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All right, we're there in Jeremiah 48, and look at verse number 47, the last verse. It says, Yet will I bring again the captivity of Moab in the latter days, saith the Lord, Thus far is the judgment of Moab. The title for the sermon tonight is The Judgment of Moab. Now, I've already shared with you how these last chapters of Jeremiah is Jeremiah preaching against Gentile nations. You know, when we've gone through the book of Jeremiah, we've noticed that it's a very negative book. And you know, especially the first few chapters, I don't know if it was like 15, first 15, 17 chapters, very, very negative. And then it changes a corner a little bit, because Jeremiah starts preaching about how, you know, one day they're going to come back into the land, the Jews, after the captivity. And there's a very positive message how the Lord's going to bless them, and bring the children back, and they're going to be with the Lord once again. And so, you know, it has these different flavors. And then we go into later on, into the later chapters of Jeremiah. And we have the story of Jeremiah, very interesting, just a history of what took place while Babylon had Jerusalem under siege. And now we're in the last few chapters where he's again preaching against the Gentiles. Remember, Jeremiah was a prophet unto the nations. And again, they're very negative chapters. And I, you know, I'm going to do my best to put a positive spin on what I see. But at the end of the day, Brevin, I have to preach what is negative, because that's what's coming from the book of Jeremiah. Now, a lot of the feedback that I've received from different people is that going through the book of Jeremiah has been a real blessing during these times of lockdown and restrictions, because we can relate to what takes place. I felt that way. I felt like the book of Jeremiah has really helped me open my eyes, and to understand the judgment of God. And as I said, other families, other people have shared with me that it's been a real blessing to help them see what we're going through in these days with a new perspective through the lens of the Bible. So let's start there in verse number one. It says Jeremiah 48, verse number one, against Moab. So Moab is a Gentile nation, okay, it has nothing to do with Jews, Moab. Thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, woe unto Nebo, for it is spoiled. Kiriathium is confounded and taken, Mizgab is confounded and dismayed. Now, there's a lot of cities that are mentioned. So Moab is a nation, Nebu, Kiriathium, and Mizgab, these are cities, other cities are mentioned as well, as we keep going through this chapter. So it's got a little difficult, a lot of difficult names in the chapter. But first thing I want you to understand, if you can keep your finger there and go to Genesis 19, let's understand who the Moabites are, okay. So we have the Moabites that come from Moab. Who were they? As far as the history of these people, where do they come from? And actually, they're very closely related with the children of Israel. So if you go to Genesis 19, verse number 36, you may recall the story of Abraham. Of course, Abraham would have his son Isaac, and Isaac would have Jacob, Jacob would have his name changed to Israel, and his children will become the children of Israel. But Abraham had a nephew, that nephew was Lot. And the very famous story of Sodom and Gomorrah takes place with Lot being pulled out of that city by the angels. Now, after Lot was pulled out of that city with his two daughters, you may recall a very gnarly, you know, this story that took place. But what we see here in Genesis 19, verse number 36, it says, Thus were both the daughters of Lot, with child by their father. And the first born bear a son, and called his name Moab. So that's where you get the Moabites from. The same is the father of the Moabites unto this day. So this is the child of the eldest daughter of Lot. Then it says in verse number 38, and the younger, she also bear a son, and called his name Ben Ami, the same is the father of the children of Ammon unto this day. So we learn where the Moabites come from, and the Ammonites, children of Ammon, where they come from, they come from this relationship between Lot and his daughters, which is pretty disgusting, you know, but anyway, it's what took place in this strange time. And you can see how there is that kind of relation because Lot was the nephew of Abraham who would eventually become an ancestor to the Israelites and the Jews. So there is a close relationship there as far as the ancestry goes, but they are an entirely different nation. Now, if you go back to Jeremiah 48, in fact, go to Jeremiah 49 now, and look at verse number one, Jeremiah 49, verse number one, what we see at the beginning of the chapter 49, it says, concerning the Ammonites. So the Ammonites, you know, from the younger daughter of Lot, and the Moabites are from the older daughter. So concerning the Ammonites, thus saith the Lord, have Israel no sons, have he no heir? Why then doth the king inherit Gad and his people dwell in the cities? So just want to show you that Jeremiah 48, the whole chapter deals with the Moabites, chapter 49, at least the beginning of it deals with the Ammonites. And of course, these are descendants of that relationship with, you know, Lot and his daughters. All right, back to Jeremiah 48, verse number two, it says, there shall no more praise, sorry, there shall be no more praise of Moab in Heshbon, that's another city, they have devised evil against that come and let us cut it off from being a nation. And thou shall also be cut down, O madman, now madman there is another city. Okay, I know what we might think there that we're talking about crazy people, maybe there is a parallel there, I don't know. But O madman, there is another city, the sword shall pursue thee, a voice of crying shall be in horai name, spoiling and great destruction. So again, just showing you the list of the cities or list of towns that are going to be suffering the judgment of God. Verse number four says, Moab is destroyed, her little ones have caused a cry to be heard. Now the first thing I want to show you in this chapter here is that when God judges a nation, again, God's hand of judgment is going to be through the Babylonians, okay, but the children are going to suffer. We see here that the little ones, the children are going to cry, their cry is going to be heard throughout the land, I assume because their parents are being separated, their fathers are dying in warfare by the hands of the Babylonians, maybe even some little ones are losing their life as well during this takeover. But one thing I just want to drive home brethren, and especially if you're a parent, you know, your sins, the consequences of your sins will be passed down onto your children, so be careful about what you do, you know, if you live a lifestyle that is far from God and wicked and, you know, you're causing destruction upon yourself, sin doesn't just affect you, it affects those that you love, it affects those that you're around, and it's going to affect your children. You know, many times when parents get into sins, their children will also develop that same sin and maybe even take it to an extreme, okay, so there is always a consequence to children, as sad it is this is a reality of a nation that sins against the Lord. Let's keep going, verse number five, it says, for in the going up of luthith continual weeping shall go up, so another city there, and for the, sorry, for in the going down of heronium the enemies have heard a cry of destruction, okay, so that cry of destruction again is that by the hands of the Babylonians. Now it's interesting in verse number six, the instruction that God gives to Jeremiah to the Moabites. Now when we're looking at most of the book of Jeremiah, the instruction to the Jews was what? To fight against the Babylonians? No. To run away to Egypt and flee from destruction? No. In fact, any of those decisions, if someone were to make them, they were to be, they were destroyed, they would lose their lives, okay, the instruction that God gave to Jeremiah to the Jews was basically surrender to the Babylonians, okay, they're going to be taken into captivity and during that 70 years of captivity they're going to be able to live out their lives, okay, they're going to build houses, get married, do all everything that, you know, you're required to do in life, they're going to do that basically under captivity by the Babylonians, but God gives a different instruction to the Moabites here, okay. So it says in verse number six, flee, save your lives and be like the heath in the wilderness. So notice the instruction's different, flee, get out of there. Now as we've been studying for the book of Jeremiah, we're trying to find the parallels with our time, okay, and as I've been teaching the church, as unpopular as it is, you know, if we're going to build our understanding on the word of God, you know, I've been saying, hey, when it comes to the restrictions, when it comes to the requirements that, you know, are being put down on the church in your life, just submit, just surrender to this foreign power, to this power, you know, that's, you know, taken away our rights and our liberties. As hard as it is, this was the message that Jeremiah was given to the people of God, but notice to a Gentile, to a wicked Gentile nation that does not know God is their God, the instruction is to flee and you might say, well, then pastor Kevin, maybe we're meant to flee, maybe instead of, you know, surrendering and, you know, obeying the governments, even in their weakness, maybe the right instruction should have been to get out of Sydney, to flee. In fact, you know, I joke around sometimes with people and they're like, get out of Sydney, come on, get back to Queensland. Well, first of all, I can't even get past five kilometres, let alone get out of Sydney, but anyway, if I got to the border of Queensland, I probably wouldn't be able to get across anyway, but here's the thing, brethren, one thing that you need to understand is it might be tempting to flee, okay, and that is the instruction that they're being given here, to save their lives, to flee, but notice what kind of life they're going to live if they fled. It says in verse number six, flee, save your lives and be like the heath in the wilderness. So let's talk about a land that is infertile, a land that is, you know, unproductive, okay, and so you have the choice, right? To God's people, it will surrender and they can actually live a proper life, they can live their lives, they can have children and the children will one day come back to the land or like the mobile to be instructed, you can flee and that can be tempting, but you're going to have a very unproductive life. You're going to be like as it were a heath in the wilderness and so actually surrendering to the Babylonians was actually better for people than it was to flee because if you fled, you'd just be unproductive and you'd be a waste, okay? At least those that surrendered had a promise of a future, of future generations to be able to come back to the land and worship God. Verse number seven, and by the way, you know, that's something that we need to understand, you know, if we're going to take a principle from the Bible and you can see it through Jeremiah, there might be two different instructions, well which one are you going to listen to? Are you going to listen to the one that is the majority position from the book of Jeremiah, which was basically surrender, also the instruction that was given to the nation which had a covenant with God, a nation that had the temple of God, the house of God, a nation that had believers, a nation that had prophets like Jeremiah, what instruction was given to God's people was basically surrender and be obedient to the Babylonians, okay? But to a nation that is wicked without the Lord God, it was basically, man, you're better off just fleeing, okay? So if we're going to take a principle and a lesson, obviously we want to take that which is closest to our scenario, which would be alongside with the people of God. Anyway, let's keep going, verse number seven. So why should they flee? So it says here, for because thou has trusted in thy works and in thy treasures, thou shall also be taken and Chemosh shall go forth into captivity with his priests and his princes together. Now you might be thinking that Chemosh is another city, it is not. Chemosh there is the name of their main false god that the Moabites worshipped, okay? But notice what the people are trusting in. Are they trusting in Jehovah God? Are they trusting in the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob? Are they even trusting the God of Lot, who is their ancestor? At least Lot was saved. No, they weren't trusting in God. They were trusting in their works and in their treasures. Now notice who's going to go into captivity, the priests and the princes together. And I don't think it's a coincidence that these two things are put together for us, because if they're trusting in their works, think about salvation by works, that's not going to get you saved. Salvation by works does not appease God. You know, every false religion, every false religion teaches salvation is by being a good person, by keeping the commandments of God, by doing the works. Well, no wonder the priests have been taken into captivity, because they're the ones that are teaching salvation by works. They're the ones teaching a false gospel, you know, a salvation by the hand of this Chemosh, whoever that God is. And then you have the princes here being taken into captivity as well. And what else do the people trust in? The works and in thy treasures. And so when you think about a prince, we might think about a wealthy, you know, powerful person with great treasures. And so they're trusting not just in their own personal wealth, but they're trusting in the people that were in authority over the nation. And so while the main instruction was to flee, even some people of the Moabites were taken into captivity as well. Hey, their trust was in a false God, their trust was in treasures, their trust was in works. But no, brethren, as the people of God, our trust is in the Lord God. Our trust is in Jesus Christ, His death bearing resurrection, salvation without works, for by grace are you saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not of works, not of works, lest any man should boast. And so these people had a false religion. Their priests and their princes had led these people astray, worshiping false gods. Look at verse number eight. And the spoiler shall come upon every city, that spoiler being Babylon, and no city shall escape. The valley also shall perish, and the plain shall be destroyed, as the Lord has spoken. Give wings, so there's the instruction again to flee, give wings unto Moab, that it may flee and get away, for the cities thereof shall be desolate, without any to dwell therein. And so notice that the instruction once again to this nation is to flee. It's an instruction given to Moab. Look at verse number 10. Cursed be he that doeth the work of the Lord deceitfully, and cursed be he that keepeth back his sword from blood. Who could be referenced here in verse number 10? Well, if we already saw that the Babylonians are coming to destroy this nation, which nation is the one pulling out the sword? We've already seen this from the book of Jeremiah. Which nation is given the title of the sword of the Lord? It's Babylon. And so basically verse number 10 is an instruction to the Babylonians as to how far they need to go in wiping out the Moabites. Basically, they were not to hold back. If they held back, if they showed mercy during warfare, God says they're going to be cursed. And he says, Cursed be he that keepeth back his sword from blood. God is saying, look, just wipe out the people. This is why the instruction to the Moabites is get out of there, flee. You're pretty much guaranteed to die by the sword if you stayed there. And let's not forget, this is the judgment of God. People do not understand this God. Most churches do not understand the God of the Bible. He's not the God of the Old Testament. It's the same God of the Old Testament and the New Testaments. Boy, you know, read the book of Revelation and see how God pulls out his wrath and judgment and destroys the wicked in the New Testament times. It's the same God, Reverend. And so the Babylonians have been instructed, Don't be merciful. Don't hold back. Pull out your sword. Draw blood. Go and kill, basically. Go and maim and kill. And you know, we were looking at last week, or not last week, but the last chapter, when we're looking at chapter 47, again, the reference to the sword of the Lord there, and I drew the parallels as far as the Word of God being the sword of the Lord. And if we're going to use the Bible to be our judge, you know, to be able to judge righteously and know what is right, we need to take out the sword of the Lord, the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God. And you know, every time I preach, every time I pull out the Bible and we learn God's truth, you know, the same instruction is given to a preacher, not to keep back his sword from blood. Every time we preach from this Bible, it draws blood. Every time, you know, because every time we preach, it's going to cut somebody. I'm not talking about physically here, I'm talking down the soul. You know, it's going to cut through that wicked flesh. You're going to get offended sometimes. Sometimes your toes are going to get stepped on. Sometimes your face is going to get ripped by God's Word. But the preacher's job is to make sure that he doesn't keep back his sword from blood. And please remember this. If you go to a church and you have a preacher that loves you, you know, that's not holding back. That's preaching God's Word. It might draw blood. You might get cuts. You might get hurt. But that's the purpose of the judgment of God. That's the purpose of the sword. So we can take out the sin, get rid of the wickedness that we have in our lives and live a much more righteous life that pleases the Lord. You know, the Lord is in the business of judgment and we need to hear God's Word and be judged in accordance to what his Word says. Let's keep going. Verse number 11. It says, Moab have been at ease from his youth. Now verse number 11 reminded me most about Australia. Because Australia is also a very young country, isn't it? We think about Australia being a young country. You know, we really only became a nation in 1901, okay? But it says Moab have been at ease from his youth and have settled on his lees and have not been emptied from vessel to vessel neither have he gone into captivity therefore his taste remain in him and his sense is not changed. So not long ago I preached a sermon, was it for blessed hope? Yeah, it was for blessed hope at the church, okay? About alcohol. And I explained what the lees were, okay? Now what verse number 11 is saying is that Moab is a young nation and it's never had any troubles. It's never had any problems. It's never had any major warfare. It's never been taken into captivity in the past. And so it's been at ease from the youth. You know, Moab has become complacent, okay? Indifferent. And, you know, Australia is kind of the same. You know, Australia has never really had any major problems, right? Since it's become the modern nation that it is today. You know, even the wars that Australia has participated in has been largely, you know, off land. It's not, you know, what is it? Darwin's been bombed, I think. You know, that's probably as bad as Australia has received. But most of the time, you know, Australia has been at ease. And when a nation is at ease, it becomes complacent, okay? Now what is it saying? It has settled on his lees. So this is talking about the process of juice making, okay? So lees are the solids that, you know, are left over when you, you know, squash juice, right? And I gave the example if you're making orange juice and, you know, you might find some pulp that's in your drink or you might find some pieces of the skin, some pieces of seed, right, in that mix. And that's what the lees represent. And these people, the Moabites have become so complacent, they've left the lees, they've left the solids in their drink, as it were, right? Because to get, you know, good quality juice, you need to refine the lees out of there. You need to purify the juice, okay? Get rid of all those solids out of your juice. So you have good quality drink. It requires a little bit of effort than just pressing it into a cup, okay? Well, the Moabites are like, as it were, like in illustration, they had just made juice and left all the lees in the juice, okay? And they're kind of just too lazy to remove it. Because it says, and have not been emptied from vessel to vessel. So that would be part of the purification process, taking it from the vessel that, you know, the juicing station, let's say, vessel, into another vessel to purify it, to get rid of the lees, that, you know, it hasn't even done that, okay? Or even into a cup to be drunk. No, it's still sitting the same place that it's been juiced, okay? Neither have he gone into captivity. So as I said, this nation has never really suffered any hardship. And then it says, therefore, his taste remaineth in him, remain in him, and his scent is not changed, okay? So as, you know, if you keep the lees in your drink, your drink is going to start to have the flavor that the lees contain. So if you were, you know, juicing oranges, and we know that the, you know, the orange peel has an interesting taste. Well, if you left that in the drink, the orange peel will start to taint the taste of the drink, okay? It's kind of like if you were making tea. You know, if you left the tea bag in there for a long time, it's going to have a much stronger taste, okay? But it's like offering someone a tea and leaving the tea bag in there to being too lazy to take it out, okay? And so that's what the Moabites have been represented as. Some of these lazy people, they, you know, they've had it easy, and they just become complacent, all right? So what we can understand from this illustration, if we think about the land being, you know, land of Moab being like juice, the lees will represent what that which needs to be refined, that which needs to be taken away, okay? And if you look at a nation, you know, Moab is a nation that basically has left the wicked on the land, okay? So again, what are the lees? The lees are those solids, the substance that needs to be removed to have good quality juice. Well, you know what? When it comes to a nation, we need to get rid of the lees as well. You need to get rid of the wicked people that defile the land, okay? You know, church discipline as well, you need to remove the lees as it were. You need to remove the leaven because it leavens the whole lump, okay? It taints the flavor of the church. If you don't carry out church discipline when needed, well, a nation also needs to take care of the wicked on the land. And the reason this, you know, reminded me of Australia a lot is because, again, it's a young nation. It's been colonized in 1788, but again, did not really become its own nation until 1901, so it's a young nation. And we were a nation that did put wicked people to death. Initially, we did have the death penalty in Australia, and the death penalty started to become abolished first in Queensland in 1922, and then by 1985, the death penalty was abolished across the entire nation, okay? So the Bible tells us there are certain wicked people, okay, that deserve to be put to death, okay? They deserve to be removed off the land. It's like the lees that need to be refined out of the juice to make sure it's good quality juice. Well, a nation that becomes lazy will not remove the wicked people off the land, okay? And the last person to be put to death in Australia was in 1967 for murder. I mean, murder's a good reason to put someone to death, a murderer. The last time we did that in our nation was 1967, brethren. We've got a lot of lees in our nation. We've got a lot of wicked people in our nation. We've become complacent, okay? We've got the taste, right? Instead of the taste of the juice, we've got the taste of all the lees, of all the wickedness that is in our land. When you don't take care of the wicked, you know, it affects the entire nation, and that's what's happening to Moab, okay? She's become complacent. She's been at ease from his youth. It's just like the Australians say, she'll be right, mate. She'll be right. We're all fine. It's all good. Don't worry about it, you know? Neither have you gone into captivity. We've never had any civil wars in Australia. You know, another way that you get rid of the lees, you know, you see in certain countries is when the government becomes so wicked, the people rise up against it, right? And sometimes it can form, you know, cause civil wars, okay? Where people will actually displace the government in place. I mean, hasn't this just happened in Afghanistan just recently, okay? The government that was put in place by the Americans has been displaced by the Taliban, okay? Well, from the Taliban's perspective, they looked at that foreign power and say, no, that's lees off the land. We need to get rid of them, okay? But you know what? Australia's never had that kind of civil war. This is why as a nation, as a people, we don't really tend to fight. We just, she'll be right, mate. Don't worry about it. Just take the vax, all right? Just get on with life. And that's just how Australia is. But that complacency creates wickedness in the land, okay? And this is why I truly believe we're seeing the judgment of God upon Australia. Let's keep going. Verse number 12. I believe that is in response to verse number 11, because they've got that vessel that they've made the juice, as it were, illustratively, okay? And they've been lazy. They've just left it there. Well, God's going to send people in there, basically, to take those bottles and to break them, okay? And that's going to be the Babylonians, okay? They're going to ruffle the feathers and, you know, we've locked down and all this stuff going on in Australia. It's definitely roughed a lot of feathers, okay? Verse number 13. So you can see Moab had their confidence in a false god, Chemosh, just like the House of Israel. That's not talking about the Jews in the southern kingdom. That's talking about the northern kingdom. Remember, they were called Israel, okay? Bethel was in the northern kingdom. And what they had done, Bethel actually means the House of God, the same name that is given to the local New Testament church. But what they had done, the northern kingdom, they had set up golden calves. You can read about this in books like Hosea, Amos, and they set up these golden calves. Basically, they worshiped golden calves, okay? And they put their confidence and trust, the Israelites did, in false gods, just like the Moabites had put their trust in or the confidence in Chemosh. And so they're ashamed because these gods did not help them, right? The Assyrians took over Israel. The Babylonians are going to take over Moab. And these false gods are not helping them. And so they're ashamed by this process. Verse number 14. The Moabites are saying, we're strong! We're a strong nation! I'm pretty sure I've heard Australians say that about our nation. But it says Moab is spoiled and gone up out of her cities. And his chosen young men are gone down to the slaughter. These so-called mighty men ready to fight, they've gone down to the slaughter. Now who's saying this? Save the king, whose name is the lord of hosts. Wow, Moab has a king. Yeah, you know who's the king of Moab? The lord of hosts. You know, it's so important that we remember this, that even though there's wickedness in our world, even though the devil wants to set himself up to be a god in this world, and Chemosh, this false god, wants to be worshipped by the Moabites, don't forget who's ultimately the king of kings. Don't forget who's the lord of lords. Don't forget who's the king of Australia. You know who it is? It's the lord of hosts. It's the lord of lords. It's our god. And you know what? For the unbeliever, that should be a scary thought, you know? To put their confidence in the medical system, in the pharmaceuticals, to put their confidence in the vaccinations, to put their confidence in the politicians, these women that, you know what? They're not even married, they don't have kids, and they're trying to govern Australia. They've even got families. How do they know the policies and the orders they put in place? They have no idea how it affects families. They've got no idea how it affects children and the grandparents, these ladies that shouldn't even be in that place, all right? I mean, what was I saying? Oh yeah, that God is the king, okay? But for the unbeliever, that should be a scary thought, that God will one day judge the wicked nation of Moab and the wicked nation of Australia. But you know what's great about being a Christian? Even when we're, you know, uncomfortable and, you know, we wish we were out of lockdown, you've got to just remember that God is the king. God knows. God sees what's happening. God sees our freedoms being removed. God sees, you know, our forced vaccinations and whatever ungodly things are taking place. God sees it all. He's the king. He's allowing it for his purposes for now. He's bringing the judgment and one day he's going to judge these wicked politicians as well. And that gives me great comfort because I'm a child of God. And so are you if you're saved. And God's going to look out for his people. Don't worry about it. Don't worry about it. We're in convenience for now. But don't forget God is the king of this nation. He is the Lord of hosts. Verse number 16. The calamity of Moab is near to him and his affliction hasteth fast. All ye that are about him, bemoan him. So all ye that are about him, I'm talking about the nations that surround Moab. Okay. And all ye that know his name say, how is the strong staff broken and the beautiful rod? What God is saying here is that as nations, you know, we should pay attention to history. How God has judged other nations, other empires, and they've broken down, they've been destroyed, they've been taken over by other powers, and that we should learn from that. And God is saying this happens because people turn against the Lord. This is why. They have the confidence in false gods. They have the confidence in men, in the princes, in the priests of the land, okay, rather than God. And when our nation turns its heart against the Lord and has its confidence in other things, then that's when God's judgment will fall. And so we ought to learn from history. We ought to look at the other nations, how they've suffered. And you'll notice a recurring theme. It's because they've turned away from the Lord. Verse number 18 says, thou daughter, thou dost inhabit Dybon, come down from thy glory, that's Dybon's another city, and sit in thirst for the spoiler of Moab shall come upon thee and he shall destroy thy stronghold. So Dybon or Dybon was known for its strongholds, must have had maybe, you know, barracks, you know, you know, basically, what's the word I'm looking for? Anyway, it was a place known for its strength. I guess it had, you know, some militia, some power, some military there. It's known for its might, but God is saying, no, even that city is going to be destroyed. Verse number 19, O inhabitants of Aroah, that's another city, stand by the way and aspire. Ask him that fleeth and heard that escapeth and say, what is done? That word a spy, we don't really use it today, but it's kind of like, you can kind of not understand what it comes from when you think of the word spy, is spy, not to spies to sort of pay attention, like to, you know, to watch and pay attention. So God is telling this city, look, pay and watch attention to these other cities that have been destroyed by the Babylonians. You know, you need to run and hide. You need to go and flee. You need to learn from what is happening in the surrounding cities. Verse number 20, Moab is confounded for it is broken down. Howl and cry, tell ye it in anon that Moab is spoiled and judgment is come upon the plain country, upon Holon and upon Jehaza and upon Methathath and upon Dibon and upon Nebu and upon Beth Diblathim and upon Kyretham and upon Bethgemul and upon Bethmion and upon Kerioth and upon Bozrah and upon all the cities of the land of Moab, far or near, the horn of Moab is cut off and his arm is broken, saith the Lord. That's some difficulties naming all those cities, but again, God is saying that every city in Moab is going to be destroyed. There's no reason why the inhabitants should flee to another city. They need to just get out the whole nation completely if they're going to save their lives. But the point here is that this strong nation will be made weak, okay? God's going to break its arm, as it were, by the hands of the Babylonians. Verse number 26. Make ye him drunken, for he magnified himself against the Lord. Moab also shall wallow in his vomit and he also shall be in derision. All right, so notice that God is in the illustration here of drunkenness, like vomiting once someone gets drunk. That's what's going to happen to Moab. It's going to fall drunken, as it were, as an illustration, and just vomit all over the place. Now, if you can, keep your finger there and go to Jeremiah 25. Go to Jeremiah 25, because I just wanted to bring to your remembrance, maybe to really come to your remembrance if you're paying attention for the series. But alcohol here, obviously it's a very negative term here. So this is about alcohol, okay? Obviously being drunken, vomiting. And God is not saying it's good to drink alcohol here, okay? Look at Jeremiah 25, verse number 15. Jeremiah 25, verse number 15. For thus saith the Lord God of Israel, unto me, unto Jeremiah that is, take the wine cup of this fury at my hand and cause all the nations to whom I send thee to drink it. God is basically giving Jeremiah a cup. And he says, look, the alcohol that's in there represents my fury. Make these nations drink of it, all right? Now, obviously this is for illustration purposes. You know, Jeremiah is going and preaching to these other nations saying, look, you're going to drink of God's fury. You're going to drink of God's wrath and you're going to be drunken and you're going to spew all over the place. Verse number 16, it says, and they shall drink and be moved and be mad because of the sword that I will send among them. That sword being Babylon. Verse number 17, then took I the cup at the Lord's hand and made all the nations to drink unto whom the Lord had sent me. Now, the reason I wanted to pause on this verse in verse number 26 back in Jeremiah 48, is just once again, because not long ago I preached against alcohol, okay? And I want you to just bring to your remembrance, okay? That alcohol as an illustration pictures the wrath of God. It pictures the fury of God, okay? It's a sickness. It destroys the lives of men. So I just don't understand why some Christians think it's okay to drink that stuff, okay? God is not saying, hey, yeah, offer the cup of drink and have a celebration and have good times and drink up the alcohol. No, God's saying, look, let them drink it because I'm going to destroy them with that substance. You know, alcohol is destructive. And again, we live in Australia. I wasn't hearing about the, you know, these restrictions being lifted and on the news it's like, man, get with your mates and go to the pub. You can't stand up though. You got to sit down. We can get up and dance, but you have to sit down and drink. Like, what in the world? You know, we're facing God's wrath and you know, our nation is literally drinking the alcohol. They're opening up, yeah, now go to the pub, guys, drink it up. Yeah, you're drinking the wrath of God and the parallels are there. You know, we're seeing the wrath of God in Australia, no doubt about it. Stay away from alcohol. Verse number 27, back in Jeremiah 48, verse number 27. For was not Israel a derision unto thee? Was he found among thieves? For since thou spakest of him, thou skippest for joy. So basically, Moab is rejoicing about Israel because Israel got destroyed by the Assyrians and now Moab's, because, you know, Moab didn't like Israel. So they're kind of rejoicing. Well, now they're going to receive the judgment. It's basically what's happening here. Verse number 28. O ye that dwell in Moab, leave the cities and dwell in the rock and be like the dove that maketh a nest in the sides of the hole's mouth. Once again, the instruction, get out of there, flee, right? Leave the cities, dwell in the rock. Verse number 29. We have heard the pride of Moab. He is exceeding proud. His loftiness and his arrogance and his pride and the haughtiness of his heart. You know, all these words are basically the same thing. All these words, you know, God's just using so much language here to describe how proud this nation is. Pride, lofty, arrogance, haughtiness of the hearts. Why has Moab become so prideful? You know, why? Because they've turned against the Lord, number one, and they've turned against the preaching of Jeremiah here. Because it says in verse number 30, I know his wrath, saith the Lord. So the Lord knows the wrath of Moab. What wrath? Why is Moab so angry? It says here, but it shall not be so, his lies shall not so effect it. All right, so what do we see here? Jeremiah is obviously preaching the truth. Jeremiah is preaching that the Moabites are going to be destroyed by the Babylonians. Well, when the Moabites hear it, what happens? They're full of pride. It's not going to happen to us. We're mighty. We're strong. You know, we're not going to be taken down by the Babylonians. That's what's happening, okay? And so they're lying. You know, the propaganda machine is on. Hey, we're being lied to by the media here in Australia. The propaganda machine every day pumping you with false information, with lies after lies after lies. You know, our nation is full of pride. So are the Moabites. And they would not receive the truth of God's word. You know what? Our nation is dealing with the judgment of God. So be it. Let it be. It's a wicked nation. You know what? This nation, you know, it's still pretty good compared to other nations. But let me tell you, it's not a great nation at the end of the day. It's full of wickedness, okay? Wickedness from the highest office in the political realm, okay? Wickedness down in the streets, okay? You know, wickedness destroying children in the mother's womb. Wickedness with the alcoholism. Wickedness with the fornication in the adultery that takes place in our nation. Wickedness with taking away the death penalty, you know, as God had instituted for wicked people to get rid of those lies. You know, our nation has become complacent. So prideful. You know, the Bible tells us in Proverbs 16, 18, pride goeth before destruction and in haughty spirit before a fool. Our nation is full of pride. No wonder it's falling. No wonder our economy is collapsing. No wonder our small businesses are losing, you know, are closing down, can't stay open, and people are losing their jobs. And unfortunately, God's people have been affected, but that's what happens, you know, when God's judgment falls upon a wicked nation. But don't forget, He's the King. He's the King. He's your God. You know, even though our nation's being judged, don't forget He's your Lord. He's your God. He's your Heavenly Father. You can still go to Him for prayer and bring your concerns to Him. Verse number 31. Therefore will I howl for Moab. This is Jeremiah speaking. And I will cry out for all Moab. Mine heart shall mourn for the men of Gehres. O vine of Sibmah, I will weep. This is Jeremiah speaking about a wicked foreign nation. I will weep, he says, for thee with the weeping of Jezah. Thy plants are gone over the sea. They reach even to the sea of Jezah. The spoiler is fallen upon thy summer fruits and upon thy vintage. This is why Jeremiah is known as the weeping prophet. And he's a powerful preacher, Jeremiah. He's a faithful preacher, okay? He's standing for God's word. But notice when he thinks about these nations being destroyed because they turn against God, he weeps, you know, he wishes these people would just get right with God. And we need to remember that, you know, it ought to pain us to see our nation being judged. It ought to pain us a little bit to see, you know, Australians die and go to hell. It ought to pain us to think, you know, that our nation is so far from God. And, you know, as just as his judgment is, we ought to have our minds upon the souls that God has given us here in Australia. And it's sad that we're unable to go soul winning. Use your opportunities, brethren, whatever it is. Your phone calls, your emails, your family and friends keep winning souls, keep preaching the gospel. It ought to pain us to see our nation go to hell. Verse number 33. And joy and gladness is taken from the plentiful field and from the land of Moab. And I have caused wine to fail from the wine presses. None shall tread with shouting. Their shouting shall be no shouting. So all joy is going to be lost in the land. Verse number 34. From the cry of Heshbon, even unto Elialiah, and even unto Jehaz, have they uttered their voice. From Zoah, even unto Horanayim, as a heifer of three years old, for the waters also of Nimrim shall be desolate. Moreover, I will cause to cease in Moab, save the Lord, him that offereth in the high places, and him that burneth incense to his gods. Notice what God is saying here. When he stops Moab, when he destroys Moab through the Babylonians, God pauses to say, well, you know what? I'm going to put a stop to those that offer in the high places. That's offering to the false gods, okay? And him that burneth incense to his gods. Remember when we looked at a few chapters ago, we're looking at Egypt and how God when he judges a nation, he also judges the gods, the devils of that nation as well. God puts a stop to the worship of devils and other gods. And I'm just reminded, even though we can't have church at the moment, I'll go into that in a moment, but I think it was just yesterday or the day before, I saw in the news that a Jewish synagogue in Melbourne had got together, they defied the orders, and they got together to worship some Jewish holiday. And the cops turned up, someone reported them, who knows, cameras were there, and they put an end to that worship. Now let me just remind you all that what the Jews worship, that's not the God of the Old Testament. It's a false religion. It's a workspace religion. There's no salvation in Judaism today, okay? It is not a reflection of the Bible. It's not a reflection of what Moses taught. It's not a reflection of the Old Testament whatsoever. But you know what? You've got these false religions, got people worshiping their false gods, and God puts a stop to it at his time of judgment. Also not long ago, just a few weeks ago, we heard news of a charismatic church in Blacktown here in Sydney, how some of the members, I don't know if it was a 60-member church roughly, had gotten together for a private church service. You know what's strange about that? There's a lot of Christians that would look at that and go, yeah, good on him. Yeah, praise God, you're going to church. You know what? That's a charismatic church. Again, they teach a gospel of works, a false gospel, okay? And you know what? They got stopped. They couldn't worship. They've been fined. You know what? And even though I personally think that's crazy, I mean, the freedom's been removed at the same time, you need to understand when God's judgment falls, he also causes those that worship false gods to not be able to do their worship. You know, these devils, they're not receiving their praise like they used to. I've talked about how the JWs, the Jehovah's Witnesses aren't able to go. Daughters, they've not been doing it for a long, long time. And praise God for that. You know, we're talking about internationally. I'm not talking about just Sydney. I'm talking about the entire world. The JWs have not been spreading their propaganda door to door. But we still have bold, believing Christians going out there door to door, preaching the gospel. Praise God. You might say, well, what about us, Pastor Kevin? You know, we can't get together. You know, we can point our finger to the Jews and to the Charismatics and, you know, how God's put a stop to them. Hasn't God put a stop to church? Keep your finger there and go to John chapter four, please. Go to John chapter four. And we're looking at the story of Jesus Christ with the Samaritan woman at the well. And it's true, we have had a stop in the house of God. You know, when Babylon came, they put a stop to the house of God. They burnt it down. The house of God of the Old Testament was a temple. They destroyed it. When we had the 70 years of captivity, no one went to church. No one went to the house of God. Okay, Daniel never went to the house of God. Shadrach, Michigan and Bendigo never went to the house of God. But you know what they did? They still worshiped God. They continued to serve God and worship God, even when they were in captivity. And let me tell you, brethren, if you feel locked down to captivity, you still worship God. You still have your homes. You still have your privacy. You can still open the Bible and sing praises to God. You continue to praise God, okay? Look at John chapter four, verse number 20. John chapter four, verse number 20 reads, the Samaritan woman speaks to Jesus Christ. She says, our fathers worshiped in this mountain, and ye say that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship. So the Samaritans would say, hey, we need to worship God in the mountains, okay? An actual location. And then they would say, well, the Jews say, no, we need to worship God in Jerusalem. A physical location. How does Jesus Christ respond? Verse number 21. God is a spirit. And they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth. Okay? These are the words of Christ. At that point in time, He said, look, it's not about a location. It's not about going to Jerusalem. It's not about going to the temple. God is a spirit. We can worship Him anywhere. And brethren, you might be locked down. Hey, who knows? We might find ourselves in prison one day. You know what? In prison, you know who you can worship? You can still worship God because God is a spirit. You worship Him in truth and in spirit, and God receives that worship. You know what? When we're singing our praises in the service here, I know we're not having church, but God is receiving that worship of praise that's coming from your heart and from your lips. Don't forget it, please. It's sad that we can't have church. It breaks my heart, brethren, okay? But that shouldn't stop us from worshiping God, you know? In fact, let's increase our worship for God. We got all the time in the world to worship God. So thank God that we don't have to go to a physical location to give Him praise and worship. We can do it from our very own homes. Back to Jeremiah 48, verse number 36. Jeremiah 48, verse number 36. Therefore, mine heart shall sound for Moab like pipes, and mine heart shall sound like pipes for the men of Kehiriz, because the riches that he have gotten are perished. Again, Jeremiah's just weeping for these people. Verse number 37. For every head shall be bold and every beard clipped. Upon all the hands shall be cuttings, and upon the loins sackcloth. So the people of Moab are going to be in mourning. Verse number 38. There shall be lamentation, that's weeping, generally upon all the housetops of Moab and in the streets thereof. For I have broken Moab like a vessel, wherein is no pleasure, saith the Lord. They shall howl, saying, how is it broken down? How hath Moab turned the back with shame? For so shall Moab be a derision and a dismay to all them about him. As I said to you earlier in the chapter, all them about him talk about surrounding nations. Look at Moab, learning, wow, Moab, they were strong. They were a nation with ease. They had no problems. They worshiped their false gods. Look at them now, destroyed by the hand of the Babylonians. Again, it's the history lessons. Look at the nations that fall. You know, Australia is not exempt from falling. I would say it's falling right now. You know, it's fallen at least morally. It's fallen spiritually. You know, the economy is, you know, hardly managing. Okay, I mean, yeah, the government's throwing money at it, okay. But that's what, so you throw money at it. What does that do? It just devalues the value of money. It just means all the prices go up anyway. You know, the dollar that you could spend today will be worth less tomorrow, okay. There's no way, you know, this whole lockdown, this whole handling of COVID is destroying our nation. But then again, it just may very well be God's judgment. I believe it is, you know, God's allowing our nation to go through some difficulties, some hardships. And what do you notice? You notice the news across the world. People are literally laughing at Australia, thinking how stupid is that nation? They barely have any COVID deaths. They barely have any COVID cases. And look how they're collapsing under pressure. Look how they're collapsing under the pressures of the pharmaceutical companies, you know. I mean, who did we vote exactly? I thought we voted people for the people. I thought we voted public servants. I didn't know that we voted the hospital system and the pharmaceuticals and miracle system as to be our bosses, to rule our nation. You know, these ladies, once again, Palaszczuk and Gladys in New South Wales, you know, I didn't think, you know, these women, they should have had a life, you know, settled down, gotten married, had kids, lived a proper life, and they're destroying the nation. And now what our prime minister, the charismatic Pentecostal, you know, that guy's, well, I mean, what's he even doing? Allowing these states to go rogue. That guy has no control. That guy, I don't even know how he became the prime minister, okay. But then again, look at the president of the United States. I mean, it's bad everywhere, right? It's bad, it's bad everywhere. All right, oh, the other thing that I want to think about here, you know, look at a nation, I mentioned Afghanistan, right? And, you know, the United States, they went into that country, they tried to westernize it, they tried to bring in, you know, westernized ideologies into that country and all for what? All for nothing. It's gone back, you know, to the same way it was before, okay. Why has it gone back to the same way? Because politicians do not fix nations. You know what fixes nations? The righteousness of God. Bible preaching. Church-going people. The gospel being preached. That's what fixes a nation. Turning back to God and having a fear of God, that's what fixes a nation. There's a reason why Afghanistan's back in its hole. The reason, you know, yeah, 20 years of United States being there, trying to westernize it, trying to make it a democracy, it failed because they tried to do it without the Lord. The reason why our nation, our western nations, have been blessed over the years is because at least our politicians, at least our population, our citizens, once had a fear of God and we're still living off the blessings of the past. I wonder what's going to be left for our kids and our grandkids in the future as our nation continues to turn against the Lord. You know what? Australia could just become another Afghanistan. Okay. It's possible. Why not? You know, if God wants to destroy this place for its weakness, God can do it. He's the king. He can decide what he wants to do with this nation. Look at verse number 40. For thus saith the Lord, behold, he shall fly as an eagle and shall spread his wings over Moab. So the eagle is Babylon. It's like a bird of prey, an eagle, you know, capturing the nation. Verse number 41, Kirioff is taken and the strongholds are surprised. And the mighty men's hearts in Moab at that day shall be as the heart of a woman in her pangs. What's a woman in her pangs? It's the birth pains. You may recall this is a major theme in the book of Jeremiah. Many times the birth pangs are brought up and every time it has to do with the Babylonian. Babylonian's taken over either Judah or now here the Moabites. Verse number 42, and Moab shall be destroyed from being a people because he has magnified himself against the Lord. Okay. So that's it. Why is Australia being judged? Because it's magnified itself against the Lord. That's why, okay. The nation turns against the Lord, expect the judgment of God. We should expect it, okay. Verse number 43, Fear and the pit and the snare shall be upon thee, O inhabitants of Moab, save the Lord. He that fleeth from the fear shall go into the pit. So even the people that are fleeing, the destruction is to flee but they're not going to have a good life even if they flee. It says, He that fleeth from the fear shall fall into the pit and he that getteth up out of the pit shall be taken in the snare for I will bring upon it even upon Moab the year of their visitation, saith the Lord. So even those that successfully flee, they're not going to have a productive life. Okay. Unlike at least the people of God in Judah, they gave up to the Babylonians, taken into captivity, not good for them but they were able to have a life. They were able to live in peace at least during that period of captivity. Verse 45, They that fled stood under the shadow of Hizbon because of the force but a fire shall come forth out of Hizbon and a flame from the midst of Sihon and shall devour the corner of Moab and the crown of the head of the tumultuous ones. Woe be unto thee, O Moab, the people of Chemosh perisheth. So who are perishing? The people of Chemosh, the false god. Okay. The people that worship the false god, they're going to be punished the most. They're going to perish. This nation is going to perish because they've gone and worshiped the false god. Boy, if what was more effective, a greater Christian, you know, he could have passed down a good inheritance of the faith, believing in the Lord. But you know what? This nation had become wicked. He says, For thy sons are taken captives and thy daughters captives. Once again, your children suffer from the generational mistakes of the past. And again, God is judging the false gods, Chemoshia, with the judgment of the land. And then it says in verse number 47, Yet will I bring again the captivity of Moab in the latter days, saith the Lord. Thus far is the judgment of Moab. So we end on one positive note. God says Moab is going to be restored one day again in the future. Okay, the next generations are going to come back once again and live on that land. Now, as I said, that's a very negative chapter. And again, I still see parallels with Australia. You know, throughout this whole book, I see parallels. But what I want you to do is please turn to Matthew chapter one now. Turn to Matthew chapter one. I want to end on a positive note here. Matthew chapter one. And even though this nation was wicked, even though this nation worshiped a false god, and even though Australia is wicked, even though Australia has much false religion, okay, and even amongst Christianity, there is plenty of false gospels that have been preached in churches. You know, we may never save the nation, okay. But our purpose, our goal as God's people is to save souls one at a time, as much as we can, whatever opportunities that are made available to us. If you look at Matthew chapter one, verse number five, Matthew chapter one, verse number five, it says, And Salman begat Boaz of Rakab, and Boaz begat Obed of Ruth, and Obed begat Jesse, and Jesse begat David the king. We know about King David, very famous character in the Bible, of course. Who was his grandmother in this passage? Ruth. Ruth was his grandmother. And of course, if you drop down to verse number 16, it says, And Jacob begat Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus, who is called Christ. Okay. So what do we have here? That in the ancestry of Jesus Christ, we have Ruth. Why am I mentioning Ruth? Or as I brought up in the trivia question, I think Stacey, you got it right. The most famous Moabite in the Bible has an entire Bible book in her name, and that is Ruth, the book of Ruth. She was a Moabitess, okay? And she turned from believing in false gods and turned and worshipped the true God of the Bible. In Ruth chapter one, verse number 16, it says, And Ruth said, Intreat me not to leave thee, nor to return from following after thee, for whither thou goest, I will go, and where thou lodgest, I will lodge. Then she says these words, Thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God. Ruth got saved. She believed, she put her faith in the God of Israel, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. And, you know, Ruth was a Moabitess, okay? She's not a Jew. She's got an entire book named after her. She's the grandmother of David, and she's in the ancestry line of Jesus Christ. So I just want to show you, you know what? God may very well judge a whole nation, but that doesn't mean that he stops caring about the people, the individuals in that nation. You know, as God's people, we have the good news. We have the gospel. I know we're restricted right now, but you know what? We need to find the Moabs, the Moabites, the Moabitesses, okay? We need to go find those that are worshiping Chemosh or some other false god, and you know what? Do the best we can as God's people to win one soul at a time. Praise God that we still see souls saved, even with these lockdowns and restrictions. We're still hearing good news of the brethren preaching the gospel to people that they're in contact with. So please let that be your conclusion, okay? Australia may perish, but you know what? We don't have to allow every soul to perish, okay? Let's go and win those souls. Use the opportunities you have and to be a witness, just like Jeremiah was a witness against the Moabites, okay? Let's pray.