Please turn with me in your Bibles to Jeremiah chapter 33. We'll read the first 18 verses of this chapter. Jeremiah 33, beginning in verse one, continuing where we left off. Moreover, the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah a second time. while he was still shut up in the court of the prison, saying, Thus says the Lord who made it, the Lord who formed it to establish it, the Lord is his name. Call to me and I will answer you and show you great and mighty things which you do not know. For thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, concerning the houses of this city and the houses of the kings of Judah, which have been pulled down to fortify against the siege mounds and the sword. They come to fight with the Chaldeans, but only to fill their places with the dead bodies of men whom I will slay in my anger and my fury, all for whose wickedness I have hidden my face from the city. Behold, I will bring it health and healing. I will heal them and reveal to them the abundance of peace and truth, and I will cause the captors of Judah and the captors of Israel to return, and I will build those places as at the first. I will cleanse them from all their iniquity by which they have sinned against me, and I will pardon all their iniquities by which they have sinned and by which they have transgressed against me. Then it shall be to me a name of joy, a praise, and an honor before all nations of the earth. who shall hear all the good that I do to them. They shall fear and tremble for all the goodness and all the prosperity that I provide for it. Thus says the Lord again, they shall be heard in this place of what you say. It is desolate without man and without beast in the cities of Judah, in the streets of Jerusalem that are desolate, without man and without inhabitant, without beast, the voice of joy and the voice of gladness. The voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, the voice of those who will say praise the Lord of hosts, for the Lord is good, for His mercy endures forever. And of those who will bring the sacrifice of praise into the house of the Lord, for I will cause the captives of the land to return as at the first, says the Lord. Thus says the Lord of hosts, in this place which is desolate without man and without beast, and in all its cities there shall again be a dwelling place of shepherds, causing their flocks to lie down. In the cities of the mountains, in the cities of the lowland, in the cities of the south, in the land of Benjamin, in the places around Jerusalem, and in the cities of Judah, the flock shall again pass under the hands of him who counts them, says the Lord. Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, that I will perform that good thing which I have promised to the house of Israel and the house of Judah. In those days and at that time I will cause to grow up to David a branch of righteousness. He shall execute judgment and righteousness in the earth. In those days Judah will be saved and Jerusalem will dwell safely, and this is the name by which she will be called, the Lord our righteousness." For thus says the Lord, David shall never lack a man to sit on the throne of the house of Israel, nor shall the priest of Levites lack a man to offer burnt offerings before me, to kindle grain offerings and to sacrifice continually. Let's pray. Father, we do look to you again this evening and praise you and thank you for the privilege that we have each week to study your word together and to consider these precious scriptures, Father, that you have written for our sakes today, as well as those in the past. We pray now, Lord, that you would speak these glorious truths to our hearts, that we would see the meaning that they have for us as we consider them in their own context, that we would be blessed by them, that we would respond and that our lives would reflect the fact that these truths have been ingrained into our souls by the power of the Holy Spirit. Father, forgive us for our sins this day. Please be pleased to meet with us. Work in our hearts this night, we ask in Christ's name. Amen. Our text brings us to a landmark event in the history of Judah. Israel, the northern kingdom, had already been defeated. and exiled by the Assyrians many years earlier. Now God was preparing to finalize His judgment upon the southern kingdom of Judah, in keeping with His words spoken through the prophet Jeremiah, as well as some of the other prophets. Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, had surrounded Jerusalem, and he was preparing to overthrow the city, which would lead to the destruction of the city, and the leveling of the temple, and the exile of most of the remaining Jews. Zedekiah, king of Judah, had shut the prophet Jeremiah up in the court of the prison, which was in the king's house. He wasn't too thrilled with the words that Jeremiah had been speaking on behalf of God, particularly regarding the fact that Nebuchadnezzar would overthrow Jerusalem and take King Zedekiah captive to Babylon because of their sin. Just by way of quick application, it's an encouragement to see from the prophet Jeremiah, a man who was not ashamed to preach the word of God directly and forcefully, even when he knew it would get him in such trouble as this, to say the things that he said boldly. Brethren, that's the kind of preaching we hope we would hear from our pulpits in our day and age. But as King Zedekiah heard those prophetic words, rather than repenting of his sins and humbly seeking the Lord's face, he hardened his heart and had Jeremiah thrown into prison. But something interesting happens while Jeremiah is locked up in the prison there. God speaks to Jeremiah again and tells him that his cousin, Jeremiah's cousin, Hanamel, will soon come to him there in the prison court to ask Jeremiah to purchase and redeem Hanamel's field in Anathoth, which was Jeremiah's, by right of inheritance, if Hanumel wished to sell it. There were rules among the Jewish nations. You could sell your land, but you had to sell it first to someone within your family line. If it's not somebody directly, a brother or a sister, it could be a cousin or whatever it might be beyond that. But you couldn't just sell it to anyone. You had to give the priority first to family members. And Jeremiah, in this case, had that privilege, that priority, if Hanumel was going to sell his field. And God commanded Jeremiah when Hanomel would come to him, he commanded him to purchase the field in the presence of witnesses. And this happened in keeping with the word of God. But Jeremiah was confused about the situation. He was confused as to why God would ask him to do this at this time. And before I explain why, let me just give you another quick application. Can we not learn from this the importance of trusting and obeying God at all costs, even when it seems not to make sense? Here, Jeremiah couldn't understand why God would have him purchase this field in a city that's about to be or near a city that's about to be taken over by the Babylonians. And yet he obeyed the word of God. He trusted God with all of his heart and did not lean on his own understanding. He acknowledged him in his ways and believed that God would direct his paths. We ought to learn that from the prophet. And so Jeremiah trusted God, but he was greatly confused, and he moves on to ask God for understanding regarding this matter. He prays, and he wants to have understanding. God has not revealed to him at this point why he should do this. He just told him what to do, and he obeyed, but then he sought understanding. And in verses 16 to 25 of chapter 32, which we've already read, Jeremiah brings his concern before the Lord and the short form, which I will give you. I'm going to abbreviate this greatly because we're not going to go over the whole prayer. It is a beautiful prayer. You heard it earlier. It's a glorious prayer and he exalts God and we ought to take note of the way he prepares to bring his request to God by exalting God and acknowledging his sovereignty and so on. But skipping over much of the beautiful content of that prayer, the short form goes something like this. If I were to interpret it into our modern day lingo, Lord, why have you commanded me to purchase the deed to this field when the Babylonians are about to take over the whole city? I may have the deed to it, but what use will it be when Nebuchadnezzar takes everything over? It will then belong to the Chaldeans anyway. Help me with this, Lord, because I am confused. Why am I purchasing this land that I'm not going to be able to own anyway? And of course, the Lord moves on to reveal that Jeremiah's act of faith would actually be a testimony to the Jews in their captivity. Namely, a testimony to the fact that God would once again show mercy to them and restore them to the promised land. That was the assured promise, and God was showing them that, pictured in Jeremiah, buying this deed, knowing the land was going to be taken in advance. And so Jeremiah's land purchase was a prophetic confirmation of the fact that this judgment and exile would, in fact, be temporary. And then God would graciously restore a remnant from both the northern and southern kingdoms. He would bring back those from Israel who were taken by the Assyrians, those from Judah who were taken by the Babylonians by his grace. And as we move further on, To observe the remainder of this prophecy, given in the rest of chapter 32 and also chapter 33, we are led first to waters of sorrow, especially in light of the current terrible judgment that was about to take place. And then we are led to waters of comfort. It's amazing how one right to the next In consideration of that which would take place when God would once again choose to be merciful, even when judgment was there, the siege was up, the Babylonians were ready to go in and conquer. And God said they would be destroyed. He also prophesied in advance about what would take place when he would show mercy and grace to his undeserving people once again. Well, I want to spend some time with you this evening considering both of these realities. especially applying them to our own present day circumstances. It is my hope, brethren, that such a consideration will serve to motivate us onward with great humility, sobriety, thankfulness and joy. And so our outline will be as follows. First, we will consider the bad news. We will enter those waters of sorrow. Secondly, we will consider the good news. We will enter the waters of joy. And then lastly, we will take application from the first two points and bring it home in a very tangible way to us here in the 21st century. First, then, the bad news. The bad news is that the Jews from both the northern kingdom, the people of God from both the northern kingdom of Israel and the southern kingdom of Judah were horribly rebellious, wicked idolaters who were under God's righteous judgment And they had absolutely nothing whatsoever to offer God for their pardon. They were completely unrighteous. And that, in some of the most grotesque and wicked ways, They were anti-God in every way possible, and though God had shown them kindness and grace, setting them apart as his people, blessing them abundantly in the land, giving them grace in every respect, they yet continued in their rebellion, worshiping false gods and going so far as to burn their own children in the fire as an offering to the god Malak, while setting up idolatrous abominations within the temple of God itself. Listen again to the general description of the rebellious nature of the people. I want this to sink in. Brethren, look at me at verse chapter 32, verse 26 and following. Listen closely to how they describe the people of God. Then the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah, saying, Behold, I am the Lord, the God of all flesh. Is there anything too hard for me? Therefore, thus says the Lord, Behold, I will give this city into the hand of the Chaldeans, into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, and he shall take it. And the Chaldeans who fight against the city shall come and set fire to this city and burn it with the houses on whose roots they have offered incense to Baal and poured out drink offerings to other gods to provoke me to anger. Because the children of Israel and the children of Judah have done only, only evil before me from their youth. For the children of Israel have provoked me only to anger with the work of their hands, says the Lord. For this city has been to me a provocation of my anger and my fury from the day that they built it, even to this day. So I will remove it from before my face because of all the evil of the children of Israel and the children of Judah, which they have done to provoke me to anger. They, their kings, their princes, their priests, their prophets, the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem. And they have turned to me the back, turned their backs to God and not the face. Though I taught them, rising up early and teaching them, yet they have not listened to receive instruction. But they set their abominations in the house which is called by my name to defile it. And they built the high places of Baal, which are in the valley of the son of Hinnom, to cause their sons and their daughters to pass through the fire of Moloch, which I did not command them, nor did it come into my mind that they should do this abomination to cause Judah to sin." What a discouraging description of the sins of God's chosen people and the terrible judgment that was now upon them because of those sins. They were so far gone, so far beyond even a fraction of God's standard of righteousness. And brethren, if such was a description of the people of God, if such described the condition of those who had God's Word, who enjoyed His covenant blessings and the reminder of His presence in the temple, then what did this speak of the world at large? What did this speak of humanity at large? If this was God's people, if the Jews, the very chosen people of God, were this lost and this far gone into a hardened state of rebellion, what hope was there for the world? What hope was there for our ancestry? In the face of God's unchanging, perfect, majestic holiness, holiness that even the holy angels who have never sinned cannot even directly look upon, what level of terror ought to permeate the race of mankind who is bound to this level of corruption? What level of terror ought there to be if humanity at its best is naturally ungodly and unrighteous, defiled from head to toe, from body to soul, from the innermost thoughts to the outermost actions. What ought we to expect as a response from Almighty God? Perhaps an unwavering blow of devastation in keeping with the flood of Noah's day or The destruction that came upon Sodom and Gomorrah, brethren, it's an absolute miracle. It's an absolute testimony of God's grace that we even exist today. The bad news, then, is this. Mankind is naturally corrupted beyond repair, human repair, beyond comprehension. wholly capable and wholly willing to commit the most heinous, ungodly and wicked acts imaginable. And he, mankind, is accountable to a God who is pure light and within whom there is no darkness at all. Our God, our creator, our maker, the one who has given us life, The one in whom we live and move and have our being. He loves righteousness. He is righteousness. And he hates all that is opposed to righteousness. And we are all unrighteousness. Friends, that is the bad news. What then is the good news? In a nutshell, the good news is that within the character of this perfectly holy and righteous Almighty God is this precious, amazing attribute of grace whereby God actually delights in forgiving sinners, even the worst kind, showing them mercy to the praise of His glory and grace. See this clearly revealed In God's response to the rebellion and judgment of Israel, it's hard to see these two things together in the same prophecy. Look at verses 36 and following immediately following what we just read about the horrible, wretched condition of God's people and the judgment would come upon them. There's not even room to blink before God says these words. Now, therefore, verse 36. Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, concerning this city, the same city he just spoke about that was going to be handed over to the Chaldeans and judged concerning this city of which you say it shall be delivered into the hand of the King of Babylon by the sword, by the famine and by the pestilence. Behold, I will gather them out of all countries where I have driven them in my anger, in my fury and in my great wrath. I will bring them back to this place and I will cause them to dwell safely. They shall be my people and I will be their God. Then I will give them one heart and one way that they may fear me forever for the good of them and their children after them. And I will make an everlasting covenant with them that I will not turn away from doing them good, but I will put my fear in their hearts so that they will not depart from me. Yes, I will rejoice over them, to do them good, and I will assuredly plant them in this land with all my heart and with all my soul. But thus says the Lord, just as I have brought all this great calamity on this people, so I will bring on them all the good that I have promised. And fields will be brought in this land of which you say it is desolate without man or beast. It has been given into the hand of the Chaldeans. Men will buy fields for money, sign deeds and seal them and take witnesses in the land of Benjamin and the places around Jerusalem. In the cities of Judah, in the cities of the mountains, in the cities of the lowland, and in the cities of the south, for I will cause their captives to return, says the Lord. And let's read on in chapter 33. We have to keep going. Moreover, the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah a second time while he was still set up in the court of the prison, saying, Thus says the Lord who made it, the Lord who formed it to establish it, the Lord is his name. Call to me and I will answer you and show you great and mighty things which you do not know. For thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, concerning the houses of this city and the houses of the kings of Judah, which have been pulled down to fortify against the siege mounds and the sword. They come to fight with the Chaldeans, but only to fill their places with the dead bodies of men whom I will slay in my anger, my fury or whose wickedness I have hidden my face from the city. And then look how quickly in verse six. Behold, I will bring it health and healing. I will heal them and reveal to them the abundance of peace and truth. And I will cause the captives of Judah and the captives of Israel to return and rebuild those places as at the first. I will cleanse them from all their iniquity by which they have sinned against me, and I will pardon all their iniquities which they have sinned and by which they have transgressed against me. Then it shall be to me a name of joy, a praise and an honor before all nations of the earth who shall hear all the good that I do to them. They shall fear and tremble for all the goodness and all the prosperity that I provide for it. Thus says the Lord again, they shall be heard in this place of what you say. It is desolate without man and without beast in the cities of Judah in the streets of Jerusalem that are desolate without man and without inhabiting without beast, the voice of joy and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, the voice of those who will say, praise the Lord of hosts. For the Lord is good, for His mercy endures forever. And of those who will bring the sacrifice of praise into the house of the Lord, for I will cause the captives of the land to return as at the first, says the Lord. Thus said the Lord of hosts in this place, which is desolate, without man and without beast, and in all its cities there shall again be a dwelling place of shepherds, causing their flocks to lie down in the cities of the mountains, in the cities of the lowland, in the cities of the south, in the land of Benjamin, in the places around Jerusalem and in the cities of Judah. The flocks shall again pass. Under the hands of him who counts them, says the Lord. Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, that I will perform that good thing which I have promised to the house of Israel, to the house of Judah in those days. And at that time I will cause to grow up to David a branch of righteousness. He shall execute judgment and righteousness in the earth. In those days, Judah will be saved and Jerusalem will dwell safely. And this is the name by which she will be called the Lord, our righteousness. In spite of the utter rebellion and wickedness of the Jews, a rebellion and wickedness that one perhaps cannot imagine being worse. God would pardon their iniquities. He would restore them to their land, pictured by the very deed that Jeremiah had purchased. And the city, made up of a people who had absolutely no righteousness of their own to offer, in keeping with the redemption which will be given them solely by grace, would be called the Lord our righteousness. And furthermore, Looking beyond the physical restoration of the Jews, a righteous king would be raised up and he himself will lead all of his people into a state of eternal righteousness. And that is the good news, brethren. Well, I want to now move on to apply these things to us. Let us apply this to us, brethren. What can we learn from the bad news and the good news that we have gone over? How can we bring this home to our own hearts? First, the bad news is, brethren, that we are no less wicked in the sight of God than Israel was. We are no less wicked in the sight of God than Israel was. We are naturally as corrupt and defiled as they were. And every sin committed within the sphere of this world, every heinous act imaginable and perhaps even unimaginable, is within the reach of our flesh. To borrow the slogan of the Yellow Pages, if it's out there, it's in here. There is never anything on our part, brethren, whatsoever, that we could ever offer God which would make us one iota acceptable in His sight. Offered on its own, there is no work or deed or thought or act that we could perform which God would be pleased with in any respect or view in a favorable way in any respect based upon our own merit. We are born naturally detestable and horribly wretched in the sight of God. And when listen closely here, brethren, and when, as Christians in our own self-righteousness, we would somehow be overwhelmed in amazement to the point that we cannot function when we come to understand the utter wretchedness of some remaining sin within us. As one brother put it so well. Cheer up. You're worse than you think. You're worse than you think. In other words, brethren, without excusing sin whatsoever and without leading us to the mindset that would take sin and the battle against it lightly, we need to war against sin. But we would do well to understand and accept the fact that the most inhumane Wicked treacherous tendencies imaginable are within the bounds of our flesh Now thank God if you have not seen that in your own heart But if God were to show you your heart you would see some of this wretchedness the more we accept this reality the The more we all look outside of ourselves for the grace and help to daily overcome our flesh. You see, you have to accept the reality that Israel and Jerusalem and all those in the world are no worse than we are. We have the same flesh, the same tendencies, and it's only God's restraining grace that has kept us from exercising those things to the extent of even burning our own children. But when you accept that reality, it causes you to look outside of yourself for the grace and help to daily overcome the flesh. And the more we accept this reality, the more we will properly view all others who share our sinful nature. You see, when God gives you a nice taste of your own depravity as a Christian and he reveals some of the thick clutter that's in there in the heart, It leads you to look upon others in a very gracious and merciful way. Suddenly, people out there aren't as sinful compared to you as you thought they were. On a scale of one to one hundred, your level of defilement in the sight of God, brethren, my level of defilement in the sight of God is one million, one billion, one trillion. Naturally, Although you have not committed every type of sin out there by God's restraining grace, from your personal standpoint, you are the most selfish, proud person in the world. From your standpoint, you are the most perverted, twisted and corrupt person in the entire world. From your own standpoint, you are the chief of sinners, full of murder, idolatry and every form of evil. You may not want to believe this about yourself, but the sooner you accept these realities, the sooner you will actually find a greater peace. In your Christian walk, because you'll be stripped of all self-righteousness. Except the bad news. On your own, brethren. You're not worth a lick. You deserve hell. And the unmixed, undiminished, non diluted express wrath of Almighty God. Now, we might feel low at this point. But secondly, there is good news, isn't there? There is good news. The good news is that if you are in Christ. God is not basing your relationship with Him in any respect on your own merit or condition. If you're in Christ, God is not basing your relationship with Him on anything having to do with your own merit or natural condition. Your righteousness has absolutely nothing to do with your standing before God. And if it did, In any sense, if you said, you know, Lord, let me just put a little bit of my own two cents of righteousness in, you would be damned. On your own, you are as helpless as Israel was. But God is gracious, brethren. You see, there is another side to the coin, isn't there? Your utter defilement and corruption would be enough to send you in a state of complete depression forever. But turn the coin over, brethren, and behold the love of God in Christ. When you see your own depravity, look at the other side of the coin. God is not looking at you in that sense. He's looking at you through Christ. Against the backdrop of your utter darkness, the light of Christ's glory all the more beams brighter than ever. He is. The Lord Our Righteousness. The Lord Our Righteousness. The name of this horrible, wretched, wicked city that was defiled, was being judged, was condemned of its own merits, was to be called the Lord Our Righteousness because God would give it a righteousness from God Himself. Israel. in spite of the wretchedness of their condition, could rejoice even in their captivity, not because they could ever conjure up even for a moment what God had expected of them. They blew it beyond recognition, but solely because God himself would give them his own righteousness. He would freely and graciously provide his righteousness for them. And that is exactly what God does for us, brethren. That's what He does for us. Behold the love of God for us. He has washed us. He has covered us. He has hallowed us. He has purchased us. He has given us every reason to not be terrified by what we naturally are, but to rejoice in who we are in Christ and what we are becoming because of Christ. You see, God has raised up, we're told, a branch of righteousness. from the seed of David, that he is our salvation, the Lord our righteousness. And so, when the flesh, brethren, seeks to raise its ugly head, and it will, and you sorrowfully view your remaining corruption, you will see the incompleteness of your sanctification. Don't be paralyzed by terror. You're actually, naturally worse than you think. God doesn't show you everything at once. When you see that, you say, I'm worse than I think. But turn to Christ. Fix your attention on the one who is all glorious, whose righteous clothes you wear in the sight of God. And all the more war against that flesh. In grace. Don't be surprised and paralyzed by your remaining corruption. But rather, as the Holy Spirit exposes remaining filth, all the more take aim at it and aggressively contend with it, seeking to prayerfully and actively put it to death, remembering that God is not holding that against you with respect to your salvation. You see, when you're self-righteous and you say, whoa, I can never do that. Oh man, I can't go on. I can't believe there's that level of evil in me. You're paralyzed. You're depressed. You can't even war against it. But when you know that the Lord is your righteousness, that you're yet to be complete, you can actually war against that sin and find victory in Christ. And when the voice from within comes in, we all have that voice, don't we, brethren? And it says, Look at how wicked you are. How in the world could God ever accept you? Tell yourself, talk back to the voice, cheer up. I'm worse than I think, but the Lord is my righteousness. The Lord is my righteousness, and by his grace, I will not cater to this enemy within. I will fight the good fight and I will ultimately have the victory because Christ guarantees it. Because Christ is my righteousness. God accepts me. He brought me in from the beginning, it's all of grace. I look at my conversion, I look at every aspect and I say there's nothing here for me to give God. My confidence is in him. And the fact that he who started a good work will complete it. Friends. Justice has legitimately been satisfied at the cross. It's been satisfied. Our Lord got what we deserve. Yeah, well, there's sin there. Yeah, well, there's still remaining corruption. Yeah, I see some ugly things. He paid for it. He was crucified for that. Don't wallow in your sin. Don't throw up your hands in defeat. Yes, there is a healthy place for sorrowing over sin. Yes, we must learn to hate our sin, but take your stand in Christ and war against it confidently in Christ, seeking to put it to death out of love for Christ, remembering that God has loved you and God will always continue to love you in Christ. What you see remaining in you, brethren. God has known from eternity past. When God brought the Israelites back into that land, Do we not know that he was very aware of their corruption and the extent of evil that they had gone to? Murdering their own children, putting up idols in the very temple of God. And yet. He still loved him. He still loved the remnant. God is not surprised by your sin, brethren. In fact, he knows quite a bit more that we don't even know about. He has loved you at your worst and he continues to love you now as you are further down the path of your sanctification. You see, this is so important to understand, brethren, because as you live the Christian life, you're not fully sanctified yet. And so you will find times where you get a nice view of God's standard, of what he expects naturally from us. And you will say, whoa, I still don't come anywhere close to that. Look at the wicked thought I had. Look at the selfishness. Look at the lack of concern for others. And you'll be shattered. But if you can say, you know what? God's not done with me yet. I have the righteousness of Christ. Look at His righteousness. He never had a selfish thought. He never sinned in any respect. That's what belongs to me. And Holy Spirit, thank you for showing me more of the wretchedness of my heart so that I can seek to put it to death. You're not trying to condemn me. You're saying deal with this by prayer. Fight the good fight and see how much your God loves you because of Christ. Even now, he gives you his grace, though you are incomplete. He who began a good work in you will complete what he has started, brethren. You're a work in progress, and that assumes that there is yet more work to do. But the finished product is guaranteed in Christ. What a wonderful Savior. He doesn't just guarantee the beginning and our conversion and part. He guarantees the whole deal. So that one day, because of Christ, not only will we save, not only will we make progress, but we will stand before Him and see Him and we will be as He is. So take up arms, brethren, and fight the good fight. By grace, own your sin. Don't deny it. Own your sin. Confess it. and strive to kill it and live for the glory of God, remembering always that the Lord is your righteousness. But some of you are still outside of the Lord Jesus Christ this evening. Some of you cannot truly say that the Lord is your righteousness. If you're not a genuine Christian this evening, if you have not repented of your sins, committed yourself to the Lord Jesus Christ, turn your life over to Him by faith, seeing your need for His righteousness, His sacrifice to be applied to your account, then you are still as wretched as ever in the sight of God. God sees you for who you are. Every thought, every motive, every action, every wrong thing that you do is against you. You're utterly detestable in the sight of God. Don't you see that you need His grace for forgiveness? You desperately need the righteousness of Christ. I want to call to you this evening to turn from your sins, to repent and to seek Christ. Call upon the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. You say, what do I do? Cry out to Him and ask Him to save you. Obtain forgiveness. Obtain the righteousness of God. Obtain eternal life. Believe the Gospel. Well, let's pray. Father, we do praise You and thank You so much for Your Scriptures. And as we see these texts, Lord, we don't look down upon Israel with a sense of arrogance and pride as if we are beyond the reach of those heinous sins. But, Lord, rather we are sorrowful and grieved at the condition of mankind And yet, Lord, we're amazed that within the same prophecy you go right into. Thoughts about your grace and how you will forgive and restore and rejoice over your people and use them as an example to the world and raise up Christ to be king and to deliver us from our sins and show us, Lord, that it's not about our righteousness, it's about your righteousness being accredited to us by faith in Christ. Father, I pray that you would put these wonderful truths into our hearts. We confess, I confess, Lord, that our tendency is to be self-righteous. We tend to look at ourselves and consider that as our standing before you and not Christ. Father, we pray that we would look to Christ, rejoice in him and find victory over sin in grace. And Father, we certainly pray that we would not take your gospel for granted, that we would not trample on the blood of Christ, But we pray that we would fight sin tooth and nail to the end for the glory of Christ, who's loved us and given himself for us. We do praise you, Lord. We love you and exalt you. You are a God who is indeed good and gracious beyond comprehension. Help us to see the truth. Lord, remove every distortion from our eyes. Fill us with your spirit. We ask for your Holy Spirit so that we might behold more of the loveliness of Christ. We love you, Lord, and we pray these things in Christ's name. Amen.