All right, today we're going to be continuing in the book of Jeremiah, and we will be in chapter 46. And before we go there, I just want to mention that my goal is to kind of jump through 46, 47, 48, and 49, because they're all very similar in what the text does for us it lays out what God's plan is for the nations. And he talks about the different nations. Last week, we were discussing how the nation of Israel fled from their own land into Egypt to try to seek help. I think Karen will want to bring up the next slide. This is kind of an overview of the Old Book of Jeremiah. Here we are right here. We're right in this particular area of judgment and hope for the nations. So you notice it says that there's judgment. coming in, but there's also hope. And there's a glimmer of hope that comes out of these letters, these, I guess you would call, oracles of God to the nations around the world. So I'm going to go to the next one. So the nation of Israel has been taken into captivity. They've gone off to Babylon. But the remnant that was still there left this particular area around Jerusalem and headed down this way to Egypt. They thought they were going to get some help. from the nation of Egypt. Egypt had made promises to them, promises that they certainly could not keep. So the nation of Israel, the ones that were left in the nation, fled down there. And we looked at some of that last week. Last couple weeks, actually. Go to the next slide. This is kind of just like an overview of this dotted line is the pathway that they probably would have taken. In the Bible, that's called The road to the patriarchs, the road that Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob would have traveled when they went in their different travels to the nation of Egypt. That's probably the pathway that they took. Follow that along down through Beersheba to Egypt. Next slide. This is kind of like an overview of the whole region that God has allowed to rebel against him. Yet, right in the middle, you've got the nation of Israel, right in the dead center of that. And as we look at these particular nations that surround the nation of Israel, they always posed a threat for them. God, in his sovereign plan, as the Lord Sabaoth, the Lord Almighty, the God of heaven's armies, he decided to choose a particular nation of the nations among them, I'm in Deuteronomy chapter 32 and I just wanted to read to you, earlier on Jack had read to you from Psalm 2 as well as mentioning the memory verse for today which was in Jeremiah chapter 1 verses 4 and verse 10 where Jeremiah is called the prophet of the nations. So this letter that Jeremiah has written is not only for the nation of Israel, but it's also for the nations around. It's a cosmic letter, I guess you might say. It's a world letter, a letter to all the nations of the world, basically to turn from their ways, or their judgment day is coming. But in this particular context, judgment is coming. Here's how it all got set up in the beginning. In Deuteronomy 32, we're going back hundreds of years. The first sentence says, remember the ancient days, bear in mind the years of past generations, ask your fathers and he will inform you, your elders, and they will tell you, when the Most High gave the nations, the nations of the world at that time, their inheritance, when he divided up humankind and set the boundaries of the peoples. God is sovereign over nations. It's one of the things we need to understand, that God is not just sovereign over the nation of Israel, he's sovereign over the whole world. The division of the nations. According to the number of the heavenly assembly. That's another whole sermon topic we could talk about, but not now. Verse nine, for the Lord's allotment is his people. Jacob. is his special possession. The Lord found him in a desolate land and an empty wasteland where animals howl. He continually guarded him and taught him and he continued, continually protected him with his, him like the pupil of his eye. His eye was on this nation. The nation of Israel was God's. All the rest he gave to the gods, to the other gods, the sons of Elohim, But one day, God was going to bring those nations back to Himself. And He would do it through the nation of Israel. And that's what we are looking at. We're looking at the role that the nation of Israel has. That they are to be a testimony to the rest of the world, but they've failed at that. They've turned their back on God. They've actually followed the way of the other nations. They've turned to their gods. They've fled to Egypt. They've gone all the way out to other realms and other areas in order to serve these other gods, forsaking the true God. If you don't get away with that, whether you're the nation of Israel or whether you're the nations in which he sent out his law, Jeremiah, chapter Jeremiah chapter 46. Father in heaven, we thank you for this opportunity to look into your word, Lord, as we look at an aspect of you that we certainly didn't sing about this morning. We certainly didn't sing a song that was talking about your judgment. We were singing about the love of Christ. for us, and we thank you for that. We thank you for the love of Jesus. We thank you that your mercies are anew every day, every morning, when we wake up. We thank you that you called us by name, each and every one of us who belong to you, to understand you, to know you, and that you love us. And what we thank you is we sang those songs, they rang into our hearts, We sang them out and we praised you, Lord, because of who you are, and we thank you for that. But Lord, we also know there's another aspect of you that looks at the world and you will judge that world. So today, as we look at these principles, may we understand and get a larger glimpse of your greatness, of your glory. Thank you for it, in Christ's precious name, amen. Chapters 46 through 50. Actually, if you were to look into the Septuagint, which was, I'm sorry, not Septuagint, in the Dead Sea Scrolls. If you were to look at Jeremiah, that was found in the Dead Sea Scrolls in 1947. These particular chapters were found right after chapter 25. They were put into another spot. So the placement of it actually is is in doubt. Is it where we see it in our Bibles here? Or was it like it was when they found the writings in Qumran? You know what? Most of the commentators I read said it doesn't matter. Bottom line is, no matter where it's at, it's the Scriptures. It's the truth. God is reporting to us how He feels about the nations. And as we look at these, and I don't know if your Bible, I'm using my Net Bible, As I'm looking at it, we find in the beginning, chapter 46, verse 1, this was the Lord's message to the prophet Jeremiah about the nations. And so we see that this is a message given by God to Jeremiah, his prophet, about the nations. He's already spent 44 chapters talking about the nation of Israel. But what he's saying here is, you know, the rest of you nations, you think you got it easy? You think you got it made? You've got it coming to you. You have my wrath coming to you. And so what we have here, where it says the Lord's message to the prophet, it's an oracle. An oracle is a prophetic utterance of what is going to happen. God gives oracles. There are oracles of war. God is considered a warrior. When we look into the scriptures here, we will see that God is, and as we look at it, we will see that in numerous times, He identifies Himself as the Lord Sabaoth. The Lord Sabaoth. He is the Lord Almighty. He is the King of Kings. He is a warring God. He is a warrior. So we think of God as a loving God, and He is. We think of his mercy, and we think of his goodness. Let's not forget that he's a God of judgment. He's a God of righteousness. He's a God of wrath. Now, wrath is not an attribute of himself. It is a response to the unholiness and the rejection of him as their God around the world. So God is going to bring about his wrath on the world. And we know that that's the case. in 46 through 48. He does so in a series of songs. You'll notice it says here, at first it starts out by saying the Lord's message to the prophet Jeremiah about the nations, and then he goes into listing out through from 46 through 49 all the different nations that are going to be affected by God's judgment. War with God. Chapter 46, it begins with Egypt. We continue on to Chapter 47. We see that the judgment is going to happen to the countries of Philistine. The Philistines, then against Moab, then against Ammon, Edom, Kedar, Hathor, Damascus, Elam, Babylon. If you take a look at the map, you can see here's the nation of Israel, and all of these nations that are going to be judged by God, Egypt, Moab, Edom, Ammon, Damascus, which is Syria, Philistine, all these, and Qadar, all of these, these are the surrounding nations that surrounding this tiny little nation of Israel, God's people. in which the chosen seed is going to come from. They're there, and their goal is to destroy. And God says, that's not gonna happen. You're gonna be destroyed. As a matter of fact, this destruction is gonna happen within your lifetime. All of these prophecies, all of these oracles that God is giving against these nations, listing them out, one by one, and what's going to happen, and what is done to them is listed out, and it's going to happen within a 70-year period. How do I know that? Because the nation of Babylon was in power while the nation of Israel is in captivity for 70 years. At the end of the 70th year, Babylon is captured. All of these nations are going to be punished and judged by God through Babylon. Babylon is going to come. He's going to wipe out each and every one of these nations. He's already come in. He's already taken the nation of Israel captive. He's already taken the remnant back to Babylon. And then he says, all the rest of the nations don't think that you're so right. Matter of fact, I'm going to come and judge. I'm going to judge you because of your rebelling against me, and I'm going to judge you because you've turned to your other gods, the nations that were allotted by God to these other gods. He's going to judge them. Not only the people is he going to judge, he's going to judge the gods of these nations, Chemosh, Baal, and all the other gods that are mentioned in the scriptures. God is going to judge them all. And as I said, these are written in such a way in which they're poetic. They're written in a song. Several years ago, I decided I was going to read the book, The Hobbit. Have you read the book, The Hobbit? Some of you have probably seen the movie, too, okay? As you think about that. And if you remember the storyline, you've got Bilbo Baggins, he's in his little hobbit house. And all of a sudden he's got visitors that keep coming to his door. And they come in, unwelcome. But he just, he just lets them in anyway. And they end up coming in. And then they start to take, go into his pantry and start taking his food out. And he's getting his dishes and all of his private things. And he's getting frustrated with them and all of that. And he's like, What are we going to do? You know, and it's just. And so the reason why they're there is because, you remember why they, why they were there? They just weren't there to. They were there to sign a, have him sign a contract to become a burglar. Okay. Bilbo was going to be a burglar. Not that he was a thief, but that he was a Haman. And he could get around in places so that he would be the one that would go and restore what was hidden away, or taken away from the king, Lord Oakenshield. They're in this house, and they're just kind of like making a huge mess in there. If you remember anything in the book or in the movies, you remember the dwarves? They used to like to sing. They wrote a lot of songs. They were all kind of like ballads, things that would happen in their history, and they would write them down. I mean, they would write them. They'd remember them. And I can remember in one particular, where they were in the house, and it was after dinnertime, and they had presented the contract to Bilbo, and he's thinking out whether I should become the burglar or not. And so they get in, and they get their start to clean the kitchen. And they're singing. Here's the words. Blunt the knives, bend the forks, smash the bottles and burn the corks. Chip the glass and crack the plates. That's what Bilbo Baggins hates. Cut the cloth, tread on the fat, leave the bones on the bedroom mat. Pour the milk on the pantry floor, splash the wine on every door. dump the crocks in a boiling bowl, pound them up with a thumping pole. When you're finished, if they're whole, send them down the hall to roll." That's what Bilbo Baggins hates. So they would write these songs, they would write these ballads, as a remembrance of, of history, of what things, you know, you know what? God doesn't forget history either. God remembered. Matter of fact, these are written in such a way that they're ballads to say this is what's gonna happen to you. Here's what Bilbo Baggins hates. What does God hate? What does God hate? Oh yeah, God's a loving God. He sent Jesus. You know, we live in a world that's turned its back on God. Back then, Every one of the nations that surrounded them had turned away from God. But you know what? It's no different today. God is sovereign over the nations. He's sovereign and has control over every single person, every single nation, every single bomb that's dropped, every missile that's fired, every shot that's fired. God is sovereign and control over all things. So in this particular song, and I'm just going to look at the one that's written to the nation of Egypt. We're going to jump ahead. I'm not going to go through all of them every week in a row. But they're all very similar, but they all have a similar message. When I come back, I'm going to get into Babylon. But here's Egypt. You've got Egypt on one end, and Babylon on the other, and all the nations in between. And Babylon's going to come and be the destroyer of all of these nations. Verse 2, he spoke about Egypt and the army of Pharaoh Necho, king of Egypt, which was encamped along the Euphrates River at Carchemish. Now, this was the army that King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon defeated in the fourth year of Jehoiakim, son of Josiah, who was ruling over Judah. Again, time marker. We're getting a time marker. Josiah was the, I mean, Jehoiakim was the king. I'm sorry, Josiah was the king, Jehoiakim was the king, son of Josiah, in the fourth year. What happened in that particular time? Well, it says right here that they decided, Egypt decided to go up to Carcavish because they're on their way over to Babylon to take over, to take on Babylon. That's a long way from home. And in the way they pass through Jerusalem and they meet with Josiah, Josiah is killed in battle. That's kind of the history behind this whole thing. And so God is recounting the history. And so in this ballad, he's going back. Here's what's happened. Here's the things that would have happened. And then here comes the poetry of it. Now we can't read, we can't see it like it was in The Hobbit, in that poem in The Hobbit. In English, it was written in English for understanding, but in Hebrew, it has a rhythm to it. But let's just read it in English since we don't speak Hebrew. Fall into ranks, fall into ranks with your shields ready. Prepare the march into battle. Harness the horses to the chariots. Mount your horses. Take your positions with helmets on. Ready your spears. Put on the armor. Here's what was happening. They were saying, we're going to go to war. We're going to head up to Carchemish. We're going to go. And we're all ready to go. And they head up there. And God says, what do I see? What do I see? The soldiers are frightened. They are retreating. They are being scattered. They have fled for refuge without looking back. Terror is all around them, says the Lord, but even the swiftest cannot get away. Even the strongest cannot escape. There in the north by the Euphrates River, They have stumbled and fallen in defeat. Who is this that rises like the Nile, like its streams turbulent at flood stage? Egypt rises like the Nile. Egypt, the Nile River, every season, it rises and it goes down. And he's using an analogy here. He's drawing the attention to what it's like in their nation. That's what you're like. You think you rise up, but then you fall. Egypt rises like the Nile, like a stream turbulent at a flood stage. Egypt said, I will arise and cover the earth. They're haughty. They're thinking, we're going to take on Babylon. We're going to win. I will destroy cities and the people who inhabit them. Go ahead. Charge into battle, you horsemen. Ride furiously, you charioteers. Let the soldiers march into the battle. Those from Ethiopia and Libya who carry shields and all of those around you, are going to come and they're going to come as mercenaries. They're going to help you out. And those from Libya who are armed with the bow. You think you're so much. But that day, that day belongs to the sovereign Lord of heaven's armies. Here God is entering the scene. He's saying, okay, here's the events going on in world history. Here's what Egypt is doing. Here's how haughty they are, thinking they're gonna go and they're gonna capture the world. But that day doesn't belong to them. That day belongs to the Sovereign Lord of Heaven's armies, Yahweh Sabaoth. Yahweh Sabaoth, the Lord, the Sovereign Lord of Heaven's armies. This Sovereign Lord of Heaven's armies is used numerous times in the scriptures to describe God as a warring God. who hates people who rebel against him. I have a quote here that I want to read. It's from a man by the name of Abraham Heschel. He wrote a book called, The Prophets. And he's writing about this particular concept of the wrath of God and the sovereign Lord of all the nations, of the heavenly host, he writes this, the wrath of God is a lamentation. What's a lamentation? It's a weeping. The wrath of God is a lamentation. All prophecy is one great exclamation. And exclaiming what? God is not indifferent to evil. God is not indifferent to evil. He is always concerned. Whether it's the big things with the nations, God is sovereign and control of all things and He is concerned and He is not indifferent to evil. And that's one of the, you know, I was asking myself, why did God include this in here? Why, if He's exhorting the nation of Israel and He's trying to get them and realign them to live their life the way they were called to do, why include this in here? I believe it was to give them an encouragement that God does not let the nations get by with what they do, that He is sovereign, and that He is control. He is always concerned, and that He is personally affected by what man does to man. God cares about us, and He cares what we do and how we behave towards one another. But he goes on to say this, he is a god of pathos. Pathos, what's that? Like, I hear that word all the time, pathos. What does it mean? It's passion. He's a god of passion. He's a god of love. But he's a god of wrath and hatred against those who turn away from him. This is one of the meanings of the anger of God. The end of indifference. The goal of the anger of God is to end indifference towards him. The message of wrath is frightful indeed. But those who have been driven to the brink of despair by the sight of what malice and ruthlessness can do, Comfort will be found, and in the thought that evil is not the end." These whole letters about all this judgment, the oracles of wrath, are written in order to say, I care about what happens in the world, and I will take care of what happens in the world. Just watch. I know what's going on. I'm aware of everything. I see what happened in Carchemish. And I'll echo back to you exactly what has happened. That day belongs to the Lord of Heaven's armies. Verse 10, it is a day of reckoning when he will pay back his adversaries. His sword will devour them until its appetite is satisfied. Think about a sword not satisfied until all the bloodshed happens. That's the imagery saying it will drink its fill from their blood. Indeed, it will be a sacrifice for the sovereign lord of heaven's armies. That doesn't sound very loving, does it? That's because we need to understand that God Indeed, it will be a sacrifice for the sovereign Lord of Heaven's armies in the land of the North by the Euphrates River. Go up to Gilead and get the disalloyment, you dear poor people of Egypt." You could almost hear the sarcasm in his voice. But it will prove useless no matter how much medicine you use. There will be no healing for you. The nations, all these surrounding nations, have heard of your shameful defeat, your cries of distress fill the earth, one soldier has stumbled over another and fleeing away. And both of them have fallen down in defeat. So that is what God has seen. Now here He's going to say, here's what's going to happen to you in the future. Here's what's happened to you up there. how you were defeated at Carchemish, but let me tell you what's gonna happen to you in the future. See, that's the nature of an oracle. An oracle of war says, here's what's happened, and here's what's going to happen, and here's a prophecy, here's a prediction. Not guesswork, it's something that is gonna happen. Verse 13, the Lord spoke to the prophet Jeremiah about Nebuchadnezzar coming to attack the land of Egypt. Nebuchadnezzar's coming. You went to him, he's coming back throughout Egypt. Proclaim it in Migdal, Memphis, and Teppanis. Those are all major cities along the Nile River, all the way down through the whole country. Take your positions and prepare to do battle. You see, here comes the song again. Here comes the ballad of the future, for the enemy arm, enemy army is destroying all the nations around you as he's coming. As this Babylon is coming, he's destroying all these other nations. He's going to destroy Moab. He's going to destroy Ammon. He's going to destroy Edom. He's going to destroy Damascus. He's going to destroy Hazor and all of those other cities and states as he passes down. He's going to destroy Why will your soldiers be defeated? They will not stand, because I, the Lord, will thrust them down. I will make many stumble. They will fall over one another in their hurry to flee. They will say, get up. Let's go back to our own people. Let us go back to our homelands, because the enemy is coming to destroy us. They are at home. They will say, Pharaoh, king of Egypt, is just a big noise, full of hot air. He has let the most opportune moment pass by. I, the king, so now God's saying, okay, here's what's gonna, that's what's gonna happen. We're coming. I'm bringing the nation of Babylon down. I, the king, whose name is the Lord of heaven's armies, swears this. I swear as surely as I live that the conqueror is coming. Who's that conqueror? A conqueror is coming. Who is that? That's Babylon. Babylon's coming to conquer. He's coming to fight. He's coming to take over all of the nations. He's God's emissary of war. He will be as imposing as Mount Tabor. Mount Tabor is a huge, huge mound in Israel. If you go to the Jezreel Valley, it's on the eastern side of the Jezreel Valley. It stands tall, and it looks there as imposing. He will be as imposing as Mount Tabor is among the mountains, as Mount Carmel is against the backdrop of the sea. Pack your bags, your inhabitants of poor, dear Egypt, for Memphis will be laid waste. It will lie in ruin and be uninhabited. Egypt is like a beautiful woman cow, but northern armies will attack like her, her like swarms of stinging flies. Even her mercenaries will prove to be like pampered, well-fed calves, for they too will turn and run away. Verse 22, Egypt will run away hissing like a snake. As the enemy comes marching up in force, they will come against their axis as if they were woodsmen chopping down trees. The population of Egypt is like a vast impenetrable forest, but I, the Lord, affirm that the enemy will cut them down. It's part of the 25, the Lord of Heaven's armies, the God of Israel says, I will punish. And he continues on. Yet there's hope. Yet there's still hope. See, the nation of Israel has been taken into captivity, into Babylon, but some of them fled down to Egypt. And God says, you know what? Some of you, you know, you're going to die. You're going to die here in Egypt. There will be a few of you who escape from there. There's a promise of hope for Israel. When everything looks lost, what are we going to do? God comes to the rescue. You descendants of Jacob, my servants, don't be afraid. Don't be terrified, people of Israel. I will rescue you and your descendants from faraway lands where you are captives. The descendants of Jacob will return to their land and enjoy peace. and we'll terrify them. See, what's happening here is God is saying, here's what's going to happen in the immediate future, but now I want to project this off into the far distance. That you, nation of Israel, are going to come and you're going to return to your land, and things will go well with you, I promise you. As certain as judgment will come, and I will deal with evil, I will deal with justice, I will deal with them with holy righteousness, yet you, my people, I will call back. So there's a promise to the nation of Israel. And I would say it's a promise to us, too. I mean, the nation of Israel is God's people, His chosen people. Yet we, too, as the church, are God's chosen people. We've been called into the church by God in love. We were in the face of His wrath, yet by God's goodness and His mercy and the promise of hope, He called people unto Himself. Verse 28, I the Lord tell you, don't be afraid, you descendants of Jacob, My servant, for I am with you. Though I completely destroy you, The nations where I scattered you, I will not completely destroy you. I will discipline you, but only in due measure. And I will not allow you to go entirely unpunished. So here we have the end of this oracle, this warring oracle of the great king, the warring king, Yahweh Sabaoth, the sovereign lord of heaven's armies, making a promise that I will redeem you, I will come to you, I will help you, I will command you, and you will follow. And we see that that promise is made sure in Jesus Christ. You know, Jesus Christ is the Lord Sabaoth. He is the Lord Sabaoth. He is the Lord who's going to come. He's the sovereign warring king who's going to come and conquer sin and death. Not only is He going to just conquer the nations, He's going to come to His people and remind us and show us what a great and loving God He is. He is a just God. He is a holy God. Back to that quote that I was reading. Our sense of injustice is a poor analogy to God's sense of injustice, what he sees as injustice. Our sense, our sense, human sense of injustice is a poor analogy to God's sense of justice. What does he see? He says this, the exploitation of the poor We diminish some of the things that we do, what we say, the way we treat other people. But what does God see? What does God see? And I'm thankful for the mercy of God. We just sang a song about the mercy of God. And we look forward to that mercy of God being poured out on us. And we are. And we look forward to that. But help us not forget that that mercy that was bought for us and paid for us by Jesus Christ, our Lord and King, He came to redeem us to Himself so that there might be a change in our lives. That we might live our lives in such a way that we see Him for who He is and live our life for Him, not just Say, okay, well I came and did my thing, you know, my weekly thing on Sunday, and it came, but what about the rest of the days of the week? We have a God who is a wrathful God, and He punishes the wicked. And there is a disciplining that does happen, you know, that's what He says here to the nation of Israel, I will indeed discipline you, We can be disciplined, too. Actually, the book of Hebrews tells us that there is a discipline if we don't obey Him. So let's obey Him. Let's listen to what He has to say. God, being the sovereign God of the world, is a relational God. He's present and active in the world. He enters the world into a relationship through a prophet. like Jeremiah, to a people, the nation of Israel, and into the interrelated world. He enters into that world, and he entered into that world through the enfleshment of Jesus Christ. He came to save. First time. He came to save us from our sin. He came to give his life. Our general. Our commander. Our sovereign Lord of Heaven's armies went to the cross and gave his life for us. Well, that same Yahweh, Sabaoth, Jesus Christ is coming again. But this time he's going to become like a thief in the night. He will come. He's no thief. He's no burglar like Bilbo, who was contracted to go and do some burgling for the dwarves to get back the rightful throne of the king to help get it back. No, he's coming himself, our rightful king, to claim his own. And he will judge the world. The world is judged. God cares for his people. The relationship between God and the world is living a dynamic reality within which both parties are affected by the realities of genuine interrelatedness over time. God is a rescuing God. It's like we're caught in a web. We're caught in the web. when God frees us and helps us in our time of need. Let's not forget that God is a God of judgment. He's a God that brings judgment on the nations, on sin, and that sin was judged on the cross by Jesus Christ and His righteousness and His lead on us. So let us serve Him. We are His servants. We are His delight. We're the ones He loves. He has drawn us to Himself. And you know, the nation of Israel, they were supposed to go out to these nations and show them to Jesus who God was. They failed. all his own good self. That's our job. But while we do that, let's do so with loving, joy, and kindness, knowing that someday he will judge. And that wrath is a wrath that nobody wants to experience. Father in heaven, we thank you for of the world, you're not indifferent to the evil in the world, that you are going to restore your world back to the way you want it in the way you determined. But it'll happen through a process that you've determined and you're sovereignly guiding throughout the ages, throughout the world, throughout the nations. Lord, as you do so, Lord, we pray that we as human beings in this particular place in this time call to be Christians called to follow our Savior, Lord Jesus Christ, our Lord, our Master, our King. As we follow Him, Lord, I pray that we would keep our eyes on Him and remember that the first time He came, He came to save us. And in doing so, He called people to Himself, and that's us. So Lord, I pray that as we look to You and remember the work of the cross, help us also to remember there's a future coming in which You will judge the world But Lord, until then, may we be about the business of remembering who you are, remembering what you've accomplished, and that your plan is, your sovereign plan is being worked out to the minutest detail as you planned from the beginning, from the foundation of the world. We are your own. We're your creatures. You are the creator. So Lord, we thank you that you care about this world. Lord, your word tells us that you're an emotional God, that you care about this world, and that you shed tears for this world. Jesus, wept. Thank you, Lord, for weeping. Thank you for the lamentation and the lamentation of the weeping of those who are going to undergo the wrath of God. So, Lord, I pray that we would be about your business, sharing the good news of Jesus Christ, that there is a way out of that wrath. Thank you, Lord. I pray that You would just speak to our hearts and give us a passion and a desire to share this good news with those that we know, that we personally know are underneath the wrath of God, underneath Your wrath, Lord, and are in need of a Savior, Lord. I pray that You would give us the heart to be sharing the good word and the good word of truth in Christ and salvation in Him, in Him alone. I pray that You would do Your work in us give us a passion for those who are going to endure the wrath of God that may endure, we don't know. Lord, help us to be about the business of sharing the good news so that you will call your own to yourself. And then Lord, for us to walk away in a way that is glorifying you and honoring you, not in rebellion, not in turning away from you and not following you as demonstrated throughout the scriptures, but Lord, that we would follow you all the days of our life. that we would love you with all of our hearts, that we would seek you while you can be found, and we praise you for it. In Christ's precious name, amen. Stand with me as we close our service, but in the name of Jesus. Amen, amen. Amazing grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me! was blind, but now I see. T'was grace that taught my heart to fear, and grace my fears relieved. How precious did that grace appear The hour I first believed ♪ Has ransomed me ♪ ♪ And like a cloud ♪ ♪ His mercy reigns ♪ ♪ Unending love ♪ ♪ Amazing grace ♪ ♪ The Lord has promised good to me ♪ This world, my home, say oh! Be well, my shield and portion be, As long as life endures. me amazing The earth shall soon dissolve like snow. We'll be forever I'll make a seat. We take up this time now to remember the Lord and what He accomplished on the cross. The fact that our chains are gone. We've been set free. We've been set free from the power of sin and death. We've been set free from the wrath of God. We no longer have to worry about it. Not fear. Verse 28, Jeremiah 46, I will tell you, don't be afraid. Don't be afraid. You've been set free by God our Savior, who ransomed me. As we think about that, as we remember that, we think that He did that, accomplished that, by going to a cross, giving His life, sacrificing His life for shedding His blood. body for us, and as He commanded us to remember that weekly, we need that because we soon forget. We don't forget it because we know it's in our heart, but as we live our lives, we forget. So we do this in remembrance of Him regularly so that we are reminded who we belong to and who freed us from death. came to this earth, became flesh, became a man, and gave His life for us. Dear Jesus, You did come to earth incarnate as a human. And Lord, You lived a righteous life and earned the right to purchase us with Your blood. And You went to that cross as a man, having laid aside the progenies of Your deity. Lord, take this cup. Father, take this cup from me, but not your will. Not my will be done, but yours. And you sweat great drops of blood from your body. It was not easy in your humanity to face the cross, but in obedience you did it. And you purchased us, as the song says. Though you are immortal, you once died for me to pay my debt to set me free. Lord, we cannot thank you enough for having humbled yourself and purchased us. Laying your righteousness on us and imputing it to us, Lord, we just thank you for it in the only words that we have. Thank you, dear Lord. We love you. Amen. Come on. Oh. Let me think about this. emblem of Christ's body, just a memorial of what He did. We think of Him as the fact that He is the Sovereign Lord of Hosts of Grace, who was there for us, who came for us, who gave His body for us, to remember that by faith we become the Lord Jesus Christ, who gave His body for us. Thank You, Lord, for sacrificing Your life, becoming a man like us, bearing flesh and giving it for us. We take this and we do this in remembrance of Him. Let's eat. How would you thank the Lord for the death that He gave for us through the shedding of His blood? The thorny crown and the pierced side, and then He died and shed His blood and gave it for us, so it's home for us now. Just to thank Him for that, and just to remember that, and remember Him, and the taking of the fruit of the vine. Our king, our father. Look at the parable in Matthew 22 about the wedding feast and someone came, not clothed properly, but the king threw him out into utter darkness. Lord, you clothed us properly. shared on our behalf, Lord, that we will be seen as perfectly righteous. Okay. Okay. We're no longer children of the darkness. We're children of the day. Children of light. And Paul tells us, because we are children of the day, God did not appoint us to suffer wrath, but to receive salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ. God did not appoint us to suffer wrath, but to receive salvation through our Lord, the sovereign Lord Jesus Christ, who gave his life for us, shed his blood, to atone and cover for our sin. And in this we remember Him for that accomplishment that He did, that was appointed to us. So that we would not see the wrath of God. Let us drink. We are saved, not by taking these elements. That's only in remembrance of what Christ has done for us, and we're thankful for that. But the unsaved should heed the warning of Jesus, which says, be ready because the Son of Man will be coming in an hour when you did not expect him. Jesus Christ is the way. He is the truth. He is the way. Father in heaven, we thank you for the work of the cross. Lord, as we look at the scriptures, as we look at the Old Testament to the New Testament, the interconnections of salvation and wrath and righteousness, The calling of a people in yourself and we as children of God, children of the light, we come to you now and we thank you for the work on the cross. We remember you, Lord. We remember what you've accomplished for us. A great small and a mighty king who gave his life for us, but rose from the dead, demonstrating his power, your power, over sin and death. nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus, for those in Christ Jesus. Thank you, Lord. We remember this day and we praise you for it in Jesus' precious name. Amen. We're taking up an offering, a fellowship offering that will be helpful for those in our assembly. We have a special We're planning on a special offering for helping the family in our church that are hurting right now financially. So keep that in mind as you give. I mean, Lance and Malina, because of their, the delivery of their baby, so. All right. you Okay, let's take a few moments to refresh ourselves. We're going to take 10-15 minutes and we'll come back and we'll finish and we'll go through the book of Hebrews. To let you know, my goal is to be done with the book of Jeremiah by the end of April. Marianne and I will be gone for three weeks. As Jack mentioned, Jeremy Wilde will be here in the next couple weeks. as well as the book of Hebrews. And then in the months of May and June, I hope to go through the seven letters of the churches in Revelation. And so that's what the goal is. That's where we're heading. And my message will be geared from that, as well as our Sunday school. There's a short video to watch along with it, and then some discussion time. So that's how we're going to do that in May and June. Yeah, that, um, if you were, if you were here, it had become very, yeah, I remember. Okay, very good. Yeah, I was surprised. Yeah, it was a great experience. Yeah, it was a great experience. How you doing? Good for you. We can put him in with, I can put him in with each one so that when we open them up at Christmas, they can harvest. Next week, I see him closing.