to pain but shall not profits and they shall be ashamed of your revenues Because of the fierce anger of the Lord so now we're looking at part of the this this judgment that's fallen upon Judah God's saying look you're gonna go out there. You're gonna sow wheat You know, you're gonna start to try to grow, you know crops in your land, but instead of wheat you're gonna receive thorns Okay, and don't forget this is part of the curse of man, you know when when God cursed Adam I'll just read it to you in Genesis 3 18 God told Adam thorns also and thistles Shall it bring forth to thee and thou shall eat the herb of the field in the sweat of thy face shout out eat bread till thou return unto the ground and so God is saying look part of the curse part of the judgment because you've sinned against me is Working is not going to be that easy. There's going to be the thorns. There's going to be the thistles There's going to be challenges in order for you to provide for yourself Well, God's kind of taken that same principle and applying it even further here in the land of Judah You're gonna go about trying to grow your crops grow your wheat, but God's gonna cause it for thorns to come up You know and destroy those crops. So part of the judgment was also on the farmland verse number 14 Now verse number 14 is quite interesting. It says thus saith the Lord against all mine evil neighbors So God now is not speaking to Judah, but he's speaking to all of the evil neighbors of of Israel So all the other nations say Egypt, right the Philistines think about all the different people that we often see You know the Babylonians the Assyrians Think about all the kinds of enemies that we see Israel in battle with all its surrounding neighbors that are constantly at war with Israel So God's speaking to them now. Okay, and God look God refers to him as evil neighbors, but look he's speaking to them He says that touch the inheritance, which I caused my people Israel to inherit Behold, what does behold mean? Means pay attention right look out God told them listen pay attention to what's going to happen behold I will pluck them out of their land and Pluck out the house of Judah from among them So God is now Jeremiah's now preaching to the other nations pay attention Watch now the God's gonna take his people that nation Jude is gonna pluck them out of the land pay attention evil neighbors Okay, so of course we know that's when the Babylonians came and took the people into captivity being plucked out of the land Why is God telling these evil Gentile neighbors to pay attention? Let's keep going verse number 15 And it shall come to pass After that, I have plucked them out I will return and have compassion on them So we know that happens 70 years, you know later in captivity and will bring them again Every man to his heritage and every man to his land. So God is again here prophesying for Jeremiah Yes, they're gonna be plucked out of the land, but there's going to come the time which is seven years later They're going to come back into the land, but it's telling the nations around them pay attention Listen, watch what's happening right verse number 16 This is why it's so important says and it shall come to pass if they will diligently Learn the ways of my people So God's got some of these wicked gentle nations look if you learn the ways of my people if you learn the ways of those that were in Judah and Swear by my name the Lord liveth as they taught my people to swear by Baal Then shall they be built in the midst of my people But if they will not obey I will actually pluck up and destroy that nation sayeth the Lord So what is God saying this is look? When they come back and you know in the seven years captivity, okay, I've given you this prophecy So, you know, it's coming from the Lord You see the the soon gonna be plucked away and they're going to come back eventually But if these wicked evil neighbors say, you know what we want to serve God Okay, we want to follow after the ways of God's people we want to swear by the name of the Lord We want to say the Lord liveth. We want to make God our God God says to these gentle nations, okay Right the anniversary 16 then shall they be built in the midst of my people? Listen, God was never racist. God was not like man. I just love Israel I just love the Jews and I hate every other nation around them No, God's saying to them listen pay attention Because your your opportunity is coming up here when they come back into the land if you guys come and worship me as well You can be in the midst of my people. I'm gonna build you up in the midst of my people God was always open to Gentile nations if they turn from their weakness they turn from their false religion and they turn to the one true God of Israel God would receive them Okay, so it's you know, yes Israel was special in the eyes of God But only if they were godly only if they worship God only if they loved God Right, but God at the same time was willing for other people of other nations to worship the same true God as long as they learnt the same ways they did the same things They believed in the Lord like the people of Israel, you know, nothing's changed. God has always had an opportunity for other nations Yes, the evil neighbors to come and believe on him Okay. Now if you can please turn to Ephesians chapter 2, let's end on this one Ephesians chapter 2 and while you turn to Ephesians chapter 2 I'm going to read to you from numbers 9 14. Okay numbers 9 14 And in numbers 9 14 God tells the nation of Israel He says and if a stranger So shall sojourn among you now stranger is someone that's not of Israel That would be from the other nations, right and will keep the Passover answer the Lord according to the ordinance of the Passover and we know the Passover represents Jesus Christ and this is and according to the manner thereof So shall he do you shall have one ordinance both for the stranger and for him that was born in the land God is saying look if a stranger comes from another nation and they want to worship God They want to keep the Passover. They want to remember Christ through that picture is look allow them to come God was always open to the other nations. Okay. Now this takes us to Ephesians chapter 2 and verse number 13 Ephesians chapter 2 and verse number 13. So now you can see that in the Old Testament God had a plan for the Gentiles They could believe in the Lord. They could be saved as well Okay, but then in Ephesians chapter 2 in the New Testament, we also have this in verse number 13 It says but now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ For he is our peace who have made both one and have broken down the middle wall of partition between us Having abolished in his flesh the enmity enmity is like another saying enemy It's kind of like the neighbors of Israel Judah where the enemy is, right? Well, God's broken that down Okay, even the Lord of Commandments contain ordinances for to make in himself of twain one new man so make in peace and That he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross Having slain the enmity thereby and came and preached peace to you which were afar off and to them that were nigh So we have this beautiful Picture here of Christ's sacrifice that through his death through his blood that he's brought this peace Between those of Israel and the Gentile nations if we believe in the Lord Jesus Christ We are one people we are one body. We are one spiritual body, but notice While that's new in a sense from a spiritual nation perspective The same was also true in a physical nation, right? And so it's not like God just changed his mind Okay, these things were pictures of Jesus Christ people were allowed to to worship in Israel Worship the one true God, you know, even if they were from these gentle Evil neighbors that are referred to here and so God always had a plan for the entire world Okay, don't get into this this sensational thinking that all in the Old Testament God only loved the Jews In fact, it still loves the Jews even though they reject him and we're like plan B We just got in because God rejected the Jews that is so far from the truth God has always had a plan for the Gentiles. All right, and just like the Israelites They were meant to be a light to the world. They were meant to be a holy nation They were meant to be the ones that proclaims the goodness of God and salvation through the Lord God Okay, but they failed. Well, let us not be like them You know God has given us this church the responsibility to be the light in the world to go and preach the gospel to proclaim The good news of Jesus Christ so we could bring others and bring them to peace with us with the Lord God Okay, so we're given the same responsibilities as the Jews of old Alright, let's not fail in the task. They failed they failed. Okay, but let's make sure that we don't fail We don't fail in our love for God We don't fail in the first works because we want to make sure that God's presence is always here We never want the Lord to say that he has Forsaken, you know blessed hope at this church. Okay, let's pray heavenly fire