(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

We're up to Jeremiah chapter 18, look at verse number 23. Jeremiah chapter 18 verse number 23, it says, Yet, Lord, thou knowest all their counsel against me to slay me, forgive not their iniquity, neither blot out their sin from thy sight, but let them be overthrown before thee. The title for the sermon this evening is Let Them Be Overthrown. These are the words of Jeremiah, he's asking the Lord, Can you overthrow certain people? This is one of the themes of this chapter. We have a look at how God will overthrow certain nations, and in particular, the southern kingdom of Judah is the context here, or all of Israel as well. But the Lord can also overthrow other nations, we'll have a look at that soon. But when we look at the direct context of Jeremiah, he's actually asking the Lord to overthrow certain individuals, all right? So you see this as we look at this whole chapter, you'll notice that this is the major theme here. Look at verse number one, it says, The word which came to Jeremiah from the Lord saying, Arise and go down to the potter's house, and there I will cause thee to hear my words. Now we're about to read a very familiar portion of scripture. If you've been in church for any length of time, you're gonna be familiar with this story that takes place. Quite often we talk about, you know, the Lord being the potter and us being the clay. Well, this is where it comes from, all right? So the Lord asked Jeremiah, Can you go to a potter's house? Go and observe somebody who's working with clay, who's making certain vessels. Verse number three, Then I went down to the potter's house, and behold, he wrought a work on the wills. And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter. So the potter, he's making this item of clay, and then it turns out that it's marred. You know, he makes a mistake. And so it doesn't look very good, right? This vessel that was created, it was marred. And, you know, when we look at that word marred there in verse number four, if you've been paying attention to this series in Jeremiah, it probably should bring back some memory to Jeremiah chapter 13. We'll go there soon. But it says the clay was marred in the hand of the potter, so he made it again another vessel, as seems good to the potter to make it. So the potter makes a mistake. The vessel doesn't, oh, he's made a mistake. You know, there's something wrong with the vessel. Let's say it's a cup. I don't know, maybe it makes a cup, a mug, right? And the handle of the mug breaks off or something like that. It's marred, it cannot be used, right? And so the potter says, well, you know what? This is marred, I'm going to just make another one, right? Now, can you please go to Jeremiah chapter 13? Again, just keep your finger there in Jeremiah 18 and turn to Jeremiah 13. And that's, you know, the fact that this clay was marred should bring to remembrance what we read in Jeremiah 13. You may remember when the Lord asked Jeremiah to take his girdle or take to his belt, right? To wear it for a while, not to wash it, then to take it to the river Euphrates and hide it in a rock. And then when it came back after several days, you know, the girdle was marred. Remember that? The girdle could not be used. In verse number seven, it says, then I went to Euphrates and digged and took the girdle from the place where I had hid it and behold, the girdle was marred. It was profitable for nothing. And so God is teaching Jeremiah once again, this concept of being marred. And if you remember Jeremiah chapter 13, the whole point of the girdle being marred was the girdle represented Judah. And that, you know, Judah was once profitable to God. He could once use it. You know, he loved Judah, but he got to a point where, you know, Judah had become so corrupted, so marred, worshiping false gods, where it just became profitable for nothing. God had no pleasure in Judah at this point in time. And so when you look at the clay being marred, what do you think that's been referred to? The Bible's not that complicated. Of course, it's the same teaching. You know, this clay, this vessel that was made by the potter became marred and this pictured, again, the southern kingdom of Judah. And then if you go back to Jeremiah chapter 18, look at verse number five, the Lord actually explains the whole point of Jeremiah experiencing what he saw at the potter's house. Verse number five, it says, "'Then the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, "'O house of Israel, "'cannot I do with you as this potter save the Lord? "'Behold, as the clay is in the potter's hand, "'so are ye in mine hand, O house of Israel.'" Quick reminder, we know that Jeremiah's preaching to the southern kingdom of Judah. The northern kingdom of Israel is already taken into captivity over 100 years ago by the Assyrians, okay? And now it's time for the southern kingdom to be judged by the hands of the Babylonians. But notice how God refers to them in verse number six. He says, "'O house of Israel.'" At the end of verse number six, it says, "'O house of Israel.'" And so this clay doesn't just represent Judah, it represents the entire, the combined kingdom of the northern kingdom of Israel and the southern kingdom of Israel. And the Lord's saying, look, I'm like the potter. You know, in the same way that the vessel of the potter became marred, you've also become marred to me. You're also good for nothing. You're also something that I cannot use and I've gotta go back and recreate it once again. All right, so the judgment of the Lord once again is falling. I love all these different illustrations that God uses. You know, He wants to make sure they understand, they learn the lesson. So He teaches them through many ways, with the girdle, with the potter's vessel. You know, the Lord uses a lot of illustrations to teach the truth that the southern kingdom of Judah has been rejected by God. It's marred, it's good for nothing, He's gotta start all over again. Now, what's great about the Lord, just like the potter, you know, He discarded that old vessel and He makes a new one, right? And so this is what the Lord is teaching us, is that, listen, even when a nation makes mistakes, you know what, God gives them a second chance. You know, when you've made mistakes, in fact, I'm sure about it, God has given you second chances, because I've made mistakes, you've made mistakes, okay? And sometimes the Lord is working on us like a potter, He's working at us, even in our own Christian life, and you can really mess up your life, and you might think, well, you know, I've marred my life, and you have, God's not happy that you've marred your life, God's not happy that you've maybe destroyed your testimony. Hey, some people have disqualified themselves from the ministry, maybe they had a desire to be a pastor one day, they've disqualified themselves, gotten themselves into some severe sin, they've been marred, but the Lord says, look, I can rebuild you. And the Lord gives us second chances, He gives us third chances, we serve a God who's long suffering, praise God for that. Don't you thank God that He did not just wipe us out as soon as we sinned? I mean, He could have, He could have wiped us out, but instead He sent the Lord Jesus Christ to come and pay for our sins, to take the wrath of God upon Him. And so look, He's telling Judah, and we know as we've been going through Jeremiah, we know how wicked Judah is, you know, it's like the way God speaks about Judah, it's like it's guaranteed that they're gonna suffer the punishment of God, but still God has given them another chance. God is still saying, look, I can make another vessel out of you, we can start again. Right, and so there's always, you always see this in the book of Jeremiah, this like, you know, it's too late, judgments come in, but come on, turn again to me, right? And, you know, God has given them chance after chance, you know, I say God is a God of second chances, I don't know, Judah's probably had 100 chances by now, right? And He's still given them an opportunity to get right with God. Look at verse number seven. At what instant I shall speak concerning a nation and concerning a kingdom to pluck up and to pull down and to destroy it. The Lord is saying, look, you know, when it comes to nations, and look, it says here, our nation and concerning our kingdom, He's not necessarily speaking about Judah at this point in time, He's speaking about any nation. You know, the Lord has His eyes over all nations, okay? Even though He is the God of Israel, the Lord still had His eyes set upon the Gentile nations. You know, the Lord has His eyes set upon Australia today. And the Lord is saying, look, when my eyes are upon a nation, all right, you know, I have the power to what, pluck up, to pull down and to destroy it. You know what, if the Lord is so fit to destroy Australia, He could very well do that if He wants, okay? You say, why hasn't He already passed the cabin? Because He's a God of second chances, because He's the God of third chances, because He's a long suffering God. And you know what? We're trying to do the best we can, aren't we? You know, in the current situation we're in, to serve the Lord, to be in church, to be in His house, up there at New Life Baptist Church, there are other good churches throughout Australia as well. We're trying to do our part to serve the Lord. But listen, we know that our nation is on a downward spiral. And I just, I don't know how far the judgment of God is. You know, possibly it's not even that far away. But it's a God who, if He desires, will pluck up a nation, pull down a nation, destroy a nation. Look at verse number eight. He says this, if that nation against whom I have pronounced turn from their evil, I will repent of the evil that I thought to do unto them. So God is saying, look, when I pronounce judgment, when I say to a nation, listen, I'm going to destroy you. When God says, my judgment is going to fall upon you because you're so wicked, I'm going to pluck you up, I'm going to cast you down, I'm going to destroy you. He says, look, you still have a chance. If you repent, if the nation repents of the evil, okay, He said, of their evil, He says, I will repent of the evil that I thought to do unto them. Wow. You know, we can get to the point where we're so close to the destruction, okay? God's wrath on the nation. But if our nation says, you know what, let's turn from our evil, God says, you know what, I'm going to repent from the evil that I've said to do to you as well. All right, it's amazing. God's long suffering is amazing. And the best example of this, of course, is the book of Jonah. So keep your finger there. And let's turn to the book of Jonah, please. Jonah chapter three. And a lot of you know, of course, Jonah is a famous prophet, because he was swallowed by a whale, okay? That's what he's most known for, okay? Or we also know him as the prophet that ran away from his responsibilities of preaching against Nineveh. But the Lord does call Jonah to go and preach, not against Israel, but against a Gentile nation in Nineveh, right? And so we look, pick it up there in Jonah chapter three, verse number four. Jonah chapter three and verse number four. Jonah chapter three, verse number four reads, and Jonah began to enter into the city, a day's journey, and he cried and said, yet 40 days and Nineveh shall be over-thrown. What's the title for the sermon once again? Let them be over-thrown. You know what? God has given Jonah the message that Nineveh is gonna be over-thrown. They've got 40 days. In 40 days, the entire nation is gonna be destroyed by the hand of God. And they are a wicked nation. They're not a nation that serves the God of the Bible. They're not a nation that has the laws of Moses at their disposal, okay? This is a foreign, wicked nation. But look at verse number five. So the people of Nineveh believed God and proclaimed the fast and put on sackcloth from the greatest of them, even to the least of them. That's amazing. This wicked nation by the preaching of a man, a prophet, isn't the same prophet that was too afraid to preach against them. They listened to it and they actually believed the message. You know, when it comes to the southern kingdom of Judah, who are supposed to be the people of God, God has sent Jeremiah to preach to them and they're not listening to the message. It's amazing how this gentle nation is listening to the message of the prophet of Jonah, right? And they said, man, we better proclaim a fast. We gotta get right with God. They believe the message. Drop down to verse number nine. What do the people of Nineveh say? What does the king say? He says here, who can tell if God will turn and repent and turn away from his fierce anger that we perish not? So they're like, look, we don't really know this God of Jonah, but look, we don't know. Maybe, maybe if we repent, maybe if we get over, we stop doing the wicked things that we're doing, we stop doing the evil, maybe if we just stop doing this, maybe in those 40 days, God's gonna have mercy upon us and he's not going to destroy us. That's a good attitude to have, all right? They don't know enough about God, but they're like, maybe, hopefully it's gonna happen if we turn from our wicked ways. Verse number 10, it says, and God saw their works that they turned from their evil way and God repented of the evil that he had said that he would do unto them and he did it not. So wow, God sees, they're trying to get right with God, God sees it, I mean, God had 40 days, I don't know how much, how many days was left. I don't know if they got things right on day number one, there's 39 days left, I don't know, okay? But how close were they to the destruction of God at this point in time? Hey, but they repented, they believe the preaching and you know what, when it comes to our churches, we're going to continue just preaching the truth. Even if I feel like this nation's done for, even if I feel like it's just too late for Australia, you know what's still gonna be preached behind this pulpit? That we need to repent, we need to turn from the wicked ways to ensure that God may have mercy upon this nation, okay? But whether God is merciful on this nation or whether God destroys this nation, it doesn't change the message that we preach. We preach salvation, we preach the whole counsel of God regardless of what situation we find ourselves in this world. Listen, if it's not me, there'll be other preachers, I promise you this, there'll be other men of God preaching the truth of the Bible regardless of what situation we find ourselves in, okay? But we can see that if we just try to get things right with God as a nation, I don't think Nineveh were perfect, do you think they were perfect? No, but they're making some attempt to get right with God, God sees it and even if you pronounce evil upon them, God says, I'm gonna repent from that evil that I will do. Go back to Jeremiah chapter 18 and verse number nine, Jeremiah chapter 18 verse number nine, God also says, and at what instance I shall speak concerning our nation and concerning the kingdom to build and to plant it. So now this is the reverse, you know, before God was saying, hey, if I pronounce evil upon them, if I pronounce judgment upon them, and they get right with me, then I'll repent. But they were saying, look, if I spoke concerning a nation, if I said that I'm gonna build them up, Israel, right? God said he's gonna bless them, God said that, you know, they're going to be on that land as long as they served and loved the Lord and kept the covenant they had with God. You know, if God steps in and says, you know what? I'm gonna bless a nation, I'm gonna make them fruitful, I'm gonna give them plenty, but then it says in verse number 10, and if it do evil in my sight, that it obey not my voice, then I will repent of the good where if I said I would benefit them. So look, if God comes, look, if we get a message from God and God says, I'm gonna bless Australia, and we're like, oh yeah, God's gonna bless us, let's party up, let's get drunk, let's commit fornication, let's just give into the things of this flesh because God said he's gonna come in and bless us, well, God says, you know what? I repent from that blessing and I'm gonna destroy you instead, okay? So a lot of people, a lot of believers make a big deal about God promising the land to Israel, and they're like, man, see, God promises, yeah, as long as they serve God, as long as they were putting God first and they'll obey what God had asked them to do, but even if that same nation were to turn against God, like Judah, God says, well, I'm gonna destroy them. And that's what we've seen play out here, by the hands of the Babylonians, that God will send destruction out their way. And the other nation that I think about is Australia. As I said, we're a prosperous nation, we have a lot of blessings, right? And I've mentioned this before in a previous sermon that our Australian constitution begins by saying, whereas the people of New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia, Queensland and Tasmania, humbly relying on the blessing of Almighty God. You know, when this nation was founded, okay, for the Federation, for Federation, right? In that sense, we said, hey, we're relying on the blessings of God, we want God to bless this nation. I think God blessed this nation, okay? But, and look, is God still blessing this nation? So far, but I'm telling you, we're on borrowed time. We're on borrowed time. How is it that this nation can continue killing babies in a mother's womb? How is it this nation continues celebrating, you know, homosexuals, all right? I mean, just today on Facebook, I saw that Virgin Australia has a special queer flight. Okay, from Melbourne to Sydney for the Sydney gay and lesbian Mardi Gras. And they're like, oh, this is gonna be the most fabulous time, you know, and it's been advertised and with all the rainbow colours. I mean, it just sounds like a whole bunch of queers from Melbourne are gonna catch that flight and get to Australia, sorry, get to Sydney, I should say. I mean, this is what's going on in our nation. That's what they're celebrating. You know, let's just make one flight just for them. It's probably not a bad idea if the Lord steps in though. We'll talk about that later on, talk about that later on. But look, you know, God, you know, has God given us a second chance? I'm sure he has. A third chance, a fourth chance, all right? But I don't know how much time Australia has left to get to be, to stay right with God. You know, God is looking at our nation and as he said, if we don't obey him, he's going to destroy this nation. Now, whether that takes place sometime in our lifetime or whether this is still some future event tying into the book of Revelation, I don't know. But, you know, I'm not here just desiring God's judgment, okay, like Jeremiah, he didn't want to see God's judgment. Remember that? He wasn't looking for. But listen, God will be righteous to destroy this nation if he sees fit. And we know God will look after his people. We just need to make sure we're faithful to God, make sure we're doing what the Lord asks us to do, you know, and we're just humbly relying, as our constitution did say, you know, upon the Lord, upon the blessings of the Lord. Look at verse number 11. Now, therefore, go to speak to the men of Judah and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying, thus saith the Lord, behold, I frame evil against you and devise a device against you, return ye now everyone from his evil way and make your ways and your doings good. God's given them another chance. Come on, get right with me, all right? Walk in my ways, verse number 12. And they said, there is no hope, but we will walk after our own devices and we will do everyone, sorry, we will everyone do the imagination of his evil heart. God says, look, I'm giving you another chance. They're like, there is no hope, there's no chance. And that's how I feel about Australia. I think sometimes there's no chance there is no hope. Is this nation gonna turn back to God? Is this nation gonna have a fear of God once again? All right, but God's saying, look, there's a chance. Okay, there's an opportunity. But look, they said, the people of the land said, no, we're just gonna do the evil of our hearts. We're just gonna pursue our own evil. We're just gonna do what we want. We don't think there's any hope for us to get right with God. I mean, this is coming from a reprobate nation, okay? And again, I've taught them reprobates. That's what reprobates believe about themselves. They truly believe there is no hope. They know there is no hope. Because they rejected God and God has rejected them. Look at verse number 13. Therefore, thus saith the Lord, ask ye now among the heathen who have heard such things, the virgin of Israel have done a very horrible thing. So God is saying to, or Jeremiah's kind of asking the other nations, have you heard about such a horrible thing that's taking place in Israel or in Judah? He says, look, the virgin of Israel has done a horrible thing. The idea there is that this was once a chaste nation and it had defiled herself. The prophet's saying to the other wicked nations around, have you heard such a thing? And then verse number 14, he says, will a man leave the snow of Lebanon, which cometh from the rock of the field, or shall the cold flowing waters that come from another place be forsaken? And so this reminds me when I would travel to Chile. And if you guys know the geography, you've got the Andean mountains between Chile and Argentina. And especially during winter, those mountain tops get a lot of snow, right? And then as you get into the spring, in the summer months, that snow starts to melt. And you can travel through Chile and there's just these constant rivers. There's these constant creeks and rivers flowing from the mountains. And the water is just freezing cold because it's melted ice. But it's like see-through, it's flowing. You could basically just drink straight from there. It's pure, perfect, pure water from the snow. It's cold, it's refreshing, it's pure, right? And on a hot day, it's really nice to swim in that water as well. And that's what he reminds me of. God is saying, look, I'm like that water. I'm like that pure, cold, refreshing water that's come from the snow, okay? And they're like, and they've neglected that water as well. They decided to go drink muddy water instead. Have you heard such a thing? Asking the other nations, have you heard? Have people forsaken precious, pure, running water like this? And then verse number 15. Because my people have forgotten me, they have burned incense to vanity and have caused them to stumble in their ways from the ancient paths, to walk in paths in a way not cast up. Now, brethren, we're commanded to walk in the ancient paths. Can you please turn to Jeremiah chapter six for me? Jeremiah chapter six and verse number 16. Jeremiah chapter six and verse number 16. We basically have an option as a church and as the people of God, do we walk in the ancient paths or do we walk after some other path, all right? And in Jeremiah chapter six, verse number 16, it says, thus saith the Lord, stand ye in the ways and see, look at this, and ask for the old paths. So you can see Jeremiah six refers to the old paths and Jeremiah chapter 18 refers to the ancient paths. And then it keeps going by saying, where is the good way and walk therein and ye shall find rest for your souls, but they said, we will not walk therein. And so you can see that this same teaching once again is being taught by Jeremiah just later on in chapter number 18. And so we're commanded to walk in the old paths, in the ancient paths. And brethren, you know our Bible? Our Bible is an old book. It's an old book. I mean, even the English King James Bible, you know, it's over 400 years old. That's pretty old. I don't know anyone that's lived 400 years. It's older than anybody that lives on this earth, okay? That book has been read by countless generations back from 1611. We have an old book, but you know what? That's not even as old as the Bible is, okay? That's just the English version. You know, we have a Bible that goes back thousands of years. You know, we have ancient paths. We have the old paths. And God says, look, walk after my ancient paths, walk after my old paths, and you'll be fine. You'll be happy in those paths. This is why we just have an old fashioned Baptist church here, okay? And we're not trying to mimic, you know, the new evangelicals. We're not trying to mimic, you know, the hill songs and the, what else? What are the assemblies of God? We're not trying to mimic those churches because they've decided to find a new path, a new way of doing things. Listen, we're just gonna stick to the old ways. We're gonna keep preaching the King James Bible because I know this is where God will bless us. I know this is where we're gonna be happy, content, satisfied, enjoying, you know, the running water, the clean running water that comes from snow is found in the old ways. It's found in the old paths. We can't change our church, no matter how tempting it is just to bring in people, okay? We can't change. And as I said, you know, the Bible, you know, when you read our Bibles, I've had people, I'm sure people have said to you, ah, that's old fashioned. No women pastors? That's, no, there's a new way of doing things. No, the ancient path. No, the old path. That's how we're gonna keep it here at Blessed Up Baptist Church, all right? So they needed to come back to the ancient past, verse number 16, verse number 16. To make their land desolate and a perpetual hissing, everyone that passeth thereby shall be astonished and wag his head. You know, the people of the other nations are gonna walk past Judah when they see it all destroyed and they're gonna hiss. It's kinda like, ah, like mock. Like, oh man, they really messed up with God, didn't they? They're gonna wag their heads, man. Jeremiah, because remember, Jeremiah was a prophet to the nations. So the words that Jeremiah is preaching is going throughout the whole world, okay? The whole world is learning what God is going to do to Judah. And then they're gonna go to Judah, oh man, it's destroyed by the Babylonians. Why didn't they listen to Jeremiah? Okay, so it's kinda like these other nations are like, man, how did you not listen? Verse number 17, I will scatter them as with an east wind before the enemy. I will show them the back and not the face in the day of their calamity. And so I don't know if this is a common saying, this is something that I remember in my high school. Like if you said something and someone kind of just didn't wanna talk to you or ignore you, they'd say, talk to the back. There's another saying that's like, talk to the hand. I don't know if that one's still around. I don't know, I know phrases change, right? But you know, if someone's kind of annoying you, you don't wanna talk to the back and you walk away, all right? Like, I'm not gonna face you, I'm not going to interact with you. That's what God is saying, okay? When your calamity comes, when your judgment comes and you come running to me, hey, I'm not gonna show you my face. You can talk to the back. I'm gone, it's all over, all right? So you can see God is definitely telling them, listen, one last chance, get right with me, right? Otherwise, talk to the back. Verse number 18, then said they, come and let us devise devices against Jeremiah. So now they're getting angry at Jeremiah, all right? For the law shall not perish from the priest nor counsel from the wise nor the word from the prophet. Come and let us smite him with the tongue and let us not give heed to any of his words. So you can see the people aren't liking the preaching of Jeremiah, all right? They're saying like, how can we destroy this guy? You know, cause they've got priests, they've got, you know, corrupt priests, they've got so-called the wisdom of the world, they've got false prophets telling them that Jeremiah is insane. Don't listen to him. God's not gonna judge us, God's happy with us. And they're like, we're sick of hearing about Jeremiah. Listen, when people get annoyed at you for believing certain things in the Bible, it's because they know it's true. They know it's true, right? I mean, if someone said to me, ah, you know, Kevin, you know, go to hell. You know, you're a wicked pastor, you're gonna die and burn in hell. I'm like, cause I know I'm not gonna die and go to hell. Like I know the truth of God's word that I'm saved. Well, what they say is not gonna bother me cause I know it's a lie, okay? And you need to learn to get to a point where if people lie about you, don't let it bother you, okay? The reason people get bothered when you preach the truth is cause they know it's the truth. I mean, if they just thought it was a lie, right? It's kind of like, you know, sometimes, you know, my kids, cause I don't believe in Santa Claus, people get offended, right? Why do they get offended? Cause they know it's true that Santa Claus doesn't exist. Right, but if someone said to me, ah, God doesn't exist, I'm not gonna get offended. I'm just gonna, you're an idiot, okay? You know, cause I know the truth that God exists, right? And you know, when people get frustrated here, you know, if you go door to door soul winning, sometimes people get offended at your message. You say, ah, they got offended. Yeah, they got offended cause they know it's true. Deep down, they know they're not right with God. Deep down, they know they're in trouble with God. Deep down, they don't know where they're gonna spend eternity, and they're not happy that there's someone else that's come to the door that's telling them how you get there, you know? And their pride gets in the way, and they'll mock you, they'll say, ah, who know, how do you know the Bible's not, they know it's true, okay? People are without excuse, okay? They know the God of the Bible. And you know, don't be like these people where if you hear the truth of God's word that you just get offended. Don't be like that, right? If you get a little bit offended by Bible preaching, you know why? Cause it's come a little close to the heart. It's stepped on your toes a little bit. You know what, that's how church should be. That's how preaching should be. So you go, all right, I got my toe stepped on a little bit. Maybe this is something I need to fix. You know, go to the Lord, go to the word of God, confirm if these things are true. Oh yeah, Lord, I need to fix this in my life, and go and fix it. It's between you and God. Don't get offended at the preacher, okay? Who's just trying to teach you God's word. What Jeremiah, the book of Jeremiah is very negative, okay? Jeremiah's preaching is very negative, but it's the truth. If they just got right with God, that nation would have remained, okay? That nation would have remained, but they wanted to hurt Jeremiah. Verse number 19. Give heed to me, O Lord. So now Jeremiah, you know, after hearing what people are saying about him, he says, he goes to the Lord and prays about it. Give heed to me, O Lord, and hearken to the voice of them that contend with me. Jeremiah's saying, listen, Lord, can you listen to what these people are saying about me? Can you pay attention, Lord? Verse number 20. Shall evil be recompensed for good? He says, look, I've done good to these people, and they're gonna recompense me with evil. Is that right, God? Like Jeremiah's just preaching the truth. That's good to preach the truth, right? And then he says, look, for they have digged a pit for my soul. Remember that I stood before thee to speak good for them and to turn away thy wrath from them. Now, you may remember in the previous chapters of Jeremiah, God keeps telling Jeremiah, don't pray for them, don't pray for them, don't pray for them, but Jeremiah can't help himself, but try to stand between them and God and try to make things well with them, right? Try to step in and try to appease the Lord and say, look, let's give this nation another chance. Jeremiah's trying to do good, you know? Even when God told him, don't do good, don't pray for them, Jeremiah was like, I'm still gonna do it. So he's trying to serve these people, he loves the nation, right? But now he says, look, I've done good to them and now they're recompensing evil to me. Don't be surprised, that's gonna be your Christian life. You're gonna do good to people, you're gonna give them the gospel, you're gonna show them the love and truth of God's word and they're going to do evil against you, okay? But when that happens, you'd be like Jeremiah and you take it to the Lord, right? Verse number 21, therefore, now the next words, I mean, don't we all generally agree that Jeremiah's a good man, a faithful man, a great prophet of God. I mean, he's been given 52 chapters in your Bible. I mean, it's one of the biggest books of the Bible next to Psalms, okay? So he gets a lot of say, you know, through the Holy Spirit, you know, and pen these words for us to read, okay? He's a great man of God. Now, the next words we're about to read, okay, is still from a great man of God. I want you to understand this. It's still from a great man of God, but unfortunately, our churches do not like the next words. They don't like it, but let's read it, okay? Verse number 21, remember, Jeremiah is praying to the Lord. He says, therefore, deliver up their children, those that are persecuted in Jeremiah, deliver up their children to the famine. Okay, we know there's a famine on the land. We know there's a lack of food. People are going hungry. Jeremiah is saying to God, God, can you make these wicked people's children hungry? Can you make sure they don't have enough to eat? And say, whoa, is this from a great man of God? Yes, it is, okay? Yes, it is, okay? Look at this. And pour out their blood by the force of the sword. Is this a prayer that you pray to the Lord sometimes? Is this a prayer that you've heard in church recently? Lord, these wicked people, can you just get the sword and just cause them to just die, Lord, from bleeding out? This is what Jeremiah's praying, look at this. And let their wives be bereaved of their children. Lord, please destroy these wicked people's children so the mothers can mourn over their children. And be widows, Lord, kill their husbands. And let their men be put to death. Lord, just kill them all. Let their young men be slain by the sword in battle. You say, oh man, this is crazy. Jeremiah's tried to be good. Jeremiah's preaching the truth, okay? It's a wicked nation, it's a nation that hates God. And Jeremiah's finally fed up with it, all right? Now look, does Jeremiah take vigilante behavior? Does he go and get the sword himself and start slaying people? No, he prays to the Lord and says, Lord, you take care of this. Lord, you do vengeance. You take revenge on these wicked people that hate me and they hate you and they hate your word. This is coming from a good man of God, a great man of God. But listen, if I prayed this right now, word for word, if I just got here and just started praying for this and this is on YouTube, don't you think there's gonna be a bunch of people that think this past is insane? This past is not godly. This past must not love God. This past does not know the Bible. They don't know the Bible. They don't understand that it's right to pray and ask the Lord to take down the wicked and kill the enemies, the enemies of God. Listen, we're commanded to do good to our enemies, aren't we? Jeremiah did good to his enemies. He stepped in, tried to intercede, preaching the truth, trying to get them right with God. He's doing what's right, but then he turns to the Lord and says, Lord, it's your turn to take vengeance, right? Can you please keep your finger there and go to Jeremiah, sorry, Psalm 35, Psalm 35. Psalm 35. Because what we read there in Jeremiah is known as an imprecatory prayer. Have you guys ever heard that term before? An imprecatory prayer? A lot of the Psalms are like this. And basically, it's the Psalmist singing and praying to the Lord and asking the Lord to destroy the enemies, all right? And our church, honestly, I've been to church my whole life, so I know how people try to get around this. Oh, that was the old dispensation. You're not allowed to pray like that anymore, right? That's an old way. Oh, you know, that was just for, you know, people that were of military might or maybe people of like kings and great prophets. They were the ones that were allowed to pray this way, but not us. And they just try to find answers. How do we deal with these prayers? The reason that they try to find answers and not just accept it, it's because they don't know the God of judgment. Once again, they don't preach the angry God, the wrath of God, the God that destroys nations. We've got to preach this so we understand how these prayers fit in, okay? Look at Psalm 35 verse four. It reads, let them be confounded and put to shame that seek after my soul. Let them be turned back and brought to confusion that devise my heart. Let them be as chaff before the wind and let the angel of the Lord chase them. Let their way be dark and slippery and let the angel of the Lord persecute them. That's a great prayer. That sounds like Jeremiah a little bit. Lord, take care of these wicked. Make their ways hard. Lord, send your angel to destroy them. That's a great prayer to have. Go to Psalm 55. Go to Psalm 55 verse nine. Just in case you thought Jeremiah was a bit of an odd case, no, this is through your Bible, okay? You're gonna find this. If you've read the Bible, and here's the problem, a lot of Christians have not read the Bibles. Admittedly, a lot of Christians have not read the Bibles cover to cover, so they don't know this side of God. They don't know this side or this type of praying and asking the Lord to step in and destroy the wicked. Psalm 55 verse nine. Destroy, O Lord, and divide their tongues, for I have seen violence and strife in the city. What is the Psalmist saying? Lord, destroy these people. Go to Psalm 58 for me, Psalm 58 verse number six. Psalm 58 verse number six. It reads, break their teeth, O God, in their mouth. Man, have you ever had issues with your teeth where it's caused a lot of pain? Maybe the wisdom teeth or some type of cavity or some type of nerve exposure, that's very painful. The Psalmist is saying here, Lord, can you just break their teeth? I want them to feel pain in their mouth. It's coming from the Psalmist, O God, in their mouth. Break out the great teeth of the young lions, O Lord. Let them melt away as waters which run continually. When he bendeth his bow to shoot his arrows, let them be cut in pieces. Have you read this in the Bible recently? It's in your Bible, okay, it's right there. Verse number eight, as a snail which melteth, let every one of them pass away like the untimely birth of a woman that they may not see the sun. The Psalmist is saying, Lord, like a snail that melts by the sun, or sometimes, I don't know, people might put salt on a snail and just see it wither away. The Psalmist is saying, look, can you do this to my enemies? Can you do this to the wicked like an untimely birth, just like a woman that miscarriages and gives birth to an unformed child? Can you make them to die the same way, God? Say, Pastor Kevin, you shouldn't preach like this. Listen, I'm commanded to preach the whole Bible, okay? Like, do you really want me to just preach for Jeremiah and just skip verses that aren't nice? No, I would be doing you a disservice. I would be dishonoring God if we did not look at these verses, all right? Now, can you please turn to Psalm 69? Turn to Psalm 69, because as I said, a lot of people just try to create excuses and say, that's just the Old Testament. Ah, just certain people, ah, we can't do that anymore. Oh, another dispensation, another dispensation, right? Look at Psalm 69, verse number 22. Now, while you're looking at that, I'm going to read from Romans chapter 11, because we're about to read in Psalm another impregatory prayer, another prayer where the Psalmist is asking God to destroy the wicked, all right? I'm going to read to you from the dispensation of grace, okay, the New Covenant. I'm going to read to you from the New Testament in the book of Romans, an epistle that is written to the Roman church. Don't tell me this is some other dispensation. In fact, I don't believe in dispensations, okay, in that sense, all right? But Romans chapter 11, verse seven, you keep your eyes there on Psalm 69, but it says in Romans 11, seven, and we know Romans 11 begins by Paul wanting the Jews to get saved, right? We know that Paul had a great love for his people, for the Jews. He wants to give them the gospel. He wants to see them saved. But in verse number seven, it says, "'What then? "'Israel have not obtained that which is seeker for, "'but the election have obtained it, "'and the rest were blinded.'" So Paul is saying, look, there's a whole bunch of people that have been blinded from the truth, all right? And you'll soon see that these are very wicked people, those that rejected Christ, those that crucified Christ, because then in verse number eight, it says, "'According as it is written.'" It says, "'God have given them the spirit of slumber, "'eyes that they should not see, "'and ears that they should not hear unto this day.'" And then in verse number nine, it says, "'And David saith,'" now you look at Psalm 69, verse number 22, okay? Look where it's taken from. "'And David saith, let their table be made a snare, "'and a trap, and a stumbling block, "'and a recompense unto them. "'Let their eyes be darkened that they may not see, "'and bow down their back alway.'" What is Paul taking that from? Did he just come up with this teaching? What is he saying? You know what, he's taking that from David, from David's Psalm there in Psalm 69, verse 22, let's read it again, which said, "'Let their table become a snare before them, "'and that which should have been for their welfare, "'let it become a trap.'" You know, the Psalmist is praying, "'Lord, please trap these people. "'Let their eyes be darkened that they may not see, "'and make their loins continually to shake.'" And we know that is about the New Testament, the Jews that rejected Christ, the Jews that rejected, the Lord that crucified Christ. Guess what? Paul in the New Testament is also preaching and praying and imprecatory prayer. Don't tell me it's just Old Testament. If it's just Old Testament, why would Paul be quoting the same thing from King David? People that reject Jesus Christ, people that are exceedingly wicked. Brethren, there's nothing wrong to pray for their destruction. I'm not saying you go out and destroy them. That's wrong, okay? Vengeance belongs to the Lord. We're leaving it in God's hands. Listen, you've got somebody that's making your life hard. I'm not talking about just your average enemy. I'm talking about people that are haters of God. I'm talking about reprobates. I'm talking about that flight that's going to carry a whole bunch of homosexuals from Melbourne to Sydney, okay? These wicked people, it would be right to pray for their destruction. Go back to Jeremiah, please, Chapter 18. Jeremiah, Chapter 18. Actually, you were in Psalms. Actually, go back to Psalm. Go to Psalm 139. Go to Psalm 139, because I want to make this clear. Go to Psalm 139. While you're turning, I'm going to read to you from Matthew 5, 43. I'm going to read to you a passage that you will hear more often in local church. You're not going to hear what Jeremiah preached. You're not going to necessarily hear what the Psalmist prayed, okay? But you will hear from Matthew 5, 43, from the words of Jesus, which says, and ye have heard that it have been said, thou shalt love thy neighbor and hate thine enemy, but I say unto you, love your enemies, bless them that curse you, and do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you and persecute you, that ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven, for he maketh his Son to rise on the evil and on the good, and send the rain on the just and on the unjust. Now, that is the Bible as well. So if you have a personal enemy, someone has done wrong to you, you know what you're meant to do? You do good unto them. You bless them, okay? That's the teaching I want you to walk away here. You have an enemy, you go and bless them. You say, but Pastor Kevin, you just said it's okay to pray, sometimes for the enemies. Well, that's why I got you to turn to Psalm 139, verse number 19. Psalm 139, verse number 19. Because there are no contradictions in the Bible. If you just find something hard to understand, it's just because you need to spend more time with the Lord and get him to show you the truth of his word, verse number 19, it says, surely that will slay the wicked, O God. Depart from me, therefore, ye bloody men. Look at this, for they speak against thee wickedly, and thine enemies take thy name in vain. So when we're looking at these enemies here, in Psalm 139, whose enemies are these? Are they my enemies, or are they the enemies of God? They're the enemies of God, right? They've taken the Lord's name in vain. But then look at verse number 21. Do not I hate them, O Lord, that hate thee? Am not I grieved with those that rise up against thee? I hate them with perfect hatred. I count them mine enemies. So there are some people that are just your personal enemies. They don't hate God. They're not enemies of God necessarily, okay? Well, your personal enemy that's maybe stolen something from you, done something bad to you, said something cruel towards you, listen, those personal enemies that you deal with on a constant basis, you love them, you bless them, you do what Jesus Christ asked you to do, all right? But when it comes to enemies of God, God has his enemies. And you know what, those enemies we're allowed to hate, those enemies we're allowed to pray against, those enemies we're allowed to go to the Lord and say, Lord, can you please destroy these people? And they're your enemies, I'm gonna count them as mine enemies. I'm not gonna do any good to answer them. If they're your enemies, Lord, they're also my enemies. I want nothing to do with them. People often say to me, how can you be so against the homosexuals? What have they done to you? Nothing, they're not my enemy, they're God's enemies. All right, they're haters of God, okay? And that's it. That's why I hope for their destruction, right? And so we have to have a balance. Just the person that annoys you day to day, maybe an enemy you develop at church, maybe an enemy that you deal with at the workplace, maybe some enemies you have with your family, listen, you just do good unto them, okay? Even when it came to Jeremiah, you saw that he stepped in and was trying to do good to the people of the land. And there's a great advantage to doing good to them, we're gonna have a look at that later, but go back to Jeremiah chapter 18, verse number 22. Jeremiah 18, verse number 22, we're near the end now. And look, if there's anything that is not clear, I don't wanna be confusing, I wanna be very clear to you. So if you have any questions for me, please ask me after the service. I'm happy to clarify anything that I've preached, okay? Verse number 22. Let a cry, and again, Jeremiah's still praying against these wicked people. It says, let a cry be heard from their houses, when thou shall bring a troop suddenly upon them, for they have digged a pit to take me, and he had snares for my feet. Jeremiah's saying, look, please send a troop to their house to destroy these people. Yet, Lord, thou knowest all their counsel against me to slay me. Forgive not their iniquity, neither blurt out their sin from thy sides, but let them be overthrown before thee, deal thus with them in the time of thine anger. Jeremiah before was praying, God, can you forgive them? You know, Jeremiah was trying to confess the sins of the nation to God. Now Jeremiah's saying, listen, God, don't forget their sin. Can you judge these people? Can you correct these people? Can you destroy these people in your anger? Not in your mercy. Even Jeremiah says, Lord, it's time for your anger to come down, Lord. Can you destroy these people? So there is a time to pray like this, okay? When we're dealing with wicked haters of God, okay? Wicked haters of God that hate the Bible, they wanna destroy God, they wanna destroy Christianity, they wanna destroy God's institutional family and marriage. These people that wanna destroy little babies in the womb of mothers, listen, these are haters of God. They're not my friends. I'm not praying for them to be blessed and have a great life, no, it's good to pray that hey, the same way they're destroying little babies, let God destroy them in the same way. Hey, they destroy, they rip off babies' heads, they drill into babies' skulls and pull out the brains. Listen, let them die the same way then. There's nothing wrong with praying like that, okay? This is straight from the Bible. Don't tell me I'm insane. I think I'm pretty sane. I think I'm pretty normal, okay? Listen, and Jeremiah definitely was a normal man. Jeremiah was definitely a man of God. You see how he prayed. Can you please turn to Romans chapter 12? Let's end on this one. Romans chapter 12, verse number 19. So we saw that Jeremiah was being persecuted by wicked haters of God, and he starts to pray these imprecatory prayers. But again, don't forget, he did good unto them at the beginning. He did good, all right? Verse number 19, Romans chapter 12 and verse number 19. Let's end on this one. It says, dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves. So if someone does wrong to you, are you going to take revenge? No, don't avenge yourself. Did Jeremiah take revenge? No, what did he do? He tried to pray for them. He tried to do good to them, right? It says here, but rather give place unto wrath. Isn't that what Jeremiah wanted? For God to chastise and destroy these people in his wrath and his anger. Give place unto wrath, for it is written, vengeance is mine. I will repay, saith the Lord. Therefore, if thine enemy hunger, feed him. If he thirst, give him drink. For in so doing, thou shall heap calls of fire upon or on his head. But be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good. You say, it's very hard for me to do good to my enemies, Pastor Kevin. Listen, just do good to them, okay? Because I know you want revenge. I know you want to see vengeance, okay? The best way to get vengeance on these people is just to do good unto them, okay? Now, here's the advantage. Hopefully you do enough good to them, and they're like, man, this must be something about this person. Must be something about his faith in Jesus. Hopefully it opens the door for that person who's done you wrong to get right with God, hopefully get saved. That'd be a great advantage, okay? But if they hate you, they hate God, and they want to remain your enemy, you do good unto them. Every time you do good unto them, guess what you're doing? You're adding more calls of fire upon their head. So when God's time is gonna step in to judge them to bring vengeance, it's gonna be a harsher judgment, a harsher vengeance from the Lord than what initially was, if you hadn't done any good to them. So, you know, it can be hard to do good to people, but just say, well, you know what, I'll do good. If they reject it, then the Lord's gonna step in and make their judgment, make their punishment even more severe. So to me, it's like a win-win situation. Either you win that person over, the enemy, you know, they become your friend, they get saved. Praise God, that would be wonderful, okay? Or you just make the judgment even more severe by having done good unto them and they reject it. But the point here, brethren, is you leave judgment and wrath to God. People have done me wrong in my life. You know, they have. And I've never, well, at least I can't remember a time where I've really sought any kind of revenge because I know the truth of God's word. I'd rather just give place unto wrath. All right, God, you deal with it. You know what, I've even prayed to God, and I'm like, God, you know what, Lord, I know you're gonna deal with it. I don't even need to feel satisfied to see the destruction. I don't even need to feel satisfied to see how you're gonna deal with this situation. I know you're gonna deal with it, Lord. These wicked people, they've said this about me, they've said that about me. Whatever, Lord, it's in your hands. You deal with it in your time. And I'll tell you what, a huge burden comes off your shoulders when you're able to do that. When you know God can step in and wipe out your enemies, when he sees fit, all right? But what are we commanded to do, brethren? Do good to your enemies, okay? But if they're enemies of God, feel free to pray for their destruction, okay? Let's pray.