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So we're continuing our series in Jeremiah, of course, and we're there in chapter 9. Drop down to verse number 24 for me. Drop down to verse number 24. It says, But let him that glorieth glory in this, and he understandeth and knoweth me. The title for the sermon this morning is Understand and Know the Lord. Understand and Know the Lord. And so as we've been going through Jeremiah, obviously you've noticed, and as this chapter was being read, that we're dealing with a very, very negative book. And so I wanted to take something positive. As soon as there's something positive in this book, I really just want to highlight that because we've been so contemplating the feelings of Jeremiah, this coming judgment on Judah, which were the people of God. They were meant to be blessed on the land. They're meant to be carried forth God's word. They're meant to be the light of the world, and they're not doing their job, and they've gone all the way following up the false gods, and God's judgment will fall upon them. And so when we see something that is positive, it's good to grab that and shine a light on that. Shine a light on that because it is a very negative message. And sometimes in our lives we might be going for a negative spell, and 2020 for a lot of people is negative. And for me at the beginning it was quite negative, but actually I find it quite enjoyable. I'm very thankful that I can be down in Sydney, to be honest. It wasn't my plan, but 2020 kind of opened the doors for that to happen. And so sometimes it's just important to look at the positives in life, right, and focus on what is positive, and that'll help you get through the negative times that you have in your life. But let's start there in verse number one, Jeremiah chapter nine, verse number one. As I said, the title is To Understand and Know the Lord. And so what we find in this chapter, we find that there are those that do know the Lord, and then there are those that do not know the Lord, or do not want to know the Lord. And so we see this contrast of people in this chapter. But in verse number one it says, oh, these are the words of Jeremiah, Oh, that my head were waters, and mine eyes a fountain of tears, that I might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people. So we're continuing where we left off. If you remember at the end of chapter eight, as Jeremiah was thinking about and meditating on the judgment of God, he started to be uncomfortable. He started to really feel it. He started to mourn and to weep, and so chapter nine starts with the same idea, mourning and weeping for his nation. And brethren, when we see the wickedness of Australia, when we see the wickedness of our world, sometimes we get this feeling that's like, well, God, bring your judgment, bring your fires down on this earth. And sometimes that is right, because God's judgment is righteous. It is always right. But at the same time, we are human beings, and we understand that, you know, if we see a destruction of Australia, of our people that are in this land, you know, we want them saved, don't we? We love their souls, don't we? That we should love their souls. And so when we see this downward spiral, it also should bring us to tears. You know, we should weep a little bit for our nation. You know, we shouldn't be so hard and think, well, that's just a word, and let it all burn down. We shouldn't take that attitude. Jeremiah's got a heavy heart for his nation, all right? And even in Matthew, I'll just read to you, if you guys can keep your finger there, and please turn to Psalm 126. You go to Psalm 126, and I'm going to read to you from Matthew 23. I'm going to read to you some words from Jesus Christ. You know, we see Jeremiah, he's looking at Judah, and he's weeping tears, and he just wishes that nation will come back to God. And in Matthew 23, 37, you know, many hundreds of years later, we have Jesus Christ walking in Judea. And Jesus Christ says the words in verse number 37. And so you see the heart of Jesus, oh, Jerusalem, Jerusalem. He sees the city just the same way that Jeremiah sees the city, and he's getting emotional. He wishes that, you know, Jesus Christ wishes he could just be like that hen that gathers its little children under her wings and protects them. But, you know, the people of the city, the people of Judea did not want Jesus Christ. And so he says, look, destruction, desolation will come upon you. And, of course, that happened in 70 AD, when the city again was destroyed and the temple was destroyed, and not one stone was left upon another. And so it's almost this parallel playing out in Jeremiah's day, which also took place in Jesus' day. But you're in Psalm 126, and verse number 4, it says here, Turn again our captivity, O Lord, as the streams in the south. I believe this psalm was written as the Jews, because, you know, the Book of Psalms is actually a period of many, many hundreds of years. We don't know exactly at what points all these were. You know, the Book of Psalms basically has five books that make up the Book of Psalms. And so they're all written at different periods of time. And the fact that it says here, turn again our captivity, as you know, the Jews were taken into captivity by the Babylonians. So I believe this captivity is somewhere around that time. And so turn again that captivity, then in verse number 5, it says, They that sow in tears shall reap in joy. He that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him. And so the direct context of this psalm is that they have been taken out of captivity, they're going back into their land, they're going back into their cities that have been reconstructed, the temple's been rebuilt, but they're also going back and farming their lands. They're going back and bringing back the agriculture, right? They're bringing back the economic growth of that place. And so it's saying, look, you know, we're going out and we're taking the precious seed, we're planting, we want to see our crops grow, we want to see our farmland restored, we want to see, you know, us coming back to the Lord as it were. But then the great truth of this one as well, you know, you want to take a spiritual truth out of that, is that when we go soul winning, brethren, we take that precious seed with us as well. You know, see the word of God, the gospel message, we take that to this lost community, but listen, as we go, brethren, we ought to go with some tears in our eyes. We ought to be caught up with a little bit of emotion, knowing that, you know, yes, this person rejects me at the door and we learn to be hardened at that, we learn not to let that put us down but to continue on the next door, but at the same time when someone rejects the gospel, hey, that is a soul that is on its way to hell, right? And when we go and we speak to our neighbors, you know, we shouldn't be these robots that just want to get this message out, right? We got to treat that person as a lost soul, right? That Jesus Christ has died for, that, you know, he's paid for their sins already, he shed his blood for them and we ought to have some tears in our eyes, right? The person at the door needs to understand, hey, we love you. You know, I'm going door to door not because, hey, I could be doing so many more things with me in my life than going door to door, but I do this because I love the person at the door and the only way, you know, brethren, to do that is to get emotionally invested in the message that you're giving. Jeremiah was emotionally invested. He wants to see his nation come back to the Lord. Hey, I want to see Australia come back to the Lord. I want to see Fairfield and the surrounding suburbs come back to the Lord, right? I want to see that, but we need to sometimes just weep a little bit, you know? You know, go before the Lord and, you know, if the Lord sees our broken and contrite heart, I'm sure he's going to bless the work as we go and bear his precious seed. Back to Jeremiah chapter 9 in verse number 2. Not only is Jeremiah weeping, but then he has this thought that crosses his mind in verse number 2 and this might be a thought that has crossed your mind in the past and sometimes I talk to believers that think this way. He says, oh, that I had in the wilderness a lodging place of wayfaring men. Jeremiah's saying, look, I wish I didn't live here in Jerusalem, in this city. I wish I wasn't here. I wish I was just out in the wilderness, you know, away from everybody, away from the sins of this city, that I might leave my people and go from there. I'm sick of these people, Jeremiah says, right? For they be all adulterers, an assembly of treacherous men. And so there's that part of him as well. Man, this place is so wicked. I've got to get out of here. And again, some people have that idea. They think, oh, the world is so wicked and I've got to find a quiet place. I've just got to get out of this place. I've got to get far away from people. I don't want to have to deal with people ever again. But brethren, if you're far away from people, then how are you going to preach the gospel unto them? God wants us to, just like Jeremiah is preaching in the city of Jerusalem, you know, God wants us in places, to live in places where there are lost people, so we can tell them about the Lord Jesus Christ. He doesn't want us secluded in a faraway place, even though you might feel that way, but that's not your calling, brethren. You know, Jesus Christ says in John 17 verse 14, I have given them thy word and the world have hated them because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. I pray that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil. So Jesus says, I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world. You know, Jesus says, look, you know, the world is wicked, the world hates God's word, the world hates God's people, but Lord, I pray that you don't take them out of the world. We need them in the world. We need them around these people so they can do the works that God has left them to do. You know, God has left us works to do, brethren. You live in Sydney? Well, God's got to work for you in this city to preach the gospel in this area, not to run away, not to find some wilderness where it's just you in a cabin, you know, with some other like-minded believers and you form some cults. That's not the calling for a Christian, even though you may feel this way. You know, and sometimes I see Christians obsessed with this world and obsessed, oh, man, we're being tracked by 5G technology and we're being tracked this way and we're being tracked that way and oh, man, I've got to get out of here, I've got to go, I've got to... Forget who cares. Listen, we need to function in this world. You don't want to turn into a weirdo. You know, there are Christians that become weird and they can't function in society. They can't hold down a job because they're so weird, right? They just want to get away from society. God wants us to focus and work in the society that we have. He wants us to be, you know, a benefit to the people we're around. And brethren, who cares who's tracking us? God's eyes are across this world. You know, His eyes see the wicked, His eyes see the righteous. You know, God's eyes are far more powerful than some 5G technology that can track your every move. Who cares? God's eyes are on us. God's eyes are watching the wicked and the righteous. Let's keep going, verse number three there. And they bend, speaking about the wicked, they bend their tongues like a bow for lies. And they are not valiant for the truth upon the earth, for they proceed from evil to evil. Now look at this. And they know not me, saith the Lord. Hey, what's the title of the sermon this morning? Understand and Know the Lord. God says, look, they do not know me, right? What are they doing? They're changing their tongues into lies. Hey, they're not truth tellers. They speak lies. And brethren, you know what? If you're a liar, you do not know God. God wants you to tell the truth. God wants you to work through honesty, okay? And not to cheat your way. If you cheat your way, if you lie your way through this life, you do not know God, okay? In order for you to know God, you must be valiant, courageous for the truth, okay? Let's keep going, verse number four. Take ye heed, every one of his neighbour, look at this, and trust ye not in any brother. God's telling Jeremiah, don't trust any brother. Anyone that calls themselves brother to you, God's saying don't trust them in a wicked world. Now, brethren, where are all brothers and sisters in the Lord? Are we not? All of us here are brothers and sisters. And sometimes, you know, you're out in the shops or, you know, people that are not even saved, they might call you, hey, bro, right? So other people call you brothers that are not necessarily of the faith. And, you know, so these are people that are close to you, right? And look, God's telling Jeremiah, don't trust in your brothers, all right? Look at this, for every brother will utterly supplant, and every neighbour will walk with slanders. And they will deceive everyone his neighbour and will not speak the truth. They have taught their tongue to speak lies and weary themselves to commit iniquity. And so we need to be careful about the people we trust, all right? You know, people often say to me, you know, Pastor Kevin, you're too trustworthy. People often say that to me, you're too trustworthy. You know what? And in a sense, you know, yes, because, you know, I want to be an encouragement and not a discouragement. And so, you know, I will portray and, you know, I do, you know, to an extent. I trust everybody in this room to an extent, all right, to an extent. At the same time, I am not so trustworthy that if someone were to backstab me, that it would destroy my life, that it might destroy my reputation, that it might destroy the church, right? You know, it's not wrong to trust people, all right? It's not wrong necessarily to do that. Like right now, my parents are looking after a few of my children, right? They're right there. I've trusted my parents to look after a few of my kids, right? There's measures of trust. But listen, I'm never going to trust another person with my life or with my family, where if they did something evil and corrupt, where it will destroy my relationship with my family or it might destroy my relationship with God or it might destroy Blessed Hope Baptist Church. I will never, I don't care who it is. I'm never going to trust somebody to that extent, you know, to just where somebody might do something wicked or evil. We have to be careful. Now, brethren, you know, I love you. But, you know, unless I get to know you, I can't fully trust you or that measure of trust will develop over time. You know, I might trust you with more and more. But again, I will always make sure that the only person I trust fully is the Lord God, right? Psalm 118 verse 8 says, It is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in man. It is better to trust in the Lord. And, brethren, all of us have a testimony to keep. We have a reputation to walk in the ways of the Lord, right? We have people that we care about that we need to protect. And be careful about who you trust. Because your brothers, in the day of Jeremiah, your brothers might be the ones that backstab you, that betray you. I mean, Jesus Christ, one of his friends betrayed him, Judas Iscariot. All right? Let's keep going to verse number 6. Thine habitation is in the midst of deceit. Look at this. Through deceit they refuse to know me. Again, they refuse to know me, saith the Lord. You see that? There's a group of people that do not want to know God. In fact, they refuse. Their habitation is in the midst of deceit. What it's saying is that you live in deception. You just live for deception. And, again, if you're someone that deceives people, you know, you do not know God. You know, some people do not outright lie, but they tell half-truths, right? Half-truth, so you're left with a different perception, right? Hey, that's deception. People that deceive you, people that tell you half-truths do not know God. They refuse to know God. Listen, you be careful with how you speak to people. There are times where I'm telling something honestly and truthfully, but, you know, in my mind I left out some information not to deceive, but then it caused somebody else to have a misunderstanding, and then say, oh, you misunderstood. Let me explain that a little bit further, right? But there are some people that purposely leave out truths, right, to lie. Just to, you know, well, I didn't lie. I told the truth. Yeah, but you didn't tell the whole truth, all right? And you're deceiving people. And, again, if you're a deceptive person, you're somebody you see here, verse number 6, that refuses to know God. That's not how God operates, right? God is black and white. God tells us the truth. He's not telling us lies. I love the Bible because I know it's 100% truth. Where are you going to find 100% truth in this world? There's nowhere else, brethren. You know, not even me. You talk to me one-on-one, I'm going to make mistakes, intentionally, maybe unintentionally, all of the above. Like, who knows, right? I mean, we all have told lies. We've all told half-truths. You know, I mean, there's only one truth, brethren. It's the Word of God. It's not the media. It's not the Internet. There are many truthful things out there, but the only place we can truly have truth is the Word of God. Praise God for that. Praise God for that. Verse number 7. Therefore, thus saith the Lord of hosts, behold, I will melt them and try them, for how shall I do for the daughter of my people? What God is saying here is, like, and how shall I do? It's not like the best thing that God can do to these people that are deceivers, that are liars, that do not want to know God, is to put them under pressure, all right, to heat up the environment to melt them. It's kind of that same idea of the refiner, right? He's melting to cause the dross to leave, and hopefully some precious stones or some precious metals will remain. So sometimes God will put his people under pressure. Sometimes God will put you in trials and tribulations to test you, to see whether you're going to be somebody that shines forth for him or you come back to the Lord if you've been far away, or you just melt away because you are that far gone from God. And you know what? Without the trials, without the difficulties, God is going to send the Babylonians, as we know, without these trials, this nation of Judah will only continue in its wicked ways. God says, look, it's better that I put you in difficulties than to allow you to continue in your wicked ways. And, brethren, sometimes you need to think about that. You know, there is a pride in man. And, again, when we go through trials and difficulties, when we go through hardships, it's, oh, it's the devil. You know, I'm being persecuted because I'm God's, you know, I'm a Christian. Sometimes it's God putting you through that because you've been far from God, because you're not following his ways, because you're being deceptive. You're not telling the truth. And sometimes God will just allow you to go through some difficulty, brethren. And, you know, if you're finding yourself in some trial, first thing to do before you start blaming the devil or some other external force, look within yourself for a minute and say, am I right with God? Am I doing something wrong? And if I'm doing something wrong, I better get that right. Otherwise, this trial will remain. And God does it because it's better for me to go through this difficulty and learn my lesson than to continue down this downward spiral that I'm in. Verse number 8. Their tongue is an arrow shot out. It speaketh deceit. One speaketh peaceably to his neighbor with his mouth, but in heart he layeth his weight. Shall I not visit them for these things, saith the Lord? Shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this? Listen, what is God saying here? He's saying, look, I'm going to avenge this nation. Why? Because in verse number 8, it says they've got a tongue like an arrow. They speak peaceably to the neighbor, speak to their brothers and neighbors. We're buddies, aren't we? We're friends. We get along. But then in their hearts, what was it again? But in heart he layeth his weight. He's actually setting a trap for that person. We use the term the backstabber. The backstabber. You speak nice words to somebody, but then when their backs are turned, you go to somebody else and just start stabbing that person in the back. You start speaking evil to that person. You start not only speaking evil to that person, but you're laying a trap for that person to fall down. You're trying to win that person's trust, but at the same time, you're doing it to destroy that person. I don't know if you've ever been in that situation where someone's trying to destroy you. Hey, they speak great, swelling words of praise to you, but behind your backs, they're just going at you. Brethren, listen, let me tell you something. If somebody, and this is gossiping, if somebody goes to you and gossips to you about a brother or sister from this church or someone else, at the beginning, you're going to think, oh, this person really trusts me to come with this information and these burdens. Sometimes people do have just a concern, but you will eventually find out the difference between someone that is sharing a concern to pray for an individual or a situation compared to a person who is just trying to destroy that reputation, destroy that individual. And you need to quickly learn this, because if they're so comfortable to gossip to you and backstab others, they're doing it to you as well. They're 100% doing it to you as well. They've won your trust. You think, oh, man, they really like me because they're sharing this deep personal information. Yeah, but when they leave your presence, they're going to somebody else, maybe even the person they backstabbed, and now they're backstabbing you. We have to be careful. This is a generation that Jeremiah found himself in, full of backstabbers, and God says, look, I'm going to avenge them. I'm going to avenge this because of this practice. And, brethren, if you're a backstabber, if you're a gossiper, God's going to avenge himself on you when the time is right. I mean, so many backstabbers, they end up falling into their own problems, into their own traps. Eventually, they get found out as the one that's going around causing all the problems. They fall in their own traps. Let's keep going. Verse number 10. For the mountains will I take up a weeping and wailing. So now Jeremiah's thinking about the mountains, the countryside, the farmlands. Now he's weeping for the... So he's already weeping for the city, and now he's weeping for the surrounding areas. And for the habitations of the wilderness are lamentation because they are burned up. So, again, Jeremiah's saying prophetically, there's going to be a fire that just destroys all that agriculture. So that none can pass through them, neither can men hear the voice of the cattle, both the fowl of the heavens and the beasts are fled, they are gone. So once, yeah, once in the mountains, these countryside, there were cattle, there were the farmlands, and he says, look, there's coming a time when it's all gone. It's all gone. And, again, Jeremiah just prophetically seeing this and weeping for his people. Verse number 11. And now we get back to God. God, again, speaking to Jeremiah. He says, and I will make Jerusalem heaps. Now he's speaking about the city. Heaps. And a den of dragons. And I will make the cities of Judah desolate without an inhabitant. Okay, so what is it saying here? That Jerusalem will also be destroyed, right? It will become a den of dragons. It's saying here that this city, you know, the people are going to leave and wild animals, wild creatures are going to come into that city and make it its habitation. You know, the closest thing that I can think of right now is when we left the Sunshine Coast and we came back to our house in Sydney in Bonarig, you know, there haven't been anybody like living there for several days. And if you don't live in a house for a little while, don't you start finding all the spider webs and the cockroaches that have found their little corners to breed and to, right? And so the first few nights, you know, as we came to our house, we didn't notice the wildlife just yet, right? But eventually you started to see all the cockroaches running out. I mean, it's like, man, this place is infested with cockroaches. This place is infested with wild animals. You know, all the spiders, the huntsmen and whatever, you know, walking around. But hey, after you live there for a while, you know, the animals get freaked out and they leave, right? But that's what you notice is that Jerusalem will be emptied of people and then the animals. So Den of Dragons, talking about the reptile creatures, are going to come and make their homes, their abodes in these places. And so, man, this place is going to be wiped out, as it were. Verse number 12, look at this. Who is the wise man? Now, brethren, I want you to be wise. I want to be a wise man, don't you? I want you to be a wise lady. I want our children to be wise children. God is asking the question, who is the wise man? We're in Jeremiah chapter 9, brother. Jeremiah chapter 9. Who is the wise man that may understand this? You know, God wants us to understand this judgment that has fallen upon Judah. And then it says here, And who is he to whom the mouth of the Lord hath spoken, that he may declare it, for what the land perisheth, and is burned up like a wilderness, and none passeth through? You know what God is saying? Hey, the wise man will understand when my judgment falls upon a wicked place. The wise man is going to be the one that proclaims the truth of his judgment. And, brethren, again, when we go door to door sowing, or you explain the gospel to a lost person, you are telling them the judgment of God. You are telling them, hey, God's judgment is going to fall one day, and you're going to go out there and proclaim God's word so they know what they have to do in order to be saved. If you're doing that, brethren, you are a wise person. But what's the opposite of wisdom? Foolishness. So if you're somebody that even when you know God's judgment is on its way, but you hide that truth, you pretend you don't know it's coming, well, you're foolish then. You're not warning people of God's judgment. We need to warn people of God's judgment so they get right with God. So they get saved. So we know they're coming to heaven. And, brethren, the more people that get saved in our city, the more likely God's going to save it in the time of judgment. I don't know if Sydney can be saved from God's judgment. We know in the book of Revelation God's judgment is going to fall upon the whole world. But we don't know what time that is. You know, I would love for my children, we're probably going to be on the Sunshine Coast, but, listen, the Sunshine Coast is headed down the same trajectory. Don't worry. But I want our children to grow up in a nation where there's freedom, where they can worship God, where they have peace. I want that for my children. I want that for my grandchildren, which I don't even have just yet. Listen, if I let down this generation, you know, if we don't get out there and preach the gospel, if we don't get out there and tell people about the Lord God, don't expect it to be any better for our children. That's probably why we're in the state we're in, brethren. You know, the previous generations have fallen away from the Lord. They've turned their hearts from God. You know, they've stopped teaching their children about the Bible. You know, our schools have stopped teaching people, you know, about God. And they're teaching our children about evolution and atheism, right, and homosexuality and all these kinds of wicked things. And then we wonder why our nation is going so backward against the Lord. We wonder why God's judgment is falling upon this land. Look at verse number 13. Look at what the wise man is. The wise man proclaims God's judgment. So we have the foolish now in verse number 13. Hey, if you forsake God's law, you're foolish. And again, you've got your Bibles in your hands. You've got God's laws in your hands. You don't read it? Hey, you're acting foolishly, right? Look at this. So it's good. You've got your Bible. Read the Bible. You see what God tells you to do. But if you don't obey what God tells you to do, guess what? You're foolish once again. Okay, if you're not walking in God's ways, you're foolish, but have walked after the imagination of their own hearts. And this is what happens, brethren, when someone stops picking up God's Word, when people stop reading God's Word, they start making their own ideas. They start thinking, well, this is the right way to walk. I'm going to walk in the way that I see fit, right, after the imagination of my own heart. Isn't that what people say when you go to the door? I'm my own God. I make my own decisions. Are you 100% sure that if you die today, you'll be going to heaven? I don't believe in heaven, so why would I go there? It doesn't matter whether you believe it or not. It doesn't matter if you don't believe in hell or heaven. Those places are real according to God's Word, all right? And you want to make sure you end up in the right place. But people walk in the imaginations of their own heart when they depart from God's Word. Listen, when you stop picking up your Bible, when you stop coming to church, brethren, when you stop learning God's Word, you're going to find yourself just walking back in your old ways and walking after your own device in your heart. You'll realize just how wicked you truly are when you depart from God, when you get far from the Lord. And after Balaam, so Balaam was a false god, we've seen that before, which their fathers taught them, which their fathers taught them. You know, one of the sad realities, and I've shared this story before with you, I used to work with a Muslim man, and I gave him the gospel. And he said to me, boy, you know, this makes complete sense. What you just explained to me, it's the first time I understand the gospel, I understand it's a free gift, I understand why Jesus had to die, and he paid for it all, I fully get it, and I want to believe it, he said to me. He said, but I cannot bring myself to believe it because I know my parents, they're not going to believe the gospel. I know my parents are going to stay as Muslims, they're going to stay in their false religion, and I can't bear thinking that I'm going to heaven and knowing that my parents are going to go to hell. Okay, so what did he decide? He decided, well, I'm going to keep believing the lies that my parents taught me. Okay, that's a scary thing, right? Knowing the truth, knowing the truth. But hey, this is what Judah was like. You know, they went after Balaam, which their fathers taught them. You know, and that's what Islam is. You know, it's a false religion, it's a false god. You know, and unfortunately, this teaching has been passed down generation after generation. There are so many false religions in this world, and people make that decision. You know, I was born a Catholic, I'm going to die a Catholic. I said, just believe in Jesus Christ, get saved. Don't you care about your children and your children's children? Listen, we can't fix the mistakes of the past. Look, who knows? This Muslim man may have gotten saved and may have, through his testimony and by the gospel, saved his own parents. All right? But he'd rather keep the traditions of his forefathers. But that's what Judah was like, right? Verse number 15. Therefore, thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel. Behold, I will feed them. What's he going to feed them? Is he going to feed them the Word of God? Is he going to feed them the blessings of God? He says, I will feed them even this people with wormwood and give them water of gold to drink again. He's saying, look, I'm going to feed them with bitter judgments. They're going to be so bitter when this happens. They're going to be maybe even angrier. God, this took place. The bitterness is going to burn up in them and God's just going to give them the bitterness. I mean, bitterness is one of the worst sins you can have. It just destroys your soul, I find, when you're bitter, especially when you're bitter against God, but that's what God's judgment is going to be like for them. He's not going to feed them nourishing food. He's going to feed them bitterness for their wickedness. Verse number 16. I will scatter them also among the heathen, so we know they were taken into captivity, but then it says, whom neither they nor their fathers have known, and I will send a sword after them till I have consumed them. So not only are the Babylonians going to come and slaughter so many people of the Jews, not only are they going to destroy and burn down the cities, but even those that are taken into captivity, even after being taken into captivity, it says, I will send a sword after them. So there was even further deaths, further slaughter of God's people, even after they were taken into captivity. So, I mean, till I have consumed them. Remember, this was a rejected generation that God was dealing with. He wanted to make sure this generation was finished so a newer generation could come back into the land 70 years later. Verse number 17. that they may come and let them make haste and take up a wailing for us, that our eyes may run down with tears and our eyelids gush out with waters. So we know that Jeremiah is weeping. We started that in verse number nine. In fact, Jeremiah is known as the weeping prophet, because he also wrote the book of Lamentations. And to lament, again, is that mourning and that weeping, right? And so what's happening here, the Lord is saying, look, this nation, they have to mourn. They have to weep. But they're so hardened against God, so God suggests, look, call for the mourning women. If you don't know what that is, that's like professional mourners. Professional mourners, like actors. You know, and I don't recommend to watch Hollywood movies, right? But you know how actors can, like, they can just turn on the emotion? Like, they've taught themselves how to cry, right? They've taught themselves how to mourn and cry, and so they act in some scene, they have to get emotional. It's not emotional, it's all make-believe, right? And they get emotional, and then because you're watching that emotion, you get emotional, right? So God says, look, call the actors, call the coming women, right? Verse number 18, and let them make haste and take up a wailing for us. Let them cry for us that our eyes may run down with you. Like, if we see others crying and mourning, these actors, maybe it is going to cause a nation to weep. Now, I think God's acting a bit sarcastically a little bit here, right? But look, God is telling us, listen, this nation needs to mourn, it needs to weep, you're so far from God, judgment's coming, you're going to be destroyed, it's time to cry. And you know what? I'm all for manliness. I'm all for men being men, because our generation are being taught to be effeminate. Our generation of men are being taught how to be like women. Hey, and I'm for women to be feminine, you know? I'm in favor of that, you know, but men must be masculine, right? But then there's also this idea that, you know, for men to be men, they're not allowed to cry. Hey, that's not true. Jeremiah is a powerful preacher. Could you imagine being Jeremiah, and the whole nation has turned against God, you're the only one telling the truth. People are like, hey, he's a real man. But at the same time, you see that he can weep, right? You can see that he can cry, he can mourn, right? He can shed tears. And brethren, mourning is good for you. Crying is good for you. What do we see? That if you go forth, you know, weeping, you know, and bearing precious seed, right? When we go soloing, there ought to be some emotion. There ought to be a tear in your eye for the love of the people that are far from God. And, you know, if you can please turn to Matthew chapter 5. Turn to Matthew, say they're in Jeremiah 9, but turn to Matthew 5 for me. Turn to Matthew chapter 5. And while you're turning there, I'm going to read to you from Ecclesiastes chapter 3 verse number 1, a very famous passage. It says to everything there is a season and a time to every purpose under the heaven, a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to pluck up that which was planted, a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to break down and a time to build up. Then it says this, a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance. Listen, there is a time to weep, there is a time to mourn. And, brethren, when God's judgment falls down, that's a time to weep, that's a time to mourn. When you're far from God, it's a time to mourn, it's a time to weep, brethren, okay? Weeping is good for the soul, it's good for you. Have you ever just had a good cry? The men are thinking, oh, man, I'm too manly to have a good cry. Listen, when you get a good cry out of your system, don't you feel a lot better? It's actually good for your body, it's actually good for the soul. You're in Matthew chapter 5, look at Matthew chapter 5 and verse number 4. Matthew chapter 5 and verse number 4 reads, Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted. Brethren, when you're going through hardships, when you've had a major disaster take place in your life, if you want to be comforted, you have to mourn. You have to cry. We ought to shed some tears for the city of Sydney because it is so wicked in the eyes of God. And when we shed those tears and we cry, God's going to come and comfort us. The comfort of God is amazing. If you've lost a loved one, there's a time to mourn. There's a time to mourn. We don't mourn like others that do not have hope because we know that if our loved one was saved, we're going to see them once again in the rapture, in the clouds, and so shall we ever be with the Lord. But there is a time to mourn. I haven't really lost anyone very close to me, very significant, but I once lost my little pet, my little pet bird. I remember my pet bird died and I didn't shed any tears, I don't know why. I've always got this delay in my system. I've always got this delay. You know, even when Isabel was born, I wasn't very emotional about it. I was like, okay, I don't know what to do. I'm a father for the first time. I don't know. It's a change in my system, right? And I know after Isabel was born, it took me two weeks to finally, man, I'm a father. Hey, this is a little baby. I love this baby. I know it sounds a bit weird, but, you know, it's a shock to my system. Hey, when I lost my little bird, I was a bit of a shock to the system and I didn't weep. And I was a bit hard and I was a bit, like, angry and I just didn't know what was, you know. But for some reason, two weeks later, I thought about my little bird and I started to mourn. I started to weep, right? Because you get a close connection. And then it's like, oh, great. During that morning, during that weeping, I remember my little bird. I'm very thankful that God gave me that little creature to enjoy for now. But, hey, now that I've mourned, now that I weep, now I feel a lot better. Now I can move on with my life. And that's what weeping does. It allows you to move on. Now's the time to think about the disaster, whatever it is that you've, you know, some people have, you know, obviously losing a loved one, losing a human being, you know, losing someone in your family outweighs by far some little animal, right? But, you know, mourning is important. God, you know, God wants his people to mourn. And we need to mourn for the abortions in this land. Don't forget 250 abortions every day in Australia. We need to mourn for that. We need to weep for that, okay? We live in a wicked world, a wicked society, right? But there's a time to mourn, brethren. And God's asking his people to mourn. They're too hardened. They're too hardened to mourn. God says, bring the actors, right? Bring the actors. Hopefully that gets them started. But let's go to verse number 21 now. Jeremiah chapter 9, verse number 21. For death is come up into our windows and is entered into our palaces to cut off the children from without and the young men from the streets. How severe is God's judgment? You know, people are coming into their houses to protect themselves from the Babylonians. But they're not going to be safe in their houses. And the rich men, they're not going to be safe in their palaces. They think if they come into their palaces, they've got their bodyguards, right? They're going to be safe there. Hey, no, the Babylonians are going to enter and even kill. Look, even the children, even the children, even the young men, even these people that you think have many years to live, they're going to be destroyed in the judgment of God. Their fathers have let them down. I don't want my children destroyed because I favored God. Our failures can have ramifications to the third and fourth generation. But if you love the Lord and you teach your children the word of God, hey, that faith can be passed down to three or four generations. We need to make a conscious decision as parents that we teach our children to love and to serve the Lord. Children, pay attention because you grew up in a Christian home, you grew up in church and you think it's all is well. And then you're going to be tempted to live like the world. You're going to be tempted to say, well, what's the world like? I didn't grow up knowing the world. But listen, every Christian that has lived like the world, every Christian that's gotten themselves drunk and gotten themselves in drugs and have committed fornication and has piloted all their lives and then got saved will tell you that life just brings destruction. That life is vanity. That life is empty. And for some reason, Christian kids that grew up in church, they think they have to experiment. They have to know what it's like. But listen, just talk to those that were in that lifestyle and they'll tell you, don't do it. It will only destroy you. There will only be consequences. You get yourself drunk and under the influence of alcohol, even when you give it up, you're still going to have the temptation of the flesh to go back to that junk. It's better to never touch those things so you're never tempted. We want our children to grow up to love the Lord. Parents, let us not let down our kids. This generation, they let down their children. Their children suffered in the judgment as well. They passed away as well. Verse number 22, speak, thus saith the Lord, even the carcasses of men shall fall as dung upon the open field. Dung? That's manure. God's saying, look, the dead bodies are just going to be left all over Judah. And as a handful after the harvest men, and none shall gather them. No one's going to take these dead bodies and bury them in a grave. Hey, these dead people, they're not going to be remembered. They're not going to be buried. Don't forget that in the previous chapter we saw that the Babylonians are also going to come and open up the graves. So you've got all these dead bodies. Just think about it. They come into captivity, they take the best for themselves, and there's dead bodies all over the place, all over the land. Don't forget it's the judgment of God. We hear about the love of God, and God's love is amazing, but we need to hear about God's judgment, and it's severe. God hates wickedness. God hates sin. Let's wake up to this. Yes, we're on our way to heaven. There's nothing that we can do to change that. But brethren, if you fall into wickedness, expect God's hand of judgment to fall upon you. Don't forget these people in this time were God's people. God's people, and He's allowing them to suffer this level of judgment. Now we're going to skip verses 23 to 24. I want to end on that. Let's go to verse number... we're going to skip verses 23 and 24. Let's just go to verse number 25 for now. It says, Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will punish all them that are circumcised. Hey, who are those that are circumcised in this passage? The Jews. The Jews, they're the circumcised. I'm going to punish all them that are circumcised with the uncircumcised. Who are the uncircumcised? The Gentiles. Because look at this, and then he lists some countries here, verse number 26. Egypt, that's uncircumcised. And Judah, they're meant to be circumcised. Why is he going to judge them together? And Edom, they're the Edomites. The children of Ammon and Moab, all these other nations that I mentioned, Egypt of course, they're all enemies, or at some point they were enemies of Israel. But God's saying, look, I'm going to punish you, I'm going to judge you, even in the midst of all your enemies. All your enemies are going to suffer. You're going to suffer the same fate as all these other nations that are uncircumcised. And it says, And all that are in the utmost corners that dwell in the wilderness, for all these nations are uncircumcised. Look at, all these nations are uncircumcised. We saw Judah was listed in that nation. They're circumcised. Because no, you're uncircumcised. Look at this. And all the house of Israel are uncircumcised in the heart. So Judah, what have we learned about God's people here? So many were uncircumcised in the heart. So many were not even saved. Because it's salvation that brings circumcision of the heart, where we don't have confidence in the flesh, we don't trust in our works, we don't trust in our performance, we don't trust in our goodness, brethren, we put that aside, we put away the flesh, and we're circumcised in the heart by believing in the Lord Jesus Christ. These people were uncircumcised. Yeah, they were circumcised outwardly, but they were uncircumcised in the heart. And so God's judgment would fall upon them. Please keep your finger there. Let's go to Galatians chapter 5. Go to Galatians chapter 5. Galatians chapter 5 and verse number 2. So what did we learn there, brethren? We learned that on the outward, somebody may appear to be a Christian. Now, some people judge your salvation on how you live your life. They say, well, if he's doing good works, he must be saved. Really? Because didn't the Pharisees, didn't they do good works? They did it to be seen of others, though. And so, hey, you might come to church. And I don't know, I believe you're all saved. Is it possible someone comes to church, they speak the right words? Hey, they look to be circumcised on the outward, as it were, right? But inwardly, they're still uncircumcised in the heart. So, you know, judging somebody by how they live their life, that's not how you judge someone's salvation. You can only judge someone's salvation by their heart, what they actually believe, right, what they believe. But Galatians chapter 5 and verse number 2. Nothing. So if you believe your outward circumcision makes you right with God, well, you're actually in debt to do the whole law. And if you don't do the whole law, you're not right with God, right? Look at verse number 4. Now, verse number 6 is what I want to draw your attention to. So what is it that profits us, brethren? Outward appearances, the outward flesh, the outward showing, circumcision answered. No, it availeth nothing for us, okay? But faith. It's our faith that makes us right with God. Praise God for that, brethren. Because all of us can have faith in Jesus Christ. All of us can just turn from the outward show and from our works and just put our faith on Jesus and be saved and be circumcised in the heart. But listen, those of Judah, I know we often call them God's people. They were God's people because they were in the Old Testament covenants. They were in that covenant relationship, right? But many of them were unsaved. Some were saved. Jeremiah was saved. Other great men were saved. But many of them were not saved. It was a generation of people that did not even know the Lord as their Savior. So they were uncircumcised in the heart, okay? I just want to show you Galatians because that was true for the Old Testament. It's also true for the New Testament. Those things have not changed. Salvation has always been by grace through faith on the Lord Jesus Christ. Always, okay? It's never been by works. It's never been by some outward circumcision, okay? That does not make you right with God. Actually, brother, we were talking about this the other day, that all these things in the Old Testament were to point us to something in the New Testament, right? The outward circumcision was supposed to be a picture of the inward circumcision of the heart, of your faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Now let's go back to verse number 23 because I wanted to end on a positive note. I'm dying to find the positives in Jeremiah, right? It gets tiring week after week, right, getting a negative message week after week. That's how Jeremiah is, but let's go to verse number 23 because these are some great words. Verse number 23, it says, Thus saith the Lord, let not the wise man glory in his wisdom. Now is there anything wrong with being wise? No, it's good to be wise. It's good to be knowledgeable, right? It's good to have understanding, but when you are wise, God says don't glory in your wisdom. Don't be like, I'm such a wise man, I'm so good. That's not what God wants from you. He wants you to be wise, but not glory in your own personal wisdom, right? Then it says this, Neither let the mighty man glory in his might. Now Brother Les is probably the mightiest man I know. He's got the biggest arms anyway. There's nothing wrong with being mighty, okay? Hey, we can be mighty in the flesh. We can also be mighty in the spirit though. We can be mighty for the Lord. Hey, but let the mighty man glory in his might. Oh, look at my muscles. I'm just flexing. I don't have muscles. I can't do it. Brother Les, can you give me, no, I'm just joking. Don't glory in your might, right? But there's nothing wrong with being mighty. Nothing wrong with being mighty. And then it says, Let not the rich man glory in his riches. Is there anything wrong with being rich? No, but don't glory in your riches. Don't be like, oh man, I'm somebody. Look how rich I am. Look at my bank account. Look at my possessions. Hey, that means nothing, okay? But again, there's nothing wrong with being wise, nothing wrong with being mighty, nothing wrong with being rich, as long as you glory in the right things, okay? Verse number 24. It says, But let him that glorieth glory in this. What should we glory in then? Glory in this. That he understandeth and knoweth me. That's what we should glory in, okay? The more we understand God, the more we know God, that's what we ought to glory in. Praise God, I know God more. And Brevin, Jeremiah, a very negative book. Very negative book. But listen, the more you know God's judgment, the more you know his anger toward wicked behavior, the more you understand how severe his judgment can be, then you've actually learned more about God. You've understood God a little bit more. You know God more. Hey, you ought to glory in the book of Jeremiah. The more you understand this part of God, right? Now, how is it that we can understand and know him? Because it keeps going. It says that I am the Lord, which exercised loving kindness. Let's stop there for a minute. I love God's loving kindness. Those two words, we know God is love, but he's also very kind, okay? His kindness is out of love. Sometimes people can show you kindness because they want something out of you, like it's a selfish reason. It's like you go to a shop, right? Maybe you need to buy a car, you see a car salesman, and they treat you nice and they treat you very kindly. But the reason they do that, you know, they want you to spend money, right? They want you to feel really good about it and spend money. So they're showing you kindness, but they want to get something out of that. Whereas God's loving kindness is very sacrificial. We know how God expressed his love, right? The sacrifice of his son. In fact, keep your finger there. Actually, let's finish verse 24, and then I'll get you to turn away from there. It says, What does God delight in? Loving kindness, judgment, righteousness, okay? So if we want to understand and know God, we need to understand that God is loving, we need to understand that God is judgmental, we need to understand that God is righteous. That's how we understand God, okay? Now, please go to 1 John 4. Let's go to 1 John 4, please. Don't forget the title for the sermon was Understand and Know the Lord. I want you to understand and know the Lord. Listen, 2020 has been a difficult year, okay? It's been a difficult year, okay? But is God telling his people to understand and know the Babylonians? Is God telling his people to know and understand, you know, the wickedness of the devil and the plans that he brings forth? You know, some people think that in order to gain knowledge, they have to go to the occult and read the cultish books. I once had that idea. It's similar, right? I thought, well, in order for me to understand God a little bit more, to be able to debunk Mormonism, you know, when some Mormon missionaries came, I said, can I have your book? They gave me one of their books, the Book of Mormon, and I sat down and I opened page number one. I said, I'm going to learn about the Mormons because I want to be able to debunk what they have to say. Listen, brethren, as soon as I turned to page number one, I read like two sentences and I thought, this is rubbish. This is not God's word. I can't even read this, right? I just threw it in the bin, okay? Listen, there's no point in knowing and understanding, you know, the wickedness of this world. That's not how we get through difficulty. To get through difficulty is to know and understand God even deeper. That's what we do. We go to his word and God tells us enough about Satan. He tells us enough about the forces of the devil in his word. We don't need to go externally to find out more information, okay? God tells us what we need to know. What did I ask you to turn to? First John chapter four, verse number seven. First John chapter four, verse number seven. So we need to know God's loving kindness, right? Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God and everyone that loveth is born of God. Look at this, and knoweth God. So brethren, if you love one another, you know what that tells me? You know God. You know God. You know what? We all have faults. We all have problems, right? And sometimes I'm going to let you down. Sometimes you're going to let me down because we're human beings, right? But even when you make mistakes, if I can just show you love and kindness, that will demonstrate to you that I know God. And if you can show me love and kindness, you're showing me that you know God. If you do not love your brothers and sisters in the Lord, you do not know God, okay? And we need to understand and know Him. Let's keep going, verse number eight. And he that loveth not, knoweth not God, for God is love, right? So if you don't love your brethren, you don't know God. Verse number nine. In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent His only begotten Son into the world that we might live through Him. That's how God manifested His love toward us, by the sacrifice of His Son. And because He was able to sacrifice His Son for us, we ought to be sacrificial ourselves in our love for our brethren. Amen? That's how we show that we know God, right? Now, many churches love to preach on the love of God. It's good. It's wonderful. It's beautiful. It's the message of the gospel. It's wonderful, right? But then, those same churches, all they'll do, Sunday after Sunday, church service after church service, the love of God, God is love, God's love, love each other, love, love, love, love, love. All right? And before you know it, they're saying, love is love, like the homosexuals talk about it, right? Because that's one part of God, where God is love, brethren. But then, don't forget, to know Him, we understand that the Lord is that which exercises with love and kindness, judgment and righteousness. This is what Jeremiah is teaching us, the book of Jeremiah is teaching us, the judgment of God. It's not always good, brethren. It can be very harmful to God's people. And so, we need a balance. God is love, wonderful. But also, God is just, and He's got to pass down His judgment. In fact, that's what hell is all about, where God passes judgment on those that have rejected the Lord Jesus Christ and cast Him into eternity in a lake of fire. How severe is that judgment? It's a severe love, excessive love. I can't understand. You know, I was able to win a lady to the Lord not long ago, and she said to me, I can't understand how God would sacrifice His own son. I couldn't sacrifice my own son. And I said, I couldn't sacrifice my own son as well. That should show you the love of God then, that He was able to do that. But then, God's wrath and God's judgment in the lake of fire, just as severe, okay, but on the other spectrums. We need to understand God's judgment. I'll just read to you in Psalm 9-7, it says, But the Lord shall endure forever, He has prepared His throne for judgment. Listen, our God judges. In verse number 8, it says, And He shall judge the world in righteousness, and shall minister judgment to the people in uprightness. What do we learn there? That He judges the world in righteousness. So God has His righteousness, and He judges the world, are they living according to My righteousness? No, therefore I'm going to judge them. He looked at Judah, they're not living in My righteousness, I'm going to bring swift judgment upon them by the Babylonian captivity. We saw that. But not only does He judge the wicked, He says, He shall minister judgment to the people in uprightness. We ought to be the people in uprightness. We ought to be the people that are walking in the righteousness of Jesus Christ. And if we're walking in the righteousness of God, He's going to judge us as well. But the judgment is different. He judges us, and He rewards us, and He blesses us for walking in His ways. So we learn the love of God, His love and kindness, His judgment, and His righteousness. So what is righteousness? Righteousness is not only knowing what is wrong and right, but walking in His righteousness. Doing what the Lord wants us to do. Living like the Lord Jesus Christ. And I'm just going to finish up on Romans 1, you can turn there if you want. Romans 1, 16. Romans 1, verse number 16, which reads, For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth, to the Jew first, and also to the Greek. Then it says in verse number 17, For therein is the righteousness of God revealed, then it says these words, from faith to faith. Now brethren, we are saved by faith, right? That's the righteousness of God. We're saved by faith. But we're called to live a life which is from faith to faith. Meaning we need to continue walking in faith. Because then it says there, As it is written, the just shall live by faith. And that's the expression of the righteousness of God. You know, if you want to be righteous, you want to be like Jesus Christ, you need to walk in faith. Not just be saved by faith, amazing, praise God, but then you go from faith to faith, and you walk in the righteousness of God. God wants you to be righteous. He wants you to understand what is right and wrong. He wants you to pass judgment. Okay, this is right and wrong. Yeah, once you've passed judgment, now that which is right, God wants you to walk in that way which is right. Okay? So this is how we know God. We know his great love. We know his judgment. And we know his righteousness that he wants us to walk in. And so brethren, let me just end on that note. Okay, for us to understand and know the Lord, we must understand these three elements. Not just the love and kindness all the time, but also his judgment, also his righteousness. Okay, and if you're able to do that in 2020, let me tell you, you're going to have peace. Even though it's been a tough year, even though these restrictions have been hard, if you can just decide to, I want to know God more. You know, when times are difficult, I'm going to stop just, you know, you know, feasting my eyes on television. I'm going to stop feasting my eyes on YouTube and all these conspiracy theories and all these evils of the word. I'm going to stop knowing that and I'm going to decide to understand and know the Lord instead because if I know the Lord, I know I'm going to have the peace of God, right? Hey, that was Jeremiah. That was Jeremiah. He was able to continue walking the paths of God even though his entire nation had turned their backs to God. So let us be like Jeremiah. Let us be people that understand and know the Lord. Okay, let's pray.