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Okay, Jeremiah 43, look at verse number 7, it says, So they came into the land of Egypt, for they obeyed not the voice of the Lord. The title for the sermon this evening is they obeyed not, they obeyed not. So let's just get you back up to speed very quickly. The Babylonians have come, they've destroyed Jerusalem, they've taken over Judah, the very poor of the land have remained, Gedaliah has been put in place to see over this group of people by the king of Babylon, then we have Ishmael come on the scene and he assassinates the man, and he kills a whole bunch of Chaldeans, and the people now are afraid, what is Nebuchadnezzar, or Nebuchadrezzar as we know about him, of his name in this chapter, what is he going to do when he finds out, so they panic, they start thinking, well we need to flee, we need to get out of here, we need to get out of the land, go to Egypt, things might be safe in Egypt, and then they come to Jeremiah. And as we saw last chapter, they really wanted Jeremiah to just rubber stamp their decision to go to Egypt, whereas Jeremiah, he spends 10 days waiting for the Lord's word, they told Jeremiah whatever God tells you we'll do, whether it's good, whether it's evil, whether we like it or not, we're going to do what God says, we're going to obey him, but as I saw, as we saw here in this chapter for the toad of the sermon tonight, they obeyed not, they obeyed not, okay, so they're making the decision to go to Egypt, God told them they'll stay in the land, things are going to be well with you, you know, you'll be taken care of, but instead no, they're too afraid of Nebuchadnezzar, and they run to Egypt, so let's start there in verse number one. Jeremiah 43 verse number one, and it came to pass that when Jeremiah had made an end of speaking, that's the preaching he was doing the previous chapter, and to all the people, now I want you to just pay attention to how many times, there's two great emphasizes in this verse here, and notice that God wants this repeated twice in the same verse, it says, speaking to all the people, all the words of the Lord their God, for which the Lord their God had sent him to them, even all these words. Now I did already cover this last week, how it is important that if you're going to be a faithful preacher, and Jeremiah was a honest and faithful preacher, he loved the Lord, he loved the people, his job, his mission, was to make sure that he preaches all the words of the Lord, notice that God tells us twice that that was what he did, right, it says they're speaking unto all the people, all the words of the Lord their God, and then at the end of the verse, even all these words, just in case you didn't get it the first time, Jeremiah preached all the words, okay, Jeremiah once again, right, he's kind of like the pinnacle of the unpopular preacher, his whole ministry, he's been preaching for decades, he's known as the unpopular preacher, and what is he doing? Once again he's preaching an unpopular sermon, the people reject him, and they decide to disobey the Lord, and so as I said to you, a faithful preacher will ensure that all of God's words are preached, this is one of the great advantages of going chapter by chapter through the Bible, is because the preacher can't hide, okay, we're going chapter by chapter, verse by verse, and even if I know, and look, I know a lot that I've preached with Jeremiah has been unpopular, I know that it's been hard for some people to accept, and I knew it was going to be like this, because that's how Jeremiah is, okay, and if I'm going to be faithful to God's word, and I'm going to faithfully follow the steps of Jeremiah, and preach the same message of Jeremiah, well it's also going to be an unpopular sermon, yes to our church, yes to other Australians, and I think it's so wonderful that we're learning through Jeremiah as we're going through this period of lockdowns, as we have other cities being locked down, the spirit of Babylon is at work, okay, there is oppression, we're feeling the pressures of the lockdowns, the restrictions, all these things, we've covered the pressures of taking the vaccinations, and the feeling that our free will has been taken away from us, and let's remind ourselves that there were people in the same time, or sorry, in the time of Jeremiah here, feeling the same way, they were being oppressed by Babylon, okay, the other thing that is mentioned here, not only were all the words preached, but notice that these words were from God, it says, and to all the people, all the words of the Lord their God, okay, so these aren't the words of Jeremiah, okay, Jeremiah did not just come up with some random sermon, no it's coming from the Lord, it's coming from the Lord God, it says for which, again, for which the Lord their God had sent him to them, and so second time, just literally back to back, God wants us to know that Jeremiah was preaching the words that God gave to Jeremiah, once again, the faithful preacher will ensure that God's word is being preached, all right, the job as a preacher is to be a vessel, you know, I'm not here to show off my skills and show off my, in fact I don't speak that well brethren, I go back and listen to my sermons, I feel like 99 out of 100 of my sermons I misspeak somewhere, okay, I don't have great words, okay, I don't have great swelling words, but my desire to be a faithful and honest preacher is just to be used as a vessel by God, even in my weakness, and that God's strength would shine through, and that would expound God's word and learn of God's word, that is the desire of a faithful preacher, listen, we don't come to church or right now you're listening online, we don't come listening online looking for some life coach, right, we're not looking, hey, how can, you know, I improve my life, I need to find the life coach that's going to get me motivated, we're not looking for that motivational speaker, no, we're looking for a prophet that will be faithful to God's word and preach all the words that God has instructed his people to understand and to learn thereby, look at verse number two, even though verse number one was very clear that Jeremiah is just doing what God wants him to do, preaching what God wants him to preach, look at verse number two, then spake Azariah the son of Hoshea, and Johanan the son of Careah, and all the proud men, now notice that, who's going to speak against Jeremiah? Well, a couple of other captains of the guard, other captains of the army here, so people in authority, but notice who they get around, notice who is speaking out against Jeremiah, and all the proud men, Brethren, you know what's going to stop you from obeying God's word? Pride, okay, we all have pride, we all have it, and when you hear something from God's word and you say, I don't like that, I'm not going to do that, you know what that is? It's pride, if you want to be changed by God's word, you need to humble yourself and say, you know what, if it's coming from God's word, if it's coming from the Bible, I need to listen, I need to humble myself, even if it embarrasses me, even if I don't like it, I need to take down the pride and come hearing God's word in humility. What do they do? Verse number two, saying unto Jeremiah. What do they say to Jeremiah? Thou speakest falsely. They say to Jeremiah, you're lying. No, what you just preached, what you just said, that's not true, okay? Thou speakest falsely, the Lord our God hath not sent thee to say, go not into Egypt to sojourn thee. They're saying, Jeremiah, you're lying. Look, Jeremiah literally spent 10 days waiting upon the Lord to get a message of the Lord, they came to Jeremiah, okay? It's not like Jeremiah hunted them down for a message, they came to Jeremiah, they asked him, can you ask God? Jeremiah goes to God, God gives him his word, he preaches it faithfully, and they say, you're lying, Jeremiah, you're not telling us the truth, okay? Why are they responding that way? Because they're proud men, okay? Pride's going to stop you from receiving God's word. And they said, apparently the lie is that God did not tell you, go not into Egypt to sojourn thee, okay? So Jeremiah's telling them, don't go to Egypt, stay on the land. And they say, no, that's a lie. God did not tell you that we can't go into Egypt, okay? Now, James chapter four, verse number six, can you please keep your finger there and go to Proverbs 13? You go to Proverbs 13 for me, go to Proverbs 13, I'm going to read to you from James chapter four, verse number six, which says, but he giveth more grace, wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble. If you want to receive God's grace, yes, for salvation, you need to humble yourself, okay? If you're not already saved and understand and accept, the only way to heaven is by humbling yourself, by saying, look, I can't make it on my own, I'm not good enough for heaven. In fact, I'm a wicked man, and fully trust upon the sacrifice of Jesus Christ alone, as your way to heaven. It's by grace through faith alone, okay? But even if you are saved, if you want to receive God's grace in your life, then you need to once again, humble yourself and not be proud. God resisteth the proud. Now you're in Proverbs chapter 13, I hope, look at Proverbs chapter 13 and verse number 10. Why were these people pushing against Jeremiah? As I already told you, it's because of pride, but Proverbs 13 verse number 10 says, only by pride cometh contention. Why is it that people contend in church? Why is there fighting amongst brethren or fighting amongst believers sometimes? It's because of pride, okay? Only by pride cometh contention, but with the well-advised is wisdom. You see, pride will get to turn against the preacher. It will get to turn against God's word. And as we saw there in verse number 2 in Jeremiah chapter 43, the men, the proud men, they gathered together. You see, it's not enough for someone that is proud, full of pride to say, yeah, I reject that from the preacher. What do they do? They seek other people that are proud. They seek other people that will turn, that help them turn against the preacher and speak out against him and say, you're lying. You're not telling us the truth. When we know very clearly that Jeremiah was preaching the truth of God's word. You're in Proverbs. Please go to Proverbs 16. Proverbs 16, please. Proverbs 16 verse number 18. Proverbs 16 verse number 18. Not only will pride lead you to reject God's word and cause contention amongst the brethren, but we also notice in Proverbs 16 verse 18, it says pride goeth before destruction and in haughty spirit, haughty is just now we're saying prideful, and haughty spirit before a fall. You see, before someone falls and destroys themselves, destroys their reputation, destroys their ministry, destroys their testimony, the first thing that comes before that happens is pride. And so these people are proud. They're going to make the ultimate decision to go into Egypt and there they will be destroyed, okay? If you struggle with pride, and as I said, we all struggle with pride, but some more than others, okay? You need to take that down. You need to be a humble person, okay? And the best way to accept humility and understand humility is just stop comparing yourself to your fellow man, compare yourself to the Lord God, compare yourself to Jesus Christ, okay? Instead of thinking of yourself higher above your station, look at God and see how far you are from being a truly holy person, okay? Because we all struggle with sin. As soon as you can acknowledge that you're a sinner, and that you do wickedness, and that you're wrong, and you have crazy imaginations that do not please God, then you can accept that and say, well, I need to humble myself to receive God's grace so I can walk in his ways. Back to Jeremiah 43 verse number 3. Jeremiah 43 verse number 3. So these men, these proud men, they're still talking. They say, but Baruch. Now you may remember who Baruch is. Baruch was Jeremiah's assistant, okay? Jeremiah would speak God's word, and Baruch would be there writing God's word. We have the book of Jeremiah because of Baruch. Baruch is the one that was penning down the words as Jeremiah was being moved by the Holy Ghost. But this is what they say about Baruch. They say, but Baruch, the son of Neriah, set of thee on against us. So they're saying, the reason you're preaching against us, Jeremiah, is because of Baruch. Now I don't know exactly why they despise Baruch. I guess Baruch was also a great faithful man, okay? But instead of attacking Jeremiah directly, they attack him indirectly by saying that Baruch has turned you against us, okay? Notice this. For to deliver us into the hand of the Chaldeans, that they might put us to death and carry us away captives into Babylon. So again, they're afraid that if they stay in the land, okay, that the Babylonians are going to come, they're going to be displeased, that Getaliah has been killed, and that they'll take him into captivity or put them to death, okay? Even though that was contrary to what God had said. Now, what are they doing? What are they doing? They're basically not only just saying that Jeremiah, you're not preaching God's word. They're not just saying, Jeremiah, you're lying to us. They're saying, Jeremiah, you have an ulterior motive. You have a different reason why you preach that message, okay? And the reason is because Baruch has influenced you. Baruch has turned you against us and you're not speaking the truth. Boy, you know, that gets thrown around a lot, okay? You know, a faithful preacher who's just trying to do what God has instructed his people to do. People will turn around that do not like the preaching and they'll say, you have an ulterior motive, you know? Some of the things that I've heard in my ministry and I know that has been heard in other people's ministry is they'll say, oh, you're preaching for the money. You know, you became a pastor because you wanted to become wealthy and, you know, you were stuck in some dead-end job and so you're doing it for them. You have some ulterior motive. You know, you're not truly seeking to just preach God's word faithfully. You're doing it for the money. I've had that said about me and if anybody knows me, if anyone knows my work history, you'll know that the last thing, the last reason, in fact, it's not even a reason for becoming a pastor, becoming a preacher was for the money. You know, I'd be making so much more if I just stayed in my job. Okay, so much more. You know, but people throw these things so they'll, because they don't like what the preacher has said. They don't like the truth of God's word and so they have to, there must be an ulterior reason, okay? Instead of just saying, hey, I don't like what was preached. Instead of saying, hey, you know what? I'm going to disobey God. So you must have an alternative reason, okay? Or it must be money. You got a dead-end job and you're just looking for some, listen, being an IFB pastor is not going to get you rich, okay? But as I said, I've had that thrown at me that, you know, the decisions you make for the church or the reason you preach what you preach is because, you know, it's for the money. Something like, what in the world? My preaching is not popular. You know, we're not going to make the big bucks like Hillsong, okay? But that's what people, again, there's no legitimacy to what they're saying. They're saying it because they don't like what is being preached, okay? Even though it's coming straight from God's word. The other thing that I've heard is, you became a pastor for the easy life, right? Instead of working a nine to five job every single day, you know, you just get up and preach, you know, three times a week. Yeah, but you know, you don't know how long it takes to prepare a sermon that's going to feed God's people. You don't know how long the pastor spends praying for the families of the church. You don't know how long, you know, all these other requirements as a pastor, you know, just the administrative work for the church, you know, these things, because they're not seen, people think you've just got this easy, cozy job that doesn't require much from you. And you know what? Running a church is like running a business. I, you know, we run, I run two churches. It's like running two businesses in a sense, right? I mean, it still requires a lot of administrative effort just to look after a single church. But people claim whatever they want to claim. You know, some people claim, oh, you become a pastor, you're a preacher because you want the recognition, right? You want to have this office and you want to be lifted up above men and you want to be seen as someone that is more holy. And no, in fact, the pastor is a servant. The pastor is a minister. Jeremiah is a minister. He's a servant. He's preaching God's Word to the people. They're the Jews, so they can be closer to the Lord. And he realizes that he's going to be seen as the bad guy sometimes just by faithfully preaching God's Word. Okay. Some people think, oh, you know, it's just full of recognition. You know, you just want to have the total pastor. Wow. No, no. I mean, look, there are people like that, but those people, they're not going to faithfully preach God's Word. They're not going to faithfully preach all the words of God, even if it's unpopular, even though it might offend somebody. No. You know, what other things? Oh, you know, because I'm friends with some other pastors, you know, I've had people say, oh, the reason you preach X, Y, and Z is because Pastor Anderson told you to preach that. Okay. And, you know, the only reason, you know, that's a Pastor Anderson doctrine, I've heard people say, it's like, are you ridiculous? I mean, I've heard people say to me, you know, we've preached about reprobates, people that have rejected God, and God has rejected them, and I've had people reach out to me and say, that's a Pastor Anderson doctrine. And you know what? The first time I heard that was from my old Baptist pastor, okay, mainline Baptist church. He taught that some people can get too far from God where God gives up on them, and God will never allow the light of the gospel to shine to them, and they'll never be saved. They can walk this earth and never be saved. Okay. And look, most of the doctrines, the vast majority, 90, I would say, 98, 99% of the doctrines that I preach are things that I've heard from multiple churches, multiple pastors, and in my own study. But people, when they don't like it, oh, it must be because you're trying to appease this person or appease that person. And it's just ridiculous. It's stupid. Okay. Why do people say that once again? Because they're full of pride and they reject God's word. But they don't want to say that. They don't want to say, I reject God's word. They want to say, you're wrong, you're lying, you have ulterior motives. So if anyone wants to become a pastor or a preacher, you got to remember, these things are going to come your way, and you need to learn how to address this. You know, instead of making excuses for God's word, instead of saying that, oh, the pastor or the preacher, you know, has ulterior motives, why don't you just admit and say, you know what, I heard some truth from God's word today. I heard some truth from a Jeremiah today and I'm just not ready to obey. How about that? Okay. Instead of saying the preacher's lying, instead of saying the preacher has ulterior motives, why don't you just turn around and say, you know what, I'm not ready to obey. God have mercy upon me. God, please be merciful upon me. I'm not ready to obey. But at least acknowledge this is true and just put your hand up and say, look, I'm not ready to obey. I would rather disobey at this point in my life, God, please help me to be more obedient in the future. Please prepare my heart to have an obedient heart so I can make the necessary changes in my life in the near future, Lord. You're better off doing that because at least that's showing some humility. At least you're acknowledging that what you heard is true but the problem is you. The problem can be me as well, brethren. You know, just because I get behind the pulpit and preach God's word, don't forget, there are many things in God's word, obviously, that I'm not perfect in, things that I've done wrong and things that I need to just remember as a preacher which helps the humility that I've sinned, I've done wrong, I've struggled in areas and there are times that I disobey as well and I need to hear God's preaching even when I'm preaching to other people, I'm preaching to myself as well. Let's go back there to Jeremiah 43 and verse number 4. Jeremiah 43 and verse number 4. So Johanan, the son of Korea, and all the captains of the forces and all the people obeyed not the voice of the Lord to dwell in the land of Judah. All the people, not just the leaders there, not just the captains, not just the proud, but obviously they had an influence on all the people and they all disobeyed God. They obeyed not the voice of the Lord. Now imagine being Jeremiah, you know, you've just poured out your heart, you've just preached God's word faithfully, you knew that it was going to be an unpopular sermon, but the people in the congregation, they actually said, just preach whatever you have to preach, Jeremiah, whether it's good, whether it's evil, we're going to obey, right? You preach your heart out, can you imagine the whole congregation disobeying God? The whole congregation saying, you're lying. I think if that happened, you know, where I'm faithfully preaching God's word and God's people just said, no, we don't want anything to do with it, we all disobey, I think that would break my heart as a preacher. You know, I'm still quite new in the ministry, right? I'm going nearly four years as a pastor, you know, when you compare yourself to Jeremiah, he's been doing this for decades, I'm still very new as a pastor, okay? But thankfully for Jeremiah, and I think I'd be very discouraged, like, I feel like, well, what's the point of me preaching if everybody, every single person, you know, is disobeying and not listening to what I have to say, I don't want to throw in the towel, I think I don't want to quit, right? Thankfully, Jeremiah, you know, he's been preaching for a long time, as I said, he's been preaching for decades, and so he's a seasoned preacher, he's a seasoned preacher, and he's already experienced throughout all his ministry, people rejecting him as a prophet, people rejecting his words, okay? So this is nothing new, but unfortunately, you know, God has given them another chance, and there's still the Jews here, they're so stiff-necked, they're still not listening to God's word. And, you know, as we read through Jeremiah, you may feel like sometimes it's quite repetitive, you know, the chapters might seem very similar, and it's because they're stiff-necked people, and we need to remind ourselves that we can be stiff-necked people as well, we need to hear the same things time and time again, you know? Hopefully, you know, you hear it once, and it chips away a little bit at your heart and heart, you hear it twice, it chips away a little bit more, you hear it again, maybe finally a breakthrough, and you can receive God's word. So, you know, what I learned from this is that we should never give up preaching the truth, even when the whole world turns against you and says, no, you're lying, you've got ulterior motives, you know, instead of being discouraged and cast down, you know, a preacher of God's word should continue preaching the truth. You know, Australia is a very unreceptive country to the gospel of Jesus Christ. I've gone soul-winning in the United States, and I've heard, you know, American believers say it's unreceptive in the United States, but you know what? Every single time I've gone out soul-winning up there, I've got an assault saved, or two souls saved, you know, multiple souls saved, you know, every single time I've gone out there, okay, it's not unreceptive. Boy, if I could go out in Australia and every single time I'd go out, I'd be guaranteed a salvation somewhere, oh boy, you know, that would be so exciting. But Australia is different, you know, our hearts are hardened even more, there's less of a fear of God in our nation. But, that, you know, as a preacher of the gospel, that doesn't mean we give up, we continue, okay, we might go days, we might go weeks, where we see nobody receive God's word, nobody receive the gospel, you need to just keep, you know, preaching the same gospel time and time again, and we know, if you've been in our church, you know, that we can go through some droughts with soul-winning, but then, there's a soul that gets saved, praise God, right? And it can be a very slow process. So I'm looking forward to what might come out on the other side of COVID world, of the lockdowns, because I truly believe that people's hearts are fearful, people's hearts are afraid, okay, I believe the pride of man is being taken down a notch, and I think our country, at least our nation, will be more receptive to God's word, following all of this COVID nonsense, okay? Back to Jeremiah 43 verse number 5, Jeremiah 43 verse number 5, it says, But Johanan, the son of Korea, and all the captains of the forces, took all the remnant of Judah that were returned from the nations, whither they had been driven to dwell in the land of Judah, even men and women and children and the king's daughters, and every person that Nebazadun, the captain of the guard, had left with Gedaliah, the son of Ahicham, the son of Shaphan, and notice this, so you have all these people, okay, all the men, the women, the children, they're all making their way to Egypt, okay? But notice who else goes with them, it says, So the only two guys that are faithful to God, Jeremiah and Baruch, guess what? They also follow the group into Egypt. Now I thought this was quite interesting. You might say, well, you know, is Jeremiah and Baruch, are they disobeying God? Because God did tell them to stay in the land, God did tell them don't go into Egypt. Why is Jeremiah following the group? Well, we can know something for sure. Jeremiah is not in disobedience, okay? We can know that for sure. The reason we can know that is because later in this chapter, God has a message for the people through Jeremiah when they get to Egypt, okay? Meaning that God had a sermon for Jeremiah ready to go when he got to Egypt, okay? So Jeremiah is not being disobedient, God has a purpose for Jeremiah in Egypt as they go and follow the group that is headed that way, okay? But here's what I believe we can take out of this, okay? It might seem attractive to let these people go into Egypt and for Jeremiah and Baruch to just start all over again, stay in the land, literally there's nobody there now, okay? You've got all the other people have already been taken into captivity into Babylon, now you have the remaining few, the poor of the land, they're making their way to Egypt, there's literally no one left on the land, okay? It might seem very tempting to just settle down, find the biggest nicest house with a swimming pool, take it over, you know, plant your own garden, have your own family, right? Grow your own crops, right? You literally have the choice of any city, any house you want to live in, that could be tempting. Jeremiah has been preaching for a long time, he has suffered a lot, okay? He has suffered a lot of rejection, he's been thrown in prison, he's been thrown in the dungeon. You might say, well maybe Jeremiah, maybe now it's time for you to retire, take it easy Jeremiah, you stay in the land. No, he goes and follows after the group. And so what I believe we can learn from this brethren, that it is important to stay as God's people, as people, yes, myself as a pastor, preachers of a church, but I'm not just talking about these people, I'm talking all of us as preachers of the gospel, all of us as children of God. It's important for us to stay in populated areas, so we can be used by God to preach his gospel to this lost and dying world, okay? You know, we should never be people that try to seek, you know, a place that is, you know, so rural and far away, away from the population. Again, it might seem tempting, especially during these times of lockdowns, where the major cities, where the more populated areas are being locked down, it can be very tempting to say, you know what, I'm going to go and live in the northern territory, in the middle of nowhere, so I can have my freedoms. But then how can you be used by God to preach his word when there's no one else there? God does not want us to take some holiday in the middle of nowhere, okay? You know, it's not God's desire that God's people, you know, that we, you know, here in Sydney, blessed up Baptist Church, you know, we get together with New Life Baptist Church and the Sunshine Coast, you know, we sell everything that we have and we just fly in the middle of nowhere and we say look, we'll just build a compound, you know, just a religious compound and we just have, you know, Pastor Kevin as our cult leader and you know, we're just going to intermingle, our kids are going to marry each other, we're going to school each other's kids, you know, we don't have to deal with the rest of this world, we can live at peace, that's not what God wants. That would be crazy, that would be insane. I don't want to live with you guys anyway, you know, God has a purpose for us in this world right now, okay? Christ says in John 17 15, this is what Christ says about his disciples, I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil. God wants us operating in this world. God wants us operating in populated areas that we can shine the light of Christ, that we can be the soul and light of this world, brethren, okay? Please don't make crazy plans of selling everything and finding some land in the middle of nowhere, some farm in the middle of nowhere, where you'll be without a church, you'll be without brethren, okay? You're going to become watered down and lazy and no use to God out there, it's best to stay where the people are, where the lost people are, yes, even in the times of these difficult periods of lockdown and restrictions, we're better off in populated areas where God can use us in a mighty way, okay? And so Jeremiah, he stays in the land, he's got no one to preach to, you know, God can't use Jeremiah if he stays in Judah, and so he follows the people into Egypt to continue preaching God's word unto them. Can you please look at verse number seven, Jeremiah 43 verse number seven. So they came into the land of Egypt, for they obeyed not, there is again, they obeyed not the voice of the Lord, thus came they even to Tapanis, Tapanis. All right, once again, you know, Jeremiah is not this obeying God, because in the next verse, you see how God will use Jeremiah here in Egypt. Verse number eight. Then came the word of the Lord unto Jeremiah in Tapanis, saying, take great stones in thine hand. Let me try to illustrate this. I didn't really, anyway, all right, I'll use my, I'll use my cup here and this stapler. He goes, take great stones in thine hand, and hide them in the clay in the brick kiln, which is at the entry of Pharaoh's house in Tapanis in the sight of the men of Judah. So let's say this is the brick kiln right here. Okay, say, what is that? Well, tell me in a minute, you know, God tells Jeremiah, take your great stones and put them there, put them inside, hide them inside the brick kiln. Say, what is a brick kiln? Well, we often refer to it just simply as kiln. A kiln, is that how you pronounce it? Anyway, I remember basically, when I was there, I think I was, where was I? It was high school. We were doing arts and crafts, and I remember, maybe many of you have done the same thing, where you take clay and you make pottery out of it. You know, I remember making a cup or something like that, and then you take it and you put it in the kiln. Okay, to basically, because the clay can be molded, and when you put it there, it gets, you know, you put it in there, it gets heated up, it takes away all the moisture, and the clay gets hardened. Okay, so it can be used as pottery. All right, so this is what Jeremiah is doing in Egypt, and so again, heats up the clay. You know, Jeremiah's basically using an object lesson to teach the Jews something here in Egypt. Look at verse number 10. And say unto them, Thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, Behold, I will send and take Nebuchadrezzar, the king of Babylon, my servant, and will set his throne upon these stones, that I have hid, and he shall spread his royal pavilion over them. So this is what I, as best as I can understand this illustration, this is what I believe it means. Okay, the brick kiln, kiln, kiln, kiln. Anyway, you know what I'm talking about. Okay, where the pottery is being warmed up. Okay, that represents Egypt. Then the stones that are being hidden in there, they represent the Jews. Don't forget the Jews have escaped or they've left Judah to hide from Nebuchadnezzar, okay, into Egypt. So they're hiding there. Okay, but we know that that place is like a furnace, it's going to be heated up. And so the furnace, the turn up of the heat is the Babylonians. Okay, the Babylonians are going to come and they're going to turn up the heat, they're going to turn up the pressure. And so, you know, what God is saying that Egypt and the Jews, they're all going to fall under the hand of Nebuchadrezzar or Nebuchadnezzar. Okay, so even though you've gone to hide into Egypt, Nebuchadnezzar is going to find you there. Okay, and he's going to heat up the place and the Egyptians and the Jews are all going to be oppressed and put under the authority of Nebuchadnezzar. So this is about the Babylonians taking over Egypt. Okay, and the other thing that I want you to remember here or something that I want you to notice, and here comes the unpopular preaching. Are you ready to hear something unpopular? Are you ready to think in your mind for the pride in your heart to be lifted up and say, well, Pastor Kevin must be lying. Okay, are you ready? Okay, let's go back to verse number 10 again. It says, Behold, I will send and take Nebuchadrezzar, the king of Babylon, my servant. Say, Nebuchadnezzar, he's oppressing the people. He's taken over the countries. Nebuchadnezzar is a wicked king. It's the kingdom of Babylon. They've got false gods. That kingdom does not worship the God of the Bible. Why does God call them my servants? Brethren, are you feeling oppressed by the Australian government? You know who they are? They're God's servants. There's the unpopular statement. Okay, there's the unpopular statement. Are you going to be filled up with pride or are you going to receive God's word with joy? And it's up to you. Okay, it's up to you. You say, but we've been oppressed, Pastor Kevin. We're under lockdown. Victoria's on its sixth lockdown. Sunshine Coast, we might have the lockdowns extend the Newcastle now. You know, a city, when's it going to end? I don't know. You know, we've got to wear the mask, not just indoors, outdoors. They're putting the pressure to take their vaccinations. How can you say these are God's servants? In what way are they God's servants? Because God has instilled authority and government over the nations. Even a power, there is a brand new power in the land. Okay, they come in and they take over the existing powers. You know, I've said this a few times, but they don't care. You know, the Babylonians, they don't care about the constitution of Israel. They don't care about the constitution of Judah. They don't care about the constitution of Egypt. They come in and they wipe them out and they're the new power now. Okay, brethren, listen, we know that in the end times there's a mystery Babylon. There's still a mystery Babylon. There's a spirit of Babylon in the world today and we have seen it. Okay, and yes, you know what? They're as wicked as Nebuchadnezzar was wicked. That spiritual Babylon is as ungodly as Nebuchadnezzar's kingdom was ungodly and yet God still calls them my servants. You know what's going to get you through lockdown? You know what's going to keep you at peace? When you can just turn around and say, you know what? This oppressive, wicked government, God is using them for his purpose. God is bringing judgment upon Australia, upon this world, by these wicked people and then, you know, if you don't like it, which I don't like either, okay, remind yourself that God will then judge Babylon. Okay, God will judge them for their wickedness. Okay, we saw, we see later on that the kingdom of Babylon gets taken over by the Persians. Okay, they get destroyed as well. Just remind yourself this. I know it's hard to accept but our government is a servant of God. Okay, I've been oppressed. Well, how oppressive were they here? Okay, now before we keep going, I'm going to just remind yourself of Romans chapter 13. There you are again, Pastor Kevin. Romans 13. Can't you preach about anything else? That's the Bible. Romans 13 verse 6. For this cause, pay your tribute also, for they are God's ministers, attending continually upon this very thing. That's referring to the government. They are God's ministers. What's a minister? A servant. Okay, and say, but maybe back then, you know, they had godly government. Maybe that's why it's God's ministers. No, Paul is writing to the Romans. They're under Roman, you know, it's a Roman Empire. That's in charge there. The Roman Empire did not love God. They did not serve the God of the Bible. They had their own false gods. They were full of wickedness. Their kingdom was full of homosexuality and all kinds of, you know, sins and wickedness. And you know what? God still refers to them in the New Testament as his ministers. You know what? Our government that's oppressing us, that's making our life hard, as much as I'm disappointed and it frustrates me, what gets me through this is understanding that they are God's servants and God is using them for his purposes. And so it's easier to go through a period of lockdown instead of being frustrated and angry and say, well, God, you do what you have to do. God, you had to burn down Judah. You know, you have to destroy Egypt. God, you have to destroy Australia. If that's what you need to do and you're putting it in the hands of a wicked government to destroy this nation, so be it, God, okay? So be it, God, it's time for Australia to be judged. I mean, there's so much wickedness in our nation, brethren. Sometimes we forget. You know, we're so selfish about our own freedoms, we need to remember our nation has rejected God and God is bringing his hand of judgment upon this nation. But you know what? I'm a child of that same God. And I know things, you know, if we just be like Jeremiah and Baruch and be ready to be used by God in whatever situation we find ourselves in, then God will take care of us. God will make sure that it's not as hard upon us, you know, as he pulls his judgment upon Australia as it will be upon those that are disobeying God. So you say, well, I'm very oppressed. I'm suffering, you know, mental health. And we are, many Australians are, even Christians are, okay? And you know, the masks and the lockdowns and you know, five kilometres, 10 kilometres, we can't travel outside of that. But look how oppressive Babylon was. Look how oppressive Babylon was. Let's keep going, look at verse number 11. And when he cometh, that's when Nebuchadnezzar comes, when Babylon comes, he shall smite the land of Egypt and deliver such as are for death to death and such as are for captivity to captivity and such as are for the sword to the sword. What are we seeing? You know what? You put it on that mask and look, you have the freedom to decide, okay? You have your liberties, you do what you believe is right, okay? You know, don't go against your own conscience, okay? But make sure your conscience is lined up with God's word, okay? But instead of whining and complaining about the lockdowns and the masks and the five kilometres that you can travel, at least the sword, at least you're not being pierced by the sword. It could be worse is what I'm saying, okay? If God was going to judge Australia, the way he's judging Egypt, then people will be put to death by the sword, okay? There will be great warfare and people will be destroyed. You say, well, we are being destroyed by the vaccinations and you know, I do believe many people have died through vaccinations and I know there are other people that have died from the virus legitimately, okay? Well, you know what? It still can be worse, okay? Captivity, death, warfare, okay? And this is what took place with God's people trying to hide in Egypt, okay? You know what we're required to do? When we hear God's word, we just be obedient to God's word and things will turn out better if we just stay true to God's word and just understand that God is bringing his judgment upon this world, okay? I think it's time that we accept that. This is God's judgment. God is in control. God is allowing the wicked governments, wicked politicians to carry out his ultimate plan. Whatever that might be. We need to be ready. We need to be like Jeremiah and Baruch. We need to be ready to preach God's word when the opportunity presents itself. Look at verse number 12. God says, and I will kindle a fire in the houses of the gods of Egypt. So God is saying he does this, but he's doing it by the hand of Nebuchadnezzar, his servant, okay? So what is God's purpose? He's destroying the houses of the gods of Egypt, okay? And he shall burn them and carry them away captives and he shall array himself with the land of Egypt as a shepherd put off on his garments and he shall go forth from thence in peace. He shall break also the images of Beth Shemesh that is in the land of Egypt and the houses of the gods of the Egyptians shall he burn with fire. So brethren, even though Nebuchadnezzar is wicked, the king of Babylon is wicked, God's ultimate purpose as he brings judgment upon Egypt is to destroy the gods of Egypt, okay? And what am I seeing? What am I seeing with all these lockdowns? I'm seeing the gods of Australia being destroyed, okay? The gods of Australia being destroyed. You know what? We have the JWs. The JWs going out, you know, door-to-door preaching their false gospel, you know, contrary to God's word. They've not preached, okay? They've not gone door-to-door since the pandemic started. Internationally, okay? They've not been out there for, what is it? It's probably almost two years where they've not even gone out anymore. Praise God. He's taken down the false gods of Australia. At least us, at least we've been still going out. You know, yes, during the lockdown, we've been restricted, but when we've had the openings, we've been out there faithfully preaching God's word, and I speak to some of you, you've used this opportunity of lockdown to preach the gospel to your family and friends. Praise God, okay? The JWs, they're not able to serve their false god the way they used to. You know, what's another god of Australia? What about all the sporting events? You know, the NRL, all the NRL teams, they shipped them all off into Queensland, you know, not long ago, so they could play their full season of football up there. Well, guess what? Now Queensland's locked down. Now South East Queensland's locked down and their season is interrupted once again. They can't play their footy, okay? That is a god of Australia, okay? We literally have tens of thousands of people, and look, I go to some sporting events as well, okay? I do enjoy my soccer, let me admit that, okay? But you know what? I'm rejoicing to see the gods of Australia being taken down. We literally have tens of thousands of people chanting and singing for their team, when really people of Australia should be singing praises unto the Lord. You know, maybe God is just bringing down these lockdowns to destroy the gods of Australia. What about out in the weekend or after work? You know, we have our fellow Australians going out, getting drunk at some club, you know, going partying and drinking it up and fornicating and getting out there. Brevin, that's been shut down. That industry has been shut down at their clubbing in that kind of scene. That's another god of Australia, and that's been burnt to the ground. So you know what? You know what I say? Let God burn down Australia. Let God burn down these gods of Australia. Unfortunately, as God's people, we're going to get caught up in God's judgment because we live here, okay? But hey, did Beric and Jeremiah go and hide? Did they go find their own little place in Judah and Judea and make something of themselves? No, they went where the people went, okay? Because they wanted to be used by God in a mighty way, in a powerful way to be able to preach God's word and be faithful and honest to his word. You know, if you're a Christian, I understand the frustrations, okay? Number one, just understand the powers that be, as wicked as they are, they are God's servants. Leave them in God's hand, okay? Pray for them. Pray that God will use them in whatever way he needs to, and then pray that God will judge them for their wickedness as well, okay? That'll help you, you know, when you understand that. Number two, don't get the idea to run away and to flee to some rural place where you can escape it all. No, God needs you in populated areas. God needs his people, okay? And we're going to be used in a mighty way. I have no doubt about this. God's going to use his people in a mighty way soon, okay? In this COVID, once we get through this COVID world, okay, God's going to use us in a great way, okay? And number three, you know, let go of the gods of Australia. Let it burn. Let it burn, okay? I do believe it's going to benefit our mission as Christians to be able to be used by God in a greater capacity. All right, brethren, as I said, unpopular sermons, unpopular preaching. I'm sure an unpopular preacher myself. Hey, but so was Jeremiah, okay? So I always say this, if you're going to get mad at anybody, get mad at Jeremiah. No, don't get mad, okay? If you say, I can't accept it right now, Pastor Kevin. I can't accept, I'm too frustrated. You know what? You know, I can't accept the truth or don't become prideful. Don't be lifted with pride because then you're going to lead yourself to destruction. Just admit and say, you know what? I'm just, it's too hard right now for me to accept. I know it's true. I know you're preaching for Jeremiah. I know the same thing took place in the time of Jeremiah, okay? I'm not ready to accept it right now, but go and pray to God. Ask God for His mercy. Ask God that He would open your eyes. Ask God that He will soften your heart to receive His word even when it's unpopular. Okay, let's pray.