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Jeremiah chapter 52, can you believe it, 52 chapters, 52 weeks, a whole year that we've been studying through Jeremiah, and I hope that it's been a blessing to you. I know it's been exciting for me to go through. I actually never thought it'd be so much fun to preach through the book of Jeremiah. But I've received a lot of great feedback that they've learnt a lot, just about what's taking place in Jeremiah's day, but most of all how we can apply it to this day and age. And I want you to look at Jeremiah 52, look at verse number 13 please, it begins by saying And burned the house of the Lord. The title for the sermon this morning is, Burned the House of the Lord. Burned the House of the Lord, of course that's referencing the Old Testament temple, and again the House of the Lord in the New Testament is the local church. I thought this was a fitting title to end with, because once again we see a retelling of Nebuchadnezzar and Babylon overthrowing Jerusalem, you know, and one of the major acts that they did of course is to burn down the house of God. And don't forget, this was the judgment of God. God allowed them to do this, though they would ultimately be judged themselves for having done the very same thing, alright, and I kind of feel we can relate to this, because we've not had the house of God burned down. Of course the house of God in the New Testament is not a physical building, but it is the assembly, the congregation of believers, and that has, we've been prevented to meet, and as I said, as long as everything continues to run as planned, as announced, then we should be back to church by December, but that would mean once again we've had five months without church, so it kind of is like we've had the house of God burned down, so I feel we can take a lot of lessons from this chapter. Now let's look at verse number one, it's that Zedekiah, don't forget Zedekiah is the last king of Judah, so this is why we're right now at the end, so Zedekiah was one and twenty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem, and his mother's name was Hamutal, the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah. Look at verse number two, and he did that which was evil in the eyes of the Lord according to all that Jehoiakim had done. So Jehoiakim, the previous king, you know, before him had done evil things, Jehoiakim, his son had done evil things, and Zedekiah continues doing the same evil things, okay, and you know, as I said, Zedekiah here is the last king of Judah, and he was originally placed by King Nebuchadnezzar there. King Nebuchadnezzar thought that he would be a man that would be loyal to the Babylonians, but eventually Zedekiah rebels, and that brings a swift end to his reign in Judah, and that of course Jerusalem and Judah being taken into captivity by the Babylonians. Now when I thought about verse number two, he did that which was evil in the eyes of the Lord. You know what else is evil in the eyes of the Lord? Forcing people to be vaccinated, okay, mandating vaccinations upon people. Say why is that evil? Isn't that a medicine? No. If you know how they create vaccinations, why is Pastor Kevin Sapulova against vaccinations? Why is some 80, 90% of Blessed Baptist Church or even New Life Baptist Church, maybe plus, maybe 100% sometimes against vaccinations? Is it because we're afraid of science? Is it because we're afraid of the side effects? Maybe some people are, but that's not the reason we're against it, okay? Number one reason why we're against something like vaccinations is because it is contrary to God's Word. It is not consistent with God's Word. If you took biblical principles, okay, you cannot line that up with something like vaccinations. And the number one reason is because they use aborted babies, okay, aborted baby cells to create these things. And if you're going to force people to inject themselves with that kind of thing, you know, no jab, no job, lose your job, you can't travel X amount of kilometres because you haven't been jabbed, hey, that is doing wicked in the eyes of God. That's forcing people to participate in a procedure that was built upon abortion. And as Christians, we should be against abortion. Now we'll get back to the vaccinations later on. But you know, our premier, well, now she's no longer our premier, right, she's quit. But Gladys Berez-Jiklian has recently resigned. And I'm watching the media, everyone's crying, oh, she's such a great premier. You know, oh, man, you know, I feel so sorry for her. You know, I wish she could see out of term. I say, praise God that she's taken down. She's a wicked woman for trying to force this into the arms of people in New South Wales. And I say to every premier that's forcing their citizens to take this jab, they're just as wicked as anyone else. Okay. But again, listen, there's nothing new under the sun. We see Zedekiah did that which was evil in the eyes of the Lord. Now I want you to keep your finger there, go back to Jeremiah chapter one. I want to bring back to remembrance something that took place in Jeremiah chapter one verse number one. I want you to remember the length of Jeremiah's ministry. It says here in Jeremiah 1-1, the words of Jeremiah, the son of Hilkiah, of the priests that were at were in Anathoth in the land of Benjamin, to whom the word of the Lord came in the days of Josiah. So Jeremiah started preaching in the days of Josiah. And by the way, Josiah was the last good king, okay, he wasn't the best, but he was at least a decent king. All right, in Judah. It says that in the days of Josiah, the son of Ammon, king of Judah, in the thirteenth year of his reign, it also, it came also in the days of Jehoiakim, the son of Josiah, king of Judah, unto the end of the eleventh year of Zedekiah, the son of Josiah, king of Judah, unto the carrying away of Jerusalem captive in the fifth month. Okay, so you see from Josiah all the way to Zedekiah, and we see that, you know, Jeremiah's preaching to multiple kings, okay. Now, just to bring back to your remembrance, you can go back to Jeremiah 52 now, but you know, as I said, Jeremiah started with Josiah, the last decent king, good king of Judah. After him reigned Jehoahaz, he only reigned for three months, and then we had Jehoiakim that reigned, of course an evil king, then his son Jehoiakim, you know, you often find his name as Jeconiah in the book of Jeremiah, same guy. He reigned, and then Zedekiah, all right. Now what's the point that I'm trying to bring you here? Well, if you're there in Jeremiah 52, verse number two again, it says, and he did that which was evil in the eyes of the Lord, okay, according to all that Jehoiakim had done. What I'm trying to say to you is this, Gladys Berejiklian, was she an evil premier? She was evil. She's a wicked woman, okay, and now she's under investigation on whether she, you know, in investigation on corruption, okay, whether she had donated basically five million dollars or something to, was it more than that, was it 25 million, I can't remember, right? But listen, like, you know, she's under investigation and she resigns. That should tell you something. That should tell you that she knows she's done wrong, okay. If she thought she was, hey, she's done the right thing, she would be fighting this to the end, all right. Now she knows she's done wrong, okay, now she's not been found guilty yet, you know, everyone deserves to be innocent until proven guilty, but she stepped down over corruption, okay. Even if she's found innocent in all of this, she's still wicked for trying to force and mandate this jab into the arms of people in New South Wales, okay, and she deserves to be demoted. She deserves to be taken down. We see when there are ungodly kings in these last days of Judah, they're taken down, but unfortunately, they're replaced by someone else that's evil, you know, and I don't know, I don't know who's going to take place of Gladys. Listen, you might be a person that's even worse, okay. I know, woo-hoo, she's taken down, right, but who are we going to get in her place? You know what we should be doing as Christians? We should be going to prayer, asking God, God, can you put someone, you know, in this great position for New South Wales, okay, with the largest population in Australia, please put someone there that will not do evil in the eyes of the Lord. Please put someone there, Lord, that at least has a fear of God, all right, someone that will do good in your eyes, Lord. We should be going to the Lord in prayer over this, but don't be surprised. As we saw with Jeremiah, king after king after king, wicked king, wicked king, wicked king, wicked king, after Josiah, we might still see several wicked people in powerful positions in Australia for some time, and don't forget, hey, yeah, Zedekiah was the last evil king of Judah, but then he was replaced eventually by who? King Nebuchadnezzar, right, and the powerful kingdom of Babylon, and we're seeing, I believe that, the spiritual Babylon in play at this very moment, trying to amass power for itself, and so, you know, I'm not here trying to say everything's going to be wonderful from this day forward, I'm not even trying to say from December 1st, when so-called freedom day rolls around that everything's going to be wonderful and back to normal. I kind of doubt it, you know, I kind of doubt it when we look at the lessons we can learn here from the time of Jeremiah, but once again, be praying for your premiere, be praying, at least, you know, at least be doing that, you know, that's something we can be doing as Christians. Back to Jeremiah 52, verse number 3, for through the anger of the Lord, it came to pass in Jerusalem and Judah, till he had cast them out of his presence, that Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon, in verse number 4, and it came to pass in the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month, in the tenth day of the month, that Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, came, he and all his army, against Jerusalem, and pitched against it, and built forts against it round about. Now there's something I want to show you here in the Bible, if you can keep your finger there, please go to 2 Chronicles 36 in your Bible, go to 2 Chronicles 36, 2 Chronicles 36, and I want to show you exactly why, you know, God allowed Zedekiah to be captured, okay, or to be taken over by Babylon. Of course, it was prophesied by God, it's not just Zedekiah, it's the entire nation that has rebelled against God, but there's something very specific that Zedekiah did, okay, he rebelled against Babylon, he rebelled against Nebuchadnezzar, and I feel sometimes there are Christians, even my church members, that want to rebel against the spiritual Babylon, okay, but I'm warning you, don't do it, okay, I'm warning you, don't do it. Look at 2 Chronicles 36, verse 11, 2 Chronicles 36, verse 11, it says Zedekiah was one and 20 years old when he began to reign, and reigned 11 years in Jerusalem, and he did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord his God, look at this, and humbled not himself before Jeremiah the prophet, speaking from the mouth of the Lord, and he also rebelled against King Nebuchadnezzar, who had made him swear by God, but he stiffened his neck and hardened his heart from turning unto the Lord God of Israel. God is allowing in the time of Jeremiah, Babylon to come and take power for itself, and as we see the judgment of God fall upon Australia and Sydney and places like Melbourne, etcetera, you know, we must also take the thought that God is allowing spiritual Babylon also to amass power, okay, for whatever reason God has in mind, okay, and I encourage you, listen to the words of Jeremiah, you know, this pastor has been preaching this for the last year, you know, don't rebel, don't argue, don't fight, don't go and protest, you know, I got asked the question recently, is it sinful to protest? No, it's not sinful to protest, I'm just saying it's a waste of your time, okay, you're going to be preoccupied on things that God does not want you preoccupied on, okay, you can see here when you rebel against the powers, it's going to end up worse for you. Now let's go back to Jeremiah 52 verse number 5, it says, So the city was besieged unto the eleventh year of King Zedekiah, and in the fourth month, in the ninth day of the month, the famine was sore in the city, so that there was no bread for the people in the land. So I want you to notice once again, if you go look at verse number 4, how long did this siege last in Jerusalem? Well number 1, it started on the ninth year of Zedekiah's reign in the tenth month. So there were twelve months in the year, therefore there are two months left. So why don't you put those two months in your mind, and then it says in verse number 5, So the city was besieged unto the eleventh year of King Zedekiah. So that means the whole city was under siege, or locked down as we would put it today, the whole of the tenth year, okay, so that's the whole year that it's under siege. And then it says, it continued to be under siege in the eleventh year of King Zedekiah, and in the fourth month, in the ninth day of the month, the famine was sore in the city, so that there was no bread for the people of the land. Okay, so you can see that in the eleventh year, in the fourth month, basically this is when the siege ended. So you've got a whole year, then you've got four months for the eleventh year, and two months in the ninth year, that's a year and a half that the city of Jerusalem was under siege by Babylon. And it kind of feels like that. It kind of feels like we've been dealing with, you know, lockdown, with restrictions, you know, it basically, at this point in time, it is about a year and a half, okay, because it all started about March, April last year, right, all these lockdowns, and yeah, you could easily say it's been about a year and a half now, that, you know, so we're kind of in the same time period, right, of a lockdown, of the feeling of a siege city that can't get out, okay, the freedoms have been removed. Verse number seven, then the city was broken up, and all the men of war fled, and went forth out of the city by night, by the way of the gate between the two walls, which was by the king's garden. Now the Chaldeans were by the city round about, and they went by the way of the plain. But the army of the Chaldeans pursued after the king, and overtook Zedekiah in the plains of Jericho, and all his army was scattered from him. Now I want you to notice that Zedekiah is rebelling against Nebuchadnezzar. He's causing his entire city, his entire nation, to rebel against Nebuchadnezzar. Jeremiah's been preaching, surrender, surrender, you know, this is the judgment of God, give yourself over to King Nebuchadnezzar, and you say, boy, Jeremiah, you must be a weak preacher, no, this was the call of God, this was what God wanted for the people. Zedekiah instead rebels, hey, let's rebel against this, this is against our rights, this is against our constitution, this is against our freedom, protest, yeah, that's King Zedekiah. But I want you to notice about these kinds of people that act this way. As soon as he realizes that it's not going well for him, he flees. He's meant to be the king. He's meant to be looking after his people, he's in charge of his people, okay? But as soon as something gets too hard for Zedekiah, he runs away. Gladys, Bereziklian, what did she do? She puts the city under lockdown, she makes it hard for the people of Sydney, especially those in the western suburbs and southwest suburbs, she makes it hard. As soon as it becomes hard for her, she flees, she resigns. These are weak leaders. These are wicked weak leaders. They can't stand up to the old things that they have to fight, they want everyone else to have a hard time, they want everyone else to struggle, but as soon as things get hard for them, they flee, they're gone. And the consistencies of Jeremiah to this day and age, it's too close, there's too many parallels, brethren. So let's learn, praise God, that we get the opportunity to apply biblical principles, biblical stories in our real life today. Please learn from them, okay? Please give up your biases, give up the arguments and ideas that you have in your head, get on Jeremiah's program here and learn from these people, okay? Don't hold up people that rebel and argue and fight, they're going to be the same people that run away when things get too hard for them, okay? Verse number nine, and they took the king and carried him up unto the king of Babylon to Riblah in the land of Hamath, where he gave judgment upon him, and the king of Babylon slew the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes. So this is his punishment. He could have surrendered, but instead he runs away, he rebels, so the sons of Zedekiah, how sad is this? All your children, your sons being killed in front of you. And then he says he slew also all the princes of Judah in Riblah, then he put out the eyes of Zedekiah, so he, I don't know, makes him blind, maybe plucks them out or burns them, you know? And the king of Babylon bound him in chains and carried him to Babylon and put him in prison till the day of his death. How would you like that? How would you like your children brought before you killed and then your eyes plucked out or something, gave burns or whatever it was that they did? Okay, I think they plucked them out, okay? Being blinded, that's pretty bad, okay? Now this is something that we notice obviously in the Bible stories as well as history, where you have conquering kings, and one thing that conquering kings would often do is inflict physical trauma on those that they conquered, those that they defeated, okay? In this case, they take Zedekiah, they pluck out his eyes, okay? And there are many, many stories like this about this sort of physical trauma that they do to the previous kings and they do that, they largely do that just to show that they've won. They, you know, they're the champion, right? They're the conqueror and it's to humble those that they've defeated. Well, I'm going to quickly read to you from a story in Judges. Not only has this happened to the Israelites, but the Israelites also did this to other kings themselves when they conquered the land of Canaan. And in Judges chapter 1 verse number 4, it says, And Judah went up, and the LORD delivered the Canaanites and the Perizzites into their hand, and they slew of them in Bezek ten thousand men. And they found Adonai Bezek of, sorry, Adonai Bezek in Bezek, and they fought against him, and they slew the Canaanites and the Perizzites. And Adonai Bezek fled, and they pursued after him and caught him, and cut off his thumbs and his great toes. And Adonai Bezek said, Free score and ten kings, having their thumbs and their great toes cut off, gathered their meat under my table as I have done, so God hath requited me. And they brought him to Jerusalem, and there he died. And so this king, he says, he has defeated free score and ten kings. He has defeated seventy kings, and what did he do to the kings he conquered? He cut off their thumbs and their big toes, their great toes. Imagine having that, that kind of physical trauma put upon you. You lose your thumbs, you're going to have a hard time using your hands. Have you ever tried to grip things without your, I guess you could grip things, okay, without your thumbs? Without your toes, you won't be able to walk properly, you're going to lose that sense of balance. All right, so this is great trauma, you can see it take place, and then he suffers the same fate when he gets conquered. Now I want you to turn to a passage here, please go to Isaiah 39 please. Go to Isaiah 39, I just want to show you some examples of this kind of physical trauma, you know, as a show of conquest over the people that they've defeated. Go to Isaiah 39, and this one ties in with the time of Babylon here, okay. Isaiah 39 verse number 5. Isaiah 39 verse number 5. Then said Isaiah to Hezekiah, hear the word of the Lord of hosts, behold the days come that all that is in thine house and that which thy fathers have laid up in store until this day shall be carried to Babylon, nothing shall be left, saith the Lord. So we're talking about the Babylon captivity, which we're dealing with right now in the book of Jeremiah. Verse number 7, look at this, and thy sons that shall issue from thee, which thou shalt beget, shall they take away, and they shall be eunuchs in the palace for the king of Babylon. What is he saying? This is like prophecy. He says there are many, especially those of the kingly household, that will be taken away to Babylon and made into eunuchs, they'll become eunuchs. You say, what is a eunuch? And this is physical trauma. And what they would do to make a man a eunuch, they would basically remove the testicles. They would castrate that individual. How would you like that? I mean, if you could choose between your thumbs being cut off, your toes being cut off, your eyes being plucked out or being made a eunuch, I don't know which one's worse. I mean, they're all horrible. I guess I've got 11 kids, so maybe I'll go with my eyes getting blinded. I don't know. But I don't know, you know, the choices aren't pleasant, are they? And if you're castrated, obviously, this is going to cause a loss of testosterone in your body as a man. It's going to obviously have hormonal impacts there. And you lose your desire to have your sexual desires, and you won't be able to have children. This is a prophecy. And this took place. This took place as people have been taken into captivity to Babylon. Certain people were taken and made eunuchs. Now, please go to Daniel chapter one. Go to the book of Daniel, Daniel chapter one. Many of us love the book of Daniel, such a great book. So encouraging, you know, we got Daniel and his three friends, you know, such powerful Christians, such powerful saints, you know, standing, you know, for the Lord in a wicked time, you know, time of Babylon. But I want you to notice this in Daniel chapter one, verse number one. It says in the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim, king of Judah came Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, unto Jerusalem, and besieged it. And the Lord gave Jehoiakim, king of Judah, into his hand, with part of the vessels of the house of God, which he carried into the land of Shinah, to the house of his God. And he brought the vessels into the treasure house of his God. And the king spake unto Ashpenaz, the master of his eunuchs. So the king takes certain of these people and gives them over to Ashpenaz. Who's Ashpenaz? The master of his eunuchs, okay. This is like the chief eunuch. This chief eunuch has been castrated, okay. And it says here that he should bring certain of the children of Israel, and of the king's seed, and of the princes. So these people are going to be under Ashpenaz. Verse number four, children in whom was no blemish, but well favored and skillful in all wisdom and cunning in knowledge and understanding science, and such as had ability in them to stand in the king's palace, and whom they might teach the learning and the tongue of the Chaldeans. And the king appointed them a daily provision of the king's meat, and of the wine which he drank, so nourishing them three years, that at the end thereof they might stand before the king. Now notice, who are some of these people that were put under the chief eunuch here? Verse number six, now among these were of the children of Judah, Daniel, Hananiah, Mishmael, and Azariah, and to whom the prince of the eunuchs gave names. For he gave unto Daniel the name of Belteshazzar, and to Hananiah of Shadrach, and to Mishael of Meshach, and of Azariah of Abednego. So these are obviously the names that we're very familiar with in the book of Daniel, these great men that stood for the Lord. But I want you to notice something. They were put under the charge of the chief of the eunuchs, okay. So the Bible doesn't specifically lay it out in black and white, but knowing the prophecy of Isaiah, and knowing that these people, you know, were taken and put under, you know, the mass of the eunuchs, it's pretty clear I think, I personally think it's very clear. Though, you know, okay, you know, I could be wrong, but I think it's quite clear that Daniel and his three friends, the people that we look up to very highly as great Christians, as great servants of the Lord, were also made eunuchs. They were castrated, okay. They had their testicles removed, okay. That physical trauma took place in their life, and this is something that, you know, you see conquering powers do to people, not just the kings, but even other prominent people in the kingdom, to show their power, to show that they've won, they've conquered over a people. Now we are going to come back to that thought later on. I just want to keep that in your mind, but again, if you could choose between these things, you know, having your thumbs and your toes cut off, your eyes being plucked out or being made a eunuch, which one would you choose, brethren? Okay. And here's the thing, you won't have a choice, you're actually being forced for this procedure to happen on your body. Okay, let's go back to Isaiah 52, we're going to tie it all in together later on, but let's go to Isaiah 52 now, let's go to verse number 12. It says, Now in the fifth month, in the tenth day of the month, which was the nineteenth year of Nebuchadrezzar, the king of Babylon, came Nebazadon, captain of the guard, which served the king of Babylon into Jerusalem, and burned the house of the Lord, and the king's house, and all the houses of Jerusalem, and all the houses of the great men, burned here with fire, and all the army of the Chaldeans, that were with the captain of the guard, break down all the walls of Jerusalem round about. So once again, this is part of God's judgment, he allows the Babylonians to take away, to burn down the house of the Lord. And once again, we've not been able to have church for pretty much four months now, okay. The house of the Lord for us in Sydney has been burnt in the same way. We can relate to these things. They can no longer go to the place and meet there in the house of the Lord, all right. Now I want you to also remember another part in, let's go back to Jeremiah 51, keep your finger there, Jeremiah 51, and you may recall in Jeremiah 51, God is judging Babylon, okay. And one of the reasons God is judging Babylon, I want you to bring back to your remembrance here, is in Jeremiah 51 verse 11, Jeremiah 51 verse 11, it says, make bright the arrows, gather the shields, the Lord have raised up the spirit of the king of the Medes, and his devices against Babylon, to destroy it, because it is the vengeance of the Lord, the vengeance of his temple. So notice, who is God angry at? Who is he taking vengeance for the house of God being burnt down? Is he taking his vengeance on the priests for the house being burnt down? You know, the priests of the Lord? Is he taking his vengeance upon the prophets of the Lord because the house of God was burnt down? No. He's taking his vengeance upon Babylon, who stopped the house of the Lord, who burnt down the house of the Lord, all right. So what I'm saying to you Brevin, is this, you know, I'm sure some of you, in fact, I know, some have been angry that I've had no church, you know, it's been, hey, you know, let's fight back, let's rebel against Babylon here, let's rebel against Zedekiah, right, let's just meet in the house of God, no matter what, listen, and when I've said no, let's be like Jeremiah, let's listen, let's surrender, okay, let's give, as long as they're not asking us to sin, let's surrender to the demands of the restrictions and the lockdowns, okay. Don't get mad at me, because I know God's not angry at me, God is angry at those that stopped people from being able to meet in the house of the Lord. God is not angry at Jeremiah, God is not angry at the priest here, he's taking his vengeance for the destruction of God's house upon Babylon, who burnt down the house of the Lord. And Brevin, once again, okay, when God has his vengeance for blessed hope being, church being shut down, when he takes his vengeance that we've not been able to go soul winning, okay, for the last four months, it's not going to be upon me as a pastor, it's not going to be upon you, you know, it's not our fault, we've been forced in this situation, he's going to take it upon spiritual Babylon, he's going to put it upon those politicians that said that we cannot meet in the house of the Lord, okay, they're the people that God is angry at, hey, you'd be angry at the right people, you'd be angry at the people God is angry at. Let's keep going, verse number 15, Jeremiah 52, verse number 15. Then Nebazadon, the captain of the guard, carried away captive certain of the poor of the people, and the residue of the people that remained in the city, and those that fell away, that fell to the king of Babylon, and to the rest of the multitude. But Nebazadon, the captain of the guard, left certain of the poor of the land for vine dressers and for husbandmen. This is where we get the story of Getaliah, you know, we won't go through it all again, remember he was left as a governor on the land, with the poor of the land, and then we have that long story how he was assassinated, we won't get to all that right now. Now verses number 17 to 23 has a lot to do about how they ransacked the house of the Lord before they burnt it down, and one thing that keeps coming up is the pillars, the pillars that made up the house of the Lord, so let's look at verse number 17, I don't have time to go through this in any great depth right now, but look at verse number 17, it says also the pillars of brass that were in the house of the Lord, and the bases and the brazen sea that was in the house of the Lord, the Chaldeans break and carried all the brass of them to Babylon, so of course before they burned down the whole house of God, they've taken the good metals, you know, for themselves, the things of gold, the things of brass, you know, for themselves, verse number 18, the cauldrons also and the shovels and the snuffers and the bowls and the spoons and all the vessels of brass wherewith they ministered took their way, and the basins and the fire pans and the bowls and the cauldrons and the candlesticks and the spoons and the cups, that which was of gold in gold and that which was of silver in silver took the captain of the guard away. Notice again the pillars brought up here, verse number 20, the two pillars, notice that there's two of them, the two pillars, one sea and twelve brazen bulls that were under the bases, which King Solomon had made in the house of the Lord. The brass of all these vessels was without weight and concerning the pillars, the height of one pillar was 18 cubits and a fillet of 12 cubits did come past it and the thickness thereof was four fingers, it was hollow. And the chapita of brass was upon it and the height of one chapita was five cubits with network and pomegranates upon the chapita's roundabout all of brass. The second pillar also and the pomegranates were like unto these and there were ninety and six pomegranates on a side and all the pomegranates upon the network were in a hundred roundabout. All right, keep your finger there and go to 1 Kings chapter 7, go to 1 Kings chapter 7 please, 1 Kings chapter 7. The reason we're going to 1 Kings chapter 7 is we're looking at the construction of the house of the Lord and these two pillars are mentioned and I think it's quite interesting as to what we can learn about these two pillars there in 1 Kings chapter 7. 1 Kings chapter 7 verse number 21, 1 Kings 7 21 it says, and he set up the pillars in the porch of the temple and he set up the right pillar and called the name thereof Jachin. So Jachin is the right pillar and he set up the left pillar and called the name thereof Boaz. So these pillars had names, Jachin and Boaz. Say why is that? Well if you look at the meaning for the name Jachin, Jachin means he that strengthens and makes steadfast. And Boaz is, the meaning of it is in strength. Both of these are basically saying they're strong pillars. It's steadfast pillars, it's showing the strength of the house of the Lord. Why is it so important that we continue to learn in Jeremiah about the pillars in the house of the Lord? Because don't forget the house of the Lord in the New Testament is a local church. And the Bible says in 1 Timothy 3.15, But if I tarry long, that thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God and then it says this, the pillar and ground of the truth, the pillar and ground of the truth. So what do these pillars represent in the house of the Lord? Strength. Okay? Strength. And brethren, in order for us to be strong Christians, we need the house of the Lord. We need church. We've been without church now four months. You know what that tells me? It tells me we're getting weaker. Okay? Well, you know, you're still soldiering on for the Lord. But in order for us to be strong, you know, for the Lord, what's going to strengthen each Christian is church. Church is necessary. All right? And as I said, hopefully, you know, come December 2nd, was it the 2nd of December Thursday if I got that right, I want you here in the house of God. I want you to be strengthened. I want to be strengthened by your presence. The pillar and the ground of truth is the house of the Lord. And this is where we need to come in order to be strengthened by the hand of the Lord. You go without church for a long time, you are going to become weaker and weaker and weaker as a Christian. Okay? We need the strength of the Lord and that comes in our local church. Jeremiah 52 verse number 24. Jeremiah 52 verse 24. And the captain of the guard took Sariah the chief priest and Zephaniah the second priest and the three keepers of the door. He took also out of the city and Eunuch which had the charge of the men of war and seven men of them that were near the king's person which were found in the city and the principal scribe of the host who mustered the people of the land and three school men of the people of the land that were found in the midst of the city. So Nebazad and the captain of the guard took them and brought them to the king of Riblah and the king of Babylon smote them. There once again is that, you know, that physical trauma, right? He smote them, but this time, and put them to death in Riblah in the land of Hamath. Thus Judah was carried away captive out of his own land. Alright, once again, being smitten, smote and put to death shows again that brutality of concrete nations, you know, of powers replacing one power after another. And you know, I was speaking to you about the vaccinations. And you know what vaccinations is? It's a physical trauma, okay? It's what is happening, alright, where you've got these pharmaceutical companies basically vaccinating, right, and it's not even a real vaccine, okay, but vaccinating pretty much they're trying to vaccinate the entire population of the whole world, okay? And we saw the conquering kings, right? They would basically maim and brutalize physically people that they've conquered. And we see the entire world being conquered, okay, by the hands of these pharmaceutical companies and the physical trauma that's taking place is the vaccination, okay? You know, people are dying from the vaccination, it's not a conspiracy theory, you know, you can look it up, people die from it as well. People die from COVID, people die from the vaccinations as well, okay? And of course, the pharmaceutical companies raking in the billions of dollars as this stuff gets injected in people's arms. So why not to point something to you here is we've looked at what we've seen here in Jeremiah, we've seen several ways that people have been physically, you know, abused. And you know, I do believe once again, you know, vaccinations is a physical abuse, okay? Especially when you're being forced, when you're being coerced, you know, and seeing that the extortioner has to be kicked out of church because it's such a major sin, what's extortion? Extortion is basically forcing somebody to do something because, you know, you're holding something against them or something, right? You're going to expose somebody so you force people to do something that they don't want, okay? Being blackmailed, right? You know, being forced, right? If you don't take the jabs, then you're not going to be able to work and if you can't work, you can't have your income, you don't have your income, how are you going to provide? How are you going to pay your bills? How are you going to pay your rent? How are you going to pay your mortgage? How are you going to look after your families? You know, many people in Australia, yeah, the vaccination rates are getting higher and higher, but they're just doing it because they're forced. It's not because they really want to do it, okay? And then you've got the really, you know, the hardcore anti-vaxxers that are like, you know, over my dead body basically, you know, they'd rather die than take the vaccine. But brethren, what we're seeing here is nothing new, nothing new, okay? We look at something like the vaccine, like if you had a choice now, let's put the choice back to you, okay? And you had a conquering Babylon, taking away your freedom, taking away your rights, okay? They're forcing you, they're causing you physical trauma, and you get to decide which one you're going to take. Getting your eyes plucked out, being made a eunuch, getting your thumbs cut off, or getting vaccinated. Which one are you going to do? Which are you going to take? Listen, if I was presented those four choices, and I'm being forced, I've got no choice over this matter, all right, otherwise I can't have a living, I can't provide for my home, which is also a commandment that I need to keep for the Lord, then I'll take the vaccine out of all those. I'm pretty confident that's what I'll choose, okay, rather than getting my eyes plucked out, all right? And as I said, you know, well, if it's not the vaccination, I'll probably just take the eunuch approach because I've already got a whole bunch of kids. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. Actually, you probably won't even do that. It's too hard of a choice. But if the vaccine was thrown into the mix, I'd take the vaccine because it's a much lesser trauma than all those other devices that people have done, okay? Why am I saying this? Why am I kind of smiling when I say I'm saying this? Because there's nothing new under the sun. We shouldn't be surprised. If we know God's word, we understand when powers take over, we're under emergency powers, okay? When the entire world is under this so-called emergency power, okay, and people are being forced to do something to their bodies that they don't want, being forced, being coerced, okay? When the choice is removed, then you can understand why this is happening. There's a transfer in power. I'm not just saying in New South Wales, I'm saying across the whole world, there's some type of transfer of power, some type of transfer of wealth that's going on right now. And you know what? I don't even care what it is, okay? Because I'm on the Lord's side. And at the end of the day, once again, the Lord knows, the Lord is watching. The Lord allows for his reasons, okay? And please don't respond out of fear. Please don't be afraid, okay? These would have been scary times in the time of Jeremiah to live in Jerusalem and having another power come and take you captive, take away every right, your land, your family, separating you from your families. That would have been a very scary time. But please let me encourage you, don't respond out of fear, okay? Don't respond out of fear. You know, the pro-vaxxers, they're trying to get you to respond out of fear. They want you to be afraid, right? Right? The COVID virus, it's so deadly, it's going to kill you. The only thing that's going to save you is the vaccination. I remember when COVID first came out, I decided to see all about it on the news and media. You know, the people pushing fear were sending video, you could find videos basically in China, Wuhan, China, whatever. I don't even believe this was videos from Wuhan, China. People were literally just dropping dead on the streets, just in mass, just like five bodies dropping dead on the street. That's how bad the virus was, and that's the kind of information that was being fed to the world. Why? That never happened. When COVID came to our shores, you don't just see people dropping dead on the streets, walking down the footpath and dropping dead, all right, because it's just propaganda. It's to cause you to be afraid, right? When you're afraid, people can cause, make you do what they want you to do, all right? So that's the pro-vaxxers, but guess who else puts a lot of fear into you? The anti-vaxxers. Aren't you an anti-vaxxer, pass the game? Yeah, I'm against the vaccine, but I'm not an anti-vaxxer. You know, I'm not a spokesperson for that movement, but even the anti-vaxxers try to make you afraid, right? If you take the vaccine, okay, it's going to do this and this to your body, and I've seen videos of people coming out, so-called, they claim to be doctors, saying that, you know, once someone's been vaccinated, you know, some people are going to have, and I don't know what the stages are, but it's something like, in six months, people are going to be dropping dead like flies, and then in one year, more people are going to be dropping dead like flies, all right? And then by one and a half years, basically, everyone that's been vaccinated is going to be like dead or like brain damaged and maimed and unable to walk. You know, we haven't got that long to check this out, okay? Pretty much in Australia, another three months, let's see if what the anti-vaxxers are pushing are true. Let's see if these fears are true, where people are literally going to be dropping dead because they took the vaccine. Say, are you mad, I'm mad, I'll tell you why I'm mad, because the pro-vaxxer propaganda, the anti-vaxxer propaganda, they want you to be afraid, okay? And as Christians, God has not given us the spirit of fear. The Bible says in Luke 12 five, but I will forewarn you whom you shall fear, fear him, which after he have killed, have power to cast into hell, yea, I say unto you, fear him. Fear God, make your decisions because you fear God, not because you fear the virus or you fear the vaccine, forget that, that should be insignificant for us brethren. And if we just happen to die because of one of these two reasons, you know what, we die we close our eyes, we open our eyes, we're at home in heaven with God, we're with the Lord Jesus Christ for all eternity, we're in the best place we could possibly be, there's nothing to fear, Christians don't fear death one way or another, don't play the game, focus, keep your mind, your faith, your trust upon the Lord God, don't let fear be the deciding factor, whatever you decide, to be vaccinated or not vaccinated, don't let fear be that deciding factor. Now I am against the vaccine, okay, I'm against it, as I said earlier, number one reason I'm against it is because I'm against abortion, okay, and every single COVID vaccine that's out there either has the aborted cells of a baby within the vaccine itself or it was used to manufacture and produce the vaccine. I don't want to voluntarily, you know, willingly participate in something that was developed on murdered babies, does that make sense, I don't want to participate in any practice that is wicked like that where you've murdered children for the better of humanity or something, what's wrong with you people, okay, what's wrong with these doctors? We look at Jeremiah, one of the reasons God is judging them is because they sacrificed their children to Moloch and again, Australia, Sydney, here we're aborting babies, okay, and then using the body parts for science, for new vaccines, wow, you know, so wonderful, no it's not wonderful, it's wicked, we live in a wicked world, Sydney deserves the judgment of God. So brethren, I'm just saying to you, myself, I'm going to avoid the vaccine as much as I can because I don't want to willingly participate in it, okay, I know many of you have been put in a bad situation, like I'm not supposed to leave Fairfield, so I've just been functioning in Fairfield, right, I mean I thank God, I have everything that I need, God looks after his children, right, I'm sure the believers out there can say the same thing, you've been restricted in your movements but God has looked after you, God has given you what you need. Can you please keep your finger there in Jeremiah 52 and turn to Deuteronomy please, Deuteronomy chapter 22, Deuteronomy chapter 22. Now if you've been vaccinated or you decide to get vaccinated, I want you to know something, I'm not mad at you, okay, Babylon is putting the pressure on, okay, they want that physical trauma, they want their victory, they want to show themselves as conquerors, okay, and they've removed your ability, some of you, to work and not to have an income and look, you know what, it is our job to work hard and provide and to make sure that we have what we need, that's what the Lord commands from us. And if you have had to give in to the pressure, you've been forced, you've been coerced, you've had no other choice to be vaccinated, listen, I'm not mad at you, okay, I'm not mad at you because you have not sinned and I want this to be very clear, you have not sinned, okay, you've been forced, okay, again, when the Lord is taking his vengeance out for the temple of the Lord, he's not taking that out at the people that got violated, he's taking that out his anger on those that did the violence, he took it out on those that burnt down the house of the Lord, okay. When we look at this principle, look at it here, in Deuteronomy 22 to 25, we're looking at the principle of rape here, okay, and I'll tie it into vaccination soon. Deuteronomy 22 to 25 says, but if a man find a betrothed damsel in the field and the man force her, force her, this is rape, okay, and lie with her, then the man only that lay with her shall die. Yes, rapist should be put to death, that's what the Bible says, okay, but notice only the rapist is put to death, not the victim. Look at verse 26, but unto the damsel thou shalt do nothing, there is in the damsel no sin worthy of death. Listen, the damsel, the woman that was raped, did not sin, okay, she was violated. It says, for as when a man riseth against his neighbour and slayeth him, even so is this matter, for he found her in the field and the betrothed damsel cried and there was none to save her. So she's forced, she's got no choice here, okay, she's been overpowered by someone that is stronger than her and she's been raped and God says no, the rapist is the one that sinned, the rapist is the one that deserves death, not the victim. And so, brethren, I just want to make it very clear, if you've been forced or you're pressured to the point and you're stressed and worried and, oh, do I do this or, listen, if you've been forced, if it's the hand of the Babylonians upon you, okay, and you take it, you take it to get through, to continue life and do it, again, I'm not mad at you, God's not mad at you, you've not sinned, you're a victim, it's the violators that have sinned, okay, it's our wicked politicians that, through their emergency powers, have created this environment where people are afraid, whether they'll be able to provide, you know, put food on the table, pay their bills, destroying businesses, they're the violators, they're the wicked and their judgement's going to come in due time, okay, we're victims in all of this, all right, so we all need to decide where that is, I'm going to avoid the vaccine as much as I can, brethren, but if the time comes where I've got no choice for whatever reason, okay, as much as I don't want it, okay, but I have to make sure that my wife and 11 kids are taken care of, okay, then I'll just take the stupid thing and make sure that I'll be praying to God, praying lots of imprecatory prayers to the Lord to make sure that he takes out the wicked people. Verse number 28, Jeremiah 52, verse number 28, this is the people who Nebuchadreza, actually, you know what, before I go there, can you please take your Bibles and go to Mark chapter 7, go to Mark chapter 7, just something else has come to my mind and I want you to remember this, these times, this COVID world that we live in, it's given us a lot to think about, you know, to test what we're made of, to test what's important to us and I want you to notice a quick story here in Mark chapter 7, verse 18. Mark chapter 7, verse number 18, look, if I go a little bit over time today, brethren, please forgive me, it is the last chapter, okay, of Jeremiah 52 and I want to have a good conclusion here that you can relate to, you can learn from. Mark 7, verse 18, actually, let's start with verse number 14, Mark 7, 14, and when he had called all the people unto him, he said unto them, hearken unto me every one of you and understand there is nothing from without a man that entering into him can defile him, but the things which come out of him, those are they that defile the man. These are the teachers of Christ and again, this is because Christ did not wash his hands before eating and he was being accused of basically being filthy and dirty, being unclean, alright, that he's allowed himself to eat and, you know, within his body, he consumed possibly things that weren't good for him, alright, for his body and Jesus Christ makes a very clear point here that that which is outside of the man, without the man, that cannot defile a man, okay, rather it's the things which come out of him that defiles a man, alright. Let's keep going, verse number 15, sorry, verse number 16, if any man have ears to hear, let him hear. You're listening to this, I want you to hear this very clearly, okay, Jesus Christ is asking the same thing, verse number 17, and when he entered into the house of the people, his disciples asked him, concerning the parable, and he saith unto him, are ye so without understanding also? Do ye not perceive that whatsoever thing from without, that's outside, into the man, it cannot defile him, because it entereth not into his heart, but into the belly, and goeth out into the draught, purging all meats, okay, he says, that which enters the man, as long as it doesn't enter the heart, the heart being a spiritual place where our thoughts and our, you know, our imaginations are come up with, right, he says, you know, if it's coming from your heart, then that's where the defilement comes from, okay. Verse number 20, and he said, that which cometh out of the man, that defileth the man, for from within, out of the heart of men, proceed, what comes out of the heart of man? Evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, deciduousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness, I think that's 13 sins that the Lord has stated here, all these evil things come from within, and defile the man, brethren, a lot of you guys are fighting the vaccination, good on you, I'm fighting it too, I don't want it, but one thing I want you to think about, okay, that which is without does not defile the man, but that which comes within. Do you think God, Jesus Christ, if he was walking in 2021, do you think he'd be more concerned about the vaccines, or would he be more concerned about the sins of the heart of men, that defile the man, okay. Now, of course, I don't believe Jesus Christ would be full of vaccines at all, I mean, there are some pastors and churches these days teaching that, yeah, God wants you to take the vaccine, I think they're nuts, but anyway, okay, I want you to think about all the time, all the hours of research, all the effort you're doing to not take the vaccine, because you don't want to participate in something that is wicked and sinful, well, I want you now, okay, if that's really where your heart is, that's how much you hate things that are wicked and sinful, okay, then I want to make sure that you, don't be a hypocrite, you take the same amount of effort, okay, the same time of research, the same time on WhatsApp, and the same time on Facebook, and the same time on YouTube, to better yourself and overcome the sins of the heart, because they're far worse than what any vaccination can do to a body. Don't forget that, yeah, if that vaccination causes some damage to this physical body, okay, it's still going to die, okay, this body's going to die, and God is going to give us one day a new resurrected body that has never been vaccinated, in fact, this body will never sin, this body will not have a heart which precedes evil things either, okay, it's a body that is incorruptible, a body like unto Jesus Christ, but that's still a future promise, but if you care that much about vaccinations, and you're fighting it for whatever reason, I want you to fight the sins that come out of your heart, okay, because I guarantee you, you're spending all this time on the vaccinations, and out of your heart, guaranteed, you have things coming out of it, like evil thoughts, like the thoughts of fornications, okay, like covetousness, like deceit, like the evil eye, like blasphemy, like pride, like foolishness, probably have all these sins coming out of your heart, at the same time, fighting the vaccines, hey, forget the vaccines for a minute, how about you deal the sins in your heart? How about you go to God right now, and say, God, I'm sorry that I've done these wicked things out of my heart, because that is truly what defiles a man, we need to have our priorities right, is what I'm saying, okay, listen, I'm going to fight the vaccines as much as I can, at the end of the day, though, if I'm forced, it's the hand of Babylon, and God's going to be mad at the violator, my job is to concern myself for the sins that come out of the heart of man, okay, the sins that come out of your heart are your concerns to do with God, the sins that come out of my heart is something that I need to do with the Lord God myself, alright, so let's go back to Jeremiah 52, Jeremiah 52, and verse number 28. Alright, so those are the numbers of people that got taken to captivity. Okay, now, for the rest of the chapter here, we learn what happened to King Jehoiachin, okay, King Jehoiachin, or Jeconiah, as we know him, most often in the book of Jeremiah, verse number 31. So the next king, after King Nebuchadnezzar, takes Jehoiachin, okay, and delivers him out of prison, he lets him go free basically, right? It says in verse number 32, So he's in constant talks with the Babylonian king here, verse number 34. So what he gets to eat is basically the best food, the king of Babylon eats the best food, this guy Jehoiachin also gets to eat of the best food, right? Now look, Jehoiachin was evil, he was in the wrong as well, okay, but there's something he did that was different to Zedekiah, okay, and what is that? Why is it that at the end of it, yes, he lost his freedoms, yes, he was taken into captivity, yes, he was thrown in prison, but why is it that the end result of his life was actually a positive one, okay? Well, I do believe I know why, so let's go to 2 Kings 24, 2 Kings 24, we're comparing Zedekiah, who rebelled, who tried to run away, whose sons were killed and he was blinded, versus Jehoiachin, okay, who seemingly had a great time afterwards, after he was released from prison, got to basically eat the best foods with the king, was hanging out there amongst all the other powerful people in the land of Babylon, why is it that he actually had a better life at the end of it all? Well, 2 Kings 24 verse 11 says, 2 Kings 24, 11, it says, And Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came against the city, and his servants did besiege it. And Jehoiachin, the king of Judah, what did he do? Did he rebel? Did he run away? What did he do? And Jehoiachin, the king of Judah, went out to the king of Babylon. This guy surrendered. He actually listened to what Jeremiah's been saying this whole time. Okay, now I'm sure he surrendered against his own will and desire, but he ultimately surrendered. He ultimately realized Babylon is too strong. He ultimately realized Jeremiah is right. I have to surrender, okay? He went out to the king of Babylon. He and his mother and his servants and his princes and his officers and the king of Babylon took him in the eighth year of his reign. So Jehoiachin surrendered. He obeyed to what Jeremiah preached. So at the end of the book of Jeremiah, you know, you have a choice. We live in a time of spiritual Babylon. Your freedoms, your rights being removed. Hopefully they're coming back somewhat. I don't know when. You know, the new premier for New South Wales. Could it be someone that's more wicked, more evil? Or hopefully someone that is good, okay? I don't know. Let's be praying about that. But you have a choice. Do you want to end up like Zedekiah or do you want to end up like Jehoiachin? You've got a choice, okay? And if you just are rebellious, you know, you want to fight this power, okay? And those that you think are going to fight with you, no, they're going to run away. Those people that you think are strong, they're weak. They're actually weak, okay? They don't know how to deal with trouble in times, okay? They're weak like Gladys, Berus Jichlion, okay? When troubled times come, they're going to run away. You can be like a Zedekiah if you want, okay? I'm just telling you, it's going to end bad for you, okay? I'm not saying your eyes are going to get plucked down, your kids are going to get slain before you. But you're going to have a harder time in Babylon, okay? But if you're Jehoiachin and you understand with dealing with the judgment of God, you listen to what Jeremiah says. Jeremiah said, look, it'd be better for you if you just surrender. He surrendered. Yes, he went through some hard time. He lost some of his freedoms, he did. But at the end of it all, he actually fared much better than most of the other people that were taken into captivity by Babylon. So Brevin, my encouragement to you is be like Jehoiachin, okay? Be like Jehoiachin, surrender, okay? You know, listen to what Babylon is asking us to do, okay? As long as they're not asking us to sin, obey, you know, do what is right, all right? And if they're trying to force you to get vaccinated, they're trying to force that stuff into your arm, and you've got no other choice, just remember, you've not sinned. They've sinned, they're the violator, okay? And God's vengeance will be upon them, okay? Let's pray.